According to NASA studies, more than a hundred planets could host extraterrestrial life in the habitable zone. There have been announcements and findings of scientific interest, but work is still continuing to achieve certainty in this regard.
Extraterrestrial life is an expression that refers to all that existence that, according to many people, has originated and subsists (at least hypothetically) outside our planet, Earth .
Those who are dedicated to observing the universe and try again and again to solve mysteries linked to the galaxy direct some of their research to look for signs or evidence of possible signs of extraplanetary life . In explorations that aim to discover possible habitable worlds, conditions and factors are analyzed in order to evaluate whether they are compatible with the life of beings or organisms, thus fueling the illusion of, one day, starting human settlements on different planets .
To address questions related to these issues, it is essential that astrobiology advance, a discipline where astronomy and biology coexist with the purpose of gathering knowledge and resources useful in investigations about biosignatures , planetary habitability and the origin of the organic compounds that are detected in space , for example.
Without a doubt, it is exciting to trace the scientific foundations associated with the chance of detecting vital signs in remote corners of the solar system , collecting information about biosignals on exoplanets and being aware of the missions that are being developed or planned. Also arousing curiosity are the technological advances that enable improvements in the scope and precision of searches and the idea of analyzing the magnitude that would reach the official confirmation of the existence of extraterrestrial life .
Colonizing space and generating human settlements outside of Earth is the dream of a large number of people but, for the moment, they are illusions. In the meantime, we have to wait for experts to continue working on the matter, make important announcements and continue evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of a potential human move to unknown territories.
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular culture there is also a place for extraterrestrial life , a topic that has inspired science fiction creators and authors specialized in both other genres and different artistic disciplines for decades.
One of the most watched, successful and remembered movies of all time is ET the Extra-Terrestrial . This film , directed by Steven Spielberg, led to a wide variety of products and developments linked to the entertainment industry, from dolls to video games.
There is a wide variety of aliens in popular culture, but one of the most universally recognized and remembered characters is ET, protagonist of a film directed by S. Spielberg.
The “Star Wars” saga, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” , “Alien – The Eighth Passenger” and “Paul” have also emerged from the seventh art, to add other references. The television series "Doctor Who" , "V Alien Invasion" , "Mork & Mindy" , "ALF" and "My Favorite Martian" , as well as books such as "War of the Worlds" , "Ludwig the Extra-Terrestrial" and "Clodett's world – Extraterrestrial super mess" also describe situations and characters alluding to life outside the Earth's surface.
Search for signs
The search for signals that support the possibility of finding technologically advanced civilizations on at least one planet other than our own has driven, for example, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) projects .
In this framework of investigations, in 1977 , using a computer associated with a radio telescope named Big Ear , it was possible to capture a radio signal (identified under the name "WOW!" signal ) that, it is suspected, could have been sent by space beings. It is interesting to mention that in the film "Contact" (based on the novel by Carl Sagan) there is an allusion to the SETI program , plans in which the Fermi paradox has become relevant. This is what is known as an apparent inconsistency between contradictory issues: on the one hand, the lack of evidence of extraterrestrial communities and, on the other, the number of estimates that show a high percentage of probability about the existence of this type of civilizations. Estimating the number of societies present in the Milky Way that could have detectable radio emissions requires resorting to the Drake equation .
The UFO phenomenon is fueled by witness accounts of sightings, audiovisual content of alleged close encounters, official reports and newspaper articles addressing the issue of unidentified flying objects.
Tools and projects for tracking extraterrestrial life
The tracking of extraterrestrial life is carried out with projects and resources such as those mentioned in previous paragraphs. Of course, there are also modern tools and initiatives focused on explorations and missions that lead to maintaining expectations about positive discoveries in terms of signs, traces, indications or evidence of life on other planets .
Those who specialize in ufology , for example, focus their studies on the appearance of UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) and their influence on humanity . Also in this field they investigate cases of alien abductions . This expression refers to a supposed extraterrestrial operation to, surprisingly and even against the will of the selected being, capture a human and momentarily take him to another place.
There has, on the other hand, been a succession of missions to Mars with the intention of examining the terrain and collecting data and clues about the existence of, among other elements, water on the red planet . Astrobiology experts have also set their sights on the chance of discovering life on Venus .
Nor can we fail to highlight the value of the Allen Telescope (in English, Allen Telescope Array – ATA ), a device equipped with more than forty antennas that is prepared to capture sufficient signals to prove the presence of vital extraterrestrial sounds and movements.