How much of space have we explored
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How Much of Space Have We Explored?
Protein Sequence Space Exploration
Vastness of Protein Sequence Space
The exploration of protein sequence space by life on Earth is a topic of significant interest. Research suggests that the vastness of protein sequence space is actually completely explorable during the populating of the Earth by life. By considering factors such as the number of organisms, genome size, mutation rate, and the number of functionally distinct classes of amino acids, it is concluded that life on Earth has potentially explored all of functional protein sequence space over the last 4 billion years. This implies that, at the molecular level, there is no role for contingency, and the exploration of protein sequence space is more comprehensive than previously thought.
Galactic Exploration Using Space Probes
Simulation of Galactic Exploration
Exploring the Milky Way Galaxy using space probes is another fascinating area of research. A study simulates the exploration of the Galaxy by examining how long it takes a given number of space probes to explore 40,000 stars in a defined region above the Galactic thin disc. The Galaxy is modeled to consist of approximately 260,000 of these 40,000 stellar systems, all located in a defined Galactic Habitable Zone.
Efficiency of Space Probes
The results indicate that with eight probes, each equipped with eight subprobes, around 4% of the Galaxy can be explored in approximately 292 million years. Increasing the number of probes to 200, each still with eight subprobes, significantly reduces the exploration time to about 15.2 million years. This demonstrates that the efficiency and number of space probes play a crucial role in the speed and extent of galactic exploration.
Conclusion
In summary, while life on Earth has potentially explored the entirety of functional protein sequence space over billions of years, our exploration of the Milky Way Galaxy remains limited. However, advancements in space probe technology and increased numbers of probes could significantly enhance our ability to explore the Galaxy more comprehensively and efficiently.
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