Saturday, May 15, 2010

Mars at one moment in time and what do we do after contact?

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. Here's today's news:
g Cosmicus - NASA's Opportunity rover on Mars recently participated in a public photography project called 'A Moment in Time.' On May 2 at 15:00 UTC, people all around the world took a photograph to show the variety of life on our world. Opportunity joined in, adding a moment in time from the surface of Mars. See article.
g Learning - Some have called astrobiology the “science without a subject”. So why is astrobiology now receiving funding? See article.
g Aftermath - Though an older Web posting, “After Contact, Then What?” shows how little we’ve thought about this question.

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2 comments:

Search4XtraLife said...

Astrobiology is important if we want to try to find intelligent life in the universe. If we find life forms on other planets, we can begin to expand our views from the biased viewpoint that all life has to have certain things, like water, oxygen or DNA. Life could be entirely different than what we think it is. Astrobiology is an important study of what life could be.

Rob Bignell said...

You're right on the mark. One of the fundamentals of scientific observation is comparison, and without non-DNA /non-water-as-a-solvent-based life to examine, we are lacking the ability to answer if Earth's way is the only way that life can exist. Such an understanding in turn would give us a better sense of our place in the universe and address some of humanity's most profound questions about ourselves and existence.