Hardly a day goes by without some news story about the Universe, UFO or discovery of new planets in some far flung galaxy . In the last few days we have had the claims that another planet, Tyche may exist in the Solar System and the landing on Mars, in a simulated journey to Mars and back .
This has been going for the last few years and I have begun to wonder about the purpose of the huge investment countries are putting into the exploration of space at a time when they all say they have no money to spend . As with wars, there is apparently no trouble in finding the money if it is really needed .
In my mind, there are two reasons for this explosion in interest in Space : to discover whether there is intelligent Life outside of this planet and secondly to initiate the colonisation of space .
Firstly, the search for extra-terrestrial Life . It is still official policy to pooh pooh extra-terrestrial research as the domain of mad men, who have smoked too much weed but the actions of NASA and other organisations show they are taking the subject very seriously . The interest in planets in other solar systems is not just purely out of academic interest but to distinguish which ones are most likely to have life on them .
People in the know like Stephen Hawking understand that this search for ET is serious and has given a warning about the intentions of any Life we may encounter .
The SETI Institute, which is searching for signals from intelligent Life in outer space now receives grants from NASA and the US Dept of Energy . I find it unlikely that an organisation whose aim is to make contact with alien life would be given money unless NASA thought it was a real possibility that we may be contacted by extra-terrestrials .
Below is a video where Jill Tarter, one of the main members of SETI discusses what they will do, if a verifiable signal is received :
There is no way the multitude of sightings of UFOs would be ignored, as Governments claim, especially if they have the ability to shut down nuclear weapons as recently claimed by US military personnel – click Mail Online-Aliens interfered with weapons to read more . The official line is one of denial of UFOS but their actions would indicate a different reality . As Margaret Thatcher is claimed to have said : UFOs . You must get your facts right and you can’t tell the people .
The second aim of the space programmes is the future colonisation of space . There has been talk of having a permanent station on the Moon and it has been suggested that a journey to Mars should be one way, with presumably the possibility of a breeding programme for the astronauts . Again, the search for planets elsewhere in the Universe will eventually give us the information which planets would be suitable for colonisation .
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault ( see image above ) is designed to preserve as many seeds from the world with the intention that in a case of global crisis, the world would be able to use the seeds in the Vault to restart . The main funding came from The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as well as countries including the United Kingdom . The seeds may well have use on this planet but I am convinced that its real purpose is to eventually use the seeds in any future colonisation in the Universe .
However, what really concerns me is not the contact with alien life or even colonisation of space but why now and why the rush ? There seems to be an urgency behind all these programmes as if Time was an issue and I get the feeling there is a piece in the jigsaw of which we are unaware and is being kept from our knowledge .
But, of course, you are not meant to concern your mind with any of these issues – don’t worry, there will be another Big Game on the television soon and have another beer to kill off a few more brain cells .
Tyche has definitely caught my interest lately. She certainly sounds less threatening than her sister, Nemesis.
Thanks for the comment – definitely preferable to the God of War, Mars .