We are lucky to have been born on a planet that is able to sustain human life. However, it took billions of years for life to be remotely possible at all here. Most of the things a planet needs to sustain life did not arrive until after the Earth was already billions of years old. Once it did, we even had mass extinctions as the Earth eventually became what we know it today.
The question is, are there other planets that can sustain life at all, especially human life? So far we know that there are several habitable planets. In the Milky Way Galaxy alone, we have over 100 billion stars. Near most of those stars are planets, many of which would be considered habitable for life.
Some are gas planets like that of Jupiter and Neptune, so we assume life is not possible here. Yet there are others that fit most of the things we see on Earth today. However, there is an issue in all of this. Just because a planet is considered “habitable” does not mean it is possible for humans to live there. Venus is technically in the habitable zone, for example.
While the Milky Way has several places humans can one day call home…it is uncertain if any can sustain human life. This leads many to ask an understandable question. That is, what are the things a planet needs to prove it can sustain human life?
To be honest, it’s quite a lot. Some of the things needed are well known while others are important yet people may not know much about them. We wanted to help everyone out by giving you 35 such things a planet needs to have in order to possibly be the next home for mankind.