The Final Frontier

Outer space has always been a fascinating topic in my mind. How big is the universe? How many stars and galaxies are out there? Are we alone? The new discoveries of exoplanets suggests that we are not alone. Chances are that life of some sort is out there, only the distances to other star systems is so immense that we, or they, will never cross interstellar space to meet.

The Final Frontier: Outer Space Stories investigates these questions about possible life in interstellar space and where it might have come from. Are we alone in the entire universe?

SETI, the organization involved in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has actively been looking for signals from space. We have also used Voyager 1, launched in 1977, to send evidence of ourselves into outer space: a golden record containing greetings in 59 languages and one whale language and 116 pictures of Earth's cultures and science, our music including songs by Beethoven, Bach and Mozart.

There are 400 billion stars in the Milky Way alone. It may be that there are 100 billion Galaxies in the observable universe. Maybe civilizations arise and fall all the time, but the urge of intelligent beings is to leave some evidence of their existence behind.

In 1964, Nikolai Kardashev suggested that civilizations might exist at three levels: Type 1 where beings use fossil fuels, like we do on Earth, Type 2 where beings tap energy from their star, and Type 3 where beings tap energy from their galaxy. Since that time, other scientists have speculated that civilizations might go all the way up to a Type 7 civilization where beings have become pure energy.

Some scientists are conservative in their approach to discover if we there is other life out there in space. Why let them know that humans are here? They could be advanced beyond us and conquer us, colonize us for their own use. Michio Kaku says that this idea is absurd. If they are so advanced to get to us from interstellar space, then there is no reason to plunder Earth, since they have everything already. Other scientists are inquisitive to see if there is indeed life out there. Are we alone as an intelligent life species? Then again, when you are talking about the history of the universe in terms of billions of years, we as a species might be in our golden age. In 5 billion years, our sun will engulf us and we will be no more. At that time, another species in the Andromeda Galaxy may just be coming into its own golden age, and the two of us would have missed knowledge of each other.

Yet, what Voyager 1 is doing is laudable. We may just be able to leave enough space junk in outer space to say that we once were here. Whoever recovers that evidence may just shed a tear for whatever we were. What a grand universe we are in! And who knows, it may be only one of a myriad of multiverses. Reality and existence are a wonderful thing!