Learn More About the Breakthrough Discuss 2022 Conference

Yuri Milner, the writer of the “Eureka Manifesto” and participant of the Giving Pledge, is also the founder of the Breakthrough Initiatives.  Part of that program is the annual Breakthrough Discuss conference, which this year took place in Santa Cruz, California, from June 22 through June 23, 2022. The main idea behind the Breakthrough Discuss conference is to provide a place for scientific researchers to discuss life in the universe and ideas and initiatives for space exploration. This conference is attended by many people who work in the space exploration field. The conference was broken up into three different segments. Here is a recap of those segments.

A Bigger Bang for Your Buck

The first segment of the Breakthrough Discuss conference was called “A Bigger Bang for Your Buck.” This segment was designed to help find affordable and innovative concepts for cosmological measurement. The more affordable it gets to explore space, the more likely it will be that space exploration can advance. Unfortunately, getting to space and exploring space is quite costly, which holds space exploration back and may be one of the reasons why we do not yet know a lot about space. Some of the speakers who spoke during this segment included Shirley Ho, Maura McLaughlin, Suzanne Staggs, Ritoban Basu Thakur, and Andrea Gallo Rooss.

Low-Mass Transit

The second segment of the conference was named “Low-Mass Transit.” This segment carried some components from the first segment in terms of affordability and finding ways to explore space. But the segment also focused on light, fast and cheap ways to explore the solar system and beyond. Once again, space exploration can be held up by the cost of exploring space. This portion of the conference looked at different ways to explore space without actually going to space and different methods to explore space that is lighter and not as heavy or bulky as the types of spacecraft we currently use. The segment had speakers that included Mahmooda Sultana, Francis Nimmo, Tom Pike, Konstantin Batygin, and Sarah Gibson.

New Outlooks on Life

The third segment of the conference was called “New Outlooks on Life.”  The primary focus of this segment was on new approaches to detecting life and intelligence beyond Earth. Many people believe there is life outside of this planet and that by finding this life, we can learn a lot about the origins of our planet, whether we can survive on other planets and any other secrets that other lifeforms may know. Some people also feel that we can help prevent our potential demise by learning more about life on other planets or in the solar system. This segment featured speakers Chenoa Tremblay, Jason Wright, James Davenport, Noemie Glubus, David Deamer, and Cherry Ng.

Yuri Milner wrote the “Eureka Manifesto” with the hopes of inspiring other people to participate in space exploration. He strongly feels that one of the best ways to learn more about humans and the current world we live in is by exploring space and learning more about our origins. He is also a proud participant in the Giving Pledge, and he pledges a lot of his money to things like the Breakthrough Prize, which honors scientists looking to make positive changes in our world. As part of his dedication to exploring space, Yuri Milner has helped coordinate and host the Breakthrough Discuss conference, where leaders in the astrobiology and space exploration fields can get together and discuss big ideas. This year’s conference focused on different ways to make space exploration more affordable and more realistic, and Mr. Milner hopes that these conferences will lead to changes in space exploration that can benefit everyone.