The WOW! signal, Part 1: Not made by humans?

Dawn at Big Ear, Ohio State University, http://bigear.org

At a quarter past ten in the evening on August 15, 1977
a once-in-a-lifetime event took place in Delaware:

A very strong signal arrived at the “Big Ear” radio telescope. It had all the characteristics of having come from an extraterrestrial intelligent source.

The OSU Big Ear radio observatory was aligned in North/South direction. The parabolic reflector is in the South.

No one was at the telescope at the time. The receiver and telescope computer were doing their jobs all by themselves. Therefore, the signal was actually first detected by a machine, a twelve-year-old computer.

BITS OF INFORMATION
The IBM 1130 had first been built in 1965. It looked and felt like an old battleship. It had only 1 megabyte of memory. For that reason, the only record of the radio signal is a 6-digit printout on endless paper. There’s no audio recording of the signal. Today we would have a complete audio recording of it, measuring megabytes, if not gigabytes. But in those days, just six characters on paper had to suffice as a record.

After a few days the stack of computer printouts was bundled by Big Ear technician Gene Mikesell and brought to Jerry Ehman’s home.

THE ANALYSIS
Jerry Ehman was a SETI volunteer with Ohio State University. Together with Bob Dixon, he had written the software for the Big Ear computer in FORTRAN and assembler.

Around the 19th of August, Jerry began analyzing the printouts from the radio telescope at his home, looking for unusual radio signatures.

A few pages into the pile of paper, he saw a peculiar sequence of numbers and characters.

He was astonished. After highlighting in red pen the six characters “6EQUJ5,” Jerry wrote the notation “Wow!” in the left margin of the computer printout opposite them.

The Wow! signal printout

The characters and numbers denoted a very strong narrow-band transmission. Apparently it had come from outer space. Narrow-band transmissions usually don’t occur naturally and are a sign of artificial origin.

Conventionally speaking, all artificial things are made by humans. That’s because human language, and the Cambridge Dictionary, defines “artificial” as “made by humans.” That definition may have to be revised.

OPTIMUM CHANNEL
The Wow! transmission had all the hallmarks of a radio signal from a non-human extraterrestrial civilization. In the 1959 article “Searching for Interstellar Communications,” Giuseppe Cocconi and Philip Morrison explained that using the 21 cm hydrogen frequency was a logical choice for SETI.

And that was precisely the frequency of the Wow! signal. It had come from the direction in the sky where the constellation Sagittarius is found. 

The Big Ear radio and computer shack.

If we transfer the number codes from the Wow! printout to plotting paper we can see the waxing and waning strength of the 1420 mHz radio beam that reached the radio telescope. Each of the letters and numbers corresponds to a certain signal intensity, as the next graph illustrates.

The signal may have been transmitting for centuries and was never detected because no one looked for it before. The signal source did not move in the sky. The only thing that moved over for 72 seconds was the Earth, rotating majestically from East to West as the radio receiver moved in and out of the signal beam.

And then the signal vanished. Gone. The signal would have been picked up again by the second horn antenna of Big Ear. But it was no longer there.

The rise and fall of the signal we see in the graph above was due to the antenna pattern, the signal itself remained at constant strength.

The graph below shows a similar signal pattern in “OV-221,” the radio source to the right of the Wow! signal. (OV-221 is also known as MSH 19203 (Mills Slee Hill Radio Sources)).

In this broadband continuum record the Wow! signal does not show up because it is too narrow-band.

Today I’m waiting to hear if OV-221 corresponds to the center of the Milky Way galaxy, Sagittarius A*, but no one seems to know the old radio source designations anymore.

After Jerry Ehman showed the computer printout of the Wow! signal to John Kraus and Bob Dixon, they immediately talked about it, speculating and making hypotheses. Quickly, John and Bob began to investigate the various possibilities.

Dr. John Kraus was a physicist and the designer of the Big Ear radio telescope. He actually invented several types of radio antennas.

Bob Dixon was the director of SETI at Ohio State University radio telescope.

Together they excluded the possibility of the signal having been a plane, planet, asteroid, comet, satellite, spacecraft, ground-based transmitter, or any other known natural source.

Now, since the Wow! signal appeared to be unnatural and no known human cause for it could be found, it was suspected that it could have come from a technological alien civilization.

It was decided to go back to the region in space where the signal had come to see if it could be found again. The scientific method calls for the reproducibility of any experiment or result.

Weeks turned to months, and years into decades as astronomers from all over the world searched the region in space where the Wow! signal had been detected.

The Wow! signal was never found again.

Calculations on the space region of the Wow! signal

Image by The Planetary Society, license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

The Wow! signal was observed for 72 seconds. In this time a region of space equivalent to 18 arcminutes was scanned, according to the following calculations:

24h x 60 min = 1440 mins/day = 86400 sec
360° / 86400 = 0.0041° per second
72 seconds = 0.3°

An arcminute (denoted by the symbol ‘), is an angular measurement equal to 1/60 of a degree or 60 arcseconds. To convert a degree measurement to a minute of arc measurement, we multiply the angle by the conversion ratio.

The angle in minutes of arc is equal to the degrees multiplied by 60:
0.3 x 60 = 18 arcminutes.

As seen from the Earth, the Sun and Moon both have angular diameters of about 30 arcminutes. The full moon’s average apparent size is about 31 arcminutes (or 0.52°).

In other words, the Wow! signal spanned an area of about half the size of the Sun or the Moon, as seen from Earth in the sky. That is a rather large area in astronomy.

On the basis of this simple calculation, I cannot readily agree that the Wow! signal came from a pointlike source. That may or may not be a problem. It can be resolved by agreeing that the resolution of the Big Ear radio telescope was not any better!

The frequency and speed of the Wow! signal source

It’s assumed that aliens that use the hydrogen frequency do so in a manner to compensate for the motion of their planet with respect to the motion of Earth. Otherwise, the precise frequency of the hydrogen becomes higher or lower.

That’s why it’s important to look at the precise frequency of the signal.

John Kraus, the director of the observatory, gave a frequency value of 1420.3556 MHz in his 1994 summary written for Carl Sagan.

Jerry Ehman in 1998 gave a value of 1420.4556±0.005 MHz. 

This is (50±5 kHz) above the hydrogen line value of 1420.4058 MHz.

Only one of those frequencies could be the correct one. The explanation of the difference between Ehman’s and Kraus’s values was that a new oscillator had been ordered for the frequency of 1450.4056 MHz.

The university’s purchasing department then made a typographical error in the order and wrote 1450.5056 MHz instead of 1450.4056 MHz. The software used in the experiment was then written to adjust for this error. When Ehman computed the frequency of the Wow! signal, he took this error into account.


After all errors are accounted for, the Doppler shift of 1420.4556 MHz indicates that the Wow! signal source moved at a speed of 37,893 km/h towards Earth. The following calculations show how I arrived at that speed:

Calculations on the Doppler shift of the Wow! signal

The Wow! signal was detected at 1420.4556 MHz. First we need to convert the frequency to the wavelength. The wavelength is given by the frequency and the speed of light, how far one wave crest travels in a given time span.

Frequency to wavelength calculator:
https://www.everythingrf.com/rf-calculators/frequency-to-wavelength

The frequency of the Wow! signal 1420.4556 MHz is equal to a wavelength of (Δλ) 21.105373 cm. That’s the distance between each wave crest.

The presumed origin signal of hydrogen has a precise frequency of 1420405751.768 Hz, equivalent to the wavelength of (λ) 21.106114054160 cm. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_line

The Doppler shift speed from delta lambda and lambda = 299 781 932.02409 m/sec. https://www.vcalc.com/wiki/sspickle/speed+from+delta+lambda+and+lambda

Now we subtract
299 781 932.02409 m/sec
[Doppler shifted Wow! signal speed from v = (Δλ/λ) * c]
-299 792 458 m/sec [ speed of light (c)]
______________________

10 526 m/sec = 37 893 km/h or 10.526 km/sec.

Ref. 1: The source of the Wow! signal approached Earth at a speed of 37 893 km/h or 23 545 mph, if the transmission frequency was from hydrogen.

The average speed of asteroids is 18-20 km/s vs. the 10.52 km/s from the Wow! signal. Comets that impact Earth usually are also faster, at 30 km/s.

End of part 1.

Now read The WOW! Signal, Part 2:
Evidence Suggests Origin from Unknown Object, Moving Towards Earth


Follow this story and more on

https://contactproject.org
A proposal to make radio contact with UAPs/UFOs

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Exploring the Cosmos: How Extraterrestrial Life Could Enrich Religious Beliefs

“The Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life for Religion.”, Ted F. Peters 2011, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A
This is a summary written by Erich Habich-Traut for the Contact Project, 2021

Three crosses on a hill at sunset. Free Church of Scotland, Reverend Sandy Sutherland, used with permission

The implications of the discovery of extraterrestrial life for religion. Theologian Ted Peters wrote about the future of religion. He asked the following questions:

Will confirmation of extra-terrestrial intelligence (ETi) cause terrestrial religion to collapse?

Ted Peters decided to challenge conventional wisdom a few years ago. Along with his Berkeley research assistant, Julie Louise Froehlig, he devised a survey: the Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey:

Would the discovery of an extraterrestrial civilization cause a crisis in religious beliefs? Peters surveyed evangelical, Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians, and also Mormons, Jews, Buddhists, and Atheists:

‘No’ is the answer based upon a summary of the ‘Peters ETI Religious Crisis Survey.’ The discovery of an extraterrestrial civilization would not cause a crisis in religious beliefs.

When we turn away from one’s own personal beliefs and ask respondents to forecast what will happen to the world’s religions, including beliefs other than one’s own, something startling is revealed:

What the survey question above shows is the conventional wisdom of non-religious persons. They make a prediction about what will happen to religious persons: Atheists believe that religions will face a crisis.

Conversely, the Peters survey shows evidence that religious believers themselves do not fear that contact with ETI will undercut their beliefs or precipitate a religious crisis.

Then the paper examines four specific challenges to traditional doctrinal belief likely to be raised at the detection of ETI:

(ii) What is the scope of God’s creation?
This entire universe can be viewed as the product of God’s creative power and loving grace.

(iii) What will be the moral character of the alien intelligences we meet?
Will our extra-terrestrial neighbours be subject to sin? Will they have fallen, so to speak? Or, might the aliens have escaped the scourges that plague us here on Earth?

(iv) Is one earthly incarnation in Jesus Christ enough for the entire cosmos, or should we expect multiple incarnations on multiple planets?
What theologians agree on is that the incarnation we have witnessed within our own planetary history is that of the divine Logos, the divine mind through which everything in physical reality has come into being. They presume continuity between this incarnation and whatever exists despite its distance from us. 

(v) Will contact with more advanced ETI diminish human dignity?
Suppose we Earthlings begin to recognize that we are outclassed by our superior space neighbors. Might we lose our dignity?

“Hand Of God”, NASA

The existence of a more advanced extrasolar civilization does not preclude our being an object of divine concern. Contact with alien intelligence will not disenfranchise us from being created in God’s image.

The belief that God has revealed himself in a supreme way, frees one to look for that which is of God outside that particular revelation. Christians should expect to learn new things about God from an encounter with aliens.

Conclusion
Contrary to popular belief, it is implausible to predict that any of Earth’s major religious traditions will face a crisis, let alone collapse, if we confirm an encounter with extraterrestrial intelligence.

Ted Peters believes that contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand the existing religious vision that all of creation—including the 13.7 billion-year history of the universe replete with all of God’s creatures—is the gift of a loving and gracious God.


Reference:
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: https://www.academia.edu/14721074/_The_Implications_of_the_discovery_of_extra_terrestrial_life_for_religion_Royal_Society_presentation_and_article

Ted Peters biography:
http://mttaborslc.org/ted-peters

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1977: The Year We Made Contact?

The year 1977 was a remarkable time for those fascinated by the possibility of extraterrestrial life. A series of events, both earthbound and celestial, captivated the imagination of people around the world. These events sparked a renewed interest in the search for life beyond our planet.


It began on August 15, 1977, when a strong, narrowband radio signal was detected by a radio telescope at Ohio State University. Dubbed the “Wow!” signal, it remains one of the most intriguing examples of an unexplained signal in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).


Just five days later, on August 20, 1977, NASA launched the first Voyager space probe. It carried a Golden Record containing sounds and images of Earth, intended as a message to any intelligent life form that might encounter it.


As the year progressed, the United Nations Assembly debated the existence of UFOs. A proposal to study the phenomenon was presented on October 6, 1977, as reported by The New York Times. This marked a significant moment in the history of UFO research. It brought the topic into the mainstream and sparked a global conversation about the possibility of extraterrestrial life.


The release of Steven Spielberg’s movie “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” on November 16, 1977, further fueled the public’s fascination with UFOs and alien life. The film’s depiction of a peaceful encounter between humans and extraterrestrials resonated with audiences. It helped to shape the cultural narrative around the topic. It’s iconic 5-note melody by John Williams is famous to this day.


But perhaps the most bizarre and unexplained event of the year occurred on November 26, 1977, when a strange broadcast interrupted a news program on ITN, a British television network. At 5:10 p.m. GMT, a deep buzzing sound replaced the audio. This was followed by a distorted voice claiming to be Vrillon, a representative of the Ashtar Galactic Command. The voice delivered a message of peace and wisdom, stating,

“For many years, you have seen us as lights in the skies. We speak to you now in peace and wisdom, as we have done to your brothers and sisters all over this, your planet Earth.”

While the “authenticity” of this broadcast remains a topic of debate, it has become a fascinating footnote in the history of UFO research.

The broadcast itself may have been achieved by technological hacks. Nevertheless, its 1977 message is thought-provoking and still valid today:

It speaks about the need for humanity to come together in peace and harmony to avoid disaster. The message also discusses entering a new age of enlightenment, referred to as the “New Age of Aquarius.” The speaker warns about the presence of false prophets and guides who may exploit people’s energy and resources. The message encourages listeners to be aware of their choices, to protect themselves, and to use their imagination to create a better world.

A well-researched podcast about the Southern Television Broadcast interruption is found here:


Whether or not 1977 was truly a year of contact, it was undoubtedly a year that sparked a renewed interest in extraterrestrial life and intelligence. It continues to inspire scientific inquiry and popular fascination to this day.

Aliens or Artillery? Shocking UFO Study from Ukraine Sparks Heated Debate!

On the pleasure of finding things out.

Update Feb 24, 2024 (Newsweek).
Mystery Disk-Shaped UFO Spotted by Recon Drone in Ukraine


A groundbreaking UFO study published by Ukrainian astronomers has stirred up speculation with claims of mysterious flying objects captured on radar, leaving both skeptics and believers buzzing.

Half a year after the onset of the Russian invasion, these researchers unveiled striking evidence of unidentified aerial phenomena soaring across the skies, clocked at astonishing speeds of up to 54,000 km/h!

But as renowned astronomer Avi Loeb throws cold water on the findings—asserting they could simply be artillery shells—the debate over what truly lurks above Ukraine intensifies. Is it extraterrestrial life, or are earthly conflicts warping our perceptions? Buckle up as we dive into this cosmic controversy!

SETI pope Avi Loeb claimed that Ukrainian astronomers mistook Russian artillery shells for UFOs. The UFOs were clocked at 54,000 km/h. The world’s fastest artillery shell () travels at 2,977 km/h. The world’s fastest missile (Avangard) reaches 37,044 km/h.

Avi Loeb asserted that the astronomers had only estimated the distance, resulting in a ten-fold error in both distance and speed. Even then, the objects photographed were still too fast to be artillery shells.

Then Avi Loeb claimed that no HUMAN-MADE objects can travel at these speeds in Earth’s atmosphere, as otherwise, there would be a fireball around them due to intense air ionization and friction.

Case In Point.

And why does Avi Loeb initially dismiss the observations of the Ukrainian astronomers as being wrong, but then later argues that if the observations were valid, it wouldn’t be possible due to air friction?

Here is the story:

The Ukraine UFO study

Half a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022, the Ukrainians published a UFO study.

It was claimed that not one but two meteorite-observing stations had discovered something extraordinary at the same time:
flying objects moving faster than the unaided human eye can see.

“The eye does not fix phenomena lasting less than one-tenth of a second,” the paper said. “It takes four-tenths of a second to recognize an event. “ — Ukrainian UAP study

One observing station was based in the capital of Kyiv and the other in the village of Vinarivka, 132 km to the south.

The Ukrainian astronomers detected the UFOs with specialized meteorite detection equipment:

“Ordinary photo and video recordings will () not capture the [unidentified aerial phenomena]. “ — Ukrainian UAP study

The equipment was 132 km apart, meaning that they could triangulate the speed, position, and size of the objects really well.

Triangulation is a technique that astronomers do all the time. For instance, it’s used to determine the distance of stars.

The objects measured between 3 and 12 meters and were clocked at speeds up to 54,000 km per hour (33,554 mph)!

The Ukrainians first published their findings on a preprint server named Arxiv:

“Unidentified aerial phenomena,
I. Observations of events”

written by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.11215.pdf.

Scientists use Arxiv to receive feedback from peers before publication. Arxiv also provides public access to papers that might otherwise be hidden behind paywalls.

However, the findings of the Ukrainian study were quickly published in mainstream journals, for instance, by the “American Military News”: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/09/ufos-spotted-everywhere-over-ukraine-say-scientists/

Everybody assumed (without basis in fact) that the Ukrainian UFO sightings were somehow related to the raging Ukraine—Russia conflict. — Erich Habich-Traut for the Contact Project

At one stage, “The Jerusalem Post” wrote:
“Are there UFOs, UAPs in the skies of Ukraine? Study says yes”:
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-717346

But not everyone agreed.

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who had gained worldwide fame in 2018 with his theory that comet Oumuamua was an extraterrestrial probe, was aware of the Ukrainian study.

But he hadn’t looked at it closer until he was asked by the director of the new UAP office in Washington, DC, to write a short paper about it.

The Contact Project first heard of Avi Loeb’s “debunking” of the Ukrainian study from his email:

Quote:
“You might enjoy the essay and related paper below.
I was reluctant to even read the Ukranian paper, but on Monday night I was visited at home by the director of the new UAP office in DC and he asked me to write a short scientific paper on UAP. So yesterday morning at 4.30AM (before my routine morning jog) I had a look at the Ukrainian paper and within an hour figured that they got the distance to their dark objects wrong by a factor of ten (or else there would be a huge fireball around each of them as a result of the friction with the air). After correcting that everything falls into place, with the parameters of artillery shells As Feynman noted, there’s a great pleasure in figuring things out.
There is no way out of this argument because they claim the objects are dark, meaning that they block light. The cross-section with photons implies that the objects must interact with air molecules.” — Avi Loeb

According to his email, Avi quickly reviewed the “Ukranian” paper before starting his daily morning jog at 4:30 am. Within one hour he had already concluded that the objects could not move at the speeds claimed by the Ukrainians (because the air would burn around them from friction), and they were, in fact, artillery shells:

“UAPs or Russian shells? Israel-born astronomer, Ukraine nix UAP study” https://www.jpost.com/science/article-719773

Avi Loeb contended that the Ukrainian astronomers had failed to exercise due diligence, resulting in a ten-fold miscalculation of the UFOs’ speed. He said that was because they had not triangulated the distance of the objects and only estimated their distance.

Then Avi Loeb said the UFOs were in reality (Russian) artillery shells.

From that point on, the “debunking train” rapidly gained momentum, leading nearly every publication that had previously supported the story to criticize the Ukrainian astronomers’ findings as inaccurate Russian artillery.

I scratched my head.

When were the observations made?
How did Avi Loeb know that the UFOs were artillery? The Russian bombardment of Ukraine had started after the 24th of February 2022. There was not a single mention in the Ukrainian UAP paper of when the observations were actually made. Only a vague reference in the footnotes to an Astronomical Schools Report from 2021.

Clearly, that was an omission. To find clarity on the matter, I wrote two letters to the Ukrainian astronomers:

Quote
“Dear Mr. Zhilyaev, Avi Loeb has made a comment regarding your paper on Arxiv, that your observations are those of artillery shells. Do you believe this to be a possibility?”
— The Contact Project

That first letter got no reply.
Avi Loeb’s comments about artillery shells became the de facto explanation for UAP in Ukraine.

A few weeks later, I decided to write a second letter to the Ukrainian astronomers, being more precise in my question. I also put Avi Loeb in the BCC, in case he wanted to clarify his argument:

Quote
“Dear Mr. Zhilyaev,
writing on behalf of the Contact Project, (https://contactproject.org) I’m curious about your UAP sightings.

Arxiv: “Unidentified aerial phenomena I. Observations of events,”
by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.11215.pdf

I would like to note that your preprint archive paper does not say precisely WHEN your observations took place, and I am curious about that date.

In your references (2) regarding “phantoms,” you quote a publication from 2021, a date well before the Russian invasion in 2022.

(2) Zhilyaev B.E., Vidmachenko A.P., Petukhov V.N., et al., 2021, Astronomical Schools Report, 17, N 1–2, 1–8

Is it correct then to assume that at least some of the observations that are the basis of your preprint paper are from a time when there were no artillery shells flying through Ukrainian skies?

From my reading of your paper, I understand that you had access to two observation stations. You probably triangulated the object distance from that?

What do you say?” — The Contact Project

This time I did receive a short reply from the lead astronomer of the Ukraine UAP study:

Quote:
“We have been watching UAP since 2018.
We do not associate their activity with the war in Ukraine.
Observations from 2 points are carried out for the purpose of triangulation.” — 
B.E. Zhilyaev

It was as I thought: the Ukrainians had claimed nowhere to have made their observations in 2022 during the war.

Instead, the UFO/UAP sightings date back to the year 2018. Furthermore, the Ukrainian astronomers had not “estimated” the distance of the objects; instead, they had used two observation posts to triangulate the distance scientifically. This also made it possible to calculate their size.

CONCLUSION
The observations made by the Ukrainian astronomers were from 2018, not during the war. In fact, they had been monitoring UFO sightings since then. Furthermore, the team used two observation posts to triangulate the distance of the objects scientifically, which allowed them to calculate their speed and size.

This information raises questions about Avi Loeb’s conclusions. Given that the observations were made before the war, it becomes unlikely that the objects were artillery shells. The ability to triangulate the objects also contradicts Avi Loeb’s argument.

The truth, in this case, requires persistence and the ability to interpret ambiguity.

#aviloeb #uap #UFO #ukraine #contactproject #SETI #astronomy

Reference: “Unidentified aerial phenomena I. Observations of events,”
by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk

Become like children…

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 shines brightly. A true innovator at heart, he crafted the remarkable communicator featured in the film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”

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.

Creating a Satellite Dish Using an Umbrella

INTRODUCTION TO THE CONTACT INITIATIVE

People watching the sky
A group of people looks up toward the sky.

The CONTACT INITIATIVE looks for answers about the nature of UAPs/UFOs by trying to make radio contact with them. We need volunteers, outreach workers and programmers to develop an open source app.

My name is Erich Habich-Traut and I’m 57 years old. I’m the initiator of the ‘Contact Initiative’ (CI).

I’ve coordinated a multinational science project 2001 – 2015 with my website “Our Planet Earth From Space”, which tracked Earth Changes: http://opefs.com.

I’ve been a volunteer for Bigelow Aerospace from 2006 ~ 2012, providing real-time tracking of their prototype space habitats Genesis I & II via NORAD (https://web.archive.org/web/20120504010218/http://bigelowaerospace.com/genesis-1-tracking.php).

I’m writing to you as the initiator of the ‘Contact Initiative’ (CI). It’s primary goal is to make radio contact with ETI.

The difference between the Contact Initiative and classical SETI is that UAPs are included in its search for techno signatures.

The Contact Initiative 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
The engine of this Contact Initiative is a smartphone app that records GPS coordinates of UFOs after a user alert. Users can also take snapshots or video of the UFO with their smartphone. But that is not the primary goal. When the smartphone is used to photograph the UFO, its gravity sensors record the elevation and the compass records its azimuth.

The UFO alert is sent to an astronomical database, NORAD database and air traffic databases to identify known flying objects. Secret military projects are excluded via NORAD TLEs.

The remaining objects qualify as prospective UAP. They will be investigated by forwarding their GPS coordinates to close-by search partners using the same Contact app. All this happens near real-time.

The search partners are selected by their proximity to the sighting and their capability/qualifications.

Search partners can be HAM radio operators, videographers, gigapixel camera operators, Unistellar telescope operators and (passive) radar operators. Passive radar is a subset of radio HAM enthusiasts.

To motivate the public to take part in this search prizes can be given for successful detections of UAPs, staggered by evidence weight:

less important:
1. confirmed UAP pictures, 2. video, 3. radar images,

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) will be funded by private enterprise through the “Alien Marketplace” advertising space. This marketplace is accessed through the Contact app. To filter out fakes and false identifications AI algorithms and volunteers evaluate the results. The volunteers may be 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 Initiative” 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 Initiative”?

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

Thank you for your time,

yours sincerely,

Erich Habich-Traut

https://contactproject.org

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3. A BIT OF UFO HISTORY

Headline of the Chicago Sun, June 26, 1947. This started modern UFO/UAP history.

It’s been 74 years since the first widely publicized UFO encounter of Kenneth Arnold in 1947, who coined the term “flying saucer” when he saw nine objects skipping along the sky from his plane. Since then there have been tens of thousands reported unidentified flying objects in the Earth’s skies, some of them even similar in shape to Arnold’s sighting.

Countless theories about the origin and purpose of these phenomena exist. UFOs were a subject of public interest and regularly reported in the media until the end of the 1960’s .

Fall RIver Herald News, July 29 1952: The invasion of Washington
UFO/UAP captured from government survey plane in 1971 over Lake Cote, Costa Rica


After the moon landing, skeptical scientists who questioned the alien origin of Flying Saucers won the scientific debate, relegating believers of the extraterrestrial hypothesis to fringe status.

This pretty much ended serious mainstream media coverage of UFOs.

THE SAGAN STANDARD
The mantra became that ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’, a phrase known as ‘The Sagan Standard’.

To find extraordinary evidence for the existence of technologically intelligent aliens, lacking suitable specimens for testing,  Sagan proposed instead to search for their signals in the sky with radio telescopes.


This concept he illustrated in his movie “Contact”, which had its premiere in 1997.

Two years after the premiere of “Contact” the University of Berkeley made it possible for anyone with a computer to join in the search for alien signals, when they launched the seti@home screensaver.

The seti@home screen saver

165000 people seized the opportunity to find ET on their computer, taking part in the largest participatory computing project in history. I was one of the first to sign up, on the 16th of May 1999. Sadly, seti@home stopped processing new data on March 31 2020. No announcement had been made whether or not it had been successful in its mission: to find radio evidence for extraterrestrial life.

PENTAGON ACKNOWLEDGES “UAPs”
The next month, on the 27th of April 2020, 73 years after the first widely documented flying saucer sighting, the Pentagon publicly acknowledged the existence of UFOs, supplying pilots testimony, audio- and video recordings.

The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense

By now the UFO phenomenon had been so thoroughly discredited that skeptics quickly began questioning the Pentagon’s UFO/UAP material. 

However, the material didn’t just consist of fuzzy camera footage, but also recorded radar tracks and simultaneous sightings by pilots and aircraft carrier personnel.

In any UFO/UAP sighting, camera images are corroborative evidence of the witness testimony. Very often the quality of the camera can not capture what the witnesses have perceived.

The Contact Initiative uses a wide variety of methods to verify UFO/UAP. First we have the human observer, who may be able to capture the UFO image in low-res with his smartphone camera.

Then the location of his sighting is forwarded to a number of search partners in his neighborhood. They will try to capture the UFO with HD telescopes, cameras and radar, as well as listening with RF scanners to incoming radio waves from the object.

Excerpt of “UFO Alert!” flowchart

The more data about a UFO/UAP sighting exists, in as wide a range of frequencies as possible, the easier it is to verify the sighting as genuine. And if that wasn’t enough, HAM radio amateurs will try to hail the sighting.

The Contact Initiative does not rely on images. Having the UFO Alert! app is like carrying the resources of an airplane carrier in your pocket.

Best, Eric, founder,
https://contactproject.org



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8. CHANCES OF ENCOUNTERING UFOs/UAPs

Reconstruction by author, MUFON #82139, Ireland, 1986

Based on personal experience the author of “The Contact Initiative” estimates the chance to spot an UFO/UAP in any one day to be approx. 1:10.000.

UAP photographs on 35mm negative film, frame 7 of 2. MUFON #111680, UK, 1995,
The UAP was grayish without markings as seen here. Photograph by author.

You may have a chance to take pictures or video of an UFO once every 50 years, as I did in 1995.

More impartial data than personal experience about the frequency of sightings comes from surveys. There are not a lot of surveys on the subject of UFO/UAP. More surveys should be carried out.

But there is one:

STUDY ON PUBLIC UAP SIGHTINGS
One available survey comes from Century Fox Home Entertainment. They did a poll for a promotional campaign of the Ridley Scott movie “Phoenix Forgotten“.

Reconstruction of “Phoenix Lights” by eye witness Tim Ley, USA TODAY, 1997

The “Phoenix Forgotten” plot was inspired by the “Phoenix Lights” UFO phenomenon from 1997. (Ref.: 1, Ref.: 2)

Over 1700 Americans were asked if they had ever seen an UFO:
16.74% responded positively (Ref.: 3).

If that percentage is any guideline, then we can say that 16.74% of 258.3 million adults (Ref.: 4), about 43 million Americans, had a UFO sighting.

MISIDENTIFICATION OF UFOs
 According to author Leslie Kean, “roughly 90 to 95 percent of UFO sightings can be explained”. (Ref.: 5)

The chief investigator of CUFOS in 1979, astronomer Allan Hendry, concluded from 1307 cases that 91.4% had a clear and simple prosaic explanation. 8.6% were classed as “UFOs” and 1.5% of those cases had no possible plausible explanation. (Ref.: 6)

This leaves us with 645,000 unexplained sightings from 43 million. This covers a time-span of 38.4 years, it being the median age of the US population (Ref.: 7).

If there are 645,000 completely unexplained UAP sightings in 38.4 years, we get 16,796 (sixteen thousand seven hundred ninety six) sightings per year. That’s 46 UAP cases without possible plausible explanation daily in the USA.

I believe this to be a fairly high number.

The Contact Initiative doesn’t want to wait around to get results. To maximize the chances of spotting UAP/UFO a large number of volunteer UFO/UAP spotters are needed.

And the method of spotting and forwarding a report of a sighting must be as simple as taking a photo or video.

The “CONTACT APP” (name may be changed) will be designed for this purpose, to be as simple as possible. But it will be the most powerful civilian use flying object identification program on the market.

One of its appeals will be that it provides near instantaneous identification of objects and phenomena commonly mistaken as UFOs: celestial objects, meteors, planes, blimps, military training exercises, satellites. The app gives feedback to the UFO spotter if what he/she saw is a known phenomenon.

The app records with high accuracy the position and time of the sightings and the number of users who see the same thing.

POSSIBLE UAP/UFO YIELD PER MILLION APP DOWNLOADS
If the Contact app is downloaded one million times (corrected), then the chances are that we will see 65 UAP cases without possible plausible explanation in a year.

That amounts to a bit more than one really, really, puzzling UFO case per week. This should be enough to engage and keep the attention of the public. Because, what good would be an UFO app that doesn’t spot UFOs?

PEACE OF MIND
On the other hand, incorrect identifications of common or explicable phenomena as UFOs should become less with the Contact App. This way the great majority of witnesses would feel less stress.

EDUCATIONAL VALUE
A large number of participants serves to raise the awareness of the possibility of Extraterrestrial Contact. What does it mean to be a part of a greater community of diverse intelligences in the Cosmos?

GOAL OF THE CONTACT INITIATIVE (CONTACT PROJECT)
The goal is to prepare for and meet a technological superior non-human species. That we’re not the most advanced technological species in the Universe is logical:

THE SAGAN
The Universe is billions and billions of years old. In it there are billions and billions of habitable planets. Modern human technology only exists since a few hundred years and we left the stone age just about 5000 years ago.

The development of life and intelligence is most likely not a one-time miracle confined to an infinitesimal speck of the Cosmos, the Earth.

BENEFITS OF FRIENDS
The potential benefits of contact to an advanced intelligent extraterrestrial species are incalculable to the future and destiny of the human race.

It may be that we don’t have much in common with each other except curiosity. But that alone would be a driving force of human determination and progress, geared at finding out more about the other.

DON’T BE AN OSTRICH
Should it turn out that UAP/UFOs are otherworldly emissaries of non-friendly intent, then it would also be important to find out. It could be fatal to stick our collective heads into the sand.

ULTIMA R̶A̶T̶I̶O̶ RADIO
These are the reasons why the Contact Initiative proposes to contact “UFO sightings in progress” by radio waves.

References:
1.: Kurt Russell claims he saw — and reported  — the ‘Phoenix Lights’,
https://eu.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix/2017/06/14/kurt-russell-claims-reported-phoenix-lights-ufos/394749001/

2.: Ex Arizona Governor saw a UFO during the 1997 Phoenix Lights, https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Former_Arizona_Governor_says_he_saw_a_UFO_during_the_1997_Phoenix_Lights

3.: New survey shows nearly half of Americans believe in aliens,
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-survey-shows-nearly-half-of-americans-believe-in_b_59824c11e4b03d0624b0abe4

4.: U.S. Adult Population
https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/united-states-adult-population-grew-faster-than-nations-total-population-from-2010-to-2020.html

5.: UFOs, UAPs and CRAPs
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ufos-uaps-and-craps/

6.: Identification studies of UFOs
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Identification_studies_of_UFOs

7.: US MEDIAN AGE
https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2020/65-older-population-grows.html

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10. FUNDING: THE ALIEN MARKETPLACE

Artists impression

To motivate the public to take part in the Contact Initiative search and to download the app, prizes can awarded for UFO Alerts! that lead to detections of UAPs, staggered by evidence weight:

less important:
1. confirmed UAP pictures,
2. video,
3. radar images,

more important:
4. reception of radio emissions, 
5. verifiable conversation with ETI (CETI),
6. physical alien artifact,
7. actual landing of UAP with ETI.

NFT’s for verified UAP sighting pictures or video?
Alternative to cash prizes, credits may be given (that’s at the discussion stage), they could be collectible non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) linked to the detection record and/or the verified UAP pictures,. Their value is based on their historical value, rarity and desirability.

The whole endeavor (and prize money) will be funded by private enterprise through the “Alien Marketplace” advertising space.

This marketplace is accessed through the Contact app. To filter out fakes and false identifications AI algorithms and volunteers evaluate the results. The volunteers may be paid cash or NFT tokens that can be traded on the Alien Marketplace.

The app and the Contact Project Organization itself may be financed by advertisements in the APP, which sell on the ALIEN MARKETPLACE.

A ‘jackpot’ cash prize will go to the first person to report an UFO/UAP that makes contact. Lesser prizes are for genuine UFO reports, verified unidentified flying objects without explanation.

A credit system of some sort or a cash prize should be instituted to motivate the participants. False reports are penalized by subtracting from the prospective “jackpot” money of the participant.

Examples for advertisements on the ALIEN MARKETPLACE are any products of interest to UFO, SCI-FI and Fantasy fans, as well as the general population.

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