6 of 19

Write now Article Tools

I believe that aliens exist on some planets orbiting around stars, more or less distant from our Sun.
These planets could have living forms of every type, from bacteria or viruses communities to intelligent beings able to create technological civilizations, more or less advanced than ours.

It's clear that we can think to communicate only with a technological civilization, able to send intelligent code messages in the space; so, it's clear that their civilization should, at least, be able to use the radio-waves, like our world at the beginning of the XX century.

This condition is already enough to limit drastically our communication chances that we should play sending powerful high energy electro-magnetic signals (optical, UV, X-rays), to go as far as possible.

But the "dramatic" problem of our communication with those possible aliens are their distance in space and time.
The nearest star to our Sun is PROXIMA CENTAURI (4.3 light years, or LY); then, we find the BARNARD'S STAR (6.0 LY), WOLF 359 (7.7 LY), SIRIUS, with its double stars system (8.6 LY).
These are some of the stars within 10 LY from us and, in theory, we could receive an answer from there if we had sent a message only 20 years ago.
Instead, nothing has come to date and this means that, immediately around our star (considering the distance scale of the universe), there are not technological civilizations and neither within 20 LY from us, given that we have already sent code messages in the space since the 1960's, hoping to receive an answer.

This doesn't exclude that we will receive intelligent signals in the future, but nobody knows when and whether this will happen.
The communication by means of electromagnetic waves is the only possible system we can use, because a direct contact with an automatic spaceship, even carrying a human crew with messages and gifts is practically impossible for the immense distance and times to spend for the travel.
In fact, we cannot accelerate a spaceship, weighting minimum various tens of tons to a speed very close to that of light; it's enough to bear in mind that, to accelerate to the same speed a mass of about 70 Kg, the average weight of a man, it would be necessary the same energy consumed by the U.S. in the last 5 years.
Who will pay the bill for all this energy?
Then, for the relativity laws, although the crew of a spaceship reached in completing its travel in about 5 years up to the nearest star, at a speed close to that of light, these 5 years on board of the spaceship

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Contacting aliens?
We want to hear your view. Write now!