Pluto on the viewscreen, Captain.

[Octafish]

24. New Horizons FAQ

My prediction, my theory, which is mine, is as follows: A theory on Pluto from G_j's friend on DU: New Horizons will confirm the presence of organic molecules in Pluto's atmosphere and surface -- not that there is life, but that the outer solar system contains the basic organic chemistry necessary for life.



Paining by Frank R. Paul. More artists conceptions of life on Pluto here.

What kind of life could there be on Pluto?

The surface of Pluto is extremely cold, roughly 40 degrees above absolute zero (minus 387° Fahrenheit or minus 233° Celsius), so it seems unlikely that life could exist there. At such cold temperatures, water, which is vital for life as we know it, is essentially rock-like. Pluto's interior is warmer, however, and some think there could even be an ocean deep inside.

Life as we know it requires three things:

• Water
• Biogenic elements such as carbon, phosphorus and sulfur, in addition to the oxygen and hydrogen in water
• A source of energy (light, heat, chemical potential) that a living organism can use

Pluto's surface is far too cold for liquid water, but its interior is probably warm and maintained that way by the slow decay of naturally occurring elements such as uranium, potassium-40 and thorium.

Enough heat is released that a water ocean may exist between the rocky core of Pluto and its thick outer layer of ice. Planetary scientists have long thought that icy satellites might possess oceanic layers underneath their surface ice layers. The discovery by the Galileo orbiter that Europa, Callisto and possibly Ganymede possess interior oceans greatly increases our expectation that Pluto also possesses an ocean. Pluto's ocean is also likely to contain biogenic elements in a solution, especially if it is in contact with an organic-rich layer.

Where Pluto probably does not pass astrobiological muster is in the matter of sufficient energy to power life. Pluto's ocean would be dark and cold - near-freezing. Even if in contact with a rock core, it is almost certainly true that this modest core is today insufficiently hot to be volcanically active or even to drive circulations. So it is difficult to argue for a deep biosphere on Pluto today. On the other hand, it is also true that Pluto's rock core was much hotter and probably active in the geological past, so it is not utter lunacy to speculate that some form of primitive, microbial life may have evolved long ago and just might have once plied the "Styxian seas" of Pluto.

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/Mission/FAQs.php

It IS quite interesting, G_j!