Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00We often wonder if we're alone in the universe. Is our civilization the only one that's out there?
00:06The statistical likelihood is that the answer is no, that we're not alone, and that there are
00:11countless other forms of organised life in the universe… but so far, nothing has been undeniably
00:16confirmed. With all the most recent advancements in astronomy, from the James Webb Space Telescope,
00:22to the Europa Clipper mission, however, the hard evidence that everyone craves
00:26really might be on the brink of finally being disclosed. This is Unveiled, and today we're
00:32answering the extraordinary question, is NASA about to announce an alien civilization?
00:38Do you need the big questions answered? Are you constantly curious? Then why not subscribe to
00:42Unveiled for more clips like this one? And ring the bell for more thought-provoking content!
00:47The search for alien life has been one of NASA's central missions for decades now,
00:52and not just within our solar system, but also far beyond. However, while NASA was established
00:58in 1958, it wasn't the first in line for the alien hunt, and much of its early work was either based
01:04on or in collaboration with others. For example, one of the first major experiments in the Search
01:10for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, was conducted by none other than Frank Drake,
01:15famed for the Drake Equation, in 1960, Project Asma, which was run out of Cornell University.
01:21The Viking Landers, in 1976, were a monumental step for NASA, though. These trailblazing rovers
01:28famously conducted experiments on the Martian surface, in part in a bid to find microbial life
01:33there. The results were… ambiguous. But the Vikings were only ever meant to be the beginning
01:39of NASA on Mars, and indeed in the wider solar system. Jump forward to today, and the Perseverance
01:45rover is still active on Mars, and has, phenomenally, spent more than 1,300 Earth days
01:51there. Its main goals are, again, to find ancient microbial life. By collecting soil samples and
01:58analysing rock formations in the Jezero crater, a location which, it is believed, may have at one
02:04time harboured abundant water, there's no doubt that when it comes to finding life elsewhere,
02:09NASA's ambitions have now considerably expanded again. The now-defunct Kepler Space Telescope,
02:15launched in 2009, and over the course of its run, provided crucial confirmation for thousands of
02:22exoplanets – planets orbiting stars other than our sun – before it was retired in 2018.
02:28Today, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has taken up the mantle for NASA with
02:35even greater urgency, detecting thousands more exoplanets to add to our ever-growing databank
02:41of possible alien homes. The key, with many of the countless other planets out there,
02:46is that a certain percentage of them lie within the habitable zone, which is a region around their
02:51star in which the conditions that are created could, perhaps should, support life as we know it.
02:57But it isn't only the Goldilocks zone that's guiding NASA's eye. Whole teams are also employed
03:02to hunt for technosignatures. These are recognisable signs of advanced technology,
03:08like unusual radio signals of artificial structures. For example, a Dyson Sphere,
03:13a megastructure that harvests the energy of an entire star, would cause a significant increase
03:19in the amount of infrared radiation emitted from the star. And, as of writing, we have at least
03:24seven observed candidates which could be Dyson Spheres, but further research is needed.
03:30Other technosignatures of note are optical signals, bizarre light signals, which can seemingly only be
03:36explained by extraterrestrial activity. Breakthrough Listen is a project working in
03:41collaboration with NASA, with more than $100 million in funding. It's based in Berkeley,
03:46California, it began operations back in 2016, and it easily ranks as one of our most comprehensive
03:52searches for aliens so far. Both radio and optical signals are the focus, and the initiative aims to
03:58scan a huge portion of the sky to find them, continually increasing the chances that we will
04:04find alien life. Currently, Breakthrough Listen has access to many of the world's most powerful
04:09telescopes, but for NASA, it could well become one of its greatest allies and resources. NASA has
04:15eyes on, and in most cases hardware on, or heading to, most of the major worlds in our solar system,
04:22from Mars to Saturn, Ceres to Europa. With the Parker Solar Probe, it's even aiming to touch
04:29the sun. But ongoing relationships with further flung efforts, such as Breakthrough Listen,
04:34are almost certain to be crucial in the near and far future. That said, if the biggest news doesn't
04:40break over the coming years, then it's a good bet that one particular bit of astronomical kit
04:45will have a major hand in it. The James Webb Space Telescope was famously launched in December 2021,
04:52and is held as perhaps the single greatest piece of observational equipment ever crafted by
04:57humanity. It has already provided images with never-before-seen detail, including shots in-depth
05:03enough to break down even the exact chemical composition of an exoplanet's atmosphere.
05:09The Webb can analyse the light that's passing through an atmosphere with such precision that
05:14it can reveal various key biosignatures, like oxygen, methane, and water vapour. If there are
05:21aliens to be found, then this kind of perspective will surely play its role in making us aware.
05:26Elsewhere with NASA, and the Europa Clipper mission set off in October 2024,
05:32which will travel 1.8 billion miles to its destination, the Jovian moon Europa. It won't
05:38arrive at Europa until at least 2030, but when it does, it will have infiltrated probably the
05:44best bet for an alien home in the solar system that we currently have. Scientists know that
05:50Europa has a subsurface ocean beneath its icy ground. They also suspect that this ocean may
05:56have similar conditions to what were present on the early Earth, where we know that life really
06:02did form deep in the seas. In this case, it won't be Webb or TESS or Breakthrough Listen that makes
06:07the discovery, but a single machine sent all the way to Jupiter. If, of course, there really is
06:13alien life there. So, how well is NASA positioned today to answer one of our oldest questions,
06:19are we alone in the universe? On the one hand, it's never been better placed. There are a fleet
06:24of NASA spacecraft alive and well right now. But there are also countless telescopes and private
06:30projects that NASA has its eyes and ears to, all in the name of science and the search for alien
06:35intelligence. On the other hand, will it ever be quite as simple as NASA finding something,
06:40knowing what it is, and excitedly telling the world about it? Not likely. Many individuals,
06:46inside and outside NASA, are still cautious about the search. Firstly, and as has been
06:52repeatedly drawn attention to during recent Congressional hearings about UAP, there remains
06:57an element of entrenched scepticism and ridicule to rally against. NASA is publicly funded,
07:03and so it needs to be seen to be both effective and efficient. In the minds of some, chasing
07:09aliens is neither of those things. Therefore, there are still social and financial factors
07:14that could yet hold NASA back. Secondly, however, and more significantly, despite all the
07:20advancements that we have made, we still don't know anywhere near enough about the universe
07:25to confidently nor correctly interpret every signal or finding. A so-called fast radio burst,
07:31for example, which is one of the more inexplicable of all the cosmological phenomena that scientists
07:37regularly see, could be aliens. But it might just as well be a simple, natural phenomenon that we're
07:43just unaware of at the moment. A strangely dimming or flashing star might be a Dyson Sphere,
07:49but until such day as we can view that star with photographic detail to confirm,
07:54it might also be something else. And finally, there are, of course, the ethical considerations
08:00surrounding alien contact, which NASA as a public entity is beholden to. Stephen Hawking
08:06infamously warned that extraterrestrial contact could be extremely bad, comparing the scenario
08:11to humanity's colonial past. According to these fears, first contact could result in countless,
08:17preventable problems, including war and disease. In another famous theory as to why we haven't
08:23encountered aliens yet, the Dark Forest Theory, the situation is pitched as though the smartest
08:28civilizations in the universe are those who demonstrate the most caution. That way, they
08:33survive. And there's an ominous implication here that actually, with all that NASA and the like
08:39are doing to investigate the universe, we aren't being cautious at all. Which means that ultimately,
08:46we won't survive. What's your verdict on that, and on everything else in this video? Do you think
08:51the big announcement that we are not alone will ever truly be made? And how would you feel if,
08:57or when, it is? What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments,
09:02check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell
09:06for our latest content.