The Search For Extraterrestrial Life: A

Review

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper will be a review of current developments in the search for
extraterrestrial life. I will proceed in the following way: firstly I will define what is
being searched for, i.e., life as a biological process arising from certain physical
conditions; secondly I will review methods through which the search is carried
forward, looking for physical locations in the universe which could harbour life;
thirdly, I will focus on the problem of intelligent life, its scientific status, physical
constraints and anthropocentric biases.

INTRODUCTION

The search for extraterrestrial life is certainly one of the most potentially
groundbreaking research projects of contemporary science. Such a project
emerges from the encounter of a number of scientific disciplines, such as
astrophysics, biology, chemistry and planetary sciences. As a result, fairly recent
hybrid fields such as astrobiology1 (or exobiology)2 are today extremely fertile
areas of study, and objects of rapid development. Excitement about these
developments is certainly justified: not only would the discovery of extraterrestrial
life be of extreme importance for the development of our understanding of the
universe, in its physical and biological evolution, but it would have wide cultural
repercussions on our society as a whole. The discovery of life (or, even more
surprisingly, intelligent life) would ideally complete the Copernican Revolution
1 For a comprehensive introduction to Astrobiology as a new scientific discipline see Darling 2001.
For a introductory textbook see Gilmour and Sephton 2004.
2 It could be argued that the difference between the two terms is that exobiology refers
specifically to the study of biology of non-terrestrial origin, while astrobiology is focused on a
general understanding of biological processes (on Earth as elsewhere) as an integral part of the
physical laws which regulate the universe. Stewart and Cohen (2001) proposed the adoption of
the additional term 'xenobiology' to indicate a discipline aimed at figuring and understanding
radically alien kinds of forms of life, based on alternative biochemical processes.
extending its domain from predicating the non-special status of our physical
location to asserting the non-special status of our biological development.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

By definition, the search for extraterrestrial life is a search for the non-terrestrial
and autonomously originated emergence of life-forms in the universe. But what is
life? Following a minimal definition of it, we can claim that any system is alive
(enacting life-processes) when it has the ability to replicate, has evolved
according to Darwinian evolution by natural selection and it reduces its entropy at
the expense of external sources.3 If we accept this definition and we suppose4 that
the material substratum for these self-sustaining features is biochemical (i.e. one
which requires carbon as a key chemical element capable of constructing long
molecules, liquid water as a solvent for biochemical reactions to take place and
some external source of energy to sustain the process) we therefore obtain
reasonable minimal constraints for the object of our search. The main problem for
biologists (and by extension for astrobiologists), however, is that if these
constraints allow us to recognize as 'life' previously unknown entities (as still
happens in our own biosphere when new life-forms are discovered, and as it is
hoped will happen in extraterrestrial spaces) they still tell us very little about the
conditions that allow for life to originate from non-living matter (the problem of
biogenesis). The question of the likelihood and frequency of life spontaneously
originating from the basic chemical elements and molecules which are commonly
found in the interstellar medium (ISM) is still a largely unanswered question5 (we

3 The definition of life is notoriously difficult. For a more nuanced attempt see Koshland 2002,
where seven 'pillars' of life are enumerated and explained, namely: Program, Improvisation,
Compartmentalization, Energy, Regeneration, Adaptability and Seclusion. For a philosophically-
natured discussion of the problem of finding a unitary definition of 'life' see Cleland and Chyba
2002.
4 A reasonable, but not completely neutral presupposition. Other scenarios could be imagined, as
I will describe later.
5 We have a clear understanding of the steps that lead from basic elements like hydrogen,
oxygen and carbon to complex molecules (including carbon chains, aromatic hydrocarbons and
carbonaceous grains, observed in large quantities in Giant Molecular Clouds), and experiments
like the Urey-Miller experiment (see Miller 1953) have shown how these molecules are able to
can only determine minimal conditions for complex molecules to form, and for
biochemical processes to happen, the main condition being the presence of liquid
water as a solvent). Therefore, the debate around the frequency of spontaneous
generation of life in the universe has been a lively and controversial one in the
last decades, still popular to this day, and it comprises different hypotheses: from
the one holding that life necessarily emerges wherever the conditions allow (the
so-called Cosmic Imperative)6 to the one arguing that life is an extremely rare,
essentially unique phenomenon which took place only on Earth.7

Astronomical observations could help resolving this debate on empirical

grounds: should we manage to discover even one certain case of life in an
extraterrestrial environment, the thesis of the unicity of life on Earth would be
disproved, and even claims of its extreme rarity would be severely undermined.
But what kind of life forms can we expect to find in extra-terrestrial environments?
The main assumption is that we should primarily look for the most abundant and
simple life-form that is present on Earth: microbial life, in particular bacteria. This
idea is supported by the observed resilience of certain forms of microbes, known
as extremophiles, to extreme environmental conditions. Extremophiles are
microbial organisms which have developed an high degree of adaptability to
extreme environments,8 presenting conditions which in fact often resemble those
spontaneously form amino acids, as it could have happened in the primordial atmosphere of the
newly-formed planet Earth. However, it is still unclear how these basic amino acids can go on to
form the proteins that are the building blocks at the base of life as we know it. For a review of
the different forms in which carbon can be found in the ISM (from carbon-bearing molecules to
carbonaceous compounds) see Henning and Salama 1998. For observation of amino acids in
distant galaxies see Salter et al. 2008.
6 The term was coined, and the hypothesis made popular by the biochemist Christian De Duve
(1996) who argued that life is the necessary outcome of biochemical forces embedded in the
very physical structure of the universe. Among other popular supporters of this position was the
astronomer Carl Sagan (see Sagan 1995), who saw the proliferation of life in the cosmos as a
necessary corollary to the Principle of Mediocrity (or Copernican Principle), indicating that we
should not suppose that anything is special about our place in the universe, not even the
emergence of biological systems.
7 See for example the work of biologist Jacques Monod (1971) who argued that the study of the
origins of life could never be a science, as life cannot be derived from the laws of chemistry and
physics. More recently, geologist Peter Ward and astronomer Don Brownlee elaborated the so
called 'Rare Earth hypothesis' (see Ward and Brownlee 2000), arguing that Earth is a rare place
where many random and extremely unlikely factors have converged, creating a nearly perfect
site for the emergence and evolution of complex life, thus concluding that it is possible that
only a few planets per galaxy ever develop life.
8 Varieties of extremophiles include halophiles (single-cell, salt-loving organisms which require
high concentrations of salt to live), acidophiles and alkalinophiles (requiring extreme pH
conditions) and thermophiles (organisms that grow and reproduce at high temperatures, up to
of primordial Earth, making extremophiles likely candidates for having given rise
to life on Earth.9 Should this be the case, we could expect to find similar
organisms, having adapted their biochemical processes in order to survive in the
harsh environments of extraterrestrial planets and moons.10

Others11 have recently proposed an alternative route to resolve the question

of biogenesis: in order to demonstrate the capability of life to emerge
spontaneously we need to find appropriate environmental conditions. But the best
environmental conditions that we can think of are right here on Earth. Therefore,
we should start looking for what has been defined a 'shadow biosphere' composed
by life-forms whose origin is not the same as the one of the known life-forms on
Earth (as belonging to either eucarya, archaea or bacteria, the three 'branches' of
the phylogenetic tree) and that possesses different metabolic processes (for
example, employing arsenic instead of phosphorus).12

Another hypothesis, known as the 'panspermia' scenario,13 attempts to

resolve the issue from another direction: this idea proposes that microbial life-
forms (perhaps extremophiles) may have entered Earth's atmosphere enclosed in
meteorites, and—having survived the interplanetary (or interstellar) travel and
having found a favourable environment on Earth—might have then developed and
evolved into today's complex organisms.14 These 'life seeds' could have originated
from a single location (which, however would once again pose the question of the
frequency of the spontaneous emergence of life) or could be disseminated
throughout the cosmos from multiple and independent locations.

120 degrees Celsius, and can be found in colonies around hydrothermal vents on the sea bed.
9 This hypothesis is supported by genetic classification of extremophiles, which locates them
close to the base of the Phylogenetic tree of life, hence representing a common ancestor for
most forms of life.
10 For a recent discovery of microbial life in liquid asphalt on Earth, which could serve as a useful
analogue for the liquid hydrocarbon environments on Saturn's moon Titan see Shultze-Makuch
et al. 2010.
11 See, Cleland and Shelley 2005; Davies and Lineweaver 2005; Davies et al. 2009.
12 See Anbar, Davies and Wolfe-Simon 2009.
13 For an early classical exposition of panspermia see Arrhenius 2009.
14 Note that an organism does not have to be an extremophile during all life stages. Spores,
seeds, and sometimes eggs or larval stages are all far more resistant to environmental
extremes than adult forms. Dormant microbes shielded by spores would easily survive
interstellar travel. For a recent model of a successful panspermia scenario for a Mars-like host
planet see Horneck et al. 2008.
 However, should we find proof of basic life elsewhere in our solar system or
in the galaxy, another problem will have to be faced: even after basic, microbial,
forms of life originated, the reasons for their evolution in complex multicellular
forms is not well understood and it is likely to depend on another set of
environmental conditions. In other words, even if the galaxy is teeming with
microbial life, no sound biological theory can allow us to assume that these
microbes will necessarily evolve into complex, multicellular life. We should
remember that, in terms of sheer number of species, our own terrestrial biosphere
is indeed dominated by microbial life, and that complex life is only a small
percentage of the total life on our planet.15

WHERE SHOULD WE LOOK?

As we have seen, carbon-based life-forms functioning through biochemical

reactions such as those we observe on Earth require the presence of liquid water
as a key solvent. It is therefore assumed that life will be present only on those
celestial bodies which allow for the presence of water, thus restricting the range
of possible targets for our search for solid bodies close enough to a source of
energy. On the basis of this observation, and on the example of our own solar
system, primary candidates for the search for extraterrestrial life are rocky
planets.16 Our understanding of circumstellar planetary formation allows us to
expect these planets to form via gravitational accretion in the internal regions of a
planetary system17 but in order to identify criteria for which of these rocky planets
15 As biologist Stephen Jay Gould famously put it: '[w]e live now in the “Age of Bacteria.” Our
planet has always been in the “Age of Bacteria,” ever since the first fossils—bacteria, of course
—were entombed in rocks more than 3 billion years ago' (Gould 1996: np).
16 The definition of 'planet' is all but uncontroversial. As a minimal working definition we can
identify a 'planet' as being a celestial body orbiting a star or a stellar remnant and not massive
enough to have undergone thermonuclear fusion. If the maximal mass is constrained by the
onset of thermonuclear fusion, the minimal mass is an arbitrary limit, a heuristic criterion
mainly used for differentiating planets from moons and asteroids.
17 Regions before the 'snow line'. The term refers to a particular distance within which iron and
silicates are in a condensed solid state and hydrogen compounds are gaseous, while outside of
which all elements are condensed, so that the two regions will undergo a different planetary
evolution. In the inner regions the dust clumps will be mainly formed by refractory materials; in
the outer regions they will be a combination of refractory materials and hydrogen compounds.
could host liquid water (hence being habitable planets) the concept of a
circumstellar Habitable Zone (HZ) has been developed.18 The HZ is defined as the
range of distances from a star within which radiation from the star would maintain
water in liquid form at the surface of a rocky planet with a significant atmosphere.
At closer distances all surface water would have evaporated, and at further
distances it would be locked in a frozen state.19

Inside the snow line the only solid materials are irons and silicates, which form smaller objects
(with insufficient gravity to trap gasses) which will undergo a period of catastrophic collisions
and merging, and which will ultimately result in the terrestrial, rocky planets we can observe
today.
18 For a classical discussion of the HZ, and possibly the first occurrence of the term see Huang
1959.
19 Note that the HZ will evolve during the stellar lifetime as a function of the increase or decrease
in size and luminosity of the star. The term ‘Continuously Habitable Zone’ (CHZ) is employed to
indicate a habitable zone which would persist around a star for a period of time long enough to
allow for the development of life (for a computation of the CHZ of a solar-type star extending
only from roughly 0.95 to 1.01 AU see Hart 1979) . The size and location of CHZs depend on
various factors such as size, mass, brightness, and temperature of the star (which will change
during the lifetime of the star). For a model of the width of the HZ around main-sequence stars
see Kasting et al. 1993. For a study of the evolution of the HZ following stellar evolution see
Underwood, Jones and Sleep 2003; for the evolution of the HZ in our own solar system in the
post-main-sequence phase of the Sun see Guo et al. 2010.
Figure 1 – The Habitable Zone (the blue band), derived by plotting the mass of the star versus the
orbital distance of a planet. The planets depicted are the rocky planets of our solar system. Note
the tidal locking line: for a given star mass there is a limit in distance from it, within which any
orbiting body will eventually be tidally locked. This would create problems for the planet's
habitability, for liquid water could probably be found only in the 'perennial dusk' longitudinal parts
of the planet. From Lammer et al. 2009.

However, not any rocky planet laying within the HZ20 will be necessarily
habitable, since its placement within the HZ must be complemented with the
model adopted for the test planet’s atmosphere, which will determine the extent
of the greenhouse effect, and the possibility of cloud cover, (which could increase
the planet's albedo and hence determine how much of its star’s radiation is
reflected away) ultimately depending on the key factor of the planet's mass.21

On the other hand, a rocky planet within the HZ could not be the only object
capable of harbouring life: recent observations of our own Solar System have
suggested that large moons orbiting planets could host liquid water even when
located outside the HZ. As the last decades of exploration of the Jovian moons has
shown, it is possible for large moons to gravitational energy from tidal interactions
with the strong gravitational field of their planet into thermal energy from their
cores. Europa, Jupiter's second moon by orbital distance, is now believed to have
a large subsurface ocean of liquid water, covered by a thick layer of solid ice.22
This seems to suggest that long as a source of energy can be identified in an
environment rich in organic molecules capable of gathering a large enough
amount of water, life could be thriving in extreme environments independently
from starlight.23 Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is shrouded in a thick atmosphere,
20 For a G-type star such as our Sun, the traditional Habitable Zone lies between 0.95 AU and 1.37
AU. See Kasting et al. 1993.
21 The mass of a planet will condition several of its features: planets smaller than 1 M⊕ will have
too low a gravitational potential and may lose the heavy gases of its atmosphere into space,
and would quickly lose internal heat, removing the necessary energy for plate tectonics and
hence the production of CO2.. For a planet to remain habitable, it must control its surface
temperature over long timescales, possibly via the CO2-carbonate cycle which is enabled by a
relatively thick atmosphere, a hydrological cycle, and active plate tectonics. On the other hand,
planets which exceed 10M⊕ are considered likely to capture too much nebular gas during their
accretion phase, and hence evolve into inhospitable gas- or ice-giants. For the presence of plate
tectonics in so-called Super-Earths (rocky planets between 1 and 10 M⊕) see Valencia and
O'Connell 2007.
22 For a comprehensive book-length study of Europa and its ocean see Greenberg 2007.
23 Moreover, even when maintaining the necessity of energy from stars, we could loosen our
presuppositions regarding planets as primary sites for life: Freeman Dyson (2003) argue that we
and is known to have methane in liquid form and frozen water on its surface and
organic molecular compounds have been detected in its atmosphere.24

A useful classification of habitable environments, capable of including

planets and moons, is outlined in Lammer et al. 2009 where the authors
distinguish four classes of environments:

In class I the stellar and geophysical conditions of Earth-like (analog) planets where
surface life as we know it can evolve are represented.

Class II habitats will focus on planets where in the beginning life may evolve
because these planets start an evolution similar to class I types but due to different
stellar and geophysical conditions the planetary environments and life evolve
different than on Earth.

Class III habitats are planetary bodies with subsurface water layers in the form of
subsurface oceans which interact with silicates (e.g., Europa)

Finally, class IV habitats have liquid water layers between two ice layers or liquids
above ice (e.g., Ganymede, Callisto, Enceladus, Titan-lakes, and“Ocean planets”).

(Lammer et al. 2009: 187)

Widening our focus, on a galactic scale a somewhat more rigid (and more
general) set of parameters is constituted by the so-called Galactic Habitable Zone
(GHZ): this is modeled according to what are considered to be four basic
prerequisites for life: the presence of a host star, enough heavy elements (metals)
to form terrestrial planets, sufficient time for biological evolution, and an
environment free of life-extinguishing supernovae explosions.25

could expect starlight-dependent lifeforms to develop on any object with an icy surface, as for
example the Trojan asteroids or the Kuiper belt.
24 For a comprehensive, book-length survey of Titan, including the recent results of the Cassini-
Huygens mission and the astrobiological potentials of its environment see Cousteins and Taylor
2008.
25 See Lineweaver et al. 2004. Note that—as I have observed above—the presence of a star and
the formation of a rocky planet could be questioned as necessary prerequisites. To loosen these
constraints would expand the possible GHZ.
Figure 2 – The Galactic Habitable Zone (green area) for the milky way. The white contours
encompass 68% (inner) and 95% (outer) of the origins of stars with the highest potential to be
harboring complex life today. The green line on the right is the age distribution of complex life.
Note that this presupposes 4 ± 1 Gy for the evolution of complex life (hence the gray area at the
top of the plot). From Lineweaver et al. 2004.

Our search starts from our own solar system. Today, we can identify two
places which could already harbour life: Mars and the Jupiter's moon Europa.
Historically, Mars has been the favourite candidate for finding life in our solar
system. Early observations seemed to reveal the presence of surface features
which suggested the presence of life on the planet.26 It is only with the space age
and the first probes sent to Mars that its surface was revealed as that of a barren
and arid planet.27 However, if the presence of visible life was disproved, images of

26 See the observations of the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiapparelli which, in the late 19th
century, seemed to reveal the presence of canals, or 'canali' on the surface of Mars. This idea
was taken very seriously by Percival Lowell, an American amateur astronomer who built his own
observatory (the Lowell observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona) in order to survey and map the
canals. He famously suggested that these canals were water conduits, built by a struggling
Martian civilization in the attempt to convey the water from the polar caps to the rest of the
planet. On the work of Lowell and on its instrumental role in informing the popular opinion of
Mars as an inhabited planet see Zahnle 2001.
27 In particular the Mariner missions throughout the 1960s (fly-by imaging) and the Viking landers
in the mid 1970s.
the surface (improved by later, higher resolution, orbital imaging)28 seemed to
suggest that the planet once hosted liquid water, as the surface of Mars is scarred
with canyons, valleys and gullies.29 Indeed, both optical and radar observations
revealed the presence of water in frozen form, both at in permafrost at the polar
caps30 and below the surface. Finally, the Phoenix Mars lander recently identified
water in a sample of Martian soil.31 The current hypothesis is that Mars was once a
geologically active planet with plate tectonics, rich in liquid water on the surface,
but that the atmospheric conditions changed radically some 4 or 5 billion years
ago (following the decreased geological activity and the weakening of its
magnetosphere) causing liquid water to disappear. The implications for
extraterrestrial life are of course major: it is possible that Mars harboured some
form of life in its past, but so far no evidence of any kind of life-form has emerged.
The only mission directly aimed at discovering traces of life on Mars (and in fact,
to this day the only experiment directly aimed at detecting any kind of
extraterrestrial life) were the Viking ones. The biology experiments carried forward
by the Viking, however, remained inconclusive: only one of the three experiments
(the Labelled Release experiment) seemed to indicate a positive, but the
controversial nature of this result has led most of the scientific community to
admit that such as result can be explained non-biologically.32 To this day, there is
no conclusive evidence of any form of life on Mars, present or extinct.33

The other main target for the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar
system is not a planet in the solar HZ, but one of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Europa.

28 By the Mars Global Surveyor (in the late 1990s) and the Mars Odyssey (in the early 2000s).
29 For a study of how the morphology of Martian gullies implies the presence of liquid water near
the surface on Mars in geologically recent times see Heldmann et al. 2005. For a general
geomorphological review of the water-generated landforms and landscapes of Mars see Baker
2001.
30 For a model of the geological evolution of Martian polar caps see Kolb and Tanaka 2001.
31 See Smith et al. 2009.
32 For a defence of the LR experiment results by Gilbert Levin (its designer) see Levin and Straat
1979.
33 In 1996 the question around the presence of life on Mars achieved world-wide attention due to
the announcement that traces of fossilized microbial life were found in a Martian meteorite
(named ALH84001) recovered in Antarctica. The media were quick in appropriating the news
and announcing the discovery of 'life on Mars'. However, further examinations revealed the
alleged biological traces to be explainable as inorganic structures and albiogenic signatures. For
the original paper announcing the possible discovery of fossil remains of a past Martian biota in
ALH84001 see McKay et al. 1996; for a more recent paper demonstrating the exclusively
inorganic formation of magnetite in it, see Golden et al. 2004.
As I have observed above, Europa is today believed to preserve, below a thick
crust of ice, a deep ocean of water kept in liquid state by the warmth released by
Europa's core, which undergoes tidal stress during its orbit around Jupiter. Should
the likely presence of liquid water be confirmed by an orbital probe,34 the
potentials for a life-harbouring environment are exciting: given our knowledge of
the extreme adaptability of some forms of microbial life it could be reasonable to
expect similar forms of life thriving in the hotter deep layers of Europa's ocean,
where hydrothermal vents could supply heat and energy for vital biochemistry to
take place.

34 Or, for even more accurate data, a lander. The most notable planned mission to Europa is
NASA's Jupiter Europa Orbiter (JEO), which together with ESA's Jupiter Ganymede Orbiter (JGO),
belongs to an international mission called Europa Jupiter System Mission (EJSM). The mission's
primary aim will be to ascertain the habitability of these two worlds. The JEO, in particular, will
be designed to characterize the extent of the ocean and its relation to the deeper interior, to
analyze the ice shell and any subsurface water, including their heterogeneity, and the nature of
surface-ice-ocean exchange and finally to identify and characterize candidate sites for future in
situ exploration. The mission is tentatively scheduled for a 2020 take-off. For further details see:
http://opfm.jpl.nasa.gov/europajupitersystemmissionejsm/.
Figure 3 – Possible locations of present life in Europa. The plot considers four possible scenarios
regarding the ratio of frozen to liquid water in Europa's interior and biosignatures are plotted as a
function of depth. Physical and chemical constraints are indicated on the right (green=favourable,
red=hostile). From Lammer 2009.

HOW CAN WE DISCOVER HABITABLE PLANETS ELSEWHERE?

When the search for extraterrestrial life expands its range outside of our solar
system, its methods have to change, for in order to detect traces of life on alien
planets it is necessary to first locate them. In the last 15 years astronomers have
made enormous progress refining the techniques to locate these extraterrestrial
planets (exoplanets) so that, as of today (April 2010), 452 exoplanets are known
to exist in our galaxy.35

Figure 4 – Plotting the number of discovered exoplanets (to the 18th of April 2010) versus the year
of discovery. The last 15 years have seen a dramatic increase of detections per year, thanks to
improved technology and refined methods. Graph created with data from exoplanet.eu.

A number of methods are employed in this endeavour:

1) Radial Velocity (or Doppler Spectroscopy) - This technique has yielded the great
majority of the exoplanet discoveries. It depends on the shift in the wavelength of
radiation received from a distant star when it has a component of motion along
the radial direction to the observer. If the motion is towards the observer the
received wavelengths are shorter (blueshifted) than those emitted by the source,
and longer if the motion is away from the observer (redshifted). Thus by observing
the displacement of spectral lines in a star we can determine its movement down
to extremely small values (current spectroscopic analysis allows a precision down
to about 10 m/s): from the frequency and amplitude of these movements the
presence of an orbiting body around the star is inferred.36 Thanks to the precision

35 For an updated catalogue see http://exoplanet.eu/catalog.php.

36 According to orbital laws we know that the two massive orbiting bodies will orbit around a
common centre of mass. In the case of an extremely massive body like a star and a relatively
of spectroscopic measurements this technique has been extremely successful and
it has given us precious information about the exoplanet orbiting the star since
from the spectral displacement of the star we can deduce the planet's mass and
its orbital period.

Indeed, the first confirmed discovery of an exoplanet around a main-

sequence star37 was accomplished with this method: in 1995 Mayor and Queloz
published their data regarding the discovery of a Jupiter-mass companion to the
sun-like star 51 Pegasi:

Figure 5 – Plotting the wobble of 51 Peg, velocity versus time. The data points are consistent with
the solid curve representing an orbital period around the centre of mass of about 4.22 Days. From
Mayor and Queloz 1995.

The planet, named 51 Peg b38 was found to be a 'hot Jupiter', a Jupiter-mass

smaller body like a planet, the centre of mass will be located within the star's volume and the
orbital motion of the star will amount to a small, yet detectable, 'wobble'.
37 In 1992, Alexander Wolszczan and Dale A. Frail (1992) used a very precise timing method and
discovered Earth-mass planets in orbit around PSR 1257+12, a known millisecond pulsar.
38 The customary practice established by the IAU for naming exoplanets is to add a letter of the
alphabet to the name of the star (starting with b). For an interesting discussion of this practice
and a plea–justified by an appeal to the Copernican Principle—for a different naming scheme
see Lyra 2009.
gaseous planet in very close orbit to the companion star.39 The majority of planets
discovered via radial velocity are indeed hot Jupiters,40 yet this observation should
be corrected by considering observational bias: massive planets close to the host
star will produce a larger observable displacement of the star itself, hence easier
to detect from Earth. In the last years, refined spectroscopic techniques have
allowed us to detect smaller bodies orbiting the star at larger distance, including
planets within the star's HZ. The first detection of the kind was in 2007 when two
Super-Earth planets41 (5 and 8 M⊕) were discovered in orbit around the brown
dwarf star Gliese 581, one along the 'warm edge' of the HZ and the other close to
the 'cold edge'.42 The main drawback of this method of detection is that an
inclination of the star-planet system in respect to our line of sight will decrease
the amplitude of the observable wobble (completely erasing it in the case of an
orbital motion perfectly transversal to our line of sight), making it harder to detect
, and increasing uncertainty when estimating the mass of the orbiting planet.

2) Astrometry – According to the same principle of a star wobbling in its orbit

around the centre of mass, it is theoretically possible visually to detect the
wobble.43 The discipline of accurately measuring (proper) movements of stars is

39 51 Peg b has a mass of about 1.5 MJ and a semi-major axis of about 0.05 AU. See Mayor and
Queloz 1995.
40 The unexpectedly large amount of Jupiter-mass planets very close to their parent star seems to
clash with our current model of the formation of a planetary system out of the condensation of
a protoplanetary disk, which predicts that no Jovian planet can be formed closer than 4 AU from
the star. A large amount of research has been focused towards the elaboration of models of
planetary migration, aimed at giving an explanation for the dynamical processes that permit
large gas planets to migrate into closer orbits and accounting for the fate of internal rocky
(possibly habitable) planets after such a migration. Although the inward migration of a giant
planet is expected to remove inner, smaller planets by scattering them into the star or out of
the planetary system, a second generation of planets might re-accrete in the wake of the
migrating planet (see Raymond et al. 2006). For a hydrodynamical simulation of two orbiting
bodies in a protoplanetary disk, and their interactions leading to resonant orbits see Kley 2003.
41 Rocky planets between 1 and 10 M⊕. The first super-Earth rocky planet around a main-sequence
star was discovered in 2005 via radial velocity (see Rivera et al. 2005. For a model of its
possible radius see Valencia et al. 2007). The first super-Earth with measured radius has been
detected by the CoRoT satellite in late 2009 (see Leger et al. 2009). For a discussion of the
possible location of super-Earths within planetary systems, exploring the possibility of finding
super-Earths in the close vicinity of gas giants as a result of the early evolution of planetary
systems see Podlewska and Szuszkiewicz 2009.
42 For the discovery of exoplanets orbiting GL581 see Udry et al. 2007 and Selsis et al. 2008. Note
that the HZ around M-type stars is different than that of Main-sequence stars, and resides much
closer to the star (about 0.1 AU). For M stars as favoured targets for terrestrial exoplanet
searches see Scalo et al. 2007.
43 However, note that whereas the radial velocity method of detection achieves better results
when the planetary system is seen edge-on, astrometric detection is easier when the system is
known as astrometry. The possibilities of astrometric detection of exoplanets is
highly dependent on technological improvements of our instrumentation.44 Only
fairly recently have telescopes managed to achieve the angular resolution
necessary to detect the small movements of a star caused by an orbiting planet.
The first confirmed detection of an exoplanet (a 6.4 MJ planet orbiting a low-mass,
cool M8-type star) via astrometry is indeed very recent (see Pravdo and Shaklan
2009), obtained after almost a decade of measurements.

3) Transit Photometry - When an exoplanet’s orbit is sufficiently close to edge-on

to our line of sight, then the planet will periodically pass in front of the star. If the
star’s photosphere were of uniform brightness, then the fractional decrease in flux
of the star is the area ratio (πr2/πR2), where πr2 is the projected area of the planet,
radius r, and πR2 that of its star, radius R.45 The interval between the transits gives
the orbital period, and when the mass of the star can be estimated (which is often
the case), we can infer the semimajor axis of the planet’s orbit. The first detection
of a transiting planet occurred in 200746 when observing the star HD209459,
known to have a Jupiter-mass planetary companion, already detected via radial
velocity. The planet, with an orbital inclination of about 87 degrees, caused a
visible and clear dimming in the star's flux

seen edge on, since the movement of the star, now perpendicular to the line of sight, will be
easier to detect. The two methods can be seen as complementary. For the first astrometric
detection of an exoplanet (a gas giant) orbiting a main-sequence star see Pravdo and Shaklan
2009.
44 The next planned state-of-the-art astrometric observatory will be NASA's Space Interferometry
Mission (SIM) Lite, which will employ optical interferometry to detect Earth-like planets within
the HZ of main-sequence stars. See SIM's website
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/SIM/index.cfm.
45 Note that in fact the photosphere of a star appears to dim slightly towards the edge (the limb).
This phenomenon of limb darkening arises because the radiation we receive from the limb is
predominantly from the uppermost regions of the photosphere, which are cooler than deeper
down (higher optical depth). This modifies the light curve during transit, depending on which
chord of the star’s disc the planet traverses.
46 See Charbonneau et al.1999.
Figure 6 – The transit curve of the planet in front of HD209459, plotting flux versus time. The solid
line is the modeled transit shape according to values for the planet of 1.27 Jupiter radiai, a mass of
0.63 MJ and an inclination of 87.1 degrees. The rapid initial fall and final rise of the curve
correspond to the times between first and second, and between third and fourth contacts, when
the planet is crossing the edge of the star. The central curved portion of the transit is the time
between second and third contacts, when the planet is entirely in front of the star. From
Charbonneau et al. 1999.

This method, combined with the radial velocity one allows for detailed
measurements of the radius and mass of the planet, which allow the computation
of the fundamental parameter to deduce the planet's composition: density (as it
was indeed the case with the giant companion of HD209459, which was the first
exoplanet of known mass and radius). Moreover, transit photometry offers a
precise advantage in terms of the search for extraterrestrial life: when transiting
the star, precise spectroscopic analysis of the starlight filtered through the planet
atmosphere can reveal details of the planet's atmosphere chemical composition47

47 For the first detection of a clear spectral signature of a carbon based molecule –methane (CH4)–
in an exoplanet's atmosphere (exoplanet HD189733b) see Swain et al. 2008. Detecting
methane could be a hint of the presence of biological activity. For the first confirmed detection
potentially developed via biological processes48

Figure 7 – Models of visible and near-infrared spectra for an Earth-like planet during 5 atmospheric
epochs: note how spectral features change from the early CO 2 rich atmosphere (0) to the present
day atmosphere (5) product of biological processes. Taking similar spectra of exoplanets could
help us determine the possible presence of biological life on their surface. From Kaltenegger et al.
2007.

The main limitation of the photometric transit method is the small likelihood that a
planet's orbit will be correctly aligned to pass between us and its star.
Nonetheless, several current and forthcoming missions are designed to detect

of water vapour in the atmosphere of an extrasolar hot Jupiter see Tinetti et al. 2007. The
spectral analysis of exoplanets in the infrared region was the main objective of ESA's Darwin
mission, a proposed array of three orbital telescopes working via nulling interferometry. The
mission was put on indefinite hold in 2007. For details see Kaltenegger 2004 and Kaltenegger
and Fridlund 2005. A similar, current mission concept is the Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF)
mission, a visible-light coronagraph and a formation-flying infrared interferometer to be sent in
Earth's orbit for detection, imaging and spectroscopic analysis of Earth-like planets. See the TPF
website http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_index.cfm.
48 Kasting and Sieftert (2002) offered a detailed account of the ways in which microbial life has
contributed to the evolution of Earth's atmosphere, microbes being responsible for the
production and release of oxygen (cyanobacteria) and methane (anaerobic bacteria).
exoplanets via transit, including the NASA's Kepler mission,49 and ESA's CoRoT,50
space observatories designed to detect transits of Earth-like, habitable planets in
front of other stars. In its first year of activity (out of 3.5 years of expected
mission time) Kepler has already detected five exoplanets with sizes between 0.37
and 1.6 Jupiter radii and orbital periods from 3.2 to 4.9 days.

Figure 8 – Table showing the properties of the five exoplanets discovered so far by Kepler (note

that the nomenclature started with Kepler-4b because the designations 1b , 2b, and 3b are used to
refer to previously known exoplanets in the Kepler field of view). From Boruki et al. 2010.

4) Direct Imaging – In particular circumstances a direct imaging of the orbiting

planet will be possible. In order for the planet's reflected light not to be lost in the
glare of the star, direct imaging proceeds by either aiming at planets orbiting dim
brown dwarfs (often with the aid of adaptive optics) or by imaging via
coronagraphy, a technique used to artificially blot out the star's disk in order to be
able to make out close planets in its orbit.51 The first planet detected via direct
imaging was a companion of a 25 MJ brown dwarf52

49 Kepler employs a differential photometer with a wide (115 square degrees) field of view that
continuously and simultaneously monitors the brightness of approximately 150,000 main-
sequence stars. For more information see Kepler's website at http://kepler.nasa.gov/.
50 CoRoT (Convection Rotation and planetary Transits), like Kepler, has a fixed field of view,
observing more than 120 000 stars, with magnitude between 12 and 15.5. For more information
see CoRoT's website at: http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/index.htm.
51 For a recent example of coronagraphic imaging of multiple exoplanets (HR 8799 b, c and d) see
Marois et al.2008.
52 The brown dwarf 2MASSWJ1207334−393254. See Chauvin et al.2004.
Figure 9 - Composite image of the brown dwarf 2M1207 and its giant planet candidate
companion. From Chauvin et al. 2004.

5) Microlensing – a planet can be detected by exploiting the property of massive

objects of bending space around them in accordance with General Relativity. 53 The
light of a background source (a star for example), when passing through this
spatial curvature will be refracted (the phenomenon known as gravitational
lensing): if this light is refracted into our line of sight, we will effectively detect an
increase in flux which will produce a characteristic light curve (in microlensing
phenomena, the background source's multiple images created by the lens are too
close to each other to be resolved —as it would be the case in a standard
gravitational lensing phenomenon— and the combined lensed images will appear
like a brighter single image of the source). If the lensing star possesses a
companion planet, this planet will cause sharp deviations in the otherwise sharp
light curve during the microlensing event, because of the combined effect of the
53 The phenomenon was indeed predicted by Einstein in 1936, in a famous short paper titled Lens-
Like Action of a Star by the Deviation of Light in the Gravitational Field. Ironically, in this paper
Einstein observed that 'there is no great chance of observing this phenomenon' (Einstein
1936: 507).
star's and the planet's gravitational fields. The first successful detection via
microlensing occurred in 2004.54 This technique, even if very sensitive under the
right conditions (especially for detecting small-mass Earth-like planets) presents
some disadvantages: in order to detect (extremely rare) microlensing events,
millions of stars must be monitored at the same time and the planetary
parameters can be deduced only if the properties of the host star are known.

Figure 10 – The lightcurve of a microlensing event (exoplanet OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb) plotted as a

function of time. Datapoints are colour-coded according to the different observatories. The
planetary deviation in the lightcurve is magnified in the top right corner, where the dashed orange
lines is the model for a standard lightcurve. From Beaulieu et al. 2006.

All of these methods are aimed at the detection of exoplanets around stars
in our galaxy.55 In the context of the search for life, this is a crucial part of the

54 See Bond et al. 2004. For a theoretical explanation and prediction of the phenomenon see Mao
and Paczynski 1991. For a peroration of microlensing as a technique capable of discovering
Earth-like planets see Di Stefano 1998.
55 What about exoplanets in other galaxies? Ingrosso et al. (2008) proposed to employ a pixel-
lensing method to detect exoplanets in M31 (Andromeda Galaxy). However, no confirmed
detection has occurred so far.
enterprise, given the primary role that planets have as possible sites for the
emergence of life.56 However, the detection of planets cannot in itself be taken as
a sufficient condition for the discovery of life, and our limited technological
capabilities provides a very small amount of information regarding the presence of
life on these newly-discovered planets, allowing us at best to exclude the most
inhospitable such as the hot Jupiters.

INTELLIGENT LIFE?

So far we have dealt with the search for extraterrestrial life as primarily aiming at
discovering basic life-forms such as microbes. However, in the last forty years
there have been attempts to scientifically systematize a research project for the
search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Such a program, known as SETI (Search for
ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) was the brainchild of the American astronomer
Francis Drake. If the debate regarding the existence of intelligent forms of life in
the universe goes back to the early centuries of human civilization 57 it was in the
1950s that our technological capabilities (mainly thanks the post-war
development of radio antennas) started to allow for the possibility of a scientific
survey of the cosmos, aimed at the detection of an electromagnetic signal of
extraterrestrial origin,58 a feeling particularly expressed by a seminal paper by
Cocconi and Morrison.59 Intrigued by this possibility, in 1960 Frank Drake started
56 Regarding the detectability of habitable exomoons (down to 0.2 Earth masses) in extrasolar
systems see Kipling et al. 2009. For the estimation of their habitability via transit photometry
see Kaltenegger 2010.
57 For an interesting book-length survey of the historical evolution of the debate in the West from
antiquity to the 20th century see Crowe 1999. For a shorter history of the concept of
extraterrestrial intelligence see Tipler 1981.
58 Among the reasons for the growing acceptance of the hypothesis of ETI within the scientific
community, Tipler (1981) lists the nebular hypothesis of planetary formation (allowing for
extrasolar planets), the results of the Urey-Miller experiment, the development of radio
astronomy and the (at the time) general acceptance of a steady-state cosmological model.
59 In 1959 Cocconi and Morrison published a paper in Nature titled Searching for Interstellar
Communications where they put forward the hypothesis that 'it is highly probably that for a long
time they [extraterrestrials] will have been expecting the development of science near the Sun'
so that '[w]e shall assume that long ago they established a channel of communication that
would one day become known to us, and that they look forward patiently to the answering
signals from the Sun which would make known to them that a new society has entered the
community of intelligence' (Cocconi and Morrison 1959: 844). The two astronomers went on to
his so-called 'Project Ozma' by slewing the 26-metre dish of the National Radio
Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia towards a series of known
sun-like stars, hence starting the search for extraterrestrial signals. In 1961, a
private gathering, organized J. P. T. Pearman and convened by the Space Science
Board, at Green Bank, dealt with the subject of ’Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life.’
Following the publication of Cocconi and Morrison's seminal paper on SETI and
Drake's pioneering Project Ozma, the aim of the meeting was, in Pearman's words:

to examine, in the light of present knowledge, the prospects for the existence of other
societies in the galaxy with whom communications might be possible; to attempt an
estimate of their number; to consider some of the technical problems involved in the
establishment of communication; and to examine ways in which our understanding of
the problem might be improved.

(quoted in Dick 1993)

Among the attendees of the Green Bank conference were Giuseppe Cocconi,
Philip Morrison, Frank Drake and Carl Sagan. Ozma thus evolved into the SETI
project, which was taken as an object of a thorough investigation by NASA in
1971. The result was a long report known as Project Cyclops (see NASA 1971): the
report (compiled by Bernard Oliver and John Billingham) enumerated a number of
conclusions and guidelines regarding the technicalities of the search, followed by
more general remarks regarding the its capital importance.60 The Cyclops report
popularized the SETI project among the scientific community and the general
public, and stimulated a series of related initiatives, mainly in the United States.
In 1984, the SETI institute was established by Drake in Mountain View, California,
close to the Ames Laboratory. In 1988 the US congress authorized funding for SETI
and in 1992 (a year chosen as being the 500th anniversary of Columbus discovery

discuss a preferred channel for this signal to be sent (and received by us) identifying it to be at
1420 Megacycles per second (today more commonly indicated as MHz), the 21cm line of
neutral hydrogen. The two scientists wisely concluded their speculative proposal by observing
that '[t]he probability of success is difficult to estimate; but if we never search the chance of
success is zero' (1959: 846).
60 Point 12 of the conclusions reads: 'The search will almost certainly take years, perhaps decades
and possibly centuries. To undertake so enduring a program requires not only that the search be
highly automated, it requires a long term funding commitment. This in turn requires faith. Faith
that the quest is worth the effort, faith that man will survive to reap the benefits of success, and
faith that other races are, and have been, equally curious and determined to expand their
horizons. We are almost certainly not the first intelligent species to undertake the search. The
first races to do so undoubtedly followed their listening phase with long transmission epochs,
and so have later races to enter the search. Their perseverance will be our greatest asset in our
beginning listening phase. (NASA 1971: 170-171).
of the Americas) the High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) began at the
Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex (for an all-sky survey) and the
Arecibo Observatory (for a targeted search). State funding, however, lasted for
only one year, and from 1993 to this day the SETI project has been privately
funded.61

Organizing the Green Bank conference, Frank Drake sought a way to

quantify the probabilities that the SETI project could indeed detect a signal from
an extraterrestrial civilization62 by breaking it down into different factors, each of
which would be discussed in a separate section of the conference so to provide a
framework. The outcome was what has been since known as the Drake
Equation:63

N = R* fp ne fl fi fc L

61 For example, the recently constructed Allen Telescope Array (ATA), an array of radio telescopes
for radio interferometry in Northern California, was largely funded by the donation of Paul Allen
(co-founder of Microsoft).
62 What kind of signal? The possible scenarios usually presented are three: 1) a signal purposefully
directed at us; 2) a signal meant for communication with other colonies, or even with a third
civilization; 3) a signal 'leaked' out that wasn't meant as a form of communication but that
nonetheless is recognizably artificial. It is believed that only the first kind of signal will ever be
strong enough for us to receive. Antennas directed at small regions are much more efficient
than antennas radiating isotropically, and transmission is better at shorter wavelengths, where
power is more concentrated. Either we are the intended recipients of a message from ET or we
happen to lie precisely on the line between their transmitter and the receiver on a distant
colony. For a review of the energy requirements for interstellar signal transmission see Wilson
2001. Another branch of SETI, called CETI (Communication with ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence)
aims at overcoming this problem: we should start the communication, directing the signal
wherever we think there is more likely to be intelligent life. CETI scientists study possible ways
and 'languages' which the human race could employ to communicate with another civilization.
The best-known CETI experiment was the 1974 'Arecibo message' composed by Frank Drake
and Carl Sagan: the message, aimed at the globular star cluster M13, was a binary code
consisting of 1679 “bits” of information, which could be arranged to compose various 'pictures',
including a human figure, the dish of the Arecibo telescope, and a DNA double helix. Sagan
1975 collects a number of papers from the Soviet-American Conference on the Problems of
Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence, held at the Byurakan Astrophysical
Observatory in 1971.
63 Somewhat incorrectly, since it is not properly an equation in the strict sense (it does not
represent any regularity of nature), but more of a way to integrate a series of probabilities in a
single figure. The equation can be rewritten as N = RbL, where Rb is the factor of all the other
elements. There is not a single canonical form of the Drake equation, and indeed it can be
modified depending on the desired result of the analysis.
N represents the number of civilizations in our galaxy who are transmitting on the
radio part of the wavelength. This value is reached by multiplying a number of
factors: R* is the rate of star formation in the galaxy (actually the rate of star
formation some billion years ago, since we are looking for stars which can today
host a habitable planet).64 This is a value that we can today determine with some
degree of confidence (roughly by dividing the observable number of stars by the
lifetime of the galaxy) to be around an average of 30 stars per year which have
formed in our galaxy. The second value, fp , is the fraction of these stars that have
planets. We today have a fairly clear understanding of the process of planetary
formation through condensation of matter in a protoplanetary disk, and the direct
detection of exoplanets seems to confirm (hence seemingly correcting an
anthropic bias in our expectations) this hypothesis, if with some details in need of
clarification. The third value, ne, indicates the number of planets capable of
harbouring life. So far we don't have any direct detection of a planet which we
know to be in the habitable zone of a star. 65 However, we should note that the
value in the equation does not define the planet as necessarily being in the HZ: in
the 1960s Drake was not aware of the possibility for moons to have liquid water,
and we should correct this value adding the probability for systems of planetary
satellites to theoretically be able to host life.66 From the fourth value onwards (fl)
our contemporary scientific knowledge does not allow for any kind of empirically
based prediction, since fl indicates the fraction of these habitable planets that will
actually develop life. As I noted above, a sample of one (the emergence of life on
our own planet) does not allow for any reliable probabilistic reasoning, while at
the same time the current state of biology does not furnish us with a model of
defined steps in the process of biogenesis, a model that would allow us to

64 Indeed, one of the main shortcomings of the Drake equation of a whole is that it fails to take
into account a temporal dimension regarding the evolution of the galactic environment. For a
critique of the usefulness of the Drake equation along these lines see Cirkovic 2004.
65 The recently discovered Planet CoRoT-9b (a gas giant) yielding a ‘temperate’ photospheric
temperature estimated to be between 250 and 430 K is the known exoplanet which is closer to
the HZ values. See Deeg et al. 2010.
66 Given our incomplete understanding of the process of formation of Jovian and Saturnine
satellites (the two main systems of moons in our solar system), however, we cannot aim at
quantifying this uncertainty before future space missions will provide the date necessary to fill
out explanatory gaps. For a hypothesis on the origin of the differences between the Jovian and
the Saturnian satellites systems by simulating the growth and orbital migration of proto-
satellites in an accreting proto-satellite disk see Sasaki et al. 2010.
formulate predictions regarding the possibility of such a process taking place
elsewhere. The fifth value is possibly the most speculative, for fi indicates the
fraction of these life-forms that eventually develop intelligence and a civilization.
A number of unwarranted anthropic assumptions are present here, but two seem
to be especially prominent: first, that biology is a special route to intelligence,
second that intelligent life necessarily organizes itself into human-like collectives
(civilizations).67 Either way, as with fl there is no evidence whatsoever that can
help us determine what the factional value might be, as far as our knowledge
goes, it could be anywhere between 0 and 1. 68 The sixth value, fc, indicates the
fraction of these intelligent civilization that have developed technological
resources for the transmission of radio signals. The uncertainty of this value is
easy to explain, but note also that a temporal dimension is lacking here: even in
the extremely lucky hypothesis that such a 'radio-active' civilization flourished
close to the nearest star to us (Proxima Centauri) there is a time-window of about
4.2 years which should be accounted for (given the limited speed c of any
elecromagnetic signal). Every civilization that started radio communication later
than that would not be detectable by us.69 This problem of course becomes much
more severe when we consider a civilization dwelling on a planet some thousands
or even millions of light-years away. The final value, L, is equally speculative but,
in a sense, general enough to allow a more nuanced form of reasoning. L indicates
the lifetime of a 'radio-active' civilization: this implies the possibility for any
technologically advanced society to have the knowledge and resources to create
technologies able to annihilate civilization itself (the clearest example being any
weaponry which harnesses nuclear power). The issue of the longevity of
technological civilizations has created a particularly fertile speculative terrain for
probabilistic reasoning, which can be reflected back to our own civilization, and it
has been largely supported by at least one piece of 'data', (or lack thereof): the

67 See for example the thesis of paleontologist Simon Conway Morris (2003) who argued that the
emergence of life is an exceedingly rare phenomenon, but that wherever biological life arises
the evolutionary rational direction for it to go is towards intelligent life (resembling human):
intelligence would be a necessary feature of biology. For an opposing stance, see Gould 1989, a
classic exposition of natural selection as ruled by blind chance.
68 Optimistically, Carl Sagan assigned to fl a value of 1 with the famous line 'as soon as conditions
permit, up it pops!' (Sagan 1995: 1).
69 As a matter of fact, following Special Relativity, there can be no causal connection whatsoever
between us and this 'younger-than-4.2-years civilization'.
lack of any contact between us and a hypothetical extraterrestrial civilization.70

This kind of quantification of the probability of intelligent extraterrestrial life

suffers from several kinds of anthropic biases. The weak form of the anthropic
principle71 merely states that we are in risk of error in the interpretation of
astronomical and cosmological information unless due account is taken of the
biological restraints under which the information was acquired: the universe we
can observe is by necessity the kind of universe that allows for the existence of
living observers in the first place (observation selection effect). However, the
emphasis should fall on what kind of criteria we implicitly employ to define what
an observer is (i.e. dependent upon a certain familiar biochemistry). Indeed, the
SETI project is undergoing a series of self-examinations by its practitioners, aimed
at widening the search by making it receptive to yet unknown forms of
communications (perhaps made available by technologies which we cannot yet
imagine)72 and unexpected forms of life (far from both physical and mental
anthropocentric standards).73 On the other hand, it might well be possible that the
70 This is commonly known as 'Fermi's Paradox', after the Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, who first
formulated the 'paradox' (not really a paradox in the logical sense of the term, but more of an
inference justified by the empirical lack of data): if alien life is common, and since the galaxy is
old enough to have given millions of years to such a civilization (or civilizations, but even one
would be enough) to evolve and colonize it, why have we not had any contact with them yet?
Either there are some specific reasons why a civilization might not have desired/had the
possibility to get in touch with us or there is no such thing as an extraterrestrial civilization (for
a support of the latter thesis see Hart 1975). Cosmologist Brandon Carter and economist Robert
Hanson elaborated the notion of a 'Great Filter', a hypothetical barrier/event which represents
an insurmountable obstacle somewhere between the origin of simple life to the colonization of
the galaxy, which would then explain the lack of extraterrestrial contact (see Carter 1983 and
Hanson 1998). More recently philosopher Nick Bostrom expanded this notion, arguing that if
indeed the 'Great Silence' is caused by a Great Filter, we should hope not to find any form of life
at all in our own solar system, for this—probabilistically speaking—would place us closer to this
Great Filter, and hence extinction (the so-called 'Doomsday Argument'. See Bostrom 2008).
71 For a classic discussion of the anthropic cosmological principle in scientific practice see Barrow
and Tipler 1988. For an historical survey of its evolution from antiquity to the present day see
Cirkovic 2003. For a philosophical monograph on the anthropic principle and observation
selection effects see Bostrom 2002.
72 For example, it has recently been proposed that a technologically advanced civilization could
already be communicating with us, but in ways which we cannot yet detect. Learned et al.
(2008) recently hypothesized that neutrinos, if controlled, could be an effective mean of
interstellar communication given their extremely weak probability of interacting with the ISM,
hence granting a very clear signal. They proposed a method for intragalactic communication via
directed 6.3PeV beams of electron–anti-neutrinos, and other neutrinos, detectable by us with
our current neutrino detectors.
73 This requires also to relax our presuppositions regarding the nature of intelligence. Here is
where the SETI project and the research programs in Artificial Intelligence can converge: strictly
speaking, any self-sustaining system capable of organizing and reproducing information could
be 'intelligence', without the need of a biological support. Extraterrestrial intelligence could be a
set of parameters that we consider sufficient for the emergence of life (an
'anthropic environment') can only be seen as preconditions for basic forms of life,
as it is possible that complex multicellular life and intelligent life are indeed an
exceedingly rare phenomenon, no matter how 'friendly' or 'fine tuned' the
cosmological constraints are.74 Part of the effort in renewing SETI will be to correct
the biases which the project inherited from its past, as SETI's agenda has been
built upon the technology and the physical theories of the 1960's and 1970's.

Stewart and Cohen (2001) proposed a differentiation between parochial and

universal features of the universe, where a feature is universal simply if it has
evolved independently more than once (an example on an Earth-scale would be
the phenomenon of evolutionary convergence, the autonomous development of
morphological features in unrelated species, for example wings). Following this
terminology, to expect biological features to be as universal as physical ones
seems an unwarranted presupposition. The existence of a 'biological equivalent'
of the proton-proton chain (to give an example of a physical process regulated by
well-understood laws of nature) cannot be expected, at least until our
understanding of 'life' has improved enough to give us certainty about conditions
which surely cannot support it. And we are still far from that, having a sample of
one to operate with, our own biosphere. Life could indeed be an universal feature
of the universe, a necessary outcome of the historical unravelling of the laws of
physics75 but our peculiar form of life might well be a parochial one.

'machine-based' form of life. The idea of 'Von Neumann probe' (after the Hungarian
mathematician John Von Neumann (see Von Neumann 1966) i.e.a self-replicating machine is
sometimes employed to picture a possible non-biological form of intelligence, produced by a
biological civilization and sent out in the galaxy for colonization. Bracewell 1960 is the first
article proposing that our search for extraterrestrial life should start in our own solar system by
looking for probes sent here by advanced civilizations.
74 For a critique of such a misinterpretation of the anthropic principle see Gleiser 2010.
75 Yet this would not imply that intelligence–not necessarily biological intelligence—is an emergent
property of physics. Astronomer Paul Davies (2010) recently proposed the speculative thesis
that biological intelligence is indeed a transitory phenomenon, towards the development of
post-biological intelligence, grounding his observations on the developments of our own
civilization, and the progress in artificial intelligence research and in human prosthetics. These
kind of, unprovable but stimulating, hypotheses demonstrate not only how unclear our
understanding of biogenesis is, but how crucial the question of necessary or contingent
emergence of 'intelligence' out of 'life' is.
CONCLUSIONS

The scientifically regulated search for extraterrestrial life is a collective effort

which–perhaps more than any other single research project in contemporary
science—has such a large magnitude (and potential payoff) to justify the creation
of new sub-disciplines and the fusion of different branches of scientific inquiry.
Nowhere else in science do the limitations of our knowledge clash so strongly with
personal beliefs (wishful thinking) and metaphysical pre-assumptions when it
comes to the question of what 'life' is and how diffused it is on our galaxy (if at all)
and in the Universe. With the aim of keeping a scientifically sound position,
disregarding all information that is not derived from measurements, the best way
to proceed is to keep looking for traces of forms of life in our own solar system,
with future (perhaps manned) missions to Mars and to the Galileian moons and to
improve our instruments for the detection of exoplanets elsewhere in the galaxy.
However, it is certain that astrobiology is today a full-fledged science, surprisingly
capable of treating problems which only a few decades ago were reserved for
science-fiction literature. We can only hope that this trend will continue and, in the
meantime, encourage those who accompany standard methodologies with some
forms of educated guessing, speculating about that which we have yet to know.

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Online Resources

CoRoT Mission - http://smsc.cnes.fr/COROT/

Darwin Mission - http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120382_index_0_m.html
Exoplanets Orbit Database - http://exoplanets.org/
The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia - http://www.exoplanet.eu/
Kepler Mission - http://kepler.nasa.gov/
Terrestrial Planet Finder Mission - http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_index.cfm
SIM Lite Astrometric Observatory - http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/SIM/whatIsSIM/