NASA to Convene and Stream Conference on Life in the Universe Monday July 14

As I have been saying over the last year or so, the search for a definitive answer to the questions of life in the universe is heating up. Earlier this year I gave you a heads up regarding the announcement of Kepler 186 f, the first "Earth Cousin".

Today I'd like to alert you to another press conference:

From the NASA press release:

July 10, 2014

MEDIA ADVISORY M14-117


Leading Space Experts to Discuss the Search for Life Beyond Earth
NASA Television will air a panel discussion of leading science and engineering experts on Monday, July 14, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EDT, who will describe the scientific and technological roadmap that will lead to the discovery of potentially habitable worlds among the stars.

The public is invited to attend or view the event, which will take place in the Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW in Washington.

Space and ground observatories are cataloging and characterizing hundreds and what is expected to eventually be thousands of potentially habitable worlds in our galaxy. NASA space-based observatories are making unprecedented new discoveries. The agency’s next step, the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb telescope), will continue to help scientists rewrite scientific textbooks after its scheduled launch in 2018.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will provide opening comments.

Panel participants include:

-- Ellen Stofan, NASA’s chief scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington

-- John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator, NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington

-- John Mather, Nobel Laureate and Senior Project Scientist for the Webb telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland

-- Sara Seager, MacArthur Fellow and Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge

-- Dave Gallagher, director for Astronomy and Physics, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

-- Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore and Telescope Scientist for the Webb telescope

Questions can be asked during the event by attendees or via Twitter using the hashtag #AskNASA.

For NASA TV streaming video, schedules and downlink information, visit:

www.nasa.gov...

For more information about NASA's role in the search for life, visit:

www.nasa.gov...

-end-

My view is this should be a good discussion. The panelists are some of the top people in this field. Sara Seager is always very interesting and has become the new face of the search for other Earths and life in the universe. So make a note on your calendar.

I'll of course add the Youtube stream or a link to where you can watch it on Monday.

Although I hang around the UFO threads I actually think this is actually the real route of "disclosure". Maybe in the not too distant future we'll get something more than just speculation?

Thanks again JS for the heads up.

originally posted by: mirageman Maybe in the not too distant future we'll get something more than just speculation?

I'd bet a small fortune on that happening.

We're basically at the stage the search for extrasolar planets was in the early 1980s. Within 15 years the first ones were found.

So yes, stick around 20-25 years and if life is as plentiful as many experts suspect, we'll find it.

Exciting times!

Much of this discussion on Monday will be about missions both current and planned to seek out new life and new worlds and boldly gaze where no one has gazed before.

a reply to: JadeStar

I'll be drawing my pension in another 25 years
Well all being well.

I hope I'm around to see and hear the announcement about life elsewhere.

It will be one momentous leap for humankind. Perhaps the biggest in history.

originally posted by: mirageman
Although I hang around the UFO threads I actually think this is actually the real route of "disclosure". Maybe in the not too distant future we'll get something more than just speculation?

Thanks again JS for the heads up.

I think that the more science does in the search for life elsewhere, the greater the chance that they will find life elsewhere (which is a statement seems self-evident).

However, when they do find life elsewhere, it would be a discovery, not disclosure.

If things workout right, the next century or 2 holds great promise to become a modern day Renaissance. You can feel it in your bones. Some BIG things are on the way, and it’s right around the corner. Assuming we somehow manage to not annihilate ourselves, there’s a world of magic awaiting us. You don’t need a crystal ball to see this; the writing is on the wall.

IMHO there’s no reason to doubt that within the next 100-200 years we will be capable of exploring possible candidates for human settlement around nearby star systems. Now that would be a wonderous thing; our first steps onto a new world. In a weird sort of way, it would be kinda like going back to our roots. And when that time comes, we will truly become the aliens we once imagined on Earth long ago.

Of course, with rapidly advancing technologies happening on so many fronts, it will present a significant challenge to existing social structure and deeply ingrained belief systems. We can expect a certain amount of resistance to such radical change. Hopefully, though, we somehow make the right choices and allow ourselves to move forward. The stakes are high, but the rewards are great.

I love this topic, and could go on for days about it, but I’ll spare you. Thanks for the info, JadeStar. I look forward to the conference.

Cheers!

Positive and negative...

Great news, looking forward for hi-res pictures of distant worlds filled with alien creatures.

It´s just taken to long time, we should do this next year while we send people to mars the next.

I just want to live forever and experience it all

While waiting for the conference to start in about 2.5 hours I came across a couple stories hot off the presses today, of note for those interested in this and related subjects:

Eavesdropping on ET: Two new programs will listen for aliens - CBS News

NASA's 2017 TESS Mission To Reap Bonanza of Earth-sized Planets - Astrobiology Magazine

ESA's CHEOPS exoplanet mission meets key milestones en route to 2017 launch - Phys.org

the Search for Life in the Universe
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM


I think its already over according to TV schedule on that page .. ?

a reply to: Spacespider
2pm Eastern Daylight Time

8pm Central European Time

7pm for the people in UK

Starts in about half an hour.

originally posted by: Spacespider
the Search for Life in the Universe
2:00 PM - 3:30 PM


I think its already over according to TV schedule on that page .. ?

Eastern Time

Starts in 20 minutes.

It's starting here now: www.nasa.gov...

and

www.ustream.tv...

a reply to: JadeStar

thx watching it now

Zzzzzzz...
They are just talking about how telescopes are made, big bang and other stuff already been covered by the NASA kids channel...

I was really hoping for something new

I like it say Standing ovation after speech
on the powerpoint

reply to: Spacespider

Not everyone is as well versed in this subject as you or I are, I hope you waited until the 2nd half as thats where the good stuff was.

The new stuff is that the starshade concept has been tested on a small scale already, in the desert and that there is a push on to build an 8-20m space telescope ATLAST which could definitively answer the question of whether we are alone.

There were some great graphics which demonstrated the amount of planets like the Earth which could be examined for life within 200 light years distance.

I'll try to post some of the more interesting graphics and embed the Youtube video when they are up.

a reply to: JadeStar

Well, yearh.. They are just working to damm slow, and they need more funding

Here are some links to their upcoming James Eebb space telescope plaything

www.nasa.gov...
www.jwst.nasa.gov...


I have my hopes elsewhere..
setiathome.berkeley.edu...

i liked the part where they brought out the shoe box with the live alien bebeh in it. those antennae were sooooo cute!

wait? what? you mean that didn't happen?!