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The Drake Equation Extra Credit due (before the final exam) 4 May 2009 (10:00am)

How common are technologically advanced civilizations in our galaxy? Given the tremendous distances that separate stars, and therefore their corresponding planetary systems, the Drake equation provides a tool to help estimate how many technologically advanced civilizations may exist in our Milky Way Galaxy with which we might communicate or come in contact. Dr. Frank Drake, a radio astronomer, developed this equation in 1961 and later founded the SETI Institute. SETI is the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. It uses advanced radio telescopes and techniques to listen for transmissions from extraterrestrial civilizations. Radio waves can travel immense distances without being significantly degraded by the gas and dust through which they travel. Due to this ability to penetrate the ISM, radio waves are a logical choice for interstellar communication.

The Drake equation allows us to quantify the uncertainty of the factors which determine our estimated number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the Milky Way. Some of the terms can be determined by observation. Others can be estimated from what we know about stars and stellar evolution. The rest of the terms are very uncertain and a wide range of values have been proposed for them. Vastly different estimates of the answer, N, have been proposed ranging from one advanced civilization in the Milky Way, us, to hundreds or thousands of planets inhabited by intelligent civilizations. Your mission in this extra credit project is to arrive at a reasonable answer for N and be able to back up your answer by explaining in writing why you have chosen a particular value for each of the terms in the Drake equation. There is no wrong answer as long as you can back up your reasoning! Simply multiply each of the terms in the equation using the on-line Drake Calculator at...