Suggested Searches

John C. Mather

John C. Mather Senior Project Scientist: James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Nobel Prize: Physics (2006): Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy and Spectrum Senior Scientist: NASA�s Goddard Space Flight Center Author: The Very First Light (w/John Boslough, 2009, Basic Books)
How will humanity first discover ET Life? Best guess: Biosignatures 2 key observations so far: Life on Earth occurred very soon (hundreds of millions of years) after the oceans occurred, but our civilization took 3.5 billions of years longer Earth-size temperate planets are very common, 10-20% of G, K, and M stars have them Conclusion: Life is a thermodynamic imperative, not a rare coincidence. Atoms are programmed to self-organize. Look wherever there are or were oceans! There are many places to look.
Where to look and why? Close by: Mars; farther away, large moons of Jupiter and Saturn; perhaps, Venus had an ocean long ago before climate change Advantage: our robots can visit, analyze, bring home samples for microscopic analysis (cell remnants), chemical analysis (biomolecules), isotopic analysis (fractionation due to biological processes) Odds good, 50%? If having an ocean is enough. Time frame: several decades, unless we�re very lucky Farther away: exoplanets with signs of molecules out of chemical equilibrium, a sign of photosynthesis: H2O, O2, O3, CO2, CH4, etc. Examine with telescopes and spectroscopy. Disadvantage: possible false positives; difficult to build equipment Odds good, 50%? But evidence might not be convincing. Time frame: several decades, unless we�re very lucky. (JWST might see water, probably not oxygen) Much much farther away: signs of intelligent life Disadvantage: why would they send us a signal? What else would we look for? Advantage: why not just look? Odds extremely low: space is large, our time is short so far, �their� time may be short (for example: subject to Malthusian food supply limits) Time frame: very very long, the needle is in a very big haystack