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Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science





Posted on November 30, 2012 by Laura










4 Votes
Laura : please click on link bottom of this post to view videos

________________

A recent paper in the Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society A entitled “The implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life for religion”
asks about the future of religion: (i) Will confirmation of
extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI) cause terrestrial religion to
collapse? ‘No’ is the answer based upon a summary of the ‘Peters ETI
Religious Crisis Survey’. Then the paper examines four specific
challenges to traditional doctrinal belief likely to be raised at the
detection of ETI: (ii) What is the scope of God’s creation? (iii) What
can we expect regarding the moral character of ETI? (iv) Is one earthly
incarnation in Jesus Christ enough for the entire cosmos, or should we
expect multiple incarnations on multiple planets? (v) Will contact with
more advanced ETI diminish human dignity? More than probable contact
with extra-terrestrial intelligence will expand the Bible’s vision so
that all of creation— including the 13.7 billion year history of the
universe replete with all of God’s creatures— will be seen as the gift
of a loving and gracious God.

Should extraterretrials land of Earth and say “Take me to your leader,” they may end up in the office of Mazland Othman at the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Mazlan Othman, the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA),

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science 451809-space
Mazlan Othman has spent her life exploring the outer reaches
of humankind’s scientific exploration. Malaysia’s first astrophysicist,
she is currently Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs, which assists countries in the use space technology for
development, provides expert advice, and supports the work of the
intergovernmental UN body, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space (COPUOS).
With a scientific and technical subcommittee and a legal
subcommittee, the Committee builds international cooperation on complex
issues including space debris, space exploration, global planning with
relation to near-Earth objects and other significant concerns. In a year
that marks the 50th anniversary of human space flight and of the
creation of the Committee, Ms. Othman spoke to the UN News Centre about a
life with her feet on the ground and her head in the stars.

UN News Centre: You are the first astrophysicist of Malaysia, and a
woman in a male-dominated field. Were you always interested in space?

Mazlan Othman: I was always interested in physics believe it or not.
My first love was physics. And why I fell in love with physics – it’s
almost a cliché – is because of e=mc2. Not because it is such a
beautiful equation but because I thought: how could anything be so big? C
is the speed of light, it is a huge number, and even when you multiply
it by something small, it is still significant. This for some reason
stoked the imagination of the 15-year-old girl.

Through physics, I discovered that astrophysics, or the physics of
the stars, of the universe, was the most fascinating. Maybe that goes
back to the fact that even before I became a scientist I wanted to be
either an artist or to study English literature. My teachers insisted
that I should focus on science, and I did. Astrophysics brought the
circle closer, because that is where the aesthetics are. Have you ever
opened a book on astronomy or astrophysics? Full of inspiring pictures.
That’s where the aesthetics come from. And I was attracted to the fact
that there is a lot of philosophy in astrophysics. We have no clear
answers, and this is what drove me. So that’s how my interest in
astrophysics started, through physics as a vehicle.

What gets me excited is the fact that there is so much to inspire us
out there, especially when we talk about human space flight. I think it
is innate in human nature. We are always looking for something new out
there. Even going back to why human beings left Africa for instance –
I’m sure the reason was not just survival but this innate desire in the
human psyche to look for new things, to be in new places. That’s what
has excited me since I was small. Perhaps that’s what led me to look at
space.

UN News Centre: People around the world seemed to be galvanized by
space exploration and space science in the 1950s and 1960s. Do you think
public interest is waning today?

An edge-on view of the Sombrero galaxy. Relatively bright and with a
diameter of nearly one-fifth that of the full moon, it is easily seen
through small telescopes. The galaxy is one of the most massive objects
in the cluster of Virgo galaxies – equivalent to 800 billion suns.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Sombrero
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Mazlan Othman:


On the one hand, people take it for granted because we are so
successful. We can launch people into outer space and it’s only in very
rare moments that we get a disaster. Your satellites work like
clockwork. You don’t have to worry that your calls will be dropped, or
your GPS will not work anymore or that Google will no longer post this
picture. We are a victim of our own success in that sense.
But in terms of inspiring people, I don’t think it’s waning. Recently
there was a public holiday in Austria and we held a panel in the Vienna
Town Hall with astronauts and cosmonauts in the evening. And the place
was full, even though it was a holiday. I had to leave at 9:30 p.m. and
people were still queuing up for autographs from the astronauts and
cosmonauts. So people still get excited. Whenever I speak to children
about space their eyes light up. I have never failed to see people get
excited if I speak about space. It might look like interest is waning
but there is still a lot of interest.UN News Centre: Can the disparity
between countries who have the capacity to undertake space exploration
and those who do not reconciled? And what are the long-term
repercussions of this division?

Mazlan Othman: The good news is that this gap is getting smaller and
smaller. This is what I call a third wave of space exploration. The
first wave was, of course, what they call the arms race but there was
competition between the US and Russia [then part of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, or USSR] that led to a lot of development. The
second wave was when the private sector became interested, which led to
this big incentive to build satellites. Some of the richest companies in
the world today are those that own satellites for broadcasting and
other purposes. So the second wave was private sector involvement. We
are now in what I call the third wave because developing countries can
now surf the wave. There are improvements in our knowledge, there are
big leaps in technology that make building a satellite cheaper and
faster and you don’t need to be a Nobel laureate to try and build a
satellite.

A tower of gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the
Eagle Nebula. The tower is about 57 trillion miles high, about twice the
distance from our Sun to the next nearest star. Starlight illuminates
the tower’s rough surface.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Eagle_nebula
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



Most people don’t know this but countries like Algeria, Chile,
Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand — they all have their own satellites now.
They have space-satellite building capacity, so that gap is getting
smaller. Today when we talk about space exploration, we have to work
together. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov said “together we are better,” and
there is no area that demonstrates that more than going to space. To go
out into the universe costs a lot of money. We need all kinds of
technologies; we need all kinds of creative, innovative ideas. No one
country can do all of that. It is ripe for international cooperation.
And there is all this international cooperation. I believe the future is
bright in terms of us working together and not only solving the
problems of the Earth, but leaving the Earth.

UN News Centre: Given the problem of space debris, is it a positive
development that more countries can send satellites into orbit?Mazlan
Othman: That is, of course, a concern for us. There is already too much
debris right now, even without what we call the emerging countries being
there. I have to put my UN hat on and say that one of the
accomplishments of Committee (COPUOS) is the guidelines on space debris.
A guideline is not legally binding on the Member States. But we all
know that in order to protect the near space environment, we all need to
behave ourselves. For most countries, these are not just guidelines.
For them, when they contract a satellite, they make sure that the
satellite makers know that there are space debris concerns and what they
are.
So yes, we have a problem if everyone starts building satellites and
we don’t regulate them. There is a view that there are not enough
regulations out there, but my view – I think this applies to many areas
of activity – is that there are enough regulations, it’s a question of
how we enforce them. How we treat those issues, on an ethical basis.
There is a concern where some innovative ideas call for satellites the
size of a thumbnail. People are talking about launching swarms of these.
The good reason for doing so is that when you get them in a swarm, you
can change their shape up in space, like a swarm of bees, depending on
the application. It sounds exciting. But then there would be an issue of
space debris.

Now we are talking about universities building satellites, even high
schools building satellites. If they start launching them without any
regulation, of course we’ll get into trouble. But again, the regulations
are there, and the companies that launch these satellites into space,
they too must take responsibility and tell their clients they have to
register. Every university belongs to some country, so if there is a
regulation that says they must be registered with the government, there
is a means of control.

A sphere of gas floats in the depths of space. It is the result of
gas being shocked by expanding blast waves from a supernova, a powerful
stellar explosion in a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from
Earth. The supernova itself may have been visible in the southern
hemisphere around the year 1600.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Supernova-remnant
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: J. Hughes (Rutgers University)UN News Centre



Companies can launch from international waters and therefore fall
in a gap in international law — they are not a state and not launching
from within a state. Your thoughts?Mazlan Othman: Whether or not you
launch from international waters, the rocket must be registered to a
company or a country. It doesn’t matter where it is launched from.
Orbital Sciences is a US company that launches from Malaysia because we
have a good equatorial site. But because the rocket is launched by
Orbital Sciences, they have to take responsibility for that launch.
UN News Centre: Is a solution to space debris possible?

Mazlan Othman: We do not have a solution for cleaning it up. Any
technology that is going to help us clean up space debris is not there.
If anyone tells you they have a good solution, they should quickly tell
us and they will make a lot of money!

Space debris is very high on the UN agenda. COPUOS deals with issues
of the international legal regime of space and the guidelines and
protocols. The issue is not forgotten, it is very much on the front
burner.

The ISS is an international research station in low Earth orbit, the
result of cooperation and partnership between the space agencies of
Canada (CSA), Europe (ESA), Japan (JAXA), Russian Federation (RKA) and
United States (NASA).
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science ISS2


UN News Centre: Is leaving planet Earth the future for humankind?

Mazlan Othman: We’ve always wanted to go to Mars, and there is the
Russian programme called Mars 500 where they experiment with people
living in isolation for long periods of time. There are so many missions
doing recces to Mars to see if we could land, where we could land. We
need a lot more information on Mars. The desire to leave Earth to set up
an international orbiting space station was there and we achieved it.
There was MIR [the Soviet and later Russian space station, operational
in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001] and now there is the international
space station [ISS]. There is this desire to establish a colony on the
Moon. It makes sense because it could be stepping stone to other parts
of space. The moon has a lower gravity than the Earth, only a sixth of
the gravity, so if you launch from the moon, you will have to use less
energy and you will of course go further. The desire to go to Mars is
because it is somewhat different. You can imagine space tourism to Mars.
Wouldn’t you like to go?
UN News Centre: Is the interest in space exploration at the expense
of protecting the environment of Earth?Mazlan Othman: It doesn’t have to
be. We need not go to space at the expense of Earth. If you look at
where NASA [the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration] is
launching from, Cape Canaveral, they have put in draconian environmental
measures there. This can be done, it’s a matter of ethics. The
guidelines are there. For me, the destruction of the ecosystem by
rockets is very small. On the other hand, there are remote sensing
satellites up there taking pictures of the Earth and telling us what is
going wrong with our planet.

After more than five months on board the International Space Station,
Russian Cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA
Astronaut Ron Garan return to Earth. Above, the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft
lands in Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on 16 September 2011.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Touchdown
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls



UN News Centre: Given the size of the universe, is extraterrestrial life a certainty?

Mazlan Othman: Extraterrestrial life is a significant field of
scientific endeavour today. We have a subject called astrobiology, which
means studying the possible biological conditions that might exist on
other planets not only around our sun but around other stars. Since we
have been able to detect extra-solar planets, or planets outside our
solar system, this has become a very respectable scientific study. Just
think about it: in our galaxy alone, there are billions upon billions of
stars many of them similar to the sun. Then there billions upon
billions of galaxies in the universe. You look at all those numbers,
that’s a heck of a lot of zeros! Even if the possibility is one in a
trillion, there are a trillion trillion stars in the universe. The
chances of life outside of the Earth are not zero. They may not be
significant but they are definitely not zero.
Life can exist in harsh environments. On our own Earth, bacteria,
single-cell life has been found in the vents of volcanoes, under the ice
in Antarctica. If you think about that, even if the other planets have
harsh environments, there could still be life. But don’t imagine that to
mean life like you and me with two hands, two legs. When people talk
about life, you see something with eyes or one big eye, legs. Can you
imagine a situation where life has evolved so much that life exists only
in an energy form? Life could evolve so much that it does not need a
physical form. If that sort of life communicated with you, it wouldn’t
need to know any particular language, it would just need to read your
brain waves.So there is primitive life, single-cell life; there could
also be life as evolved as pure energy form, and then there is
everything else in between. Philosophically, scientifically,
religiously, whatever way you look at it, the possibilities are there.

UN News Centre: Are we ready to have an encounter?

Mazlan Othman: I don’t know. Extraterrestrial life has always been
associated with aliens and UFOs, there has always been what we call this
‘giggle factor” or scepticism. I suspect that even some good scientists
who may have thought that they had encountered something unusual would
not talk about it openly. And so extraterrestrial life must take root as
a scientific discussion. Once it takes root and people throw away the
idea of it being frivolous or the work of charlatans, people will start
seeing it for what it really is.

UN News Centre: Do science fiction books and popular movies detract from the evolution of thinking?

In this episode of sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, “To Serve Man,”
the UN membership deals with the arrival on Earth of telepathic aliens,
ostensibly to help mankind. (Use of clip from The Twilight Zone –
Courtesy of CBS Broadcasting Inc.)Mazlan Othman: Yes, in that they raise
strange expectations, but on the other hand they are doing a lot in
terms of creating awareness that there might be life out there. The good
news is that the Royal Society [a UK-based fellowship of eminent
scientists and the world’s oldest scientific academy] is holding
workshops and discussions on extraterrestrial life. This is a well
respected scientific organization and it brings together all the
different aspects, including religious, anthropological, scientific and
social aspects of the subject. I heard the other day discussion on what
language we might use, and they went into all kinds of issues, including
the language of dolphins. Why can’t there be other forms of language?
As I said, it is being discussed at the Royal Society. I hope this will
gain momentum and people will take this seriously from the scientific
point of view.

The International Space Station.
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science 06512A4-ESA
Credit: NASA and ESA.



UN News Centre: The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space is marking its fiftieth year. How would you characterize its
success?

Mazlan Othman: The last 50 years have enabled an environment where
we are talking to each other, and that is the best role that the UN can
play. As long as we are talking to each other, we are not hitting each
other. Through the Committee, we have come up with the outer space
treaties and conventions; how to register satellites; what do you do if
you find an object from outer space that is not yours; what are the
liabilities apart from the duties and conventions. There are principles:
principles of remote sensing, of telecommunications, lately guidelines
on space debris, safety frameworks for using nuclear power sources in
space. We continue to work on space debris, we look at the possibility
of a near-Earth object or NEO hitting the Earth and what we would do.
Apart from the possible contact with extraterrestrial life, the other
interesting issue is what happens if a big asteroid or some rock out
there comes to earth and causes all kinds of mayhem. These are issues
being considered by the Committee. Now one of the biggest subjects is
the long-term sustainability of space activities, what must we do now to
ensure that future generations are able to do in space what we are
doing now.I think the Committee is going in the right direction. Some
people feel it should work faster, or look at more issues, but the
Committee is conservative in a certain sense. Let’s take the issue of
extraterrestrial life. Someone might ask why is not an agenda item yet.
The answer is that extraterrestrial life has not yet been put on a
scientific foundation. Before something comes to the Committee, there
has to be a very strong scientific foundation, and this can be dealt
with by the scientific and technical subcommittee. Then, when those
issues are pretty much resolved, we can take them on to the legal
subcommittee. Space debris is such an issue. We discussed space debris
from the scientific point of view for years after which we were then
confident enough to come up with guidelines. And now the legal
subcommittee is looking at which countries are enforcing space debris
mitigation. So while it is slow, everything has to be well-established
so we have a good plan on how to move forward.

A large spiral galaxy, known as UGC 1810, with a disk that is
distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the
companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Interacting-Galaxies
Credit: NASA, ESA, and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



UN News Centre: Near-Earth objects are a subject of a great deal of
attention. Would there be enough time to mitigate the effects of a
crash?
Mazlan Othman: If an asteroid were small enough and coming from
behind the sun we would have little time. But we now have a network of
observatories that continuously monitor asteroids. This is the reason
why we have the scientific discussions at the UN because it is through
the UN that together we can coordinate on what each observatory can do
and compile the information. You may have heard that there was an
asteroid that might hit the earth in 2036 or 2017, so you see it can be
predicted before. Because we are in a position to predict some of these
encounters and because we feel that we may have the technologies to
mitigate the aftermath, we have a responsibility to try and do
something. Even if we could predict and couldn’t do anything but know,
we may have the means to mitigate impact, so we are obligated to come
together and discuss the matter. Whose decision would it be? It is a
global, international decision, not of any one country.UN News Centre:
You suggest that it become a matter for the Security Council?

Mazlan Othman: Yes, there is a proposal and it appears to be making
traction. I’m not saying it is going to be approved. I have heard some
speeches where some people think it is the only body that can make a
decision that affects the security of the entire Earth. It could be the
only body to do that, but there has not yet been a decision.

UN News Centre: What do you like best about your job?

Mazlan Othman: I’m being paid to carry out my hobby. I have always
loved the stars, and of course I have now gone into a completely
different environment or career, where we are talking about space law,
but that doesn’t stop me from being inspired by the stars on a daily
basis. I still read books and journals about astrophysics.

UN News Centre: Would you like to travel to outer space?

Mazlan Othman: I had a chance when I was head of the national space
agency in Malaysia. I came up with the astronaut programme. There was a
selection process, and I could have been part of it but the prime
minister told me I had to manage the whole programme, and so it was a
conflict of interest if I was to create the criteria etc. and become one
of the people applying. The easy way out would have been, now that I
have the programme: I leave, let somebody else manage it, and apply. I
didn’t think that was a solution because they needed me to carry the
programme forward from a management point of view, so I gave up. Now I’m
no longer working for the government. If someone said to me, “Mazlan,
here’s an offer to go to space,” yes of course I’d go! I’d go without
batting an eyelid.

A wide view of the Eagle Nebula.
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Hubble-eagle-nebula-wide-field
Credit: NASA



UN News Centre: You have worked on building bridges between science and the arts. Why is this of so much interest to you?
Mazlan Othman: In terms of linking the arts and sciences, it was
brought very painfully to my attention when I set up the planetarium in
Malaysia. You need to put up planetarium shows, and that required me
translating my science into some kind of medium that would entertain the
public. I was looking for script writers, artists to translate the
science into something more artistic. I didn’t find any. I started a
series of science-inspired arts camps where I brought prominent artists
in various mediums. I had performing artists, writers, visual artists,
poets, come together with scientists who gave them insight into what is a
rock, what are the stars, what are the trees, to give them more
inspiration, especially writers, on how you can translate scientific
ideas to make them attractive, especially to children. The planetarium
was always a showcase of the combination of the two.UN News Centre: How
do you feel about being one of the few women in astrophysics?

Mazlan Othman: Yes, this is one field of science that continues to be
male-dominated. If you look at the biological sciences, there are equal
numbers of men and women. This field does not attract as many women.

My father always taught me that I could do anything I wanted. I was
always the only girl in the class, things like that. I am lucky in that
my prime minister gave me so much leeway and so many opportunities. He
was gender-blind. He always looked at me as a person who could do the
job. Therefore, I never had to feel I was being favoured as a woman or
being discriminated against as a woman.

Now when I look back, I can see where the crossroads were between doing something and not having been supposed to do something.

UN News Centre: What do you love about space?

Mazlan Othman: I identify with the inspiration to reach beyond
yourself and space, whether it’s the science, the physical or the
philosophical, you have to expand yourself beyond what you know, do,
feel. You always have to expand yourself and think outside of the box.
That has always excited me about being in the space business. If you
look at the beauty out there, even our best artists have not envisaged
it. As an artist you must be really thinking differently to come up with
something beautiful, but even artists have not been able to replicate
the creation out there, not only the stars but the nebula, the galaxies.
It is unimaginable until you see it.


Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science.
Th
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science





Posted on November 30, 2012 by Laura










4 Votes
Laura : please click on link bottom of this post to view videos

________________

A recent paper in the Philisophical Transactions of the Royal Society A entitled “The implications of the discovery of extra-terrestrial life for religion”
asks about the future of religion: (i) Will confirmation of
extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETI) cause terrestrial religion to
collapse? ‘No’ is the answer based upon a summary of the ‘Peters ETI
Religious Crisis Survey’. Then the paper examines four specific
challenges to traditional doctrinal belief likely to be raised at the
detection of ETI: (ii) What is the scope of God’s creation? (iii) What
can we expect regarding the moral character of ETI? (iv) Is one earthly
incarnation in Jesus Christ enough for the entire cosmos, or should we
expect multiple incarnations on multiple planets? (v) Will contact with
more advanced ETI diminish human dignity? More than probable contact
with extra-terrestrial intelligence will expand the Bible’s vision so
that all of creation— including the 13.7 billion year history of the
universe replete with all of God’s creatures— will be seen as the gift
of a loving and gracious God.

Should extraterretrials land of Earth and say “Take me to your leader,” they may end up in the office of Mazland Othman at the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA).

Mazlan Othman, the Director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA),

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science 451809-space
Mazlan Othman has spent her life exploring the outer reaches
of humankind’s scientific exploration. Malaysia’s first astrophysicist,
she is currently Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs, which assists countries in the use space technology for
development, provides expert advice, and supports the work of the
intergovernmental UN body, the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space (COPUOS).
With a scientific and technical subcommittee and a legal
subcommittee, the Committee builds international cooperation on complex
issues including space debris, space exploration, global planning with
relation to near-Earth objects and other significant concerns. In a year
that marks the 50th anniversary of human space flight and of the
creation of the Committee, Ms. Othman spoke to the UN News Centre about a
life with her feet on the ground and her head in the stars.

UN News Centre: You are the first astrophysicist of Malaysia, and a
woman in a male-dominated field. Were you always interested in space?

Mazlan Othman: I was always interested in physics believe it or not.
My first love was physics. And why I fell in love with physics – it’s
almost a cliché – is because of e=mc2. Not because it is such a
beautiful equation but because I thought: how could anything be so big? C
is the speed of light, it is a huge number, and even when you multiply
it by something small, it is still significant. This for some reason
stoked the imagination of the 15-year-old girl.

Through physics, I discovered that astrophysics, or the physics of
the stars, of the universe, was the most fascinating. Maybe that goes
back to the fact that even before I became a scientist I wanted to be
either an artist or to study English literature. My teachers insisted
that I should focus on science, and I did. Astrophysics brought the
circle closer, because that is where the aesthetics are. Have you ever
opened a book on astronomy or astrophysics? Full of inspiring pictures.
That’s where the aesthetics come from. And I was attracted to the fact
that there is a lot of philosophy in astrophysics. We have no clear
answers, and this is what drove me. So that’s how my interest in
astrophysics started, through physics as a vehicle.

What gets me excited is the fact that there is so much to inspire us
out there, especially when we talk about human space flight. I think it
is innate in human nature. We are always looking for something new out
there. Even going back to why human beings left Africa for instance –
I’m sure the reason was not just survival but this innate desire in the
human psyche to look for new things, to be in new places. That’s what
has excited me since I was small. Perhaps that’s what led me to look at
space.

UN News Centre: People around the world seemed to be galvanized by
space exploration and space science in the 1950s and 1960s. Do you think
public interest is waning today?

An edge-on view of the Sombrero galaxy. Relatively bright and with a
diameter of nearly one-fifth that of the full moon, it is easily seen
through small telescopes. The galaxy is one of the most massive objects
in the cluster of Virgo galaxies – equivalent to 800 billion suns.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Sombrero
Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)Mazlan Othman:


On the one hand, people take it for granted because we are so
successful. We can launch people into outer space and it’s only in very
rare moments that we get a disaster. Your satellites work like
clockwork. You don’t have to worry that your calls will be dropped, or
your GPS will not work anymore or that Google will no longer post this
picture. We are a victim of our own success in that sense.
But in terms of inspiring people, I don’t think it’s waning. Recently
there was a public holiday in Austria and we held a panel in the Vienna
Town Hall with astronauts and cosmonauts in the evening. And the place
was full, even though it was a holiday. I had to leave at 9:30 p.m. and
people were still queuing up for autographs from the astronauts and
cosmonauts. So people still get excited. Whenever I speak to children
about space their eyes light up. I have never failed to see people get
excited if I speak about space. It might look like interest is waning
but there is still a lot of interest.UN News Centre: Can the disparity
between countries who have the capacity to undertake space exploration
and those who do not reconciled? And what are the long-term
repercussions of this division?

Mazlan Othman: The good news is that this gap is getting smaller and
smaller. This is what I call a third wave of space exploration. The
first wave was, of course, what they call the arms race but there was
competition between the US and Russia [then part of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics, or USSR] that led to a lot of development. The
second wave was when the private sector became interested, which led to
this big incentive to build satellites. Some of the richest companies in
the world today are those that own satellites for broadcasting and
other purposes. So the second wave was private sector involvement. We
are now in what I call the third wave because developing countries can
now surf the wave. There are improvements in our knowledge, there are
big leaps in technology that make building a satellite cheaper and
faster and you don’t need to be a Nobel laureate to try and build a
satellite.

A tower of gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery called the
Eagle Nebula. The tower is about 57 trillion miles high, about twice the
distance from our Sun to the next nearest star. Starlight illuminates
the tower’s rough surface.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Eagle_nebula
Credit: NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



Most people don’t know this but countries like Algeria, Chile,
Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand — they all have their own satellites now.
They have space-satellite building capacity, so that gap is getting
smaller. Today when we talk about space exploration, we have to work
together. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov said “together we are better,” and
there is no area that demonstrates that more than going to space. To go
out into the universe costs a lot of money. We need all kinds of
technologies; we need all kinds of creative, innovative ideas. No one
country can do all of that. It is ripe for international cooperation.
And there is all this international cooperation. I believe the future is
bright in terms of us working together and not only solving the
problems of the Earth, but leaving the Earth.

UN News Centre: Given the problem of space debris, is it a positive
development that more countries can send satellites into orbit?Mazlan
Othman: That is, of course, a concern for us. There is already too much
debris right now, even without what we call the emerging countries being
there. I have to put my UN hat on and say that one of the
accomplishments of Committee (COPUOS) is the guidelines on space debris.
A guideline is not legally binding on the Member States. But we all
know that in order to protect the near space environment, we all need to
behave ourselves. For most countries, these are not just guidelines.
For them, when they contract a satellite, they make sure that the
satellite makers know that there are space debris concerns and what they
are.
So yes, we have a problem if everyone starts building satellites and
we don’t regulate them. There is a view that there are not enough
regulations out there, but my view – I think this applies to many areas
of activity – is that there are enough regulations, it’s a question of
how we enforce them. How we treat those issues, on an ethical basis.
There is a concern where some innovative ideas call for satellites the
size of a thumbnail. People are talking about launching swarms of these.
The good reason for doing so is that when you get them in a swarm, you
can change their shape up in space, like a swarm of bees, depending on
the application. It sounds exciting. But then there would be an issue of
space debris.

Now we are talking about universities building satellites, even high
schools building satellites. If they start launching them without any
regulation, of course we’ll get into trouble. But again, the regulations
are there, and the companies that launch these satellites into space,
they too must take responsibility and tell their clients they have to
register. Every university belongs to some country, so if there is a
regulation that says they must be registered with the government, there
is a means of control.

A sphere of gas floats in the depths of space. It is the result of
gas being shocked by expanding blast waves from a supernova, a powerful
stellar explosion in a small galaxy about 160,000 light-years from
Earth. The supernova itself may have been visible in the southern
hemisphere around the year 1600.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Supernova-remnant
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA) Acknowledgment: J. Hughes (Rutgers University)UN News Centre



Companies can launch from international waters and therefore fall
in a gap in international law — they are not a state and not launching
from within a state. Your thoughts?Mazlan Othman: Whether or not you
launch from international waters, the rocket must be registered to a
company or a country. It doesn’t matter where it is launched from.
Orbital Sciences is a US company that launches from Malaysia because we
have a good equatorial site. But because the rocket is launched by
Orbital Sciences, they have to take responsibility for that launch.
UN News Centre: Is a solution to space debris possible?

Mazlan Othman: We do not have a solution for cleaning it up. Any
technology that is going to help us clean up space debris is not there.
If anyone tells you they have a good solution, they should quickly tell
us and they will make a lot of money!

Space debris is very high on the UN agenda. COPUOS deals with issues
of the international legal regime of space and the guidelines and
protocols. The issue is not forgotten, it is very much on the front
burner.

The ISS is an international research station in low Earth orbit, the
result of cooperation and partnership between the space agencies of
Canada (CSA), Europe (ESA), Japan (JAXA), Russian Federation (RKA) and
United States (NASA).
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science ISS2


UN News Centre: Is leaving planet Earth the future for humankind?

Mazlan Othman: We’ve always wanted to go to Mars, and there is the
Russian programme called Mars 500 where they experiment with people
living in isolation for long periods of time. There are so many missions
doing recces to Mars to see if we could land, where we could land. We
need a lot more information on Mars. The desire to leave Earth to set up
an international orbiting space station was there and we achieved it.
There was MIR [the Soviet and later Russian space station, operational
in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001] and now there is the international
space station [ISS]. There is this desire to establish a colony on the
Moon. It makes sense because it could be stepping stone to other parts
of space. The moon has a lower gravity than the Earth, only a sixth of
the gravity, so if you launch from the moon, you will have to use less
energy and you will of course go further. The desire to go to Mars is
because it is somewhat different. You can imagine space tourism to Mars.
Wouldn’t you like to go?
UN News Centre: Is the interest in space exploration at the expense
of protecting the environment of Earth?Mazlan Othman: It doesn’t have to
be. We need not go to space at the expense of Earth. If you look at
where NASA [the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration] is
launching from, Cape Canaveral, they have put in draconian environmental
measures there. This can be done, it’s a matter of ethics. The
guidelines are there. For me, the destruction of the ecosystem by
rockets is very small. On the other hand, there are remote sensing
satellites up there taking pictures of the Earth and telling us what is
going wrong with our planet.

After more than five months on board the International Space Station,
Russian Cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Alexander Samokutyaev, and NASA
Astronaut Ron Garan return to Earth. Above, the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft
lands in Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on 16 September 2011.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Touchdown
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls



UN News Centre: Given the size of the universe, is extraterrestrial life a certainty?

Mazlan Othman: Extraterrestrial life is a significant field of
scientific endeavour today. We have a subject called astrobiology, which
means studying the possible biological conditions that might exist on
other planets not only around our sun but around other stars. Since we
have been able to detect extra-solar planets, or planets outside our
solar system, this has become a very respectable scientific study. Just
think about it: in our galaxy alone, there are billions upon billions of
stars many of them similar to the sun. Then there billions upon
billions of galaxies in the universe. You look at all those numbers,
that’s a heck of a lot of zeros! Even if the possibility is one in a
trillion, there are a trillion trillion stars in the universe. The
chances of life outside of the Earth are not zero. They may not be
significant but they are definitely not zero.
Life can exist in harsh environments. On our own Earth, bacteria,
single-cell life has been found in the vents of volcanoes, under the ice
in Antarctica. If you think about that, even if the other planets have
harsh environments, there could still be life. But don’t imagine that to
mean life like you and me with two hands, two legs. When people talk
about life, you see something with eyes or one big eye, legs. Can you
imagine a situation where life has evolved so much that life exists only
in an energy form? Life could evolve so much that it does not need a
physical form. If that sort of life communicated with you, it wouldn’t
need to know any particular language, it would just need to read your
brain waves.So there is primitive life, single-cell life; there could
also be life as evolved as pure energy form, and then there is
everything else in between. Philosophically, scientifically,
religiously, whatever way you look at it, the possibilities are there.

UN News Centre: Are we ready to have an encounter?

Mazlan Othman: I don’t know. Extraterrestrial life has always been
associated with aliens and UFOs, there has always been what we call this
‘giggle factor” or scepticism. I suspect that even some good scientists
who may have thought that they had encountered something unusual would
not talk about it openly. And so extraterrestrial life must take root as
a scientific discussion. Once it takes root and people throw away the
idea of it being frivolous or the work of charlatans, people will start
seeing it for what it really is.

UN News Centre: Do science fiction books and popular movies detract from the evolution of thinking?

In this episode of sci-fi series The Twilight Zone, “To Serve Man,”
the UN membership deals with the arrival on Earth of telepathic aliens,
ostensibly to help mankind. (Use of clip from The Twilight Zone –
Courtesy of CBS Broadcasting Inc.)Mazlan Othman: Yes, in that they raise
strange expectations, but on the other hand they are doing a lot in
terms of creating awareness that there might be life out there. The good
news is that the Royal Society [a UK-based fellowship of eminent
scientists and the world’s oldest scientific academy] is holding
workshops and discussions on extraterrestrial life. This is a well
respected scientific organization and it brings together all the
different aspects, including religious, anthropological, scientific and
social aspects of the subject. I heard the other day discussion on what
language we might use, and they went into all kinds of issues, including
the language of dolphins. Why can’t there be other forms of language?
As I said, it is being discussed at the Royal Society. I hope this will
gain momentum and people will take this seriously from the scientific
point of view.

The International Space Station.
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science 06512A4-ESA
Credit: NASA and ESA.



UN News Centre: The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer
Space is marking its fiftieth year. How would you characterize its
success?

Mazlan Othman: The last 50 years have enabled an environment where
we are talking to each other, and that is the best role that the UN can
play. As long as we are talking to each other, we are not hitting each
other. Through the Committee, we have come up with the outer space
treaties and conventions; how to register satellites; what do you do if
you find an object from outer space that is not yours; what are the
liabilities apart from the duties and conventions. There are principles:
principles of remote sensing, of telecommunications, lately guidelines
on space debris, safety frameworks for using nuclear power sources in
space. We continue to work on space debris, we look at the possibility
of a near-Earth object or NEO hitting the Earth and what we would do.
Apart from the possible contact with extraterrestrial life, the other
interesting issue is what happens if a big asteroid or some rock out
there comes to earth and causes all kinds of mayhem. These are issues
being considered by the Committee. Now one of the biggest subjects is
the long-term sustainability of space activities, what must we do now to
ensure that future generations are able to do in space what we are
doing now.I think the Committee is going in the right direction. Some
people feel it should work faster, or look at more issues, but the
Committee is conservative in a certain sense. Let’s take the issue of
extraterrestrial life. Someone might ask why is not an agenda item yet.
The answer is that extraterrestrial life has not yet been put on a
scientific foundation. Before something comes to the Committee, there
has to be a very strong scientific foundation, and this can be dealt
with by the scientific and technical subcommittee. Then, when those
issues are pretty much resolved, we can take them on to the legal
subcommittee. Space debris is such an issue. We discussed space debris
from the scientific point of view for years after which we were then
confident enough to come up with guidelines. And now the legal
subcommittee is looking at which countries are enforcing space debris
mitigation. So while it is slow, everything has to be well-established
so we have a good plan on how to move forward.

A large spiral galaxy, known as UGC 1810, with a disk that is
distorted into a rose-like shape by the gravitational tidal pull of the
companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.

Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Interacting-Galaxies
Credit: NASA, ESA, and Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)



UN News Centre: Near-Earth objects are a subject of a great deal of
attention. Would there be enough time to mitigate the effects of a
crash?
Mazlan Othman: If an asteroid were small enough and coming from
behind the sun we would have little time. But we now have a network of
observatories that continuously monitor asteroids. This is the reason
why we have the scientific discussions at the UN because it is through
the UN that together we can coordinate on what each observatory can do
and compile the information. You may have heard that there was an
asteroid that might hit the earth in 2036 or 2017, so you see it can be
predicted before. Because we are in a position to predict some of these
encounters and because we feel that we may have the technologies to
mitigate the aftermath, we have a responsibility to try and do
something. Even if we could predict and couldn’t do anything but know,
we may have the means to mitigate impact, so we are obligated to come
together and discuss the matter. Whose decision would it be? It is a
global, international decision, not of any one country.UN News Centre:
You suggest that it become a matter for the Security Council?

Mazlan Othman: Yes, there is a proposal and it appears to be making
traction. I’m not saying it is going to be approved. I have heard some
speeches where some people think it is the only body that can make a
decision that affects the security of the entire Earth. It could be the
only body to do that, but there has not yet been a decision.

UN News Centre: What do you like best about your job?

Mazlan Othman: I’m being paid to carry out my hobby. I have always
loved the stars, and of course I have now gone into a completely
different environment or career, where we are talking about space law,
but that doesn’t stop me from being inspired by the stars on a daily
basis. I still read books and journals about astrophysics.

UN News Centre: Would you like to travel to outer space?

Mazlan Othman: I had a chance when I was head of the national space
agency in Malaysia. I came up with the astronaut programme. There was a
selection process, and I could have been part of it but the prime
minister told me I had to manage the whole programme, and so it was a
conflict of interest if I was to create the criteria etc. and become one
of the people applying. The easy way out would have been, now that I
have the programme: I leave, let somebody else manage it, and apply. I
didn’t think that was a solution because they needed me to carry the
programme forward from a management point of view, so I gave up. Now I’m
no longer working for the government. If someone said to me, “Mazlan,
here’s an offer to go to space,” yes of course I’d go! I’d go without
batting an eyelid.

A wide view of the Eagle Nebula.
Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science Hubble-eagle-nebula-wide-field
Credit: NASA



UN News Centre: You have worked on building bridges between science and the arts. Why is this of so much interest to you?
Mazlan Othman: In terms of linking the arts and sciences, it was
brought very painfully to my attention when I set up the planetarium in
Malaysia. You need to put up planetarium shows, and that required me
translating my science into some kind of medium that would entertain the
public. I was looking for script writers, artists to translate the
science into something more artistic. I didn’t find any. I started a
series of science-inspired arts camps where I brought prominent artists
in various mediums. I had performing artists, writers, visual artists,
poets, come together with scientists who gave them insight into what is a
rock, what are the stars, what are the trees, to give them more
inspiration, especially writers, on how you can translate scientific
ideas to make them attractive, especially to children. The planetarium
was always a showcase of the combination of the two.UN News Centre: How
do you feel about being one of the few women in astrophysics?

Mazlan Othman: Yes, this is one field of science that continues to be
male-dominated. If you look at the biological sciences, there are equal
numbers of men and women. This field does not attract as many women.

My father always taught me that I could do anything I wanted. I was
always the only girl in the class, things like that. I am lucky in that
my prime minister gave me so much leeway and so many opportunities. He
was gender-blind. He always looked at me as a person who could do the
job. Therefore, I never had to feel I was being favoured as a woman or
being discriminated against as a woman.

Now when I look back, I can see where the crossroads were between doing something and not having been supposed to do something.

UN News Centre: What do you love about space?

Mazlan Othman: I identify with the inspiration to reach beyond
yourself and space, whether it’s the science, the physical or the
philosophical, you have to expand yourself beyond what you know, do,
feel. You always have to expand yourself and think outside of the box.
That has always excited me about being in the space business. If you
look at the beauty out there, even our best artists have not envisaged
it. As an artist you must be really thinking differently to come up with
something beautiful, but even artists have not been able to replicate
the creation out there, not only the stars but the nebula, the galaxies.
It is unimaginable until you see it.


Prepare For Alien Contact Urge Scientists | Beyond Science.

Thanks to: http://2012indyinfo.com



  

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