Spacecraft Blasts Off To Hunt Alien Life...

naomi24 | 14:02 Tue 15th Oct 2024 | Science

13 Answers

//...on a distant moon.

Europa Clipper will now travel 1.8 billion miles to reach Europa, a deeply mysterious moon orbiting Jupiter.

It will not arrive until 2030 but what it finds could change what we know about life in our solar system.

Trapped under the moon’s surface could be a vast ocean with double the amount of water on Earth.//

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1482xzrge1o

Would you like alien life to be discovered - and if not, why not?

Anyone See Steve In The Sky......?

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Atheist

I'd be delighted if life was discovered, as it would suggest we are not the only life in the universe, and that there could possibly be intelligent life somewhere (not on Europa of course).

ToraToraTora

The only chance we have of any sort of encounter with alien life is from within our solar system and Europa with it's sub ice crust warm ocean is a good candidate. There may well be simple organisms beneath the ice. There are equivalent conditions on earth and life has emerged in them. I think it's a reasonable possibility that it also has under the ice on Europa. I would not like to say I'd like it or not like it just that I understand the possibility.

ToraToraTora

Using the drake equation we can pretty well guarantee that our galaxy and indeed the wider universe is teaming with life. Due to the distances involve we can also more or less guarantee that we'll never encounter it or even communicate with it.

Atheist

The Drake equation guarantees nothing. Depending on the inputs (all guesses) fed into the equation, the odds of life elsewhere can vary between next to nothing and near certainty.

There is lots of evidence that things have been seen in our atmosphere which can outmanoeuvre any terrestrial craft, and which can apparently challenge our understanding of gravity and inertia. There could be advanced civilisations which are millions of years ahead of us, and who knows what they might have discovered and invented in all that time?

Old_Geezer

Depends on whther they intend to invade Earth !

naomi24

Question Author

I think they've already been - and gone again.

Atheist

OG; if they were here they could invade Earth whenever they like, without fear of retaliation. I think it's more likely that they would be neither overtly hostile or friendly, just keeping an eye on us purely out of interest, in case there is anything useful to them in the future. Maybe they could quietly influence a parameter or two so as to encourage our harmless development if we have the potential for that, otherwise to take measures if we seem to be simply too bad stock to hope for a good outcome.