Recently, the Pentagon released massive files of declassified UFOs. It includes documents, audio recordings and 51 videos, including Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) being shot to bits. One of the documents is a 116 page Armed Forces Special Weapons Program report from 1948 to 1950 that said witnesses had counted 209 sightings of unidentified objects. Do you think aliens exist?
The universe contains billions of galaxies and each galaxy contains billions of stars. Many stars have planets orbiting around them. Because there are so many planets, scientists believe that there is a high possibility that life will exist somewhere. The most famous project for searching aliens is the Search for External intelligence (SETI) project. Instead of sending physical spacecraft, SETI relies on giant radio telescopes and optical instruments to listen for intentional or accidental technological signals. However, despite decades of research, no alien signal has been confirmed.
Scientists also made an equation to calculate the possibility of the existence of aliens. It is called the Drake Equation. It is a mathematical formula used to estimate the number of active alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy. It was introduced by American astronomer Frank Drake in 1961. The formula multiplies seven variables together which are R: rate of star formation ( the average number of stars formed per year in our galaxy), F_p : The percentage of those stars that possess planetary system, N_e: the average number of planets per planetary system that could structurally support life, F_l:the percentage of habitable planets where basic biological life emerges, f_i: the percentage of life bearing planets where organism evolve intelligence, f_c: the percentage of intelligent species that develop technology capable of sending detectable signals into space and lastly, L: the length of time those advanced civilizations continue to broadcast or survive before going extinct.
At the time when Drake equations was first proposed, none of the seven factors were known except the first one, the production rate of stars. Due to such uncertainty, estimates for N have ranged from 1 to several million. Drake himself suggested that N=10,000. It has been sixty years since the Drake equation was conceived and sadly we haven’t nailed down more of the term. However, scientists have made little progress, the average number of planets per solar system was likely to be close to 100 percent. While the Drake equation can not be solved or calculated, it remains a considerable utility for discussions about external life.
Although many scientists are doing research about external life, there is currently no exact evidence found that shows aliens exist. But with the scale of this universe, scientists are sure that aliens will exist but we just don’t know where or when we can get in contact with. Space is incredibly large and aliens may be very far away and might use communication methods that we do not know. However, recently NASA succeeded in sending people to space and is planning to return humans to the moon and support missions to Mars. So future space missions might help answer if aliens really exist.
By. Madison Yi
Works Cited
https://www.seti.org/research/seti-101/drake-equation/
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/alien-life-is-no-joke
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9943-top-10-controversial-pieces-of-evidence-for-alien-life/
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn8pzzlyy66o
https://www.science.org/content/article/if-scientists-discover-aliens-they-have-plan-disclosure-day