Alex McColgan

Drake reasoned that the way of calculating the number of civilisations in our galaxy whose electromagnetic emissions are detectable could be calculated, provided you knew the rates at which those other steps happened.

Let's break it down.

N is the number we're looking for.

How many alien races are out there for us to see or hear?

This will give us an idea of the odds of finding them,

Our star is the rate of formation of stars suitable for the development of intelligent life, in number per year.

Not all stars are very suitable for life to develop, as some are too cold, or too hot, or generally too unstable.

We need to know how many are being born that could support life.

Fp is the fraction of those stars with planets.

Ne is the number of those planets, per solar system, with atmospheres and material compositions suitable for life.

If they're covered with lava, or are completely devoid of atmosphere or water, it's unlikely that life could form there, based on our own planet's example.

FL is the fraction of how many of those planets that could support life actually do support life.

Fi is the fraction of planets for which that life becomes intelligent

Fc is the fraction of times that life advances enough technologically to start sending out signals of their existence.

And finally, L is the length of time a civilization exists on average.

If you combine all of these elements, you could accurately predict how many alien civilizations we would be able to see up in our sky right now.

Of course, you might have noticed a drawback with this equation.

Some of these numbers are simply not known by us.

But where's the fun in not giving it a go anyway?

By inputting the numbers that scientists currently believe to be most likely, and by making a few assumptions of my own along the way, we will attempt to solve the Drake equation.