SETI Chief Astronomer: "Humans Predicted to Make Contact with an Extraterrestrial Civilization Within Two Decades"Yes that WAS the thinking after Swiss Astronomers discovered two
two 'life bearing' planets named Gliese581 c, and d, in 2007.
Then the "Drake Equation" estimated that Planetary life would be discovered within 20 years!.
NOT ANY MORE !!"Humans are now Predicted to Make Contact with an Extraterrestrial Civilization Within Four Years"AND THE REASON FOR THIS IS????
Well its due to the fact that the Life searching Wide-Band Schmidt 'Kepler Space telescope' can look at 100,000 Stars at once, with its sensitive Photometer optics. (Unlike the old Seti
Radio detection system.) In fact Kepler will collect more data in 1 second, during its operation, than all the data in all the printed books here on Earth.
Its sensitive Photometer detects sequences of transits across thousands of Suns, all at once. The transits and speeds tell the Scientists just how big and how close to its Sun is the possible life bearing planet. And whether it has water or other chemicals.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/a...ike-worlds.html Alternative biochemists speculate that there are several atoms and solvents that could potentially spawn life. Because carbon has worked for the conditions on Earth, we speculate that the same must be true throughout the universe. In reality, there are many elements that could potentially do the trick. Even counter-intuitive elements such as arsenic may be capable of supporting life under the right conditions. Even on Earth some marine algae incorporate arsenic into complex organic molecules such as arsenosugars and arsenobetaines. Several other small life forms use arsenic to generate energy and facilitate growth. Chlorine and sulfur are also possible elemental replacements for carbon. Sulfur is capably of forming long-chain molecules like carbon. Some terrestrial bacteria have already been discovered to survive on sulfur rather than oxygen, by reducing sulfur to hydrogen sulfide.
Nitrogen and phosphorus could also potentially form biochemical molecules. Phosphorus is similar to carbon in that it can form long chain molecules on its own, which would conceivably allow for formation of complex macromolecules. When combined with nitrogen, it can create quite a wide range of molecules, including rings.
So what about water? Isn’t at least water essential to life? Not necessarily. Ammonia, for example, has many of the same properties as water. An ammonia or ammonia-water mixture stays liquid at much colder temperatures than plain water. Such biochemistries may exist outside the conventional water-based "habitability zone". One example of such a location would be right here in our own solar system on Saturn's largest moon Titan.
Hydrogen fluoride methanol, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, and formamide have all been suggested as suitable solvents that could theoretically support alternative biochemistry. All of these “water replacements” have pros and cons when considered in our terrestrial environment. What needs to be considered is that with a radically different environment, comes radically different reactions. Water and carbon might be the very last things capable of supporting life in some extreme planetary conditions.
***Thoughts
Well I am very optimistic that Scientists will find many thousands of life bearing Planets. So that within 3 years the "Drake Equation" will need to be updated.
