Planet found in Earth's nearest neighbour star system

Well, PLATO is planned to be launched in 2024. 10 years from now!

JWST is relatively sooner. Can't they use it for these purposes as well?

Kepler seems really like a too premature kind of effort, too many things over there need severe improvements!
 
UniversalTruth said:
perhaps because other variants are also interesting and life can thrive in very different conditions ;) you for sure don't need a copy of our own planet
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True, however we're unlikely to find a race of technologically advanced beings that are intellectually similar-ish to ourselves on a planet with 8 times the earth's gravity; you just can't build much of anything under those conditions (or even move around much, really).

Finding life would be quite cool, but finding INTELLIGENT life, that's the real kicker. Then we could finally stop being such a damn introverted bunch of navelgazers, cheering ourselves on for being the pinnacle of all creation. :rolleyes:
 
With ten times the earth's gravity you can have have a super strong race of angry warriors that shoot energy balls at you, they look 100% human except for a monkey's tail and can interbreed with us.
 
Grall said:
True, however we're unlikely to find a race of technologically advanced beings that are intellectually similar-ish to ourselves on a planet with 8 times the earth's gravity; you just can't build much of anything under those conditions (or even move around much, really).

Finding life would be quite cool, but finding INTELLIGENT life, that's the real kicker. Then we could finally stop being such a damn introverted bunch of navelgazers, cheering ourselves on for being the pinnacle of all creation. :rolleyes:
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There are too many people (who otherwise belong to our "intelligent" race) which carry too much evil, and the others who are a little bit more normal cannot compensate...

So, for sure, I am not going to hope for any intelligent life forms to be discovered... just normal proper vegetation and some kind of animal like creatures would do perfectly fine

oh, and of course, nice living conditions on that planet with pleasant temperatures as well :LOL:
 
Grall said:
True, however we're unlikely to find a race of technologically advanced beings that are intellectually similar-ish to ourselves on a planet with 8 times the earth's gravity; you just can't build much of anything under those conditions (or even move around much, really).

Finding life would be quite cool, but finding INTELLIGENT life, that's the real kicker. Then we could finally stop being such a damn introverted bunch of navelgazers, cheering ourselves on for being the pinnacle of all creation. :rolleyes:
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Have you not seen superman? ;-)

We only know how life as we know it can exist in our very small bubble.

We do not know how life exists or can exist everywhere in the universe.

Are we that arrogant as a race that we believe our way is the only way.
 
DJ12 said:
Have you not seen superman? ;-)

We only know how life as we know it can exist in our very small bubble.

We do not know how life exists or can exist everywhere in the universe.

Are we that arrogant as a race that we believe our way is the only way.
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not all people but for sure those who lead the way, are way too arrogant

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With our currently available technology we could develop a risky propulsion in a decade or two if whole worlds bonds together in its research in which could propel a very large space ship at a speed of 1/10 light year...

Does we as a race have a capability to make a space elevator? Or its a pointless dream?
 
Are you thinking of Project Orion? :D
It's probably the only realistic tech we have for reaching 0.1 c but yes there are costs. The original proposal was to take off and leave earth orbit using nuclear bombs. Even if we collectively agree to accept the contamination (humanity did worse in the 50s and 60s?) the EMPs would fry much of our precious satellites and earthly electronics.

So instead we would need to assemble an extremely big and heavy ship in low earth orbit, using many heavy launchers, then supply it with thousands of tiny nuclear bombs, then push it over at a safe distance (using tugs with ion propulsion maybe) and then start a nuclear-explosion-powered trip to Proxima Centauri or similar.
If I live to 120-year-old or so, I can hear back about the crew and look at some pictures of a gas giant they've taken!, assuming they didn't die of cancer or killed each other from insanity or something.

But it's probably a stupid plan if we seek betterment of the human race. A trillion dollars or whatever this costs would better be spent on energy storage, gen IV nucular reactors and pressing needs like better stoves, agriculture, waste water treatment and sanitation - much of humanity is shitting on itself and dying of diarrhea, because of political and economical reasons.
 
UniversalTruth said:
"The James Webb Space Telescope will characterize the exoplanets discovered by NASA Kepler. Here's a Washington Post article on 715 new exoplanet targets found in Kepler data: http://wapo.st/N3V8aS"

https://www.facebook.com/webbtelescope

NASA Kepler telescope doubles number of known planets outside solar system
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More Kepler spin.

Anybody with an eye for a conspiracy theory might think that they're in the middle of a life-or-death funding review.

Which, funnily enough, they are.

They want an extended mission, covering a wider area with shorter pointings. This might compete with TESS to some extent (if they don't lose yet another reaction wheel). Thing is that this time around NASA need to shut something down, so it's either the part-broken Kepler, or Hubble, or Fermi, or Cassini, or ... Kepler's chances don't look good, but NASA politics is deep and unfathomable.
 
Didn't they cancel james webb a couple years ago...? Thought I read that somewhere, due to being very complicated and thus expensive. Maybe it didn't actually get cancelled, or was resurrected later. *shrug*

US budget finageling seems almost infinitely bizarre in its nature.
 
Grall said:
Didn't they cancel james webb a couple years ago...? Thought I read that somewhere, due to being very complicated and thus expensive. Maybe it didn't actually get cancelled, or was resurrected later. *shrug*
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It came close, but broadly speaking it was at the spent-too-much-money-not-to-finish stage. They cancelled a lot of other stuff, or rather chose not to proceed with other stuff that was in the future at the time.
 
nutball said:
It came close, but broadly speaking it was at the spent-too-much-money-not-to-finish stage. They cancelled a lot of other stuff, or rather chose not to proceed with other stuff that was in the future at the time.
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Should I ask what exactly they did cancel or probably it is better not to know?

Grall, why are you asking about cancellation, I provided a link where you can read about which stage of the project we are currently at :D
 
Mauna Kea telescope, world's biggest, closer to completion

Thirty Meter Telescope, designed in Canada, gets approval from University of Hawaii

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Officials hope to begin construction of the $1.3-billion telescope later this year and start operations in 2021.

Seti Astronomer: We Will Receive Radio Contact from Aliens Within 20 Years

that's it, you can read more interesting articles on Google News:

http://news.google.com/news/section...fba71623d783064b47f1c1e7d9b1d49&ar=1394752770


How scientists hope to find extraterrestrial life in four years

The James Webb Space Telescope will be used to measure the strength of the signals as soon as it is launched into orbit in October 2018.
 
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I would really like to see us building a 100-meter mirror diameter telescope within my lifetime. Well, not in another 40+ years, but soon. Preferably, three 100-meter telescopes, for inferometry.

Just imagine what kind of pictures could be taken with such equipment at our disposal. It'd cost tens of billions no doubt, but hey. It's only money.
 
A 100-metre telie would be too much, and I bet they won't go for it anyways.

With that 30-metre one and the James Webb, however, at our disposal, I think we will already have stunning images.
 
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