Life Check# 12 Biggest and Weirdest Space Stories of 2016

1- The Biggest Space Stories of 2016: The Good, the Bad and the Weird

Fifty years after the debut of Star Trek, space is still the final frontier. This year scientists continued to explore the possibility of life on other planets, confirmed a 100-year-old theory about black holes and even intercepted possible extraterrestrial signals. Here are six of the biggest stories from the year in space:

Concept art of SpaceX’s upcoming Falcon Heavy rocket. SpaceX

1. Any conversation about modern space exploration has to begin with SpaceX. The aerospace manufacturer had another busy year, test firing an engine powerful enough to take humans to Mars and successfully landing part of its Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship (proving that landings be just as successful on water as on Earth). As always, however, the company made its biggest headlines after a tragedy—the Falcon 9 exploded in midair while carrying a $200 million Facebook satellite. But SpaceX CEO Elon Musk didn’t dwell on the bad news: he was too busy outlining his plan for a human colony on Mars—the idea might not be too off base, given that just last month researchers at Arizona State University unearthed evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet.

2. Musk isn’t the only person interested in the possibility of life on other planets: this year Bill Nye advocated searching for extraterrestrial life on Jupiter’s moon Europa, which has twice as much seawater as the Earth— the Hubble Space Telescope has observed water vapor venting off the moon’s vast, unseen (for now) ocean. Nye actually thinks SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket (currently in development) would be ideal for launching a probe toward Jupiter. The mission likely won’t occur until the 2020s, but that gives us something to look forward to.

3. Things got extra weird in August, when a team of scientists from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) began investigating alien signals from deep space. The signals were seemingly beamed directly at our solar system from a civilization 95 light years away that can harness solar energy. There’s a good chance aliens are even closer than that, however—NASA’s director of planetary science echoed Musk and Nye, saying in a TED Talk that Mars, along with moons on Saturn and Jupiter were also probable sources of extraterrestrial life.

4. While the government hasn’t offered an official stance on aliens, it’s still plenty interested in space as a whole: in October President Obama unveiled his “Interplanetary Frontiers Directive,” aiming to expand human presence throughout the solar system. He encouraged NASA to focus on deep space exploration, with the ultimate goal of getting humans to Mars by the 2030s. The Obama administration also directed NASA to work with the commercial space industry and develop habitats which could safely house astronauts during long trips through deep space. President-elect Donald Trump actually has a similar plan for deep space research—the main directive he’s outlined for NASA is human exploration of the entire solar system by the end of this century.

5. The National Science Foundation’s Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) took an important step in this regard in February, when researchers announced the first direct detection of a gravitational wave. This ripple in spacetime in which two black holes merge was first proposed by Albert Einstein in his 1916 theory of relativity. Scientists also discovered this year that black holes can produce cosmic rays, space radiation which enters the atmosphere and bombards the Earth (though not to a harmful extent).

6. If any radioactive or otherwise alien force ever does attack our planet, however, we could always escape to Asgardia. A group of scientists at Vienna’s Aerospace International Research Center launched a crowdfunding campaign for their pacifist nation state in October—over 500,000 people signed up for it. The new country “will offer an independent platform free from the constraint of a land-based country’s laws,” its website reads. Asgardia plans to launch its first satellite late next year, and hopes to one day be recognized by the United Nations.

How many of these planned missions will actually blast off? How will Trump’s space initiatives pan out? And is there actually life on other planets? Here’s hoping these interstellar issues, and many others, will continue to start conversations in 2017.

Top 5 Reasons Why Aliens Might Live Next Door

2- How Soon Will We Discover Alien Life?

Will alien life be left undiscovered by humans for another 1,500 years, as a new study by a group of astronomers suggest, or will that day come much sooner? There are several good reasons to believe that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the galaxy — and it may be found fairly close to our home planet.

If advanced life-forms are common throughout the galaxy, it increases the chances such a civilization will be found near Earth. Here are the top five reasons to believe aliens may soon be discovered by our own species.

First, the sheer number of exoplanets is remarkable. The Kepler spacecraft alone has recorded 2,326 planets circling other stars. It would appear alien stars are brimming with worlds.

In addition, water is often considered to be a requirement for life, at least of the type found on Earth. Once thought to be rare on alien worlds, water has now been seen on Europa, Mars and Enceladus. This suggests the universal solvent may also be common on planets circling other suns.

"Life finds a way" is not just a quote from Jurassic Park, but is also a statement on the resiliency of life. Here on Earth, life-forms evolved in areas without light, oxygen and other necessities for most species.

Many precursors of life, including proteins, fats and carbohydrates, are being spotted on comets, moons and planets. These complex organic molecules are seen from the atmosphere of Saturn's moon Titan to the Orion Nebula.

In 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman was working at the Big Ear radio telescope, searching for signals from intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations. Suddenly, a signal was received that closely resembled a call from outer space. The burst last for 72 seconds, but was never repeated. Current studies suggest this reading may have been the result of a comet tumbling through space. Still, this signal remains the most likely candidate yet seen for a potential call from an alien species.

All these factors may result in human beings contacting alien civilizations for the first time in the next few decades, some researchers contend. As time goes on, the amount of evidence supporting the presence of life on other worlds is becoming greater.

"I think we're going to have strong indications of life beyond Earth within a decade, and I think we're going to have definitive evidence within 20 to 30 years. We know where to look. We know how to look. In most cases we have the technology, and we're on a path to implementing it. And so I think we're definitely on the road," said Ellen Stofan, NASA chief scientist.

During the year 2020, NASA will launch a new rover to Mars, which is specifically designed to find evidence of life, however primitive, on or just beneath the surface of the red planet.

The Drake equation, created by astronomer Frank Drake, was developed to estimate the number of civilizations in the Milky Way. If enough of the factors in the equation — including the number of exoplanets and the fraction that may support life - favor life, then aliens may be living next door.

UFO Proof Is Everywhere, People Just Choose To Ignore It

3- Spectacular Officially Verified ‘UFO’ Footage From NASA’s STS-48 Discovery Space Shuttle

The film footage you see below comes from the 1991 NASA STS-48 Discovery Space Shuttle mission. It’s truly some of the best footage (that’s been officially verified) available for public viewing. This particular sighting, among others, has been the subject of rigorous scientific investigation by multiple researchers and institutions.(1)(2)(3)

Explanations vary, from ice particles to the extraterrestrial hypothesis; you can read the publications listed in the sources below for more information with regards to the explanation behind this footage.

Many NASA astronauts have expressed their belief that we are not alone, and that we are being visiting, and that many of these UFOs are indeed of extraterrestrial origin. Others have completely denied it, stating that there is no such evidence available to make those conclusions. We are not saying that this particular case represents an alien space craft, but it does indeed represent an Unidentified Flying Object showing some strange maneuverability characteristics.

One great example of extraterrestrial claims by a (former) NASA astronaut (and Princeton physics professor) comes from Dr. Brian O’leary, who said that:


There is abundant evidence that we are being contacted, that civilizations have been visiting us for a very long time, that their appearance is bizarre from any kind of traditional materialistic western point of view, that these visitors use the technologies of consciousness, they use toroids, they use co-rotating magnetic disks for their propulsion systems, that seems to be a common denominator of the UFO phenomenon. (source)

The late Dr. Edgar Mitchell, 6th man to walk on the moon and founder of the Institute of Noetic Science (IONS) stated that he knows for sure that we are not alone, and that he was “privileged” enough to know that we are not alone. (source)

Again, these are just a few of many examples. These statements, along side all of the documentation, that’s been released about UFOs (like this for example) make the extraterrestrial hypothesis as a possible explanation for some of these UFOs, in my opinion, a plausible.

B#12