Cosmic Rays May Support Alien Life on Icy Moons, Rogue Planets

Recent studies suggest that cosmic rays, traditionally viewed as harmful to life, could actually enable life to exist outside conventional habitable zones by providing energy through radiolysis, where high-energy particles split water molecules to release energy that could sustain microbial life. This expands the potential habitats for life to cold, dark environments such as subsurface oceans on icy moons like Europa and Enceladus, as well as rogue planets lacking sunlight. Researchers highlight that cosmic rays could support life over billions of years without reliance on stellar radiation, challenging the conventional star-centric definition of habitable zones. Simulations indicate that moons like Enceladus might be among the most favorable locations for such life, followed by Mars and Europa. These findings have significant implications for astrobiology and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, potentially refocusing efforts toward worlds previously considered too hostile. Meanwhile, NASA's upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory mission aims to detect biosignatures on exoplanets, complementing these efforts to understand life's distribution in the universe.