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NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

theguardian.com

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Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#21

Post by throwaway74902 »

_ph_ wrote: post #14
truculent wrote: post #6

If the presence of dimethyl sulphide is confirmed, what would the next steps be? Presumably sending a probe would not be feasible in any foreseeable timeframe?

The problem is, when would we get an answer? Even in the best case, that would be 240 years. But we don't have the capability of building probes which approach the speed of light, so with current technology, it is probably hundreds of thousands of years. So the short term solution (in the order of decades) is improve the observation capabilities. More observations with the JWST should give a better idea what the next…

We won't get the capability to build probes that approach the speed of light if we keep observing instead of beginning to build the probe.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#22

Post by throwaway74902 »

BoxOfRain wrote: post #18
psiops wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best time to send a probe to an exoplanet is 200 years ago. The second-best time to do it is now.

Perhaps not, if the speed you can drive a probe is increasing with technological development it might be a waste of time to send a probe that'll be overtaken by its newer sisters.

The technological development is driven by the need to launch the probe. You need to start somewhere.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#23

Post by molly0 »

mpreda wrote: post #17

We can expect these posibilities: 1. no life 2. simple life 3. advanced intelligent civilization In the first two cases, we need to send a physical probe there. In the third case it might be enough, and much faster, to send communication signals there and get answers back. The third case is also arguably the most interesting.

If 3, And The are truly advanced we should consider not communicating with them. Maybe they are hiding from someone else... ;) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_forest_hypothesis

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#24

Post by kypro »

King-Aaron wrote: post #15
Gys wrote: post #11

Distance is 120 light years. So whatever we see is 120 years in the past. Getting there within a reasonable time frame is impossible with our current technology (an unmanned rocket will still needs 1000s of years). The good news: if there is intelligent life it will not easily get here either.

> The good news: if there is intelligent life it will not easily get here either. Unless 'it' left a long time ago and is already here. I always feel the 'space is big haha no one can cross it' argument is weird due to always framing it in our own frame of reference. What if the hypothetical 'thing' is like a jellyfish and time isn't as big an issue, or an AI that definitely doesn't care about time. Or a bundle of fu…

The thing I always found a bit unnerving is that if they've left and are traveling at a speed close to the speed of light we'd never know until they arrive. If something is traveling at the speed of light towards us (whether a ship or a death star laser) we wouldn't know until it arrived.

Now we've been sending radio signals for several decades you have to begin to question if there's a civilisation out there maybe 10-100 light years away that may now be aware of us and have sent something our way which may be about to arrive.

There is an explanation for Fermi paradox that suggests maybe alien civilisations choose to be quiet or immediately wipe out other transmitting civilisations with speed of light weaponry.

Why? Well, if there's no way to have prior warning of an attack traveling at the speed of light your only defence is some combination of remaining hidden and extreme hostility towards other civilisations.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#25

Post by sgt »

perihelions wrote: post #19
King-Aaron wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The good news: if there is intelligent life it will not easily get here either. Unless 'it' left a long time ago and is already here. I always feel the 'space is big haha no one can cross it' argument is weird due to always framing it in our own frame of reference. What if the hypothetical 'thing' is like a jellyfish and time isn't as big an issue, or an AI that definitely doesn't care about time. Or a bundle of fu…

Even simpler: you send out self-replicating AI drones in advance—to every star in the entire galaxy. That guarantees permanent security. The drones assess if alien intelligences have any potential to become a threat, and if so annihilates their planet, by autonomous decision. Takes a few million years to set up... but that's just a blink of an eye on cosmic time scales; a brief era in the galactic-scale lifespan of a…

But those evolve later and come back to you, biting you in the ass.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#26

Post by postexitus »

kypro wrote: post #24
King-Aaron wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The good news: if there is intelligent life it will not easily get here either. Unless 'it' left a long time ago and is already here. I always feel the 'space is big haha no one can cross it' argument is weird due to always framing it in our own frame of reference. What if the hypothetical 'thing' is like a jellyfish and time isn't as big an issue, or an AI that definitely doesn't care about time. Or a bundle of fu…

The thing I always found a bit unnerving is that if they've left and are traveling at a speed close to the speed of light we'd never know until they arrive. If something is traveling at the speed of light towards us (whether a ship or a death star laser) we wouldn't know until it arrived. Now we've been sending radio signals for several decades you have to begin to question if there's a civilisation out there maybe 1…

Welcome to The Dark Forest.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#27

Post by pomtato »

konschubert wrote: post #16
King-Aaron wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The good news: if there is intelligent life it will not easily get here either. Unless 'it' left a long time ago and is already here. I always feel the 'space is big haha no one can cross it' argument is weird due to always framing it in our own frame of reference. What if the hypothetical 'thing' is like a jellyfish and time isn't as big an issue, or an AI that definitely doesn't care about time. Or a bundle of fu…

If you have enough acceleration , you can travel 1000 light years in a human lifetime. It’s just that when you return, at least 2000 years will have passed on earth.

so you're implying speed atleast 10x the speed of light? i think you'll have better luck increasing the human lifespan instead.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#29

Post by rowanG077 »

pomtato wrote: post #27
konschubert wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have enough acceleration , you can travel 1000 light years in a human lifetime. It’s just that when you return, at least 2000 years will have passed on earth.

so you're implying speed atleast 10x the speed of light? i think you'll have better luck increasing the human lifespan instead.

Not that's not what he is implying. He is talking about time dilation.

Re: NASA says distant exoplanet could have rare water ocean, possible hint of life

#30

Post by gsky »

mpreda wrote: post #17

We can expect these posibilities: 1. no life 2. simple life 3. advanced intelligent civilization In the first two cases, we need to send a physical probe there. In the third case it might be enough, and much faster, to send communication signals there and get answers back. The third case is also arguably the most interesting.

What if the advanced civilization treats us like the way we treat animals?

In my view it's better to stay away from the advanced civilizations

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