NASA to Make BIG Announcement Live on Thursday - Another Earth?!

Another: " We presume, maybe, if all our calculations are right, that we suspect, that we have found a planet that looks like, but we are still not sure, and confirmation will come after 20 years, but only if we have enough funds and enough personnel to deploy to this discover.... etc.... etc..."
Amazing!

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: NeoSpace
It will be somthing boring like they found bacteria on Mars.

You think THAT would be boring!?!?!

wow.

That would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of greatest discoveries (assuming it didn't hitch a ride from Earth) because it would confirm that life is common in the universe.

I want them to find old nuclear bunkers on Mars full of technology, documents, supplys e.t.c.from a past civilization who maby had a nuclear war and destroyed Mars.

originally posted by: HUGOH
Another: " We presume, maybe, if all our calculations are right, that we suspect, that we have found a planet that looks like, but we are still not sure, and confirmation will come after 20 years, but only if we have enough funds and enough personnel to deploy to this discover.... etc.... etc..."
Amazing!

*** THIS.

As much as I hate to say it.. That's it pretty much.

If you want to find aliens any sooner (i do!) then lobby Congress to give NASA a bigger budget to build things we're pretty sure could find them if they're out there. If NASA had the budget of one of the military branches, we could probably be able to build things to see something the size of a small car on worlds many light years away.

All it takes is money.

a reply to: JadeStar

NASA is woefully underfunded as a percentage of the national budget. We need to be funding it at LEAST 300% more. And even then it would be miniscule compared to the budget.

originally posted by: NeoSpace

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: NeoSpace
It will be somthing boring like they found bacteria on Mars.

You think THAT would be boring!?!?!

wow.

That would be one of the greatest discoveries in the history of greatest discoveries (assuming it didn't hitch a ride from Earth) because it would confirm that life is common in the universe.

I want them to find old nuclear bunkers on Mars full of technology, documents, supplys e.t.c.from a past civilization who maby had a nuclear war and destroyed Mars.

If any of that were true it would only be a matter of time before it would be found. Of course there's no evidence for any of that. Mars was its own worst enemy. No nukes or war necessary.

a reply to: ghostrager

I am not certain, but I would suspect mathematically that there would be a sh#tload of Earths given the number of star systems in this galaxy, or universe, assuming any of it exists.

a reply to: JadeStar

The only thing Mars did wrong was be in the wrong part of the solar system. Poor fella.

I always look forward to hearing the next level of NASA BS,

What their next lie will be.

Anyone remember the last time NASA told the truth???,

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
a reply to: JadeStar

NASA is woefully underfunded as a percentage of the national budget. We need to be funding it at LEAST 300% more. And even then it would be miniscule compared to the budget.

Exactly. That brings to mind Penny4NASA and their work to educate people about it:



The good news is that a Europa mission has been funded and approved and Mars exploration continues and another mission (Mars InSight) will be launching next year. TESS and the James Webb Space Telescope are also on track for 2017 and 2018 launches.

But yes, with a much better funded NASA (ie: if NASA's funding had not been cut first after Apollo and then again after 9/11) who knows, we might have found alien life either in our solar system or on planets around another stars by now:





Worth mentioning is that each new mission each gives us pieces of new information which both inform and impact the Drake Equation. (See also my ATS thread: The Drake Equation - Illustrated and Clarified (INFOGRAPHIC)



And even with what it has now, this is the exciting future of exoplanet missions at NASA as planned based on or proposed under current budget constraints:

]




Tomorrow's announcement may be to help us deduce this better:



Remarkable what NASA can do with the meager resources it has available. Independent studies by the General Accounting Office as well as private efficiency firms have repeatedly shown that out of all federal agencies NASA is the most cost effective doing more with less.

Wow, so many negative posts for a NASA announcement.

People are getting spoiled in this age of discovery.

At least we still have a space program, and are still making discoveries, even if it is not the ones people want.
Thanks for the heads up, will be watching tomorrow for something new and exciting,
even if some people think "it's just another planet"

We had no clue 30 years ago about some of this stuff, not even 10 years ago,
now we have seen to the edge of our solar system, and beyond,
and people think it is no big deal anymore.


Any discovery is a good one.

IMO

a reply to: JadeStar

Agreed 100%. NASA right now receives approximately one half of one percent of the total budget. It's a freaking disgrace. You know what made America great? When we were putting people on freaking MOON.

Had the budget continued to stay a '67 levels, we'd probably have a permanent colony offworld somewhere. (Okay, maybe that's a little too much, but still)

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
a reply to: JadeStar

The only thing Mars did wrong was be in the wrong part of the solar system. Poor fella.

Pretty much.

If it had been a little further out, like where the asteroid belt is and later migrated in through gravitational interactions in the early Solar System, we could be talking about two planets like Earth in our Solar System. What doomed Mars's atmosphere was the flux it received from the early Sun in combination with it's small size. Today Earth, Mars and Venus are all losing their atmospheres at about the same rate so the lack of a magnetic field in Mars's case was more of a factor during the past than it would be if it had migrated in closer to a mature much less luminous Sun.

BTW: It is by some scientists estimated that there are about two habitable planets per star.

We may be the odd case of only one.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: JadeStar

Who's to say I would ever want to come back? LOL

The way some people behave on this planet I don't blame you. Can I come too?

originally posted by: nOraKat
a reply to: ghostrager

I am not certain, but I would suspect mathematically that there would be a sh#tload of Earths given the number of star systems in this galaxy, or universe, assuming any of it exists.

Yes. From early Kepler estimates...

Odds Are on Oodles of Earths - JPL/NASA/Keck Observatory, November 04, 2013

originally posted by: ScientificRailgun
a reply to: JadeStar

Agreed 100%. NASA right now receives approximately one half of one percent of the total budget. It's a freaking disgrace. You know what made America great? When we were putting people on freaking MOON.

Had the budget continued to stay a '67 levels, we'd probably have a permanent colony offworld somewhere. (Okay, maybe that's a little too much, but still)

No, you are correct.

At the 1967 levels there would have been a base on the moon by 1976 and colony on Mars by 1985. NASA was planning for that.

BTW: Kepler was first proposed in the 1980s but was deemed too experimental and expensive. So all this cutting edge science we've gotten from it since its launch in 2009 could have happened before or around the time I was born (1995) and we'd already probably have our first image of an Earthlike world around a nearby star (something which they now project for around 2030).

a reply to: ghostrager

Interesting and thanks for the link.

I think there will be another earth out there in fact many earths with many versions of you. There's a finite number of ways matter can be arranged and if space is infinite then many of these configurations will occur again and again ad infinitum. There was a recent article that says space is finite but the age of the universe is infinite. So there would still be multiple versions of earth and multiple versions of you that keep recycling over and over again.

The question is, does the laws of physics limit which configurations can occur and all signs point to yes. So it's the difference between 52 cards(microstates) and 80,658,175,170,943,878,571,660,636,856,403,766,975,289,505,440,883,277,824,000,000,000,000 arrangements(macrostates). Now if you look at Poker where it limits how many hands can occur it's 52(microstates) and 2,598,960(macrostates) in 5 card Poker.

So I think we will find other earth like planets out there it's just a matter as to how much does the laws of physics restrict which configurations can or can't occur. This will just show how close or far away another version of you might be. Tegmark says:

A crude estimate suggests that the closest identical copy of you is about ∼ 101029 m away. About ∼ 101091 m away, there should be a sphere of radius 100 light-years identical to the one centered here, so all perceptions that we have during the next century will be identical to those of our counterparts over there. About ∼ 1010115 m away, there should be an entire Hubble volume identical to ours.

Like he said it's a crude estimate and it's also based on if every configuration can occur. We are either dealing with 52 pickup or something more limiting like the rules of Poker.

a reply to: SONOFTHEMORNING

I always look forward to hearing the next level of NASA BS,
What their next lie will be.
Anyone remember the last time NASA told the truth???,

Where do you go to for the truth on scientific/astro science matters?......anonymous internet users per chance?

I'll hang my cap on NASA's peg thanks.

originally posted by: Jekka
a reply to: ghostrager

While NASA has been known to make mountains of molehills in the past, I would think it would have to be a pretty remarkable exoplanet discovery. We have already found at least dozens of earth-like exoplanets around the galaxy. One more isn't that impressive. Unless it has either signs of life or they were able to get definitive confirmation that it is very earth-like, meaning it would have to be close. I could go on in a multi-page diatribe on the many things it could be, but I guess we will have to just wait and see if it's a mountain or a molehill.

As I mentioned, though we've found a dozen or so SuperEarth and Earth-sized worlds circling at just the right distance from their star we have yet to confirm a true twin to Earth because:

1. All of the potentially habitable planets circling stars like our Sun have been larger than Earth, placing them in either the SuperEarth/mini-Neptune category. Not much is known about these planets since nothing like them exists in our solar system so how Earthlike they actually could be remains an open question of debate in the field.

2. The few planets which ARE Earth-sized and circling at just right distance from their star to be considered potentially habitable circle stars VERY unlike our Sun. These stars are dimmer, redder and lower mass. This means these planets in most cases, would be tidally locked with one side in perpetual day and the other in perpetual night. Not much is known about these type of planets or whether they could even be considered habitable. Some studies show that they could be, other studies make the opposite point due to how they would have formed. We do not know for sure but are looking to learn more in the next few years with the launch of the JWST.

So you see that since both of the cases above involve planets or stars quite unlike our Earth/Sun combination the 'holy grail' of exoplanet research: a true Earth analog or Earth twin has awaited discovery and confirmation....

Until tomorrow.

If it is more exciting than that announcement I will be ecstatic. But I'm pretty sure that is what this is.

Looking for life/aliens? You'll be disappointed. (Kepler can't tell us if it is inhabited*)

Looking for detailed information on its atmosphere? You'll be disappointed. (Kepler can't tell us much about the planet's atmosphere however it can possibly tell us something about the planet's density.)

Looking for a place which we could visit with any sort of future space craft travelling at 10-20% of the speed of light? You'll be disappointed. (Kepler's planets are typically hundreds to thousands of light-years away)

Looking for the best candidate for another planet like our own? You'll probably be happy.

Either way I'll be here to talk about it and maybe can answer questions you might have.

*Unless the aliens placed a big non-spherical object in orbit around their star.

a reply to: ghostrager

I am looking forward to the announcement...thank you for creating this thread!

originally posted by: JadeStar

originally posted by: HUGOH
Another: " We presume, maybe, if all our calculations are right, that we suspect, that we have found a planet that looks like, but we are still not sure, and confirmation will come after 20 years, but only if we have enough funds and enough personnel to deploy to this discover.... etc.... etc..."
Amazing!

*** THIS.

As much as I hate to say it.. That's it pretty much.

If you want to find aliens any sooner (i do!) then lobby Congress to give NASA a bigger budget to build things we're pretty sure could find them if they're out there. If NASA had the budget of one of the military branches, we could probably be able to build things to see something the size of a small car on worlds many light years away.

All it takes is money.

Sorry to disagree. If we want to find aliens any sooner (me too!) then Military/Intelligence lobby in Congress, to delete the Above Top Secret Classifications and Security Clerance about this matter. Nothing more, nothing less.

All it takes is will.