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Matteo Cantiello edited Astrobiology.tex
about 9 years ago
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One of the most important factors in the equation is $f_l$, the fraction of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone that develop life. It is basically a measure of the likelihood of \textbf{life emergence}.
Here I won't go into the (interesting) debate about defining what life is; I will use
a the somewhat restrictive definition
of life: "life as we know
it" it", which loosely means anything similar to what we've seen on Earth.
One Oh well, one has to start somewhere.
How can we estimate the likelihood of life emergence? If life was impossible nobody would know about it. Similarly, the fact that we see life on Earth can not be used to draw conclusions on how widespread is life in the Universe\footnote{If Earth was the only life-hosting planet in the cosmos, we would necessarily have to be living there}.
However, finding just another place outside the Earth where life can be supported changes everything. Finding traces of life (even fossil) on Mars or on one of the moons of Saturn or Jupiter would demonstrate that the emergence of life (biogenesis) does not require a very narrow, unlikely set of conditions.