The shape of scientific space exploration is shifting. The Breakthrough Initiatives may represent a new trend with its scientific-philanthropic search for signatures of life in the universe. Major pursuits in space sciences used to be solely in the public's domain, however, with the emergence of philanthropic actors, the field is now inhabited by nongovernmental organizations and individual's of financial means. The history of funding for large U.S. ground-based astronomy observatories has been no stranger to private parties. However, the funding of space-based objects for scientific pursuits is new. With a reduction in cost and complexity to access space, development of inexpensive and ubiquitous technologies, coupled with recent discoveries of the cosmos, age-old scientific puzzles beckon to be solved. Accordingly, the Breakthrough Initiatives seek to decipher some of humanity's grandest questions via several novel philanthropic space science initiatives.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
PetersG, WoolleyJT. The American Presidency Project, John Quincy Adams: “First Annual Message,”December6, 1825, University of California, Santa Barbara [Online]. Available: www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=29467 (Last accessed on July15, 2018).
2.
MacDonaldA. The Long Space Age: The Economic Origins of Space Exploration from Colonial America to the Cold War. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017.
TarterJ, KingsleySA, BhathalR Eds. The search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in the Optical Spectrum III SETI 2020: A Roadmap for Future SETI Observing Projects. San Jose, CA: SETI Press, 2002, pp. 93–103.
7.
GarberSJ. Searching for good science: The cancellation of NASA's SETI Program. J Brit Interplanet Soc. 1999; 52:3–12.
8.
IsaacsonH, SiemionAPV, et al.The breakthrough listen search for intelligent life: Target selection of nearby stars and galaxies. Publ Astron Soc Pacif. 2017; 129(975):4.
9.
WordenSP, DrewJPT, et al.Breakthrough listen—A new search for life in the universe. Acta Astronaut. 2017; 139:98–101.
10.
TellisNK, MarcyGW. A search for laser emission with megawatt thresholds from 5600 FGKM stars. Astronom J. 2017; 153(6):22.
11.
WrightSA, HorowitzP, et al.Panoramic optical and near-infrared SETI instrument: Overall specifications and science program. Proceedings of SPIE 10702. Ground-Based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VII, 2018.
12.
EigenbrodeJL, et al.Organic matter preserved in 3-billion-year-old mudstones at Gale crater, Mars. Science. 2018; 360(6393):1096–1101.
13.
WebsterCR, et al.Background levels of methane in Mars' atmosphere show strong seasonal variations. Science, 2018; 360(6393):1093–1096.
14.
PorcoCC, et al.Cassini observes the active south pole of Enceladus. Science. 2006; 311(5766):1393–1401.
15.
JiaX, et al.Evidence of a plume on Europa from Galileo magnetic and plasma wave signatures. Nat Astron, 2018; 2:459–464.
16.
MayorM, QuelozD. A Jupiter-mass companion to a solar-type star. Nature. 1995; 378:355–359.
17.
BoruckiWJ. Kepler: A brief discussion of the mission and exoplanet results. Proc Am Philos Soc. 2017; 161(1):38–65.
18.
Anglada-EscudéG, et al.A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri. Nature. 2016; 536:437–440.
19.
DumusqueX, et al.An Earth-mass planet orbiting α Centauri B. Nature. 2012; 491:207–211.
20.
RajpaulV, AigrainS, RobertsSJ. Ghost in the time series: No planet for Alpha Cen B. Monthly Notices R Astron Soc Lett. 2016; 456(1):6–10.
