Oxygen could be key to high-tech alien civilizations, study says

Scientists should look for signs of alien life on planets that offer an oxygen-rich atmosphere, according to a new study published in the scientific journal Nature Astronomy. In addition to being a very important element in ensuring life as we know it, Oxygen may also be an important marker for high-tech societies.

In a partnership between U.S. and European researchers, scientists say there are some connections. Atmospheric oxygen is also crucial to enabling technology in a supposed extraterrestrial civilization. Just as it is necessary for respiration, oxygen is also extremely necessary for combustion to occur; Fire is considered a record of a technological civilization.

Fire will be necessary for these civilizations to emit technosignatures, that is, signs of technology created by intelligent life. For example, On Earth, we use fire to cook, forge metal, produce materials, and even burn fuel to send large rockets into space.

“In an oxygen-free world, you can get biology, you can even get intelligent creatures. But without a ready source of fire, you can never develop superior technology, because superior technology requires fuel and melting,” said one of the authors of the study. and Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester in the United States.

Technology and fire

As the researchers explain, A planet must maintain an atmosphere with at least 18% oxygen to allow the controlled use of fire. — two billion years ago Earth offered an atmosphere containing only 10% oxygen. It is not surprising that after the fire, metallurgy, coal-based industries and some other sectors responsible for different technologies emerged.

Therefore, the paper’s researchers suggest that the best way to search for intelligent life outside Earth is through planets with an oxygen-rich atmosphere. For them, It is even possible that an oxygen-free planet could offer some form of intelligent life, but without the discovery of fire, this civilization would not be technologically advanced.

“The consequences of discovering intelligent, technological life on another planet would be enormous. Therefore, we need to be extremely careful when interpreting possible detections. Our study shows that we should be skeptical of potential technological signatures of a planet with insufficient atmospheric oxygen,” said Tor Vergata of Rome in Italy. Amedeo Balbi, another co-author from the University and associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics.

Did you like the content? So, stay up to date with all the studies on extraterrestrial life at TecMundo. Or take the opportunity to discover how NASA found 17 exoplanets with habitable oceans and geysers.