R.E. Bell Lecture

On the Prevalence of Ocean Worlds, Their Suitability for Biology, And a Speculation Regarding the Fermi Paradox

Alan Stern

Southwest Research Institute

The Fermi paradox asks why we have not seen evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations. I will first describe the Fermi paradox in detail, as well as the related Drake Equation that provides a method for computing the number of extant extraterrestrial civilizations. I will then review evidence for ocean worlds in our solar system and describe how the discovery of numerous ocean worlds may related to the Fermi Paradox.