NASA Scientist Predicts We’ll Meet E.T. by 2019

[ALien]

The good news is that Peter Smith who led NASA’s Phoenix Mars Mission predicts that within ten years we’ll find life on other planets — but the bad news for us fanboys with hopes of hanging out with Vulcans and Klingons is that E.T. may be a clump of lowly microbes sitting underneath a rock on Mars. Smith made this prediction during his recent “Journey of the Phoenix” presentation at the University of Delaware which included images from the Phoenix which touched down on the Martian arctic last year.

Although the Phoenix discovered no life, according to Smith the Martian arctic is similar to the Dry Valleys of Antarctica where tiny organisms can survive. And while the Phoenix Mars Mission didn’t find alien life forms confirmed the presence of frozen water just below the planet’s surface. In addition to that water the probe identified nutrients in the soil that could sustain microbes. Smith said “We’re ardently searching for evidence of life on our closest planet, I think it’s coming, I really do — at some point, we’ll turn over a rock, and by gosh there it is.”

The Phoenix came to an end on November 2nd last year when after several months Mars started to get cloudy and snowy causing the solar power for the spacecraft to dwindle and thus the Phoenix Mars lander entered the “Sleeping Beauty” mode. However Smith is optimistic, and said that the next mission to Mars will include a large rover the size of a MINI-Cooper, with big tires, which would last at least five years and travel to places of high interest, such as the edge of a canyon.

Smith also predicted that it’s only a matter of time until humans travel to the red planet. According to Smith this may happen within this century or a thousand years from now — but it is inevitable.

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[kidflash2008]

One has to hope the microbes would be Martian in origin and not contamination from all of the landers and probes from Earth since the 1970s. I wonder if the scientists could tell the difference.

[Clifurd]

That is a very interesting subject KidFlash. I never really thought that we might actually put life on a foreign planet without intentionally doing so. I wonder if they could tell the difference.

[kidflash2008]

They did find that microbes survived the trip to the moon, and are probably still alive in the lander that was left behind. The moon has only a trace atmosphere and no protections against the radiations. Those microbes are tough little buggers!

The scientists might be able to tell the difference between anything that evolved on Mars, but they would have to look hard. I just hope no one makes the claim of life on Mars, only to find out it came from Earth on the Viking lander.

[DewkDogg]

You can't even find Bin Ladden by 2019

[kissbang]

Originally Posted by DewkDogg

You can't even find Bin Ladden by 2019

IMO... after following some of the vid's dealing with conspiracy theories available on this site, you have to question whether or not they really want to find Bin Laden?

In regard to the article "We'll Meet E.T. by 2019"

Maybe by 2019, E.T. will show up in person with a wheel barrel full of grass covered rocks?

[Area-51]

Kidflash, good point.