Our search for technosignatures – clear signs of advanced civilizations beyond Earth – takes many forms. Many are driven by the famous Drake equation, which attempts to estimate how many technological civilizations there are in the Milky Way. However, there’s a big fat question mark at the end of that equation in the form of a variable intended to account for the “longevity” of a civilization. And to be clear, that doesn’t mean how long the civilization itself survives. It simply means how long it actively creates a signature that is detectable by our current technology. A new paper, available in pre-print on arXiv from Oxford astrophysicist Brian C. Lacki, argues that, since the chances of us overlapping in time with any such civilization are miniscule, we’re much more likely to find the ruins of a “dead” civilization – and, surprisingly, the best place to do so might be in our own solar system.
Category: Mistery
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New Study Assesses Titan's Resources and their Potential Uses
In a recent NASA-supported study, researchers assessed Titan's resource base and how it could be leveraged for ISRU. Compared with other locations under study (the Moon, Mars, etc.), they concluded that there is unrivaled potential for human exploration and settlement.
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Titan's Hidden Blanket
Saturn's moon Titan has long fascinated scientists, it’s a world with rivers, lakes, and a thick atmosphere, all made not of water but of methane. Now, a new study suggests Titan is stranger than first imagined since beneath its surface lies a 9 km thick crust of methane laced ice that acts like a giant thermal blanket, warming the interior in ways nobody expected.
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Written in Rock
A small rock found in the African desert has just handed scientists an extraordinary window into one of the most violent and consequential periods in the history of the Solar System. Inside this lunar meteorite, a chunk of the Moon knocked to Earth by an ancient collision, researchers have found evidence of a massive impact event 3.5 billion years ago, one that matches the timing of known impacts on Earth and in the asteroid belt. Three worlds but one shared bombardment and a story that may have everything to do with the origins of life.
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What's Behind Steven Spielberg's Lifelong Obsession With Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial Visitors?
Half a century after "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the director returns to the subject of UFOs with "Disclosure Day." His science fiction films are informed by his fascination with alien encounters in American suburbia
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How should we handle alien detection in a world of AI, deepfakes and social media? This committee is writing the rulebook
As Steven Spielberg's alien conspiracy thriller "Disclosure Day" heads to theaters, Space.com talks to the astronomer who has led efforts to make sure any real alien detection will not be kept a secret.