Antonino Del Popolo
Are we alone in the universe? This ancient question remains unanswered, but we are inching closer to finding out. Since the 1970s, probes have explored various objects in our solar system, revealing no advanced civilizations beyond Earth. However, bacterial life likely existed on Mars and might still exist today. Venus, though a scorching hellscape, could host bacterial life in its atmosphere. Some moons of gas giants are believed to harbor underground oceans potentially capable of supporting life. The greatest hopes for discovering life lie in the myriad of exoplanets in our galaxy and beyond, the first of which was discovered in 1995. This discovery revolutionized our understanding, showing that planets are common, with each star often hosting one or more. This significantly increases the likelihood of both microscopic life and advanced civilizations. While not all planets are suitable for life, billions of habitable planets exist in our galaxy alone, some even classified as super-habitable, possessing conditions more favorable for life than Earth. Current and future space telescopes aim to study these planets’ atmospheres, searching for life-producing molecules. One such molecule, produced exclusively by life, has already been detected on a discovered planet. Despite extensive searches, no signals from other civilizations have been found, but this doesn’t rule out their existence. Recent studies based on star formation, the prevalence of planets, and the potential for life-supporting conditions suggest that technological civilizations have certainly existed in the Universe. The next decade will be crucial in answering the question: are we alone?
