SETI project to aliens: can’t talk right now due to huge phone bill

SETI Institute Dealt With Budget Cuts

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute is arguably the most widely known among the projects that try to search for evidence of intelligent life beyond earth. It was established in 1984 and is based in Mountain View, California.

SETI Institute scientists use facilities like the Allen Telescope Array and the Arecibo Radio Telescope in Puerto Rico, among others, for their research activities.

But it seems like research will have to slow down soon as the U.S. government decided to curtail spending. In fact, the Allen Telescope Array  in the Cascade Mountains has been shut down this month, much to the dismay of astronomers.

The SETI Institute was excited about the discovery of NASA's Kepler telescope of some 50 earth-like bodies recently to which their scientists can target with their radio telescopes before being disappointed with the budget cuts.

The Allen facility is unique among other radio telescopes because it was capable of searching for signals in deep space and was working around the clock to catch signals.

Scientists and astronomers at the SETI Institute and other organizations around the world are listening for electromagnetic signals coming from outer space. A distinct pattern of these signals sent over a limited frequency band may suggest that they were sent by intelligent beings. However, scientists need to weed through all the artificial radio noise coming from earth.

The array is run by the University of California, Berkeley which suffered from budget cuts recently. Extra funding from the National Science Foundation has likewise dried up. Further budget cuts on the horizon will set back the SETI Institute projects to search for extraterrestrial life even more.

Posted by James Fried on Monday May 02 2011, 5:13 AM EDT. Ref: Reuters. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0