The Goldilocks Zone

The region around a star at which the temperature is between the range at which water can exist

The Golden Records• Records were put onboard

both Voyager spacecraft. • They contain sounds and

images that show life and culture on Earth for any alien life who may find them.

• What message would you send if another Voyager probe was launched today?

• Click on the discs for an interactive flash animation

Where is Voyager now?• Voyager was launched in 1977

• It travels at a speed of 57600km/h or 505000000 km/year

• How far has it travelled in 34 years?

•And it has only just left our Solar System!

17 billion km!

Viking I Lander•In the 1970s, 2 Viking probes were sent to Mars. •The Viking landers conducted experiments to determine if there was bacteria living in soil on Mars.•Many scientists believe that the data show that Martian bacteria exist.

‘Face’ on Mars

1976 photo from Viking 1

2001 photo from Mars Global Surveyor

Voyager

Voyager 1 is an American space probe launched by NASA in 1977 to study the outer Solar System and interstellar space.

Out of the 200 billion stars that make up our galaxy, which is just one of a 100 billion galaxies, what is the chance that we are the only life?

Are we alone in the universe?

How would we know Life

• Changes to the atmosphere.•We may receive signals from space.• Our space probes may find life.• ergy (sunlight)• Oxygen

Conditions For Life

•Water•Energy (sunlight)•Oxygen

S.E.T.I.The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) uses a vast array of radio-telescopes to scan for signals from outer-space.

The Allen Telescope Array, California, USA

TED Talk from Jill Tarter – Director of SETI

• Erosion patterns left by flowing water on Mars

• It is thought that liquid water is essential for life.

• Was there life on Mars in the past?

Alien LifeThere may be intelligent life out there in space. Some of the ways we would know about it are:

We would receive signals through our radio telescopes.Our space probes may find life.We may see changes in other planet’s atmospheres. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) uses radio telescopes to search for alien life. Unfortunately this has gone on for 40 years with no success yet. The fact is that space is really really really really BIG! This means that any alien life would be a long way away. To find aliens we would need really fast spacecraft.