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Wednesday, April 15, 2015

ARE WE ALONE









ARE WE ALONE
Humanity is at the pinnacle of Life at this planet.  For roughly 30,000 years we human beings have struggled and fought our way for survival.  We created civisation .  Many civilizations rose and fell.  The most successful civilization was of the Egyptians lasted some 4500 years .  The Greeks lasted a thousand and the Romans civilization lasted some 1500 years miniscule as compared to the Stars.
SEARCH FOR EXTRA-TERRISTRIAL INTELLIGENCE (SETI)
Since the beginning of civilization mankind has wondered if we are Alone in this Universe or is there any Life elsewhere. Probes are sent to other planets (Mars,) of our Solar system, to investigate any other life exists there or not.
In the late twentieth century scientists converged upon the basic idea of scanning the sky and listening for non random pattern of electromagnetic waves (radio and TV waves) to determine the existence of another civilization in the universe. NASA joined in SETI efforts in 1960/70ties. By their mutual efforts more intensive Search was organized in 1995.  But their Government cancelled their programme within a year. It is now funded by private foundations. Scientist Carl Sagan was promoter and believer of the presence of life outside Earth. 

  Frank Drake   of SETI, a Scientist  has devoted his life to establish the presence of extra-terrestrial life. He derived an equation which is known as Drake Equation..The probability of life elsewhere. Frank Drake had conceived an approach to bind the terms involved in estimating the number of technological civilizations that may exist in our galaxy. The equation  is represented as

N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L, where

N = The number of civilizations in the Milky Way whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable.
R* = The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.
fp = The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.
ne = The number of planets per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.
fl = The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.
fi = The fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.
fc = The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.
L = The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.




To scan the sky SETI needed equipments, very large computers .  But the largest fastest computer too was uable to scan decode  radio TV waves in the sky.  Therefore, they 
devised a project called SETI@home, which they distributed as free Screen Savers to public's personnel computers from their website://setiathome.berkley.edu which once installed routinely downloaded packets of information from the central server and analysez them.  Thousands of people have uploaded this free project showing their awareness and interest in the mission.  I and my daughter too have installed on our computers Seti@home since its inception in 1999.

Recent Debate:
There was a furious debate recently among the astronomers about whether we should send our signals to the Universe saying/we're here..Whether we should take the risk of letting all the Aliens know that we are here.
A scientist and science  fiction writer David Brin said,
"The arrogance of shouting into the cosmos without any proper risk assessment defies belief. It is a course that would put our grandchildren at risk." If we send them (aliens) messages they will come here and enslave us. Or just eat us.
Actually we have been sending our radio and TV singnals since many years (100 yrs), and by now they must have been received .  The nearest star is four light years away..Our signals fade away in just one light year…
This new debate is actually of active SETI.  We have been doing passive SETI listening for messages from civilization from other stars for more than forty years.
Ellan Stofan (NASA chief scientist) said I think we are going to have strong indications of Life beyond Earth within a decade, and i think we are going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years.   WE know where to look, we know how to look.  We have the technology and we are on the path to implementing it.  And so I think we are definitely on the road."
Latest News from NASA that, Be ready to witness Alien Life by 2025 .It’s really becoming interesting isn’t it?

 

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