Several space experts strongly believe that life, as we know it, is not confined to the earth, as there could be many other alien planets that might be harbouring life.
However, until now, modern space science has not succeeded in discovering concrete signs of alien existence, despite vigorous efforts to locate habitable planets. And now, a new study has suggested that there could be as many as 36 intelligent alien civilizations in the Milky Way galaxy.
These aliens could send radio signals
This study conducted by researchers at the University of Nottingham was carried out with the assumption that intelligent life on other species could be similar to that of humans. Researchers later calculated the probabilities of life on these space bodies and found that there could be at least 36 alien civilizations on Milky Way that could send radio signals.
The study report also suggested that the average distance to one of these advanced civilizations could be at least17,000 light-years. As the distance to these hypothetical civilizations is too huge, it is practically impossible for humans to contact these races using our current technology.
"There should be at least a few dozen active civilizations in our Galaxy under the assumption that it takes 5 billion years for intelligent life to form on other planets, as on Earth. The idea is looking at evolution but on a cosmic scale. We call this calculation the Astrobiological Copernican Limit," said Christopher Conselice, a professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, in a recent statement.
Can we locate alien life?
According to researchers, the probabilities of locating and contacting alien life will be based on the time and distance from which these signals were beamed towards the earth.
"If we find that intelligent life is common then this would reveal that our civilization could exist for much longer than a few hundred years, alternatively if we find that there are no active civilizations in our Galaxy it is a bad sign for our own long-term existence. By searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life -- even if we find nothing -- we are discovering our own future and fate," added Conselice.
However, top NASA scientist Jim Green believes that alien life will be discovered within 2021 on Mars. According to Green, future NASA missions to Mars will discover alien life, at least in its microbial form by 2021, and he also made it clear that humanity is not prepared enough to accept the realities surrounding alien existence.
