Science
Related: About this forumCongress proposes funding search for intelligent alien civilizations
By Laurel Kornfeld | 7 hours ago
A bill proposed by the US House of Representatives allocates $10 million to NASA to search for signaturesof intelligent alien civilizations, such as radio waves, over the next two years.
The proposal marks a complete change from 1992, when a NASA Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project involving the construction of two radio telescopes to listen for signals from alien civilizations was shut down by Nevada Senator Richard Bryan.
Now, US Representative Lamar Smith, R-Texas, who previously served as head of the House Science Committee and is also a denier of human-caused climate change, is advocating funds for a revamped SETI program "to search for techno-signatures, such as radio transmissions, in order to meet the NASA objective to search for life's origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe."
According to astronomer Jill Tarter, who served as director of the independent SETI Institute for 35 years, $10 million would fund the design and construction of new instruments capable of collecting data for analysis worldwide.
More:
https://thespacereporter.com/article.php?n=congress-proposes-funding-search-for-intelligent-alien-civilizations&id=146370
procon
(15,805 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,219 posts)The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) has long had to rely on private funding, being regarded somewhat as a fringe science. That could all be set to change though, as NASA is looking to fund SETI for the first time in more than 20 years.
That revelation comes from a new House of Representatives bill, as picked up by The Atlantic, which sets out a vision and funding for NASAs future. The bill, which still needs to make its way through the House and the Senate, discusses how NASA might go about searching for life in the universe. While that's historically referred to looking for microbial life or potentially habitable planets, things could be all set to change.
NASA shall partner with the private sector and philanthropic organizations to the maximum extent practicable to search for technosignatures, such as radio transmissions, in order to meet the NASA objective to search for lifes origin, evolution, distribution, and future in the universe, the bill states.
More:
http://www.iflscience.com/space/alien-hunters-are-very-excited-by-this-one-sentence-in-a-nasa-bill/
SCantiGOP
(13,856 posts)Afromania
(2,767 posts)only one of 3 things happen when you visit Earth and none of them are tourist friendly.
cstanleytech
(26,085 posts)they would find zero signs of any intelligence what so ever.
MicaelS
(8,747 posts)I hated Sen. William Proxmire D-Wisconsin with a white hot passion for his opposition to space exploration, colonization and SETI. And yet the hypocrtical motherfucker voted for dairy price supports to benefit his home state of Wisconsin. I don't give a fuck what else good he did, his opposition to space exploration still pisses me off to this day, and he's been dead for over 12 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Proxmire
Proxmire was noted for issuing his Golden Fleece Award, which was presented monthly between 1975 and 1988, in order to focus media attention on projects Proxmire viewed as self-serving and wasteful of taxpayer dollars.
Proxmire's critics claimed that some of his Golden Fleece awards went to basic science projects that led to important breakthroughs. In some circles his name has become a verb, meaning to unfairly obstruct scientific research for political gain, as in "the project has been proxmired". In 1987, Stewart Brand accused Proxmire of recklessly attacking legitimate research for the crass purpose of furthering his own political career, with gross indifference as to whether his assertions were true or false as well as the long-term effects on American science and technology policy. Proxmire later apologized for several cancelled projects, including SETI.