The ingredients to make an environment habitable (e.g., liquid water, chemical disequilibria, and organic molecules) are found throughout the solar system. Liquid water has existed transiently on some bodies and persistently as oceans on others. Molecular hydrogen occurs in a plume on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. It can drive the reduction of CO2 to release energy. Methane has been observed in many places: from the dusty plains of Mars, to the great lakes of the Saturnian moon Titan, to the glacial wonderland that is Pluto. Organic molecules are common where volatile elements and reducing conditions prevail: these organic molecules can have diverse origins. Future space missions will attempt to illuminate the “organic solar system” and the role played by possible extraterrestrial life.
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Research Article|
February 01, 2020
Hydrogen, Hydrocarbons, and Habitability Across the Solar System
Christopher R. Glein;
Southwest Research Institute, Space Science and Engineering Division, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA
E-mail: christopher.glein@swri.org
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Mikhail Yu. Zolotov
Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
E-mail: zolotov@asu.edu
Search for other works by this author on:
Southwest Research Institute, Space Science and Engineering Division, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA
E-mail: christopher.glein@swri.org
E-mail: zolotov@asu.edu
Publisher: Mineralogical Society of America
First Online:
05 Mar 2020
Online ISSN: 1811-5217
Print ISSN: 1811-5209
Copyright © 2020 by the Mineralogical Society of America
Mineralogical Society of America
Elements (2020) 16 (1): 47–52.
Article history
First Online:
05 Mar 2020
Citation
Christopher R. Glein, Mikhail Yu. Zolotov; Hydrogen, Hydrocarbons, and Habitability Across the Solar System. Elements 2020;; 16 (1): 47–52. doi: https://doi.org/10.2138/gselements.16.1.47
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Index Terms/Descriptors
- asteroids
- astrobiology
- carbonaceous chondrites
- Ceres
- chondrites
- dwarf planets
- Eh
- Enceladus Satellite
- Europa Satellite
- Galilean satellites
- Galileo Program
- hydrocarbons
- hydrogen
- icy satellites
- liquid phase
- Mars
- meteorites
- organic compounds
- planets
- plumes
- Pluto
- reduction
- satellites
- solar system
- stony meteorites
- subsurface oceans
- terrestrial planets
- Titan Satellite
- Triton Satellite
- volatile elements
- water
- molecular hydrogen
- habitability
- Jezero Crater
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