Yuri Milner, a technology investor who is known for the Breakthrough Initiatives, writing his “Eureka Manifesto,” and being part of the Giving Pledge, launched the annual Breakthrough Discuss conference on life in the universe. This year’s Breakthrough Discuss conference took place from June 22 through June 23, 2000, at UC Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, California. The name of the conference was: “Watch This Space! Innovations for a Low-Cost Future.” The conference was broken down into three different parts. Here is a brief recap of these three main parts.
A Bigger Bang for Your Buck
The first topic that was discussed at the conference was a topic about a bigger bang for your buck. This section of the conference was dedicated to finding affordable and innovative concepts for cosmological measurement. This section started by discussing using artificial intelligence to discover new rules of our universe, presented by Shirley Ho. Maura McLaughlin then presented a segment on pulsar timing arrays seeing red. Different ways to record the evolution of the universe with a cosmic microwave background were then presented by Ms. Suzanne Staggs. Ritoban Basu Thakur then discussed the origins of our universe and the earliest achievable glimpses that were possible, followed by a segment on hunting waxiomsith metamaterials by Andrea Gallo Rooss. This segment then wrapped up by discussing high-impact and low-cost ways to explore cosmology with balloons and small spacecraft.
Low-Mass Transit
The next part of the conference was called Low-Mass Transit, and it focused on light, fast and cheap ways to explore the solar system and beyond. The segment started with Mahmooda Sultana of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center discussing the various science craft that are used for outer planet exploration. Francis Nimmo then presented a segment on probing the structure and evolution of the outer solar system bodies with small and fast spacecraft. The seismology of hard landings was then discussed with Tom Pike leading the discussion. Konstantin Batygin then discussed different ways to look for planet nine from outer space. NASA’s Ames Research Centers Penny Boston put on a presentation titled, “Are We There Yet? Can We Biomap the Solar System with Low-Cost Solar Sail Missions?” And Ms. Sarah Gibson wrapped up the session by discussing stars in many dimensions.
New Outlooks on Life
The final segment of the conference was called New Outlooks on Life, and it focused on new approaches to detecting life and intelligence beyond Earth. This segment kicked off with Chenoa Tremblay discussing the various ways we can hunt for life with meter wavelengths. Jason Wright then discussed biosignatures and technosignatures and how those may be complementary paths to life. Technosignature opportunities with the LSST were then presented by James Davenport. The chiral puzzle of life was presented by Noemie Glubus, followed by David Deamer discussing unique biosignatures and biopolymers in nonopores. The conference was then closed by Cherry Ng of Dunlap Institute talking about a new digitized age of interferometric SETI and how that may help the universe to advance.
The Breakthrough Discuss conference, which is the brainchild of Yuri Milner, is a conference in which some of the brightest and most innovative researchers can sit down and discuss space exploration and the solar system and the universe around us. Yuri Milner wrote the “Eureka Manifesto” in which he discusses why it is important to learn more about space and any life forms that may exist beyond our planet. By hosting this conference, he is helping to make this vision come to life and helping people explore new ways to learn more about space and any life forms that may be out there.
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