Imagine you live in a place which has no other house apart from yours for as far as your eye can see. No matter how far you go in any direction, all you find is more land & water and not a soul in sight.

After a certain time, you will begin to feel that you are all alone. That is what has been happening to us humans for centuries. We are well aware of the diverse life we have here on Earth.

But we just haven’t found any life, intelligent or otherwise, out there in space, despite our many, many endeavours to do so. At one point, it is natural to ask if we are alone in the vastness of the universe?

But statistically, it is quite impossible that we are alone in a universe that seems infinitely large. Is it possible that life may be lurking in the shadows in our own solar system? After all, there are places which could potentially be hiding one or the other forms of life.

Mars

As a kid, Mars was the first planet I heard being mentioned whenever alien beings were talked about. This was especially due to the fact that Mars and Martians were used extensively in cartoons and movies.

Even thought the many rovers, landers and orbiters haven’t found any sings of life on the red planet, there still could be life under the surface.

We know now that there is water in the form of ice in the poles as well as in glaciers at the equator. Wherever there is water, scientists get excited about the possibility of the presence of life there as we know how vital water is to life.

We may finally have the answer as Nasa’s Mars InSight mission just launched about a month ago to study the innards of Mars. It will dig 16 feet into the Martian soil and we just might get lucky. Who knows?

Jupiter’s Moons

Planets are not the only cosmic bodies that can support life. Moons of planets can as well and we just might have them in our solar system. Let’s begin with Jupiter.

Although there are 69 known moons of Jupiter, 3 of them excite scientists the most as far as finding signs of life is concerned. They are Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

All of these three moons have surface oceans of liquid water on them covered with thick layers of ice crust. What life forms, microbial or larger forms, could be existing right now, in those vast oceans?

NASA is planning to launch a mission to Europa to drill into its icy crust to find signs of life. The mission is set to launch in 2031 though, so we will just have to wait to see if any alien whales exist on it!

Saturn’s Moons

Saturn has more than 60 moons as well, along with that gorgeous ring surrounding it. Two of the moons of Saturn have quite the features that make them possible habitats for life.

First off, Titan, the second largest moon in the solar system, has an atmosphere that has the presence of organic compounds which are the basis for all known organic life. It also has vast oceans and lakes of methane. Since no liquid water has yet been found, life there could be very different, if at all it exists there.

Enceladus, another of the moons, sounds like a more likely place for life to foster. That’s because it has geysers on its surface that shoot organic compounds into space and the possibility of hydrothermal activity on its sub-surface ocean floor.

Although pure speculation at this point, scientists say that it might be possible that this hydrothermal activity could be an oasis of habitability. Of course many missions will have to be sent there to see if that’s true.