Following the theme of our Astrobiology edition, we asked some renowned personalities of Pakistan to share their views on man’s search for life. In this part, we have Mr. Mansoor Ahmad, who is an astrophysicist at NASA, answer our questions.
Questions
1. How do you view astrobiology? What will be your definition of it?
2. How many chances are there for the existence of ExtraTerrestrial life and has it made any contact with us yet?
3. What do you think about the “WOW Signal” and other theories about regarding aliens?
4. What can life look like on other planets? Can it be like what we see in popular culture or not?
5. Should we able to unravel the mysteries about our origin on this planet after learning about ExtraTerrestrial life? How can it be so?
Mansoor Ahmed is a Pakistani astrophysicist, who has been associated with NASA for almost 35 years and is currently serving as the associate director of the Astrophysics Projects Division, as well as the program manager for the Physics of the Cosmos program and the Cosmic Origins program at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland. Here is what he had to say.
1.Astrobiology is the science of understanding the creation of organic molecules from the primordial elements/conditions that existed on earth before life began. It is also the search for such organics in exoplanets.
2. The famous Drake’s equation predicts that there should be millions of intelligent life forms just within our own galaxy, even with the most conservative assumptions of probability for the parameters necessary to evolve intelligent life. These parameters include:
The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.
The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.
The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.
The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.
The fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.
The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.
The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.
Even if we assume 0.01-0.02 % probability of each of the parameters above, with the sheer numbers of stars in our galaxy, the Drake equation predicts millions of intelligent civilizations.
Unfortunately, we have been unable to detect any of them so far with our limited technological capabilities. And there has been no contact made by them, as far as I know. The fact that they haven’t made any contact with us either, says a lot about the restrictions imposed by the laws of nature, such as huge distance between us and any other possible civilization as well as the limit of traveling speed to the speed of light. It will take thousands of years for someone to visit us. They either have to be able to live for thousands of years or have discovered how to travel faster than light.
3. I’m not too familiar with the “WOW” signal so I cannot comment.
4. Just by looking at so many life forms existing on earth, under extremely hostile environments, it is easy to assume that life forms completely different than what we can imagine might exist elsewhere. Detecting this different lifeform is however another matter. Unless such lifeform physically visits us and introduces themselves to us, we can only detect them remotely. If we are to detect an extraterrestrial lifeform with remote sensing, then we can only look for the signature of life as we understand it. Let’s say there is a lifeform that is entirely Hydrogen based. We will have no idea what their biological signature will look like and what gaseous emission will be present in their atmosphere. Therefore, we can only search for life as we understand it to exist on earth because those signatures we can detect through remote sensing.
5. I believe that will be the case. So far, we have only one example of the evolution of life. The earth. Having more data points will by definition increase our knowledge base and increase the probability of solving the mystery of the origin of life. NASA is planning a mission to visit Titan, one of Saturn’s moons that has a high probability of the processes that convert chemistry into biology. The mission is named “Dragonfly”, consisting of a drone capable of flying around Titan’s surface, landing at different locations and study the organic material underneath the surface. We hope this mission will help our understanding of how life could have evolved on earth.
This splendid piece of apparatus took almost 20 years to be designed and completed now ready for use to observe space. It was built to overthrow NASA’s Hubble and promises to elevate the level of space exploration steeply with its powerful resolution.
The magnificent James Webb Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is all set to receive the stardom of being the most magnificent and multifarious orbital observatory to be launched into space. It has seven times the capability of collecting light as Hubble, along with modern infrared imaging technology. With it, scientists mean to find out about distant celestial masses from an unmarred perspective.
The idea of placing such an advanced setup was first proposed in the mid-1990s. There followed a lengthy trial-and-error journey, by the end of which the launch was supposed to be in 2007.
Due to so many staggering years of uncertainty, the final launch is a moment of celebration for all the engineers and staff members who toiled around the clock for this moment. The team worked cleverly, combining two halves of the telescope with a crane in California, adjusting and amending here and there all the while.
“ The assembly of the telescope and its scientific instruments, sun shield and the spacecraft into one observatory represents an incredible achievement by the entire Webb team,” says Bill Ochs, Webb project manager for NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland.”This milestone symbolizes the efforts of over more than 20 years across NASA, the European Space Agency, Northrop Grumman, and the rest of our industrial and academic partners.”
There is still a lot of work to do before the final launch, though. Continuous testing hasn’t ceased yet, so as to avoid technical issues 930000 miles away from Earth. The definitive launch is slated for 2021.
Namira Salim is the first Pakistani to have traveled to the North and South poles and the first Asian to skydive (in tandem) from Mount Everest. She hoisted a peace flag on behalf of the nation at the two poles of the world. She is also one of the founder astronaut of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, the first private space-line of the world.
Namira Salim
Astrobiology is an interdisciplinary scientific field that explores the origins, early evolution, distribution, and future of life in the universe. I view it as important research into the origin and evolution of planetary systems, the origins of organic compounds in space, life processes and habitability. This scientific field is exciting, not only in terms of what may be discovered about the potential for life on other planets – for example, through the exploratory work of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory mission carrying the Curiosity rover to probe for past and present planetary habitability of microbial life on Mars – but also for its potential to bring us greater insight into life processes on Earth.
In our own solar system alone, there are many places that life might exist, not to mention the rest of the expansive universe that is yet to be explored. We simply have not evidenced it with our limited vision or when seeking ingredients for life – such as water, oxygen, chemicals, and energy – which may not even be important for other forms of life in the universe. So, we are limited but–by our six senses and have perhaps, totally missed all evidence of life out there!!
The Wow! signal has been a source for great speculation since it was picked up in August 1977. However, the Center of Planetary Science (CPS) has suggested that the 72-second Wow! signal might have come from a hydrogen cloud accompanying a comet which had not yet been discovered when the signal was heard. Two comets had been in the same part of the sky at the time and the movement of the comets would explain why the signal was not seen again during subsequent monitoring. The CPS team recently got a chance to test their idea as the two comets, P/2008 Y2 (Gibbs) and 266/P Christensen, appeared once again in the night sky from November 2016 to February 2017. Radio signals from 266/P Christensen matched those from the Wow! signal 40 years ago. To verify their results, they tested readings from three other comets, as well, and found similar results so I am convinced by their findings. However, the universe is so vast, and we know so little about it in relative terms so we should remain humble and accept that someone somewhere may be trying to reach out to us in other ways we do not currently comprehend.
There are so many planets, all with their particular characteristics and which may or may not be capable of supporting life, as we comprehend it. In my view, one only has to look at our own planet Earth and observe the variety of life forms supported by diverse environments to be able to conceive of a very multiform life existing on another planet somewhere in the universe at some time or another. In my view, however, it is unlikely to exist as it has been portrayed in popular culture and we should keep an open mind about the form it may take. And most importantly it doesn’t have to be like the one on Earth and based on the limitation of our minds.
Scientific research always provides us with new insight, whatever the field of study. Whatever we learn about the planets and life forms beyond our own planet will undoubtedly help us to deepen our understanding of the Earth’s evolution and, hence, our own beginnings as its inhabitants. Let us not forget that space exploration to date and the experiments conducted there have brought us a significant number of inventions and technological progress that we take for granted today. The astrobiology will most definitely contribute greatly to unraveling some of the mysteries related to our origin on this planet.
In a study, published in a journal Advanced Materials, researchers from the École Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and Utrecht University developed a new technique, known as volumetric bioprinting, to create artificial organs and tissues. The technique allowed the researchers to sculpt complex tissue in a matter of seconds using biocompatible hydrogel containing stem cells.
Bioprinting complex living tissue in just a few seconds
Volumetric Bioprinting
To create tissue construct, the scientists used a laser and projected it down a spinning tube containing stem cell-rich hydrogel. They then sculpt the tissue by using the energy of light, directing it to the specific locations, and have it solidify. In a matter of seconds, the complex-three-dimensional shape appears in a stem-cell-laden hydrogel. Despite the use of laser, the stem cell did not get affected. The team then vascularized the tissue by introducing endothelial cells.
Volumetric bioprinting is a major breakthrough in the field of tissue engineering, allowing the researchers to create customized and functional tissue constructs several millimeters thick and could prove a boon for clinical research.
“The characteristics of human tissue depend to a large extent on a highly sophisticated extracellular structure, and the ability to replicate this complexity could lead to a number of real clinical applications,” says Paul Delrot, another coauthor
Tissue engineers can use this technique to develop and test new drugs, repair damaged tissue and even replace entire organs in the human body. The technique is used to build a meniscus, a heart valve-like material, and a complex-shaped part of a human femur. The process is also used to develop interlocking structures.
The technique is very fast as compared to other similar procedures and it does not damage the viability of the cell.
“Unlike conventional bioprinting — a slow, layer-by-layer process — our technique is fast and offers greater design freedom without jeopardizing the cells’ viability,” says Damien Loterie, an LAPD researcher and one of the study’s co-authors.
According to the researchers, their groundbreaking technique has the potential to fabricate artificial organs on a large scale and on a faster rate. The technique could prove beneficial not only in testing new drugs in vitro but also to wipe out the need for animal testing; hence lowering testing costs.
“This is just the beginning. We believe that our method is inherently scalable towards mass fabrication and could be used to produce a wide range of cellular tissue models, not to mention medical devices and personalized implants,” says Christophe Moser, the head of the LAPD.
Hence, the new research is certainly a quantum leap in the field of tissue engineering.
Two
reasons why I instantly fell in love with this book; the short, quick and crisp
chapters and the fact that I was hooked till the very end, eager to find
out what happened next in this suspenseful story.
The Deception Point was first published
in Great Britain by Corgi Books in 2002 and later in 2009. It consists of
one hundred and thirty-three chapters, making it quite a lengthy read. Despite
that, it was certainly not a boring read. In fact, it is rightly
described as ‘A case study in suspense.’ by the Washington Post. Even
though it is a thriller by a popular novelist, it has not reached the screen
yet. I was relieved to find out that I am not the only one who finds this
queer. Many dream casts for this movie have been proposed on social media.
The book begins with Rachel Sexton, an Intelligence analyst working at the National Reconnaissance Office in Washington.
NRO is an agency of the US Department of Defense
She has a strained relationship with her father, the Senator, who likes to portray himself as a chauvinist, but is an anti-feminist, clever and ruthless politician who is redundantly evoking the public support by casting NASA and the President in a bad light. Upon his requisition, Rachel finds herself in President Herney’s office, who has mind-blowing news for her. NASA, with the aid of their Polar-Orbiting Density Scanner, has discovered an exceptionally huge meteorite embedded deep in the Milne Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, Antarctica- with fossils of a giant louse!
Amazing
as the discovery sounds, Rachel soon learns that she is facing a high-level
fraud. Other than her, there are several other people on the team summoned at
the President’s request. Celebrity oceanographer and documentary host Michael
Tolland is a favorite among the public mainly due to his charming looks and the
President hopes a documentary from his side related to the discovery will
convince the masses of the authenticity of NASA’s find. Astrophysicist
Corky Marlinson is requested to join to confirm that the giant rock is indeed a
meteorite. Glaciologist Norah Mangor is there to survey the extraction pit and
she confirms that the ice has not been moved since lots of centuries. Paleontologist
Wailee Ming corroborates the authenticity of the fossil. Accompanying them is
Lawrence Ekstrom, NASA Administrator, who is a little too protective of his
agency and does not like the interference of these other scientists one bit.
The Milne Ice Shelf
At the
same time, Rachel’s father, Senator Sedgewick Sexton is adamant to hurl
accusations at the President and NASA related to their excessive failures and
expenditures in Space and to win the forthcoming elections. His slogan of
shutting down NASA and educating America has impacted quite a many minds.
Within a short timespan, Rachel is about to be encumbered with a multitude of surprises and emotions. Some aspects of the book which spice up the plot include the murky Delta Force, who are guarding the extraction pit at the orders of an unknown authority, the discovery of the fluorescent plankton in the extraction pit and how Ming meets his death. The mysterious murder of the President’s senior advisor, Marjorie Tench comes through as a tremendous shock.
Also, the attack on the team of scientists, once they’ve gathered their evidence questioning the fossils in the meteorite, sends shivers of fear down the reader’s spine. Pickering sends for the three people left; Rachel, Corky, and Michael. They are on Michael’s Goya, gathering information regarding ocean rocks, but are again attacked by the Delta soldiers on their black Kiowa planes. There follows an intense battle of survival between the two parties, and in the end, the mastermind behind the whole game is quite the opposite of who the reader expects. I was unable to fathom the story until the very end, which makes it such a cliffhanger.
A grandiose plot which was quite masterfully written, this book should definitely be on everyone’s reading list. It introduces the reader to many aspects of Science, Politics and the Military, therefore it is rich in information and a treat for inquisitive minds. Every new concept is fully explained and crystal clear for the convenience of the reader.
My
favorite character is Corky, who manages to crack a joke even in the tensest of
times, bringing a smile to the reader’s face. And I would have to say, I loathe
the Senator for his double standards and vile politics, finally revealed at the
end by his secretary.
Although a praiseworthy piece, there were times when the
complicated, technical descriptions tested my patience and I had to take a
break to clear my thoughts. For example, when the aircraft and weapons of the
Delta force are described. this book is definitely not the right one if you
want to just sit back and relax after a long, hard day.
The topic of extraterrestrial life has been attempted by a dozen or so writers, each one coming up with an eccentric idea for ‘aliens’, which is usually too much for the reader to absorb. This makes the genre of this book a bit cliched. And I think so many characters and twists have been crammed up in one story that the reader gets pretty confused at times. I had to put the book down and recollect my thoughts every now and then while reading.
Dan Brown is most famous for his Robert Langdon series
The main theme tackled in this story is basically how authorities
can use power to any extent to hide truths and deceive millions. The book
propelled me to develop an esteemed opinion of the author’s power with
words. Although not as popular as ‘The Da Vinci Code’, it is an exceptional
treat for inquisitive minds.
While Sci-fi is one of the most beloved nerdy genres, movies with space stories are rare and often not up to the standards set by masterpieces like Alien, Interstellar, and 2001: A Space Odyssey. Life tries to mimic these, but its potential falls off somewhere between the start and the middle. It recycles the same old concept that alien life can never really befriend us and is always intelligent enough to kill and perish human life. If you are a film geek, you might catch some references to other hits like Gravity and Alien, but we are never sure if it is really an homage or if the movie was trying to be original in its portrayal of such a “terrifying” scenario.
Olga Dihovichnaya and Hiroyuki Sanada are part of the diverse cast of the movie
The movie starts with a scene that was meant to be intense but fails to establish the pace it intends to. Astronaut Rory Adams, played by the hilarious Ryan Reynolds whose comedic persona doesn’t get to properly shine in this piece, is on the quest to catch some Martian samples coming through a satellite and is prepared and encouraged for this endeavor by his fellows on the International Space Station, made very clear in a seven-minute shot in which the camera is roaming around the Station crew failing to build an anticipatory atmosphere.
The team includes Medical Officer Dr. David Jordan, brought to life by Jake Gyllenhaal; the extremely responsible Quarantine Officer Miranda North played by Rebecca Ferguson; Systems Engineer Sho Murakami portrayed by Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada, and Exobiologist Dr. Hugh Derry played by Ariyon Bakare. The Station members are led by Ekaterina Golovkina, a cosmonaut from Russia, played by Olga Dihovichnaya. The diversity of the crew (and the cast) is commendable and they seem to get along very well.
After getting the Martian samples, they realize that they have found the sign of Extraterrestrial life and Hugh, being the specialist, is given the task to study it. After some attempts, he manages to successfully revive it and the alien is given the name “Calvin” from the people on Earth. The film does not portray it as one of the biggest feats in the history of mankind and rushes to show Calvin’s quick development.
Unsurprisingly, it is a very intelligent and benign organism with features growing rapidly as it learns about its new habitat, like the lab at the ISS and figures out its movement and recognition abilities. Hugh, who is disabled but free to move in zero gravity, becomes obsessed with it and the audience is provided a hint that the reason is not solely his love for exobiology. The score by Jon Ekstrand stumbles through high and low notes and just aids enough to these scenes so that they don’t feel empty.
Hugh observes “Calvin” under a microscope in the lab at ISS
Hugh
continues to observe Calvin through his microscope excitedly, but all the
enthusiasm dies down when one day, not so out of the blue, Calvin attacks Hugh
and traps him in the lab. Miranda knowing the safety protocol tries to stop
impending threats, but it turns out that the ISS astronauts don’t really care
about the precautions while dealing with a potentially lethal extraterrestrial
being. Rory gets in to save him, but all goes in vain and we are presented with
shots that bring out the memories of “that Alien scene”.
Calvin manages to escape the lab and starts roaming around the Station hiding from the crew. Its aim becomes clear which is to eliminate all the crew members one by one. As mentioned before, several scenes seemingly take inspiration from Gravity as the Mission Commander tries spacewalking to catch the now not-so-benign Calvin. At times, it becomes absurd how the crew at the biggest human station in Space ignores the safety rules, but this lack of concern becomes an easy setup for the progression of the story.
Hugh is gradually overcome by his selfish instincts and displays unusual empathy towards such a hostile creature. Miranda is the only sane character left but is unable to convince her fellows to show some responsibility. Tension builds up considerably when the audience is constantly given surprises about the powers of Calvin. It can eat up humans and even lab rats, fire and fumes are not a danger, can survive in space and without oxygen (obviously proving its superiority to humans), and can squeeze itself through holes of seemingly small diameters. And of course, it is not a fan of the human race. It looks like a mixture of some water creature having tentacles and the head of that ET brute from the Ridley Scott’s feature.
Safety Protocol calls by Miranda (played by Rebecca Ferguson) are almost ignored by the crew
Humor
is just limited to Ryan Reynolds appearances and is thus fairly limited, so if
you are watching it expecting some Deadpool-type jokes, this won’t be it.
Scientists are yet again portrayed as sober, serious beings who don’t really
know how to control a threat properly as their feelings and instincts take the
best of them. Aren’t the smartest people who are able to keep their cool in
tough environments, supposed to be on the ISS? Well, the movie argues against
that. Senior members Murakami and Golovkina might have taken some more rational
and sensible decisions, but they had limited screen time and were unable to do
so.
At the end of this movie, everything is hurriedly wrapped up and rash decisions are made which end up in a shock that wasn’t really unpredictable. However, if the movie manages to consume you during the fast-paced scenes you might give up contemplating your ending and may get thrown off by the twist. We can only hope that the cliffhanger doesn’t turn out to be against the favor of mankind.
Indian spacecraft, bound for lunar orbit, successfully carried out its third lunar maneuver to correct its orbit by using its onboard propulsion system.
Chndrayaan 2 lanching and the women behind the project
“The maneuver was performed successfully today (Wednesday) beginning at 9:04 hours IST, using the onboard propulsion system. The duration of the exercise was 1,190 seconds (19:84 minutes),” said state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a statement on its official website. The orbit achieved after the maneuver is 179 km x 1412 km. ISRO reported that all spacecraft parameters were normal. The next Lunar bound orbit maneuver is scheduled on August 30, 2019, between 1800 – 1900 hrs IST.
This is the third such maneuver sincethe Chandrayaan-2 entered lunar orbit. The spacecraft is carrying Vikram Lander which will perform a soft landing on the south pole of our closest neighbor. No previous human missions have ever gone to the Lunar south pole. Chandrayaan-2 blasted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, in Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh, on 22 July 2019. A successful landing would make India the fourth nation to achieve a successful soft landing on the moon.
India’s space agency ISRO is much hopeful that Chandrayaan 2 will be the first human spacecraft to reach where no one has ever reached before―lunar south pool. India hopes to become the fourth nation to achieve a soft lunar landing. Only the former Soviet Union, the US, and China have been able to do so.
It had been a terrible afternoon. Enough was enough. Rafia could no longer tolerate her brother picking on her every ten minutes, her sister whining about no one to play with (Rafia had refused to play with Barbies, she was too old for that) and her other brother playing obnoxious pranks on her. She was simply fed up of finding snails on her bed, toothpaste on her toast instead of cream, and pebbles in her sneakers. Being the eldest was a nightmare, Rafia thought. She was thirteen and had three younger siblings who made sure her life was full of drama.
Her twin brothers were eleven and grand mischief-makers. Her sister, on the other hand, was only six years old, but she could create a tantrum anyone else was incapable of. Her parents were both busy. Rafia’s mum was a school teacher and always had stacks of papers to mark or lessons to plan, along with the housework and kids. Her father was a lawyer and always worked way into the night.
Today’s grand joke included the addition of purple food color to Rafia’s shampoo. One look at herself in the mirror had been enough to stir the anger inside her and Rafia had chased her sniggering brothers all around the house, lamenting and throwing things at them. Her mother then had to bleach her hair and, for the first time in her life, Rafia went to the parlor to have her hair dyed to her usual burnt umber.
She needed to escape, and so she retreated to her usual comrade, the treehouse in the backyard. Her father had built it for her when she was only seven, and she loved spending the afternoon surrounded by the undulating leaves of the apple tree. She kept her paints and canvases there. Painting in that soothing environment had always proved relaxing for Rafia.
A treehouse was located in the backyard of Rafia’s house
She spent hours painting her heart out. She slipped out of her little heaven for quick meals and would then return. In the night when everyone went to bed, Rafia could not fight off the urge to give the final touches to her last painting. She couldn’t wait till the sun will re-rise in the next morning. So she headed for the treehouse with an old lantern and started working, but soon her eyelids became heavy and she settled into a deep slumber, sprawled right there at the floor of the old treehouse.
**************************
“XXX13, I think I see a young human in danger.”
“Where, XXX22?”
“There, over there. She’s in this little house of wood hanging from that tree. And that fire source near her, it seems it won’t take long for the whole thing to burn into ashes.”
“No, I believe it is a safe fire source. The round transparent thing at the center has the fire within it, so I think she’s safe.”
XXX22 considered for a while.
“I would still like to go and check this place high up in
the tree. And oh my, the human seems to be dead I am afraid. Look at it, lying
there like that next to the fire. Do make a stop and let us just check.”
XXX13 pressed a series of buttons on the control bar of the Spiral 4000, a brilliant multipurpose flying vehicle. It had the speed of light and engines much tremendous than any of those that these human species had made. Shaped like a yo-yo, it was crimson and gold from the outside, and ocean blue from the inside, layered with soft cushion material. Back in Kroutonville, their scientist engineering fellows had taken years to develop this beauty.
The Spiral 4000 could look through human buildings, water bodies and underground. It could stand treacherous storms and other disasters. It could also become invisible to the life on this planet as well as mute its own noise, a hollow hooting sound. All this was a matter of only a few buttons’ control. As the machine landed soundlessly on the dewy grass, both the creatures exited it. No human or animal was in view. They both climbed the tree and entered the treehouse.
The single room inside was littered with paintings and art
supplies. Of course, the creatures did not understand anything they saw. XXX13 extended her hand and touched the gooey
colored thick liquid oozing out of a small tube beside the girl.
“The human seems to use this to create patterns on that
white sheet they call paper. And she uses that stick with hair on its end to
apply the goo onto the paper.” XXX22 concluded.
“Interesting.” XXX13 picked up the paper to have a look at it. “She is making what she sees around her. The sky, trees, and sun.”
On all of their visits to Earth, they had never seen a house on a tree and a human putting thick liquid onto paper. Last month they had landed somewhere else and had seen an old man walking his dog in the dead of night. They had chatted for a while with the dog, hoping to get an insight into his life. It seemed he lived inside the human house, protecting his human master and fed on biscuits and meat steaks. In previous years, they had chosen different spots in the world and observed humans and animals for quite a time.
They had been sent to report what they saw, heard and concluded. The creatures started looking around, finding more paper; some empty and some with dried goo on it. They commented and laughed at some of the drawings, obviously intrigued.
***************************
Rafia heard two beautiful voices talking melodiously near her. They were very close, as though in the treehouse with her. Maybe she was dreaming, all she could hear was a continuous sweet tune, and then another slightly different one. She stirred and the voices halted. Upon opening her eyes, Rafia beheld the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen. They were tall and handsome creatures with pearl-white bodies and a blithe way of movement. Their hair was long, sleek and silver-white, flowing down their backs.
They had eyes like humans, but larger and a bit rounder, their noses were short and round with a glint of shimmer on the surface. Their lips were thick and attractive and of a cool, lilac color. Most intriguing were there pupils, those changed colors several times a minute; from celestial blue to turquoise to emerald green, then melted into a fiery yellow, later into orange, ruby red, hot pink and bright purple, and finally back to the blue.
Rafia thought it all a dream; these creatures were
definitely from heaven, alluring beyond words. One of them caught her looking
and nudged its partner. They came closer and watched her with wonder.
“Hello.” One of them said in English.
Rafia felt peaceful and tranquil with these celestial
beings and their soothing voices.
“Hello!” she smiled. “are you angels from Heaven? Or some
kind of underwater mermaids?”
The creatures looked at each other confusingly for some
moments, then looked back at her.
“Little human, we’re going to ask you a few questions.
Answer honestly and sensibly”, one of them said.
“Okay.” Rafia was smitten by their beauty and could not
take her eyes off them. Both the creatures sat on either side of her,
cross-legged.
“What are you doing in this house in the tree?”
Twin creatures landed on Earth at the backyard of Rafia’s home
Rafia launched into an explanation about her annoying family, the treehouse and how her father had built it and how she was painting so she could later sell the pictures at her school to juniors and use the money to buy some makeup for herself, which she explained would make her look pretty and cover the pimples on her face.
The creatures listened attentively.
“What are pimples and makeup?” one of them asked.
Rafia explained and both of them looked surprised.
We could use this makeup to make the male Krout-o-nites prettier, thought XXX22.
“Now tell me about yourselves. How is Heaven like?” the
girl asked eagerly.
XXX22 exchanged looks with her partner and gave her a
slight nod.
“We are not from Heaven, wherever that is. We are from Kroutonville Institute of Planet Studies, Kroutonville on the planet Krouto. It is not in your Milky Way, but part of another galaxy.”
Rafia gaped. Aliens!
“We have been given a project to observe another planet and its ongoings and make a detailed report. We chose the planet Earth and have been making daily visits to different parts of it. Tonight, we came here and found you.”
“I’m a student too! I study in the eighth grade.” And she
started a detailed description of her subjects, class fellows, teachers and the
education system in general. She also told them of her daily routine and how
she had to cope with mounds of homework every day. Something about these
attentive listeners kept Rafia chattering, maybe it was their enthralling stare
or their generous smiles.
“I like your silk robes, they look very classy.” Rafia
confided.
Both the aliens looked down at their clothes. It was what everyone wore on their planet, they told the girl.
“I’m sorry, I haven’t offered you anything.” The girl got
up and pulled out a basket of red apples from a corner.
“No, child. We do not eat the food of your planet. Come,
leave it.”
“What do you eat then?” Rafia asked, befuddled.
“Crops and fruits of our own planet.”
“Like?”
“Like Choples, Mininas, Bangoes, Hetties. Those are fruits. Bubunkar, Stopato, Orions, Shidettos, are all vegetables. We don’t eat dead food. And we drink balter. It is like you have water.”
Rafia couldn’t help laughing.
The aliens seemed mystified. This was a new reaction XXX13
and XXX22 were experiencing. Humans opening their mouths and producing some
strange noises.
“Well, it was good meeting you, little girl. We need to go back to our planet and prepare our report today.”
Rafia offered her hand, but the aliens looked confused.
“You shake it, like this.” She took one of the hands of
the alien closer to her and shook her hand, which felt cool and slippery.
“I hope you come to see me again in your future trips.”
She smiled courteously.
The aliens smiled back and got down the tree. Rafia
followed. “How did you come? And how will you go?”
At that moment, the aliens exchanged nods. XXX13 pointed a
finger at the girl’s brain and repeated the command in her head. A bright blue
laser shot out and hit the girl, who froze and closed her eyes. After a few
seconds, she fell to the ground. Another command and the girl went floating
back inside the house on the tree.
Both the aliens got onto their machine, ready to go home with their new findings. Every encounter with a human or animal ended this way. They would erase themselves from the memories with the help of Dr. YYZ14’s potential Laser 8700, one of the finest professors of Laserology on Krouto. They didn’t want these crazy humans on their planet too.
The human had discovered many aspects of space and other planets, but the Kroutonites knew better than to reveal themselves to humans. They were, in fact, a species much more intelligent than humans, and in the years to come, would study the humans further and further. They had no intention of letting humans come and poke around and then exploit them.
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Rafia woke up, feeling a bit dizzy. It was dawn and she couldn’t remember why she was sleeping in the treehouse. She looked around, the floor strewn with her paints and supplies. She must have dozed off while painting. Rafia got down and headed towards her house. At the door, she met her mother.
“How many times have I told you not to sleep in the treehouse! Trees give out carbon dioxide at night, you could die up there!” her mother scolded.
No wonder she felt so dizzy. Oddly, she couldn’t even remember how she had dozed off right there in the treehouse.
The urge to explore, wander into unchartered territories, reach out and establish communication with other beings has been the master key to human civilization. Skies and stars were not a limitation to the imagination, even before humans mastered fire. Centuries later, the proliferation of curiosity, knowledge, science and brilliant advancement in computation around the world lead humans to space exploration and search for extraterrestrial life. There are many who believe with great passion that there is more out there than what can be imagined. Well before the space age, radio pioneers such as Heinrich Hertz, Nikola Tesla, and Marconi were foreseeing ‘interplanetary communication’. Elmer Sperry proposed using a giant array of searchlights to send a beacon to Mars in 1919.
Many people at some point in time or another have looked at a clear, night sky and wondered, “Are we alone?” SETI hopes to, one day, be able to answer that question. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is now known as a collective effort by independent organizations, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals. Although Sci-fi content producers have invariably made people think of flying saucers and little green or grey aliens, it is important to make a distinction between SETI and “paranormal” research.
SETI is now known as a collective effort by independent organizations, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals
Arthur C. Clarke summed it up as “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”
To accomplish the mission of SETI, two approaches are being
used mostly. Debatably categorized as either passive SETI, which relies on receiving
communication and listening for radio signals from intelligent alien life or
active SETI (also known as METI), by producing communications that may one day
be heard by other civilizations.
Passive SETI can easily be understood through concepts of radio communication, such as those broadcasted by television and radio stations, that take the form of a wave that radiates out from a broadcast point in all directions. These waves don’t stop at your radio. In fact, once radio waves reach the vacuum of space, they just go on and on forever. Picture this! Though in need of significant amplification, Television broadcast could be picked up on Mars! Large radio observatories, such as “Big Ear” or the Arecibo Observatory, are configured so that if radio waves produced by a civilization somewhere else ever collide with earth, then we’ll hear them!
Active SETI, also known as METI (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence), has the goal of producing communications to alert other civilizations of our presence. In 1974, the Arecibo Observatory broadcast a high-powered transmission in the direction of a star cluster located approximately 25,000 light-years away.
Assuming there is intelligent life in other parts of the
universe, then it is almost certainly rare.
Drake equation was proposed by Dr. Frank Drake in 1961
In 1961, Dr. Frank Drake proposed a formula to calculate the
number of intelligent civilizations in our galaxy.
The Drake equation model is the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible equal to the multiplication of rate of star creation in our galaxy, the fraction of those having planets orbiting them, the number of exoplanets or planets that have the capability of supporting life, the fraction of those that go into development of an intelligent lifeform, the number of civilizations that could have the capability to communicate and how long can that communication be detected) highly speculative.
Unfortunately, an exact result of the Drake equation has not
been reached because of many of the factors in the equation, such as the
average rate of star formation which is not fully known.
Another mindboggling argument is the Fermi Paradox, which summarizes as the universe is old and large enough to have even more habitable planets. Yet, where are they? Perhaps we have not been looking long enough.
Only a century ago, scientists and enthusiasts gathered
around the concept of scanning the sky and “listening” for puzzling non-random
patterns of electromagnetic emissions in order to detect another possible
civilization somewhere else in the universe. The SETI (Search for
ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) era began with people such as Frank Drake,
Giuseppe Cocconi, Philip Morrison and others suggested and began their first
SETI search around 1959-60.
The Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico was the site of NASA’s High-Resolution Microwave Survey
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, NASA took up SETI efforts. at a low-level as Project Orion, the Microwave Observing Project and Toward Other Planetary Systems. On 14 October 1992, NASA initiated a formal 10-year $100m High-Resolution Microwave Survey project, a more intensive, SETI program. However, Congress canceled the program based on political expediency, barely a year later.
Part of the canceled program was picked up by the private, non-profit SETI Institute which was incorporated in 1984. Facing funding challenges every now and then, the SETI Institute currently employs more than 130 scientists, educators, and administrative staff. SETI Institute continues as a non-profit organization and is among the top 100 subcontractors to NASA with ample funding to do research in Astronomy, Astrophysics, Astrobiology, Exoplanets and much more. SETI runs the data pipeline for the Kepler program. Planetary exploration is also another field of research at SETI and the X-Ray diffraction system on Curiosity for Mars developed by the institute. Along with all that, the SETI Institute pursues research for extraterrestrial intelligence using radio and optical technologies built for the same purpose. New directions were for the SETI Institute, under CEO Bill Diamond who took charge in June 2015 including a restructuring of the operations of the Institute, folding the SETI research program into the larger science umbrella of the Carl Sagan Center. Education and Public Outreach has always been an integral part of the Institute, including space science and astrobiology curricula for formal and informal education, the popular radio show/podcast Big Picture Science, the SETI Talks lecture series, public lectures by scientists, and popular science writing. Outreach to the general public via social media and other efforts has received new emphasis as the Institute looks forward to continuing its mission to explore the possibilities of life in the universe and share discoveries with the public.
SETI@Home – Distributed Computing
SETI is usually considered one of the most high risk, and high gain endeavor in all of science and often people say it’s more related to science fiction than to astrophysics but if we were to someday detect alien civilization, this would be one of the greatest discoveries of mankind ever. A famous distributed computing project called SETI@Home uses the BOINC software platform created by the Berkeley SETI Research Center and hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, to analyze specific radio frequencies emanating from space. With dexterously designed algorithms, AI could be scientists best shot at helping intercept signs of extraterrestrial intelligence.
With serious ongoing discussions over both approaches to date, another very important matter is post-detection protocol and the preparation for this eventuality even in the absence of confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence. Such a discussion could lead to the development of a procedure/protocol on this matter. If an alien intelligent lifeform is detected, the message to be prepared for communication should be sent on behalf of all Humankind, rather than from individual countries or groups.
Imagine being born in a closed hall, growing up and meeting people of your kind who have been confined to the same hall, many having everything good in life to live with and then eventually pass away. Would you not want to look outside and explore beyond the walls of the hall? Would you have the urge to seek even a tiny hint to the plethora of unanswered questions such as “Among the septillion stars in the known universe, are we alone?”
Mankind is driven by the intellectual curiosity and quest to find the answers to the questions which have been itching them since antiquity. Some of the questions are regarding the beginning and evolution of the universe―how it formed on earth, how it evolved and what threats, if any, are faced it on earth―and greatest among them is extraterrestrial life, led to the exploration of this vast universe.
Viking probe 1
Can life originate on any other planets? Is extraterrestrial life possible? Are there any other species in the solar system and the worlds beyond which are intelligent like humans or maybe even more intelligent than us? Search for life, on other planets of the solar system and our whole universe, has been one of the main objectives since the start of the space age in the mid-twentieth century.
Astrobiologists or exobiologists ―study the presence of any form of life in the solar system and beyond― use several branches of science like mathematics, chemistry, biology and radio astronomy to predict the presence of any microbial or biological life clues on distant planets of our solar system as well as stars in faraway galaxies. NASA’s Viking program was the first such mission for the search of life on our closest planetary neighbor, The Mars.
Viking project was historically the first-ever mission to Mars. It sent the first-ever pictures of Mars from its surface after successfully carrying out soft landings of two landers on Mars. The Viking program was important in the perspective of astrobiology as it intended to carry out several biological and chemical experiments on the surface of Mars to look for any signs of biological activity.
NASA developed two identical Viking spacecraft, each with an orbiter and a lander mainly to study, photographs of Mars surface from the orbit, and act as relays between the control systems on earth and the landers on surface. The two identical landers were designed to carry out four main types of experiments, to look out for any signs of life, on the red planet.
These experiments varied from analyzing samples of Martian soil, for the presence of any organic material, to other experiments where nutrients dissolved in the Martian soil to determine the presence of any microbial organisms, if any of them present, would consume the nutrients and release gases after the biological process which would point to their presence on Mars. But the experiments opened a Pandora box of controversies and created new enigmatic questions which could not be solved by scientists to the date.
Viking 1 orbiter
The two Vikings (1 and 2) landed on Mars on two different landing sites and started carrying out scientific experiments. The first kind of experiments called Labeled Release (LR) experiment in which the Martian soil provided with essential nutrients and water added along with radioactive carbon as a marker to study the metabolic reaction of microbial life if any. The scientists believed that the nutrients will consume by any potential microbial life, and some gases would be released as a result of reactions. The second experiment was to take the Martian soil samples and heat them in Gas chromatogram mass spectrometer (GC-MS) to vaporize them and analyze the spectrum of compounds released. This was meant to determine the presence of any carbon compounds.
Interestingly, the results of LR experiments came positive indicating the presence of life on Mars. While on one hand the scientists working on the Viking mission exhilarated by these results, the results of the GC-MS experiment wiped indicated otherwise. GC-MS results indicated that there was no presence of any organic molecules in the Martian soil.
These contrasting results created controversies and sparked out conspiracy theories. Despite the positive results of LR experiments, the general scientific agreement is that these positive LR experiments were likely caused by the non-biological processes and probably due to the oxidative chemical reactions with the Martian soil.
Patricia Straat, the co-experimenter of the LR experiments, said in an interview “the results met the pre-mission definition of a positive life response. But of course as soon as we got it everyone came up with alternative proposals to account for the results non-biologically.”
NASA’s scientists had designed the experiments after visiting far-flung areas of the world. The scientists had traveled to remote areas and tried to simulate the Martian environment in areas such as dry valleys of Antarctica and the Atacama Desert in Chile. These areas consider the best analogs of the Red planet.
The Vikings were especially important for the Astrobiologists and ushered in new ways to detect life. Patricia Straat later on said: “While I pretty astounded, but very interested in these non-biological hypotheses. What we could say at the time was that the result was consistent with a life response. I wasn’t ready to say we had a life response, especially not in view of all the objections.”
The questions raised by Viking mission, especially that related to the chemical and biological processes on Mars and the presence of life, could only be resolved by sending future missions, which specifically identify the chemicals responsible for the Viking results, or by a conclusive demonstration of the presence of life on Mars.
The Biological Oxidant and Life Detection (BOLD) is a future Mars mission which would be a follow-up of Vikings and would test Martian soil samples using a number of small impact landers.
While the Vikings missions created new questions and opened new controversies, they also revealed a great deal about our incomplete knowledge of Earth and life. They also unveiled the human understanding of life and our inability to detect other forms of life, if they exist.
