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NASA will send a robot to investigate suspected life on Europa
Thinking there could be life on one of Jupiter's moons, NASA scientists are working on a plan to send robots to begin studying it.
Jim Green, NASA's planetary science chief, said there's no reason to think there isn't life on Europa, the sixth-closest moon to the planet Jupiter and the sixth-largest moon in the solar system. And he can't wait to find out.
NASA administrator Charles Bolden said this week that the space agency's 2015 proposed budget includes funding for a robotic mission to Europa. Green noted that NASA hopes to launch the first of a series of robotic missions to Europa in the mid 2020s.
"We've been thinking about Europa for quite a few years. Then in December things had to change," Green told Computerworld. "The ocean there is protected by an ice shell and there's no reason that we believe life couldn't have been generated on Europa. The real search for aliens is in this solar system. To determine if life exists outside the bounds of Earth's gravity, it's really in places like Mars and Europa and maybe Titan."
If NASA does find life -- whether it's microbial or other life forms -- that will have major repercussions on what we expect about life outside the bounds of Earth.
"If we can find life there, either past life or current life, then that tells us life has to be everywhere in this galaxy," said Green. "It's an extreme environment, but not as extreme as we think. It's in a temperature range that life, as we know it, is abundant but does it have the right chemicals to create life and feed life? There's no reason to think that the evolution of life in that environment didn't just take off."
In December, the Hubble Space Telescope spotted a huge water plume emanating from the south pole of Europa. Green said it wasn't a small geyser like Old Faithful in Yellowstone National Park, which shoots up 90 to 180 feet in the air.
The geyser coming off Europa shoots up more than 124 miles.
Green explained that Europa is covered by an ice shell. However, the strong tidal pull from Jupiter has melted some of that ice and created a deep ocean below it. Europa's ocean, which has hydro thermal vents, is about 62 miles deep and covers the entire moon. That's about 10 times deeper than the ocean here on Earth and it holds twice as much water than is found here.
"It's a really dynamic region," said Green. "It's a fabulous water world. We believe life probably started in water on this planet. Having billions of years of water on Europa, tells us there's a good chance there's life on Europa now."
It's not clear what NASA will first send to Europa.
It could be a spacecraft similar to Cassini that will repeatedly fly past the moon, sending back information about it. However, the first mission also could be a spacecraft that will go into orbit around Europa, studying its surface, the geyser and gases.
After that mission, whatever it might entail, sends back data, NASA will send another robot -- one that will likely land on Europa's ice shell.
"We're in the process of studying it," said Green. "Now that we're seeing the plumes, we have new ideas we never had before. We're in the pre-formulation phase. We're bringing the ideas together and figuring out what that first mission might be. There'll be a series of robotic missions."
Using current rocket technology, it would probably take eight to nine years for a spacecraft to reach Europa. However, if NASA uses one of the new heavy-lift rockets it's been working on, that trip could be shortened to two years.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9246832/NASA_will_send_a_robot_to_investigate_suspected_life_on_Europa
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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