--- title: Life in Space: It's There description: Cosmic biology may not just be likely, but inevitable canonical: https://time.com/4234106/life-in-space/ author: Jeffrey Kluger article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-04T01:45:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:49.585Z article:section: Science og:title: Why There's No Denying Life in Space og:description: Cosmic biology may not just be possible, but inevitable og:url: https://time.com/4234106/life-in-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd432cfe72442fae6/69887ebebc6cfc3df53dbdb1/space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1280 og:image:height: 720 og:image:alt: Anyone out there? Oh yeah, more than you think og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why There's No Denying Life in Space twitter:description: Cosmic biology may not just be possible, but inevitable twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd432cfe72442fae6/69887ebebc6cfc3df53dbdb1/space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Yes, There Is Life in Space—Deal With It > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: What Killed the Red Planet? [Watch (HLS stream): What Killed the Red Planet?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BXO141LC.m3u8) (1:53)  _Published 2015-11-05. What Killed the Red Planet?_  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 4, 2016 1:45 AM UTC  Anyone out there? Oh yeah, more than you think Anyone out there? Oh yeah, more than you think NASA, ESA  by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/)  ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large Mar 4, 2016 1:45 AM UTC No one has ever discovered life in space, and given the enormity of the universe and our tiny, modest place in it, it’s entirely possible no one will—either in our lifetimes or for many lifetimes to come. But never mind, because life is out there—indeed, it’s everywhere, simply because chemically and mathematically it _has_ to be there. That’s increasingly the view of investigators studying the science of exobiology—also known as astrobiology, also known as just plain ET. There’s good reason for that kind of investigatory optimism. Water, we now know, is everywhere in the cosmos, on planets and moons, in the matrix of asteroids, swirling through interstellar space itself. Hydrocarbons—the basic molecular stuff of life—are ubiquitous too, as are more complex amino acids.  And while we once knew of only the eight planets in our own solar system, in just the past 20 years, scientists have discovered thousands more orbiting other stars in our galaxy. Our sun is just one of those 300 billion stars, and there are perhaps 100 billion more galaxies in the universe. That’s not a sample group of infinity, but it’s a huge one all the same. If biological chemistry is everywhere and the planets on which it could play out are as well, there’s little reason to believe the magic would happen only on Earth. “The universe is hardwired to be an organic chemist,” Scott Sandford, an astrobiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center near Silicon Valley, told me [for a story in a recent issue of TIME](http://time.com/4217034/the-perfectly-sane-case-for-life-in-space/). “It’s not a very clean or tidy one, but it has really big beakers and plenty of time.” Not everyone agrees with that view, but like it or not, it’s becoming—if it hasn’t already become—the majority position. What do you think? Weigh in on Twitter with your thoughts and questions and I’ll discuss them on the next episode of my new Time podcast, [_It’s Your Universe_](http://time.com/its-your-universe/), (available on iTunes and Stitcher), which each week takes you on a tour of a new destination in our solar system. We’ve so far visited Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter. On Thursday, March 10, we’ll stop and consider the case for life in the cosmos at large. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4234106/life-in-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4234106/life-in-space/"},"headline":"Yes, There Is Life in Space—Deal With It","datePublished":"2016-03-04T01:45:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:41:49.585Z","description":"Cosmic biology may not just be possible, but inevitable","url":"https://time.com/4234106/life-in-space/","keywords":["Space","NASA","Life","Podcast","exobiology"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd432cfe72442fae6/69887ebebc6cfc3df53dbdb1/space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd432cfe72442fae6/69887ebebc6cfc3df53dbdb1/space.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Anyone out there? 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