Who Determines What Counts as Life?

The search for water is widely regarded as one of the most promising pathways to the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Yet long before life is ever found, images come into being. High-resolution observations from the James Webb Space Telescope, the Artemis missions, and computer-generated visualisations shape our understanding of the Universe. Space images do not merely represent reality; they actively participate in constructing concepts of life, habitability, and otherness. Ulrike Ernst-Auga explores why visuality in astrobiology functions both as a scientific instrument and as a cultural narrative. From a critical epistemological perspective, she asks how space research can be decolonised and how we might think about life beyond Earth without reproducing colonial assumptions of superiority, ownership, or hierarchical forms of otherness in our understanding of the Universe.