NASA seems to have stumbled upon "Earth's twin," a planet that seems ideally suited to support life. The Kepler Telescope has been pointed at a region of space that contains over 100,00 stars for the last couple of years. And it seems they've hit pay dirt. The planet is called Kepler-22b and according to NASA, the planet's temperature is around 72 degrees - not too hot and not too cold. It's in the "habitable zone" where a planet could support liquid water and its sun is very much like our own.

But here's the really interesting Thing: the US Air Force Space Command has hired SETI to take a peek, restarting the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence with a quick infusion of cash. But why? Does the government really think there could be an Earth-like civilization on our twin planet? And if so, do they believe the inhabitants might be sufficiently advanced to travel the 600 light years between our solar systems? Not according to the "official" version of the story. SETI claims that Space Command claims that "...funds necessary for observatory re-activation and operations are being provided by the United States Air Force as part of a formal assessment of the instrument's utility for Space Situational Awareness ..."

Yeah, right. We're restarting SETI to ensure we can track local traffic in Earth's orbit. And if you believe that far-fetched story, you might as well believe in the aliens, too. In my not-so-humble opinion, the idea that intelligent life exists beyond Earth is more believable than anyThing the Air Force says. Maybe that's just me. But then again, maybe not.

See you next week,
Bobby