New and Improved SETI

nomrniceguy writes "The new year is sure to be memorable for SETI, as glossy new instruments come on-line. At Harvard University, a survey telescope designed to sweep massive swaths of the sky in a hunt for extraterrestrial laser flashes is becoming a reality. In Puerto Rico, the famed Arecibo telescope is getting a new feed that will speed up searches by seven times. And in California, the SETI Institute and Berkeley's Radio Astronomy Lab will soon be scanning the star-clotted realms of the inner Milky Way with the first-stage implementation of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) and will eventually boast 350 antennas, each 20 feet in diameter. This impressive antenna farm will be spread over about a half square-mile of terrain."

Comments

350 Antennas

[Tackhead]

> "... 350 antennas, each 20 feet in diameter. This impressive antenna farm will be spread over about a half square-mile of terrain."

~fitzprrklpop~ople of Earth, can you hear us now?~fwopzzwwep~

'Extraterrestrial laser flashes'?

[Anonymous Coward]

So do they expect to be able to see space battles between Klingons and Romulans or something?

And let's not forget who is funding a lot of this

[mOoZik]

None other than Paul Allen. Yep, of Microsoft fame. Boo, hiss, where are the groups of objectors now?

Not that I'm being a jerk about it, but it is only fair to note that without him, most of this would probably not be possible. Not only did he contribute millions to SETI, but also funded the Alien Telescope Array which the Slashdot blurb mentions.

Re:And let's not forget who is funding a lot of th

[metlin]

Well, Paul Allen funds a lot of good research.

I was part of Project Halo/Digital Aristotle, an AI project which aims to learn (and solve) conceptual problems in physics which was funded by Vulcan ventures.

In fact, Vulcan Capital funds a lot of really cool stuff.

In my opinion, Bill Gates and Paul Allen are doing the world a favour - they are businessmen who make money off one industry, but help in the progress of several others. When was the last time any of the CEOs of Walmart or Oil Magnates helped fund such things as research and the like?

And not to mention the fact that places like MSR do a lot of awesome research in and of themselves.

Re:And let's not forget who is funding a lot of th

[Zocalo]

Actually, Paul Allen largely bailed out of the operational side of Microsoft years ago; he was more involved with Asymetrix by the launch of Windows 3.x. In the last few years the only times I seem to hear Paul Allen's name is in connection with *extremely* generous philanthropic gestures toward the science & tech sectors. You might remember his massive backing of Scaled Composites' effort in claiming the Ansari X-Prize for example?

As far as I am concerned Paul Allen is the very best thing *ever* to come out of Microsoft.

Re:And let's not forget who is funding a lot of th

[Jugalator]

None other than Paul Allen. Yep, of Microsoft fame. Boo, hiss, where are the groups of objectors now?

Guess what... One may dislike what Microsoft does and whatever that guy is responsible for doing there, but still like what he's doing here. Why is that so hard to imagine?