The Extra Terrestrial: Aliens Exploration
The day July 20, 1969, was a special day for all Americans where we can hear the countdown over and over again on the radio stations. “10, 9, ignition sequence start, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero. All engines running. Liftoff! We have a liftoff! Thirty-two minutes past the hour. Liftoff on Apollo 11!” Jack King, the Chief of Public Information and Public Affairs Officer for NASA announced the successful launch of the first human Moon mission. That was the first time we truly got out of our little cage to see the outer space that is around us.
The Moon, the sun, and the galaxy is what we had been dreaming of since we were little kids. In fact, look back in the timeline of our history, we can find myths about the stars from our ancestors. Humans have potentials; they do not want to stay on Earth, and they like to explore the unknown even if it seems unachievable. Landing on the Moon was just the first step towards our space exploration. As our technology advanced over time, we wanted to know not only about the stars, but aliens.
The Extraterrestrial became the main mission as we uncovered the mysteries of the universe. In one instance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, Ellen DeGeneres, the host, discussed her point of view on the alien controversy. She points out that seeing aliens herself would not be a frightening encounter; however, what she is scared of is that we, humans, believe we are the only “lucky species” that God ever created. In fact, she says, “I pray we are not all there is. If so, we are in big trouble”(DeGeneres, 1996). For thousands of years, humans have wondered if aliens really exist. Not only DeGeneres, but other scientists also believe we are not alone in the vacuum space. It is only the distance standing in front of us that is preventing humans to seek out the truth. Finding aliens is the key to defining who we are and how we exist as humans; The discovery could change our view of the earth, the solar system, the universe and the biological structure of our body. Still, there are many debates around the world about aliens; however, by using historical and scientific evidence of the universe, we can see that aliens are “here”, and it is our mission to continue searching for the possibility of Extraterrestrial life in space.
Methods
To prove my first point that the space and age of the universe having the possibility to adopt life, I read Dr. Edward Wollack’s 2012 article, “How Old Is the Universe,” that explains how the age of the universe could be related to life. Then, for my second point of the exoplanet, I find that the article, “NASA Telescope Reveals Largest Batch of Earth-Size, Habitable-Zone Planets Around Single Star,” from 2017 supports our alien hypothesis the best. Next, I have my third point about historical evidence that could lead to aliens. For this point, I read a Daily Mail reporter’s article, “Are aliens hidden in ancient religious artwork? The bizarre theory claims that signs of early visits from ET can be found in old paintings,” about how artwork from the past can be used to prove the existence of aliens. At last, for my fourth point that alien “exist,” I read the article from National Geographic written in 2012, “Life Beyond Earth,” and Dr. Stephen Hawking’s post in 1996, “Life in the Universe,” to understand how life is formed and the meaning of life itself. Still, there are people who believe searching for aliens is useless. Therefore, I have brought up the argument source, ‘How the search for aliens can help sustain life on Earth,” written by Charles Cockell in 2012 and, “Finding Life Beyond Earth is Within Reach,” by Brian Dunbar to prove finding aliens is worthy of investigation because searching for alien is a significant step on our journey of exploring space.
Discussion Finding
Aliens will benefit the human as a whole Every good debate has an opposing view. even for the topic of searching for extraterrestrial life. In a way, people mostly argue that finding aliens will not benefit humanity as a whole; therefore,it is pointless for us to keep searching for extraterrestrial life. Those people often produce reasonable evidence that aliens are nothing more than a myth from our childhood stories. However, according to Charles Cockell, a professor of Astrobiology in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, “The link between the search for extraterrestrial life and our Earth-based problems is not surprising, because fundamentally it is all the same thing — understanding how life, whether us or microbes, can be sustained in the cosmos ”(Cockell, 2012). The purpose of searching for aliens is also searching for humanity itself. As humans, we always need a purpose to continue living our lives, and while we keep on discovering the possibility of extraterrestrial life, we are also decoding our origin, including our biological identity and our meaning of existence on a higher level. In fact, “we are confronted by a future with a single challenge — build sustainable human settlements in the cosmos, whether on Earth or in space”(Charles 2012). Our goal isn’t only to find Aliens; finding the aliens is just part of the mission to find new homes and resources for the future of human society. If we do not keep trying, we will never find Aliens in the vacuum of space
Moreover, some people will argue that humans will never find aliens in the vacuum space. In 40 years, we have made no progress in searching for aliens. What happens next depends on whether we give up or not. In fact, those people are telling the truth, it has been decades of research and we did not find anything related to aliens. However, humans never give up on finding the extraterrestrial, and once in for all, we are getting closer to it. According to Dr. Brian J. Jensen, NASA researcher for Advanced Materials article, “Finding Life Beyond Earth is Within Reach,” on NASA in 2014, technology has grown rapidly throughout the year. We have the most advanced telescope within our grasp to explore thousands of the galaxy. In fact, “These upcoming telescopes will find and characterize a host of new exoplanets — those planets that orbit other stars — expanding our knowledge of their atmospheres and diversity” (Jensen, 2015). Those exoplanets are our primary source of carbon-base species which life depends on. If a planet has the similar pressure, temperature, gravity, water, and humidity as Earth, that planet will be most likely to form life. Likewise,the carbon-based species will be the same life as Earth. Furthermore, “This decade has seen the discovery of more and more super-Earths, which are rocky planets that are larger and heftier than Earth” (Dunbar 2015), meaning that finding aliens is no longer a dream. Super-earth is a planet similar to Earth, but larger and have more elements or gravity. Imagine that a human can lift ten pounds of an object on Earth but could only lift one pound of an object on the super-Earth due to the gravity. On the other side, the human could also be the “Superman” on the other earth where lower gravity exist.
