The Search for Life on Other Planets

In The Search for Life on Other Planets, Jakosky offers a scientific foundation for thinking there may be life elsewhere in the Universe. Using the early history of the Earth and the conditions that would allow life to exist, he creates a sound, scientific foundation for the possibility of life on planets other than our own. Jakosky integrates the mechanics of planets and recent findings from our planetary exploration program to create a rich and accessible look at the likelihood of extraterrestrials and the possibility of life on other planets. His prose is authoritative but avoids technical jargon and is well illustrated throughout. For all those interested in understanding the scientific evidence for and likelihood of extraterrestrial life, this is the most comprehensive and readable book to date. Bruce Jakosky is active in spacecraft observations, and has been involved with the Viking, Solar Mesosphere Explorer, Clementine, Mars Observer, and Mars Global Surveyor missions. Currently, he teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in terrestrial and planetary geology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

• Includes latest scientific discoveries about planets around other stars, the analysis of meteorites from Mars, and results from the Mars Pathfinder
• Written for the general reader
• Also suitable as text for increasingly widespread, very popular courses on 'origin of life', 'extraterrestrial life', 'exobiology', or 'bioastronomy' taken by science and non-science major undergraduates