Aliens are a topic of conversation often addressed on the news, read about in books, and discussed amongst society. The question of whether or not extraterrestrial beings exist has crossed the minds of many. The belief in an alien existence is fathomable due to the mass amounts of planets capable of sustaining life, eyewitness accounts of UFOs, indicators of extraterrestrial activity found on earth, testimonials from government officials, and unexplainable advancements in technology. Because of these factors, I strongly believe that extraterrestrial life is present within our universe.
The universe stretches far and wide being home to billions of stars. Though not every planet has prime conditions for being home to extraterrestrial life, a plethora of planets show potential. Recently it was discovered that the Milky Way is actually 15 percent larger than previously thought by astronomers (Barrat, John). The size of our galaxy is believed to stretch over a million trillion miles, a number too great to comprehend (Barret, John). Over the past four and a half billion years Earth has become a planet that has the conditions necessary for housing life. If these conditions are met on another planet, similar to earth, then alien life is a strong possibility. With the mass amounts of planets in the universe there is a strong likelihood of other living organisms within the Milky Way or Andromeda.
The concept of alien life may be closer than we think as there are signs extraterrestrial life may exist on Europa (one of the four moons which orbits Jupiter). “The prospect of Europa hiding an ocean of liquid water has intrigued scientists for years, partly because it could make the moon a likely source of some kind of extraterrestrial life” (Lewis, Danny). Scientists believe this liquid ocean may have existed due to the fact that blocks of the surfaces crust have shifted (Europa: In Depth). An underground ocean would cause pressure resulting in a similar shift of the moon’s surface. (Europa: In Depth). The shift gives evidence as to why this underground ocean may have existed in the past. Scientists believe that an ocean on Europa exists currently due to the magnetic field on the moon (Europa: In Depth). The basic conditions which living organisms need to thrive on Earth are sun, water, and nutrients. If Europa was to contain an ocean then the likelihood for microscopic life such as bacteria increases. Places, which contain these three characteristics, are a focus for the scientific community’s search for alien life, resulting in the community’s interest in Europa. “The finding generated considerable excitement among scientists, as it provided evidence that the moon is geologically active in the present day” (Europa: In Depth). In 2016 NASA found what they believe to be water plumes which are liquid columns which explode through the moon’s crust. Geoff Yoder who is NASA’s acting associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, believes that these water plumes indicate life deep below the moon’s surface within the underground ocean (Potter, Sean). Europa’s underground ocean is believed to be twice the size of Earth’s, these water plumes would allow scientists to study this ocean for signs of life without having to drill underground (Potter, Sean).
Europa is not the only nearby planet believed to have a history of sustaining life. NASAs scientists are currently working to update the Mars Rover to make it capable of testing for current or old life on Mars. Europa holds the potential to be the home to living bacteria and Mars’ deserts have conditions similar to Earth’s Atacama Desert allowing scientists to speculate life could have existed in the past or current day.
The search for life on others planets has started within Earths’ solar system, NASA has worked to develop new technology for the Mars Rover. The Mars Rover will soon be capable of detecting any life which currently exists or used to exist on Mars. Currently scientists believe that life on Mars must be housed underground (Waller, Darryl). The Atacama Desert shows similarities to Mars, for the past ten to fifteen million years this desert has experienced extreme dryness and consistent ultraviolet radiation (Waller, Darryl). If Mars is home to extraterrestrial life than the Atacama Desert can be used to prove the possibility of organisms surviving in this setting. NASAs scientists have undergone research to create beneficial changes to the Mars Rover. The improvement of the Mars Rover will move forward NASAs search for life. Starting in the year 2018 the Mars Rover will begin to use its new abilities of driving, drilling, and the detection of underground life (Waller, Darryl). As the Mars Rover becomes capable of drilling for underground life places like the Atacama Desert will take focus for research. NASA is also working on developing other tests which focus on methods involving chemistry.
The new test for life which The Jet Propulsion Lab at NASA is developing will be far more efficient than the Mars Rover. The Jet Propulsion lab is working to improve robotics involved in space exploration. The lab has developed a method known as “capillary electrophoresis”, which can be used in order to breakdown molecules into their original makeup (Good, Andrew). The capillary electrophoresis test is currently being used at Mono Lake, this lake shows conditions similar to those on Europa and Mars (Good, Andrew). The test is capable of detecting life by separating the molecules which are most commonly found in living organisms. The use of this test in a location similar to Mars and Europa will show whether these “uninhabitable” conditions could house the possibility of life. Mono Lake is believed to be incapable of housing life due to the extremely high levels of salt. Life may be capable of thriving in scenarios where the three basic needs of life are not met, water, sun, and nutrients, may not be needed for life on other planets.
The three basic necessities of life are often not met here on earth, deep within the ocean sunlight is nonexistent. Yet living organisms have still been found to live deep below the ocean’s surface. There are creatures which actually are capable of surviving without any sunlight and instead they use the heat of molten lava to generate their own energy supply (Helmuth, Laura). With this in mind it is possible that life may not need conditions similar to those on Earth to thrive elsewhere. The majority of the ocean, similarly to our solar system, is undiscovered, “In some surveys, 50 percent to 90 percent of the animals hauled up from the deep are unknown” (Helmuth, Laura). With new forms of life still being discovered in these harsh conditions our definition of “sustainable life” may need to be considerably stretched.
The scientific community is making strides in discovering planets, which are home to extraterrestrial life, science has already discovered areas of stars with planets with better than average chances of being home to life similar to Earths. With the Kepler Mission in full swing new planets are at an all-time high. Within NASAs newly discovered planets 550 have shown that they may be planets similar to Earth as they are relatively the same size (Johnson, Michele). Earth is located within the sun’s habitable zone making it more likely to be home to living organisms, 9 of these 550 planets found were within their sun’s habitable zone (Johnson, Michele). Recently Kepler discovered a planet which orbited a star within the habitable zone. “The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun” (Johnson, Michele, and J.D. Harrington). NASA considers the discovery of this planet to be a crucial step forward in the search for life. Finding a planet which has a makeup so similar to Earth’s makes the possibility of extraterrestrial life inhabiting Kepler-186f high. NASA is currently viewing Kepler-186f as a “cousin” to Earth and not a twin, Kepler-186f orbits its stars every 130 days and only receives a third of the energy from the star compared to the energy which Earth obtains from the sun (Johnson, Michele, and J.D. Harrington).
The galaxy is home to Europa, Mars, and Kepler-186f which all show a strong likelihood that living organisms may have existed or currently exist on their surface. Yet the most promising evidence that aliens exist are the accounts of their arrival on Earth. From UFO spotting’s to government cover-ups the world is rich with stories of an extraterrestrial present on Earth. The most common account is an eye witness claim of spotting a UFO, more often than not these claims are proven to be false, yet some of the most famous accounts remain unexplained. The Phoenix Lights is one of the most well-known UFOs spotting’s in history, thousands of people recount seeing unexplainable objects flying over the Phoenix area. This event left Lynn Kitel, an eye-witness, so enamored that she went on to gather testimonies to create the book The Phoenix Lights.