4.2. Finding Evidence
4.2.1. Humanity Cannot Travel to the Nearest Habitable Exoplanet Within Its Lifetime
Teegarden’s Star b was the first confirmed, potentially habitable exoplanet. It is located 12.5 light-years (L.Y.) away from us. This implies that atmospheric composition may permit the formation of stable liquid water on its surface (Singla & Sengupta, 2023).
One must overcome four major obstacles to break out of the solar system. These obstacles include:
1. The Asteroid Belt, which is composed of millions of small asteroids and is located between Mars and Jupiter (Bellome et al., 2024).
2. The Kuiper Belt, known for the occasional appearance of ice giant objects, which is located beyond Neptune (Kaib et al., 2024).
3. The high-temperature plasma solar corona, which exceeds 40,000 degrees Celsius and is located at the edge of the solar system (Boudjada et al., 2005).
4. The Oort Cloud, which contains trillions of small celestial bodies, each about 1 kilometer in size, and surrounds the entire solar system (Crane, 2023).
Even without considering factors such as gravitational fluctuations caused by the Sun and its planets on the spiral trajectory of a human spacecraft leaving the solar system, or the power configuration of the spacecraft itself, we can still attempt to make the following rough calculations:
1. Taking the New Horizons spacecraft launched on January 19, 2006 as an example, its flight speed is approximately 58,356 kilometers per hour (Anonymous, 2023), then:
How many kilometers would it take from Earth toTeegarden’s Star b?
9,460,800,000,000 km/L.Y. * 12.5 L.Y. = 118,260,000,000,000 km
How long does it take to fly from Earth toTeegarden’s Star b?
118,260,000,000,000 km / 58,356 km/hr = 2,026,526,835 hours
≈ 231,339 years.
2. If we switch to a different algorithm and consider that Voyager 1, launched 47 years ago, has traveled 24 billion kilometers at a speed of 17.062 kilometers per second, how long would it take to travel from Earth to Teegarden’s Star b?
118,260,000,000,000 km / 17.062km/sec = 6,931,133,454,460 seconds.
6,931,133,454,460 seconds / 31,557,600 seconds/year
≈ 220,000 years.
So, it would take at least 220,000 years to travel from Earth to the closest habitable exoplanet, Teegarden’s Star b.
Therefore, to avoid extinction during the interstellar expedition of eternity, humanity must undergo drastic changes.
Stephen Hawking also believed that humanity must increase their complexity (Hawking, 2018), although he did not study this in detail.
4.2.2. Plants Are Better Adapted to the Environment Than Animals
● Mosses and lichens have strong anti-radiation properties
Research conducted at the Russian space station Mir has shown that the dangers of radiation from cosmic rays are real. The equivalent dose is about 10 Sv during high solar activity, whereas current standards dictate that the maximum radiation exposure for ordinary individuals should not exceed 0.005 Sv (Horst et al., 2022). This radiation can cause excessive oxidation of cells, leading to cancer (Bizzarri et al., 2023).
● Plants are capable of producing oxygen and carbohydrates via photosynthesis
Plant leaves are similar to solar energy collectors that are full of photosynthetic cells. These cells combine water and carbon dioxide molecules to produce sugars and oxygen, respectively. If humanity were able to photosynthesize, we would not need to carry as many oxygen tanks or food supplies during extraterrestrial exploration.
4.2.3. The Distinction Between Animals and Plants Is Not Clear
● Plants with animal characteristics, such as insectivorous plants
For example,
Nepenthe mirabilis (
Porfírio et al., 2022) and
Drosera capensis (
Diers et al., 2024). Their leaves secrete mucus to catch and digest the worms. Please see
Figure 2.
● Animals that use cutaneous respiration can exhibit plant - like characteristics (
Romer, 1972). For example,
earthworms and
amphibians (
Figure 3).
4.2.4. Green Skin
Plants can perform photosynthesis using chlorophyll, which is produced by both plants and bacteria. Even if humanity had green skin, they would not be able to perform photosynthesis because it requires chlorophyll, which humans do not possess. However, humans have something similar to chlorophyll, which is hemoglobin.
Chlorophyll and hemoglobin (heme) are not contradictory entities; rather, they serve different biological functions. Under certain conditions, they can both contribute to the synthesis of organic compounds, albeit through different pathways (Liu et al., 2022).
Several precedents exist for photosynthesis in animals:
● In 1986, American scientists discovered a photosynthetic animal called the green-blue trumpet worm. It can photosynthesize through the pigments in its body, converting light energy into adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is a chemical form of cellular energy (Anonymous, 1986).
● Some animals, such as certain types of sea slugs and a few other organisms, have evolved to temporarily incorporate chloroplasts (Anonymous, 2022).
● Chlorohydra were collected In February 1987 from Song County, Henan Province, China. Hydra is light green and has green Chlorella living in its inner cavity layer, which can undergo photosynthesis together (Gao, 1987).
Implanting some plant tissues into animal bodies does not trigger xenogeneic rejection:
● The tradition of using bamboo to set broken bones existed in ancient China. A fresh piece of bamboo was inserted into the fracture, and its capillary vessels, which are very rich, gradually fused with the bone tissue. After the broken bone had healed, there was no need for repeat surgery to remove the bamboo (Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Botany, 1991).
4.2.5. Blue Blood
The term ‘blue blood’ refers to the blue appearance of the blood in certain arthropods and mollusks. Hemocyanin, a copper-containing protein found in the blood of some invertebrates like octopuses and horseshoe crabs, is responsible for oxygen transport and gives the blood its blue-greenish hue due to its copper content (Zhou, 1986).
In the same scenario, hemocyanin is superior to hemoglobin in:
● It has a relatively high molecular weight and strong ability to bind and release oxygen molecules (Christian et al., 2010).
● Even at low temperatures, hemocyanin does not lose its oxygen-carrying capacity (Christian et al., 2010). Therefore, the plant - like astronauts that we seek should not fear the coldness of the space.
4.2.6. Synthetic Biology
Today, chemists envision that synthetic biology will involve molecular design supported by structure theory, yielding unnatural molecular species that can mimic not only the binding and catalysis of specific biomolecules, but also exhibit the highest forms of biological behavior, including macroscopic self-assembly, replication, adaptation, and evolution (Steven, 2011).
Elon Musk stated in 2022 (Musk, 2022) that using DNA sequences could transform humanity into butterflies and that you could practically do anything with synthetic RNA.
4.2.7. AI
Due to the intricate nature of biological systems, conducting synthetic biology in a quantitative and predictive manner continues to pose a challenge. Recently, the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML)—technologies that enable computers to learn from experience—has presented potentially powerful tools to address this challenge.
In our study, the plant - like astronauts we pursue are likely to be a hybrid of carbon-based and silicon-based entities. However, silicon-based life cannot emerge directly because it is too stable and does not change on its own; it must be brought forth by human hands. The silicon-based life has no bounds and is specifically adapted for eternal space travel. An AI with human-like consciousness is destined to be the future and the eternal of humanity.
Thus, nature sculpts→ humans, humans sculpts→ AI, and AI sculpts→ plant - like astronauts. In essence, the research of this project must rely heavily on AI technology.
The fatal defect of AI beings or hybrids of carbon- and silicon-based life forms is that they must be supported by an energy supply. In the universe, the starlight energy is eternal, and photosynthesis is eternal, so plant -like astronauts can exist in the universe forever.
Therefore, the theme proposed in this article—creating plant - like astronauts capable of iteration—presents an ideal arena for Synthetic Biology and AI to demonstrate their capabilities.