stabilizing Earth, 144
239, 249, 279
Moore, Gordon, 306
possibly holding water, 167–170,
Morrison, David, xxxii
185–186
Morrison, Philip, 290, 292–294, 302,
rocks on, xx
315
rusting in peace, 178–182
MSNBC, 184
terraforming of, xix, xxvii–xxviii
mutually assured destruction (MAD),
Mars Exploration Program, 362
60
Mars Exploration Rovers, xviii,
mysteries, 351
xix–xxi, xxvi
Mysterious Valley, The, 346
Mars Express, xxi, xxiii, xxvi
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), xxvi,
Napoléon, 33
61, 183–188, 360
NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI),
Mars Observer, 61
64–65, 147, 223, 239, 245, 364
Mars Odyssey, xxvi, 61
National Academy of Sciences, 222
Mars Pathfinder, 61, 241
funding from, 242
Mars Society, 259
National Aeronautic and Space
Martian Chronicles, The, 41
Administration (NASA)
“Martian Way, The,” 187n
Ames Research Center, xxxii, 57,
Marvin the Martian, 167
111–112, 174, 223, 237, 309
Marx, George, 329
Astrobiology Institute, 64–65, 147,
Mayor, Michael, 208–211, 213
223, 239, 245
McAndrew, James, 421
Exobiology Division, 223
McNeill, William, 304
funding from, 242, 305
Mercury, 152, 209
goals statements from, 234
craters of, 152, 157
Office of Life Sciences, 223
messages to extraterrestrial, 325–326
Office of Planetary Protection,
Messoline, Judy, 343
258–259, 261
metazoa, formation of, 120
realization of public interest in alien
meteors, xxiv
life, xxxii, 242–243
methane, xxi–xxv, 48, 123, 161
Solar System Exploration
Metrodorus, 7
Subcommittee, 246, 250n
MGS, see Mars Global Surveyor
National Enquirer, 323
“Microcosmic God,” 109, 132
National Science Foundation, 305
microwave background, cosmic, 76
Natural Foundations of Religion, The,
Miescher, Friedrich, 103n
225
Milky Way galaxy, 77, 135, 297, 316,
natural philosophy, xxxii–xxxiii
345
Nature, 190, 209, 290, 292
Miller, Stanley, 49, 110, 113, 221
nebular hypothesis, 40
Miller-Urey experiment, 50, 84,
“Neoterics,” 109, 132
110–111
Neptune, 58–59, 252
Mitchell, Maria, 35
New Age believers, 11, 16
Moon (Earth’s), 96, 157
New Republic, The, 379, 381
“astroplankton” on, 51
New Scientist, 244
“flaws” of, 14
“new world,” discovery of, 21
as inhabited, 23
New York Times, 43, 154, 212,
landing on faked, 191
290–292
Index
431
Newton, Isaac, 254
Pasteur, Louis, 45–47
Nightline, 211
Pegasus, constallation, 208
nitrogen, 83, 161
“perfect solids,” 12
Noah’s Ark, 272
permafrost, life in, 129
Nobel Prize winners, 47, 113, 139,
Pflock, Karl T., 421
222, 294, 303
philosophizing, in the absence of
noosphere, 127, 224, 397–398
evidence, 8
Northrop Grumman, 368
�X174, 324, 327, 330
Notre Dame, 23, 206
phosphorus, 83
NOVA, 378
physical laws, breaking, 81
nucleotides, 103–106
Physics Today, 294, 314n
Pickering, W. H., 291
O’Brien, Christopher, 346
Pioneer Venus, 57, 240
observational selection, 213–214
planet finders, 212
ocean trench, life in, 129
planetary exploration, biocentric, 248
Of Learned Ignorance, 15–16
“planetary protection officer,”
Office of Life Sciences (NASA), 223
258–259
Office of Planetary Protection
Planetary Report, The, 259
(NASA), 258–259, 261
Planetary Simulation Lab, 110
Oliver, Barnard, 294
planetary water, 93
On the Origin of Species, 35
planetesimals, 82
On the Revolutions of Heavenly
planetology, comparative, 56
Orbs, 9–10
planets, 51–65
Oparin, Aleksandr Ivanovich, 48–50
across the great divide, 64–65
Operation Blue Fly, 367
astrobiology, 63–64
Opportunity, xix, xxvi
being in space, 51–55
Oprah, 378
extragalactic, xxix
Order of the Dolphin, 294–295, 403
gas giants, 58–59
organic carbon, xxiv
ice moons, 58–59
organic catalysts, proteins as, 101
Jupiter-class, 209
organic matter, 36, 200, 231
mad science, 59–61
Origins of Life, 48–49
uncovering Venus, 55–58
Orphans of the Sky, 317
worlds beyond, 61–63
Oshima, Tairo, 324, 329
see also exoplanets
other worlds, question of life on, 6–8
plasma, 76
oxidizing environments, 48
plate techtonics, 93n, 95, 157n,
oxygen, xxii, 48, 83, 122, 124–125,
172–173, 275
138, 161
Plato, 7
on Venus, 169
plenitude, principle of, 7, 366
ozone, xxii, 124
pluralism, 30
plurality of worlds, 19–33, 35
Packard, Dave, 306
after the Copernican revolution,
Paine, Thomas, 33
19–21
panspermia, 45–47, 131
astrotheology, 26–27
directed, 132, 321
Fontenelle on other habitable
Passover, 71
planets, 21–26
Passport to the Cosmos: Human
pluralism goes mainstream, 30–32
Transformation and Alien
System of the World, 32–33
Encounters, 421
worlds without end, 27–30
432
Index
Pluto, 247–248
Richman, Jonathan, 289
atmosphere of, 155
Rinpoche, Tsoknyi, 384
Pollack, Jim, 174–1755
RNA, self-replicating, 115
Popper, Karl, 115, 255n
Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the
Prime Directive, 320n
Will to Believe, 421
prime numbers, 324
Roswell incident, 265, 306n, 337,
multiplying together, 325
339, 367, 370, 421
Probability One, 143, 147
Roswell Report: Case Closed, The,
Project Argus, 307
421
Project Blue Boo
k, 339
Rumi, 115
Project Mogul, 370
Rummel, John, xxi, 259
Project Ozma, 293–294, 302
Rumsfeld, Donald, 310n
Project Phoenix, xxvi, 306, 309
Rushdie, Salman, 34, 135
proteins, 100, 105–106, 140
Russell, Bertrand, 254, 374
as organic catalysts, 101
Russell, Henry Norris, 43
Proxmire, William, 305–306, 314n
pseudoscience, defined, 148
Saberhagen, Fred, 322n
Pulitzer Prize, 376, 387
Sagan, Carl, 52, 54, 109–111, 113,
Pyrolytic Release experiment, 230,
193, 225–227, 230, 237–238,
232
294, 298, 306, 313, 324, 380,
406–407, 420
“quantum zero-point energy power,”
attacks on, 234
367
and the little green men, 233–236
Quayle, Dan, 59
“Sagan’s law,” xxxiii
Queloz, Didier, 208–209, 211, 213
Sagan, Dorion, 267n
Quiet Invasion, The, 135
SAIC, 368
St. Augustine, 15
radiation
Saint-Denis, 23, 206–207
on Europa, 201
Salida, Colorado, 340
infrared, 160–161
San Luis Valley, Colorado, 340–348,
on Io, 285
356, 383–384
Rare Earth, 143–144, 147, 215, 237
Sands of Mars, The, 41
Rare Earth Hypothesis, 34, 145,
Saturn, see Titan
390
saucer sightings, xxvi, 334–357
rate equation, 402
inviting, 346–347, 383
Raytheon, 368
ubiquity of, 334–336
Reagan, Ronald, 368
Schiaparelli, Giovanni, 37–38
real science, 252–265
Schweickart, Russell, 410
natural philosophy, 254–256
science fiction writers, 151
out of the neutral zone, 256–262
Science magazine, 43, 153, 196, 211,
subjectivity of the search, 262–265
221, 229
weird science, 252–254
Science News, 189
reducing environments, 48–49
Scientific Advisory Panel on
relativity, 313
Unidentified Flying Objects,
religious texts, 85
338–339
responsibility, 195
scientific thought about ET life, 67–286
“reverse engineering,” 270, 367
astrobiology, 237–251
ribozymes, 113
childhood, 115–134
Index
433
Earth birth, 88–96
Skeptical Enquirer, 148, 350
exoplanets, 205–220
Sojourner, xix, 241
the greatest story ever told, 69–87
solar power, 137–138
growing up with Europa, 191–204
solar system, 165
life itself, 97–114
Solar System Exploration
life on the fringe, 221–236
Subcommittee (SSES) of NASA,
the lives of planets, 150–166
246, 250n, 361
living worlds, 266–286
Song of Myself, 69
Venus and Mars, 167–190
Southwest Research Institute, xxxiv
Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence
special relativity, theory of, 312
(SETI), xxvi–xxvii, 11, 20, 65,
spectroscopy, 36
141, 392, 413–415, 420, 421
Spirit, xix, xxvi
optical, 323
spirits from the vasty deep, 3–18, 416
pioneers in, 226
and Kepler’s laws, 10–14
radio, 323
and a planet-hopping Jesus, 15–18
SETI Institute, 200
question of life on other worlds,
sounds of silence, 289–309
6–8
“Searching for Interstellar
and revolutions in astronomy, 8–10
Communications,” 290
stories about aliens, 3–6
Second Astrobiology Science
and the telescope, 14
Conference, 309
spiritual machines, age of, 399
Seinfeld, Jerry, xxix
spontaneous generation, 45
selection, observational, 213–214
spores, drifting between star systems,
“self-destruction hypothesis,” 319,
131
396, 399
Sputnik, 335
sentience, 402
Squyres, Steve, xix–xx
SETI, see Search for ExtraTerrestrial
SSES, see Solar System Exploration
Intelligence
Subcommittee
SETI@home, 308, 397
Stapledon, Olaf, 405
SETI League, Project Argus, 307
Star Trek, 29, 119, 265, 320n
Shakespeare, William, 3
“Starman,” 310
Shapley, Harlow, 43, 149
Stranger in a Strange Land, 41
Shklovskii, Iosif, 226, 301–303, 305,
Strategic Defense Initiative, 368
398, 420
Streptococcus bacteria, 130
Shostak, Seth, xxvi–xxvii
Struve, Otto, 294
Shuch, Paul, 307
Sturgeon, Theodore, 109
Siberian permafrost, life in, 129
sulfate salts, xx
significance of Earth life, 135–149
sulfur, 83
old and new views of, 139–141
sulfur dioxide, 161, 276
preferences, 148–149
liquid, 284
rare earth, 143–148
sulfuric acid, 204
reading between the lines, 135–138
Sun, 93, 95
to whom, 141–143
Sun-centered worldview, 9, 12
Simon, Benjamin, 377
Sun Ra, 205
sin, 15
Surveyor 3, 130
singularities, 85
suspending disbelief, 365
Sinton, William, 43
symbiosis, 119–120
size criterion, 275, 277
synthetic fractals, 272
434
Index
Tarter, Jill, 306, 309
USA Today, 184
Tau Ceti, 293
Ute Indians, 343
techno prophets, 318
techtonics, see plate techtonics
Valles Marineris, 184
Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre, 127, 129,
Venera, 56, 57, 152
224, 397, 412
Venter, Craig, 329n
telekinesis, 332
Venus, xviii, 56, 158, 167–190, 247
teleological reasoning, 21, 36
atmosphere of, 161
Tempier, Etienne, 15
discoveries about, 170–175
terrestrial environments, extreme, xxix
Galilei’s discoveries about, 14
Terrestrial Planet Finder mission, 218
holding water, 167–170
Tesla, Nikola, 51, 291
possibility of life on, xviii, 283
thermal evolution, 156
a survivor, 176
Thompson, Reid, 110–112, 278, 324n
Venus Revealed: A New Look Below
Thomson, William, 46
the Clouds of Our Mysterious
Time magazine, 233
Twin Planet, 281, 418
Tipler, Frank, 314n
Vernadsky, Vladimir, 123, 223–224,
Titan, xxvi, 61
397, 419
possibility of life on, 283
Very Large Array, 307
To Utopia and Back, 232
vesibles, formation of, 116
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin, 225, 317, 409
Viking, 54–55, 181–182, 227–228
Turing, Alan, 391
biology package for, 228–233,
“Turing test,” 391
267
2001: A Space Odyssey, 20, 52, 238n,
Vishniac, Wolf, 227–228
304, 317, 406
volcanic vents, xxiv
2010: Odyssey Two, 191, 197
life in, 130, 200
Types I, II, III civilizations, 302–303,
Von Neumann, John, 318
313
Von Neumann machines, 318, 322n,
361
U2, 88, 167
Voyager, 29, 62, 192, 196
ufology, 338
Voyager 2, 58, 192
UFOs
belief in, 6, 65, 331
Wallace, Alfred R., 43–44
“extraterrestrial hypothesis” for,
War of the Worlds, The, 41, 289n
355
Ward, Peter, 143, 147, 215
literature on, 420
water, 161, 177, 200, 262
see also saucer sightings
liquid, 163, 200
unconstrained numbers, 299
planetary, 93
Universal Natural History and Theory
polar properties of, 263
of the Heavens, 27, 29
Weiler, Ed, 221, 361
Universe, Life, Mind, 226, 301
Weinberger, Ronald, 404
Unknown Intellectual Forces of the
Welles, Orson, 289
Universe, The, 225
Wells, H. G., 41–42, 289n
Uranus, 58
“Where the Streets Have No Name,”
discovery of, 31
167
Urban VIII, Pope, 16
Whewell, William, 34–35
Urey, Harold, 49, 110, 113, 221
Whipple, Fred, 52
U.S. Army Extraterrestrial Retrieval
Whitman, Walt, 69
Team, 367
Wilford, John Noble, 212
Index
435
William of Occam, 107
X-Files, The, 237, 307n
Wired, 394
Xenophanes, 97
Wizard of Oz, The, 205
Wolf Trap, 227–228
Yokoo, Hiromitsu, 324, 329
Wolff, Christian, 27
World Wide Web, 397
Zahnle, Kevin, 190
Worlds in the Making: The Evolution
Zettel, Sarah, 135
of the Universe, 47
“zoo hypothesis,” 320–322
Wow! signal, 307
Zubrin, Bob, 259–260
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 370
zygotes, 122
About the Author
David Grinspoon is principal scientist in the Department of Space
Studies at the Southwest Research Institute, and adjunct professor of
Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado. His
previous book, Venus Revealed, was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist. An adviser for NASA on space exploration strategy, he lectures
widely and has appeared on numerous television and radio programs.
His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Astronomy, Nature, Science, Scientific American, Natural History, and The Sciences.
Lonely Planets Page 63