A New World Out There

Joshua Christian Nathanael

U1320096D
Aerospace Engineering

The Earth is Becoming Uninhabitable

Humans have been living on earth for quite some time and been very fortunate
to be able to make progress and create civilization that until now is still striving for
advances. Since their existence, humans have used their mind to come up with
ingenious discoveries and inventions to get over the barriers of problems and take
control of nature and earth. As time kept flowing, humans kept refining their abilities
and their activities were becoming more diverse than just hunting, eating, sleeping
and keeping the human species alive by creating generations. Jumping forward to the
present, humans are now spread all over the earth with new generations keep popping
up here and there, and their activities taking its toll on earth as effect of their means in
fulfilling their ever increasing needs. If this situation persists, the earth will be no
longer habitable for humans as all the space is filled up and the environment is no
longer suitable.
Human population has been exploding in number for over the last three
hundred years. As humans keep working in advancing their technology, humans find
ways to keep themselves alive longer and extend their life-span such as inventions and
development of weapons for protecting themselves from danger, and discoveries in
medicines and use of modern technology for preventing and curing diseases. As an
effect, the death rate has fallen to 13 over 1000 over the last three hundred years,
while the birth rate remains the same at about 30 over 1000 (Raven, Johnson, Mason,
Losos & Singer, 2011). The problem is that a human takes up space. When there are
more human, the space required increases. If human population continues to grow, the
number of humans living on earth approaches infinity, which means they will need
infinite space. But earth is not infinitely big. Even when shelters have been built from
underground, underwater to the highest skies, if humans keep their population

growing, all the space available will be used up. Unless there is a mass destruction,
humans will have to find a new place to live to place new generations there.
The earth is also becoming uninhabitable due to human activities that cause
global warming. To keep the production line fulfilling humans need, resources from
nature are drained out such as through mining and deforestation that will physically
ruin the earth, and then they are processed to be what are needed. This production line
takes up energy that comes from burning fuel which means there is gas emission, such
as carbon dioxide. This gas emission becomes greenhouse gases that, according to
Henson (as cited by Padget and Dunning-Davies, 2008), absorb heat radiation and
blocking it from escaping to outer space. The more greenhouse gas there is, the more
heat is absorbed and the warmer the earth is. Without it, the average temperature of
the earth would be around -18C. But if the greenhouse accumulates exceeding a
normal limit, global warming will occur when there is too much heat absorbed in the
atmosphere and the temperature will be too warm for humans, as exposure to
temperature above 35C for a sufficient time leads to hyperthermia because
dissipation of metabolic heat becomes impossible (Sherwood & Huber, 2010).
If the present table is not turned, the earth will be uninhabitable because
humans will have lived in every possible corners of the earth and no more space for
new generations to be in. Or the earth will be too warm because of global warming
due to human activities and all the greenhouse gas that trap too much heat for humans
to bear as it accumulates over the years. Either way, the time is drawing near for
humans to find a new place to live after living through eras and developing their
civilization through the years. It is only appropriate to consider alternative options,
look beyond and make plans to build a new world out there for the future.

What Humans Need

Now that the notion of finding a new habitat for humans other than earth is up,
a set of requirements is needed to decide what kind of place which would be suitable
for human lives. In the solar system, the earth is special because it has the right
conditions to start life, sustain and support it for million of years, while the other
planets do not. Therefore any new place cannot be chosen easily without considering
whether it has what humans need to live in. The new world out there will need to have
source of water, the right temperature, the right atmosphere, the right mass, and also
conditions where nutrition can be produced.
First of all, the new place needs to have a source for water. Water has special a
special molecular structure that makes hydrogen bonding possible which give rise
important properties. One of them is high heat capacity, which means it takes much
heat to raise a little temperature. Therefore, planets with water covering their surface
will have more stable environment as the temperature around the waters doesnt
fluctuate much due to waters high heat capacity (Kasting, 2010). Moreover, water is
essential in human survival as it is solvent for many molecules and medium for
reactions in the body. Water is so important that human will die of dehydration
without it in days. But water in human body can be lost such as through exhaling
breath, sweating and urination and loss of water needs to be balanced with intake of
water (Popkin et al., 2010). Therefore water availability is important to support human
lives.
Next, the new place needs to have the right range of temperature. One of
special property of the earth is its perfect distance from the sun, such that the heat
intensity received is just right for human lives to begin and flourish. While the other
planets are either too close to the sun and ending up too hot or too far from the sun

and ending up unbearably freezing. As McNab explained (cited by Sherwood &

Huber, 2010), in humans, their body temperature is maintained around 37 C and their
skin temperature is regulated to be less than 35 C, because there needs to be heat
flowing from body, resulting from metabolic processes, out to the surroundings. When
the skin temperature is sustained above 35 C, heat from inside human body cannot
flow out and heats up the body itself which is undesired. On the other hand, too cold
of an environment will cause hypothermia, which is when the body temperature is less
than 35C. When body temperature falls below 28C, the body cannot move and
appears to be dead with fixed dilated pupils and no more temperature regulating
process. (Francis, 1998) Therefore, humans cannot live in environment with extreme
temperatures. Even if humans may be able to extend their tolerance to temperature
using equipments and suits with advanced technology, they still have their limitations
and the choice for a new place to live is still limited due to temperature extremities.
The new place for humans to live will also need to have a suitable atmosphere.
First it needs to contain oxygen gas for respiration and for human bodies to produce
energy. Moreover, planets whose atmosphere contain oxygen gas also can have ozone
layers as they are created from oxygen gas, so planets containing oxygen gas can
protect humans from ultraviolet radiation which is harmful. Another gas that is
important is nitrogen gas. If the new places atmosphere contains abundant oxygen
gas but no nitrogen gas, fire will burn more rapidly as there is no nitrogen gas that
brings heat without making the fire bigger, whereas oxygen gas makes the fire bigger.
In addition, nitrogen gas prevents water vapor to rise up higher in the atmosphere by
diluting water vapor near the surface of the earth, so that theres little water vapor
concentration difference between lower and higher atmosphere. If water vapor rises
up to the higher atmosphere, the water molecules are dissociated into hydrogen and

oxygen atoms by ultraviolet photons from the sun (photodissociated) and hydrogen
atoms will escapes to space while oxygen atoms stay. In the end, they cannot form
back into water and therefore water is lost (Kasting, 2010).
The new place will also need to have the right mass and gravitational force
that comes from the mass of the place. The earth has hot liquid core that is rotating
under our feet due to earths rotation. This moving hot liquid core contains metallic
nickel-iron alloy which induces earths magnetic field. This magnetic field protects
earths atmosphere from sputtering, where charged particles come from outer space
and collide with ions in the atmosphere which can lead to loss of atmospheric gas. If
earths mass were smaller, the hot liquid core would cool down more quickly and
solidify, then there would be no more planetary magnetic field, putting earths
atmosphere in jeopardy and risk of a loss. Other than affecting the hot liquid core, a
planets mass also affect how its atmosphere is pulled by gravitational force and
reducing the effect of sputtering. Mars is an example of planet which has smaller mass
than earths and lacks planetary magnetic field. The two properties cause Mars to have
atmosphere thinner than earths. On the other hand, when the new place has a mass
too large, i.e. bigger than 10-15 earths mass, it will have gravitational field so big that
gas is pulled onto the new place and accumulate to form a gas giant like Jupiter, the
biggest planet in the solar system (Kasting, 2010). Therefore, for the new place to be
habitable for humans to stay, it shouldnt have a mass too small nor too big.
Nutrition is also important for human lives and the new place will need to
have a condition where food can be produced. Humans need food as a source for
energy and raw materials that human bodies cannot produce on their own (Raven et
al., 2011). Energy can be obtained from food containing carbohydrates, proteins and
fat. Proteins are also source for amino acids bodies which are important for protein

synthesizing in our body, such as in producing enzymes, structural proteins, carriers of

oxygen among others. Our bodies produce some amino acids but there are other
amino acids that are not produced in human and they can only be gained from food.
Other than carbohydrate, protein and fat as macronutrient, humans also need
micronutrient such as vitamins and minerals. Even though they are needed only a little
compared to macronutrients, deficiency of them will be troublesome and cause
symptoms or even diseases. For instance, vitamin A deficiency causes dry eyes and
night blindness, and iodine-deficiency disorders causes slow motor and cognitive
development and growth failure in children (cretinism), and swelling of thyroid gland
in the neck (goitre) (Geissler & Powers, 2011). Therefore, other than humans, other
living organisms such as plants and animals will also need to be able to survive in the
new place because human bodies cannot synthesize their own nutrition but they obtain
nutrition from food which comes from plants and animals. The new place will need to
be able to support not only human lives, but also lives of humans sources for
nutrition.
In deciding whether a place is habitable or not, there are properties which
should be considered so that humans can survive living in that new place. Humans
will need to sort out and limit their choices according to their criteria for survival. In
the end, their choices will need to have water, suitable temperature, atmosphere and
mass, and also conditions where plants and animals, as source of nutrition, can live.

The Search

The criteria are lined up, the candidates are spread all over the universe, and
all there is to do is to find the golden needle in the gigantic haystack. Rather than
searching for one place after another that will fulfill all of the criteria, the search
prioritizes planets that have water on the surface rather than hidden underneath as in
Mars. Such planets are said to be in the liquid-water belt, the region around a star
where liquid water can be maintained on the planets surface. The planets with liquid
on its surface may support life and therefore the planets are also called to be in a
habitable zone. According to a work by Michael Hart, as James Kasting (2010)
explains, the habitable zone around a star changes as time passes because stars evolve
to be brighter and therefore the habitable zone goes farther outward. But initial and
final habitable zone may overlap and these overlapping areas are called Continuous
Habitable Zone (CHZ). Massive stars with mass larger than that of sun burn and
become brighter faster and therefore habitable planets do not stay in CHZ for a long
time, whereas stars with mass smaller than suns have extremely narrow or even nonexistent CHZ. Moreover, planets that orbit such lightweight stars are tidally locked, or
in other words the planets always show the same face to the star, just like the moon
shows the same face to the earth. This causes the planets to have one side to always
have daytime while another side to always have nighttime. The atmosphere and ocean
at night will freeze and atmosphere and ocean from the day diffuse to the night. The
freezing and dispersion continues until all of them are frozen into the night. So for a
start, stars with mass close to the sun are put on top of humans search list.
There are two ways in searching for planets in the universe. First is the indirect
detection, which includes the following:

(1) The Astrometric Method

In astrometric method, a star and planets are rotating around a common centre
while this centre is also moving in space. If the star has planets around it, the star will
be observed from afar to be wobbling around the track of the common centre in space.
How big is the wobbling depends on how massive the planets that rotate the star. If
the wobbling of the star can be determined, then the planet which is rotating can be
determined in terms of its mass. But a planet with earths mass can only wobble the
star a little and there is not yet equipment powerful enough to detect it.
(2) The Radial Velocity Method
The radial velocity method is method in detecting planets by calculating
Doppler shift of the wavelength of a stars absorption line. Every star emits light of
various wavelengths, and also absorbs light of certain wavelengths. If the star moves
back and forth relative to an observer, the observed stars absorption of light will also
shift back and forth due to Doppler Effect. This effect can be observed when the star
is moving back and forth quickly, implying that there are planets with great mass
orbiting close to the star. Since this also depends on the stars wobbling motion, this
method is not very effective in finding a planet with mass similar to that of earth.
(3) Using gravitational microlensing
For gravitational microlensing, imagine a star and earth, with another star in
between. The light from the star at the end of alignment will be focused by the middle
stars gravity to the earth according to Albert Einsteins theory, and this light appears
to be a ring which is called, as you expect, the Einstein ring. If the brightness of the
ring is plotted in a graph, it should give a smooth curve. But when the middle star has
planets orbiting around, the graph would have bumps because the planets would
contribute in focusing the light too. This method is still new as in 2010 and only 8
planets have been discovered with this method, compared with over 290 planets

discovered using the radial velocity method (Kasting, 2010), but nevertheless, it is
possible to detect earth-like planets using gravitational microlensing.
(4) Utilizing transits.
When the passing of a planet in front of a star is observed, a transit has been
observed. From observing a transit, the properties, such as the size, of the planet that
passes can be inferred from the drop of stars observed brightness. But transits dont
occur very often, as it has the odds directly proportional to the stars radius and
inversely proportional by the distance between the star and the planet. Since the new
planet and the new star should be in similar size to the earth and sun, the odds of
finding such transit is small.
Other than observing the star, it is possible to observe the planets atmosphere
by observing transits. If the planet has an atmosphere, some wavelengths of light from
the star will be absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, and spectrum can be created to
show absorption of every wavelength and thus it is possible to infer components of
the atmosphere according to wavelength absorbed. This method is called primary
transit spectroscopy. There is also secondary transit spectroscopy, where the spectrum
of light from a star and a planet, side by side, is recorded. Then the spectrum of light
from the star only is recorded. By subtracting the first and second spectrums, earths
spectrum can be obtained.
Another way to find planets in the universe is the direct detection. In this way,
the planet is observed directly rather than observing wavelengths or brightness of the
star which the planet orbits just like in indirect way. But the planets brightness is
overshadowed by the stars brightness, which becomes a trouble in observing the
planet directly. But there has been ways to get through such problem and be able
obtain a spectrum of wavelengths from the planet:

(1) Infrared Interferometers

First is by using more than one telescope in space to detect light with thermalinfrared wavelengths from a planet. The ability of a telescope to detect a star and a
planet apart is directly proportional to the employed wavelength and inversely
proportional to the telescopes size. Light with thermal-infrared wavelength has a
relatively long wavelength, therefore the telescopes has to be large to function
effectively. But using more than one telescope, the devices size is now the distance
between adjacent telescopes and the ability is the same with only one gigantic
telescope.
(2) Using a coronagraph
Second is by using a coronagraph with the telescope to detect light with visible
wavelengths from a planet. The light with visible wavelengths from the star is much
brighter than that from the planet and if the telescope is used without the coronagraph,
the reading will be dominated by light from the star. But with a coronagraph, the light
from the star is suppressed and the telescope can detect light from the planet and the
resulting reading will show the spectrum of light from the planet.
(3) Using a visible occulter
The third is by using a visible occulter which is essentially a shade that covers
the telescope from the stars light. Instead of using a coronagraph to suppress light
from the star, a visible occulter or a shade is used to do the same task. The shade is
flown out of the telescope and at the right distance, the light from the star is blocked
by the shade and the telescope can detect light from the planet.
With all the available methods in hand, humans can start searching for planets
which can be their new place to live. Humans can find planets and stars in outer space
and discover their properties such as size of the star, size of the planet and the planets

atmosphere. The discovery will determine whether that planet is suitable to support
human lives. The chance may be very slim, but with all the stars in the night sky, there
may be one or two spots that are just right and can be a new world once humans are
out there.

References
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Kasting, J. (2010). How to find a habitable planet. Princeton, United States: Princeton
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Popkin, B.M., DAnci, K.E. and Rosenberg, I.H. (2010). Water, hydration, and health,
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Pudget, L. and Dunning-Davies, J. (2008). Some comments on the possible causes of
climate change. Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/0806.3418.
Raven, P.H., Johnson, G.B., Mason, K.A., Losos, J.B. and Singer, S.R. (2011).
Biology (9th ed.). New York, United States: McGraw Hill.
Sherwood, S.C. and Huber, M. (2010). An adaptability limit to climate change due to
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