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Are we alone in this Vast Universe?
This is the question humanity has pondered over for several millenniums now. Can another civilization or even a single cell organism be found in our universe? Either we are the only intelligent species in the entire cosmos or the other life forms have decided not to make contact. We are using radio waves for several decades, if there are intelligent life forms out there, they would have found out about our existence. The possibility of the existence of Alien life got big when the first exoplanet was founded in 1992 inside our galaxy.
Space research has been going on to find out about the existence of exoplanets that might direct us towards unlocking the truth about alien life forms. Our galaxy is packed with exoplanets and we may try to observe them, but we can't observe the signs of microbial life in the atmosphere of the planet. We might find Intelligent life forms if they exist, but finding bacterial life is even more difficult. The Hubble Telescope has helped to find many exoplanets beyond our galaxy and there is still no sign of life on any exoplanets. But remember the universe is an ever-expanding vast place, so there is still hope of finding Alien life. How can we find them?
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
The early search for Intelligent life on other planets was launched in the 1960s in the form of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). It was started by the experiment "Project Ozma" which uses a radio telescope to detect the radio waves coming from the cosmos. SETI uses a Kepler telescope and a series of connected telescopes to detect the radio waves from the universe.
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| Alien Hunt by Hubble Telescope |
There have been more false alarms from the radio waves picked up from the SETI Signals. As we continue our search for technologically evolved alien forms we also have picked up bizarre radio waves from space. Although scientific theory proves that those waves are created artificially, there is simply too much we don't know about space. So far no direct signal has been picked up from the planets, but there are probably millions of habitable planets in the other star systems, so the hope is not lost yet. The Kepler SETI is going to continue for years to come.
Disappearing Stars
We haven't evolved much to do interstellar travel yet, but on the other hand, Alien civilization might have developed to utilize the power of the star. Those types of Alien species if exist will be known as the "Type II" on the Kardashev scale. Going forward, taking energy from the star could become possible for humans after several centuries.
If the Alien civilization has advanced so much, they could be spotted by the disappearance of the star in the galaxies. If the power of the star were to be absorbed by them, then that would reduce the intensity of the star and the visibility of the star might become very low. So spotting the absence of starlight in the vastness of space could help us find out the answer. With the help of the new James Webb Telescope, it is going to be a very intense search for radio waves.
Asteroid-Eating Aliens
The start of space tourism in this decade has made space accessible to everyone and the best way to make space resourceful is to start Asteroid Mining. If we develop the technology and achieve it, if the Alien civilization is advanced, they would have already made that progress. They might entirely depend on Asteroids for their survival because asteroid contains a lot of valuable materials. They might have already embarked on the journey to start asteroid mining. With our latest technologies, we might just be able to detect any mining operation on an asteroid in our galaxy. Asteroids contain the most precious elements, so they might be interested in mining them, assuming they don't have any other mode of sources.
Finding Primitive Life forms
Perseverance Rover
NASA's recent launch to mars (the Perseverance Rover) has been successful and the main part of the mission is to collect the sample from the Martian surface and analysis the sample back on here on Earth. Now the Perseverance Rover is going to dig deep down the Martian surface and find out about the existence of microbial organisms. Because when the conditions get tough, life moves into the rocks. The perseverance will collect 40 samples during its 2-year mission.
Outside Mars, the best place to look for life is the moon of Jupiter, the Europa. Europa contains a vast ocean of water below its icy surface which could sustain primitive life forms. NASA is planning to launch a mission to Europa named Clipper in 2023. The Radar system which is to be installed in the Clipper craft can sense the presence of life forms inside the icy surface. More and more ambitious missions are being planned on Europa.
Titan, Saturn's biggest moon might also give us hope about the existence of rudimentary life forms. Titan is fully made of water and methane. But the trip to Titan is going to be challenging because there is less sunlight to power the spacecraft and it will take years to reach the Titan. NASA has planned to reach Titan by a nuclear-powered craft, the Dragonfly. It will not be powered by the chemical batteries which are usually used to power the spacecraft, whereas the craft will be powered by Plutonium.
