The Night We Were Eaten by Aliens

I was 19 years old and a sophomore in college when I first saw the 89th episode of the Twilight Zone. It was the third season of the show, and I had seen every episode. But this one chilled me. It was entitled “To Serve Man.” In the episode, an alien race visits our planet and presents us with a book. We are grateful for this gift, which we hope will enlighten us about the universe. Our gratitude quickly dissolves into fear when we discover that the gift is actually a cookbook and that the aliens plan to eat us.

The episode sparked my interest in the possibility of alien life; an interest that was only heightened when I learned about Area 51. A highly classified United States Air Force base established in the 1950’s, Area 51 is situated within the Nevada Test and Training Range. Because of the intense secrecy surrounding the base, many believe it contains a vault where for decades our government has hidden the crews and vehicles of captured unidentified flying objects or UFOs.

It is even rumored that after each new president is inaugurated, he is briefed on the contents of Area 51 and sworn to secrecy. To date, the public knows very little about Area 51 and it’s unlikely we will learn more soon.

If you think that Area 51 is speculation and nothing more, then consider that in the in 2020, the U.S. Navy declassified serval videos taken by fighter pilots who had encountered strange flying objects they named “TicTacs” after the small rectangular candies. Some of the pilots discussed in general what they saw, but were sworn to secrecy about, as one pilot remarked, the “really juicy details.” They all agreed that no airplane or rocket we possess could perform the aerodynamics of these objects, which seemed to defy the laws of physics.

The videos themselves are quite remarkable. The one that I remember most shows a fighter plane over Baja California, diving down to better see a small white object skimming the waves at high speeds. As the plane approached, the TicTac emitted a large black plume of smoke and left the area at an enormously high velocity. The pilot estimated its departure speed was at least 10 times the speed of sound.

Are There Other Civilizations in Our Galaxy?

Our universe is immense. Astrophysicists calculate that it contains hundreds of billions of galaxies. We live on a yellow dwarf star called Earth. The Earth, in turn, exists in the Milky Way galaxy, a rotating disk of 200 billion stars circling a giant black hole. The diameter of the Milky Way is 100,000 light years. A light year is the distance that light travels in one Earth year: approximately 6,000,000,000,000 miles. Our nearest neighboring star, Alpha Centauri, is about four light years away.

How many civilizations might exist in this vast galaxy? In November 2013, based on mission data provided by the Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers reported that our galaxy could contain as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets, called “exoplanets.”

The Drake Equation

In 1961, the astronomer Frank Drake estimated the number of active, communicative extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way. Dr. Drake was motivated to find a way to stimulate scientific dialogue at the first SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) conference.

Drakes’ estimate is based on the idea that the more variables you have in your equation, the more likely you are to arrive at a statistically correct answer. He estimated the values for the seven following variables:

1. The number of civilizations in our galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions can be detected.

2. The rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life.

3. The fraction of those stars with planetary systems.

4. The number of planets, per solar system, with an environment suitable for life.

5. The fraction of suitable planets on which life actually appears.

6. The fraction of life-bearing planets on which intelligent life emerges.

7. The fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space.

8. The length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.

Using the best available estimates for each variable, the Drake Equation predicts 4,590 alien civilizations in our galaxy.

Only 36 Habitable Planets?

Astronomers have listed 18 exoplanets in the habitable zone, the range of orbits around a star within which a planetary surface can support liquid water given sufficient atmospheric pressure. Some scientists, however, are more optimistic about the proliferation of life in our galaxy.

In a June 2020 paper entitled The Astrobiological Copernican Weak and Strong Limits for Intelligent Life, Tom Westby and Christopher J. Conselice, estimate that “there are at a minimum 36 active mature civilizations in our galaxy capable of communications.” The nearest one should be about 17,000 light years from us. The scientists based their calculations on “the one situation in which intelligent, communicative life is known to exist — on our own planet.

The Odds of Communicating with Another Planet

As civilizations rise, the level of technology increases. But we have only been able to send radio signals from our planet into outer space for about 100 years. Starting with Sir Isaac Newton, we’ve been doing what is called “modern science” for little more than 400 years. That fraction of time is only .00001 percent of the Earth’s history.

Now imagine an exoplanet which 1 million years ago attained the technological ability to communicate with other solar systems. If they sent a signal to earth 1 million years ago, and it took 100,000 years to get here, there would have been no humans to receive the signal. For two civilizations to communicate, they have to have an overlap in their technological lifespan.

Searching for Alien Life

The ice-encrusted moons Europa and Enceladus, both of which may be hiding subsurface liquid oceans, are considered among the best places to look for existing extraterrestrials. Europa is one of the Galilean moons of Jupiter, while Enceladus is a moon of Saturn. Although these moons orbit in a frigid environment, tidal forces from their planets heat their interiors and create oceans.

The icy surface of Europa makes the moon one of the most reflective in the solar system. According to Kevin Hand, an astrobiologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “Alien oceans beyond Earth are so compelling in the search for life elsewhere. Wherever we’ve looked on planet Earth and found liquid water, we’ve found life.” So, it makes sense to look in our backyard for alien life before we search outside the solar system.

If We Have Contact, What Then?

Are we alone? Or are we a technologically developed species which has not yet developed the required self-knowledge to join the galactic community of other sentient beings?

If aliens do visit us, things will get very interesting. It may be that they have benign motives and only wish us well. Perhaps they will show us how to avoid the impending ecological disaster we are causing. In that case, we had better become coachable, and quickly.

Or perhaps, as posited on the Twilight Zone, their interest will be more culinary. The possibilities are endless — and intriguing.