Has NASA Made First Contact?

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Aliens?

F*ck yeah! Just don't get us all exterminated NASA!

[sub][sub]I bet the American government are regretting cutting the replacement for the space shuttle program now XD[/sub][/sub]

 

[theriddlen]

First Contact War cross promotion with BioWare?

 

[Eruanno]

Fingers crossed that we've found the Asari...

 

[tom919]

Didn't Steven Hawking recently say, we should stop searching for life in the galaxy as those who find our radio signals are at least as advanced as us and are probably aggressively expanding. If they know we're here with food, water and other valuables they won't be coming to offer us the gift of enlightenment. Then again, asari....

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Since when? That's news to me. Extra-terrestrial life? I thought it'd be in the papers.

it was a couple years back, scientists found a meteor from mars that had bacteria
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6660045/Bacteria-from-Mars-found-inside-ancient-meteorite.html

i think theyve found some on titan too

No. They thought they may have found fossil bacteria in a rock, and the media blew it out of proportion. It turned out to simply be a geologic phenomenon. And we haven't been to Titan yet.

Probably primitive bacteria.

Not awesome, still a giant leap.

NOT AWESOME???!!! Proof of life beyond our own? How is that not the most ground breaking and awesome discovery in the past 1000 years? If you are not in awe from the prospect of Alien life then you are the most cynical person I have met. If there was verified proof of alien bacteria I would break down and weep in joyous wonder.

To add to the growing list of Sci-Fi based possible announcements maybe they've found a message in the Cosmic Background Radiation that points to inteligence from the beginning of time and space.

we knew about alien bacteria for years. it isn't alien bacteria.

Since when? That's news to me. Extra-terrestrial life? I thought it'd be in the papers.

since we found bacteria on earth. to announce we found "special alien bacteria" is to announce "we found turds in the sewer". its commonplace basic life and not really surprising. the only thing that would be surprising would be alien animals.

I actually LOLed. Finding alien bacteria would be the most surprising discovery ever. What makes it so mundane?

Bacteria is basic life. Basic life is practically everywhere however more complex alien life such as a fish or an animal hasn't been found yet. To be surprised about bacteria is like traveling from America to the UK and being surprised they have electricity and toilets. Its mundane.

Umm... Bacterial life hasn't been found anywhere but Earth.

As far as we know life evolved once in the Universe and finding Bacteria is like finding they have Toilets and Electricity in a magical castle under the sea. You understand what they are, but you damn well weren't expecting it.

 

[Ithera]

As for our space combat capabilities, I wont be holding my breath.

Space combat? Lobbing missiles at incoming aircraft would be more like it. Who here wanna bet some alien warmachine-pilot has the skills to pilot their flying saucer halfway across the galaxy and wage war on mankind, but haven't figured out how to do a dodge roll? (=

Ahhhh yes, conventional combat is another matter altogether. I pity the alien race who ties to muscle in on our real estate.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

But the first contact war with the Turians doesn't happen till the early 2100's!

 

[KiKiweaky]

Probably primitive bacteria.

... still awesome.

Ye was wondering that, its probably not going to be a little green man being captured on one of those landers they send.

But still the scientific comuinity would shit itself stupid if they did make an announcement like that, something to look forward to anyway into what has been a shock week so far

 

[Korolev]

If they really had made first contact, there's no way they could keep it secret. I know scientists, and scientists love to share information.

No doubt the press conference will be somewhat interesting. Perhaps they found amino acids on the moon, or perhaps they detected a planet with an atmosphere similar to ours. Stuff like that.

Evidence or proof of first contact? Don't hold your breath.

 

[poiuppx]

Here's hoping for first contact. And for it being an awesome first contact. With lasers. And tight jumpsuits. Robots are optional.

 

[Vampire cat]

Probably primitive bacteria.

Not awesome, still a giant leap.

I'm among the unfortunate that just cannot get interested in such discoveries... I mean, bacteria... Yaaay.... *cough*

 

[thingymuwatsit]

Didn't NASA shut itself down?

 

[thenumberthirteen]

Since when? That's news to me. Extra-terrestrial life? I thought it'd be in the papers.

it was a couple years back, scientists found a meteor from mars that had bacteria
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/6660045/Bacteria-from-Mars-found-inside-ancient-meteorite.html

i think theyve found some on titan too

No. They thought they may have found fossil bacteria in a rock, and the media blew it out of proportion. It turned out to simply be a geologic phenomenon. And we haven't been to Titan yet.

Probably primitive bacteria.

Not awesome, still a giant leap.

NOT AWESOME???!!! Proof of life beyond our own? How is that not the most ground breaking and awesome discovery in the past 1000 years? If you are not in awe from the prospect of Alien life then you are the most cynical person I have met. If there was verified proof of alien bacteria I would break down and weep in joyous wonder.

To add to the growing list of Sci-Fi based possible announcements maybe they've found a message in the Cosmic Background Radiation that points to inteligence from the beginning of time and space.

we knew about alien bacteria for years. it isn't alien bacteria.

Since when? That's news to me. Extra-terrestrial life? I thought it'd be in the papers.

since we found bacteria on earth. to announce we found "special alien bacteria" is to announce "we found turds in the sewer". its commonplace basic life and not really surprising. the only thing that would be surprising would be alien animals.

I actually LOLed. Finding alien bacteria would be the most surprising discovery ever. What makes it so mundane?

Bacteria is basic life. Basic life is practically everywhere however more complex alien life such as a fish or an animal hasn't been found yet. To be surprised about bacteria is like traveling from America to the UK and being surprised they have electricity and toilets. Its mundane.

Umm... Bacterial life hasn't been found anywhere but Earth.

As far as we know life evolved once in the Universe and finding Bacteria is like finding they have Toilets and Electricity in a magical castle under the sea. You understand what they are, but you damn well weren't expecting it.

so you're saying that in the grandness of space bacteria can't evolve? We haven't explored a single bit of space so you can't say "bacteria is rare in space". Hell NASA is being dismantled next year so our chances of exploring anythings is next to nothing.

Of course they can, but so far we have found no evidence of life possibly living outside earth, and the discovery of that would be a defining point in human civilisation.

 

[aldt]

It takes light approximately 4 years to travel from Sol to the star closest to us.
It takes light approximately 100,000 years to travel the radius of the Milky Way galaxy.
There are approximately 100 billion galaxies in the universe, and each galaxy is quite a bit more than 100,000 lightyears apart.

My points are these:
a) there is definitely other life out there
b) the likelihood of actually finding it during the tiny duration of its existence is almost zero

Sorry, but I seriously doubt that NASA have made any sort of 'first contact'.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

But the truth is that the whole process will probably be a lot more mundane: an exchange of radio signals followed by bureaucratic deliberations about whether or not it's worth the hassle of trying to make some kind of intergalactic hook-up, and then finally, a press conference.

I don't know ... whilst radio communication would possibly be the first evidence of extraterrestrial life, I think given the amount of spatial phenomena that could impede proper communications (not to mention the huge amount of time it takes for radio signals to actuallybe transmitted) it's unlikely.

If there is an extraterrestrial intelligence with a possibly billion years headstart on us due to some freak natural occurrence that allowed another planet in another system to develop life at a greater pace then it took our little orb I think it's more than feasible that an alien intelligence is morelikely to just 'drop in' rather than communicate via radio.

I mean assuming that faster than light works as well as theory when transitioning into practice, would you rather send a radio wave back to a distant star system(Earth in this case) and wait tens of thousands of years to hear a reply, or merely just drop in and visit?

Let's assume that an alien race has far greater capacity for patience than we, it's possible that they may just wait (and hope) that not only the message is getting through (to us) but al;so hope that we have the sufficient means to translate (or even just manage to receive it) and recognize it for what it is, rather than dismissing it as possible background interference from satellites ala the 'Wow! Signal'.

But if we are assuming that these aliens resemble our noble selves in character and reasoning, it is far more likely they will just pay us a visit as opposed to waiting.