Nexus - 0801 - New Times Magazine-pages

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It was not until 1988, after a decade of study, that NASA HQ There are also projects that have been listening in on an entirely had the go-ahead and in 1991 started scanning the cosmos for different part of the electromagnetic spectrum. OSETI (Optical intelligent life. A year later, Congress terminated funding! It Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) scans the skies for laser seems very strange that after so many years of developing the signalling from across the Universe. One prominent project, technology, the US government should suddenly terminate fund- COSETI (Columbus Optical SETI), uses a 10-inch aperture tele- ing when the actual search was only just beginning. But is there scope with a sensitive optical transducer and is equipped to moni- more to this than meets the eye? tor for both pulsed beacons as well as modulated continuous wave Back in the early 1990s, the author had contact with an individ- transmissions. Those in the optical SETI fraternity believe this to ual who claimed to be a former KGB officer involved in infiltrat- be a better option, as it allows greater power to be directed by ing the US National Security Agency (NSA). While serving his their hypothetical ETIs trying to get in contact. This aspect of home country, a former Soviet state, he was involved in assessing SETI was apparently covered in Bernard Oliver's original Project the NSA's signals analysis techniques. Since the Soviet Union's Cyclops, but again the Russians, namely Shvartsman and Beskin, collapse, he has had no authority to answer to and so speaks freely got there first. on such subjects. He says that SETI was no more than a cover for There are also groups who are trying to encourage members of a more subversive program. Like the launching of Sputnik was no the public to get involved. One such venture is SETI@Home, more than an exercise in deploying nuclear weapons, SETI was where you can help by downloading a screen-saver that number- about eavesdropping on the enemy. This makes a lot of sense, as crunches data from the latest radio telescope observations. So the technologies involved are very similar indeed. while your computer sits idle, it could be searching for "life out For a practical SETI program, one requires a system that can there". Another venture is the SETI League, which concentrates scan at high resolution a huge bandwidth of frequencies. Not only on the more technical aspects of SETI. this, but it must be able to detect the presence of intelligent trans- It is for the bored radio ham who wants a real DX (for those missions. The latter requirement is who don't know, DX is the standard achieved using powerful algo- code for long distance on the air rithms—code-breakers—which use bands). Build the kit and download probability mathematics to analyse . the software and you can be a mini the incoming data. Another require- It was not until 1988, after a Arecibo Observatory. The big plan is ment is that the system should be decade of study, that NASA HQ to link over the Internet everybody's able to pick out weak signals buried mini SETI station to form one great deep within the background noise. had the go-ahead and in 1991 big global dish. Deserted hr ise more thn the |” started scanning the cosmos for fF," hs, fees onl shor system that would give a government intelligent life. A year later, there are many projects and endeav- a great advantage over another. Congress terminated funding! ours that have not been mentioned. SETI was the perfect cover and means of drawing in the country's Science is going towards a goal that really has great implications for brilliant minds: radio engineers, mankind, something everyone on mathematicians and computer sys- Earth can appreciate. It is only a pity tems experts. SETI was a means of gaining the people's support, that it may be going in the wrong direction, especially when one a project into which they could freely pump money. Meanwhile, considers that such a goal may already have been reached— the technology developed could be controlled and siphoned off around a hundred and fifty years ago! for more subversive applications. All the government wanted was the technology; the discovery | FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS WITH SETI of intelligence elsewhere in the Universe would at best be an There are two main ways in which the SETI project may be inconvenience, so funding was terminated. directed. The first is to assume that a technologically developed But what of today? As there is no USSR, is there any use for _ civilisation, like ours, will have developed an electromagnetics- such technology? The answer is yes, for now we are the enemy. based global telecommunications system, as we have done. Any It is our communications which are being tapped into, using the ETIs that are at a 70-light-year radius from Earth will be receiving technology developed for SETI. the first of our TV transmissions Equally, it is expected that any ha o . It was not until 1988, after a decade of study, that NASA HQ had the go- rahead and in 1991 Pn ear ne See 2 Ee ee te started scanning the cosmos for intelligent life. A year later, Congress terminated funding! FUNDAMENTAL PROBLEMS WITH SETI There are two main ways in which the SETI project may be irected. The first is to assume that a technologically developed civilisation, like ours, will have developed an electromagnetics- based global telecommunications system, as we have done. Any ETIs that are at a 70-light-year radius from Earth will be receiving the first of our TV transmissions. Equally, it is expected that any technologically advanced ETI civilisation will also be emitting a similar mass of radio signals; this would be the signature of an ETI. The second approach is to assume that, somewhere out there, there is an ETI that is more advanced than we are and is constant- ly transmitting a signal to gain our attention. The second approach is preferred because the ETI in question would be trans- mitting a powerful signal in our direction, while modulating onto that same signal a simple message we can understand. For this reason, most SETI projects are geared up for the latter assump- tion. One of the problems here is that the ETI must be fairly close to make the exercise worthwhile, otherwise they may not be around long enough to hear the reply! This is due to the finite speed of light, which here on Earth is more than fast enough for global SETI PROJECTS TODAY After funding had been stopped, it was up to the scientists to carry on with the endeavour. To this end, they formed the SETI Institute which, mainly through private funding, carries on to this day the search for intelligent life in the Universe. Continuing the strategy used by the Ames Research Center, Project Phoenix concentrates on the targeted search, scanning sun-like stars. There have been other SETI projects running in the background of the main government-sponsored project; for instance, SERENDIP (Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations) has been going strong since 1979. This project has survived by piggybacking on ordinary radio astronomy research, mainly at Arecibo Observatory (as per the film Contact). 44 = NEXUS DECEMBER 2000 — JANUARY 2001