Last week NASA Administrator Charles Frank Bolden Jr. was quizzed by UK children on all manner of space related topics. When asked if he believed in aliens by one of the panelists, to which he replied: “I do believe that we will someday find other forms of life or a form of life, if not in our solar system then in some of the other solar systems – the billions of solar systems in the universe.” He then went on to comment: “today we know that there are literally thousands, if not millions of other planets, many of which may be very similar to our own earth. So some of us, many of us believe that we’re going to find…evidence that there is life elsewhere in the universe.”
Charles also discussed the mission to Mars and we have not yet landed on the Red Planet, stating that this was partly down to a lack of toilet facilities! In response to Shania Leurs, 11, who asked: “How soon do you think you’ll get the first man or woman on mars?” Charles explained it would not be until they worked out how to develop, “a toilet that’s not going to break on the way there!” When pushed for an answer on when we would get there, Charles replied, “The goal is to have us there in the 2030’s” and that he hoped some of the panelists would have the opportunity to be a part of it.
Talking about NASA’s most significant projects they are currently working on, Major General Bolden revealed helping America’s federal aviation administration was a top priority, “so that people like google, and amazon, can fly unmanned aerial systems into our airspace like normal aeroplanes.” He also mentioned that getting the James Webb telescope ready for its launch in 2018, was another major focus, so ultimately we would be able “to look into the atmosphere into some of the new planets that look like earth, to see if maybe there are signs of life there.”
Learn more about the future of space exploration, including the possibility of finding life on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in the latest issue of How It Works. It’s available from all good retailers, or you can order it online from the ImagineShop. If you have a tablet or smartphone, you can also download the digital version onto your iOS or Android device. To make sure you never miss an issue of How It Works magazine, make sure you subscribe today!
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