Frank Drake, SETI visionary, born on this date

Astronomer Frank Drake

May 28, 2023, would be the 93rd birthday of astronomer Frank Drake. Sadly, he passed away recently, on September 2, 2022. Drake was an early visionary in the search for other civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy.

In 1960, Drake spearheaded Project Ozma, the first modern attempt to listen for radio transmissions from otherworldly intelligences.

Then, on November 1, 1961, Drake, Carl Sagan and other astronomers met at the site of the Green Bank Telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. And at that meeting, Drake presented what has become known as the Drake equation.

Scientists and others found the Drake equation fascinating then … and they still do. The Drake equation is a tool for contemplating how many intelligent civilizations might be capable of communicating with us from elsewhere in the galaxy. From Drake’s formulation of the equation – and the 1961 meeting in Green Bank – the field of research and scientific organization known as SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, was born.

Frank Drake presenting the keynote on the history and future of SETI at our #decodingintelligence conference today. More photos to come! #seti pic.twitter.com/p3IJHVSoTf

— The SETI Institute (@SETIInstitute) March 14, 2018

What is the Drake equation?

The Drake equation is a mathematical formula for thinking about how many civilizations beyond Earth might be able to communicate with us. Nowadays when you hear astronomers speak of life beyond Earth, they might be focused on biosignatures. That’s where they are looking for evidence of life, but for simple or multicellular life. For example, possible life forms under rocks on Mars or in the atmosphere of Venus. However, the Drake equation focuses on something different. In fact, it’s the search for advanced and communicating civilizations.

Thus, here is the Drake equation: N = R* • fp • ne • fl • fi • fc • L

Breaking down the Drake equation

N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible
R* = the average rate of star formation in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fl = the fraction of planets that could support life that actually develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of planets with civilizations that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time for which such civilizations release detectable signals into space

As originally formulated, the Drake equation is less a true mathematical formula and more a way to start a conversation. So the value of N – the number of civilizations with which we might communicate – is difficult to determine if you don’t have solid numbers on all the factors that need to be considered.

So do astronomers know the rate of star formation in our Milky Way? Yes, approximately. The rate of star formation is somewhere around 3 solar masses per year. Next, do they know how many stars form planets? Of course, we didn’t know that number in 1961, but now we do. In fact, the answer is thought to be that most, if not all, of them form planets.

But, as you go onward in the equation, the state of our knowledge begins to falter. First, we don’t know the mean number of planets that could support life per star with planets. Second, we don’t know the fraction of life-supporting planets that develop life. And so on.

Drake equation revisited

Additionally, a wonderful thing about the Drake equation, is it continues to inspire fresh thinking about extraterrestrial life among astronomers. So in 2016, Adam Frank and Woodruff Sullivan put their heads together to publish a paper in the journal Astrobiology in which they presented the Drake equation in a new light. Then they noted that technological advancements in astronomy had made better estimates possible of two Drake equation factors:

The fraction of stars with planets, fp, is now estimated to be 1.0, meaning all stars have planets

The number of planets per star where conditions are suitable for life, ne, is now estimated to be 0.2, meaning one in five planets can support life

A case for rewriting the Drake equation

In May 2021, John Gertz made a case for rewriting the Drake equation in a paper accepted for publication by the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Here are Gertz’s thoughts on the Drake equations variables:

R*, the mean rate of star formation changes over the history of our galaxy. Plus, what about other galaxies? The rate of star formation would be different. In his May 2021 paper, Gertz suggested changing R* to Ns. That’s for the number of candidate stars in the Milky Way that fall within our field of view. He pointed out that 80% of these stars would be stars not so very different from our sun.

Fp, the fraction of stars that have planets, is no longer a big unknown. That’s because we now know that planets around stars are quite common.

Ne, the number of rocky planets in a star’s habitable zone, is too limiting. Plus the presence of an atmosphere and water are important considerations. But so are the countless moons where life could exist around planets outside a star’s habitable zone. So Gertz recommends replacing this variable with Ntb. That stands for the total number of bodies that could support life on or beneath their surfaces.

Currently, Fl, the fraction of planets that develop life, is unknowable. Also, it’s still not understood the origin of life on Earth, much less how common or rare it is in the universe.

Fi, the fraction of planets with life that develop intelligence, is also unknowable. If we don’t know how common life may be in the universe, we don’t know how common intelligent life may be.

More of Gertz’s suggested revisions

Fc, the fraction of intelligent civilizations technologically capable and actively trying to communicate with us, doesn’t take into consideration the vast expanses that communication would have to travel between our home worlds. But we could also unintentionally stumble across a signal (perhaps the Wow! signal?). Then a better variable, Gertz says, is Fd, the fraction of technological life that is detectable by any means. However, the problem may not be the civilization sending us a message. Instead, the problem could be that we aren’t advanced enough to detect or receive it.

L, the length of time a civilization is communicative, depends on how long they can sustain themselves before they either self-destruct or something external (asteroid, supernova or the like) takes them out. We don’t know the answer, either for ourselves or for an alien civilization. This variable is the one that Carl Sagan considered most uncertain. Gertz’s ideas about L mesh nicely with Avi Loeb’s assertion that ‘Oumuamua is of alien origin. Gertz commented:

The Drake equation was predicated upon the notion that there is a finite number of currently existing alien civilizations ensconced among the stars, some of whom will be signaling their presence to us using radio or optical lasers. However, this ignores another school of thought which holds that ET’s far better strategy would be to send physical probes to our solar system to surveil and ultimately make contact with us. Such probes could represent information from innumerable civilizations, many of whom may have long ago perished. If this is the case, Drake’s L is irrelevant, since the probe might far outlive its progenitor, and his N reduces to one, the single probe that makes its presence known to us through which alone we might communicate with the rest of the galaxy.

Gertz’s final version of the Drake equation

What’s left is John Gertz’s updated take on the Drake equation: N = ns • fp • ntb • fl • fi • fd • L

ns is the number of spots on the sky within our field of view
fp is the fraction of stars with planets
ntb is the average number of bodies within each that could engender life
fl is the fraction of those that actually do give birth to life
fi is the fraction of systems with life that evolves technological intelligence
fd is the fraction of technological life that is detectable by any means
L is the duration of detectability

Frank Drake knew the uncertainties

Even with this new formula, as when Drake originally formulated his equation, uncertainty pervades. Gertz said:

The Drake equation sets out to determine N, the number of extant communicating civilizations. There is simply no way to determine this by any known means other than by making contact with our first ET and asking it what it might know of the matter. The failure of the Drake equation paradoxically makes a robust SETI program all the more important, since no amount of armchair speculation can determine N.

Where do SETI researchers go from here?

The plan is for radio wave and visible-light observations, combined with technological advances that will eventually let scientists survey one million nearby stars, the entire galactic plane and 100 nearby galaxies. Dedicated wide-field telescopes are one of the items on Gertz’s wish list for SETI.

Breakthrough Listen, a project Gertz is currently involved in, is a good start. It is the largest-ever scientific research program aimed at finding evidence of civilizations beyond Earth. Breakthrough Listen scans the radio spectrum with the world’s most powerful instruments. Gertz said:

Breakthrough Listen is a game-changer. Because of it, more SETI is accomplished in a single day than was ever before accomplished in a full year.

Funding will be the key to continued searches, and, with a lot of planning and maybe a little luck, to future success in finding an intelligent civilization in the wider universe.

Read more: SETI Institute expands search for aliens with VLA

Video resources on the Drake equation

For a more in-depth discussion about the Drake equation, watch the following two-part videos of 25 minutes each hosted by David Kipping of Columbia University.

Bottom line: May 28, 2023, would be the 93rd birthday of astronomer Frank Drake. Drake was an early visionary in the search for other civilizations in our Milky Way galaxy and formulator of the Drake equation. In May 2021, John Gertz suggested reformulating the Drake equation.

Source: A New Empirical Constraint on the Prevalence of Technological Species in the Universe

Source: The Drake equation at 60

Via Phys.org

Via FamousScientists.org