By Matt Williams - 25th September 2008
Since this a venture for the whole world, why doesn’t Europe contribute a little bit towards that?
Bill Newton-Dunn
The search for life on other planets should be properly funded by the EU, UK Liberal MEP Bill Newton-Dunn has said.
Speaking to theparliament.com after a hearing in parliament on the subject, he said that the search for life beyond Earth was hugely significant to everyone, and as such deserves a place in the EU’s research budget.
"For me, it’s the final frontier…the most important question that could ever get answered is, are we really alone? Or are there a lot of other people out there? Can we learn from them? It’s the next step for humanity…I don’t think there can be a more interesting subject than to ask whether we are alone or not.
"At the moment, this research…is done privately by one charity in southern California. Since this is a venture for the whole world, why doesn’t Europe contribute a little bit towards that?" he added.
Newton-Dunn held a conference in the European parliament looking at the work of the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) institute in California.
Dr Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI institute, gave a presentation on the work of the charity and on future projects for monitoring signals in space for signs of intelligence beyond Planet Earth.
Among the ambitious projects being carried out by SETI and funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is the Allen telescope array, which will consist of 350 radio antennae covering a frequency of 0.5 to 11.2 GHz.
Scientists at SETI believe that, in light of current trends, extra-terrestrial life might be found as soon as in 24 years’ time.
But UKIP MEP Tom Wise, who attended the talk, thinks that any discovery of this kind made by humans is at the discretion of extra-terrestrial life forms.
“We’ll find them when they want us to find them, it’s as simple as that,” he told theparliament.com
“I am convinced, simply on the mathematics that was presented, that there’s something else out there. I believe we’ve already been found and identified.”
Tory deputy Malcolm Harbour, when questioned during a break in parliament's plenary procedings, was less sure.
“I think we should be funding space research and astronomical research…but I don’t think there’s anything particularly distinctive about searching for extra-terrestrial life,” he said.
“Given the scale of the universe, the number of stars that are out there…we’re dealing with infinite space, here, that’s why I wouldn’t prioritise [this sort of research] separately.”
However, Newton-Dunn says that research into intelligent life in space is important enough to merit financial support from the EU.
“We have to go on looking, and we have to have some budget for that. I think Europe should pay its share,” he said.
“I think we should all pull our weight a little bit. It would be fun putting down an amendment in the budget and seeing if I get a majority for it or not.”
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