Proof of aliens coming in 20 years, says NASA scientist – A NASA scientist says weโre just a couple decades away from having conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life. On Tuesday, April 7, NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan spoke on a panel about water in the universe. Water is an essential ingredient for life as we know it. So astrobiologists typically focus the search for extraterrestrial life on worlds where water is present.
- The comment was made today by Ellen Stofan, chief Nasa scientist
- ‘It’s definitely not an if, it’s a when,’ added Nasa’s Jeffery Newmark
- But the likelihood that life is similar to that on Earth is low, they said
- Signs of water have been found on some of Jupiter and Saturn’s moons
There at least 200 billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy โ and now Nasa officials claim we could be on the verge of finding life on one of them. During a talk in Washington today, the space agency announced that humanity is likely to encounter extra-terrestrials within a decade. ‘I believe we are going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth in the next decade and definitive evidence in the next 10 to 20 years,’ Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for Nasa, said.
‘We know where to look, we know how to look, and in most cases we have the technology.’Jeffery Newmark, interim director of heliophysics at the agency, added: ‘It’s definitely not an if, it’s a when.’
‘We are not talking about little green men,’ Stofan said. ‘We are talking about little microbes.’The announcement has been prompted by the recent discovery of water by Nasa in surprising places. Jim Green, director of planetary science at Nasa, noted that a recent study of the Martian atmosphere found 50 per cent of the planet’s northern hemisphere once had oceans a mile deep.
Also participating in this panel discussion was NASAโs astrophysics director Paul Hertz who explains that the Milky Way is โa soggy place.โ He continues, โWe can see water in the interstellar clouds from which planetary systems and stellar systems form. We can see water in the disks of debris that are going to become planetary systems around other stars, and we can even see comets being dissipated in other solar systems as [their] star evaporates them.โ
During the panel discussion, Stofan predicts, โI think weโre going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think weโre going to have definitive evidence within twenty to thirty years.โ
Former astronaut John Grunsfeld agrees with Stofan, stating, โI think weโre one generation away in our solar system, whether itโs on an icy moon or on Mars, and one generation [away] on a planet around a nearby star.โ
Stofan explains, โWe know where to look. We know how to look.โ She continues, โIn most cases we have the technology, and weโre on a path to implementing it. And so I think weโre definitely on the road.โ
Other scientists have offered opinions in recent years about the impending official discovery of extraterrestrial life. Lord Martin Rees, former president of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, believes that extraterrestrial life could be found within forty years. And Seth Shostak, SETI Institute senior astronomer, has stated that โIn the course of the next 20 years, it just might happen.โ Heโs explained, โThere are other places in the solar system that might have liquid water. To find it requires mounting a big mission with rockets and robots and going to look. The timescale for that is 10, 20, 30 years, depending on the funding.โ
The recent NASA panel discussion was broadcast live on the Internet. You can watch the entire event in the video at the top of this story.
Source: openminds.tv
