Congress Hears About the Hunt For Alien Life

Experts told members of a Congressional science committee Wednesday that it seems very likely that we will discover signs of potential life in the galaxy within the next few decades.

"At least a half-dozen other worlds that might have life are in our solar system. The chances of finding it, I think, are good, and if that happens, it'll happen in the next 20 years," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer with the California-based SETI Institute, said during a hearing before the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, according to Discovery News.

Shostak and Dan Werthimer, who directs Berkeley's new Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., were invited by Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas) to acquaint members of the subcommittee with the science, status and prospects of ongoing SETI projects .

Werthimer introduced the committee to his institute's work by explaining that their main goal is to answer the question "Is anybody out there?" This then goes beyond the search for any life in general. Scientists have speculated that it is incredibly likely that there are microbes living on other planets and in other moon's waters. The real question though is is there any other "intelligent life" besides human beings?

Werthimer told the committee that if there is, they will find it, as the institute stays focused on searching for signs of life in the galaxy primarily among planets with the telltale signs of oxygen or methane gases - which have been commonly associated with life.

"Billions of these planets are Earth-sized and in the 'habitable' or so called 'Goldilocks' zone - not too distant from their host star (too cold), and not too close to their star (too hot). And there are billions of other galaxies outside our Milky Way galaxy - plenty of places where life could emerge and evolve," he said, according to Phys.org.

Shostak also introduced the congressmen to a long-running project that involves the search for signals intentionally sent out by other civilizations equally curious in thier own search for life.

This presentation occurred as funding for SETI programs are beginning to dry up. According to Wethimer, "the two largest radio telescopes in the world and that are best for SETI are in danger of closing their doors."

The US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space, and Technology heard from these experts at a hearing on May 21.