Journal of Astrobiology & Outreach

Abstrait

The Rareness or Abundance of Life in the Universe

Peter R Bahn, Steven HPravdo and Alan W Schwartz

The most important issue in the new scientific discipline of astrobiology is how prevalent life is in the Universe. Life could be so rare as to be found in only one solar system (ours) or life could be so abundant as to be found in every solar system in the Universe. Most likely, life as we know it will be found in a number of solar systems in the Universe, but whether this number is small or large (whether life is rare or abundant) is yet to be determined. We will begin to get a handle on this issue only when we have reliably mastered the astrobiological science of biosignature detection on extraterrestrial planets.