Is There Life Beyond Earth?
Now life can be anything we think of. For me that includes plants along with animals, aquatic life and humans. The existence of even one microbe on some other planet would mean we are not alone. I believe that life exists in some aspect out there in the universe. The challenge is the chances of finding it the next century or two is very remote. That is to be able to send some sort of probe to see it. The distances involved are just beyond large. We have put a probe on Mars which is in the room next to us from a relative distance standpoint. The Voyager space probe has recently left our solar system and that is after 40 years of travel.
We have technological challenges that keep us from improving on the current tens of thousands of miles per hour capability we have today to getting into the thousands of miles per second that is required for travel just within our own galaxy.
Our best chance of getting any indication of life beyond us is through improved probes and space telescopes. We see tremendous improvement in our ability to build better space craft. Scientists and engineers are finding ways to produce better materials to handle the rigors of space. Computers and software are at the forefront of rapid change. Measuring equipment gets more sensitive every decade.
We may not see something on another planet beyond our solar system for a very long time, however we may be able to “sense” it within my lifetime. I know “they” are out there. It will just take a while to let them know we are here too.
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