Ready for Contact

Humans have searched for extraterrestrial life for more than a century. What will we do when we find it?

  • By Sarah Zielinski
  • Smithsonian magazine, December 2010, Subscribe
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Movies, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and conspiracy theorists insist we are not alone. (Everett Collection)

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As far as we know, we are alone in the universe. Earth is the only planet known to be inhabited by life, and humans are the only intelligent beings.

There are, of course, rumors of alien contacts. There's Area 51, the Air Force base in Nevada, where the government supposedly stores aliens in freezers. And there was that mysterious crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947—and mutilated cows in Colorado. In a recent poll, one in four Americans said they believed the planet has already been visited by an extraterrestrial. For the rest of us, though, aliens are relegated to the realm of fiction, and UFO sightings are simply hoaxes or events that have some unknown but natural explanation.

That doesn't mean alien life couldn't be real. Scientists are taking that possibility seriously and are looking beyond our planet for evidence of extraterrestrials. "Long ago people suspected that there might be life in other places," says Mary Voytek, NASA's head astrobiologist. "I think it's a fundamental question everyone has: Are we unique?"

What happens if the answer to that question is no? What if we finally discover we're not alone? Believe it or not, there is a plan.

The idea there might be other creatures in the universe has been around since at least the fifth century B.C., when the Greek philosopher Democritus posited "innumerable worlds of different sizes," not all of which were devoid of life. Four hundred years later, the Roman poet Titus Lucretius Carus wrote of "other worlds" with "different tribes of men, kinds of wild beasts."

In the 17th century, German astronomer Johannes Kepler, in what is regarded as the first science fiction story, wrote about a voyage to the Moon in which travelers encountered reptile-like creatures. At the end of that century, Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens wrote a book speculating on the conditions on other planets and concluding that some of them must harbor life.

Aiming his telescope at Mars in 1894, the American astronomer Percival Lowell saw a web of what he thought were canals—structures so elaborate they could have been built only by beings with intelligence.

With the founding of NASA and other space agencies in the 20th century, people began to explore the solar system and actively search for alien life. We sent satellites to photograph other planets and robots to explore their surfaces. Astronauts walked on the Moon and brought back rocks and dust. Scientists found evidence of water on the Moon and Mars, as well as on Jupiter's moon Europa. Amino acids were discovered in meteorites that had fallen to Earth. Ever more powerful telescopes and new ways to analyze their readings have led to the discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. Though no one has found life anywhere other than on Earth, that discovery seems just around the corner.


As far as we know, we are alone in the universe. Earth is the only planet known to be inhabited by life, and humans are the only intelligent beings.

There are, of course, rumors of alien contacts. There's Area 51, the Air Force base in Nevada, where the government supposedly stores aliens in freezers. And there was that mysterious crash landing in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947—and mutilated cows in Colorado. In a recent poll, one in four Americans said they believed the planet has already been visited by an extraterrestrial. For the rest of us, though, aliens are relegated to the realm of fiction, and UFO sightings are simply hoaxes or events that have some unknown but natural explanation.

That doesn't mean alien life couldn't be real. Scientists are taking that possibility seriously and are looking beyond our planet for evidence of extraterrestrials. "Long ago people suspected that there might be life in other places," says Mary Voytek, NASA's head astrobiologist. "I think it's a fundamental question everyone has: Are we unique?"

What happens if the answer to that question is no? What if we finally discover we're not alone? Believe it or not, there is a plan.

The idea there might be other creatures in the universe has been around since at least the fifth century B.C., when the Greek philosopher Democritus posited "innumerable worlds of different sizes," not all of which were devoid of life. Four hundred years later, the Roman poet Titus Lucretius Carus wrote of "other worlds" with "different tribes of men, kinds of wild beasts."

In the 17th century, German astronomer Johannes Kepler, in what is regarded as the first science fiction story, wrote about a voyage to the Moon in which travelers encountered reptile-like creatures. At the end of that century, Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens wrote a book speculating on the conditions on other planets and concluding that some of them must harbor life.

Aiming his telescope at Mars in 1894, the American astronomer Percival Lowell saw a web of what he thought were canals—structures so elaborate they could have been built only by beings with intelligence.

With the founding of NASA and other space agencies in the 20th century, people began to explore the solar system and actively search for alien life. We sent satellites to photograph other planets and robots to explore their surfaces. Astronauts walked on the Moon and brought back rocks and dust. Scientists found evidence of water on the Moon and Mars, as well as on Jupiter's moon Europa. Amino acids were discovered in meteorites that had fallen to Earth. Ever more powerful telescopes and new ways to analyze their readings have led to the discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. Though no one has found life anywhere other than on Earth, that discovery seems just around the corner.

The search for extraterrestrials takes two broad forms. NASA and other government-funded space agencies are concentrating their search on simple, microscopic life that may have existed—or may still exist—close to home, on a planet or moon in our solar system. Other scientists search for signs of creatures a bit more like us—beings that may themselves be searching for other intelligent life-forms.

The most ambitious search began in 1960, when astronomer Frank Drake pointed a radio telescope at two stars similar to our sun and listened for some kind of "signature of intelligence." He tuned in to a frequency of 1,420 megahertz, which is the radio wave emitted by cold hydrogen gas, chosen because of hydrogen's abundance in the universe. At the time it was the best guess of the mutually intelligible signal an alien race might use to contact Earth.

Drake's work inspired people around the world to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The foremost project, called the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI), is based in Mountain View, California. SETI has never found definitive evidence of intelligent life, but in 1977 an engineer working at a telescope in Ohio detected a mysterious 72-second pulse that originated a long way from Earth. Whether it came from aliens or, more likely, a black hole event was never determined. The rather long pulse—which prompted the engineer to write "Wow!" in the margin of a printout of the telescope's recordings—has not been repeated, but it has persuaded at least some radio astronomers to keep searching.

More recently, SETI scientists expanded their search beyond radio frequencies. "We're looking for bright flashes that last a billionth of a second or less," says Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research and the inspiration for the Jodie Foster character in the movie Contact. "As far as we know, this is something that a laser can do but that nature can't." SETI scientists figure that such a pulse would represent an intentional, high-tech, long-distance message: "evidence of somebody deliberately using a laser focused into a large telescope to create a detectable signal over the many light-years between stars," Tarter says.

The radio signal approach hasn't turned up much so far, and Tarter admits she doesn't know what the ideal frequencies might be. Even with the new search for laser flashes, the SETI scientists might be using incorrect technologies, but they still think the effort is worthwhile. As her colleague Seth Shostak says, "Columbus didn't wait for a 747 to get him across the Atlantic."

And though SETI scientists have yet to find evidence of extraterrestrials, they are well prepared for success. "Yes, we do have a plan," Tarter says. "It starts with champagne."

The plan comes from a document known as the "Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence," which grew out of plans spawned in the years when NASA had an office dedicated to SETI research, before Congress cut off funding in 1993. The first step, according to the protocol, is verifying the find through independent confirmation by another observatory using different equipment and software. "We're a very attractive target for hoaxes," Tarter says. If the signal passes this first test—which could take days—and is confirmed, the SETI scientists would notify the secretary general of the United Nations. The scientists would also alert the international astronomy community by e-mails to members of the International Astronomical Union. And they would tell the public, probably by holding a press conference to announce the discovery to the world.

Our first contact with alien life, though, probably won't be with an intelligent, signal-beaming species. The most accessible source of potential non-Earthling life is Mars. NASA and its European counterparts are weighing options for a mission, at least 15 or 20 years from now, that would gather samples from the planet and return them to Earth.

A draft document states that any such samples would be treated with the same precautions as the Ebola virus, at least until they were deemed safe. But scientists must first develop a plan to protect this planet from anything they might find. "It would be really stupid to bring something back and then not know how to kill it if it was trying to eat us," says Catharine Conley, whose title is NASA's Planetary Protection Officer. (Conley says she has only the second-coolest title in NASA history; there once was a "Director, Universe.")

Conley envisions a scenario in which the research on potential alien life is conducted in front of cameras hooked up to the Internet. "The expectation is that none of this will be done in secrecy," she says. "We want people to be interested." That's probably not going to be a problem. It "would be a discovery equivalent to those made by some of the great names in history," says John Billingham, former head of NASA's SETI program.

And how would the world react to a discovery announce­ment? "Your guess is as good as mine," Tarter says.

Paul Davies, an astrobiologist at Arizona State University, heads up the SETI Post-Detection Taskgroup, a collection of scientists, journalists, lawyers, science fiction writers and philosophers. Their job is to advise relevant parties—other scientists, governments, the United Nations—about what to do if a SETI signal or any "putative evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence" were detected. While waiting for a contact, the group deliberates about what the consequences might be. While a discovery of microscopic life on another body in our solar system would be "of profound significance, which would change our worldview," Davies says, "it's not one of these things that is going to be disruptive to society." But the discovery of a signal from intelligent extraterrestrials could lead to "mayhem." Billingham agrees. "Some people will think that this is a natural event in the continuing work on scientific questions," he says, and others will ask, in panic, "What do we do now?"

People would likely fall into two camps. Catastrophists, as one of the camps is called, might well predict the end of humanity as we know it, or at least the end of our current culture. In 2010 Stephen Hawking said that making contact with aliens would be "a little too risky" and compared the event to Columbus arriving in the New World, "which didn't turn out very well for the Native Americans." But millenarian enthusiasts anticipate revelations of rapture: how to cure cancer, solve the energy crisis or win world peace. And if aliens did manage to come to Earth, says Tarter, an admitted enthusiast, "they would likely have outgrown the aggressiveness that has served us so well."

As for a supersecretive government agency or powerful corporation keeping a discovery of alien life a secret, Davies thinks that's unlikely. "I think there's a big misconception in the public that somehow this is all a cloak-and-dagger operation, and it's not," he says. "People are quite open about what they are doing."

Sarah Zielinski is an assistant editor at Smithsonian. She writes the "Surprising Science" blog on Smithsonian.com.


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this article was extremely informational to my grandson who is doing a science project on aliens and astronomers thank you si.edu for helping him he got first place in the state

Posted by George Vahcobb on April 11,2013 | 02:35 PM

Life on other planets very probably followed the pattern on earth and was carbon based. Evolution of that life into intelligent forms would then discover buried carbon and its ability to provide enormous benefits to that intelligent life form. These benefits would prove so widely useful stopping burning of the wonderful carbon for any reason would prove impossible. That planet would inevitably heat and destroy the food source of the intelligent creature and he would become extinct. The window whereby he would send radio signals would be short in space time and it would be probable listeners like SETI would not catch the window.

Posted by William P Gloege on December 12,2012 | 01:44 AM

I believe there is probably life on other planets or stars, yes.And no, the concept is not new..but there's nothing wrong with mentioning it or talking about it..I didn't get the idea that Smithsonian Mag. is presuming to have a new concept! I think it is likely true that the govenment knows more than it is saying...but we really do not know until we know.I have no problem belieiving that people have seen UFOs andor seen extraterrestrials..but I haven't seen any myself(not that I know of). According to Edgar Cayve, we *all* are rather recent to this planet, that spirit-like beings arrived here and "entered" the ape-like creatures that were here--hence we have -us.Human beings. Is this a fact?I don't know. I also don't know if any extra-terrstrials are going to be wiser or more spiritually evolved than we are. For one thing, some of *us* are probably "aliens". There's a lot we don't know.

Posted by Karen Atkinson on November 12,2012 | 03:52 AM

Arthur c Clarke's Childhoods End and Rendezvous With Rama address this subject really well. He thought hard on this subject and wrote great books about it.

Posted by Greg on January 22,2011 | 09:39 AM

I keep coming to the strong suspicion that planet earth has been planted with hundreds of thousands of life forms for hundreds of millions of years by extra-planetary cultures that consist of multiple life forms (alien species). Each major epoch has been an upgrade of ingredients added to the mix to produce a new genetically recombined human species more advanced than the last. The purpose of this work could be a successful merger of human and alien species (hybridism) that planet earth could sustain. It may be because the original alien species could not fully or easily inhabit this planet without major alterations in their physical makeup, and would need to modify much of their genetics somehow.

Having studied ancient cultures, numerous religions, and archeological discoveries, the same allegorical themes are nearly identical, as to the development of the world and mankind. If you examine the themes in a scientific way, it seems clear that the god(s) came from the skies, instructed and taught our people that we were created in their "likeness", and given a code of living; they encouraged intelligence and physical characteristics to develop, imbued our peoples with the requirement to "revere" or "worship" them as greater than ourselves, and to fear the consequences of non-belief.

What better method to control your own "creation"? We have been taught that the "messiah" will someday return, pronounce judgement of our individual acts, and take all those who are deserving (have become qualified) into his kingdom forever. What a great Carrot to get us to do their bidding.

Like all scientific research and experimentation, mistakes have been made. The results of previous mistakes were mostly expendable. What about now?

Posted by LJ James on January 7,2011 | 12:17 AM

What was Hawking thinking? That we would discover alien life before they discovered us? How silly...they already know all they want and need to know about us.

Posted by marilyn rhodes on January 4,2011 | 02:49 AM

Those who believed in UFOs not so long ago, used to be in the minority and if you believed - well you were considered as having lost the plot. How things have changed - now those who believe are in the majority and in my opinion the smart ones.
The masses are educated now and have the power of knowledge and insight, able to do their own research. Not to mention those of us who know what we have seen and nothing can convince them otherwise, whatever the theories that abound to explain away the many sightings. Yes - a sudden disclosure would send people into a panic and that is the reason why they are taking the 'drip, drip, drip' approach.
A little at a time until the masses get so used to hearing/seeing items of confirmation that they begin to expect it and when the final show comes - yes they will be afraid but they will have already been socially and politically softened up and will trust that our so called Governments of the world have a handle on it therefore public safety whether true or not - will be assured.
But take my word for it, the drips of information have been going on for quite a while now! Prepare yourself for the flood! And hey the aliens couldn't do a worse job than our world leaders have could they? They will certainly be more advanced educationally and spiritually and that usually means more civilised!

Posted by carol watson on December 22,2010 | 03:55 PM

I too, am with Hawking. History shows that when two cultures meet, only the strongest and most advanced survive.

Posted by Chris on December 21,2010 | 03:07 PM

I'm with Hawking on this one. We're sitting ducks, and it could be that we're already being observed. We have no way of defending ourselves against extraterrestrials that are capable of space travel at this point of our development. Better safe than sorry.

Sorry if I sound small minded, but mankind just isn't ready to deal with a species from another planet. We still learning howe to get along with each other right here on earth. Sad.

Posted by Jo Ann on December 21,2010 | 12:23 PM

Wow! way back to 1993, they already had a plan? Golly!

*Sigh*

Sorry to bust your bubble, Smithsonian Magazine, but even *before* that, NASA commissioned a special report elaborated by the Brookings Institute. The Brookings Report, as it is often called, speculates about the potential findings of proof concerning extraterrestrial visitation to our solar system, in the form of artifacts on the Moon, Mars or the asteroids. The report cautioned NASA about the deep social repercussions of disclosing this information to the public, since it would cause great impact on every level of human culture —science, economics, religion, etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookings_Report

If you guys are going to make fun of us "conspiracy theorist", be sure to make your homework next time.

Posted by red pill junkie on December 20,2010 | 04:20 PM

i think we are all on the same page here. we all know that we are surrounded by life. the answer to this question has been confirmed many thousands if not millions of times. disclosure should be the biggest event in human history, followed by the technology release. it is important to work on your spiritual evolution now, before we are welcomed into the galctic society. when this does happen we will already have the incentive, so NOW is the time to work on your spiritual growth. meditate as much as you can and create your vision of the future in your daily life.

Posted by Andrew on December 18,2010 | 04:58 PM

---Comment part 2---
I think the aliens, whoever they might be, know this very well. I think if they're out there, they probably debate this amongst themselves, and run simulations, and what if scenarios. I wish they would help humans just a little bit, in some secret fashion, drop a hint to clean energy on some web site or something (Wikileaks? haha), deter the creation of weapons. Continue developing the human race for final contact, at some point in the future. Who knows, maybe that's exactly what they're doing now, influencing the media in some small way to try to raise our global consciousness about over-population, taking care of our planet, respecting each other's cultures different as they might be, looking for energy alternatives, etc. Maybe they dropped hints to DARPA and somehow fomented creation of the "internet", so they could better observe us. I hope this is the case, as fantastic as it might seem. But I'm a little more realistic, more skeptical. I think they are so smart they understand that hands-off is the best way, to let humans chose our own path. And that's what scares me the most. Humans are our own worst enemy when there's people like Senator Jon Kyl that block agreements to stop weapons of mass destruction for mere political reasons, when we have loon jobs like North Korea messing with super weapons, or religious zealots in the deserts brainwashing entire societies into believing that "infidels" must be wiped from Earth.

This is an excellent article, but I think it does not go far enough to explore the what-if scenarios of alien contact. If it did, I believe it would reach the conclusion as to why aliens have not contacted humans. Let's hope they're at least sitting out there watching, hope they're entertained, but if a day of catastrophe comes I hope they find it in their hearts to save humans from themselves.

Posted by Perry Jameson on December 18,2010 | 10:08 AM

All I've learned about humanity, society, psychology, physics, chemistry, and the universe increasingly points in the direction that human beings and their self-awareness cannot just be an accident of species development. I too find it highly unlikely humans just evolved onto the scene. While it's disappointing to see the Church twist the idea of "intelligent design" into its own self-serving construct, the idea that humans were "planted" into a laboratory vial called Earth is very plausible, especially when you consider that this is exactly what humans do to countless species here on Earth, just to test lipstick, for example! Given this idea and all the logic that would then follow, the why and what ifs, the unknowns, can generate a lot of speculation and fear. The article barely touches on how humans would react given contact with other self-aware intelligent beings. Highly likely something similar to what Stephen Hawking mentions would happen, but not by the aliens, but instead by humans ourselves. Societal rules would break down, the nutjobs would come out from under their rocks in droves. And Im sorry if I insult anyone, but a lot of the uber-pious would be among that bunch. Their world would be turned upside down, it's sort of understandable. For the non-religious, imagine what would happen to our entire economic system if humans were given the ability to generate endless clean energy. Humans' goals would change. People would quit their jobs (no need to pay for heat, electricity, gas), entire corporate structures would crumble, functions of society would disappear overnight, leave a lot of people vulnerable, etc. The scenarios are endless, perhaps humans would just relax and start making babies like crazy now that free energy is bountiful, and what would happen to planet Earth then. Perhaps a barbarian culture or leader would use this free energy formula to create the most dangerous weapon known to man. These are just examples.

Posted by Perry Jameson on December 18,2010 | 10:07 AM

Nasa has towed the party line for years and will continue. The facts are that we are NOT alone and if anyone was truely interested they would be contacting people that have been abducted. It's hard enough to live through an experience like this let alone to "come out" and have your sanity questioned. They are here,over 1000 sightings a month are reported,think how many are not reported every month. Our government has done everything it can to stiffle any ufo info from comming out ever since roswell N.M.to the present. It's the people that have had actual contact with these beings that have answers and should be questioned,not dismissed.

Posted by Brent Berwick on December 16,2010 | 09:39 PM



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