Star Wars, Serenity,* and Santa Conquers the Martians–since an awareness of the

Question

Star Wars, Serenity,* and Santa Conquers the Martians–since an awareness of the true nature of planets and stars was first achieved, humankind has been fascinated with the possibility of finding life on other worlds. Based on your understanding of the properties a planet must possess in order to sustain life, discuss the ongoing search for, and likelihood of finding not only simple life, but also other advanced civilizations on worlds orbiting other stars. What role does the Drake equation play in the search for life? * Spoiler alert! Serenity doesn't have any aliens.

Explanation / Answer

To compute the probability that extraterrestrial life exists in the universe is actually pretty complicated. The universe is not a stationary environment. Stars are born, they live and also they die. Some stars form in connection with planets. Some others don't. Only little planets have the right situation for supporting life.

The Drake Equation is an effort to conclude the factors that establish the ability of humans to communicate with extraterrestrial civilization. This is accomplished by calculate the number of civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy from which we potentially could receive a signal, using a simple formula.

The formula is:-N = RfpneflfifcL

In this equation, N is the number of measurable civilizations in our galaxy. The other variables are described below:

·        R is the rate of formation of stars suitable for the growth of intelligent life.

·        fp is the portion of stars that form planets.

·        ne is the number of planets capable to life i.e., Earth-like planets.

·        fl is the fraction of these planets on which life actually come out.

·        fi is the fraction of these planets on which smart life occurred.

·       fc is the fraction of society that expand a technology to release detectable signs of their existence into space.

·        L is the length of time of such a society remains detectable.

The only variable known with any degree of confidence is the rate of star formation, R. In the Milky Way, a classic spiral galaxy, new star formation is at a rate of roughly four per year. The most uncertain variable is L, the length of time a civilization remains detectable. A range of estimates have been used for L, varying from 10 years to 10 million years.

Astronomers can make some guesses about the remaining variables. For example, among the nine planets in our solar system, only four are terrestrial planets in which those have a solid surface. Of these terrestrial planets, only Earth supports life. We can take our solar system as representative, then we can calculate that ne equals 1/4 or 0.25. Similar arguments have been made about the other variables and, all having very similar values, generally in a range between 0.1 and 1.0. So, the calculation might look like this:

N = 4 x 0.5 x 0.25 x 0.2 x 0.2 x 0.2 x 3,000,000, which provide a value of 12,000 civilizations in our galaxy.

Drake's original calculations were very similar to this value, N. He predicted that there may be 10,000 detectable civilizations in the Milky Way . Carl Sagan, a leader in the SETI movement recommended that 1 million civilizations may occur in the galaxy. SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is the science of using telescopes, radio and optical, to search the skies for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. Astronomers were so confident when they began to search attentively for extraterrestrial life in the 1960s.

Eventually there is no exclusive solution to the Drake Equation, but it is a commonly accepted tool used by the scientific community to study the exact factors for the growth of extraterrestrial civilizations.

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