Primitive Earth, artist's view

Primitive life

The origin of life in the Universe is one of the fundamental questions of science. Fossil records show that life began and evolved on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago due to the presence of liquid water.

The Earth’s atmosphere was very different from that of today. It contained no oxygen and no ozone to screen out ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. In such conditions only highly resistant microbes were able to reproduce and evolve in order to survive.

Our Solar System today is characterised by a spectacular and unique variety of celestial objects and our knowledge of how life developed on Earth suggests that some planets or moons could have, or have had in the past, favourable conditions for hosting primitive forms of life.