Drake Equation Calculator

What is your Drake Equation Number of Communicating Civilizations in our Galaxy?

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The Drake Equation was created by Dr. Frank Drake in 1961 for a conference as a way of disussing and conceptualizing the subject of the search to answer the question of 'Are we Alone?' .
It can be useful perhaps in thinking about the prevalence of beings trying to communicate with us in our galaxy.

Nc = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

The equation represents the following:

N* represents the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy

*: Current estimates are 200 to 400 billion stars in our galaxy.

fp is the fraction of stars that have planets around them

*: Current estimates range from 70% to 80%.

ne number of planets per star that are capable of sustaining life

i.e.: For each star that has a planetary system, how many planets are capable of sustaining life?

a guess: estimates range from 1 to 2.

fl is the fraction of planets in ne where life evolves

i.e. On what percentage of the planets that are capable of sustaining life does life actually evolve?

a guess- Current estimates are 100% (where life can evolve it will) .

fi is the fraction of fl where intelligent life evolves

i.e. On the planets where life does evolve, what percentage evolves intelligent life?

a guess- Estimates are 50% .

fc is the fraction of fi that communicate

i.e. What percentage of intelligent life forms have the means and the desire to communicate?

a guess: 10% to 20%

fL is fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilizations may survive

i.e.: For each civilization that does communicate, for what
fraction of the planet's life does the civilization survive?

a big guess: Earth's total expected lifetime and our Solar System's is approximately 10 billion years. Our communication with ourselves by radio has only been less than 140 years. How long can our civilization survive without destroying itself?
Can we, or our AI decendants overcome our problems and survive indefinately? If civilization ended today this figure would be 1/100,000,000th. If we survive for 10,000 more years this figure
would be 1/1,000,000th.

When all of these variables are multiplied, we get:

Nc, the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy.

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Use the Drake Equation Yourself

Calculate the possible number of communicating civilizations within our own galaxy using the Drake Equation.