Where we come from, what our place and purpose is, and what the future holds in store are important to us all. Connected to such questions is the search for the origins of life, understanding its nature, and its cosmic abundance.
We are just beginning to learn about the vast cosmos, containing millions of trillions of stars. The universe is not as alien as once thought. In the depths of space we find water, planets with oceans and continents, and complex organic molecules. Might there be life in these places too?
In the current science and society revolution, we are changing the way look at ourselves, the cosmos, and our place in it. The Hubble Space Telescope is opening up a remarkable view of what might be found outside our solar system. Take the Pillars of Creation in the Eagle nebula. From Earth, it appears a beautiful remote gaseous nebula. With Hubble it becomes a whole bunch of places, with character, movement and a flurry of activity. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's "Origins" program lays out road maps to determine the answers about the origins of life
These projects are justified The Mars meteorites recovered on Earth tantalise us, hinting at microbial life on the Red Planet. In the Orion Nebula, we see 190 solar systems forming right now, and water forming at a daily rate of 90 times the volume of the Earth's oceans. The results hint at a cosmos teeming with planets and life.
How are these projects organised? It's a two strand approach - what is the abundance of life and what intelligent life may we communicate with? There is consensus that the cosmos may be teeming with life, but the question of intelligent life is less certain. The many projects underway tackle both.
Looking out for extraterrestrial life has never been so exciting. We now know how to find other Earth-like planets. There are optical telescopes 1,000 times bigger than our current biggest telescopes in the design phase. Most extraordinary of all is the colossal Terrestrial Planet Finder - an armada of space telescopes over a kilometre across, orbiting Earth in formation. It will be launched in 10 years, and will determine whether nearby stars have Earth-like planets, and even detect the indicators of life.
If you're intelligent, and want to communicate across space, the best way is by radio. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, is a term applied to serious science projects underway to detect such transmissions. Unintentionally we have announced our existance to the cosmos. Our radio broadcasts travel into space at the speed of light. In only a few hundred years our transmissions will have passed millions of stars. Might it be that someone will hear us?
Answers to the question of life will come. But if we discover that we are utterly alone we will realise intelligent life in the cosmos is rare, or survives only a short time. It will be a warning that if we destroy Earth, there is no where else to go.
Who better to ponder such far reaching issues than our young students. The European Commission, with ESA, CERN and ESO are currently running a competition called Life in the Universe (LiU), inviting students across Europe to express their views and do a project on life in the universe.
Twenty-four countries, including Ireland, are running a national competition. Winners from each, to be decided on October 20th, will travel to Geneva on November 8th to compete at a European level. Irish students aged from 13 to 19 are now invited to take part. The project can be scientific and/or artistic in nature. Overall winners will have their work released to the public as a resource on life in the universe. Interested students can obtain full details on this project by contacting Dr Kevin Nolan, School of Applied Science, Institute of Technology, Tallaght, Dublin 24; or email knolan@seti.it- tallaght.ie. Full details can also be found on the LiU-Ireland web site:http://www.liu.ie