Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Kepler readied for launch and ‘The Crowded Universe’

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:
g Abodes - NASA's Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to launch in early March. In orbit, the powerful telescope will search for Earth-like planets around distant, sun-like stars. The mission will help researchers determine if habitable planets are common or rare in the Universe. See article.
g Life - As NASA prepares to hunt for Earth-like planets in our corner of the Milky Way galaxy, there’s new buzz that “Star Trek’s” vision of a universe full of life may not be that far-fetched. See article.
g Cosmicus - Book alert: The latest challenge of the space race, according to Alan Boss in "The Crowded Universe: The Search for Living Planets,” is the discovery of other solar systems with habitable Earth-like planets. See review.

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

First off: Even though there are the ingredients for life, that doesn't mean that life might be there.
Second off: If there is life on another planet, and we find it, how might they react to our presence?
Finally, if there is a "crowded universe" that does not want humanity to find them, how might they hide from us?

Rob Bignell said...

All good questions. I'm intrigued by the "how might they react to our presence?" question - it's not something that has been much discussed or dealt with in scientific circles, or even in science fiction (though there's plenty in the latter about how we'll react!).