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Crowd-Funded Radio Beacon Will Message Aliens

Posted by samzenpus on from the is-there-anybody-out-there? dept.

astroengine writes "In the hope of uniting people around the globe in a long-duration project to send a radio 'message in a bottle' METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) signal, a crowd-funded project utilizing a refurbished radio telescope in California has begun its work. Lone Signal is a project initiated by scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs to set up a continuous radio beacon from Earth. To support the operations of the Jamesburg Earth Station radio dish in Carmel Valley, Calif. (a dish built to support the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969), a crowd-funding effort has been set up so that for a small fee, users can send images to the stars. If you're content with sending a text message, your first message is free. The radio dish's first target is Gliese 526, a red dwarf star 18 light-years from Earth, but the project will be considering other stellar targets believed to be harboring habitable worlds."

10 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. I sure do hope.... by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Funny

    I sure do hope they get this right. It would be a shame if it turned out they created a intergalactic message like this.

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
    1. Re:I sure do hope.... by durrr · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry. I'm just going to send a copy of the book "How to Serve Man"

    2. Re:I sure do hope.... by 0111+1110 · · Score: 3, Informative

      That is a myth more or less. Those transmissions would be damn lucky to make it to Pluto let alone another star. Maybe to Alpha Centauri if there is a kilometer scale dish there.

      Transmitting a signal to another star is non-trivial, uses a huge amount of power, and isn't likely to happen with unintentional leakage. You pretty much have to either aim a beam at a target or have an omnidirectional transmitter with truly immense power.

      James Benford, along with his twin brother Gregory Benford (Timescape etc) has written some fascinating papers on the subject from the POV of the sender and the receiver. Very well thought out stuff and required reading for any amateur METI projects. But this won't be the first intentional METI transmission anyway. Alexander Zaitsev has sent a number of messages at various targets already using a 70 meter radio telescope in the Ukraine. Those were relatively brief transmissions though. This project will be transmitting continuously. A pretty big difference, although one that would only matter to a pathetic, cowardly species.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
  2. We should stop this by countach · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I am hereby setting up a crowd funded effort to bomb and destroy this radio dish. I don't want any aliens appearing on my front doorstep. We've all seen the movies, this never ends well.

    Seriously though, it seems to me incredibly arrogant and self centred for a private group of people to try and contact aliens, because the potential results of aliens turning up could be catastrophic, and that's a decision that all mankind should make together, not some private group.

    The only reason I'm not concerned is that I think this has precisely a zero point zero chance of success.

    1. Re:We should stop this by 0111+1110 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Those radio broadcasts are unlikely to even make it to Alpha Centauri with reasonable sized recieving antennas. With planetary scale antennas it might be possible. The military radars are another story, but they would be randomly aimed and relatively infrequent and not transmitting any sort of coherent message.

      This wouldn't be the first attempt at METI. Alexander Zaitsev has sent a number of messages to various stars including Gliese 581 using his 70 meter RT-70 radiotescope located in Yevpatoria, Ukraine. He is the chief advocate for METI among professional astronomers and makes his case well I think.

      His messages were relatively brief however and are unlikely to be noticed even if there is an intelligent civ at one of his chosen targets. What would new is the idea of a full time, dedicated transmitter sending messages out 24/7/365 aimed for long periods, like say 6-12 months, at a single target so that if anyone is there listening there would be at least some chance of them noticing our signal.

      --
      Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it? That's what it is to be a slave.
  3. Proper lead account for? by KitFox · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Rookie error #3: Point the radio transmission directly at the star.

    Unless the target is moving directly toward or away from us relatively speaking, pointing it at the star will target where the star was 36 light years before the transmission will arrive. If it -is- moving directly toward or away, are they accounting for Doppler?

    --

    @Whee

    1. Re:Proper lead account for? by Xyrus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Of course, rookie error #1 is getting involved in a land war in Asia and rookie error #2 is going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line.

      All kidding aside, I'm not sure I like this idea. It's not really a good idea to announce your presence in an area where the natives could be restless and you could be considered "tasty".

      --
      ~X~
  4. What if they are predators? by Rubinhood · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Can the senders please make sure that if those guys are predators, the rest of us are safe. Thanks.

    As a side note, I tend to feel strangely unsure that such things are a good idea when unknown extraterrestrials receive more attention than starving 3rd world fellow terrestrials.

  5. you joke, but... by foreverdisillusioned · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is at best a waste of money. I know he catches some flak for this, but Stephen Hawking has it right. There's no reason at all we should expect intelligent alien life forms to deal with us as respected equals, especially if they are considerably more advanced. At the same time, it would be too much to hope for them to ignore us. Our planet would be a treasure trove of scientific interest to them, and even practical interest in the same way rainforests are useful to biochemists or bacteria are useful to genetic engineers. The altruism argument ignores how very limited it is here on Earth. Forget intercultural conflict, how many people give/gave a shit enough about dead dolphins enough to boycott tuna? Or save the poor bonobos? Their intelligence is a lot closer to ours than ours would be to any life form advanced enough to travel the stars (unless they had some kind of taboo on both genetic and cybernetic enhancement.) Overall point being: altruism isn't a prerequisite for advanced spaceflight, but relentless pragmatism is.

    Fortunately, what with the speed of light being what it is, this shouldn't be of any immediate concern.

    Also, I think there's a recent 'obligatory' xkcd that's quite on-topic here if anyone wants to whore some karma. In the what if section.

  6. Gold Here! by Bayoudegradeable · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Perhaps it will sound like this: Greetings Mr. Cortez! You are searching for gold, we are having it! Please visit our lovely Aztec mines. You will love our gold! Have a nice time with our women while you are at it. Please, cross the ocean and come visit us. We don't even have gunpowder! We don't have resistance to small pox either! See us soon!

    Or perhaps.... Hey Spike! Wanna go dig up some bones?!

    --
    Sig Registration Form 34c_766(a) submitted to Ministry of Signature Management. Approval pending.