What if they exist?
We have been searching for an alien life form for tens of years, and so far, we have not been able to find them. We suspect that there might be other life forms somewhere out there, but we have no idea where. So far, we are the only ones in this great Universe.
There are many rumors about the aliens, as there are hundreds of people who have declared that they saw them. Some even say that they got in contact with them, and some have even stated that the aliens took them on their space craft. There is also the famous Area 51, which is a highly secured military base located in Nevada, and it is believed that alien bodies are being stored there. There is also the Roswell incident, where in 1947, an UFO apparently crashed there. The Americans were asked if they believe that our planet was visited by aliens, and 25 percent of them said that they believe it. The UFOs are a great source of mystery, and many of us consider them to be strictly fictive, just like Bigfoot, or Sasquatch is. There are thousands of stories about them, yet no one has managed to bring accurate proof that they exist.
It seems that the scientists are more convinced than ever that alien life exists somewhere in this Universe. Sure, the aliens might not be as we imagined them, as we might be the superior and more developed ones. Mary Voytek, who is NASA’s head astrobiologist, says that it is very probable that we are not the only ones in the Universe, and that this might be harder to accept. She said that we have this desire of believing that we are unique, and that it is impossible for other beings to exist in the Universe. In case you did not know, NASA has a well established plan in case it is discovered that we are not alone. If you think about it, the craze about the alien life forms has not started when the technology got evolved. The first time when it was mentioned about the possibility of life on other planets was in 5th century B.C, by Democritus, a Greek philosopher said that there might be “innumerable worlds of different sizes,” which might have life.
Roman poet Titus Lucretius Carus then wrote 400 years later that there are “other worlds” which contain “different tribes of men, kinds of wild beasts.” It is believed that he was talking about the aliens, and it seems that there is a wide belief that they might have visited our planet sometimes during those times. Johannes Kepler, a German astronomer was the first person who wrote a science fiction story in the 17th century. He wrote a story in which people went to the Moon where they encountered aliens that look like a mixture between reptiles and humans. It seems that back then, the concept about the aliens regarding their physical appearance was different than the one we have nowadays. Soon afterwards there were many others who wrote about the other planets and about the possibility of sustaining life. The first time when humans looked at Mars was in 1894, when Percival Lowel, the American astronomer aimed his telescope at the planet. He saw that the planet had canals positioned in a very interesting manner. It was believed that the canals followed a certain path, and it was believed that the canals were created by creatures living on that planet.
NASA was created in the 20th century, and since then we have been analyzing numerous planets. We have created numerous satellites which surround the Earth, and look for information. We have created space shifts and we have gone to the Moon. We have also created numerous robots which were sent to places where we can not go. All of these were done with the task of exploring the Universe, but it is very likely that the biggest reason why we did it was because we were hoping to find out extraterrestrial life. We were able to find out that both Moon and Mars have water on them, and that made us to believe even more that there might be life there. We are able to analyze the meteors and the comets which fall on Earth, and we have discovered that they contain elements which we have here on Earth. It seems that the search for alien life is going on two different paths. NASA and the other space agencies want to find out any type of life form, even microscopically ones.
On the other hand, there are others who search for the aliens we have seen in so many movies. NASA is concentrating the search on the closer planets, as they believe that these are the best places for sustaining life. The recent discovery of the bacteria which is able to survive by consuming mercury, made the scientists even more willing to search for life on these planets. They believe that they might have ignored certain places just because they did not find all the elements which we as humans need in order to be able to live on this planet. Astrologist Frank Drake was the first person who started this, when he pointed a radio telescope at two stars in order to listen for signals which would indicate extraterrestrial life. He set the frequency on 1,420 megahertz, the radio wave emitted by the cold hydrogen gas. He made this chose because the gas is very common in the Universe. He considered the aliens to be very smart and he believed that if they exist, they would know to set their radios on the same frequency as we do.
Speaking of their intelligence, there are many who say that if they would exist, and if they would really have the technology presented in the movies, then they would be the ones who would initiate the contact. They believe that we are struggling to find something which does not exist, and they believe that we are wasting money which we could be use on something else. Numerous people started to search for alien life after Drake took the initiative. There was a program created, Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, which has the main task of searching for the aliens. So far, the biggest thing they found out was a 72 second pulse which they detected in 1977. They have realized that the signal came from a very distant place, and needles to say, the news caught everyone by surprise. They could not find out where the signal came from, but there were many people who believed that the aliens send these signals. There were some who said that the signal might have come from a black hole, and it seems that this is the most plausible theory.
Since then they did not find anything, and they could not find the pulse again. Jill Tarter, who is the director of the Center for SETI Research, said that they are currently looking for even the smallest signals which last less than a billionth of a second. She said that those signals could indicate that there is life somewhere out there, but it is unknown how. She said that these signals could only be emitted by technology, and not by nature, and if they find them, it is very likely that they were issued by the aliens. They believed that the detection of the signal would mean that the aliens are looking for life forms as well, and that they are using laser technology in order to do it. There are many who believe that they will never find out the aliens, and that they are still obsessed by the signal which was discovered 33 years ago. Tarter has admitted that she does not know if they are looking on the correct frequency or not, or if they are using the correct technology. She and her colleagues believe that the effort is worth it. She said that they have a plan in case they find alien life, and that they are optimistic that they will find it sometime in the future.
The plan was created when SETI collaborated with NASA, and it is called “Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. According to the declaration, the first thing that they need to do in case they find sings of extra terrestrial life is to verify the clues with other technologies. They need to verify is the clue was not a one time incident like the one from the 1970s. Tarter said that there are many people who want to play tricks on them, and they need to make sure that the signal which they detected is real and not fake. In case they realize that the signal is true, then they need to announce the secretary general of the United Nations.
They would also need to announce all the members of the International Astronomical Union, and the public as well. They would have to hold a news conference as soon as possible. She said that they would not hide the fact that they found alien life, because they need to follow these rules, and besides, she considers that the news should be spread. It is believed that we have the highest chances of finding the aliens on Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency would like to send robots on Mars in the following 15 to 20 years in order to collect samples and to bring them home. They hope that they would find signs of existing life on the planet, but it is unknown if they will be successful. In case they will bring the samples from the planet, they will need to follow certain strict rules. First of all, they would need to keep them very securely confined, similar to any dangerous virus which exists on Earth. They said that the samples might contain viruses we have never heard of, and in case they might make one sick, the entire population of our planet might be at risk.
Catharine Conley, who is NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer, said that prior to bringing something from Mars on Earth, they need to make sure that they have a method of stopping it in case the situation goes out of control. In case the samples prove to have life, they need to make sure that they will be able to kill it in case they have to do it. She said that it is very likely that in case they find life on the planet, the news will be made public. Of course, there are many who believe the opposite, and who are convinced that there are many things which the government hides from us. That might not be true, and one of the proofs is the discovery of the bacteria which I mentioned earlier. Sure, there might be certain things which we do not know, but it is very likely that we would find out about such a discovery. In the meantime, the people from SETI wonder about what it would be like in case we would find out alien life.
They said that in case if we would find out microscopic alien life, then we would know that we are not alone, and we would accept the fact that we are the more evolved beings. However, they said that if we would find more intelligent aliens, the situation would be different, because we would not know if they would be enemies or friendly. Most of them believe that the aliens are friendly in case they exist, and that we would be able to get along with them. Of course, these theories are extreme, as it is very likely that we would not be able to find out the alien life forms any time soon. They believe that once we would find the aliens, we would be able to find cures for certain diseases and so on. In the meantime we have to be satisfied with watching the aliens in movies. What do you think, do they exist?
