Voyager 2 which was launched by NASA in 1977 to study the planets outside of our solar system is still out there somewhere. It rocketed past Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989.
It’s not at all surprising, the size of Space cannot even be determined by the greatest of scientists who have discovered approximately 400 billion stars in our galaxy alone. What some scientists estimate is that there may be two trillion planets in our galaxy itself and there are more galaxies in the cosmos compared to the number of planets in our Milky Way. So, how many trillions of planets are there? Nobody knows.
Given the substantiality of these facts, it is believed that there are many planets out there with intelligent life and even those that are technologically more advanced than we are.
Boggles the mind. The complexity of it all is unbelievable.
Some scientists estimate that each of the stars has around 5 planets and there are other astrophysicists who think of there being at least one planet around each star leading most of them to believe there are trillions of planets out there and it’s appears inconceivable that among all these trillions, it’s only our planet Earth that supports life.
Many governments support the quest to discover and communicate with what we call “aliens”. Billions of dollars are spent on research and expeditions. The biggest example being the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA which receives annual funding from the U.S. federal government for all the exploration they do.
The other major bodies that are involved in major research and expeditions are the China National Space Research Organisation, The European Space Agency, The Indian Space Research Organisation, The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The race among them goes on.
The spending on Space research exceeds 90 billion dollars each year.
While the world is faced with more pressing problems related to education, environment and many others, those of us who question the waste of money in Space programs just might find some solace in the fact that the research programs do generate jobs in addition to the technological advancements in rocket sciences and related areas.
Stephen Hawkings gained great popularity or shall we say notoriety in claiming that there are evil aliens out there. Evil or otherwise, the possibility of those aliens who exist on other planets is definitely there. The question, however, is are we advanced enough to communicate with those who are so many thousands of light years away? Each light year being nearly 9.5 kilometres.
Voyager 2 which was launched by NASA in 1977 to study the planets outside of our solar system is still out there somewhere. It rocketed past Jupiter in 1979, Saturn in 1981, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. What is the information garnered by this “probe” is not known to most.
There are other reasons why space exploration has become important to some. For example Jupiter’s two moons Europa and Ganymede are believed to contain minerals and some of the billionaires on our planet want to get their hands on what might be rare minerals that would make them richer. And then there is Saturn’s moon, Titan. Who knows what all this one might contain.
Many of the top universities conduct space courses in Astronomy, Astrobiology and many others to find the “other” worlds.
Support us!
All your donations will be used to pay the magazine’s journalists and to support the ongoing costs of maintaining the site.
Share this post
Interested in co-operating with us?
We are open to co-operation from writers and businesses alike. You can reach us on our email at [email protected]/[email protected] and we will get back to you as quick as we can.
