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Astroecology
Astroecology concerns the interactions of biota with space environments. It studies resources for life on planets, asteroids and comets, around various stars, in galaxies, and in the universe. The results allow estimating the future prospects for life, from planetary to galactic and cosmological scales.
Available energy, and microgravity, radiation, pressure and temperature are physical factors that affect astroecology. The ways by which life can reach space environments, including natural panspermia and directed panspermia are also considered. Further, for human expansion in space and directed panspermia, motivation by life-centered biotic ethics, panbiotic ethics and planetary bioethics are also relevant.
The term "astroecology" was first applied in the context of performing studies in actual meteorites to evaluate their potential resources favorable to sustaining life. Early results showed that meteorite/asteroid materials can support microorganisms, algae and plant cultures under Earth's atmosphere and supplemented with water.
Several observations suggest that diverse planetary materials, similar to meteorites collected on Earth, could be used as agricultural soils, as they provide nutrients to support microscopic life when supplemented with water and an atmosphere. Experimental astroecology has been proposed to rate planetary materials as targets for astrobiology exploration and as potential biological in-situ resources. The biological fertilities of planetary materials can be assessed by measuring water-extractable electrolyte nutrients. The results suggest that carbonaceous asteroids and Martian basalts can serve as potential future resources for substantial biological populations in the Solar System.
Analysis of the essential nutrients (C, N, P, K) in meteorites yielded information for calculating the amount of biomass that can be constructed from asteroid resources. For example, carbonaceous asteroids are estimated to contain about 1022 kg potential resource materials, and laboratory results suggest that they could yield a biomass on the order of 6·1020 kg, about 100,000 times more than biological matter presently on Earth.
To quantify the potential amounts of life in biospheres, theoretical astroecology attempts to estimate the amount of biomass over the duration of a biosphere. The resources, and the potential time-integrated biomass were estimated for planetary systems, for habitable zones around stars, and for the galaxy and the universe. Such astroecology calculations suggest that the limiting elements nitrogen and phosphorus in the estimated 1022 kg carbonaceous asteroids could support 6·1020 kg biomass for the expected five billion future years of the Sun, yielding a future time-integrated BIOTA (BIOTA, Biomass Integrated Over Times Available, measured in kilogram-years) of 3·1030 kg-years in the Solar System, a hundred thousand times more than life on Earth to date. Considering biological requirements of 100 W kg−1 biomass, radiated energy about red giant stars and white and red dwarf stars could support a time-integrated BIOTA up to 1046 kg-years in the galaxy and 1057 kg-years in the universe.
Such astroecology considerations quantify the immense potentials of future life in space, with commensurate biodiversity and possibly, intelligence. Chemical analysis of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites show that they contain extractable bioavailable water, organic carbon, and essential phosphate, nitrate and potassium nutrients. The results allow assessing the soil fertilities of the parent asteroids and planets, and the amounts of biomass that they can sustain.
Laboratory experiments showed that material from the Murchison meteorite, when ground into a fine powder and combined with Earth's water and air, can provide the nutrients to support a variety of organisms including bacteria (Nocardia asteroides), algae, and plant cultures such as potato and asparagus. The microorganisms used organics in the carbonaceous meteorites as the carbon source. Algae and plant cultures grew well also on Mars meteorites because of their high bio-available phosphate contents. The Martian materials achieved soil fertility ratings comparable to productive agricultural soils. This offers some data relating to terraforming of Mars.
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Astroecology AI simulator
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Astroecology
Astroecology concerns the interactions of biota with space environments. It studies resources for life on planets, asteroids and comets, around various stars, in galaxies, and in the universe. The results allow estimating the future prospects for life, from planetary to galactic and cosmological scales.
Available energy, and microgravity, radiation, pressure and temperature are physical factors that affect astroecology. The ways by which life can reach space environments, including natural panspermia and directed panspermia are also considered. Further, for human expansion in space and directed panspermia, motivation by life-centered biotic ethics, panbiotic ethics and planetary bioethics are also relevant.
The term "astroecology" was first applied in the context of performing studies in actual meteorites to evaluate their potential resources favorable to sustaining life. Early results showed that meteorite/asteroid materials can support microorganisms, algae and plant cultures under Earth's atmosphere and supplemented with water.
Several observations suggest that diverse planetary materials, similar to meteorites collected on Earth, could be used as agricultural soils, as they provide nutrients to support microscopic life when supplemented with water and an atmosphere. Experimental astroecology has been proposed to rate planetary materials as targets for astrobiology exploration and as potential biological in-situ resources. The biological fertilities of planetary materials can be assessed by measuring water-extractable electrolyte nutrients. The results suggest that carbonaceous asteroids and Martian basalts can serve as potential future resources for substantial biological populations in the Solar System.
Analysis of the essential nutrients (C, N, P, K) in meteorites yielded information for calculating the amount of biomass that can be constructed from asteroid resources. For example, carbonaceous asteroids are estimated to contain about 1022 kg potential resource materials, and laboratory results suggest that they could yield a biomass on the order of 6·1020 kg, about 100,000 times more than biological matter presently on Earth.
To quantify the potential amounts of life in biospheres, theoretical astroecology attempts to estimate the amount of biomass over the duration of a biosphere. The resources, and the potential time-integrated biomass were estimated for planetary systems, for habitable zones around stars, and for the galaxy and the universe. Such astroecology calculations suggest that the limiting elements nitrogen and phosphorus in the estimated 1022 kg carbonaceous asteroids could support 6·1020 kg biomass for the expected five billion future years of the Sun, yielding a future time-integrated BIOTA (BIOTA, Biomass Integrated Over Times Available, measured in kilogram-years) of 3·1030 kg-years in the Solar System, a hundred thousand times more than life on Earth to date. Considering biological requirements of 100 W kg−1 biomass, radiated energy about red giant stars and white and red dwarf stars could support a time-integrated BIOTA up to 1046 kg-years in the galaxy and 1057 kg-years in the universe.
Such astroecology considerations quantify the immense potentials of future life in space, with commensurate biodiversity and possibly, intelligence. Chemical analysis of carbonaceous chondrite meteorites show that they contain extractable bioavailable water, organic carbon, and essential phosphate, nitrate and potassium nutrients. The results allow assessing the soil fertilities of the parent asteroids and planets, and the amounts of biomass that they can sustain.
Laboratory experiments showed that material from the Murchison meteorite, when ground into a fine powder and combined with Earth's water and air, can provide the nutrients to support a variety of organisms including bacteria (Nocardia asteroides), algae, and plant cultures such as potato and asparagus. The microorganisms used organics in the carbonaceous meteorites as the carbon source. Algae and plant cultures grew well also on Mars meteorites because of their high bio-available phosphate contents. The Martian materials achieved soil fertility ratings comparable to productive agricultural soils. This offers some data relating to terraforming of Mars.