NASA and ESA are poised to spend billions in pursuit of cosmic knowledge. The proposed Pluto-Kuiper Express could launch in December 2004, arrive on station by 2012, and continue into the Kuiper Belt . Closer to home, our own moon is still a tempting target, judging by two missions planned by ESA and Japan, both scheduled for launch in 2002. At least 14 missions are aimed at Mars over the next decade, both because Mars may have once hosted microbial life, and because it's a likely place for us to settle as we begin migrating off Earth. New technologies, more than curiosity, will propel us out of Earth's cradle.
Variants are under development.
Scientists believe plasma drives will be limited to our own solar system for the foreseeable future, however. If we can't propel ourselves out with what we can carry, maybe we could hitch a ride. SETI is the world's largest coordinated search for extraterrestrial intelligence. God alone knows what we will find or when we will find it. It seems inevitable to those of us who grew up devouring science fiction that we will eventually discover other intelligences.