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Having near certain evidence of life existing on another planet, due to seeing oxygen present in the emission spectra of an atmosphere of another planet, would

Having near certain evidence of life existing on another planet, due to seeing oxygen present in the emission spectra of an atmosphere of another planet, would be a true game changer for space probe and exploration funding. Astronomy funding stagnates when its about rocks and geology. Bring real evidence of aliens into the mix and you've defined humanities focus for the next century.

Retra 9y ago
If we discovered actual humans on a near-exact clone of earth, we'd still be about 50,000 years from something relevant here on Earth. Outer space is staggeringly expansive. Staggeringly. Like "your space probe is sad joke" expansive. We could develop our own alien life right on Earth within that timeframe.
- ExactoKnight 9y ago
  You're thinking about this wrong. As long as we can send probes and/or communicate within compressed timeframes than physical transportation of humans doesn't matter. E.g. Breakthrough Starshot can get us to many exoplanets within 20-30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot
  - Retra 9y ago
    "Many" exoplanets? How many planets does Alpha Centauri have? It is ~4 ly away. If you're willing to go ~10 ly, you get 6 more stars to look at. And it gets far worse from there.
    - ExactoKnight 9y ago
      It's now estimated there are more Earth-sized planets than gas giants on most stars, and that every star has at least 1 planet, likely more. So that's 7 or more planets. That's many.
jerf 9y ago
I'm not the one who downvoted your message because you can't downvote replies to your own post, but I suspect you got downvoted because you crossed threads. If you follow the "parent" up from my post, you'll see that it didn't involve the discussion about finding oxygen. I agree with the text of your message; it just isn't an appropriate reply to what I said. In fact if such a thing was discovered I'd say all bets are off in terms of the response.

Retra 9y ago

If we discovered actual humans on a near-exact clone of earth, we'd still be about 50,000 years from something relevant here on Earth. Outer space is staggeringly expansive. Staggeringly. Like "your space probe is sad joke" expansive. We could develop our own alien life right on Earth within that timeframe.

ExactoKnight 9y ago
You're thinking about this wrong. As long as we can send probes and/or communicate within compressed timeframes than physical transportation of humans doesn't matter. E.g. Breakthrough Starshot can get us to many exoplanets within 20-30 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot
- Retra 9y ago
  "Many" exoplanets? How many planets does Alpha Centauri have? It is ~4 ly away. If you're willing to go ~10 ly, you get 6 more stars to look at. And it gets far worse from there.
  - ExactoKnight 9y ago
    It's now estimated there are more Earth-sized planets than gas giants on most stars, and that every star has at least 1 planet, likely more. So that's 7 or more planets. That's many.

jerf 9y ago

I'm not the one who downvoted your message because you can't downvote replies to your own post, but I suspect you got downvoted because you crossed threads. If you follow the "parent" up from my post, you'll see that it didn't involve the discussion about finding oxygen. I agree with the text of your message; it just isn't an appropriate reply to what I said. In fact if such a thing was discovered I'd say all bets are off in terms of the response.