NASA press conference: online broadcast of an emergency briefing “on extraterrestrial life.” What did NASA say at the emergency press conference? NASA press conference on extraterrestrial life online

In short: Scientists have discovered seven Earth-like planets near an ultra-cool red dwarf star just 39.5 light-years away. But terrestrial planets have been found more than once. Another thing is important: all seven planets:

• similar in size to Earth;
• are in the habitable zone near the star (the so-called Goldilocks zone, where water can exist in liquid form on the surface);
• may have oceans (but this is not yet certain);
• They receive almost as much heat from their star as our planet Earth does from the Sun.

What's funny is that all these seven planets are located compactly, like the fingers on the hand of a seven-fingered mutant. If you move these exoplanets into our solar system, they will all fit within the orbit of Mercury.

So what now?

Let's see. The last time a potentially habitable terrestrial exoplanet was found near us (only ~5 light years away) near Proxima Centauri, scientists almost went crazy and involved many miniature ships that would accelerate to the speed of light and get to Proxima b twenty to thirty years in advance to take a selfie with her. This time, perhaps, such missions will not be planned, but soon one will be able to almost “smell” the atmosphere of exoplanets that are interesting to us.

This means that there is very little left before the discovery of Earth 2.0.

The organization announced three exoplanets potentially suitable for life

On February 22, an emergency conference of the American aerospace agency NASA, which was announced yesterday, took place in Washington. There were no details of the upcoming event, except that the main theme was a certain discovery outside the solar system. All the details: in our online broadcast.

That's it, the press conference is over. NASA did not deceive us and made a really important announcement: there are seven exoplanets in the TRAPPIST system, and three of them are potentially suitable for life and there may be water there. The atmosphere there is good and the temperature is good - in general, we collect our belongings and go! Flying there at the speed of light takes only 39 years.

On this little by little we will wrap up. Cosmic success to you on the upcoming holidays and follow all the news both from our Planet and from outside!

` The exoplanet that could potentially harbor life is quite similar to Earth. Even the temperature there is about the same. So, there is a second Russia with its own winter?!

` Regarding the study of these planets: it will take about 5 years to make dramatic progress in questions about them. About satellites, for example.

` Questions began from journalists who were not only in the hall, but also calling on the phone. By the way, scientists are also sent questions on social networks.

` Question from the audience: how many planets are there that could potentially be inhabited? According to scientists, never before have they been discovered in one system.

` Here is the system itself:

` Now for the encouraging news: if we take off from somewhere in Washington right now, reach the speed of light and set a course for TRAPPIST, we will reach our goal in 39 years. Who is confident?

` It’s interesting that the dwarf star is smaller than our Planet. Moreover, the ratio is approximately this: a golf ball and a basketball projectile. It is 40 light years away from us. So, we stand in line for tickets.

` And now it’s even more interesting: three of these seven planets have atmospheres that are potentially favorable for water. And, as you know, water is life!

` Ta-da-da-daaaam! We are talking about the star TRAPPIST-1, around which 7 planets revolve.

` The press conference has begun! Thomas Zurbuchen, assistant administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, took the floor first.

` We'll wait for something about exoplanets. Or about the stars they revolve around.

` Well, is everyone stocked up on popcorn? Perhaps in just a few minutes our lives will radically change!

20:00 While waiting for the press conference to begin, we spoke with the famous astronomer. Dmitry Vibe pleased: . It's only four light years away.

The only clue is in the official NASA press release: that is, those planets that orbit other stars outside the solar system.

Experts suggest that today a truly important discovery may be announced that will affect further research. It is possible that what will follow

The announcement of the press conference caused a strong reaction on the Internet and numerous users froze in anticipation of what was to come, not forgetting to argue about the possible topics of the press conference. They also recall a previous similar event, which occurred in September 2016, when the main topic was Jupiter's moon Europa.

On February 22, the press conference will be attended by Thomas Zurbuchen, assistant administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Sean Carey, head of the Spitzer Science Center, as well as astronomers and scientists from the United States and Belgium.

In any case, NASA’s communication with media representatives today will simply not be missed. Our live online broadcast will begin at 21:00 Moscow time.

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On this life-affirming note, we say goodbye, thank you for being with us, pleasant Martian dreams!

Scientists all over the world have already responded to the discovery. According to Kirsten Seebach of Rice University (Houston), the discovery will upset the arguments of many skeptics of the theory of an inhabitable Mars. “The big takeaway from all of this is that we can find evidence. We can find organic material preserved in clay for over 3 billion years. And we see the release of gases that may be associated with subsurface life, or at least associated with the warm, moist conditions in which life thrives on Earth,” she said.

The main idea conveyed to NASA is that this is not life yet, but we have come very close to it. “With these new discoveries, Mars tells us to keep looking for signs of life. I am confident that our ongoing and future missions are preparing even more exciting discoveries on the Red Planet,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science program division.

The NASA press conference ended; scientists managed to answer a number of questions from journalists. One of them concerned the possibility of using methane in the atmosphere as fuel in future expeditions to Mars. The answer is, of course, yes!

The discovery of methane on Mars is not news in itself. It has been detected there in small concentrations before. The current discovery is that for the first time a seasonal cyclicity in its concentration has been discovered. “This is the first time we've seen something repeating in the methane situation that gives us insight. This became possible thanks to the long operation of the rover. Long work allowed us to see a picture of seasonal “breathing,” explained Chris Webster.

Scientists speculate that methane may be contained in the subsurface layer of Mars, in water-containing crystals called clathrates. It is assumed that temperature changes during the changing seasons cause the gas to escape and change concentration.

Methane concentrations in the northern hemisphere peak at the end of the Martian summer and are 2.7 times higher than the minimum values.

NASA/JPL-Caltech

As for methane in the atmosphere, Christopher Webster does not exclude the possibility that living microbes are a possible source of the gas. "With this new information, we cannot rule out microbial activity as a possible source," he said.

“The discovery of organics adds to our history of the habitability of the planet. This tells us that these ancient conditions could support life. There was everything necessary to support life. But that doesn’t tell us there was life there.”

These molecules can be the building blocks of life, but they can also have other origins. Scientists cannot yet say whether their origin is related to processes in living nature. “There could be three possible sources. The first is life that we don't know about. The second is meteorites. And the third is geological processes, meaning that the stones form themselves,” says Eigenbrod.

The second discovery was the discovery of three specific types of organic molecules in the surface layer.

NASA emphasizes that the discovery of methane molecules does not at all mean the discovery of life on the planet. Despite the fact that on Earth, methane is indeed often of biogenic origin.

The rover's spectrometer, which analyzes the composition of the atmosphere over the past three years, has recorded seasonal fluctuations in methane - the concentration changes three times during these fluctuations!

Paul Mahaffey:

We are talking about the discovery of “intriguing” organic molecules in the atmosphere of Mars - methane!

The conference has begun!

The Russian neutron detector DAN (Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons) was also installed on board. DAN is a neutron “probe” - the generator of the device irradiates the surface of the planet with high-energy neutrons and, based on the properties of the flow of secondary neutrons, determines the content of hydrogen, and therefore water, as well as hydrated minerals. Areas with large amounts of these substances are of greatest interest for searching for traces of life.

Gale Crater was not chosen for landing by chance - in the distant past it was a Martian sea, and minerals formed during the life of this reservoir accumulated at its bottom. It was assumed that studying its soil would answer the question of the existence of life on Mars.

In the meantime, let's remember the history of this rover. It was delivered to Mars on August 6, 2012. The rover was sent to the Red Planet to determine whether conditions suitable for life existed on Mars, collect detailed data on the climate and geology of Mars, and prepare for landing humans on Mars.

The three-meter rover weighs 899 kg and moves at speeds of up to 144 m/h. It is equipped with cameras, a set of remote sensing instruments, a spectrometer, a bucket for collecting soil, and a set of meteorological equipment. In total, it has 10 scientific instruments for studying the external conditions on the surface of Mars and 17 color and black-and-white cameras for navigation and filming.

The press conference will feature Paul Mahaffey, director of solar system exploration at the NASA Space Flight Center. NASA Goddard; Jennifer Eigenbrod, a specialist at the Goddard Space Flight Center; Chris Webster, Senior Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena; Ashwin Vasavada, research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

NASA often calls journalists in advance to announce new results of space missions, and that was the case this time. Journalists were invited to NASA headquarters in Washington. The topic is a new discovery made by the famous Curiosity rover. The meeting is timed to coincide with the publication of scientific articles about this discovery in the journal Science. The essence of the discovery was not announced in advance; it is known only to scientists and science journalists who have a subscription to Science magazine. However, articles are published there under a strict embargo, so you can’t talk about it until 21.00 Moscow time. Let's just say that this is very interesting and concerns the eternal Martian question.

Good evening, dear readers of Gazeta.Ru, this evening we will follow an unusual announcement announced by NASA a few days ago, which concerns an important scientific discovery made on the surface of Mars.

Scientists have discovered a cluster of planets similar to the core of the solar system. Representatives of the North American Space Agency (NASA) announced this during a special press conference. There are seven Earth-like planets in the system, each of which has the potential to harbor liquid water and life.

Is there life in the constellation Aquarius? To find out the answer, more than 50 thousand people simultaneously connected to the NASA press conference online - a record audience for astrophysics. Ufologists around the world were waiting for a story about the first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. But scientists announced something else: at a distance of 40 light years from Earth there is a twin of our solar system. And there are several planets there with conditions suitable for life. What does this discovery mean?

And yet, not aliens, although that’s what everyone thought about when NASA announced that it was preparing an emergency statement, and even carefully hiding the details. But what the scientists told and showed is no less a sensation.

In a new unusual star system - in the constellation Aquarius - they discovered seven planets similar to Earth. And most importantly: almost all of them are in the so-called habitable zone. The surface is such that there may be water there, and in a liquid state. That is, theoretically, there is life.

The discovery by Michel Gillon's team from the Institute of Astrophysics at the University of Liege and NASA was made possible thanks to the powerful Spitzer telescope, which makes observations in the infrared. The single star Trappist-1, around which exoplanets revolve in orbit - they are called the sisters of the Earth - shines 2 thousand times dimmer than the Sun and heats twice as weakly. But given how close these planets are to the red dwarf, the temperature there is quite Earth-like.

The futuristic landscape that NASA scientists publish, of course, does not pretend to be photographic accuracy. A model from the realm of fantasy. But it’s scientific. Tarkovsky filmed something similar back in 1972 in his famous Solaris, and before that Kubrick’s A Space Odyssey.

Here, too, as astronomers say, the new planets are located so close to each other that if someone lived there, then from one planet it would be possible to view the neighboring one. As now from the Earth - the Moon and the Sun. NASA even modeled such a poster. True, we would have to consider it quickly. A year on exoplanets lasts from one and a half Earth days to two weeks.

Speaking about the possibility of extraterrestrial life, NASA scientists do not answer, however, another important question - how to test this in practice. Technology doesn't allow it.

Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. One of the tasks of modern astronomy is the search for worlds resembling Earth. It is estimated that there are 5-20 billion duplicates of our planet in the Milky Way galaxy. To find them, scientists use special methods. One of them is transit, based on observing the passage of a celestial body against the background of a star.

In 2016, Michael Gillon of the University of Liège in Belgium and his colleagues reported that they had discovered three exoplanets that passed in the background of the single red dwarf TRAPPIST-1 (distance to it - 39 light years). The star got its name from the fact that it was discovered using the 0.6-meter TRAPPIST (TRAnsiting Planets and Planetes Imals Small Telescope) telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This red dwarf is only 11 percent larger than Jupiter.

The news about the first detection of gravitational waves received much less resonance - perhaps it turned out to be not so “glamorous”, and the general theory of relativity is more frightening with its name than the hadron collider. After all, it’s one thing to find a “particle of God,” even if it was originally called something completely wrong, and another thing to register some kind of incomprehensible wave. Or maybe it’s all explained by the fact that CERN simply turned out to have a stronger PR service (yes, scientists also have their own PR people) than LIGO. In any case, NASA managed to one-up both of them by admitting that they had discovered aliens. At least, the entire world Internet was full of such headlines yesterday.

Scientists from NASA reported that three of the seven planets discovered around the star TRAPPIST-1 are in the habitable zone and could potentially have water and be suitable for life. They are located at a distance of 39 light years. The surface of the planets is most likely rocky, scientists write in the scientific publication Nature.

The discovered planets are much closer to their star than the Earth is to the Sun. "TRAPPIST-1 is about as small as Earth as a golf ball is smaller than a basketball," the scientists say. Unlike the Sun, TRAPPIST-1, which the planets orbit, is a cool red dwarf. Therefore, even on planets located close to it, water can potentially be detected. Nothing is known yet about the presence of moons and satellites on the planets. The approximate age of the planetary system is 1.5 billion years. The distance between the planets is millions of kilometers, which is several times greater than between the Earth and the Moon. By the way, later, answering questions from users, scientists noticed that one of the exoplanets is not only similar in size to Earth, but also has a similar temperature to it.

NASA employees call this the biggest discovery in the 14 years of operation of the Spitzer telescope. Scientists also noted that they were able to determine the mass and size of the planets, which will then determine their density. Three planets are in the habitable zone. The researchers also note that never before have so many potentially habitable planets been discovered in one zone.