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Scientists Have Laid Out a Plan To Search For Life in the Universe (qz.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: A blue-ribbon panel of researchers chaired by the University of Toronto's Barbara Sherwood Lollar assembled the report at the behest of the US Congress, which asked in a 2017 law that a "strategy for astrobiology" be developed to prioritize "the search for life's origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe." The 196-page report does not offer easy access to ET, but the steady drumbeat of scientific advancement it documents suggests an increasingly sophisticated understanding of what we know -- and don't know -- about biology on our planet and beyond.
Indeed, the recently gained knowledge it highlights is the front end of a wave: Only the Viking mission in the 1970s hunted rigorously for signs of life on other planets, and now the first new NASA mission to do so, the Europa lander, is being designed. In the past four years alone, scientists using data gathered by space probes on Mars discovered evidence of past surface water, the presence of nutrients and organic molecules, and methane gas in the atmosphere that varies by season. This doesn't mean life exists now on Mars, but it is helping contribute to an understanding of astrobiology as a discipline that looks at physical and chemical processes over time to determine if the conditions for life once existed or may do so in the future.
Much work on astrobiology is Earth-focused; it is the only place we know life exists and thus is our guinea pig for detecting life from a distance. The Galileo space probe found signs of life on our planet in 1990. The report stressed that recent discoveries of life on Earth that exists without the sun's energy, deep under the ocean or the ground, should inform what we look for on other worlds. Scientists are expanding their understanding of habitability beyond a binary and into a spectrum, which may sound trite, but previous research relied on blunt instruments and blunter assumptions about alien life -- starting with the idea that it would appear on the surface.
Indeed, the recently gained knowledge it highlights is the front end of a wave: Only the Viking mission in the 1970s hunted rigorously for signs of life on other planets, and now the first new NASA mission to do so, the Europa lander, is being designed. In the past four years alone, scientists using data gathered by space probes on Mars discovered evidence of past surface water, the presence of nutrients and organic molecules, and methane gas in the atmosphere that varies by season. This doesn't mean life exists now on Mars, but it is helping contribute to an understanding of astrobiology as a discipline that looks at physical and chemical processes over time to determine if the conditions for life once existed or may do so in the future.
Much work on astrobiology is Earth-focused; it is the only place we know life exists and thus is our guinea pig for detecting life from a distance. The Galileo space probe found signs of life on our planet in 1990. The report stressed that recent discoveries of life on Earth that exists without the sun's energy, deep under the ocean or the ground, should inform what we look for on other worlds. Scientists are expanding their understanding of habitability beyond a binary and into a spectrum, which may sound trite, but previous research relied on blunt instruments and blunter assumptions about alien life -- starting with the idea that it would appear on the surface.
Different people have different talents and interests. Forcing a biologist to work on a fusion reactor may not produce the results you'd like.
The purpose is to satisfy our curiosity. I would rather read about the discovery of alien lifeforms, than watch a football championship or play computer games.
The point was to test if life could be detected from space.
We tested that idea using the only place we know life exists.
The test worked.
We now have a positive test result. We now know, for a fact, that life can be detected from space -because we did it.
Now the hard part - look for it elsewhere, and may, just maybe, get a positive result there too.
The larger point of the article is that while we're using tests for planet surface based life, when there's a decent chance for non-surface life. Therefore we need to expand the toolset we use, because we've become biased based on our test data (Earth).
Life evolves to fit environmental niches. It's not a stretch to hypothesize that some sort of continual environmental change might also be required for life to kick in - let alone evolve. I think you're likely to see more environmental change on a planet's surface. While you may be able to transplant life somewhere like Europa, the chance of it actually beginning there might be a lot less than if it were more dynamic.
we'll send the tax for that to you then
Great, please make sure you deduct all the taxes for stuff that doesn't interest me.
Oh they aren't spending billions on this, I didn't look up what this project would cost, but NASA's whole budget was 20. DoD was 700, by comparison. We'll probably spend more money making M16s than this project will run.
The besr bet outside the solar system is teasing out the spectral lines of a star as it passes through the atmosphere of a planet in front of it, and looking for the kinds of complexity you only find with life.
It requires incredible tech but they're already getting there.
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Any species willing to advertise their location to any and all possible xenophobic invaders can't be classified as an intelligent species... I'm lookin' at you, homo sapiens!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Oh, there's life there all right... it's just not intelligent life as we know it!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.