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An interesting metric for measuring our progress

I consider myself to be one of "the lucky generation".

I was born at the very start of the space-race, just a few years before mankind launched his first orbiting satellite - Sputnik.

At that time, our knowledge of the universe around us was very limited.

People thought that the surface of Mars was covered in canals carrying water -- possibly built by Martians to irrigate their crops. It was widely believed that the surface of the moon was covered in a layer of talc-like dust, possibly metres deep and capable of swallowing any craft that might land there.

Most importantly, the only planets known to exist in the entire universe were those which orbited our sun.

My, how things have changed during my life so far...

While it might be tempting to think that the landing of man on the moon was perhaps the single biggest step in our understanding and exploration of the universe, I tend to think otherwise.

Nor, for all its technical complexity and amazing discoveries, do I think that the Mars rovers are our biggest success story.

The real proof of our ability to explore the universe is the way we've begun to discover exoplanets -- planets outside our own solar system.

The last planet in our own solar system: Pluto, was discovered in 1930 and it took another 80 years before we discovered the next planet and proof that our own system was not unique.

Now, thanks largely to NASA's Kepler space telescope, we've just found the 1000th exoplanet and detected a system composed of seven planets orbiting the dwarf star KIC 11442793, some 2,500 light years away.

Along the way, scientists have also discovered something very unexpected -- a sunless planet that appears to be wandering through space all on its own.

As we have extended our knowledge of our own solar system we have become increasingly aware that we may be the only form of life sustained by our sun. In that respect it has been a journey of disappointment. By comparison, each new exoplanet discovered further increases our chances of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

If we were to use the "known number of planets" as a metric for our success in discovering and charting the universe around us, we're now at the base of what looks to be a massive growth curve. Who knows what will turn up?

Personally, I can't wait.

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