1. SETI: 50 Years and Counting
The Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence and a possible answer to the questions: “Is there intelligent life out there?” & “Where Are They?” by
Robert E. Strong
Libby Strong
Richard Pollack
SMART-Center & SMART Centre Market /
Sir. Arthur C. Clarke NEO Observatory /
Near Earth Object Foundation
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

2. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Fermi Paradox1
During an informal discussion of distinguished scientists in 1950, esteemed physicist Enrico Fermi questioned the common belief that the Milky Way Galaxy is teaming with life and advanced civilizations. Evidence for these advanced extraterrestrial civilizations, spacecraft, probes, artifacts and other evidence was lacking.
In a typical manner for Fermi - he synthesized the debate in a single short statement:
“Where Are They?”
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

3. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Fermi Paradox2
A “Paradox” is a statement that is true or assumed to be true or a group of statements that is true or assumed to be true that leads to a contradiction from observation or logic or leads to a situation which defies intuition.
Typically the general solution to any “Paradox” is to call into question the truthfulness of fundamental premises that are assumed to be true and or the logic used to reach a conclusion:
“Where Are They?”
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

4. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Fermi Paradox3
Activity: “Where Are They?”
The underlying reason that Fermi asked “Where Are They?”
If :
A - the Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years in diameter
B - a space faring species can travel through space > “c”
Then :
A space faring species could travel across, explore, and colonize the entire Milky Way Galaxy in under 100 million years!! So … “Where are they?” or their artifacts?
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

5. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Fermi Paradox4
Activity: “Where Are They?” How Big/How Far?
Using the scale or “femto” or “micro-nano” scale:
The size of the diameter of the orbit of Neptune is 9.0 billion km or 9.0 mm at the femto scale
The size of the diameter of the Kuiper Belt is 9.0 to 16.5 billion km or at the femto scale 9.0 to 16.5 mm
At the femto scale a light year is m
The closest Stars Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri A & B are m and m respectively
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

6. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Fermi Paradox5
Activity: Penny for your thoughts
Using the scale or “femto” or “micro-nano” scale: Penny diameter 19 mm
The size of the diameter of the orbit of Neptune is 9.0 billion km or 9.0 mm at the femto scale (Lincoln’s beard to back of head)
The size of the diameter of the Kuiper Belt is 9.0 to 16.5 billion km or at the “femto” scale = 9.0 to 16.5 mm (just smaller than penny)
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

7. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
In September 1960, Frank Drake, an intrepid young graduate student in astrophysics working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia, set out to answer one of the grandest questions humans have ever asked during his Project Ozma experiment:
Are we alone in the Cosmos?
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

8. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
In 1961, Frank Drake tried to bring order to the chaos by creating a quantified equation for determining the likelihood and N number of sentient and communicative species in the MWG. Drake presented this equation at a meeting at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, West Virginia
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

9. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
“One of the greatest virtues of this equation, … , is that it involves subjects ranging from stellar and planetary astronomy to organic chemistry, evolutionary biology, history, politics and abnormal Psychology. Much of the Cosmos is in the span of the Drake Equation”
Carl Sagan, Cosmos
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

10. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
N* =
the Milky Way Galaxy contains some 400 billion or (400,000,000,000) 4x1011 stars
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

11. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
R* =
rate of star formation in the Milky Way Galaxy (thought to be 1.0 / year)
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

12. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
fp =
the fraction of stars with planets
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

13. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
ne =
the number of planets (or moons of planets) per star system on/in which life could arise
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

14. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
fl =
the fraction of planets (or moons of planets) on/in which life does arise
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

15. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
fi =
the fraction of planets (or moons of planets) on/in which life does arise that develop what we consider intelligence
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

16. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
fc =
of planets (or moons of planets) on/in which intelligent life does arise that contain a technologically advanced civilization capable and desiring to send messages that we can understand into space
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

17. Boom goes London, Boom Paris, more room for you and more room for me
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
 L =
the average lifetime of a technologically advanced civilization capable and desiring to send messages that we can understand into space as a ratio of the lifetime of the parent star (assume as 10 billion (10,000,000,000) years for a Sun like star)
Boom goes London, Boom Paris,
more room for you and more room for me
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

18. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
N =
N* (for MWG = 4x1011) x
R* (use rate = 1.0 star / y) x
fp (between 0.0 and 1.0) ______ x
ne (between 0.0 and 10) ______x
fl (between 0.0 and 1.0) ______ x
fi (between 0.0 and 1.0) ______ x
fc (between 0.0 and 1.0) ______ x
L (lifetime _________ y / 1010 y)
N = ______Your guess of the number of extant, sentient, advanced civilizations in the MWG right now 
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

19. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
N = Optimistic numbers
N* (for MWG = 4x1011) x
R* (use rate = 1.0 star / y) x
fp (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
ne (between 0.0 and 10) x
fl (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
fi (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
fc (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
L (lifetime y / 1010 y)
N = 5.6 x 107 Your guess of the number of extant, sentient, advanced civilizations in the MWG right now 
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

20. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
N = Pessimistic numbers
N* (for MWG = 4x1011) x
R* (use rate = 1.0 star / y) x
fp (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
ne (between 0.0 and 10) x
fl (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
fi (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
fc (between 0.0 and 1.0) x
L (lifetime y / 1010 y)
N = 1.2 x Your guess of the number of extant, sentient, advanced civilizations in the MWG right now 
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

21. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
N = N* R* fp ne fl fi fc L
Drake Equation Uses:
Class Discussion - engages students in high interest topic
Student Interaction - creates an atmosphere of interaction
Estimation – calculated guesses / knowledge from science classes
Extrapolation - using prior knowledge from science classes
Judgment – students make choices based on prior and discussion data
Minimum (Range) Values – students make minimal assumptions
Maximum (Range) Values – students make maximal assumptions
Mean and Mode determination – class decisions based on all students
Averages – students determine individual and class averages
Multiplying Fractions and Decimals – practice using interesting data
Scientific Notation – “real world” use for scientific notation
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010

22. WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010
Discussion Topics
Recent discovery of Exoplanets
As of October 22, 2010 there are 494 Exoplanets discovered
(The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia)
Goldilocks zones and ice moons as places with liquid water
Stephen Hawkins’ ideas of malevolent Aliens “avoid contact with alien life forms”
Universe filled with intelligent aliens, i.e., as Star Trek
Implications of this…
We (humanity) are the only intelligent species in the MW Galaxy
All the SETI searches to date:
Note: to date SETI results have been: ZERO
January 18, 2019
WVSTA Wheeling, West Virginia Copyright: Robert E. Strong 2010