Extraterrestrial liquid water Extraterrestrial liquid water Extraterrestrial liquid water (from the Latin words: "extra" ["outside of, beyond"] and "terrestris" ["of or belonging to Earth"]) is water in its liquid state that naturally occurs outside Earth. It is a subject of wide interest because it is recognized as one of the key prerequisites for life as we know it and thus surmised as essential for extraterrestrial life. With oceanic water covering 71% of its surface, Earth is the only planet known to have stable bodies of liquid water on its surface, and liquid water is essential to all known life forms on Earth. The
Water atm, water boils at . At very low pressures (below about 0.006 atm), water cannot exist in the liquid state and passes directly from solid to gas by sublimation—a phenomenon exploited in the freeze drying of food. At very high pressures (above 221 atm), the liquid and gas states are no longer distinguishable, a state called supercritical steam. Water also differs from most liquids in that it becomes less dense as it freezes. The maximum density of water in its liquid form (at 1 atm) is ; that occurs at . The density of ice is . Thus, water expands