Could we find alien life in 20 Years?

 

"I think in the next 20 years we will find out we are not alone in the universe.”

Kevin Hand, Deputy Chief Scientist,

Solar System Exploration,

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

 Mr. Hand is not the first scientist to make predictions of that kind. Further, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, has said we will discover a signal from intelligent life in eleven years.

On Mars, the Curiosity rover is making new discoveries and scientists are optimistic about finding life on Mars in a few years. "There is one thing we can say for sure: If we don’t look for life out there, we won’t find it. It’s more a matter of will than scientific know-how. According to NASA scientists the$8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope is a good start. Slated to launch into orbit by 2018, it could detect signs of oxygen, methane or other signs of biological life on distant planets, although some scientists think that an even larger, more advanced telescope is needed to accomplish that goal.

NASA’s Curiosity rover is trying to find that the Red Planet was once and still is home to life. But not all scientists are willing to name a specific number of years until we find traces of aliens — or if we will ever find them at all.

There are theories as to how common life is in the universe. But until they actually observe signs of life, they can’t be sure. If we do find something in the next 20 years, however, it could mean that we have a lot of alien neighbors and we didn't even know. We should be putting more resources into exploring space for signs of life in order to know more about the strange things that surrounds us. Finding life anywhere could mean "we live in a biological universe where life arises whenever the conditions are right,” the possibility of such a revolutionary discovery is worth funding advanced telescopes and missions to Mars, Jupiter’s Europa moon and beyond. "There is one thing we can say for sure: If we don’t look for life out there, we won’t find it.”

By: Chm1046 Honors Project; Biology Group - Adriana Blanco, Aldo Garcia, Daniela Ramirez

Flat Tire?

Unexpected wheel damage on the Curiosity Rover

During engineering conferences conducted by NASA it has been stated that each of Curiosity's six aluminum wheels is independently actuated and geared, built for climbing in soft sand and rolling over rocks. However, engineers eyeing rover-snapped imagery have been taken aback by the amount of wear and tear on the wheels. It is said to be NASA’s surprise of the year. 

The Curiosity Rover Engineering team always expected to get some holes in the wheels as they drove, it's just the magnitude of what they are seeing which surprise them. According to Jim Erickson, Curiosity Project Manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, they are trying to avoid a particular kind of rock that is causing the damage.

Overall, they're learning how to get to the right paths that are going to minimize, not eliminate, the damage on the wheels. It is said that they have never encountered that kind of hard, embedded rock on Mars before. Based on these findings modifications on the design of NASA's next Mars rover, scheduled to launch in 2020 might be modified

By: Chm1046 Honors Project; Engineering Team: Rene Esusy, Mirtha Echeverria and Resni Cruz

History being made on the Red Planet

Curiosity Rover “Selfie”

Mars Science Laboratory Rover team have pointed out that it is very hard to find organic molecules on the Martian surface because the high levels of radiation of Galactic cosmic rays and solar eruptions have deteriorated all the carbon-based chemistry we know of on Mars.

However, they have found a method to find specific places for the rover to drill to look for organics. By measuring the surface’s radioactive decay, the team has discovered the ages of specific surfaces such as the Yellowknife Bay, which has been exposed for about 80 million years.

The method mainly consists on finding potential cliffs or spots where there has been less chemistry-damaging radiation exposure.

By: Chem1046 Honors Project; Chemistry Group: Dahianna Ladino and Julia Cardenas

New Guys Next Door?

Ice on a Martian Crater

Meteors that have blasted off Mars have shown indications of what the early Martian atmosphere was like. They provide evidence that Mars was wet enough for life to exist. There have been 69 meteors found in our Solar System that originated from Mars. These meteorites show the presence of sulfur on the Martians surface. This discovery provides evidence that Mars once has been warm enough to allow water to exist in the surface by the effect of sulfur dioxide.

In contrast to Mars, on Earth it produces the opposite effect: it has a net cooling effect. This discovery shows how different these two planets are, but also the capacity of both planets to sustain living creatures. These asteroids bring insight to the evolution of Mars, and the possibility of having extraterrestrial neighbors.

By: Curiosity Rover Blog; Chm1046 Honors Project: Chemistry Group: Denisse Ziani and Stephanie Galdeano