Dark energy presents an essential lesson for today’s scientific explorations. The question arises: should we invest in constructing a more advanced collider or a telescope with unprecedented capabilities? The answer is a resounding yes, and here’s the reasoning.

Whenever the proposal to invest in fundamental scientific research emerges—aimed at extending our experimental or observational boundaries—there is typically a wave of skepticism from the scientific community. These concerns are consistent and timeless, echoing through the ages.

• There are certainly unresolved enigmas, but there’s no assurance that these new efforts will bring clarity.
• It’s possible that pushing these limits may not uncover anything fundamentally new.
• The dreaded “nightmare scenario” could unfold, where we merely refine our existing knowledge without discovering anything groundbreaking.
• If this worst-case situation occurs, it raises the question of whether we’ve squandered our resources, time, and intellect on unproductive endeavors.

While acknowledging these risks is important, the potential rewards of such explorations could far exceed anything we can currently quantify. The implications of our dark energy-influenced future exemplify this potential.

Exploring the Universe with new methods—greater distances, higher energies, or temperatures near absolute zero—yields unknown results until the findings are revealed. The skepticism directed toward next-generation space telescopes and future particle colliders parallels the objections raised against the inaugural Hubble Deep Field, the Tevatron at Fermilab, or the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, despite the significant scientific achievements those projects have generated.

If you were to consult an astrophysicist or a particle physicist about the fundamental truths these endeavors might unveil, they could provide some valid predictions. However, the most revolutionary discoveries often stem from unexpected findings, which can only occur if we transcend currently explored frontiers.

Currently, we perceive the Universe as a vast expanse of space, nearly 100 billion light-years wide, harboring approximately 2 trillion galaxies. No matter where we look, galaxies are present both near and far. Studying these galaxies allows us to understand their growth, evolution, clustering, and the overall expansion and cooling of the Universe over time.

At a significant distance corresponding to an early stage post-Big Bang, stars and galaxies cease to exist. Beyond that, only neutral atoms remain, emitting faint radio signals as hydrogen atoms’ electrons transition. Further still lies a cold radiation field—remnants from the Big Bang—traveling through the cosmos, redshifted into the microwave spectrum by the time it reaches us.

Looking further into the cosmos allows us to gaze deeper into the past. The furthest we can observe traces back to 13.8 billion years, which corresponds to the Universe's estimated age. This backward extrapolation has led to the concept of the Big Bang. While all observations align with this framework, it’s a theory that remains unprovable.

Without these observations, it would have been exceptionally challenging to ascertain the nature or origins of our Universe. If we had emerged when the Universe was tenfold its current age—138 billion years instead of 13.8 billion—this would have been the dilemma. At that advanced age, the indicators leading us to the Big Bang would have yielded nothing.

• We wouldn’t measure distances to galaxies beyond our own, as none would be visible.
• We couldn’t evaluate how galaxies evolved or clustered, since our home galaxy would be the only known entity.
• Observing the Universe’s expansion would be impossible due to the absence of distant luminous objects.
• The Big Bang’s residual glow would be too faint and long-wavelength to detect.

This situation arises due to dark energy and its influence on the Universe's evolution. In a Universe primarily governed by dark energy during later stages, any object not gravitationally bound to us will recede increasingly fast over time.

As the Universe expands, the distance from distant galaxies increases, causing them to appear to recede at accelerating speeds. Once a certain distance—currently 18 billion light-years—is surpassed, we lose the ability to send new signals to that galaxy, nor can it send signals back to us. While we can still receive its “old light,” it won’t follow the familiar patterns we know.

To comprehend this, consider how light from an object behaves as it approaches a black hole. From an external observer’s standpoint, the event horizon appears as a point where everything slows down. Light seems to decelerate as it nears the event horizon, undergoing gravitational redshift to lower energies, with photon density approaching zero.

Nonetheless, if a detector is designed to capture long-wavelength photons over extended periods, it can gather data about objects that have fallen into the black hole, even if that event occurred long ago. This principle applies not only to black holes but to the cosmic horizon of our expanding Universe dominated by dark energy.

In the distant future, as the Universe reaches 138 billion years, all galaxies in our Local Group are expected to merge, forming a single elliptical galaxy, dubbed Milkdromeda. Following the inevitable collision between the Milky Way and Andromeda in about 4 to 7 billion years, the remaining galaxies will also merge, leading to a significant burst in star formation before it gradually diminishes.

At that point, most remaining stars will be red dwarfs or the remnants of stars that perished long ago. We might observe stars up to approximately 200,000 light-years away, but no other galaxies would be visible within a few million or billion light-years. To glimpse even the nearest galaxy beyond our own, we would need to look trillions of light-years away, encountering light that is diffuse and greatly redshifted.

If we develop the right tools—capable of measuring ultra-long wavelength photons and collecting data over extended periods—we could unveil countless discoveries about the Universe in its far future.

• We might identify billions or trillions of galaxies, observing the Universe in its youth.
• We could track the evolution of galaxies, capturing snapshots of their stellar and gas components from the Universe’s infancy.
• We might measure absorption features, providing estimates of primordial element abundances.
• We could gain insight into the expanding Universe and establish a new version of Hubble’s Law, revealing its true composition.
• With a sufficiently large radio telescope or array, we could even detect the Big Bang’s residual glow, manifesting as a cosmic far-radio background.

However, there would be no indicators urging us to search for specific signals in particular wavelengths. There’s a lack of compelling evidence suggesting, “Construct this equipment to detect this type of signal.” Without the readily observable signals we note today—signals that will eventually vanish in the Universe’s far future—the clues leading us to the Big Bang would not present themselves in their current form.

In such circumstances, the key to unveiling the elusive truth lies in persistent exploration beyond known boundaries. Even without any observable entities beyond our galaxy, we must continue our quest. We should investigate longer wavelengths, reach fainter limits, and extend integration times. Only through these efforts can we uncover the Universe’s secrets.

The challenge at the frontiers of science is that we often cannot predict where or how the next significant breakthrough will occur. The XENON experiment may uncover evidence of WIMP-like dark matter, while the upcoming DUNE experiment could reveal unexpected aspects of neutrinos. The James Webb Space Telescope may unveil previously unknown stars or galaxies, and future colliders could expose new forces, particles, or states of matter.

Until we explore these frontiers, we cannot ascertain what secrets the Universe may hold. The wisdom shared by Wayne Gretzky remains relevant: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Humanity currently stands at the most distant frontier in particle physics, astrophysics, low-temperature physics, and more. While we cannot predict the discoveries that await us, we can be certain that without pushing forward, scientific progress will stagnate.

Starts With A Bang is now featured on Forbes and republished on Medium with a 7-day delay. Ethan has authored two books: Beyond The Galaxy and Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive.