We found potential signs of life on another planet but aliens aren’t in the budget
This should be a time for celebration in the scientific community, instead we’re mourning.
A team of astronomers published a paper on Thursday indicating that the “hycean” planet K2-18B may have large quantities of dimethyl-sulfide in its atmosphere.
Here on Earth, that particular molecule is produced by algae. This means that, among the myriad explanations for its potential existence on the planet, it’s within the realm of possibility that K2-18B is covered in warm oceans full of life.
This doesn’t mean that we’ve confirmed there is life on another planet. But, based on the signal and established theories on “hycean” planets, this might be the most promising lead astronomers have identified to date. There probably isn’t life there but, until we explore further, we have to consider the possibility that there could be.
Too bad we may never find out
The next step for the researchers, who, among other tools, used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to confirm their preliminary findings, would be to use the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (NGRST) to advance the research. Its infrared system would provide complementary data to the JWST.
As the researchers wrote in their paper:
“Observations with JWST are already demonstrating that possible hycean worlds indeed significantly expand and accelerate the search for life elsewhere. The central question now is whether we are prepared to identify the signatures of life on such worlds. The opportunity is at our doorstep.”
There’s just one problem: it’s unlikely to get built now.
As Ars Technica’s Eric Berger pointed out in an article published on Thursday, the US government plans on decimating NASA’s budget. The space program would be hit especially hard. Effectively shuttering the Artemis program (putting humans on the Moon again and then Mars) and any further exploration of K2-18B.
“Although the budget would continue support for ongoing missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope,” writes Berger, “it would kill the much-anticipated Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.”
This is unacceptable
We chose to go to the Moon. Not because it was cheap and easy but because we needed to prove we could. Science was at a crossroads, and there was a lot more on the line than pride.
You can bet dollars to donuts our world would be much different today if we hadn’t gone to the Moon when we did.
Without the Moon shot, computers might still be giant mainframes that are only used by businesses. That’s not pure conjecture; many experts famously opined as much in the 1950s and 1960s. Because, before the Moon shot, most people thought science and technology was for eggheads and nerds.
No other moment in human history inspired more future scientists than the Moon shot.
We chose to go to the Moon, and it made our lives better. Today, we have another choice to make.
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Art by Nicole Greene
