Who Is Government?: The Untold Story of Public Service

In “The Searchers,” Dave Eggers explores humanity’s quest to discover extraterrestrial life, focusing on the scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who are developing technology to find planets that might support life. Eggers predicts that within the next quarter-century, humans will likely find evidence of life on another planet, either on moons in the solar system or on exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

Eggers explains that NASA plans to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which will have a viewing field 100 times greater than the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope will include a coronagraph, a device designed for “starlight suppression”—blocking the light from distant stars to reveal planets orbiting them. Once scientists master this technology with the Roman telescope and the future Habitable Worlds Observatory, they can identify planets that might harbor life.

During his visit to JPL near Pasadena, California, Eggers discovers that this government-funded research center houses some of the world’s most brilliant minds in astronomy, astrophysics, and engineering. The author emphasizes that their crucial work in exploring the origins of the universe and the existence of extraterrestrial life relies on governmental support; most private corporations see no immediate profit in such research.