Why Finding Life Outside Earth May Not Be Possible in the 21st Century
Since we began space exploration in the mid-20th century, we have been trying to find evidence of life outside Earth. In 1977, NASA launched a twin space probe named Voyager 1 and 2, carrying detailed information about our blue planet, with the hope that an alien civilization might someday find it, decode our message, and establish some form of communication with us.
Until today, those two space probes are still exploring interstellar space, hoping to find another civilization someday. Astronomers have also used sophisticated radio telescopes, observatories, space telescopes, and other advanced space technologies to search for any evidence of life in the 20th century.
However, all their efforts to find anything outside Earth failed. In the 21st century, we have successfully built more advanced space telescopes and other space technologies, yet we have not found any sign of life out there.
Does this mean that we are all alone in the universe? Or did the advanced alien civilizations decide to hide themselves from us using their advanced technologies? You are about to find out why we may never find life outside Earth using 21st-century technologies.
The Effort Made So Far in Finding Life Outside Earth
Finding life outside Earth is one of our ultimate priorities in the 21st century. Before searching for life beyond our solar system, NASA and other space agencies are focusing on finding any evidence of life within. They have sent several space probes and orbiters to most terrestrial worlds within the solar system.
However, they have not seen any evidence of life. Now, NASA believes that where there is water, there could be some type of lifeforms down there. As of today, we have discovered several moons of the gas giants that contain some form of underground water.
These worlds, including Jupiter’s Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, and Saturn’s Enceladus, Titan, and Mimas, contain an abundant amount of subsurface oceans that scientists are seriously thinking may contain some lifeforms. Recent studies are now suggesting that four Uranian moons (Ariel, Umbriel, Titania, Oberon) may also harbor subsurface oceans.
Hence, we have to explore all these moons before concluding that there is no evidence of life outside Earth. NASA and its partners have conducted orbital missions around Europa and Enceladus, and also a surface landing using the Huygens lander on Titan. However, none of these missions discovered any evidence of life.
In 2024, NASA launched the Europa Clipper mission, intending to explore Europa and also explore its surface using the spacecraft. NASA is expecting it to arrive at Europa around 2031 after flying for nearly 6 years to commence with its mission.
The outcome of this mission will surely determine if there is truly life beneath the icy surface of Europa. However, if the Europa Clipper fails to find any sign of life on Europa, we may explore other future missions to determine if we are alone in the solar system.
Why we may Never find Life outside Earth in the 21st Century
We have developed exciting technologies like the James Webb Space Telescope and many others. However, we have yet to find any lifeforms outside Earth. Based on how far we have explored the Solar system, we can now comfortably say that we are the only intelligent life living within.
Even if any other lifeform may exist outside Earth, it may be in the form of microbes in one of the subsurface oceans of the moons of the gas and ice giants. Hence, if we are to find lifeforms like us, we may likely have to look outside Earth. Many scientists revealed that the distance between us and other solar systems may be the actual reason why we can’t find any intelligent life out there.
Within the 21st century, we will likely focus on trying to build space habitats and bases on the moon and Mars. While we develop other space technologies to give us a clearer view of space, we may still not be able to build technologies that will spy through the atmosphere of most exoplanets and see what exists on their surface. However, we may likely advance enough to do that in the 22nd century. Do you think we may be finding any evidence of life any time soon?