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