The Drake Equation

The Drake Equa­tion is an equa­tion that gives an esti­mate of the num­ber of radio capa­ble civ­i­liza­tions in the galaxy that could be detect­ed using con­ven­tion­al radio astron­o­my techniques.

---

A good overview of the Drake Equa­tion is pro­vid­ed by the Seti Insti­tute.

---

I have writ­ten an arti­cle about the Drake Equa­tion as part of my arti­cles con­cern­ing World Build­ing For Sci­ence Fic­tion.

---

In sci­ence fic­tion of the past, almost every plan­et had life and intel­li­gent life.  Since the space age, obser­va­tion­al data has shown the oth­er plan­ets of our solar sys­tem are devoid of intel­li­gent and maybe even life. High con­fi­dence of recent SETI search­es place lim­its on the exis­tence of ET. As a sci­ence fic­tion author, I’d like to keep with­in the lim­its of obser­va­tions, or at the very least, know when I’m vio­lat­ing them.

---

Below is a video from Astrum that dis­cuss­es how scary the solu­tions for the Drake Equa­tion are scary, no mat­ter what the answer.

 

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

---

The Space Envi­ron­ment: Impli­ca­tions for Space­craft Design — Revised and Expand­ed Edi­tion by Alan C. Tribble

---

Lunar Source­book: a Users Guide to the Moon edit­ed by Grant H. Heiken, David T. Van­i­man, and Bevan M. French