Congress to Discuss Search for 'Alien Earths' Today

The proceedings are being webcast live now .
science.house.gov...
The space and research subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives' Science, Space and Technology Committee will meet at 10 a.m Thursday for a joint hearing titled "Exoplanet Discoveries: Have We Found Other Earths?"

Witnesses
Dr. James Ulvestad, Director, Division of Astronomical Sciences, National Science Foundation
Dr. John M. Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA
Dr. Laurance Doyle, Principal Investigator, Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute

In addition, the hearing will address three overarching questions, according to the charter:
How is exoplanet research conducted and why is it important?
How do NASA and the NSF support exoplanet research?
What does future exoplanet research hope to discover?
www.space.com...

Whilst an interesting development indeed, I don't believe this is quite the truth in regards to aliens and the earth. Alien worlds is one thing but why doesn't the possibility of alien travel to earth never appear in these meetings?

reply to post by Zcustosmorum


I believe that info would almost be a given at this point. Especially in the gov.
Doubtful though that they want that info talked about at this point.

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Whilst an interesting development indeed, I don't believe this is quite the truth in regards to aliens and the earth. Alien worlds is one thing but why doesn't the possibility of alien travel to earth never appear in these meetings?

Possibly because of limitations in our understanding and technology. Using our rocket technology, there's not enough mass in the universe to let us visit the nearest star system even within a generous 900 year time span. It would be a mistake to presume that more advanced civilizations don't have more advanced technologies, but that may be the mistake we're making.

www.nasa.gov...

If you want to deliver a modest size payload, say a full Shuttle cargo (20,000 kg), and you are patient enough to wait 900 years for it to just fly by the nearest star, here's how much propellant you'll need: If you use a rocket like on the Shuttle (Isp~ 500s), there isn't enough mass in the universe to get you there.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


Wow. That's impressive.
Gives you an idea of how vast space is.
Also how empty.

Originally posted by CigaretteMan

Why are you cross posting this beaten dead horse here? You already have a thread dedicated to it.

Originally posted by gortex
The proceedings are being webcast live now .
science.house.gov...
The space and research subcommittees of the U.S. House of Representatives' Science, Space and Technology Committee will meet at 10 a.m Thursday for a joint hearing titled "Exoplanet Discoveries: Have We Found Other Earths?"

Witnesses
Dr. James Ulvestad, Director, Division of Astronomical Sciences, National Science Foundation
Dr. John M. Grunsfeld, Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA
Dr. Laurance Doyle, Principal Investigator, Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute

In addition, the hearing will address three overarching questions, according to the charter:
How is exoplanet research conducted and why is it important?
How do NASA and the NSF support exoplanet research?
What does future exoplanet research hope to discover?
www.space.com...

edit on 9-5-2013 by gortex because: Edit to add

Hi Gortex,

Isn't this more appropriate under Space exploration? It's not after all about ET life or UFOs is it?

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Whilst an interesting development indeed, I don't believe this is quite the truth in regards to aliens and the earth. Alien worlds is one thing but why doesn't the possibility of alien travel to earth never appear in these meetings?

I would have to assume that extraterrestrials travelling to earth is so unlikely that it does not even seem worth discussing at such a meeting.

Originally posted by Coltephilos

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Whilst an interesting development indeed, I don't believe this is quite the truth in regards to aliens and the earth. Alien worlds is one thing but why doesn't the possibility of alien travel to earth never appear in these meetings?

I would have to assume that extraterrestrials travelling to earth is so unlikely that it does not even seem worth discussing at such a meeting.

Extraterrestrials themselves, organics yes.

Inorganic probes like the ones we send to orbit other planets or land on the surface such as Curiosity,
that should 100% be a potential.

They are what I assume UFO's to be if anything.

Originally posted by yourmaker

Originally posted by Coltephilos

Originally posted by Zcustosmorum
Whilst an interesting development indeed, I don't believe this is quite the truth in regards to aliens and the earth. Alien worlds is one thing but why doesn't the possibility of alien travel to earth never appear in these meetings?

I would have to assume that extraterrestrials travelling to earth is so unlikely that it does not even seem worth discussing at such a meeting.

Extraterrestrials themselves, organics yes.

Inorganic probes like the ones we send to orbit other planets or land on the surface such as Curiosity,
that should 100% be a potential.

They are what I assume UFO's to be if anything.

So you assume every unidentified flying object to be inorganic probes, until proven otherwise? That doesn't sound like a very rational standpoint.

It's exiting that there are so many exoplanets out there for future man exploration. Hopefully we can get past the cover-up system we live in and explore the Universe with other alien species that are being observed on our own planet in abduction and CE III reports.

Originally posted by phillipplaitklasss
It's exiting that there are so many exoplanets out there for future man exploration. Hopefully we can get past the cover-up system we live in and explore the Universe with other alien species that are being observed on our own planet in abduction and CE III reports.

And what evidence do you have to suggest that we are, in fact, being visited and clandestinely observed by extraterrestrials?

If "experts" are saying the tech singularity is anywhere from 15 to 87 years away, why the assumption ET isn't some sort of organic cyborg? If we are that close, where would a civilization be tech wise, even a few thousand years more advanced?

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

Its about damn time..

Interesting read.

I wish there was more substance to this, but hopefully one day more information will come out.

Originally posted by V4SL4ND
If "experts" are saying the tech singularity is anywhere from 15 to 87 years away, why the assumption ET isn't some sort of organic cyborg? If we are that close, where would a civilization be tech wise, even a few thousand years more advanced?

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility.

That's assuming that there are civilizations in the universe which possess technological capability greatly surpassing our own. Who is to say that we aren't the only ones? What if we are the only ones in this universe? That is extremely improbable, but a possibility nonetheless.

I absolutely believe that extraterrestrials exist which have technologies greater than our own... but do I believe that they have come into contact with our planet? No, I don't.

It's not hard to reach the conclusion that we have been visited by aliens. There are billions and billions of habitable planets in the universe. There are parts of the universe that are billions and billions of years older than our little solar system. The scientific consensus is that the universe is teaming with life and even alien visitation skeptics believe that we are not the only intelligent life in the universe. If all this is true, is it so hard to believe that a few of these planets could be 100 , 1000 or a million years more advanced than us? That is probable.

What are our scientists working on now? Advanced robotics? Teleportation? Cloaking and invisibility devices? Quantum computing? Fission and fusion? Anti gravity, anti matter and on and on and on. What if we, ourselves, were only 100 years more advanced on the research on all of these technologies and theories?

Originally posted by amazing
It's not hard to reach the conclusion that we have been visited by aliens. There are billions and billions of habitable planets in the universe.

I'd say even more than that, but the point is that just because it may be teeming with inhabitable life, that does not indicate that they possess the technologies capable of reaching extrasolar planets. What if they are just as technologically deprived as us when it comes to extrasolar travel?

There are parts of the universe that are billions and billions of years older than our little solar system. The scientific consensus is that the universe is teaming with life and even alien visitation skeptics believe that we are not the only intelligent life in the universe.

And I don't doubt that we aren't the only intelligent life forms in this universe; it would be rather arrogant of me to assert as such. However, there is the possibility that we are the only intelligent life form in this universe... though, it is a very marginal possibility.

If all this is true, is it so hard to believe that a few of these planets could be 100 , 1000 or a million years more advanced than us? That is probable.

I would say that it is possible, and even then, just because they are much more advanced than us, that does not suggest that they have visited us.

What are our scientists working on now? Advanced robotics? Teleportation? Cloaking and invisibility devices? Quantum computing? Fission and fusion? Anti gravity, anti matter and on and on and on. What if we, ourselves, were only 100 years more advanced on the research on all of these technologies and theories?

Possibilities are endless. I can't even begin to fathom what kind of technologies will exist in even fifty years from now; I can only assume that it will be phenomenal.

Very interesting. thanks for sharing dude!