A new report from a British expert says it is a “realistic” possibility that aliens will be found in under two decades. Not only could aliens be found, but they will be “intelligent, interstellar travelling and colonising life”, according to the study. The research paper from Dr David L Clements, of the Imperial College London, states that the “necessities of life” – such as water – are so “common in the Solar System” that it “may be filled with life”.
However, Dr Clements admits that “detecting signs of life elsewhere has been so technically challenging as to seem almost impossible” as “most potential sites are beneath the icy surfaces of gas giant moons”.
Dr Clements adds in the paper: “If this is the case elsewhere in the Galaxy, life may be quite common but, even if intelligence develops, is essentially sealed in a finite environment, unable to communicate with the outside world.
“The conclusion of this analysis for our own Solar System is that the interior of the icy moons may be where the bulk of life in the Solar System is to be found.
Dr Clements’ work is based on the Fermi Paradox, which states that as the universe is potentially infinite, it should essentially be teeming with life, so why have we not found any evidence yet?
With the universe being 13.8 billion years old, man’s oldest ancestors have only been around for about 0.36 percent of this time, and modern humans considerably less.
This implies that a civilisation is likely a head start of at least millions of years on us, meaning that we still probably seem like chimps in comparison.
So if the universe does have much more advanced life than us, why is it that we are seemingly alone.
Dr Clements concludes that this will not be the case for long and that we simply have to look harder.
He writes: “We are left with the rather chilling prospect that the galaxy may be filled with life, but that any intelligence within it is locked away beneath impenetrable ice barriers, unable to communicate with, or even comprehend the existence of, the universe outside.
“We know that species that live in water can evolve to a high level of intelligence – dolphins and octopuses are good examples.
“However, this life, intelligent or otherwise, would be locked beneath many kilometres of solid ice.
“New observational insights and other developments mean that signs of life elsewhere might realistically be uncovered in the next decade or two.”