Article by Harry Pettit August 9, 2020 (thesun.co.uk)
• Armenian astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian, 57 (pictured above, left, with Brian May), currently a researcher at the Institute of Astrophysics of Canary Islands (Spain), boasts decades of experience in the field of astrophysics, and has published more than 500 scientific papers on black holes, neutron stars and more. He helped the rock band ‘Queen’ guitarist Brian May, an astrophysicist himself, complete his PhD. The pair have since set up a science festival together.
• Speaking to The Sun newspaper following last week’s launch of the Perseverance Mars rover, Dr Israelian said “I think we will discover intelligent life in our lifetime”, or at least some hard evidence of intelligent life. It will be “the kind of discovery that will shake humanity” to its very core, and force us to rethink how we look at our place in the universe,” he said.
• Even sooner – within the next decade – Dr Israelian thinks we’ll detect alien microbes, possibly on Mars. “It would be quite interesting for science, but I think it would make us realize ‘life is such an incredible thing, we’d better take care of what we’re doing on our own planet’.”
• Dr Israelian gives the Perseverance Mars rover a ten percent chance of finding alien microbes on the Red Planet. The $2.1 billion rover will land on the Martian surface in February and proceed to dig up hunks of soil and rock in search of alien microbes. Many top scientists believe Mars was home to tiny microbes billions of years ago and may still host life today.
• Dr Israelian thinks that the discovery of Martian microbes would bring humanity a step closer to colonizing Mars. While the colonization of Mars has been met with heavy criticism, Dr Israelian thinks mankind will likely turn to it when Earth’s warming climate begins to render our planet inhospitable.
• SpaceX billionaire Elon Musk thinks that ‘terraforming’ Mars could make the planet habitable. If certain gasses were released into the atmosphere it would create a greenhouse effect. Even a nuclear explosion could assist in the terraforming. With an atmosphere, Mars’ climate could return to a state in which life could flourish as it did long ago.
• Dr Israelian and Dr Brian May’s annual festival, ‘Starmus’, combines music and science and is in its ninth year. “It was a result of our never-ending discussions about science and arts,” Dr Israelian said. Professor Stephen Hawking, Brian Cox and Neil Armstrong are previous Starmus speakers. Starmus 2021 will be held in Armenia, and will mark the 50th anniversary of Mariner 9, the first Mars orbiter. It will be streamed online.
Speaking to The Sun, Armenian astrophysicist Dr Garik Israelian, 57, said he expected experts to find brainy extraterrestrials within his lifetime.
On top of that, the stargazer and friend of Queen guitarist Brian May thinks we’ll detect alien microbes – possibly on Mars – within the next decade.
The shock discoveries would shake humanity to its very core, and force us to rethink how we look at our place in the universe, he said.
“I think we will discover intelligent life in our lifetime,” Dr Israelian told The Sun.
“At least, we will find clear signatures [evidence of life] that have come from intelligent life. It’s the kind of discovery that will shake humanity.”
He added: “It would be quite interesting for science, but I think it would make us realise ‘life is such an incredible thing, we’d better take care of what we’re doing on our own planet’.”
Dr Israelian boasts decades of experience in the field of astrophysics and has published more than 500 scientific papers on black holes, neutron stars and more.
The famed space-master helped rocker May, an astrophysicist himself, complete his PhD and the pair have since set up a science festival together.
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