Abstract
dc:description.abstractThe discovery of extraterrestrial (ET) life would be a revelation of scientific and cultural magnitude that rivals Darwin's theory of evolution and Copernicus's hypothesis that the Earth revolves around the Sun. But while conjecture about the existence of ET life predates industrialism, it is only within the past century or so that technology has developed to the point where humans can add empirical observations to centuries of wondering. With rapid advancements in biological, chemical, and technological science, discovering ET life could be within reach. However, investigations of other planetary environments are still on the edge of technological capability and researchers may need to rely on indirect signs of life to make a detection. These signs may be difficult to interpret. This thesis surveys some of the main techniques and technologies that researchers currently use or are developing to search for alien life. It also teases out some limitations and ambiguity inherent in contemporary data interpretation.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master
- Department dc:contributor.department
- MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2020
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Petersen, Kate S.
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Alan Lightman.
Subjects
dc:subject × 2Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.
- Licence dc:rights.uri
- Language dc:language.iso
- eng
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Handle dc:identifier.uri
- https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/128980
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/128980