Lucas Arruda
Journalism
Research Paper
Literature Review Question:
What does literatures say about what else could be out there
in space?
Literature
Review/Problem Statement:
Have
you ever looked up at the starlit night sky and thought about the mysteries
that are out there in space? It has been proven that there is other life in
space or in other words “aliens”, but that life is basically bacteria. But have
you ever wondered if there is life out there that could be very similar to us
humans. Or even thinking about what events are happening out there right at his
moment, events that may affect our planet or others around us. Have you ever
thought about how big space is and if it is still growing? And if it is growing,
will it every stop growing or even wondering about if your grandkids will be
living in another planet. What does literatures say about what else could be
out there in space?
The
universe is huge, really huge, it’s crazy to think about how big it is and with
that size many possibilities can come out of it. In this one universe there is thousands and
thousands of galaxies and inside these galaxies there is even more thousands of
planets and stars. And within these planets and stars, they can obtain
possibilities beyond your wonders. But the thing is these possibilities are
presently defined as “unknown”. How big is “big” when it comes to the universe.
Is it the size of what we can see or the size of it right at this moment? This
becomes very difficult because light takes time as it travels and as it travels
the universe is still growing in size. And when this light hits our planet the
universe is now larger than the time the light started to travel. Because of
this astronomers do not use this as a reliable source, so they measure by z, and
the more z the more redshift and the more distant the galaxy. “As an example,”
says Koberlein:
“consider one of the
most distant galaxies we’ve observed, which has a redshift of 7.5. Using this,
we can determine distance by calculating how long the light has traveled to
reach us. With a redshift of 7.5, that comes out to be about 13 billion years.
You might think that means it’s 13 billion light years away, but 13 billion
years ago the universe was smaller, so it was actually closer at the time the
light left that galaxy. Using this, if you calculate that distance, it was only
a short 3.4 billion light years away.”
Now the galaxy is much
farther than that according to Koberlein. After the light left the galaxy, the
galaxy continued to move away from us. It is now about 29 billion light years
away. Which is definitely more than 13, and quite a bit more than its original
3.4? But still right at this moment the universe is still growing in size and
shape and if you really think about this massive size, what possibilities can
come out of it.
Proxima
Centauir is our closest star. It is 39,900,000,000,000km away from our closest
star, which is also known as our Sun. It would take about 81,000yrs (going
56,000 km/hr) to travel the 4.22 light years from Proxima to Earth. If we ever
had to move away from our home planet our first choice would probably be
Proxima Centauir. Proxima is, “Part of a triple star system called Alpha
Centauri; Proxima is 4.22 light years from Earth. Alpha Centauri is actually
the brightest star of the three in the system, and so the system is named after
this star.” (Ian O’Neill) But the
question is will we ever have to move off of Earth and go and live on a planet
near Proxima.
“…if mankind felt the
incentive to build an “interstellar ark” filled with a self-sustaining
community of space-faring humans, it might be possible to travel there in a
little under a century if we developed nuclear pulse technology. So your
descendents [sic] may touch down on a planet closely orbiting Proxima Centauri,
but unless we make a breakthrough in interstellar travel (and science
fiction becomes more like science fact), we’ll be stuck
with long-term, pedestrian transits for the foreseeable (and distant) future…,”
quoted by O’Neill.
So
the likeliness of going and living on another planet in the near future isn’t
so high but if we would ever what would be the consequences of traveling in
space. Ricks of going in to space is
increased exposure to radiation, which could put space travelers at higher risk
for contracting cancer (and possibly brain damage) than their earth-bound
counterparts, weakened bones, a malady that researchers think can be
counteracted by regular exercise and osteoporosis medication (Danielle
Bronner). “According to the Times, a recent "unknown
unknown" — what scientists call unexpected complications — has reminded
scientists that we still don't know how bodies will react to extended stints in
outer space. Specifically, they are talking about two astronauts on an extended
mission who discovered that their vision was failing:” according to Danielle.
“So far, the longest time an astronaut has spent in space has been roughly one
year and two months. Next year, astronaut Scott J. Kelly will spend a year on
the space station, giving NASA an opportunity to monitor his health over a
long-term stay. In 2030, the agency hopes to send people to Mars for a
two-and-a-half-year stay, but obviously that's a long way off.” If we are able
to go to Mars and live there we will be leaving a big mess on Earth with all of
the global warming. Meteorologists predict that in future decades there will be
super storms from the warming ocean temps.
Besides
the big mess that would be left “on” Earth, what about the big mess surrounding
Earth. There is a big layer of pollution of debris that is surrounding Earth
because of the Earth’s gravitational pull. This mess can cause much problems,
for example, on February 10 2009 began like every other day in Iridium
33's 11-year life (one of a constellation of 66 small satellites in orbit
around the Earth), it spent its time going through space, diligently shuttling
signals to and from satellite phones. At 3pm a report said that it might see
some excitement: two hours later it would pass less than 600 meters from a
defunct communications satellite called Cosmos 2251. It did a lot
less. The two space crafts collided and the result was hundreds of pieces of
shrapnel more than 10cm across, and thus large enough to track by radar and
plus the many more that were not. “Junk Science” also stated that,
“This accident came two
years after the deliberate destruction by the Chinese of their Fengyun-1C spacecraft
in the test of an anti-satellite weapon. That created over 2,000 pieces of junk
bigger than 10cm, and an estimated 35,000 pieces more than 1cm across.
Together, these incidents increased the number of objects in orbit at an
altitude of 700-1,000km by a third.”
The
picture to the right, also from “Junk Science”, shows you the amount of objects
that are in space and how much it has been increasing by the years.
“Losing the ability to
place satellites safely into LEOs would thus be a bad thing. And that is
exactly what these two incidents threatened. At orbital velocity, some eight
kilometers a second, even an object a centimetre across could knock a satellite
out. The more bits of junk there are out there, the more likely this is to
happen. And junk begets junk, as each collision creates more fragments—a
phenomenon known as the Kessler syndrome, after Donald Kessler, an American
physicist who postulated it in the 1970s.” (Junk Science)
Ideas
to get rid of the debris is for ground-lasers to change the orbit of the
pieces, for it to go into the atmosphere and burn up, or either do robot
missions when you would dock at the dead satellite and spot rockets at it for
it to either move to a graveyard orbit or crash down into the sea somewhere.
But then again these are just ideas; there hasn’t been a 100% decision for what
to do about this crisis.
Besides the mess on and off our planet, stars that could
hold life or the consequences of being in space for too long, one of the
biggest questions that are asked about space is “aliens.” Is there other life
out there? Will we ever see them or it? Will we ever know? In matter of fact
there is an equation to help us figure this out. Over half a century ago Frank
Drake developed an equation to estimate the probability of finding intelligent
life in our galaxy. (Dvorsky, George)
This equation is…
- N is
the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which we might hope to be
able to communicate
- R* is
the average rate of star formation in our galaxy
- fp
is the fraction of those stars that have
planets
- ne
is the average number of planets that can potentially support life per
star that has planets
- fl is
the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some
point
- fi is
the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
- fc is
the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases
detectable signs of their existence into space
- L is
the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into
space
But
this equation slowly got replaced by another because, ‘“The original Drake
Equation just gave us the format with which to see what the different ingredients
would be,’ Seager told io9. ‘No one had ever quantitatively organized our
thoughts before. That’s the revolutionary nature of the equation.’ But it can
never give us a quantitative answer, says, and we shouldn’t expect the equation
to be a real equation in the sense that we can have precise definitions for
each term.”’ So Seager went on to create an equation that would replace the
Drake equation. This equation she made is…
- N
is the number of planets with detectable biosignature gases
- N* is
the number of stars within the sample
- FQ is
the fraction of quiet stars
- FHZ is
the fraction with rocky planets in the habitable zone
- FO is
the fraction of observable systems
- FL is
the fraction with life
- FS is
the fraction with detectable spectroscopic signatures
To make sure that this
is informed, this equation is not an update to the Drake Equation. “It’s more like a
parallel equation that can work in tandem with the original version.
Rather than come up with a formula to predict the predominance of intelligent
life, Seager is interested in predicting our chances of detecting any kind
of life within the next ten years.” (Dvorsky, George)
So now since we technically have an equation for the
likeliness of alien life, what would happen if aliens did come to Earth? Well
the National Geographic as a very unique scenario to this question. Sometime in the future – which could be very
soon - the world will go about its business as usual. But at a remote
observatory, a space anomaly is reported. Something unusual appears to be
approaching Earth. Experts aren't sure how to react or do about it. The
first sighting alerts sky-watchers around the world...
“As the craft
approaches Earth, screens go blank, data streams cut out, and communications
suddenly cease. Cell phone calls are dropped and TV images go out. All of
Earth's satellites fail, but optical and radio telescopes are still receiving
information. The aliens have knocked out satellite
communication…Militaries prepare for the worst. Squadrons of F-18s -
possibly our planet's most effective and versatile air-to-air weapon - scramble
into action. But, for alien crafts to travel through the stars, they have
propulsion technologies beyond physics that we even understand and can evade
F-18 missiles fired at twice the speed of sound. Militaries try to intercept and decode alien communication. Humvees with
broadcast dishes target alien crafts with microwaves to jam signals,
cyber-attacking invaders. On the ground, a desperate military unleashes
experimental weapons like the U.S. Air Force's highly classified X-37B
spacefighter. But experimental weapons are no match.” (National Geographic)
(5 hours after contact) While nations of the world
combine forces, the alien air force clears the skies then blasts military
targets around the world, following our own radar signals before moving on to
attack the rest of our society, leaving one last hope for us earthlings:
nuclear weapons. Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, a submarine releases a
Trident II ballistic missile, carrying nearly 3.5 megatonnes of destructive
power. The missile will breaks apart into eight self-guided warheads.
But, Earth's mightiest weapon has no impact on these aliens. From shielded
bunkers and secret locations, surviving military leaders issue orders for a
surprising new mission. Instead of attacking, they order their forces to
run away.
“(24hrs
after contact) “The alien invasion is complete. The invaders control the skies
and ground. Earth's remaining communications hubs call for civilian
evacuation. In the panic to flee, desperate crowds become rioting
mobs. Roadways grind to a halt. A successful getaway demands some other
form of transportation. For some, safety from aliens and rampaging humans
means going underground. Subway tunnels and sewers provide safe exits
from burning cities. According
to the experts, the destruction of civilization is predictable. And, it is
accounted for in the plans to fight an alien invasion. But, while
military defeat may be predictable, it's not the end of the war. Among the
survivors of Earth - in caves, and forests and deserts - there grows the seeds
of rebellion. With bacteria and disease rampant among survivors deprived of
antibiotics and other medicine, humans are provided with another weapon.
Living germ warfare units prepare to be harvested - to spread their deadly
agent among the invaders.” (National Geographic)
Nine
or so months after contact astro-biologists
say that humans would be more in danger from alien bacteria, and germ warfare
would have no effect. But what if the aliens are not biological but simply
machines? If it is a non-biological attack, there is one low-tech weapon
that may be a match for the best technology of intergalactic invaders: a
balloon. A balloon is so low-tech that it could be nearly invisible which
makes this weapon a game changer. “Around the world, a coordinated balloon
assault armed with high explosives and scavenged military bombs are
underway. Throughout history, low tech assaults regularly succeed against
superior technology. A human victory over alien technology may have less
to do with tactics, and more to do with the human spirit - as it's evolved over
200,000 years.” (National Geographic) Even though this scenario is very
detailed and descriptive but an alien invasion might or most likely not happen
this way. The reason why is because no one knows how it will really happen
because we have never had an actual alien contact before to reference to.
Besides the thought
about the alien invasion, what would the aliens look like, if they are really
out there? The first theory was that
Earth was the center of the universe and that people generally accepted that
Earth was the center of motion in the third century B.C. from a Greek
philosopher named Aristarchus. In the sixteenth century Italian monk Giordano
Bruno suggested publicly that an infinite universe was filled with planets that
harbor life. His response to these ideas was that he was burned upside down and
naked at the stake. (Dunbar, Brian)
“At the moment, life on Earth is the only known life in the universe, but
there are compelling arguments to suggest we are not alone. Indeed, most astrophysicists
accept a high probability of there being life elsewhere in the universe, if not
on other planets or on moons within our own solar system. The numbers are,
well, astronomical: If the count of planets in our solar system is not unusual,
then there are more planets in the universe than the sum of all sounds and
words ever uttered by every human who has ever lived. To declare that Earth
must be the only planet in the cosmos with life would be inexcusably egocentric
of us.” (Dunbar)
So the question is what does this life look like
and, “…how
can the appearance or the chemistry of life on Earth provides clues to what
life might be like elsewhere in the universe?”
If you really look at our life forms we have (snakes, jellyfish,
sponges, squirrels, etc.), you can see how different and exotic they are so
just imagine how weird, exotic, different life forms in space could be. And
then when Hollywood makes movies with aliens they use “other life form
creatures” that are practically undistinguishable from humans. “If anything is
certain, it is that life elsewhere in the universe, intelligent or otherwise,
will look at least as exotic as some of Earth's own life forms.” Dunbar also
states that,
“Aliens need not look
like us to resemble us in more fundamental ways. Consider that the four most
common elements in the universe are hydrogen, helium, carbon, and oxygen.
Helium is inert. So the three most abundant, chemically active ingredients in
the cosmos are also the top three ingredients in life on Earth. For this
reason, you can bet that if life is found on another planet, it will be made of
a similar mix of elements. Conversely, if life on Earth were composed primarily
of, for example, molybdenum, bismuth, and plutonium, then we would have
excellent reason to suspect that we were something special in the universe.”
Even
though we haven’t come into contact with “aliens” the odds show that it is
likely that there is intelligent life out there in the universe. It/they could
be dangerous or “come in peace” either us but for right now it is unknown.
Besides
the unknown life what about the unknown objects? Asteroids and/or comets are
coming close or hitting Earth and what we can do about them since they come
without any warning…if we can do something. Little comets get destroyed as they
come into contact with Earth’s atmosphere.
There is nothing we can do when it comes to the big asteroids they can’t
be stopped with Earth’s atmosphere. An example of a big asteroid that may come
in contact with us is Apophis.
“Dubbed the “continent
killer”, Apophis is a frightening-looking, 250m (820ft)-wide, 20million-ton
chunk of rock, ice and dust, pockmarked with craters, which apparently could
“land” on Earth, at about 23,000 miles per hour, in 25 years’ time — i.e. in
most of our lifetimes. There are two scenarios: the first, and thankfully most
likely, is that Apophis will fly by in April 2029, the year it is due to make
its first “close approach”, and that’s the last we’ll see or hear of it. The
second is that during that approach, it’ll pass through what scientists refer
to as a “keyhole” – a small area of space that can alter the asteroid’s course
due to Earth’s gravity. If this happens, it’ll be on a massive collision course
with us seven years later, likely to be April 13 2036 — Easter Sunday.”
(Hannaford)
But is this 100% true,
not necessarily, “It is actually a problem, because each keyhole has keyholes
around it, which means it could return to Earth in a different year. Mother
Nature is very devious,” he says. “If asteroids come close to Earth one year,
they can come back and hit you another year. It is actually fascinating, from a
mathematical standpoint.” (Hannaford) This makes asteroids come without a fair
warning basically. This also makes us have less time to prepare for its
arrival. This makes this an “unknown” too
The Universe is basically defined as a big unknown. We
are only certain about some things that are out there but at most we don’t
know. We are not 100% sure about intelligent life that also lives in the
universe nor are we certain about if we will ever live on another planet. We
are also not sure about what events that are happening out there that might
affect us. The Universe is classified as a big “unknown”.
Gap
Identification/Research Question:
How
do people think about us being concentrated on space? Throughout all of the
research I have used in my literature review, none of them described about what
people think or feel about the idea of Space. Or even their point of view about
us as people funding for trying to solve the unknown of space. Also, how do people
think about space, if they think it is that important for us to keep
researching about it? The main question that I will be trying to answer is, “What
are people’s points of view about the funding of trying to solve the unknown of
space?”
Methodology:
The
type of research I will be using is qualitative data. Qualitative data is a
mixture of words and observations, unlike quantitative which uses numbers. Just
like in all data, interpretation and analysis are required to bring
understanding to the research. This requires discipline, creativity and a
systematic approach. And keep in mind that there is no single or best way of
doing this type of data. In order to do qualitative data in you must depend on
the questions you want to be answered, resources that you will be using and the
needs of those who will use the information (Analyzing Qualitative Data). This
type of research is appropriate for my topic because most or even all of my
research in my literature review are quantitative by scientists or high educated
people. So I will be getting information about people of different ages about
how they feel about space or what they know about it.
Research Methods:
The
instrument I used to get information from the people is a survey. In this
survey it includes 5 questions that involve something to do about how they feel
about space. I gave this survey to 4 people in different age groups; an
elementary student, middle school student, a high school student, and an adult.
I did this because I wanted to see how their different minds work and how they
see things differently or similar. For example, in elementary school, students’
minds are young and filled with great imagination while as an adult’s mind is
more literal and believe things that can be proven or have evidence with it.
The people that took this survey are from Southeast Massachusetts in a little
town called Norton. They took approximately 15 to 20 minutes, answering the
questions. In this survey gender is not a problem; I am more concentrated on
how their feelings on space change. As I went through their answers on the
survey I did notice how their answers changed from one another. Some answers
didn’t really have a specific pattern but others you can definitely see how it
changed from a yes to a no. What I mean by this is that the elementary student
could have a strong yes to an answer but then it slowly changes as it goes from
middle school to high school than to the adult where he/she is stating a
strong no or vise versa. The way I went through the answers was looking at the
same answer to the same question of all the surveys to observe a difference or
similarity to them but most or half of them went in the pattern I mention
recently.
Findings:
In
question one, where they rated items, I didn’t find a certain pattern about
space just that from elementary to adult community went from low to high; world
problems went from low to high then back to low; space went from average to
low; animal health and protection stayed high; pollution went from high to
average. Besides just looking at space you can tell how their different minds
change depending on their age by looking at all of the questions as a whole.
Question two is where it started to show the pattern between elementary through
adults. The elementary student started off saying how it’s cool; the middle
school student said how if we can get better and strong equipment for space we
could be able to find intelligent life somewhere out there; the high school
student said that space is a very mysterious and an interesting place. Also
that he/she doesn’t strongly agree nor disagree about life out there but he/she
believes it could be possible, and that there has to be at least one planet
that can sustain humans; the adult said he/she doesn’t believe that there is life
or a planet that can sustain humans out there in space but thinks of space to
be dark with sparkling lights all over. This is a perfect example of how their
answers change depending on age; it went from the elementary student saying how
space is cool with life then to the adult saying he/she doesn’t believe in life
out there in space. In question three where I asked them if they could would
they live on another planet if it was possible, the elementary student said it
wouldn’t be a good idea because food shortages; the middle school student said
that it depends on the person like if you aren’t living in good conditions on
Earth that could change on a different planet; the high school student said we
should have half the population go; the adult said she is sure of that people
would go to a different planet if it was as nice as Earth. This is a good
example of the pattern but vise versa. In the fourth question where I asked if
you think there is anything else in space besides what we know of. The elementary
student thinks there is life in space; the middle school student said there are
a bunch of galaxies out there just like ours which could mean there could be
another Earth; the high school student thinks there are aliens, other humans,
other life-sustaining planets, and other galaxies; the adult said he/she
doesn’t feel that there is anything out in space and that he/she has a hard
time believing that there is life out there. So in this case it seems like the
adult has the only different answer. Finally question five where I asked them
about what do u think of when you see or hear the word space. The elementary
student said pitch blackness; middle school said stars but sometimes monkeys;
high school said the Milky Way, the planets, moons, stars and the sun; the
adult said darkness. These are results were a little different from the others
because the most creative ones in the question were in the middle especially
the high school student. I did this question to see how much each person really
thinks or knows about space when they just she or hear the word.
Conclusion:
As
I went through and analyzed the results of the surveys I have come to a
conclusion that depending on your age, you can have a different feeling about
space including the financing of it. The survey showed how depending on your
age you can have a totally different view on things and it also shows how much
you care about space. And not everyone takes space as a major topic of our
world, most or all people are more concentrated or concerned about our
community or animal protection. But I’m not saying that they are not important
because they very much are but why can caring about space be so important?
Concentrating on space can be important because you never know; space might be
a big deal in the future. For example, in the future we could be facing
over-population on Earth and need to find another planet to move people to. So
why not start early and see how much we can know about space now so it can help
us in the future. If space does become a big part of our lives we need to be
prepared for it.
WORK
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Bronner, Danielle W.
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Us." The Wire. N.p., 29 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.thewire.com/national/2014/01/outer-space-bad-for-people/357493/>.
"Cosmic Distance
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<http://heasarc.nasa.gov/docs/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html>.
Dunbar, Brian.
"The Search for Life in the Universe." NASA. NASA, 30 June
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Dvorsky, George. "A New Equation Reveals Our Exact Odds of Finding
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Hannaford, Alex. "Collision Course: The Space Rocks That Threaten
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Koberlein, Brain.
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