Some of the dishes in the SETI array
Due to funding issues, SETI (search for extraterrestrial intelligence), shut down almost six months ago. The search had come to an end. The 42-antenna Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in Northern California went dark.
Despite Stephen Hawking warning us all to stay quiet, since a possible intelligent life form that hears our calls may want to plunder our lush orb, the SETI Institute set up a website to collect donations in June of 2011. (SETIstars.org) To this point, they have raised $226,406 of the $200,000 needed to reopen the two-way comm to the cosmos.
Now reaching the goal, SETI is scheduled to restart operation in September 2011. The donation line remains open, but how long the doors remain open is another issue. SETI Institute CEO Tom Pierson stated that ATA's long-term success may come with a slight re-purposing of the array. The Institute is trying to solicit the U.S. Air Force to use the array for orbital debris tracking. It would track in the day, and talk to E.T. at night.
I am with Stephen Hawking on this one. I expect the worst from an E.T. encounter. However, if the Air Force does use it for debris tracking, I will send some money their way. The might literally be blocked by the .
Cabe
SETI donation fun facts:
● Among the donators was celebrity Jodie Foster, who played a SETI researcher in the movie "Contact."
● Larry Niven, writer/creator of "Ringworld."
● Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who travelled around the moon in 1968. Attached to his donation Anders wrote, "It is absolutely irresponsible of the human race not to be searching for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence."