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Please report broken hyperlinks using the Reply option at the bottom of each page.
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Scroll down 1/4 page for a survey of the published, peer-reviewed research.
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Why this page? Here’s why.
Belief in ET will soon replace faith in God
[“Faith,” though, is only as real and meaningful as the object in which it is placed. “Faith” in unicorns, for example, is pointless idiocy. So is “faith” in anything that doesn’t actually exist (cf. 1Cor 15:14; readers willing to actually examine the evidence — much of it published, peer-reviewed scientific research — for why God exists, are invited to navigate the Religion/Atheism and Science/Creationism menu trees above). The purpose of this page, therefore, is to evidentially expose the illegitimate assumption that real UFOs (a.k.a. UAP) are designed and/or piloted by unreal ETs and then evidentially expose the illegitimate assumption that ETs exist at all, let alone have travelled here from distances far, far too distant to ever be possible.]
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UFO Sightings
Pentagon denies secret UFO retrieval program after 2023 “whistleblower” bombshell
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Pentagon has received ‘several hundreds‘ of UFO reports, none of extraterrestrial origin so far
… &;
“Here is another example of the ‘flying UFO’ effect [due to optical parallax] from something that isn’t actually moving.“
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“[T]he [official 2021 DoD UFO (a.k.a. UAP)] report found no evidence of aliens…“
https://www.axios.com/ufo-report-pentagon-us-government-703f230c-2091-49ae-b29c-e0a0925f4e0e.html
[That, of course, is what most UFOlogists (& ET theorists) were hoping not to hear. But that is the whole point. Most UFOlogists (& ET theorists) have never been serious about peer-reviewed scientific evidence refuting what they hope to hear because they hope more than they investigate. That, then, is the whole point of this page, with hundreds of citations which most UFOlogists (& ET theorists) hope you won’t read.]
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Secret unmanned US spaceship causes chaos as it lands in Florida – after almost THREE YEARS circling earth – with locals fearing it was a UFO streaking through the sky
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Have UFOs been a cover for high-tech defense research?
“… in 1997, the US Central Intelligence Agency revealed that the military had lied to the public throughout the Cold War about many UFO sightings to obscure its black projects and keep Moscow in the dark about technological advancements… Since the Cold War, secretive experimental military aircraft have continued to generate UFO reports…. [W]hen the government transparency website, the Black Vault, submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the navy for more UFO/UAP videos, it was denied because it would harm national security and ‘may provide adversaries valuable information regarding Department of Defense/navy operations, vulnerabilities, and/or capabilities‘… The US Navy has pushed the boundaries of technology further with the development of laser-induced plasma technology, patented in 2018. This innovation can generate extremely high temperatures in the air, creating plasma that can be harnessed to form intricate shapes and lifelike optical illusions, even simulating aircraft performing seemingly impossible maneuvers… Suddenly revealing these technologies could result in rising geopolitical tensions and trigger a reaction, while merely hinting at it may also serve as a deterrence to adversaries. Gradually preparing the public for emerging technologies is equally as important, while encouraging speculation about UFO/UAPs could divert attention away from classified projects. By clandestinely testing experimental new technologies on their own defenses without resorting to lethal forces, military agencies can also gain valuable insights into their capabilities and vulnerabilities in real-world scenarios. A 2021 report by the DoD’s intelligence agencies also noted that many UFOs/UAPs were ‘technologies deployed by China, Russia, another nation, or a non-governmental entity‘… Being unable to properly identify another country’s experimental aircraft, by labeling it a UFO/UAP, would also demonstrate shortcomings in US air defense systems… An ongoing investigation by The Warzone meanwhile suggests there are a large number of hostile drones mistaken for UFOs/UAPs that the US government has until recently failed to confront.“
https://asiatimes.com/2023/10/have-ufos-been-a-cover-for-high-tech-defense-research/
and…
“Former President Bill Clinton looked into whether or not aliens were housed at Area 51… Clinton also said he ‘made every attempt to find out everything about Roswell… but there’s no aliens that I know [of].’“
https://dailycaller.com/2022/06/19/bill-clinton-area-51-aliens-president/
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Former CIA Employee Claims Area 51’s UFO Claims Were Actually CIA Involvement At The Base
https://dailycaller.com/2022/03/15/thornton-td-barnes-area-51-ufs-real-name-station-d/
and…
“What much of the recent news coverage fails to mention is that ‘Unidentified Flying Object‘ does not mean either ‘alien spacecraft‘ or even ‘extremely advanced drone.‘ And the videos disclosed so far all have obvious potential terrestrial explanations… [One of the recent videos] shows a small object apparently moving low across the water. However, the UFO was almost certainly a seabird or balloon distorted by parallax. Parallax is an effect that makes an object close to an observer, but filmed against a more distant background, seem to speed up as the camera moves. Data from the Navy camera clearly indicates the unidentified object had a wingspan of about four to seven feet in diameter, roughly the wingspan of a Canadian Goose, and flew at an altitude of 8,000 feet, well below the 29,000 feet maximum altitude of the bird. Alternatively, the Department of Defense description of the object expressly mentions a balloon (perhaps a weather balloon) as a possible explanation in the paperwork that accompanied the release of the video… [Another recent] video was shot on an infrared camera by a USS Nimitz aircraft and seems to just show a passenger plane from a distance. The object’s unusual motion is easily explained by the camera repeatedly zooming in and out and switching between viewing modes… [Yet another recent] video shows a hot metal object traveling in a straight line against the wind. Commentary from the fighter pilots in the video suggests there were multiple objects off-screen traveling in the same direction. One likely explanation is a meteor breaking up, or pieces of space junk burning up, in Earth’s atmosphere. The odd rotation of the object is almost certainly a product of the motion of the gimbal camera itself. Another recent sighting involved UFOs that allegedly ‘harassed‘ the Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Russell off the coast of California. They were almost certainly just conventional aircraft filmed with an out-of-focus camera. The objects blinked in the same pattern as a Boeing 737, and the naval ship was directly under an air route for planes flying into Los Angeles from Asia. The high alleged speeds and turn rates of the objects reported by some witnesses are not shown in the video, but could easily be explained by parallax… So why hasn’t the military given any of these explanations? Well, the Department of Defense’s policy is to report even ‘incursions that are initially reported as UAP [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] when the observer cannot immediately [emphasis added] identify what he or she is observing.‘ It is entirely possible that these examples were all identified after the initial report, but still bureaucratically classified as UAPs. The Pentagon has confirmed the footage is real, but has said nothing about the content of the footage. The military may not want to bother going on the record stating an object is actually a goose, balloon, plane, or meteor. The military also may wish to let the media frenzy continue in order to draw more attention to the technically impressive infrared-imaging technology revealed by the videos, as a subtle warning message to adversarial nations. Also, the U.S. government has a long history of letting the public imagination run wild with extraterrestrial conspiracy theories to divert attention from classified projects or accidents. The DOD only confirmed the videos’ authenticity because of a stunning number of Freedom of Information Act requests regarding the leaked videos; providing any additional clarification might risk revealing military secrets.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/05/calm-down-everyone-the-ufos-arent-aliens/
[That article correctly elucidates why the 2021 DoD UFO (UAP) report was laughably unreliable with respect to its claims that “…unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) were not the result of advanced U.S. government technology.” Anyone with any knowledge whatsoever about how top secret government (especially defense-related) work is done knows full well that the DoD will never acknowledge any of its own top secret research until and unless it has been discontinued. Putting the DoD in charge of “releasing” this report was actually allowing the DoD to remain in charge of concealing the top secret information they are sworn to conceal (for your safety and mine; and btw, I — Nobody Important — possessed a DoD clearance for ten years {ironically, it actually expired literally days prior to the publication of this DoD report} so I am thoroughly qualified to speak on this issue). So the DoD report was reliable with respect to its admission that there is no credible evidence whatsoever supporting ETism (at least not physical ETs; see the final section at the bottom of this page for some excellent citations regarding the non-physical likelihood of ETs) because the existence (or non-existence) of ETs is not a matter of top secret DoD research. But the same report was entirely unreliable — for very good reasons — with respect to its denial that advanced, top secret DoD UAP research is ever involved in UFO sightings. That claim is simply ridiculous and everyone in the DoD knows it.]
and…
Former NASA Chief Says UFOs Could Be ‘Unfriendly’ Chinese Tech
https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/28/nasa-dr-thomas-zurbuchen-ufos-china/
[This is a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand has been doing for decades. Yes, it is possible (perhaps likely) that the Chinese have developed super secret anti-gravity technology but we already know that our own DoD has been working on such technology for a long time.]
US Navy ‘covered up‘ new technology by saying USS Nimitz UFO was unidentified
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/navy-covered-up-new-technology-21066844
[Several other examples of UFO sightings being eventually identified as super secret defense research are presented below. ASND reminds readers that these are only the examples which have been declassified.]
UFOs across US “could be Space Force craft built from secret military budget“
The head of an anti-Space Force organisation has claimed the military is “testing technologies for space warfare that we can’t even imagine“
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/ufos-across-could-space-force-20720906
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‘UK Roswell’ Receives Major UFO Debris Analysis Update
“If both of the materials were not yet developed in the 1970s and “not available for use” in 1983, there’s nothing to say the military wasn’t readily using it.”
https://dailycaller.com/2024/04/02/uk-roswell-receives-major-ufo-debris-analysis-update/
and…
“You won’t be getting any more of [the DoD’s] UFO videos because they ‘contain sensitive information pertaining to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) and are classified and are exempt from disclosure… The release of this information will harm national security as it may provide adversaries valuable information regarding Department of Defense/Navy operations, vulnerabilities, and/or capabilities.’”
and…
2022 San Diego flashing lights mystery finally has an explanation
https://www.foxnews.com/us/san-diego-flashing-lights-mystery-explanation
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2019 Peer-Reviewed Study: Oumuamua is not an alien spacecraft
https://phys.org/news/2019-07-oumuamua-alien-spacecraft.html
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2021 Peer-Reviewed Study: Oumuamua is not an alien spacecraft
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“This is not the first time social media users have shared false claims about UFOs being filmed.”
https://www.conservativereview.com/fact-check-no-these-are-not-real-photos-of-a-ufo-2655793043.html
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Filmmaker reveals how he faked infamous ‘Roswell alien autopsy‘ footage in a London apartment
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CIA admits: All those UFO sightings in 1950s? “It was us“
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/12/30/cia-admits-all-those-ufo-sightings-in-150s-it-was-us/
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Edward Snowden searched CIA records for evidence of extraterrestrial cover-up, found nothing
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/23/us/edward-snowden-joe-rogan-conspiracies-trnd/index.html
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Seeing Sprites:
Researchers Catch Glimpses of Electromagnetic Bursts High in Earth’s Atmosphere
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120814144839.htm
and…
Bermuda Triangle mystery ‘solved,’ scientists claim [2018]
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/08/01/bermuda-triangle-mystery-solved-scientists-claim.html
and…
“There’s no smoking gun anywhere in the 6,700 pages, which represent the ninth collection of government UFO files made public by the U.K.’s National Archives in Kew.“
https://www.foxnews.com/science/what-do-declassified-ufo-documents-say-about-alien-life
and…
2018 Signal detected by amateur astronomer came from long-lost satellite, NASA confirms
and…
“Some are sure to credit such spectacular [radio transmission] phenomena [detected in outer space] to extraterrestrials… however, [all] the emissions [detected so far] offer no evidence of life beyond our planetary home.”
https://www.westernjournal.com/scientists-discover-fm-radio-signal-coming-jupiter-moon/
and…
“Fast Radio Bursts keep lighting up the night sky and nobody knows why [but a] newly discovered example of this transient phenomenon has been traced to its place of origin — a nearby spiral galaxy.” [2020]
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NJ Residents [2020] Convinced Of UFO Sighting, Really Just A Goodyear Blimp
https://amp.dailycaller.com/2020/09/15/new-jersey-ufo-goodyear-blimp-nfl-steelers-giants
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“… Bose stars may be behind the mysterious ‘fast radio bursts’ being detected by radio astronomers.” [2018]
https://www.foxnews.com/science/universes-mysterious-dark-force-could-lead-to-life
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Fast Radio Bursts [2017]: E.T. Is *Not* Calling Home
http://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2016/12/29/fast-radio-bursts-et-is-not-calling-home
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http://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2017/01/09/fast-radio-bursts-update
and…
The Alien Signal [2016] That Wasn’t
http://reasons.org/explore/blogs/impact-events/read/impact-events/2016/08/31/the-alien-signal-that-wasn-t
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http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/aa65c9
and…
The Truth Behind NASA’s Famous [1996] UFO Videos
“If I thought it was an intelligent craft, I’d be the first one to speak up.“
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,524617,00.html?test=latestnews
and…
“Given the [many empirically-based, scientific] arguments raised in this article, it is entirely reasonable to think that life might be extraordinarily rare in the universe, perhaps even unique to Earth.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo50/origin-stories
and…
Non-Human ‘Aliens” Seized in Peru Not Of Extraterrestrial Origin
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The ‘Alien‘ Mummies Revealed in Peru Appear to Be a Mix of Looted Body Parts
https://www.livescience.com/62045-alien-mummies-explained.html
and…
No aliens — again [and again, and again, and again, and…] [2018]
Mysterious FBI closing of Sunspot solar observatory is finally explained
https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article218527420.html
and…
“… the 1977 ‘Wow!’ Signal was a natural phenomenon from a Solar System body.”
http://planetary-science.org/research/the-wow-signal/
[See also…]
Did Aliens Put a “Wow” Signal in Our DNA? No.
and…
“The emergence of crop circles around the world have become increasingly prevalent since the 1970s, their mysterious appearance causing many to consider them the work of UFOs. In 1991, self-professed pranksters Doug Bower and Dave Chorley went public to claim responsibility for the trend, demonstrating their skill at making the typically ornate pattern[s] in less than an hour.“
and…
“Jodie Foster may have seen proof of alien lands in the 1997 Robert Zemeckis film Contact, but the real life astronomer the filmmakers based their sci-fi odyssey on didn’t find so much as a tentacle.”
and…
“In sum, the opposing evidence results in ‘game over’ for these modern [and/or ancient] space invaders…”
https://www.equip.org/articles/did-ancient-extraterrestrials-visit-earth/
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Egypt To Elon Musk: No, Aliens Did Not Build The Pyramids
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/egypt-elon-musk-no-aliens-did-not-build-pyramids
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“Ancient Aliens Debunked is a 3 hour refutation of the theories proposed on the History Channel series Ancient Aliens.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuZmhb5yrsI
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“Some have suggested the 887 giant heads currently documented on the 63-square mile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean were built by stranded extraterrestrials… [but] Ethnologist Jared Diamond believes the gigantic carvings were dragged on wooden sledges, a technique successfully tested by UCLA archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg.”
and…
World famous UFO hunter under fire over claims his videos do NOT prove existence of extraterrestrials… by rival alien spotter
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[Readers interested in terrestrial origins-of-life research can find that info here . ]
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News Published In Mainstream & Pop-Science Media:
The Origin of ET Life
[Scroll down for the majority of published, peer-reviewed, scientific evidence featured on this page.]
“[W]hen it comes to growing life, it’s better to be far away from your neighbors… and that’s exactly where the Milky Way is… [G]amma ray bursts [common around the universe except near the Milky Way galaxy] could cause mass extinctions or make planets inhospitable to life by zapping them with radiation and destroying their ozone layer.”
https://www.science.org/content/article/conditions-life-may-hinge-how-fast-universe-expanding
and…
“Life should not exist. This much we know from chemistry. In contrast to the ubiquity of life on earth, the lifelessness of other planets makes far better chemical sense…
We synthetic chemists should state the obvious. The appearance of life on earth is a mystery. We are nowhere near solving this problem. The proposals offered thus far to explain life’s origin make no scientific sense…
Beyond our planet, all the others that have been probed are lifeless, a result in accord with our chemical expectations. The laws of physics and chemistry’s Periodic Table are universal, suggesting that life based upon amino acids, nucleotides, saccharides and lipids is an anomaly. Life should not exist anywhere in our universe. Life should not even exist on the surface of the earth.“
— James Tour, Ph.D., Synthetic Chemist , Youtube lecturer
https://inference-review.com/article/an-open-letter-to-my-colleagues
and…
“The British newspaper, The Telegraph, in the headline of their report on the Rivilla team’s discoveries stated that the ‘building blocks of life’ found by the team ‘suggests we are not alone’… [But] Rivilla’s team’s detections do not, as they claim, provide support for the RNA world hypothesis for the origin of life.”
and…
“[M]ainstream news outlets [incessantly] announce confidently, ‘Earth’s Twin Discovered!‘ or ‘Second Solar System Found!‘ or ‘New-Found Planet Looks Right for Aliens.‘ Type in any of these dramatic pronouncements on the search engine of your choice, and it will yield millions of results, citing newspaper and journal articles going back a decade or more… What about articles pointing out that the probability of finding a “second Earth” or a world even remotely habitable by life of any kind is vanishingly small? They tend not to get much publicity because a realistic analysis of the data just doesn’t make for good click-bait.“
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo49/far-amp-away-above-average
[ASND, however, has provided on this page virtually all of the available Internet-published essays and articles revealing the actual peer-reviewed scientific facts about ETs and UFOs. Again, the mainstream articles are mostly cited in this section of this page while the peer-reviewed research is cited below.]
and…
2019: NASA Experiment Creates Life?
“… it’s important to note NASA has not created life itself in [this or any other] experiment… [and w]e don’t have concrete evidence of life elsewhere…”
and…
“A comprehensive [peer-reviewed] study… published in The Astrophysical Journal [2019]… that spanned more than 3 years… found no evidence of extraterrestrial life among more than 1,300 stars in close proximity to Earth… ‘[W]e are left with zero candidates,’ the study reads.”
https://www.foxnews.com/science/no-alien-life-stars-study
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“A[nother 2019] study… [also] published in The Astrophysical Journal drastically cuts the number of planets that could potentially host intelligent life… [by revealing] that complex ecosystems like ours cannot [even] exist in most regions of [galaxies’ so-called] habitable zone[s]… The extra parameters needed for complex carbon-based life to exist, such as eradicating poisonous gases… severely limit the number of exoplanets that could potentially host life…”
https://www.foxnews.com/science/extraterrestrial-life-scarcer-study
[ASND wonders why Fox News was the only major news media outlet to publicize those two studies (as they were the only publishers of other stories featured on this page). Hmm…]
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The Peer Reviewed Research
News Rarely Published Except In Scientific Journals:
“To date, in the peer-reviewed scientific literature, there is no conclusive evidence suggesting an extraterrestrial origin for UAP.“
and…
[That heading also applies to all of the remaining headings on this page.]
“In 1995-1996 the SETI Institute… [studied] all 202 of the approximately solar-type stars within 155 light years of Earth for intelligence-generated electromagnetic signals. The results effectively ruled out the existence of any intelligent species as advanced as the current human race that might be broadcasting their presence. From 1996 to 2004 Project Phoenix was extended to include 800 stars out to 200 light years away. Still no signals indicative of an intelligent civilization were detected… [Yet, despite the evidence,] none of these failures dampened the enthusiasm for SETI. So, thanks to generous donations from Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, the Allen Telescope Array of 42 radio telescopes was built and is dedicated to SETI observations… attempting to detect the ‘energy-processing’ activities of [ETs — not surpisingly, with zero results]… Four Swedish astronomers… [have also] search[ed] for records of [so-called ‘Dyson Spheres’] in the latest galaxy survey databases. But out of a sample of 1,359 spiral galaxies searched (only spiral galaxies are candidates for hosting advanced life), the team failed to detect the existence of a single [advanced] civilization… None [of the stars SETI — or anyone else — has studied] possesses the characteristics needed to make possible the existence, let alone thriving, of a high-technology civilization on one of its possible planets… [S]o far, everywhere beyond Earth that astronomers have looked, they have only found environments extremely hostile to advanced life. In fact, in spite of more than fifty years of diligent searching, astronomers have yet to find [even] one other star with characteristics close enough to the Sun’s to make it a candidate for hosting a planet on which intelligent life could launch and sustain a civilization… In many respects, [therefore,] SETI research is a [complete] waste of time, [taxpayer] money, and [scientific] talent. However, these latest SETI efforts are yielding greater insights into and appreciation for just how many plans, preparations, and preliminary steps — especially the carefully orchestrated introduction of certain forms of non-intelligent life — are needed to make possible a narrow time window during which an intelligent living species can exist on a planet, and how many more plans, preparations, and carefully orchestrated [i.e. finely-tuned] steps must be taken to enable such a species to launch and sustain a high-technology civilization.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo36/eti-in-the-sky
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“… despite the fact [SETI researchers at] UC Berkeley ha[ve] been analyzing radio signals from space [for over 40 consecutive years] on various telescopes, no telltale signals from an intelligent civilization have yet been found.“
https://reasons.org/publications/anybody-out-there/
[BTW, for those who don’t know…]
SETI is an Intelligent Design Research Program
and…
“For the past two decades, the quest to find habitable planets has focused almost entirely on planets orbiting M dwarf stars… [because] M dwarfs are numerous, comprising 70% of all the nuclear-burning stars in the Milky Way Galaxy… [But] astronomers have… identified major challenges to the habitability of planets orbiting M dwarfs… Given the accumulation of evidence challenging the potential of M-dwarf-hosted planets as candidates for support of any kind of life for any length of time, the time to take M dwarf planets off the list seems to have come… To date, astrobiologists have yet to find any evidence for the existence of life beyond Earth. Thus, astrobiology remains, in one sense, a data-free discipline. “
and…
“[T]he discovery of protein species in [meteoritic] carbonaceous chondrites is not surprising. If amino acids are present in meteorites (or gaseous nebula), it stands to reason that, under certain conditions, these materials will react to form amino acid polymers. But, even so, a protein-like material made up of glycine and hydroxyglycine residues has questionable biochemical utility and this singular compound is a far cry from the minimal biochemical complexity needed for life. Chemical evolutionary processes must traverse a long road to move from the simplest amino acid building blocks (and the polymers formed from these compounds) to a minimal cell. More importantly, it is questionable if the amino acid polymers in carbonaceous chondrites (or in gaseous nebula) made much of a contribution to the inventory of prebiotic materials on early Earth… Once delivered to the early Earth, these materials would have been further diluted to even lower levels as they were introduced into the environment. In other words, these compounds most likely would have melded into the chemical background of early Earth, making little, if any, contribution to chemical evolution.”
and…
“Researchers… have long recognized that the apparent lack of a natural nonbiological source of ribose and deoxyribose — [without which molecules] RNA and DNA molecules cannot be assembled — stood as a fundamental barrier to their goal. Hence, for over five decades they have been scouring the earth… in a quest to find the elusive sugars. Realizing that conditions on Earth at the time that life first originated [almost 4 billion years ago] ruled out any naturalistic source of ribose and deoxyribose, origin-of-life researchers looked to the heavens… Interstellar molecular clouds… ha[ve] yielded discoveries of an immense array of carbonaceous molecules... [of which] 60 are complex organic molecules consisting of six or more atoms. The existence of all these molecules implies that chemical reactions must be operating within dense molecular clouds to produce both ribose and deoxyribose. However, the presence of these molecules also implies that chemical reactions must be operating to destroy most, if not nearly all, the ribose and deoxyribose that is manufactured. Consequently, the expected abundance of ribose and deoxyribose in dense molecular clouds, at best, is only a few parts per billion… Comets, asteroids, and meteoroids, which arise from molecular clouds, possess higher concentrations of carbonaceous molecules. Hence, astronomers have been diligently searching for ribose and deoxyribose in these sources… [and researchers have] finally detected ribose, a building block of life, in two primitive meteorites… [while] Deoxyribose was not found in any of the analyzed meteorites… [and researchers have] concluded that the ribose they found was extraterrestrial in origin… The discovery of ribose and the failure to discover deoxyribose was viewed as evidence for the RNA world hypothesis for life’s origin… However, there are scientific reasons for curbing the enthusiasm. The RNA world hypothesis needs a lot more than just the presence of ribose and nucleobases. There also needs to be a natural mechanism to link the ribose molecules and nucleobases together in the just-right sequences to make RNA molecules and protect the manufacturing processes from contamination and from destructive reactions. Furthermore, ribose molecules are manifested in two configurations: a left-handed orientation and a right-handed orientation. RNA requires that 100 percent of the ribose molecules be right-handed. Even under highly controlled, highly technical laboratory conditions, biochemists have been unable to join together more than 50 nucleobases. Though RNA molecules are not as long as DNA molecules, many life-critical RNA molecules consist of many hundreds of nucleobases. Leslie Orgel, the founder of the RNA world hypothesis, publicly declared at an origin-of-life conference…, ‘It would be a miracle if a strand of RNA ever appeared on the early Earth‘… [or anywhere else in the universe. Furthermore. the] very low [observed] abundance levels [of these molecules] will be of no help to any conceivable naturalistic origin-of-life model. The concentration levels need to be much higher, the ribose and deoxyribose molecules all need to be right-handed, all the different species of bioactive amino acids and nucleobases need to be present at high abundance levels, and all the bioactive amino acids must be left-handed in their configuration. Such requirements, and there are many more, explain why five of the world’s most prominent origin-of-life researchers in their individual lectures at the XVIII International Conference on the Origin of Life in 2017… all agreed that not only do we lack understanding of where the building blocks of life arise, we do not even understand where the ‘building blocks of the building blocks‘ of life arise.“
and…
“For more than a decade, astronomers have recognized that the solar system is highly unusual. It possesses cold ‘Jupiters’ closer to the Sun than 14 times Earth’s distance from the Sun but lacks one or more super-Earth planets, hot ‘Jupiters’, or cold ‘Jupiter’ planets with orbital eccentricities greater than 0.09. Each one of these four features, if absent in a planetary system, rules out the possibility of any kind of advanced life existing in the system. How many of the known multiple-planet systems exhibit these life-essential features? The answer for the 638 known multi-planet exoplanetary systems is zero. How about the known exoplanetary systems where only one planet has been discovered? Of these 2,249 systems [not one could support life]… The presumption back in 1995 was that astronomers would find many exoplanetary systems where the probability of advanced life possibly existing in that system would be greater than zero. More than twenty-three years later, with a database of 2,888 planetary systems and 3,877 planets, only one planetary system and only one planet possess the characteristics that the possible existence of advanced life needs. [That *one* planet is Earth.]”
and…
“[P]lanets orbiting stars less than 70 percent the Sun’s mass — which includes 80 percent of all existing stars — are noncandidates for hosting multicellular life. For the equivalent of animal life and especially human life the constraints are more stringent. Stars that are birthed early in the universe’s history (the first 8 billion years) lack the heavy elements needed to form planets on which the equivalent of human beings could conceivably exist. Conservatively, stars less than 90 percent the Sun’s mass are eliminated as candidates. What about stars more massive than the Sun? Such stars burn their nuclear fuel at much more rapid rates than the Sun. The faster a star fuses hydrogen into helium the brighter it becomes. Life cannot tolerate more than about a 2 percent increase in incident stellar radiation on the host planet’s surface… Stars more massive than the Sun will brighten by a whole lot more than 20 percent over the course of 3.8 billion years. Any conceivable set of biogeochemical cycles will not be able to sufficiently compensate for such stars’ brightening.”
and…
“[T]he brightness variability of [*all* observed] stars that most closely match the Sun’s effective temperature, rotation period, metallicity, surface gravity, and age [*all* of which must be closely matched for the possibility of advanced life to exist on a planet orbiting a star] is 5 times higher than the Sun’s [meaning *none* of the observed stars is capable of sustaining advanced life in their orbits]… ]T]he past 9,000 years has been a period of truly remarkable solar luminosity stability. It has also been a period amazingly devoid of [solar] superflares. This combination and simultaneity of the remarkable and the amazing has made possible global high-technology civilization on Earth. Without extreme solar brightness stability, a lack of superflares, and a low rate of ordinary flares there is no way that billions of humans could live and thrive on Earth [or any other planet in the universe] at one time.”
and…
“The sort of small, young, active stars that have become most exciting to astronomers looking for exoplanets may actually push away precisely what could be necessary to carry water to those planets — leaving them too dry to support life… The new research is far from the first challenge to the idea that planets orbiting close to small stars might be promising places to look for life. While these planets are easy to identify using the most productive technique, the transit method, and they seem to be the right temperature to hold liquid water, astronomers have pointed to plenty of other factors that could [drastically and negatively] influence habitability, like the harsh flares of radiation these stars produce.”
https://www.space.com/42945-mysterious-blobs-dwarf-stars-and-alien-life.html
and…
“Carbon monoxide production on planets orbiting [almost 90% of] stars will eliminate nearly all such planets from being able to host complex aerobic life.”
and…
“We astronomers have [carefully studied] thousands of… galaxies and so far none possess features similar enough to our Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) to be possible candidates to host an advanced civilization.”
… &
“Unlike other known spiral galaxies, the MWG continuously ‘sips’ rather than intermittently ‘gulps’ other galaxies. This unique history explains, in large part, why the MWG has such outstandingly symmetrical, well-spaced spiral arms with only a few feathers and spurs (of dust and gas) between the spiral arms. It also explains why the MWG is a large spiral galaxy like no other we know, a spiral galaxy uniquely designed to host advanced life.“
———————-
Earth: One of a Kind
[See, also, the Habitability section near the bottom of this page.]
Are There Planets More Habitable Than Earth?
Short Answer: No, and yes, we can prove it
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo57/no-place-like-home
and…
Are Exomoons Habitable?
Short Answer: No, and yes, we can prove it
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/are-exomoons-habitable
… &
Moons: Life’s Friends or Foes?
Answer: Foes, and yes, we can prove it
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/moons-lifes-friends-or-foes
and…
“For advanced life to be possible, a solar system must be born in a star cluster that allows for early delivery of certain elements from a CCSN [core-collapse supernova]… Too low an abundance of any of them rules out the possibility of advanced life. Too high an abundance of any of them also rules out advanced life. The emerging solar system must have been exposed to a CCSN at just the right time and place to acquire the quantities of copper, zinc, molybdenum, tin, and iodine that advanced life requires… Due to the solar system’s early exposure to a CCSN, Earth’s crust has 40 times more aluminum-27 than the [milky way galaxy] average. This huge abundance formed lubricating compounds that enable Earth’s tectonic plates to slip past, under, or over one another efficiently. T hanks to Earth’s [unique,] enduring, strong plate tectonic activity, life-critical nutrient cycles remain in operation and correctly compensate for the Sun’s increasing luminosity. Earth’s hyperabundance of aluminum has also significantly contributed to global civilization and technology.“
and…
Complex Life’s Narrow Requirements for Atmospheric Gases
and…
Earth’s Magnetosphere Appears Designed for Habitability
and…
We Are Living in a Safe Time Window
https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/we-are-living-in-a-safe-time-window
and…
Astronomer: We Can’t Just Assume Countless Earths Out There
https://evolutionnews.org/2021/11/astronomer-we-cant-just-assume-countless-earths-out-there/
[That article is long on quotes (well, no, it’s not very long) but it’s short on (actually devoid of) peer-reviewed scientific evidence. Fear not, readers. What follows is a resumption of citations of the reams and reams of peer-reviewed research validating what Dr. Gleiser discuses above.]
“Just a few short decades ago, the Earth was considered to be an ordinary planet, orbiting an ordinary star, lost in a vast galaxy of other stars, amid myriad other galaxies populating the cosmos. Mindless processes produced the first living organisms, we were told, which slowly evolved over the eons to produce creatures like us. This [origin-of-life] myth was accepted hook, line, and sinker by the uneducated masses after its promotion by… ‘high priests’ of materialist science, including Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan, and Richard Dawkins, and it was mindlessly parroted by a generation of science journalists unwilling to dig any deeper [into the actual evidence, such as the now-known facts that ]… [J]ust as soon as the Earth cooled down enough to enable liquid water to flow on its surface, life appeared [which flatly falsifies evolutionism ]… The standard evolutionary story is that life began as simple organisms and gradually progressed to more complex forms, but the best scientific evidence now suggests that early life-forms were already complex and biochemically sophisticated. This is based on evidence from the analysis of ratios of carbon and sulfur isotopes in sedimentary rocks laid down over 3.5 billion years ago. Since these biochemical processes could not have occurred unless highly complex protein enzymes were already present, they obviate [i.e. evidentially preclude] an evolutionary explanation… The earliest life-forms extracted energy from minerals without the need for molecular oxygen, but once photosynthetic microbes were introduced [which transform solar energy into atmospheric oxygen], they radically transformed the early biosphere, paving the way for the appearance of advanced life-forms… The rise in atmospheric oxygen also created the ozone layer, which protected future life on land from the [deadly] effects of ultraviolet radiation from the Sun [which is typical of the vast majority of observed exoplanets]… [and] photosynthetic organisms [also] served to counteract the tendency of the aging Sun to overheat the planet… The remains of these and other unicellular creatures settled to the bottom of the oceans, where they formed vast sediments that were compressed over time to produce the natural gas and oil reserves so [critical] to [advanced] human civilization today… Without these [finely-tuned carboniferous] resources, humans could never have launched the industrial revolution… After a long cooling phase… [w]hat is clear from the fossil record is that in the space of a short, 10-million-year period starting around 541 million years ago, 80 percent of all existing animal forms appeared on Earth, with no credible evolutionary antecedents. Paleontologists studying fossil layers from the so-called Cambrian Explosion have found no transitional forms in the layers immediately pre-dating this period in Earth history… Without plate tectonics [which no other observed planet in the universe has], our planet wouldn’t have a climate stable enough to support life over billions of years. That’s because plate tectonics takes center stage as a planetary thermostat in a process called the “carbonate-silicate” cycle… The fossil record attests to several mass extinction events that occurred over the long history of our planet. Research has shown that these devastating events were followed by equally spectacular mass speciation events [all of which also obviate evolutionary explanations]… Together, these scientific discoveries show that the Earth has been highly fine-tuned to sustain a very stable environment for the flourishing of life [which exists nowhere else in the observed universe]. And some life-forms were themselves instrumental in making our world an ideal place for humans to thrive in… [F]ar from being a humdrum planet orbiting an ordinary star, the Earth is a [truly] extraordinary planet.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo51/planetary-jewel
and…
“Compared to other spiral galaxies of the same mass as the Milky Way Galaxy [the only type of galaxies that can support advanced life], the MWG is exceptional in several ways. Meanwhile, its sister galaxy, the Andromeda Galaxy, is normal… The observed features of the MWG’s outskirt stars require that the MWG has experienced no merger event (big gulp) within the past 10 billion years with another galaxy possessing a total mass equal to or more massive than 1 billion solar masses… Meanwhile, the observed features of outskirt stars in other spiral galaxies of approximately the same mass as the MWG imply that they have experienced several major merging events during the past several billion years. An outstanding feature of the MWG emerges through this research. Throughout its past 10 billion years, our galaxy has not suffered any merger events of sufficient magnitude to alter its spiral structure in any life-threatening manner. Nevertheless, it has accreted sufficient streams of gas and a sufficient number and rate of low-mass dwarf galaxies to sustain its [life-essential] spiral structure. Sustaining spiral structure is key. Unlike other known spiral galaxies, throughout the past 10–11 billion years the MWG has continuously sipped rather than intermittently gulped. This unique history explains, in large part, why today the MWG has such outstandingly symmetrical [i.e. life-essential] spiral arms. It also explains why the MWG is a large spiral galaxy like no other we know, a spiral galaxy uniquely fit to host advanced life.”
and…
“Without the Eltanin [meteorite] impactor, there would be no ice age cycle. If there were no ice age cycle, several requirements for the launch and maintenance of global civilization would have been lacking (see sidebar at end of article). In other words, without Earth’s precise scene (‘cene) change — by an impactor of just the right size and composition, perfectly timed and perfectly placed — there would be no global, sizable, high-technology human civilization.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo49/dramatic-direction
and…
“[T]hough black holes produce deadly radiation in all known regions of the universe where advanced life is conceivable, our solar system [alone] is protected from this deadly radiation… [W]e live in a uniquely safe and uniquely provisioned location [of the entire universe].”
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/3/201/htm
———————-
Extremophiles:
“… researchers do not rule out life in subsurface ocean worlds or Venus-like planets, but they conclude it is unlikely… Scientists already know that plants and animals cannot survive on so little phosphorus, nitrogen, iron, and molybdenum. Laboratory experiments can settle whether there is any possibility for long-term survival of microbes.“
… &
Do Extremophiles on Earth Mean That Life Is Common in the Galaxy?
Short answer: No.
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/voices/read/voices/2019/11/22/do-extremophiles-on-earth-mean-that-life-is-common-in-the-galaxy-part-1
&
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/voices/read/voices/2019/12/13/do-extremophiles-on-earth-mean-that-life-is-common-in-the-galaxy-part-2
———————-
Probability Calculations:
“From a naturalistic perspective, the [probabilistically-calculated] number of civilizations besides our own that exist in the universe is [practically indistinguishable from] zero.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo39/zone-9-in-outer-space
and…
There are 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Earth-like planets in the observable universe.
Out of all 19 sextillion of these, Earth is likely to be the only one with sentient life.
http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/17/study-humans-almost-surely-sentient-life-universe/
and…
“… Drake-like equations [which ‘calculate’ the probability of ETs]… implicitly assume certainty regarding highly uncertain parameters… We examine these parameters, incorporating models of chemical and genetic transitions on paths to the origin of life, and show that extant scientific knowledge corresponds to uncertainties that span multiple orders of magnitude… When [Drake-like equations are] recast to represent realistic distributions of uncertainty, we find a substantial probability of there being no other intelligent life in our observable universe…”
https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02404
… &
“Siegel may not have been aware of the phosphorous problem when he wrote his article, ‘The Drake Equation Is Broken; Here’s How To Fix It.’ But he certainly should have known about the origin-of life-problem. His failure to account for the former is a reasonable mistake, but his failure to account for the latter is not.”
https://evolutionnews.org/2018/04/updating-the-drake-equation/
… &
“[O]nce we get beyond just the second term on the right side of the Drake Equation,the figures are made up of mere guesswork… [In reality] researchers [have] found a mere 2,780 stars with planets [in our Milky Way galaxy, the only galaxy in which we can observe exoplanets], a miniscule fraction of the 100 billion (conservative estimate) to 400 billion (high-end estimate) stars in the Milky Way Galaxy. And, according to NASA at least, out of the 3,700 exoplanets discovered, the number that are in the habitable zones of those 2,780 stars is a staggeringly miniscule 30… [These] data don’t support the notion that Earth is in any way ‘average’ [as asserted by the now-falsified Copernican Principle]. Instead, with each new exoplanet discovery, we see more evidence that Earth is not only unusual but staggeringly unusual by cosmic standards. Certainly, there are planets around other stars, but not the sort of planets we should expect to be habitats for life… To quote physicist Chuanfei Dong, who works at the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory: ‘The evolution of life takes billions of years… vOur results indicate that [the vast majority of] exoplanets are generally not capable of supporting a [life-sustaining] atmosphere over sufficiently long timescales when the stellar wind pressure is high… [According to the experts, therefore] the Copernican Principle is dead, precipitously reducing the likelihood that the third term of the Drake Equation will have any value other than zero [rendering any possibility for life elsewhere in the universe to also be zero]… But this [data driven, evidence based] scientific reality is not yet reflected in the scientific and popular imaginations. On the same Science Daily website where one can find Chuanfei Dong’s comments about solar winds scouring atmospheres away from rocky planets, one can also find a story asserting, ‘Ancient fossil microorganisms indicate that life in the universe is common,’ in spite of the Olympus-sized mountain of evidence contradicting that thesis… The evidence — if we are honest about the physics and the chemistry involved, and about the actual observations from nearly sixty years of SETI — stacks up overwhelmingly in favor of Earth being cosmically unique, and thus points against the proposition that our world is merely a commonplace cosmic happenstance… [The unavoidable philosophical problem resulting from these data, therefore, is] if Earth is not typical, then it’s a-typicality requires an explanation — and the greater the degree of a-typicality, the more acute the need for an explanation.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo49/far-amp-away-above-average
[That article is published behind a subscription paywall — something ASND very rarely features. In this case, however, — as in one other case on this page — we made an exception because most of the data discussed in this article are also discussed in other articles cited on this page.]
and…
“Is there anybody out there? Probably not… [One] mathematical model suggests that the odds of finding new life on other Earth-like planets are [only] 0.01 per cent over four billion years.“
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080416110124.htm
[A much more realistic & comprehensive mathematical model can be examined here .]
and…
“The three astronomers conclude their paper by demonstrating that the probability of advanced life arising must be far more remote than what [even] they calculated.”
and…
“… the probability for extraterrestrial intelligent life — very conservatively from a naturalistic perspective — is much less than 10-100,024,000,532 . In longhand notation it would be 0.00… 001 with 100,024,000,531 zeros between the decimal point and the 1.”
and…
“… scientists are likely underestimating the difficulty of making a truly habitable planet… [a]nd we have good reason to think [the likelihood of any planet — anywhere in the entire universe — developing life is] probably zero.”
and…
Required Fine-Tuning for Unicellular Life
Required Fine-Tuning for Advanced Life
Probability Estimates for Features Required by Various Life Forms
Probability Estimates on Different Size Scales for Advanced Life Features
https://reasons.org/publications/fine-tuning-for-life-on-earth-updated-june-2004/
———————-
Interplanetary & Interstellar Space Travel:
“Earth’s atmosphere shields its residents from most of the deadly radiation flying through the solar system. However, the radioactive components of the crust, atmosphere, and even our bodies provide a low-level background dose of radiation that seems to enhance the health of Earth’s inhabitants. Anyone traveling into space loses the protective aspect of the atmosphere, a problem that impacts future space travel plans.”
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/impact-events/earth-protects-life-from-dangerous-space-radiation
&…
“[H]umans should never venture outside of Earth’s magnetosphere for more than just a few days. The International Space Station orbits inside Earth’s magnetosphere. While a manned mission to the Moon entails humans spending some time outside Earth’s magnetosphere, that time can be limited to 1–3 days. Any mission beyond the Moon’s distance from Earth must be limited to machines. For the past several billion years, Earth has possessed a strong, stable magnetic field — an outcome considered impossible for a planet as small as Earth [and yet here the Earth is, as it is, unique in all the universe and here we are on it, also unique in all the universe]. What made the impossible probable was that during its youth, Earth experienced a number of unique events that super-enriched its interior with exact abundances of certain heavy elements and radioisotopes [whose radiometric decays create Earth’s unique magnetosphere which allow for the universally unique development of advanced life].“
&…
Space Radiation Will Damage Astronauts’ Brains Traveling Even to Mars
https://www.space.com/amp/space-radiation-damage-mars-astronauts-brains.html
[Mars takes only a few months to reach. Interstellar space travel — to the closest non-solar star in the universe (which does not and cannot possibly support life of any kind) — would take thousands of human lifetimes to reach with current rocket propellant technology. To reach that star in less than one human lifetime would require propellant technology far beyond anything ever conceived. BTW, even the world’s most pro-Martian travel agent understands that space travel kills.]
‘A bunch of people will probably die,’ Elon Musk says of future Mars tourism.
https://www.rt.com/news/522007-musks-bunch-mars-colonists-die/
… &
“Flights to Mars require more than six months outside the protective confines of Earth’s magnetic field. Consequently, space travelers are exposed to cosmic radiation that the magnetic field deflects from Earth’s inhabitants… [and] signs of the damage remain at least one year after the radiation exposure ends.“
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/impact-events/the-perils-of-space-travel
… &
“[Because] there is no technology available, or even conceivable, to protect astronauts in a spacecraft from heavy ion radiation… deep space travel will do irreparable, life-threatening damage to our intestines, which creates a severely limiting factor for people who envision a future where humans can travel to other planets [including Mars] and colonize them… Much more significant conclusions can be drawn from [this peer-reviewed research] paper. First, humans should never venture outside of Earth’s magnetosphere for more than just a few days. The International Space Station orbits inside Earth’s magnetosphere. While a manned mission to the Moon entails humans spending some time outside Earth’s magnetosphere, that time can be limited to 1–3 days. Any mission beyond the Moon’s distance from Earth must be limited to machines.”
… &
Scientists simulating Mars mission on Hawaii long for end to [only a single] year in isolation
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/21/scientists-simulation-mars-mission-hawaii-hi-seas
… &
“According to a report by NASA scientists, blood flow can stop and even reverse in the upper bodies of astronauts. The study could have some major implications about prolonged trips through deep space.”
https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-research-astronauts-clots-bizarre-blood-flow
… &
“[S]pace travels present… realistic challenges that can potentially compromise the health of [astronauts]… The [biological] challenges encountered in space include noise, isolation, hypoxia… disrupted circadian rhythm… exposure to ionizing radiation and weightlessness.”
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6436/127
&
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/364/6436/eaau8650
… &
Are Humans Fit for Space?
A ‘Herculean’ Study Says Maybe Not
https://www.wired.com/story/are-humans-fit-for-space-a-herculean-study-says-maybe-not/
… &
New York Times: Beings Not Made for Space
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/bodies-not-made-for-space.html
… &
Is Long-Term Space Travel Even Possible For Advanced Organisms?
Science Says Probably Not
[See, also, here . ]
… &
Space Radiation Devastated the Lives of Apollo Astronauts
New research points to serious concerns about human survival during deep space travel.
http://observer.com/2016/07/space-radiation-devastated-the-lives-of-apollo-astronauts/
… &
Astronauts who have spent months in microgravity have more liquid in their brains, which may affect their vision even after they get back home.
… &
Cosmic rays may prevent long-haul space travel
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7753-cosmic-rays-may-prevent-long-haul-space-travel/
… &
Space travel may be harmful to the brain, study suggests
Prolonged cosmic radiation exposure could hasten Alzheimer’s
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121231180632.htm
… &
“Perhaps the most well-known peril of long periods of time in space relates to bone density loss and kidney stones. NASA implements a strenuous exercise regimen, supplemented by medication, to combat these risks. Not surprisingly, muscle degeneration also occurs in the weightless environment of space. According to a recent study of zero gravity on the muscles supporting the back, staying aboard the International Space Station for 6 months resulted in a 5–10% decrease in muscle mass… [M]uscle density also decreased by similar amounts while in space… [R]esearch also reveals human immune system problems… These problems result from spaceflights near Earth. Longer trips, like going to Mars, bring another, more severe problem.“
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/impact-events/the-perils-of-space-travel
and…
Can the EmDrive actually work for space travel?
Short Answer: No way.
https://www.space.com/can-emdrive-space-propulsion-concept-work
… &
“Voyager 1 still holds the record as the spacecraft that moved away from the sun the fastest. It took 35 years to reach interstellar space, traveling at 11 miles per second (almost 38,000 mph) for most of that time. Even though Voyager 1 covered the distance from Earth to the sun in about three months, it will take 80,000 years to cover the distance between the sun and the nearest star (Alpha Centauri)!… In order to reduce the travel times, we must reach something close to the speed of light… Traveling at faster speeds requires larger amounts of energy, but the increase in speed does not grow in the same way as the increase in energy… For a spacecraft… moving at one-tenth the speed of light… and having a mass of [only] 500 kg [or only about 1100 pounds, or less than half the weight of the average *small* car], the kinetic energy [equals about] 226 x 1015 joules. In comparison, each year the entire United States only uses 400 times more energy than this… Of course, [achieving] this [level of speed] assumes that humanity develops the capacity to operate fusion reactions and that we can extract the energy from those reactions with incredibly high efficiency. Even with all these caveats, travel to the nearest star [Alpha Centauri] would still take more than 40 years [and a round-trip would take twice that long]… Increasing the speed any further would dramatically increase the fuel mass… Traveling near the speed of light poses other problems though. Just as accelerating a craft to those speeds requires enormous amounts of energy, colliding with the debris scattered throughout interstellar space would cause tremendous damage… Even with the low density of interstellar space (anywhere from 100 to 1 trillion molecules per cubic meter), a spacecraft traveling to a nearby star basically embarks on a long game of Russian roulette. The laws of physics put some pretty serious constraints on the prospect of interstellar travel. In the distant future, humanity may engineer a craft that could overcome all these difficulties, but not anytime soon. For now, interstellar travel remains in the realm of science fiction only.”
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/impact-events/can-we-travel-outside-our-solar-system
… &
“[T]he laws of physics forbid any chunk of matter from traveling faster than the velocity of light. Serious difficulties arise, however, long before an object reaches that speed. At the velocity of light, the energy required to move a specified mass is infinite. At even half the velocity of light, the energy needed to propel an object is several million times greater than NASA’s fastest spacecraft [can achieve]… The need for speed poses yet another problem: The faster an object travels through space, the greater its likelihood to suffer damage from space debris. Micrometeorites, for example, punched holes the size of silver dollars in the Hubble Space Telescope’s solar panels (while the Hubble was traveling at about 0.04 percent the velocity of light relative to the micrometeorites, and about 0.003 percent the velocity of light relative to Earth). If the telescope had been moving a thousand times faster (relative to the micrometeorites), the damage would have been a million times worse. (i.e., the damage increases with the square of the velocity increase.)… The faster a craft travels through space, the greater the damage it suffers from radiation. The particles associated with radiation (e.g., protons, neutrons, electrons, heavy nuclei, and even photons) cause erosion to the ‘skin’ and components of the craft. Again, the rate of erosion rises with the square of the velocity. However, a slower velocity means more time in space, and that extra time means more radiation exposure for the aliens on board… [A]ny reasonably sized spacecraft transporting intelligent physical beings can travel at velocities no greater than about one percent the velocity of light. At higher velocities the risks from radiation, space debris, leaks, and wear and tear are simply too great to prevent the extinction of the space travelers before they reach their destination. A spacecraft traveling at one percent the velocity of light (nearly 7 million miles per hour) would need… 23,000 years to travel 230 light-years [which we already know is far less than the required distance to any potentially habitable planet]… A one-way trip that takes [23,000] years or more raises serious doubts about the alien travelers’ survivability. The extinction risk, given the limited population and all the contingencies of space travel, seems overwhelming… [So-called “wormholes”] offer no help [either] in solving the distance and time problems [associated with interstellar space travel]… While these so-called wormholes connecting one black hole [at a galaxy’s center] to another black hole [at another galaxy’s center] are mathematically possible… General relativity predicts that when matter becomes sufficiently compressed by its own gravity (as in a black hole), a discrete region of space-time will develop where the curvature becomes infinitely sharp [thereby obliterating all physicality and dimensionality of matter, converting it into pure energy, which cannot self-reassemble into complex, organized, living matter]… Origin-of-life researchers now acknowledge the virtual impossibility of any natural explanation for life’s origin on Earth, on Mars, on any solar system body, or anywhere among the comets or interstellar clouds. The additional finding that microorganisms could not have been transported across interstellar space (radiation pressure from stars would inevitably have killed them) effectively seals the case.
… &
“NASA thinks we can find another Earth in another nearby star… [but] Crossing the cosmic void will require superfast spacecraft, far more advanced than anything built today… [and] propulsion technologies that could [at least conceivably] get an astronaut from here to Alpha Centauri in less than 50 years [don’t even yet exist]… To get there in a human lifetime [which means no one who goes can return], a rocket would have to travel at least 3,000 times faster than current propellants… can thrust. [And there aren’t any habitable planets orbiting Alpha Centauri anyway. The closest known “habitable” expolanet so far is several human lifetimes away.]… Radiation shielding — perhaps [extremely heavy lead or similar material] — would be needed to protect the crew [during several generations worth of transit time]… Even a [single] microscopic [i.e. undetectable] dust particle traveling at 50 percent of the speed of light relative to a spacecraft [which would be similar to the required speed of the spacecraft relative to Earth] could [no, would] cause a cataclysmic impact… [H]ow do you manage all the disagreements, personality conflicts, simple claustrophobia [and a variety of other psychological pathologies] that are [already scientifically verified as] bound to erupt during a [multiple-lifetimes] long journey?… Why not just send a robot? [Because a] mission to another star cannot rely on controllers back home. A desperate message from Alpha Centauri would take 4.4 years to reach Earth, and our response would take another 4.4 years to return. [And that’s to a star system that contains no habitable planets.] If the spacecraft is run by a robot, it would need a level of autonomy that [far, far exceeds current robotechnologies].”
http://discovermagazine.com/2003/aug/cover
———————-
The Solar System:
“Clearly, the Sun’s rocky planets stand radically apart from known rocky exoplanets. The big question is why?… [W]hat matters is the total mass of rocky planets a star hosts and how far they orbit from the host star. The solar system has the second-highest total mass of rocky planets of any known planetary system [and the first-highest system is very different from the solar system in significant ways described in the article]… Therefore, the solar system differs from other known planetary systems in both the quantity of refractory elements and of angular momentum transferred from the host star to its system of rocky planets… Astronomers now understand that the Sun’s exceptionally low abundance of lithium and refractory elements likely explains the Sun’s unique system of rocky planets… One team of astronomers concluded their research paper by saying the peculiar solar elemental composition ‘would imply that solar-like stars with planetary systems similar to our own are a relatively rare occurrence‘… What do all these atypical features tell us? The Sun’s anomalously low abundance of lithium and refractory elements together with the Sun’s mass and age help keep the Sun’s flaring activity level extremely and uniquely low. These solar features help account for the Sun’s exceptionally low levels of short ultraviolet and x-ray radiation, at present. Only because these levels and intensities of flares and of short ultraviolet and x-ray radiation are extremely low is global, high-technology civilization on Earth possible… These discoveries about the Sun’s anomalous elements and anomalous rocky planets add to the weight of evidence for the rare Earth, rare Sun, and rare planetary system doctrines. These doctrines state that Earth, the Sun, and the solar system all are amazingly and uniquely designed to make it possible for humans and global high-technology civilization to exist and thrive on Earth.”
and…
Earth’s Moon
“[I]t is simply a matter of time before planetary astronomers discover the remains of life on another solar system body besides Earth. The reason why is that meteoritic bombardment of Earth has exported Earth’s [paleolithic] microbes throughout the solar system… [That is] Why We Need to Go Back to the Moon … [because that is] Where to Look for Earth’s First Life … [The very first fossils of the universe’s very first multi-cellular life forms were all created on Earth but they] will never be found on Earth. [They can most easily be found, though, on Earth’s moon because] the lack of geological activity on the Moon implies that the [meteoritically displaced] fossils of Earth’s first life will be there in an undisturbed state.”
[The last of the embedded hyperlinks in that citation sends readers to an article containing a rare error by Dr. Ross (most of the embedded hyperlinks in quoted citations on ASND’s pages are actually links which I have added to those citations to add evidential support to the citations which the authors did not originally include). Ross states in that linked article that he “exhorted [NASA] to return to the Moon with a different mission… *instead* of mining indigenous lunar rocks…” Ross commits the Fallacy of the Excluded Middle (a.k.a. a false dilemma) in that statement. There is no need to replace NASA’s planned moon mining missions with purely scientific purposes. Such a narrow-minded “exhortation” to NASA — if realized — would cost taxpayers billions of additional dollars that could quite possibly — if not likely — be recovered many times over (possibly hundreds or even thousands of times) by capitalizing on the enormous potential which moon mining could bring. Like all of space travel and existence, however, Earth’s moon poses a very difficult — and therefore very expensive — technological problem which must be solved before any serious further research and/or mineral exploitation of the moon can occur.]
“During their landings, dust blown up into the thin lunar atmosphere impacted [Apollo] astronaut visibility. Once crews were out and about on the moon, the dust had deleterious effects on their spacesuits, helmets, equipment and instrumentation. Apollo expedition members could not escape tracking lunar material inside their lunar landers. After doffing their helmets and gloves, moonwalkers could feel the abrasive nature of the dust… ‘I think dust is probably one of our greatest inhibitors to a nominal operation on the moon. I think that we can overcome other physiological or physical or mechanical problems except dust,” said [Apollo 17] mission commander Eugene Cernan. ‘One of the most aggravating, restricting facets of lunar surface exploration is the dust and its adherence to everything no matter what kind of material, whether it be skin, suit material, metal, no matter what it be and its restrictive friction-like action to everything it gets on,’ said lunar module pilot and geologist, Harrison Schmitt… [A 2020] NASA Engineering and Safety Center Technical Assessment Report, stat[ed] that the [lunar] dust problem ‘is an agency and industry concern affecting most mission subsystems and it must be addressed.‘”
https://spacenews.com/dealing-with-dust-a-back-to-the-moon-dilemma/
and…
“For a planet other than Earth to host anything more than a few microbial species for more than a brief time period it must host a moon virtually identical to ours. Such a planet-moon system must possess both a coupled dynamical history and a coupled magnetosphere history virtually identical to the Earth-Moon system [and] such a planet-moon system must orbit a star virtually identical to the Sun since stars more massive or less massive than the Sun pose an even greater risk to the planet’s atmosphere, hydrosphere, and life.”
and…
“The next chapter in the U.S. human exploration of the moon, the Artemis Project, will dispatch crews there for extended periods of time… but the place is a Disneyland of dust… During their landings, dust blown up into the thin lunar atmosphere impacted astronaut visibility. Once crews were out and about on the moon, the dust had deleterious effects on their spacesuits, helmets, equipment and instrumentation. Apollo expedition members could not escape tracking lunar material inside their lunar landers. After doffing their helmets and gloves, moonwalkers could feel the abrasive nature of the dust, even experiencing an ‘Apollo aroma’ — a distinctive, odoriferous smell… As explained by Apollo 17’s moon landing crew: “I think dust is probably one of our greatest inhibitors to a nominal operation on the moon. I think that we can overcome other physiological or physical or mechanical problems except dust,’ said mission commander Eugene Cernan. ‘One of the most aggravating, restricting facets of lunar surface exploration is the dust and its adherence to everything no matter what kind of material, whether it be skin, suit material, metal, no matter what it be and its restrictive friction-like action to everything it gets on,’ said lunar module pilot and geologist, Harrison Schmitt… [A 2020] NASA Engineering and Safety Center Technical Assessment Report, stat[ed] that the dust problem ‘is an agency and industry concern affecting most mission subsystems and it must be addressed’… ‘As we learned from the Apollo missions, lunar dust can cause a wide range of issues, including being a hazard to astronaut health, sticking to all kinds of surfaces like spacesuits, visors and windows, solar panels, and radiators,’ said Jorge Núñez of the Planetary Exploration Group at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL).. [I]n returning to the moon and establishing a long-term presence, lunar dust, in sufficient doses, represents a ‘toxic threat’ to human health.”
https://spacenews.com/dealing-with-dust-a-back-to-the-moon-dilemma/
Venus
On 14 September 2020, astronomers announced the detection of phosphine, a potential biomarker, in the atmosphere of Venus…
Does that mean there is life on Venus?
No.
https://ras.ac.uk/news-and-press/news/venus-phosphine-detection-factsheet
and…
“The upper atmosphere of Venus ranks as the most Earth-like environment of any region in the solar system beyond Earth... [which] has caused some to speculate that life might exist in this part of Venus’ upper atmosphere… [and] if astronomers search diligently enough they will find the remains of microbial life 50–65 km above the surface of Venus… [but they will only be] the remains of Earth life [that] have been transported to Venus’s upper atmosphere by natural means.”
and…
New studies falsify a previous report observing phosphine in Venus’atmosphere
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00249-y
and…
“[P]hosphine has not been discovered in Venus’s upper atmosphere… Yet, I do not believe that it is completely sterile. When large meteorites strike Earth, microbes on Earth get ejected into interplanetary space. Many of these microbes get transported to Venus’s upper atmosphere. However, though the temperature and pressure conditions 50–65 kilometers above Venus’s surface are similar to those on Earth’s surface, the chemical conditions are not. The chemistry in Venus’s upper atmosphere is hostile to even extremophile (an organism living in extreme conditions) microbial life. Hence, what will be present in Venus’s upper atmosphere are the remains of microbes rather than viable microbes. These remains will result in little, if any, biogenic phosphine in Venus’s upper atmosphere — probably no more than 1 part per billion.”
Mars
To get to Mars, we must first develop the moon.
https://spacenews.com/op-ed-to-get-to-mars-first-develop-the-moon/
and…
“[T]he Martian crust sampled by the nakhlites could not have provided habitable environments that could harbor any life on Mars during the [only period in Martian history believed to have included long-term liquid surface water].”
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn3044
and…
“The combined effects of at least three components of the Martian surface, activated by surface photochemistry, render the present-day surface more uninhabitable than previously thought, and demonstrate the low probability of survival of biological [organisms on the Martian surface].”
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-04910-3
&
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jul/06/mars-covered-in-toxic-chemicals-that-can-wipe-out-living-organisms-tests-reveal
… &
“[A]biotic production of organic molecules operated on Mars 4 billion years ago.”
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abg7905
… &
The Brits have debunked a photograph taken on May 7 by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars which resembles a doorway cut into the side of a cliff.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/heres-official-explanation-mars-doorway
… &
No, NASA photos are not evidence of fungus growing on Mars, sorry
Despite what you might have read, the claims about life on Mars are shoddy and unscientific.
https://www.cnet.com/news/sorry-nasa-photos-are-not-evidence-of-fungus-growing-on-mars/
… &
“Martian soils and brines exhibit high ionic strength… [which] acts as a barrier to habitability… Because of Mars’ low atmospheric pressure, liquid water can only exist on its surface if it is in a concentrated brine. These Martian brines, as many studies affirm,4 possess high levels of doubly ionized magnesium, iron, and sulfate and triply ionized iron. The presence of these highly ionized metals and compounds strongly disrupts the structure and function of biological molecules. Specifically, proteins and nucleic acids are destabilized and lipid bilayers are disrupted. Such destabilization and disruption is all the more exacerbated by the low pH, low temperature, low water activity, and high levels of dissolved iron in Martian brines. ”
and…
“[I]f evidence of either extant or past life on Mars is uncovered, it might well also be discovered that such life [actually] originated on Earth. Indeed, it is estimated that over the 4-billion-year history of life on Earth, so much terrestrial soil has found its way to Mars that the Red Planet can boast an average of 2 kilograms of terrestrial soil per square kilometer of its surface (or about 11.3 pounds per square mile). It is certainly possible that some microbial life was delivered there along with the soil — in fact, the discovery of either extant microbial life or microfossils on Mars might well be anticipated. If that happens, astrobiologists will need to [examine] the possibility that it came from Earth before claiming that any such life originated [on Mars].”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo50/origin-stories
… &
“It is not a matter of if, but a matter of when, the remains of life will be discovered on Mars. But that life will have originated on Earth, not Mars.“
https://reasons.org/explore/publications/connections/read/connections/2004/01/01/life-on-mars
[That prediction was made way back in 2004. It was also predicted ten years later.]
“[Sooner or later] some mission to Mars… will, in fact, find life. It will not necessarily be contamination from a man-made spacecraft. Instead, it will [likely] have originated from a meteorite blasted off the earth by a large asteroid or comet.”
[Not surprisingly (at least to those who were paying attention), those two predictions were proven accurate (prophetic) in 2019 . The fossilized, microbial life discovered on Mars was, indeed, transferred from Earth, likely via an asteroid or comet. The same predictors (prophets) who were 100% accurate on those Mars predictions have also predicted that very recent terrestrial microbial life will also likely, eventually be discovered on Mars. ]
“Bacteria Found in NASA Clean Rooms Likely Traveled to Mars“
… &
“Mars’ [geo]dynamo [which creates a planetary magentic field] shut down 4.0–4.1 billion years ago and has never restarted since then… [T]he long-term effects of the dynamo shutdown would have been permanently catastrophic [to all planetary life, including microbial life because it] would guarantee the loss of all Mars’s surface water… [A] long-term shutdown of any planet’s dynamo makes it [completely] uninhabitable [by any life whatsoever].”
… &
“The MARSIS discovery is not a big freshwater lake, as some internet reports implied. Nor is the discovered layer a possible habitat for life.”
… &
Don’t Let Mars Fool You. Those Exoplanets Have To Teem with Life!
Just Don’t Ask Us For Evidence
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/11/dont_let_mars_f078731.html
… &
Mars rover Curiosity found methane in one of its core drills but methane one of the simplest ‘organic’ molecules and the methane detected by Curiosity likely comes from abiotic gas-water-chemical reactions.
… &
Methane causes belief in space aliens despite the fact that methane can be produced through abiotic hydrothermal activity
https://evolutionnews.org/2021/07/methane-causes-space-aliens/
… &
“Although the radiation exposure would be spread out over a two-and-a-half year period, Martian astronauts would still be exposed to 20 percent of a lethal dose.”
and…
“Origin-of-life researchers now acknowledge the virtual impossibility of any natural explanation for life’s origin on Earth, on Mars, on any solar system body, or anywhere among the comets or interstellar clouds.”
Jupiter:
“Current estimates indicate Europa possesses a shell of ice about 10 miles thick with 50 miles of ocean beneath it. This data has inspired some people to speculate about the possibility of life on Europa, but, while there are significant arguments against this notion, no real evidence exists to support it.”
https://reasons.org/explore/publications/articles/water-designed-for-life-part-7-of-7
… &
“[T]he hypothesized subsurface ocean in Jupiter’s moon, Europa, likely contains high concentrations of doubly ionized magnesium and sulfate, which would render it uninhabitable.”
… &
“The isolation of Europa’s [subsurface] oceans renders a radiation-driven ecology impossible. Without energy flux into its oceans, Europan life cannot exist.”
https://reasons.org/explore/publications/facts-for-faith/oceans-under-ice
… &
“Ice-covered worlds like Europa and Enceladus will not have any riverine input of phosphorus… [therefore the development of] life in subsurface ocean worlds [like these] is unlikely.”
———————-
Observed Exoplanets:
Have Astronomers Found Life on Planet K2-18b?
“It has become increasingly clear to astronomers that they cannot rely on a single biosignature as proof of life’s presence. If life truly exists on an exoplanet, its presence will yield multiple biosignatures all at strong levels… For a planet to accommodate life of any complexity for any length of time it must reside simultaneously in all [13] known habitable zones. of the [extrasolar] planets discovered to date resides in as many of three of these planetary habitable zones simultaneously. Of 5,512 known planets, only Earth resides in more than three.“
and…
“We have found more than 4000 planets orbiting distant stars, but it turns out that probably none of them [has] the right conditions for life to evolve, making Earth even more special than we thought.”
and…
“In the relatively nascent field of exoplanet research, no one has yet been able to find [a life-capable planet like Earth]. That is not for lack of trying. [The] Kepler [space telescope] spent nine years searching over 150,000 stars, and while it detected almost 3,000 new exoplanets, none met the criteria of being Earth-sized in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. Bad luck might have played a role – the new paper’s authors even calculated that statistically, Kepler probably should have found at least one Earth-sized planet in a habitable zone.“
https://www.universetoday.com/156818/an-ambitious-plan-to-find-earth-2-0/
[As the articles cites in the “luck” hyperlink above make clear, no “luck” – bad or good – has had any effect on the search for Earth-like planets (or anything else).]
and…
“[Two peer-reviewed] papers published in the August [2018] issue of the Astrophysical Journal [reveal that] the detection of molecular oxygen and/or ozone in an exoplanet’s atmosphere can no longer be considered as reliable evidence that life exists on that planet… [Nevertheless,] it will take a while before the astrobiological community fully accepts that atmospheric oxygen and ozone are no longer reliable biosignatures. Nor will they agree that with present or foreseeable future astronomical instruments, scientists have no means for unambiguously detecting life on exoplanets [another conclusion of one of the aforementioned research papers]. Thus, [it will only be a matter of time before] a paper is published or an announcement is made at a press conference claiming that life has been detected on an exoplanet [due to observed oxygen and/or ozone in the planet’s atmosphere]… What seems less debatable [based solely on the published, peer-reviewed research evidence] is the notion that scientific discoveries affirm the rarity, if not uniqueness, of Earth as a life-supporting planet.“
and…
“Just because exoplanets could have habitable environments, that does not mean that life evolved there.”
http://www.space.com/20161-alien-life-rare-universe.html
and…
“The vast majority of exoplanets currently classified as habitable… no longer can be classified as habitable.”
and…
Planets Capable of Sustaining Photosynthesis Are Extremely Rare
“Earth is far and away the planet that is best-suited for life, with only one other planet with a radiation input that could possibly sustain oxygenic photosynthesis.”
and…
“Earth’s magnetosphere not only protects Earth’s life from deadly radiation, but also prevents solar particles from sputtering away much of Earth’s atmosphere. It is particularly critical for maintaining liquid water on Earth’s surface… [A] strong, long-lasting magnetic field is essential for the survival of advanced life and… such magnetic fields must be extremely rare among rocky extrasolar planets… [as] Only one… of [all observed] rocky exoplanets — at distances from their host stars where liquid water could conceivably exist on their surfaces… could possibly have a magnetic dipole moment as large or larger than Earth’s… Earth is [exceedingly] rare, if not unique, in possessing all characteristic features necessary to make possible the existence of advanced life.”
and…
Is Kepler 1649c the Long-Sought Earth Twin?
No, for several reasons.
and…
“[A] strong, long-lasting magnetic field [such as Earth’s] is essential for the survival of advanced life [yet] magnetic fields [are] extremely rare among rocky extrasolar planets.”
and…
“Of the 3,547 planets discovered so far, only one resides in all nine [now thirteen ] known habitable zones — Earth.”
… &
“One can reasonably draw two more conclusions implied by the five [cited] astrobiologists’ research paper, but not presented [in their paper]. First, planets capable of sustaining complex life must be exceedingly rare. Second, when one takes into account that the existence of aerobic complex life requires a planet that simultaneously resides in all eleven [now thirteen ] habitable zones, the number of planets in the universe capable of sustaining such life most probably is just one.”
[Those last two articles — citing only 11 known habitable zones — were written in 2016 and 2019, respectively. The number of planetary habitable zones is now known to be at least 13.]
“To date, astronomers have identified thirteen planetary habitable zones that must converge for any planet to serve as a possible host for advanced life. In other words, all thirteen zones must simultaneously overlap. As of July 11, 2019, astronomers had discovered and measured the properties of 4,106 planets. Among these 4,106 planets, only one [Earth] exists where all thirteen habitable zones ‘just happen‘ to come together in the same place and time.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo51/thinning-margins
and…
“… a large fraction of the giant-planet candidate systems with chromospheric emission stronger than the Sun are not giant-planet systems, but false positives.”
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8205/830/1/L7
and…
“… any possible life on solar system bodies besides Earth is limited (at best) to extremely radiation-resistant or subsurface microbes… [and] stellar flares seriously challenge the possible habitability of extrasolar planets and moons.”
and…
“The three astronomers have added to the ever-accumulating evidence that [our] solar system is unique and special in its exquisite design features that enable it to sustain advanced life on one of its planets.”
and…
Gliese 581g: A Black Eye for Believers in Habitable Earth-like Exoplanets
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2014/07/gliese_581g_a_b2087691.html
and…
“In a recent issue of the journal Astrobiology, British planetary astronomer David Waltham explains why the enduring delicate balance between the Sun’s brightening and cooling from geological and biological processes is unlikely to occur on any other star-planet system. He shows that for the delicate balance to be sustained the star-planet system must be comprised of a star that is exactly like the Sun and a planet that is exactly like Earth… As geophysicist Robert Stern observed, ‘Earth is the only known planet with subduction zones and plate tectonics, and this fact demonstrates that special conditions are required for this mode of planetary heat loss‘… [In fact] advanced life on Earth is [also] doomed… [W]e humans are living in the last half [of one] percent of the maximum time window for life on Earth.”
and…
“[E]xtrasolar planets that are the most similar to Earth, and whose carbon amounts astronomers have been able to measure, or at least estimate, have been found to possess about 1,200 times as much carbon-based atmospheric gas as Earth does. This much carbon-based atmospheric gas would rule out photosynthetic life, all animals, and likely all physical life on those planets.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo46/the-miracle-element
… &
“[F]or life to be sustained on Earth for a long enough time period for microbial life to chemically transform Earth’s habitats into environments suitable for plant and animal life — and for this plant and animal life to further transform Earth’s habitats so that they can sustain human life — the combination of Earth’s shallow carbon cycle and Earth’s deep carbon cycle must be fine-tuned in many different ways to perfectly compensate for the Sun’s increasing luminosity… There are 23 known subcomponents comprising the deep carbon cycle… [and] There are 37 known sets of parameters that affect the rates at which these 23 subcomponents operate… [These 60 different environmental variables] must all be individually fine-tuned so that, in combination with the shallow carbon cycle, carbon dioxide and methane are removed from the atmosphere at just-right rates throughout the 3.8-billion-year history of life Earth in a manner that perfectly and continuously compensates for the Sun’s increasing luminosity… As geophysicist Robert Stern noted in a paper published in Geology, ‘Earth is the only known planet with subduction zones and plate tectonics, and this fact demonstrates that special conditions are required for this mode of planetary heat loss.‘ As geophysicist John Hayes and oceanographer Jacob Waldbauer commented in their paper that specifically addressed the subduction components of the deep carbon cycle, ‘A very clever demon will be required to operate the carbon valve in the subduction zone.‘ However, it takes a lot more than ‘a clever demon’ to explain the exquisite, continual control of the sixty features and processes described here.”
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2019/11/18/carbon-cycle-requirements-for-advanced-life-part-1
&
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/read/todays-new-reason-to-believe/2019/11/25/carbon-cycle-requirements-for-advanced-life-part-2
and…
“[W]ithout an operating silicate-carbonate cycle [created by plate tectonics], life could not remain on Earth planet for long… [so] earthquakes, though frightful in many respects, confer indispensable benefits to life.”
and…
“[C]ertain types [of exoplanets], such as super-Earths and some planets around M-stars, are thought to be potentially habitable, perhaps even hosting technological civilizations… [As other citations on this page confirm, those two types of planets are the only planets that even believers in ETs acknowledge are ‘potentially’ capable of supporting any kinds of life.] [But] Getting a satellite into orbit from a super-Earth would require an exponentially more massive rocket than if launched from Earth… [D]espite their much smaller host star, these planets require a much greater velocity in order to escape into interstellar space… We have come to take for granted [our] remarkable interplanetary spacecraft, spaced-based global communications, and Earth monitoring [from orbiting satellites]. However, some of those achievements would not have been possible were it not for [unique] features of our planet, Sun, and solar system… [S]cientific development of space technologies continues to reveal [unique] features of our home planet which make that thriving possible.”
———————-
The Search For Water:
“While no one disputes the necessity of water for life, science has shown that liquid water is merely one of many requirements for life, not the only requirement.”
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/take-two/read/take-two/2012/08/24/mars-the-search-for-water
and…
“[T]here will be a large percentage of planets residing in the water habitable zones of their host stars that are not habitable at all… [due to] high ionic strength in [their] water [which] acts as a barrier to habitability… [These] data challenge the paradigm of ‘Follow the Water‘ that has been the marching orders for astrobiologists for… decades.”
and…
Too Much Water Is Bad for Life!
“We can draw several conclusions from all of these studies. The first is that for planets in the liquid water habitable zone, globally extensive, very deep oceans will be the norm. The second is that planets with globally extensive, very deep oceans are poor candidates for the origin and survival of unicellular life and are not candidates at all for more advanced life. Third, a planet like Earth that is neither water rich nor totally desiccated is a totally unexpected outcome.”
and…
Waterworld Planets Are Acidic, Primordial Earth Was Not
and…
“… the presence of liquid water on a planet’s surface does not guarantee the existence of life. Consequently, astronomers seek other signatures indicative of life. The detection of free oxygen in the atmosphere represents one [possible] biosignature.”
[However…]
“… the detection of free oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet [cannot] be considered an unambiguous signature for the existence of life.“
———————-
Habitability:
What Does “Habitable” Mean?
and…
“Earth appears to reside in the safest location within the safest galaxy in which advanced life can conceivably exist.”
… &
“Our Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) is the only known life-friendly galaxy.”
… &
New Study: The Milky Way Is Exceptional
https://evolutionnews.org/2023/01/new-study-the-milky-way-is-exceptional/
… &
Do Superhabitable Planets Exist?
Yes and no.
Yes, only one, Earth.
No, not a single other one has ever been found.
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/do-superhabitable-planets-exist
… &
“NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has discovered several Earth-like planets orbiting in their stars’ liquid water habitable zones. All the host stars are red dwarfs. For several reasons that I explain in Designed to the Core, planets orbiting red dwarf stars are not habitable. Also, for a planet to be truly habitable it must simultaneously orbit in all 13 known habitable zones. So far, astronomers have found only one planet that simultaneously orbits in even just 3 of the known planetary habitable zone — the same one that orbits in all 13.”
https://twitter.com/RTB_HRoss/status/1614341363713343491
… &
“One of the large galaxies that formed early in the history of the universe is our own Milky Way Galaxy (MWG)… the mass of [whose Super Massive Black Hole, SMBH] is undermassive by a factor of about 35 times. This exceptionally tiny mass makes advanced life possible [only] in the MWG. Thus, a newly discovered design feature of the MWG is that strong outflow winds during the galaxy’s first billion years must be fine-tuned to ensure that its present SMBH’s mass is small enough to guarantee radiation emitted from outside the SMBH’s event horizon does not eradicate advanced life on Earth. Yet, that mass must be large enough to make stable, symmetrical spiral arms possible. Likewise, strong outflow winds in galaxies nearby the MWG must be fine-tuned during those galaxies’ early histories so that their SMBHs do not pose a threat to advanced life in the MWG.”
https://reasons.org/explore/blogs/todays-new-reason-to-believe/stunted-black-holes-pave-way-for-life
… &
“Our [Milky Way Galaxy] is the only known galaxy possessing all the galactic features that advanced life requires… Furthermore, there are only limited regions within the MWG where advanced life is possible [and Earth resides in one of them]… Without extreme solar brightness stability, a lack of superflares, and a low rate of ordinary flares [all of which the Sun – and only the Sun – has], there is no way that [advanced life] could live and thrive on [any planet anywhere in the universe] at one time. Two recent studies now establish that advanced life is possible only on a planet-moon system that is identical to the Earth-Moon system in the following ways: (1) in its origin as the consequence of two planets merging together, (2) in the values and ratios of the masses and diameters of the planet and moon, (3) in the initial proximity of the planet and moon to one another, and (4) in the rate at which the planet and the moon separate from one another. There are many more features of the MWG, the Local Bubble, the Local Fluff, the Sun, the Sun’s planets and asteroid/comet belts, the Moon, and Earth that affirm this notion: Earth is likely the only body in the universe that is able to harbor an intelligent physical species capable of launching and sustaining high-technology global civilization… [because] everywhere astronomers look beyond Earth they witness conditions that are hostile to advanced life and advanced civilization. Furthermore, as several astronomers have explained, the universe is too young to house more than one advanced species of physical life that has launched and sustained advanced civilization.“
… &
“[T]he Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) [is] uniquely suitable as a site for advanced life. The latest addition to [the] list [of published, peer-reviewed research supporting that assertion] is spectacular: a supermassive black hole [or SMBH, at the center of the MWG] like none other… [A] typical SMBH emits radiation so intense and deadly as to render advanced life anywhere within the surrounding galaxy impossible. For supergiant galaxies [which the MWG is not], this radiation can be so powerful as to make advanced life impossible not only within the galaxy itself, but also in thousands of neighboring galaxies [which are all at least thousands of light years away]. Providentially for us, our galaxy is sufficiently distant from supergiant galaxies that their SMBHs pose no risk to us. Given that the radiation from the SMBHs in other galaxies is deadly, why isn’t the radiation from ours? [The] principal reason is that our [SMBH] comes in at a far lower mass… than the SMBHs in other galaxies of similar size… [For just one of thousands of available examples,] given that the MWG possesses the same mass as the Andromeda Galaxy [which also happens to be the closest galaxy to the MWG]… our galaxy’s SMBH should have about the same mass as Andromeda’s. Instead, [the MWG’s SMBH] measures nearly 20 times less massive… This comparatively low SMBH mass, in turn, means that far less radiation of the deadly kind emanates from it… Another important factor that allows for advanced life to exist [only] in the MWG is that its SMBH remains abnormally quiet, at present… and has been for billions of years.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo50/dark-matters
… &
Isn’t it possible that many of the galaxies that we observe today with various types of telescopes (including telescopes that measure life-destroying radiation) and know are unable to sustain life are only unable to do so as we see them today because we are actually seeing how they looked billions of years ago?
Short Answer: No. Explanation provided in the post.
https://www.facebook.com/128441790567267/posts/3308521822559232/
and…
“… less than 1 percent of our galaxy stars [are] candidates [for life]. These candidate limits for possible habitability are for microbes only. For plants and animals to possibly exist on a planet the ultraviolet habitable zone is much narrower and there is much less possibility of overlap with the liquid water habitable zone. The constraints are even more confining yet for advanced life and especially so for advanced life maintaining a high-technology civilization.“
and…
The planetary zones for habitability are much narrower for complex aerobic life than they are for microbial life.
and…
“[I]f life somehow emerges on a planet, it only rarely evolves quickly enough to regulate greenhouse gases and albedo, thereby maintaining surface temperatures compatible with liquid water and habitability. [This discovery] implies that a planet must be continuously inhabited to remain habitable and that life on a planet must change dramatically and rapidly (to a degree and at a rate that challenges naturalistic explanations) for there to be any hope of compensating for the increasing brightness of its host star.”
and…
“… the Sun stands alone among all the stars that astronomers have identified…
in possessing all the stellar features that advanced life requires.“
and…
“Astronomers have discovered eleven different planetary habitability zones — locations relative to the distance from the host star where life could conceivably exist… Now, a research paper by five astrobiologists demonstrates that the liquid water habitable zone ‘for complex aerobic life is significantly limited [i.e. significantly narrower than previously thought] relative to [the habitable zone] for simple microbial life.’”
and…
Do Superhabitable Planets Exist?
Short Answer: Yes, but there is only one. Earth.
https://reasons.org/do-superhabitable-planets-exist-2/
and…
Does Life Need to Be Carbon-Based? Science Says: Absolutely.
and…
“… NASA’s public rhetoric suggests that only one factor matters [regarding its habitability] — whether the planet is in the right region (the circumstaellar habitable zone) to allow liquid water. Clearly, that is a gross simplification of the problem.”
https://evolutionnews.org/2014/08/is_nasa_really_/
and…
“The team’s research adds one more factor to the several hundred factors that already exist that must be fine-tuned to an extraordinary degree for a planet to be truly habitable.”
and…
“The discovery of the electric wind habitable zone means that for a planet to be a viable candidate for possibly sustaining life, it must simultaneously reside in nine [now thirteen ] different habitable zones. So far, astronomers have measured the characteristics of 3,484 planets. Only one of all these 3,484 planets resides in all nine [now thirteen ] known habitable zones. That one is Earth.”
https://salvomag.com/article/salvo39/zone-9-in-outer-space
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After Studying ALL The Available Evidence…
“We are alone in the universe.”
Professor Brian Cox says alien life is all but impossible and humanity is ‘unique’
and…
Does ET Have a Home? The best available evidence says no.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTXHf2gDSiw&feature=player_embedded#!
and…
How Do We Grapple with the Idea that ET Might Not Be Out There?
http://www.evolutionnews.org/2013/11/how_do_we_grapp079291.html
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But, what about…?
“Even [some of] the most heavily documented [UFO] incidents end up unresolved [scientifically, that is, physically], despite interviewing dozens of witnesses and reviewing many written documents, as well as lots of audio and video recordings.”
https://www.space.com/why-ufos-interest-the-pentagon.html
and…
GOP Rep Who Got Classified UFO Briefing Says They Could Be ‘Angels’ From Another Dimension
[As always, ASND asks, “WHY IS THAT?” Why — after ruling out physical ETs as the cause of the vast majority of UFO sightings/encounters — are there still a residual percentage of incidents that cannot be explained physically, i.e. materialistically? For the most likely (i.e the most evidence-based) solution to that problem, ASND offers the following resources in the final section on this page.]
The Bible on UFOs & ETs:
“[T]he vast majority (95–99%) of all UFO sightings have natural explanations… [but] there remains a small residual number (1–5%) of sightings that cannot be explained naturally. We call this the residual UFO, or RUFO phenomenon. RUFO activity fails to conform to the laws of physics… [Several credible] pilots have reported… real, but nonphysical phenomena that include UFOs. What things are real but nonphysical? The mind, unlike the brain, is real though nonphysical… Also, God is both real and transcends the physical dimensions of space-time… As Christians, we believe that spirits are both real and nonphysical. RUFOs, however, are not benevolent. We hypothesize they are, in fact, demonic… The credible witnesses to incredible physical phenomena we studied had open doors to the occult. Because so many investigations into UFO phenomena fail to ask the questions we pose, this can be best seen with the people who have reported alien abductions or contacts. These open doors could easily have been the result of ‘innocent’ activities like participating in seances, Ouija board games, fortune telling or tarot card readings at a party early in life. Or, they could be the result of something more concerning, such as active involvement in cults, the occult and New Age religion.”
https://www.reasons.org/explore/blogs/voices/read/voices/2019/06/25/responding-to-ufos-in-the-news
and…
“[T]he Bible explicitly declares that God has indeed created [intellectually advanced ETs]. These extraterrestrial intelligent beings are angels. They are described in 38 of the Bible’s 66 books… In this respect, the existence of [intelligent extraterrestrials] is a foundational Christian doctrine. From a Christian perspective we are not alone. What’s open for debate is whether or not God has created one or more species of life on other planets that are intelligent and technologically capable, yet confined by the cosmos’s physics… Christian scholars who maintain that we are alone point out that the New Testament gospels reveal a God who is purposeful and selective in the miracles he performs… These events demonstrate that God limits the miracles he performs to those that are necessary to fulfill his intended purposes. This economy of miracles principle is relevant to [intelligent extraterrestrials] in the following theological deduction: God needs technologically capable, intelligent physical beings endowed with spirit natures on only one planet in the universe to achieve his ultimate purpose of populating the new creation with free-will beings… The one possible biblical constraint on ETI is in Hebrews 10:12, 14: ‘This priest [Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins… by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are made holy.’ This passage appears to rule out a Creator-Savior visiting multiple planets to sacrifice himself over and over for the sins of beings like us living on multiple planets. However, it does not rule out microbes, trees, or dolphins on other planets.“
and…
“[UFO] contactees may, at times, be experiencing real contact with an objective reality, but, Christian theology… has condemned the various occult practices common to contacteeism… Unlike much of the modern mindset that denies the realm of the demonic (malevolent supernatural beings subservient to Satan), the informed Bible-believing Christian is fully aware of the reality of Satan and his fallen angelic hosts ( Job 1:6-12; Ezek. 28: 11-19; Matt. 4:1-11; John 8:44; 2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 6:11-12; James 4:7; 1 Pet. 5:8; 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6 )… Since [occultic] channels allow [‘alien’ spiritual] entities to effectively take over their minds and bodies, [self-identifying contactees] are susceptive to being, and in some cases may in fact be, demon-possessed ( Matt. 4:24; 9:32-34; 12:22-24; Mark 3:7-12; Luke 11:14-26 ).”
and…
“Allowing [intelligent] design as an option [for the existence of life] actually increases [rather than decreases] the chances of extraterrestrial intelligence, since there is then a way to overcome the extremely remote probabilities [of life creating itself from non-life]. If there is ETI out there, it [has to be] thanks to ID.”
https://evolutionnews.org/2018/06/are-we-alone-in-the-cosmos-heres-a-real-paradox-for-you/
and…
A Theistic Explanation for Why We Can’t Find Any Extraterrestrials
https://pjmedia.com/faith/2017/09/09/theistic-explanation-cant-find-extraterrestrials/
and…
“[While] the common view among opinion makers today seems to be that Christians should worry about discovery of an advanced ETI [i.e. extraterrestrial intelligence]… It appears that Christians have enough theological resources to account for the existence of ETI [should it ever be found].“
http://www.equip.org/articles/would-extraterrestrial-intelligent-life-spell-doom-for-christianity/
and…
Ancient Aliens and the Bible:
What the Popular Television Series Says about Extraterrestrials in Scripture
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