re: What is life ? - Simplified...
Life began during a novae/supernovae explosion that gave off Hydrogen and Heliom and Oxygen and Sulfer agents coupled with speed-momentum and with how much matter it was able to produce as a byproduct.
It all depends, when it all settled, where and how much.
I'm just glad that our solar system has enough Iron, etc, and it's pretty much circular..
Yep, we're lucky.
I do have to tell you that we may not be the only ones in this predicament nor that this has happened before.