Drake Equation

The Drake Equation * The Drake Equation was created by Frank Drake in 1960. * estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way. * It is used in the field of Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI). * National Academy of Sciences asked Drake to organize a meeting on detecting extraterrestrial intelligence. Reason drake equation created * Drake equation is closely related to the Fermi paradox * The Drake Equation is: N = R * fp * ne * fl * fi * fc * L * N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible; * R* = the average rate of star formation per year 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 the above that actually go on to develop life at some point * fi = the fraction of the above 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 * 10,000 communicative civilizations in milky way
SETI
* Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence * To find out about the existence of intelligent life anywhere in the universe * Trying to find signals which have artificial origin from outer space * Trying to communicate with aliens. Dependence on Mathematics for communication * Typical Research Time by a Non Dedicated Radio Telescope: 5% of the entire project time * SETI Listenining Window: Microwave Spectrum * Range: 1 to 10 GHz * Total Channels in this Range: 9 Billion * Current Signal Processing Limitations: 100 million channels at a time * Observations Required for each Sky Position: 90 * Water Hole: A section of the radio spectrum between - 1420 (21