Hdreamz
Active member
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- Aug 21, 2013
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We'll have the tools to spot nearby aliens by 2030
07 November 2013/ NewScientist
SO CLOSE, and yet so far. We are now pretty certain that there are billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy – rocky worlds about the same size as ours, orbiting similar stars at similar distances. Ideal places to search for alien life. The nearest may be a mere 12 light years away, too far to visit but certainly close enough to take a look (see "Fake planets reveal distance to Earth's nearest twin").
Unfortunately, we can't look – at least not yet. The discovery is extracted from data collected by the Kepler Space Telescope, which malfunctioned in May. There may be more surprises buried in Kepler's data, but its Earthlike-planet-spotting days are over.
Still, the finding bolsters the belief that we are just a few years away from a truly jaw-dropping discovery. Kepler's successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is due to launch in 2017. It will scour the sky for small rocky worlds around nearby stars, and is expected to find hundreds. Future instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the proposed StarShade mission will follow up these discoveries, probing the planets' atmospheres for signs of life.
The idea that there might be another living planet a few light years from home, orbiting a star visible with the naked eye, is a tantalising prospect. For better or worse, the odds are stacked against that. But we can be pretty confident that, if life is common in the universe, we will have found signs of it by the middle of the next decade.
Though I believe that finding evidence of life outside the solar system is simply a matter of time I feel that many articles and academics fall prey to the 30-40 year cycle of technology. Believing that with a vague amount of time to advance at similar rates that a threshold will be crossed and our interstellar eyes will be opened to worlds that have been hidden behind a curtain of human ignorance and unfathomable understanding. The same could be said of AI, lunar and solar exploration, robotics etc...
We certainly have come a long way but some of the obstacles in front of us are huge and even if we discover life out there in the deep dark, are we ready for it?
07 November 2013/ NewScientist
SO CLOSE, and yet so far. We are now pretty certain that there are billions of Earth-like planets in our galaxy – rocky worlds about the same size as ours, orbiting similar stars at similar distances. Ideal places to search for alien life. The nearest may be a mere 12 light years away, too far to visit but certainly close enough to take a look (see "Fake planets reveal distance to Earth's nearest twin").
Unfortunately, we can't look – at least not yet. The discovery is extracted from data collected by the Kepler Space Telescope, which malfunctioned in May. There may be more surprises buried in Kepler's data, but its Earthlike-planet-spotting days are over.
Still, the finding bolsters the belief that we are just a few years away from a truly jaw-dropping discovery. Kepler's successor, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, is due to launch in 2017. It will scour the sky for small rocky worlds around nearby stars, and is expected to find hundreds. Future instruments such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the proposed StarShade mission will follow up these discoveries, probing the planets' atmospheres for signs of life.
The idea that there might be another living planet a few light years from home, orbiting a star visible with the naked eye, is a tantalising prospect. For better or worse, the odds are stacked against that. But we can be pretty confident that, if life is common in the universe, we will have found signs of it by the middle of the next decade.
Though I believe that finding evidence of life outside the solar system is simply a matter of time I feel that many articles and academics fall prey to the 30-40 year cycle of technology. Believing that with a vague amount of time to advance at similar rates that a threshold will be crossed and our interstellar eyes will be opened to worlds that have been hidden behind a curtain of human ignorance and unfathomable understanding. The same could be said of AI, lunar and solar exploration, robotics etc...
We certainly have come a long way but some of the obstacles in front of us are huge and even if we discover life out there in the deep dark, are we ready for it?