New Earth! How Will Life on Earth 1 Change?

The headlines seem ripped from a sci-fi thriller: New Earth Found! 581 c, the new planet, is dubbed habitable, but then again, so is Mars.

But what impact does this discovery truly have on today's humans?

First off, let's face facts. This generation, and probably the next dozen generations, will never step foot on this second Earth. Why? Our space program has numerous issues that will prevent it.

NASA is government run. With China's latest satellite destroying technology, the US is going to concentrate on the military defense aspect. After all, those tin cans orbitting earth are susceptible to becoming target practice. And fear drives people, funding, and legislature. Hence, money to military aspect, not scientific discovery.

The second problem is lack of funding. This is not going to change overnight. Our space program has been "back burnered" since the space shuttle Challenger exploded.

Now we're "exploring" the task of returning to the moon. If we could do it before, why are we having such a hard time now, when technology has made so many advancements since the Apollo mission? The conspiracy folks have already started questioning if we were really there. Hmmmm.

And face it, unlike sci-fi (Star Trek and Star Wars fans, etc.) we just don't have warp drive. No faster than light travel technology even hints at stepping from the pages of fiction into reality. (Sorry no transporters - although there are scientists reportedly working on this). So "Beam me up, Scotty" will remain on the pages of books and on Sci-Fi channel re-runs. At least for now. (And for that matter, Mars is a lot closer, about several trillion light years closer....)

Initially, from appearances (at least from the way the light bends...) this planet is Earth-like. But we don't know for sure. 581 c, as it has been dubbed, is still a big mystery. It could be a large rock, or a big ball of ice. And that speaks nothing of important qualities -- such as air, water, weather.

As for e.t.s? Atmosphere? Content? Resources? Questions and more questions.

But what this discovery does change for us here and now, living on the original Earth, is that there are sure to be a lot more research and a lot more questions. The big question, is how long will it take to get the answers? And then of course, what if this 581 c is already inhabited? Afterall, is it not egotistical to think that we are alone in the universe?