Notes
Slide Show
Outline
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Chapter 18
  • Life In The Universe
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We have already launched our first robotic spacecraft into interstellar space
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Matter/Antimatter Rocket Engines
  • Fusion converts less than 1% of the mass of atomic nuclei into energy.
    • Upper limits on speed may be ~ 0.10c.


  • Matter-antimatter annihilation converts 100% of the particle mass into energy.
    • Upper limits on speed may be ~ 0.90c!
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Solar Sails and Beamed Energy
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Who’s doing research along these lines?
  • Scientific Research - Research Projects
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"Life In The Universe"
  • Life In The Universe


  • Are We Alone?
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Radio Communication: Virtual Interstellar Travel
  • We cannot travel at the speed of light, but we can send and receive radio waves and other electromagnetic waves at the speed of light.


  • In this sense, we are virtual interstellar travelers.
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The Search for Extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) project
  • This is a project in which scientists use large radio telescopes to search for radio signals from other civilizations.


  • SETI Institute
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A 210 ft radio telescope  in New South Wales, Australia
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Urey-Miller Experiment (1953 –University of Chicago)
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Murchison meteorite - 1969
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Civilizations- How many are there within our own Milky Way Galaxy?
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The Drake Equation
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R* -rate of star formation averaged over the lifetime
  of the Galaxy

fp  - fraction of those stars
having planetary systems
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ne- average number of planets
      within those planetary systems that are suitable for life

 fl  – fraction of those habitable planets on which life actually arises.
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 fi –fraction of those life bearing- planets on which intelligence evolves.

 fc –fraction of those intelligent-life   planets that develop technological societies.
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L – average lifetime of a
      technologically competent
      civilization.
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Habitable Zones
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End of Section