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Captain Cook, the Terrestrial Planet Finder and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2017

Charles A. Beichman
Charles A. Beichman*
Affiliation:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA

Abstract

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Over two hundred years ago Capt. James Cook sailed up Whitsunday Passage, just a few miles from where we now sit, on a voyage of astronomical observation and discovery that remains an inspiration to us all. Since the prospects of our visiting planets beyond our solar system are slim, we will have to content ourselves with searching for life using remote sensing, not sailing ships. Fortunately, a recently completed NASA study has concluded that a Terrestrial Planet Finder could be launched within a decade to detect terrestrial planets around nearby stars. A visible light coronagraph using an 8–10 m telescope, or an infrared nulling interferometer, operated on either a ∼ 40 m structure or separated spacecraft, could survey over 150 stars, looking for habitable planets and signs of primitive life. Such a mission, complemented by projects (Kepler and Eddington) that will provide statistical information on the frequency of Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone, will determine key terms in the “Drake equation” that describes the number of intelligent civilizations in the Galaxy.

Type
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Information
Symposium - International Astronomical Union , Volume 213: Bioastronomy 2002: Life Among the stars , 2004 , pp. 451 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2004 

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