"Inside the epic quest to find life on the water-rich moons at the outer reaches of the solar system. Where is the best place to find life beyond Earth? We often look to Mars as the most promising site in our solar system, but recent scientific missions have revealed that some of the most habitable real estate may actually lie farther away. Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have been in existence for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Alien Oceans reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out. Kevin Peter Hand is one of today's leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. In this captivating account of scientific discovery, he brings together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He shows how the exploration of Earth's oceans is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds. Alien Oceans describes what lies ahead in our search for life in our solar system and beyond, setting the stage for the transformative discoveries that may await us."--.

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Part I: Oceans Near and Far
  • Prologue: The Bottom
  • Chapter 1. Ocean Worlds on Earth and Beyond
  • Chapter 2. The New Goldilocks
• Part II: Discovering an Ocean in Three Easy Pieces
  • Chapter 3. The Rainbow Connection
  • Chapter 4. Babysitting a Spacecraft
  • Chapter 5. How I Learned to Love Airport Security
  • Chapter 6. Lady with a Veil
  • Chapter 7. The Queen of Carbon
  • Chapter 8. Oceans Everywhere
• Part III: The Journey from Habitable to Inhabited
  • Chapter 9. Becoming Inhabited
  • Chapter 10. Origins in an Alien Ocean
  • Chapter 11. Building an Ocean World Biosphere
  • Chapter 12. The Octopus and the Hammer
  • Chapter 13. A Periodic Table for Life
• Part IV: The Next Steps
  • Chapter 14. Seeking Signs of Life
  • Chapter 15. A New Age of Ocean Exploration
• Endnotes
• Index
• Color Plates