Is There Really Life Beyond Earth? What We Know So Far

The mystery around proof of aliens, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and extraterrestrial life has grown over the past few years with pictures and videos by the US’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) occasionally showing small objects, glowing triangles, and door-like formations.

US Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence Scott Bray on May 17 testified that reports of UAP are “frequent” and have been on the rise for more than a decade. Bray also said that there have been at least 11 “near misses” between US military aircraft and UAP. But, what other extraterrestrial proof have seen recently, and has there been proof of life outside the earth?

Astrobiology expert Dr Lindsay Hess had earlier said, in a video posted on NASA’s Instagram page, that although NASA has not found evidence of life yet, there have been traces of microbial life everywhere on planet earth and we have only begun to find habitable places, of which Mars is one, outside the earth.

“NASA is constantly looking for traces of life beyond Earth. The US space agency has sent five rovers and four landers to Mars. Also, their orbiters are equipped with much higher-resolution cameras, which keep looking at the surface of Mars. Yet only a small part of Mars has been detected so far. The more they discover, the more they learn about different environments for life to flourish,” she said.

Hess quoted author Carl Sagan, who famously said, “The universe is a very big place. If it’s just us in it, it’s nothing but a gross waste of space.”

“So, we’ll keep looking.”

Here are recent findings related to extraterrestrial life proof:

Mars ‘Doorway’

A grainy image of a door-like formation captured by the NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity on May 7 this year went viral on social media. Netizens were quick to conclude that it was some kind of an alien doorway, suggesting it shows the presence of life.

A Facebook post featuring the image by Curiosity even said, “NASA released this photo from the Mars Rover of an apparent doorway on Mars.” Subsequently, the post was flagged as part of Facebook’s effort to fight fake news, a report in Poynter says. Space officials and Mars experts confirmed that the formation is an unremarkable, naturally-occurring crevice that matches many others seen around the planet.

William Dietrich, an earth and planetary science professor at the University of California, Berkeley, was quoted by Poynter as saying the perceived doorway is a result of rock movement.

The NASA too, from Curiosity’s Twitter handle, said it may look like a tiny door, but really, it’s a natural geologic feature. “It may just *look* like a door because your mind is trying to make sense of the unknown. (This is called “pareidolia”),” the tweet said.

Some of you have noticed this image I took on Mars. Sure, it may look like a tiny door, but really, it’s a natural geologic feature! It may just *look* like a door because your mind is trying to make sense of the unknown. (This is called “pareidolia”) https://t.co/TrtbwO7m46 pic.twitter.com/VdwNhBkN6J

— Curiosity Rover (@MarsCuriosity) May 18, 2022

Alien-life evidence scale

NASA scientists recently published a paper in Nature journal that proposed a new alien-life evidence scale, which attempts to look beyond the “binary” search – life or no life – and to express it more accurately in terms of agreed-upon scientific uncertainty.

The scale includes seven levels, which are subject to change depending on the type of environment involved and how the scientific community responds. This scale would apply to discoveries from beyond the solar system, too. Exoplanets, planets outside our solar system, are believed to outnumber the 300 billion stars in the Milky Way, the NASA said.

“Until now, we have set the public up to think there are only two options: it’s life or it’s not life,” study co-author Mary Voytek, head of NASA’s Astrobiology Program at NASA headquarters, said in a statement. “We need a better way to share the excitement of our discoveries and demonstrate how each discovery builds on the next, so that we can bring the public and other scientists along on the journey.”

This echoes Hess’ comment on the search for “small” proof of lives, such as microbial life existence.

Alien Spacecraft

A British hacker claimed to have hacked into NASA files and to have seen thousands of images stored on the space agency’s system including one of a cigar-shaped alien spacecraft, as per a Mirror report. He says he found the photos between February 2001 and March 2002 when he broke into 97 US government computers.

The 56-year-old hacker, Gary McKinnon, claims that NASA is covering up evidence of alien life and was “shocked at the amount of pictures being hidden away.” When the word of his claims got around, he was arrested in 2002 and also in 2005 at the request of the US and authorities said the cost of fixing the problems he caused amounted to more than $700,000.

It was agreed in 2006 that McKinnon would be extradited from the UK, but this led to years of appeals and a campaign to prevent it.

McKinnon had heard former NASA employee Donna Hare’s satellite images were often scrubbed of UFO evidence at the Johnson Space Center. When he attempted to verify Hare’s account, he claimed that he saw four folders named: filtered, unfiltered, processed and raw. He however managed to get only one picture – an image of the cigar-shaped spacecraft – from one of the folders due to poor internet connection.

The NASA did not confirm his claims.

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