Hi All,
I'm also one of the scientists involved. While we'd love to go "hunting for aliens" directly, this project is more about how to recognize evidence of industrialization from afar. As you likely know, extrasolar planets are being discovered left and right, and so the next step in the process of discovery will be to measure the composition of those atmospheres because they may give clues to the processes happening on the planetary surface. But what are we going to compare those compositions to? Modern Earth? Sure, but one data point is not terribly great, so our work here is to build a database of atmospheric compositions that would be strong contenders for having an industrialized civilization below. It turns out it's more straightforward to measure "industrial pollution" in an atmosphere than natural occurring gases that may be in disequilibrium because of timid biological processes.
But we need your support to do this! And you can be involved by contributing. We are a non-profit science institute passionate about space exploration, astrobiology, and science communication. Your donations to this project are tax deductible as we have 501(c)3 status.
http://www.petridish.org/projects/do-aliens-use-hairspray
You can find out more about our research at http://www.bmsis.org/publications, or join our space exploration and astrobiology social/collaborative network at http://www.saganet.org./ But where we need your financial support today is at
http://www.petridish.org/projects/do-aliens-use-hairspray
Thanks for your time! And don't hesitate to post questions!..and follow us on Twitter! @BlueMarbleSpace, @Saganorg, #alienhairspray - cheers
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Hi All, I'm also one of the scientists involved. While we'd love to go "hunting for aliens" directly, this project is more about how to recognize evidence of industrialization from afar. As you likely know, extrasolar planets are being discovered left and right, and so the next step in the process of discovery will be to measure the composition of those atmospheres because they may give clues to the processes happening on the planetary surface. But what are we going to compare those compositions to? Modern Earth? Sure, but one data point is not terribly great, so our work here is to build a database of atmospheric compositions that would be strong contenders for having an industrialized civilization below. It turns out it's more straightforward to measure "industrial pollution" in an atmosphere than natural occurring gases that may be in disequilibrium because of timid biological processes. But we need your support to do this! And you can be involved by contributing. We are a non-profit science institute passionate about space exploration, astrobiology, and science communication. Your donations to this project are tax deductible as we have 501(c)3 status. http://www.petridish.org/projects/do-aliens-use-hairspray You can find out more about our research at http://www.bmsis.org/publications, or join our space exploration and astrobiology social/collaborative network at http://www.saganet.org./ But where we need your financial support today is at http://www.petridish.org/projects/do-aliens-use-hairspray Thanks for your time! And don't hesitate to post questions! ..and follow us on Twitter! @BlueMarbleSpace, @Saganorg, #alienhairspray - cheers