HAT CREEK, Calif. — E.T. might be phoning, but do we care enough to take the call?
Operating on money and equipment scrounged from the public and from Silicon Valley millionaires, and on the stubborn strength of their own dreams, a band of astronomers recently restarted one of the iconic quests of modern science, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence — SETI, for short — which had been interrupted last year by a lack of financing.
Early in December, a brace of 42 radio telescopes, known as the Allen Telescope Array, nestled here in the shadow of Lassen Peak, came to life and resumed hopping from star to star in the constellation Cygnus, listening for radio broadcasts from alien civilizations. The lines are now open, but with lingering financial problems, how long they will remain that way is anybody’s guess.
These should be boom times for those seeking out aliens, or at least their radio proxy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/sc...out-there.html
Just another sign of the financial times I guess. Not too surprising since the space program has been slashed so much. Of course, if Newt gets to be POTUS along with his plans for a moon base he'll probably guarantee alien contact by the end of his second term. Maybe they can apply for statehood too, like the moon people.
This might be a blessing in disguise, not sure we want alien contact at this point in our evolution. Imagine if the natives in the New World had a way of contacting Europe across the ocean and saying come on by for a visit.