NASA & alien life

[wings7]

Food for thought...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/n ... vi-BBxntaJ

Patrick

[MrsWargamer]

The Crystalline Entity of Star Next Generation is likely the only logical form of alien life so far in mainstream film.

The conditions of planet Earth are largely the reasons for life on Earth. A magnetic shield, a sufficient sized moon to keep our planet's rotation stable, seasonal rotation axis, water. And plenty of evolution has not been gradual. Our planet has experienced 11 known extinction level events that killed off mass sums of life making the chances for survivors to then become dominant.

[Zap]

Thanks Wings7 we needed someone to carry the Alien Banner since the banning of S(name unmentionable)[:)] Joking aside, I will be interested to see what develops.

[TulliusDetritus]

In Slaak's defence, aliens were not an important part of his folklore. His lunacies were terrestrial.

Agreed, we need more aliens.

[wings7]

ORIGINAL: Zap

Thanks Wings7 we needed someone to carry the Alien Banner since the banning of S(name unmentionable)[:)] Joking aside, I will be interested to see what develops.

Sorry, I'm not carrying the alien banner, the thread is for researched factual info only! [:)]

[Poopyhead]

Dear Government, we need 100 billion USD to send colonists to Mars so we can find microbes. These microbes may actually be a lot like the ones we can already find here on Earth. Don't worry about the dangers, we'll teach the colonists how to build the most practical thing they will need...a graveyard.

Unlike the woman in the link, most of the cool scientists at SETI and in the Exobiology departments will tell your children that 100,000 intelligent alien races may inhabit the universe. Even if they have an extraordinary understanding of the Drake equation, that might be a very lonely place. The "Hubble Bubble" of the observable universe centered on the Earth contains about 300,000 billion, billion, billion cubic light years of space. So if we are statistically lucky, we may have an intelligent neighbor within our 3 billion, billion, billion cubic light year zone. Yaaay (sarcasm off).

That may seem daunting, however, time is on our side. The universe is 13.72 billion years old. Galaxies formed within a half billion years after the Big Bang. Giant stars in those galaxies were rapidly fusing hydrogen into heavier elements. After only a few million years these stars were going super nova. The heavier elements that make up life were spread throughout the surrounding hydrogen clouds. The shock waves created stars like ours. If some of these stars evolved like ours (physics led to chemistry led to biology), then intelligent creatures might have populated them by 5 billion years after the BB. So beings like us should statistically have existed 8 billion years ago. That would give them enough time to colonise everything in that 3 bn, bn, bn cubic light year space. Either interstellar space travel is totally impossible or they should have found us.

Perhaps, the most intelligent members of any advanced species eventually disccover technology that the most foolish members of their species use to cause their extinction.

[wings7]

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

Dear Government, we need 100 billion USD to send colonists to Mars so we can find microbes. These microbes may actually be a lot like the ones we can already find here on Earth. Don't worry about the dangers, we'll teach the colonists how to build the most practical thing they will need...a graveyard.

Unlike the woman in the link, most of the cool scientists at SETI and in the Exobiology departments will tell your children that 100,000 intelligent alien races may inhabit the universe. Even if they have an extraordinary understanding of the Drake equation, that might be a very lonely place. The "Hubble Bubble" of the observable universe centered on the Earth contains about 300,000 billion, billion, billion cubic light years of space. So if we are statistically lucky, we may have an intelligent neighbor within our 3 billion, billion, billion cubic light year zone. Yaaay (sarcasm off).

That may seem daunting, however, time is on our side. The universe is 13.72 billion years old. Galaxies formed within a half billion years after the Big Bang. Giant stars in those galaxies were rapidly fusing hydrogen into heavier elements. After only a few million years these stars were going super nova. The heavier elements that make up life were spread throughout the surrounding hydrogen clouds. The shock waves created stars like ours. If some of these stars evolved like ours (physics led to chemistry led to biology), then intelligent creatures might have populated them by 5 billion years after the BB. So beings like us should statistically have existed 8 billion years ago. That would give them enough time to colonise everything in that 3 bn, bn, bn cubic light year space. Either interstellar space travel is totally impossible or they should have found us.

Perhaps, the most intelligent members of any advanced species eventually disccover technology that the most foolish members of their species use to cause their extinction.

Ah, the mystery of life...I wonder when (if ever) we will perfect space travel, the billion light year away space travel that is...I liked your post! [:)]

[Poopyhead]

Thanks! The problem with space travel is actually biology. If we "fix" the human genome so that we live for centuries or millenia rather than decades, then even our science can get us to Alpha Centauri and beyond. O'Neill and Dyson designed structures that would be microcosms in space. An axiom states that anything that exists naturally will eventually be sythesised. The strong nuclear force holds atomic nuclei together about 100,000 times stronger than steel. A generational spaceship from such synthetic material would last for trillions of years. Patience plus indestructible space microcosm equals billion light year journey.

[Orm]

Welcome back. [:)]

Although I fear your stay will be short. [:(]

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: wings7

Food for thought...
http://www.msn.com/en-us/video/wonder/n ... vi-BBxntaJ

Patrick

Nothing really new.

[MrsWargamer]

What I would like to know, is why have the scientists that know why Mars has no observable life not told all the fools that want to go live there, why Mars has no observable life?

Something about an absence of a magnetic shield. It's rather basic planetary science after all eh

If you offered me a free ticket to Mars, I'd likely give it to someone dumb enough to want to go.

[wings7]

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

What I would like to know, is why have the scientists that know why Mars has no observable life not told all the fools that want to go live there, why Mars has no observable life?

Something about an absence of a magnetic shield. It's rather basic planetary science after all eh

If you offered me a free ticket to Mars, I'd likely give it to someone dumb enough to want to go.

Personally I'm staying here on Earth, no desire to travel, let the travelers report back. [;)] Arch, what about these questions?

[demyansk]

I am watching Star Trek episodes on BBC America, good ole 1967

[Poopyhead]

ORIGINAL: wings7

ORIGINAL: MrsWargamer

What I would like to know, is why have the scientists that know why Mars has no observable life not told all the fools that want to go live there, why Mars has no observable life?

Something about an absence of a magnetic shield. It's rather basic planetary science after all eh

If you offered me a free ticket to Mars, I'd likely give it to someone dumb enough to want to go.

Personally I'm staying here on Earth, no desire to travel, let the travelers report back. [;)] Arch, what about these questions?

We need to stop the circus acts, "first man in space", "first fellow on Mars", "first guy to poop on a comet". Earth is the graveyard for 100 billion extinct species, a bullseye floating in space. Living on Mars, would just give our species two targets. Humanity needs to get off this rock or we are doomed. Hotels in orbit might cater to the one million millionaires here in the U.S. This would allow us to build habitats in space and learn how to do that best. Once you have a good space hab that substitutes spin for gravity and uses water for insulation to absorb dangerous radiation, then you can orbit any asteroid, moon or planet safely. From the orbiting hab, robots could be used to explore or mine on these objects. O'Neill did the numbers and one large space hab with a fraction of the inhabitants building new habs could grow exponentially. Enough habs could be built for the population of the Earth to live in space in less than 60 years. These habs would be the size of a small town. Also, robots could deconstruct the inner planets Mercury and Venus in less than a century. The material could be used to construct a swarm of solar collectors. These would provide energy for a million times Earth's current population. A fraction of this energy could power huge lasers that would accelerate space habs to nearby stars with solar sails at about 10% of the speed of light. A million years ago our ancestors lived in trees and caves. Today we build our homes out of wood and stone. A million years from now our progeny might live in space habs that resemble mini-Earths around every star in the galaxy.

[MrsWargamer]

I concur. If Yellowstone were to erupt, we'd be out about 2/3s if not more humans rather abruptly. Wouldn't eliminate us, but sure would delay us going anywhere for a while.

But there are worse things than Yellowstone. Like the next time our magnetic shield reverses.

I've read extensively on mass extinctions. The Permian likely would have wiped us out.

Putting a storage of all life terrestrial on the moon would be outrageously expensive, right till it's the only copy.

I've read a few times a book by Jack Williamson called Terraforming Earth 2001. Highly recommended acknowledged master of science fiction who is author of many titles.

Also a great read is 1 Million AD by Gardner Dozis also acknowledged as a great writer. Because we humans seem to like to think 10.000 years is a long time.

I doubt humanity would recognize humanity 1 million years from now. It always makes me laugh listening to men of science worry about the fate of earth in a billion years. I wonder if the dinosaurs pondered their fate in one maybe sentient species that was aware of their existence beyond the animal level. Will there be any evidence we existed as a sentient species in 1 million years. How long will any of our constructs last. Is nuclear waste the only thing that will outlast us.

[Poopyhead]

FYI, an article in the latest issue of Astronomy magazine states that the number of galaxies in the observable universe may be 10 times greater than previously estimated. The last number I am familiar with is 200 billion galaxies, which would now be approximately 2 trillion. Tweaking the Drake equation with the new number of stars, we may now have 10 intelligent neighbors in our 3 bn, bn, bn cubic light year zone...or not.

[TulliusDetritus]

ORIGINAL: Poopyhead

FYI, an article in the latest issue of Astronomy magazine states that the number of galaxies in the observable universe may be 10 times greater than previously estimated. The last number I am familiar with is 200 billion galaxies, which would now be approximately 2 trillion. Tweaking the Drake equation with the new number of stars, we may now have 10 intelligent neighbors in our 3 bn, bn, bn cubic light year zone...or not.

And you're not even counting the Parallel Universes out there... or Twilight Zones for that matter.

I'm pretty sure I saw - in some forums I visit: newspapers etc - people posting comments from the past and sometimes from the future. Ok, maybe it was a software malfunction, but I prefer the first theory

[Poopyhead]

On the pro side of looking for microbes on Mars is the thermodynamics argument. Smaller planets like Mars would have cooled faster than larger planets like Earth. A cool Mars, perhaps with oceans, existed when the Earth was still a ball of lava. Conditions that led to the first organism (physics and chemistry led to biology) would have existed on Mars first. If true, it's possible that this Alpha Organism evolved on Mars for millions of years into sturdier stuff. These developed microbes may have then been transported to a cool Earth on Martian meteorites and "seeded" life here. Some of the pristine Alpha Organism may still exist on Mars. So to find the original source of life, we may have to send people to Mars (with an electron microscope, some microbes are only a few nanometers long).