NASA's SIM PlanetQuest Mission should be able to find Star Trek's planet Vulcan. Are you ready for this?

Question

Vulcan orbits the star 40 Eridani A. This is in a triple star system about 16 light-years from Earth. Scientists believe the planet Vulcan might exist and that's why NASA is devoting a mission to try and locate it. Star Trek used as much true scientific data about the universe, planets, stars, etc. as it could and created devices, etc. that were science fiction back then but are now becoming a reality. NASA isn't saying they will find life on Vulcan. Its an interesting mission. NASA might know something we don't. What's your views on this?

The Terrestrial Planet Finder is the only program that is temporarily shelved. The SIM PlanetQuest Mission is still in effect to go. If they find Vulcan, perhaps they will allow Leonard [Mr. Spock] Nimoy announce it.

Answer 1

As you stated, ST uses a lot of things that were feasible within the next X years.

So, i wouldn`t be surprised if they`d eventually find "Vulcan".

Whether or not they`ll also find Mr. Spock will be the bonus question. To be honest, i hope they do. It would be so much fun to see the faces of the people that have always claimed ST to be useless and mere fantasy.

I mean, a show where even Stephen Hawking was proud to have a role on, couldn`t be that far off the mark, could it?

(and yes, my ID is for the NCC-1701-D)

Answer 2

I can't wait till we find evidence of life on another world, whether it's in our solar system or outside of it. However, I doubt we'll find it orbiting a triple star system. The orbit of a life-bearing planet needs to be almost circular, like Earth's orbit. This will only happen in a planetary system around a solitary star, not a binary or multiple star system.

Last I heard, SIM was being postponed indefinitely, due to budget constraints. NASA has been shifting their focus to manned space flight and going back to the Moon, so missions like SIM and the Terrestrial Planet Finder have been shelved, for the most part. It's a shame, really.

Answer 3

Epsilon Eridani is long suspected as having conditions for life similar to the Sun. Another star with similar condition is, I think, Tau Ceti. The speculations about life around these stars (even intelligent life) predate Star Trek (although I don't have a timeline). ST authors almost surely were aware of this list of candidates for intelligent life.

The main problem is the detection of planets, the current technology does not allow the detection of Earth around the Sun, if it was used from one of the nearby stars.

Answer 4

Cool.
Yeah, I'm ready for it.
But, don't worry, NASA doesn't know anything that you don't know, because as soon as they find something out, there's a press release about it. :)