I would show them my pulsar map. Astronomer and astrophysicist Frank Drake designed the map, working with fellow astronomer Carl Sagan and artist and writer Linda Salzman Sagan. The pulsar map shows the location of our sun relative to known pulsars. This map was placed on the interstellar space probes Voyager 1 & 2 in 1977.
Whether or not to have a tattoo of it is debatable. A dog tag may be easier to carry.
The Magic About Pulsars Discovered in 1967 by Northern Irish astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, pulsars were described by Antony Hewish to be the remains of collapsed suns.
For reasons not entirely understood they emit pulses of radio waves (and like lighthouses sometimes visible light) with the accuracy of atomic clocks, staying active for billions of years. It has something to do with magnetic fields.
Frank Drake drew the pulsar map using 14 pulsars that were known in the early 1970’s. Today we know of many more pulsars but they are not as powerful and bright. Frank Drake’s original pencil-drawn pulsar map today lives in an old tomato box at home.
Each pulsar is connected to the sun by a solid line. The length of the line represents the pulsar’s approximate relative distance from the sun. Etched along each of the pulsar lines are vertical and horizontal dashes that represent a binary number that can be converted into a decimal. When multiplied by a known measure of time, that number reveals the frequency of the pulsar—how fast it spins and flashes.
Successfully decoding the map would unambiguously pinpoint the sun’s position and the time frame of the spacecraft’s launch.
Astronaut Butch Wilmore heard odd noises coming from Boeing’s Starliner spaceship that was attached to the International Space Station on Saturday, August 31, 2024. He commented, “I do not know what is making it.”
We know about this because space geek Rob Dale wrote some software that listens to the NASA communications from the International Space Station. It trims out the silent gaps and uploads that to a public server. Rob says that he is the only one in the world doing this; otherwise, we would never have heard about this story. It would still be behind NASA’s closed doors.
NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore reported hearing unusual sounds from the Starliner spacecraft on Saturday. He was docked at the International Space Station.
He inquired about the source of the noises to Mission Control. They confirmed to be able to listen in through a hardline connection.
There were clear, sonar-like pinging sounds when Wilmore held his microphone up to the speaker.
We are going to listen to those sounds.
Although the origin of these sounds remains unclear, they are likely harmless and reminiscent of similar occurrences reported by astronauts in the past.
Many people thought that the sounds were very similar to the sounds from the 1997 Carl Sagan movie “Contact.”.
It was not immediately clear what was causing the odd and somewhat eerie noise on Starliner.
Given the ongoing challenges with the Starliner mission, including helium leaks and thruster issues, it was recently announced that the spacecraft will return to Earth autonomously on September 6, 2024, without its original crew.
Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams will return to Earth in February aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Update: On Monday, September 2, NASA released the following statement regarding the strange noises: “A pulsing sound from a speaker in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft that NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore heard aboard the International Space Station has stopped.” The feedback from the speaker was the result of an audio configuration between the space station and Starliner.
Why has nobody built rotating spacecraft to simulate gravity?
Pictured: a fairground ride from the 1950’s, I call it a GRAVITY DRUM.
A whole spacecraft is expensive to rotate, but small spaces on space stations or ships could easily be rotated.
Can those small spaces be big enough to provide meaningful and healthy artificial gravity?
From my physics knowledge I recall that gravity and acceleration are the same.
If I remember correctly, 1 g is equal to an acceleration of 9.81m/sec per second. In other words, a wheel with a circumference of 10 meters would have to be spun about once per second to simulate 1 g in Zero gravity? Not quite.
Alas, it’s a bit more complicated than that, and thankfully we don’t have to spin the wheel quite so fast. That’s a bonus!
Here are a few handy calculators to work out wheel sizes and rotation rates to simulate Earth gravity:
SpinCalc, solves for gravity, radius and rotation rate,
A wheel with a circumference of 10 meters would have a diameter of 3.18 meters. This would be a handy size for artificial gravity experiments, even on Earth.
Would it be comfortable to spend any time in this? The wheel should rotate at about 24 RPM to simulate 1 g. It could be compartmentalized in to 1 x 2 meter beds, holding ten crew.
So at least during their rest period spacefarers would have the benefit of normal gravity. The astronauts are lying on the inside of the wheel, a bit like in the fairground ride illustration but with more privacy.
We know that the negative effects of zero gravity are really serious and numerous. Even 2.5 hours of daily treadmill exercise are insufficient to prevent these effects:
fluid redistribution: Bodily fluids shift from the lower extremities toward the head. This precipitates many of the problems described below .
fluid loss: The brain interprets the increase of fluid in the cephalic area as an increase in total fluid volume. In response, it activates excretory mechanisms.
electrolyte imbalances: Changes in fluid distribution lead to imbalances in potassium and sodium and disturb the autonomic regulatory system .
cardiovascular changes: An increase of fluid in the thoracic area leads initially to increases in left ventricular volume and cardiac output. As the body seeks a new equilibrium, fluid is excreted, the left ventricle shrinks and cardiac output decreases.
red blood cell loss: Blood samples taken before and after American and Soviet flights have indicated a loss of as much as 0.5 liters of red blood cells.
muscle damage: Muscles atrophy from lack of use. Contractile proteins are lost and tissue shrinks. Muscle loss may be accompanied by a change in muscle type.
bone damage: Because the mechanical demands on bones are greatly reduced in micro gravity, bones essentially dissolve.
hypercalcemia: Fluid loss and bone demineralization conspire to increase the concentration of calcium in the blood.
immune system changes: Loss of T-cell function may hamper the body’s resistance to cancer — a danger exacerbated by the high-radiation environment of space .
interference with medical procedures: Bacterial cell membranes become thicker and less permeable, reducing the effectiveness of antibiotics.
vertigo and spatial disorientation: Without a stable gravitational reference, crew members experience arbitrary and unexpected changes in their sense of verticality.
space adaptation syndrome: About half of all astronauts and cosmonauts are afflicted. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, anorexia, headache, malaise, drowsiness, lethargy, pallor and sweating.
loss of exercise capacity: This may be due to decreased motivation as well as physiological changes.
degraded sense of smell and taste: The increase of fluids in the head causes stuffiness similar to a head cold.
weight loss: Fluid loss, lack of exercise and diminished appetite result in weight loss. Space travelers tend not to eat enough.
flatulence: Digestive gas cannot “rise” toward the mouth and is more likely to pass through the other end of the digestive tract “very effectively with great volume and frequency” .
facial distortion: The face becomes puffy and expressions become difficult to read, especially when viewed sideways or upside down.
changes in posture and stature: The neutral body posture approaches the fetal position. The spine tends to lengthen.
changes in coordination: Earth-normal coordination unconsciously compensates for self-weight. In weightlessness there is a tendency to reach too “high” .
Compared to these adverse effects of zero gravity, here are some studies by a psychologist named Graybiel from 1977 on the effects of rotating a human on his own axis here on Earth, like on a spit (from https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1980-22567-001).
GRAYBIEL ROTATION COMFORT ZONES
Graybiel concluded that 1.0 RPM: even highly susceptible subjects were symptom-free, or nearly so 3.0 RPM: subjects experienced symptoms 5.4 RPM, only subjects with low susceptibility performed well 10 RPM, adaptation presented a challenging but interesting problem. Even pilots without a history of air sickness did not fully adapt in a period of twelve days.
The “adaption” that Graybiel is talking about is the getting used to the absence of the rotation, after the body had been spun.
What that feels like we all remember from childhood.:
Pirouette
I must say that spit rotating a human on his own axis in the horizontal under the influence of Earth gravity is most likely to be very far removed from what a human may experience in an artificial gravity drum in weightless space.
I’d go as far as to say that Graybiel’s rotation comfort zones have absolutely nothing to do whatsoever with artificial gravity by centripetal force. All he proved in his paper “Somatosensory motion after-effect following earth-horizontal rotation about the Z-axis” is that the after effect of spinning someone rapidly is disorientation of the vestibular system of the ear, leading to dizziness, aka vertigo.
But let’s see if these Graybiel’s comfort zone figures can be applied. The SpaceX Mars rocket is going to have a diameter of 9 meters. Would it be possible to create a comfortable habitat for sleeping or resting spacefarers within the confines of this rocket?
A 9 meter drum would need to rotate at 14 RPM to simulate 1 g, or at 8 RPM to achieve 1/3 of Earth gravity. Graybiel’s findings would indicate that the space available on the SpaceX Mars rocket would be too small.
However, I believe that the gravity (centripetal force) acting on the body as it lies down, not spinning about itself and on one level , will be more comfortable than twirling rapidly around one’s own axis.
In Drum Gravity Bed Units there would be no head-to-foot acceleration gradient.
DRUM GRAVITY BED UNITS The drum gravity bed units are conceived of as an add-on module to a spacecraft or space station, be it in transit, orbit or on the Moon, Mars or asteroids to provide more natural gravity.
Have prototypes of this concept been built?
In a certain way: Yes! The first picture in this post is a fairground attraction from the 1950’s.
Did humanity really forget from the ’50s how easy and fun it is to enjoy artificial gravity? Apparently the fairground visitors subjected themselves to the experience voluntarily and enjoyed it.
“Rotor Ride”
Simple gravity devices like this could help spacefarers to maintain their health, after the device is tweaked.
Here are the calculations on the von Braun wheel from 1952 used in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey:
They envisioned a rotating wheel with a diameter of 76 meters (250 feet). The 3-deck wheel would revolve at 3 RPM to provide artificial one-third gravity. It was envisaged as having a crew of 80.
Fast forward 70 years (not much has happened since the 1950’s):
SAHC HUMAN CENTRIFUGE The SAHC human centrifuge began testing and operations in about 2020. It’s to investigate the tolerability and use of artificial gravity on astronauts and their health, to counter the effects of weightlessness. What’s taken so long?
The machine measures 5.6 meters in diameter. It would be small enough to put in the SpaceX Mars rocket. But it needs a few more seats.
With the Short-Arm Human Centrifuge (SAHC) in Cologne — provided by the ESA — artificial gravity will be created to afford fundamental research in medicine and human physiology. The main focus is on the possibility to extend e.g. bed-rest studies to test methods of artificial gravity based counter-measures for medical risks due to weightlessness.
Technical data:
Max. radius at outer perimeter: 2,8 m Max. overall payload: 550 kg
Max. centrifugal acceleration (foot level, test subject height 185 cm): 4.5 g Max. revolution of centrifuge rotor (software limit): 39 rpm
Scientific applications
Development of effective countermeasures for neuromuscular and skeletal degeneration of astronauts using Artificial Gravity, etc…
“There was a specific electronic signature (frequency) emanating from them (UFOs/UAPs) when they were going into or coming out of the water, so they were easy to track. “
wrote Bob Fish in an Email to John Podesta, published on Wikileaks by Julian Assange.
Robert Fish, USS Hornet
Can we send “welcome” radio messages during a sighting at UFOs and listen back for a response? Of course we can. That has not been done yet. At least not by civilians. Someone asked on a forum what the frequency is that the Navy listened to…
The frequency is easy to find out. When an UFO is near we use a multi frequency receiver that scans the entire (electromagnetic) radio spectrum in an instant. The “Uniden Close Call” feature is incorporated into many HAM radios. “Whistler Spectrum Sweeper” is another option.
Both are ways to find frequencies that are close to you with a very strong signal.
Uniden Close Call vs Whistler Spectrum Sweeper
The “AOR AR-7400” is another receiver that scans a predetermined spectrum in one second.
Licensed radio amateurs (HAM operators) near a sighting could try to find the correct UAP frequency and then try to make contact.
To do this there’s no need for highly sensitive multi billion dollar radio telescopes. SETI pointed their dishes at very narrow points in the sky, searching distant star systems for alien messages.
That is not necessary when the potential alien transmitters are close by.
With the open source smartphone app “UFO Alert!” any search partner will be informed immediately of interesting nearby UAPs.
If UAPs emit radio frequencies their signal will be close by and strong enough to be picked up by conventional antenna.
Avi Loeb The question of “what are UAPs? is also being investigated by Avi Loeb with the “Galileo Project”: this consists of hundreds of stationary optical telescopes that hope to photograph UAPs in high resolution.
I don’t think pictures alone will be sufficient to explain UAPs, no matter how high the resolution. I wrote to Avi suggesting we pool our ideas.
Science has a tendency not to publish results until 100% certain about them. That could mean a delay.
Public channel On the public channel of the “UFO Alert!” app there will be no such delay. Public participation and discussion about possible results is the apps main feature. It will be totally transparent.
Science channel The “UFO Alert!’ may have search partners that take a more cautious approach in publishing their findings.
That’s possible due to the open architecture of the app. The results of one search partner or group may disagree with that of another.
Conclusive evidence But the app of the Contact Project has one main goal: radio contact with UAP. The analysis of those transmissions, if they exist, should leave no doubt about the result.
I’m excited to share a fresh perspective on the Contact Project. While many gaze into the vast expanse of space, searching light-years away for evidence of extraterrestrial life, I believe we should look closer to home. Yes, radio astronomy may one day unveil the whispers of alien civilizations beyond our solar system, but in my view, Earth is already a crossroads for extraterrestrial visitors.
We don’t need to venture far to find “ET.”
THE E.T. MOVIE PHONE
Radio amateur Henry Feinberg explains the communicator he built for the movie “ET: The Extraterrestrial.” Have you ever wondered how quickly the mothership responded to ET’s call? The E.T. movie phone can transmit actual messages into space to orbiting saucers. Doesn’t that sound ludicrous?
E.T.’s mothership wasn’t actually very far from Earth. That’s how he was rescued so quickly. The banner for the Contact Project embodies this very idea. What many see as a simple child’s toy, reminiscent of the beloved movie “E.T. The Extraterrestrial,” is, in fact, a working communications device capable of sending signals into Earth orbit.
I’m not saying that we should build this contraption. But the idea that it may be possible to contact ETi by sending radio signals is the core idea of this website, the “ContactProject.Org.”
In the world of science and technology communication, Henry Feinberg (call sign K2SSQ) shines brightly. A true innovator at heart, he crafted the remarkable communicator featured in the film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
How to built a ET communicator, according to a radio ham
Using everyday household items, Henry pieced together an ingenious device that could transmit E.T.’s iconic “phone home” signal. The communicator consists of three distinct components. At its core lies a modified Speak and Spell, with its keys reconfigured to form an entirely new alphabet.
From each key, Henry connected wires to another pivotal piece—the programmer. This unconventional programmer is built atop a turntable, but instead of a record, it features a saw blade adorned with multiple coats of insulating spray paint.
Henry crafted openings in the saw blade that correspond to specific letters. As the turntable spins, the saw blade passes under a row of Bobby pins, which contact and activate the Speak and Spell just as if one were pressing the buttons directly. Adding to the complexity of this creation, Henry ingeniously fashioned a ratchet system using a knife and fork hinged together. As the turntable rotates, the knife and fork pivot back and forth, precisely indexing the saw blade to generate the next letter of the message.
To further enhance his creation, Henry attached a rope to a nearby tree branch in the forest. As the wind rustled through the trees, it pulled the branch back and forth, gently advancing the saw blade tooth by tooth. With this setup, he not only programmed a message but also needed to transmit it across the cosmos.
For the transmission, Henry utilized a speaker-microphone from a CB walkie-talkie that belonged to Elliott. He ingeniously routed the signal to a UHF TV tuner—an ingenious piece that E.T. had “borrowed” from Elliott’s mother’s television set. This tuner elevated the signal from the CB frequency into the microwave range, channeling it into a coffee can that vibrated to amplify the transmission.
Finally, the message was funneled through an umbrella lined with a reflective coating, which directed the signal outward into the vastness of outer space. Each component harmonized beautifully, showcasing not only Henry’s talent as an inventor but also the enduring possibilities of communication across galaxies.
So, we’re transmitting voice or data by radio to an UAP. They respond. What now?
Before we can have a meaningful communication with ETI (by radio), we need to agree on some form of handshake protocol. This is not just a friendly formality.
Communication, either analogue or digital, is dialogic. Dialogic processes refer to words uttered by a speaker and interpreted by a listener. We must make sure that the speaker is understood by the listener and that the listener can respond. It takes two to tango.
A handshake protocol can agree on the speed and language cypher to be used.
Language is seen as a cypher for thought, different groups of individuals employing unique sounds.
Language sets people apart, it seperates people into nations and regions. This gives them identity.
Digital V90 handshake
Computers or civilized states on common ground have developed handshake protocols for meeting strangers.
An example of a digital handshake are the modem sounds from dial up internet of the 1990’s. What we hear is the V90 handshake protocol of TCP-IP, the internet protocol.
In the movie end sequence in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, when the 5 note sequence is played and the mothership responds, we hear a demonstration of a tone-frequency handshake protocol that’s played by a musician.
Star Trek “First Contact”: ETI communication is initiated by handshake.
In the example from the Star Trek movie “First Contact”, a human literally shakes the hand of a Vulcan before communication is initiated. This is a dialogic handshake.
Not every human is comfortable shaking hands because of fear of viruses. Especially alien ones.
What kind of handshake protocol we’ll be using when we make First Contact with ETI we don’t know precisely.
But when it comes to the transmission of data then it will be a digital handshake. Therefore it’s pointless to expect to hear a single word from ET without ACK.
ACK SYN
ACK! SYN? Mars Attacks movie poster
Known as the “SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK handshake,” computer A transmits a SYNchronize packet to computer B, which sends back a SYNchronize-ACKnowledge packet to A. Computer A then transmits an ACKnowledge packet to B, and the connection is established.
During April 2020 I had a lot of time on my hands. It was the first Corona lockdown in Germany. I decided to sort through old 35 mm negatives in an old drawer in our basement. The drawer serves as a storage box.
As I was pulling the film strips through the scanner, I came across negatives from England, where I had lived in 1995. Between those negatives were two frames of particular interest.
Ilford XP2 35 mm film, 1995
Ilford XP2 film frames 7 and 8 showed an UAP. I was not prepared to find these pictures. I had completely forgotten this UFO sighting for 25 years. The only other two people who knew about it were my girlfriend and her father who were with me when the sighting took place.
The blurry camera images are not as good as what I saw with my own eyes that night in 1995. I got two exposures of the same object driving in a straight line at 70 mph on the motorway. That made it possible to actually triangulate distance, speed and size of the object:
Triangulation of distance to UAP, frames 7 & 8
It has been suggested that what I saw was an advertising blimp parked near the motorway. I don’t think so, because it had no advertising or any markings on it. Also, the object became 25% smaller as we drove towards it for approx. 15 seconds at 70 mph.
To get smaller the blimp would have to have traveled faster than 70 mph. But a blimp top speed is only 55 mph.
UAP?
That leaves me with the question: what did I see?
This is the reason I am stepping forward, now. I know how to answer this type of question, once and for all.
—–
The Mission of ‘The Contact Project’: to investigate UAPs/UFOs using real-time tracking, radio, video, gigapixel images and passive radar, so that this type of question can be answered without doubts.
The engine of this initiative will be an app designed to coordinate real-time reporting, alerting, documenting and contacting efforts.
The goal of the ‘Contact Project’ is to discover whether or not humanity is equipped to respond to extraterrestrial contact.
The CONTACT INITIATIVE looks for answers about the nature of UAPs/UFOs.
My name is Erich Habich-Traut and I’m the initiator of the ‘Contact Project’.
I’ve coordinated a multinational science project 2001 – 2015 with my website “Our Planet Earth From Space”, which tracked Earth Changes: http://opefs.com.
The difference between the Contact Project and classical SETI is that UAPs are included in its search for extraterrestrial life.
The Contact Project wants to gather high quality evidence about the phenomenon. It also wants to inform and enthuse the public about the possibility of contact
UFO ALERT One possibility to gather evidence on UFOs and make contact with ETi that the Contact Project has investigated is an app based approach- a smartphone app that records GPS coordinates of UFOs after a user alert. The following is past tense:
Users could take snapshots or video of the UFO with their smartphone. But that was not the primary goal. When the smartphone was used to photograph the UFO, its gravity sensors record the elevation and the compass records its azimuth.
The UFO alert then would have been sent to an astronomical database, NORAD database and air traffic databases to identify known flying objects. Secret military projects were to be excluded via NORAD TLEs.
The remaining objects qualified as prospective UAP. They would have been investigated by forwarding their GPS coordinates to close-by search partners using the same Contact app. All this was to happen near real-time.
The search partners were to be selected by their proximity to the sighting and their capability/qualifications.
Search partners could have been HAM radio operators, videographers, gigapixel camera operators, Unistellar telescope operators and (passive) radar operators. Passive radar was a subset of radio HAM enthusiasts.
To motivate the public to take part in this search prizes were to be given for successful detections of UAPs, staggered by evidence weight:
more important: 4. reception of radio emissions, 5. verifiable conversation with ETI (CETI), 6. physical alien artifact, 7. actual landing of UAP with ETI.
Alternative to cash prizes, credits may be given. Those could be collectible non-fungible tokens (NFT’s), whose value is based on their desirability.
The whole endeavor (and prize money) would have been funded by private enterprise through the “Alien Marketplace” advertising space. This marketplace was accessed through the Contact app. To filter out fakes and false identifications AI algorithms and volunteers were to evaluate the results. The volunteers may have been paid cash or NFT tokens that can be traded on the Alien Marketplace.
MY OWN MOTIVATION
MUFON #111680, UK, 1995
My own motivation to get this “Contact Project” app off the ground are my own UAP sightings from Ireland in 1986 and 1995 in the UK.
The 1995 UAP I managed to photograph twice on 35mm film, making it possible for me to finally triangulate it’s approximate size, distance and speed in May 2020, when I found the lost and forgotten negative film from 1995.
According to a Gallup poll over 40% of the American public believes in UFOs. Now, after the release of the Pentagon ODNI UAP report in July 2021 the climate seems right to get to the bottom of this and ask the question for real and to get a real answer: Are we Alone?
After this introduction, could I please interest you in reading the proposal outline and flowchart of the “Contact Project”?
Keywords: Contact Initiative, GPS tracking, smartphone app, crowd sourced, automated alert system, distributed, public and specialized observers, passive radar operators, proactive HAM radio operators, gigapixel camera operators, CETI, METI, SETI, commercial funding, NFT, alien marketplace
Here’s the PDF version of the Contact Project research proposal, together with the introductory note and the “Contact app” flowchart. The working title for the Contact App development is currently “UFO Alert!”.
Download and email these documents to promote or evaluate the Contact Initiative. If you do forward these documents I’d be interested in the responses you get.
Contact Project: The Introduction Letter
Contact Project: The Research Proposal
Contact Project: The Contact app flowchart
A note on the Alien Marketplace, funding, etc. As with most projects or initiatives, a positive cash flow greatly contributes to development speed and stamina.
The last chapter of the research proposal is the “The Alien Marketplace”. This type of chapter is more at home in a business plan than a research proposal and it outlines a funding possibility.
To finance the Contact Initiative a lottery and ad platform funded by advertisers and NFT trading technology are optional but not mandatory. It seems to be the most straightforward way to finance the app and its development and growth.
The Contact Project and Initiative welcomes donations and investments. Mostly the two are mutually exclusive, but I’m not an expert. How investment into the Contact Project could convert into equity has not been explored. I’m open to suggestions.
For donations: we are not tax exempt since this is the early start-up phase.
A Proposal To Contact UFOs/UAPs by Radio Keywords: crowdsourced, open source, automated alert system, distributed, public and specialized observers, smartphone app, passive radar operators, proactive HAM radio operators, gigapixel camera operators, megapixel telescope operators, CETI, METI, SETI
Erich Habich-Traut, https://contactproject.org 27. October 2021
1. INTRODUCTION 2. IS ALIEN CONTACT A GOOD IDEA? 3. A BIT OF UFO HISTORY 4. WHAT IS A UFO? 5. HOW TO OVERCOME THE ‘LIGHT BARRIER’ 6. HUMAN PROGRESS 7. WHY UFOs/UAPs? 8. CHANCES OF CONTACTING UFOs/UAPs 9. DESCRIPTION OF THE “CONTACT PROJECT APP”10. FUNDING: THE ALIEN MARKETPLACE
1. INTRODUCTION After more than 70 years the US Government recently confirmed the existence of UAPs/UFOs. There is a possibility that some of these objects or phenomena are not of earthly origin. To find out where they are from we want to try and talk to them by radio,
The Contact Initiative (CI) believes that UAPs/UFO’s are under the control of some form of intelligence and non-hostile.
SETI has been trying for decades to find signals of alien radio communications by pointing radio telescopes often at random at nearby stars in the hope that they may harbour intelligent life.
SETI faces three difficulties: 1. It has to find a planet that is populated by intelligent life 2. The alien life must be using radio waves to communicate 3. Any alien signals detected will be decades or centuries old and will take twice that time for a reply. (If we receive a message from ET in 25 light years distance, and we respond with a message immediately, then it will take 25 years to send signals to ET and another 25 years before we can hear a response. Hence, a human lifetime of 75 years will have passed.)
Point three shows the difficulty of trying to use radio waves for interstellar communications. Very often the participants of such a communication die of old age before they have even exchanged first welcomes..
In the movie “Contact” Carl Sagan tried to circumvent this inconvenience by speculating that ET could send instructions for a wormhole transporter that doesn’t rely on slow radio waves.
Even in the idealized world of the Hollywood movie “Contact” this approach didn’t prove the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence to all sceptics, because the resulting exchange between human and ETI left no convincing physical evidence.
The premise of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is that we are not alone in the universe and that Alien life somewhere has developed radio technology just like us.
We expect the Aliens to be friendly or at least impartial to our existence. That is by no means a certainty, looking at the example of our own species.
The Contact Initiative (CI) has as its goal to implement “active SETI”, or ‘CETI’ as it is known (communication with extraterrestrial intelligence).
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