'It is safe to speak about a fantastic breakthrough.' This is a statement made by professor Carsten Dominik, in reaction to this week's published find of a new planet that possibly has life on it.

Carsten Dominik, a professor specialised in exoplanets in Amsterdam, was endowed professor in Nijmegen until recently. Just like his fellow experts, he calls this week’s publication in Nature very important. In the article, a team of astronomers confirms the find of a ‘sister’ of earth, in a near solar system.

The fact that there are planets that could possibly have life on them, is nothing new. However, this find is special because of the closeness of it: Proxima-b might be far away – at 40 billion kilometers from earth – but it is the closest one ever found. Dominik: ‘This is the planet closest to earth that could support life. We will probably not find a closer planet with life on it.’ The find is an impuls for the discipline, says Dominik.

Staffed trip
The media already speculate about a staffed trip to Proxima-b: that would take ages, but a completely self-sufficient space colony could set foot on the planet, so far offspring of the first space crew. An improbable scenario, says Dominik, pointing at trials with closed ecosystems that did not stay intact for more than a few months. ‘We cannot even go to Mars yet.’

Dominik first wants to aim the research arrows at a new generation of space telescopes, that could shed a new light on, among other things, the atmosphere around Proxima-b. After that, we could think about sending unmanned probes. ‘Those are smaller than a staffed flight and a lot quicker because of that, think about a trip that takes 25 years. A nice perspective, this breakthrough gives our discipline new space to think about this.’