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SETI Disrupted By Cell Phones in Airplanes?
Iphtashu Fitz writes "If, as recently mentioned, the FCC does allow wireless access on airplanes, could it effectively mean the end of the search for ET? NewScientist has a new article that explains how radio interference from airborne cellphones could drown out faint radio signals from space. Among other concerns astronomers have is that the second harmonic of many cell phones falls in a frequency band that reveals the molecular signature of newborn and dying stars, which is among the 2% of frequencies in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum reserved for use by radio astronomers. Michael Davis, director of projects at California's SETI Institute, stated that a single cellphone on an airplane 100 miles from a radiotelescope could exceed recommended radio noise levels by 10 times. A potential solution that astronomers have suggested is to install a miniture cell transceiver on each airplane, called a picocell, that would act as a relay using a frequency that wouldn't interfere with their work."
Isn't it time to investigate satellites for this sort of thing? Pointing out instead of in? I know maybe this isn't ideal since the satellite is moving both relative to the earth and the sky, it would probably make it difficult to lock onto any signal that was found? I got a B's in Physics, someone help me out here.
Seems like this would solve a lot of interference problems though, and perhaps even give you much better results. Is it just the cost factor that keeps this from happening?
I think SETI is one of the most serious wastes of resources ever dreamed up. All that ridiculous funding could go to something much more important than trying to find something that probably wouldnt contact us even if it could...if it even exists... nail this as flamebait if you want, but if "ET" wanted to let us know he was there, he'd find a way to get around our cell phone signals. ;)
This is just a bunch of wacko's griping because they're bored waiting for....nothing.....to happen.
This is not the first time that this argument has been made. ...but the first time was 20-30 years before cell phones were invented.
Humanity has unleashed a veritable plethora of rf emitting devices. Television broadcast towers, satellites, anything electrical... they all leak rf that's thousands (if not millions) of times more powerful then the signals coming in from distant stars.
Banning cell phones on planes BECAUSE of this is like using a Sharpie marker to turn a sucking chest wound into a smiley face. You (the pen wielder) might feel better, but it's not going to solve the real problem one iota.
The real solution is to invest in building radio telescopy infrastructure on the far side of the moon. Either there, or in a heliocentric orbit on the opposite side of the sun at 1 AU. Those are the only two places in the universe that have are always shadowed from Earth based broadcasts.
Additionally, there are frequencies that are absorbed by the O2 in our atmosphere, so radiotelescopes in space would have better 'bandwidth' to observe.
Finally, it's unlikely that the cell phone industry will finally be convinced to go to pico-repeaters because of the inconvenience that radio telescopy scientists encounter. It'll be because pico-repeaters will make cell phones work in places they don't currently. Deep garages, underground installations, steel buildings, small valleys... these are economically driven reasons to adopt the technology. Scientists (the normal kind, not the mad kind) are usually poor, so the money just isn't there.
Pick your battles, and pick a winning strategy to get the tech you want. Radio telescopes... they ain't it.
3 scenarios guys:
1) Other civilizations are below our technological level....which means we won't see them at all.
2) They're equal to ours...and since we're unable to do much of anything beyond our little neighborhood, we won't see them at all.
3) They're far more advanced than us...which means they have the smarts to avoid detection so we won't see them at all.
Keeping this in mind, explain to me again why we need to change the entire commercial aircraft industry (FCC approval + FAA approval + thousands of aircrafts + world-compatible technology) when there are easier ways to try and avoid our RF interference (satellites, moon, probes, etc). TFA didn't impress me.
There can be situations when people MUST use their cell on the airplane. Banning them completely isn't a solution.
WTF? Airplanes were around for 80 years before cell phones were invented, people survived. I have never used a cell phone on an airplane (I don't even own one, for that matter), I'm still here. All airplanes now have their overpriced airphones for emergencies, if you MUST use the phone.
Pray tell, what are these situations where people MUST use their cell phone on an airplane?
I write this from my doctor's waiting room, and of the 3 people using their phone, I'm the only one doing so silently.
One old fart is planning a fish fry while complaining about his high blood pressure, while a very large woman text messages with the key beep volume set one click below WMD.
The problem isn't technology, but rudeness.
That would probably change if they'd stop trying to kill all science not based in the bible.
Seems far-fetched to say, "The conservative head of the FCC is trying to kill SETI and Radio Astronomy by allowing airline cellphone use" but no less so than "The conservative heads of the Executive and Legislative branches of government are trying to kill modern biology by having creationism taught in schools" and these days that doesn't seem implausible.
Politicians need to get over the idea that the scientific realities of the universe are whimsical matters of opinion.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
If SETI doesn't get ownership of the sky, neither do you, they must be weighed equally.
Anyone who whines about being modded down should be.