November 2013 was the third time I met with the United States this year, and this time we saw each other for more than a few days. The first destination: San Francisco, or more precisely, Mountain View. The headquarters of NASA Ames is located there, and they were hosting the second Kepler science conference. Despite a worthy try by the American politicians to interfere with the conference by shutting down the government only weeks before, the science meeting took place as scheduled and we spent a week discussing results using the Kepler satelite's data, and their implications on exoplanet research.
Being together with a few hundred colleagues from all over the world to discuss science always has something inspirational to it. The conference's public lecture was given by prof. Frank Drake, known to astronomers and non-astronomers alike as the person behind the Drake equation. This equation, which he failed to mention at any point during his talk, predicts the chance of having life on another planet by multiplying factors such as the amount of stars, the amount of planets and the amount of planets which can support life. I share a sense of optimism with most exoplanet researchers that there is likely life somewhere out there, and that we might be able to detect it in the not too distant future. Or to paraphrase Frank Drake, perhaps we will soon connect to the intergalactic internet.
As with any conference, you need something remarkable to happen to make it worth remembering. This time the price went to my advisor, whose rental car turned out to be a white Mustang (with remarkably little space in the back seats).
