The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), History and Facts

A Brief History of The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Projects Since 1960.

The human mind is curious and inquisitive. We try to explore unexplored areas, hoping that we will come across something new. This idea and mentality have been one of the key reasons that prompted mankind to try out new things, often leading to the discovery and in some cases, the invention of new things. We always try to do herculean tasks and challenge our limits.

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Mankind wants to know what is hidden in space? Therefore, we have been studying our universe with a great amount of zeal for quite some time. This has added to our knowledge about our solar systems. The desire to excel in the field of science & technology backed by our interest in exploring our solar system has compelled mankind to initiate a lot of space-related projects, SETI is one such step in this direction. We will learn more about SETI in this article so stay tuned. Kindly share your feedback on this post in the comment section. Before moving ahead with SETI, let's try to analyze some earlier work done by our scientist in their quest to quench their thrust about our solar system.

An Introduction to Scientists' Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

SETI ( Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a term for scientific searches concerning extraterrestrial intelligence. We have been making attempts to identify extraterrestrial intelligence on some other planet for a long period although to no avail. Let's be realistic however, if you consider the size of the universe, it's enormous which always gives us the impetus to look for more when it comes to searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life. For instance, we have been monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmission emanating from some other planets.

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If you go back to history, you will see that mankind has been making attempts to trace or contact other civilizations in the universe. Since the advent of radio in the early 1900s, scientific investigation received a boost.   It was in 1896, Nikolas Tesla opined, that an extreme version of his electronic transmission system may be put to use to contact beings on Mars. In 1899, while conducting some experiments, Tesla felt he had detected a signal from that planet. Later on, it came to light that Tesla misunderstood the new technology he was working with. In 1960, Frank Drake carried out the first modern SETI experiment. It was named "Project Ozma". Drake used a radio telescope which was 26 metres in diameter. The idea was to study the stars called Tau Ceti & Epsilon Eridani. He didn't find anything substantial or of much interest.

The Soviets also conducted some searches during the 1960's using Omnidirectional antennas in anticipation of picking some powerful radio signals. So we have been trying to find and even establish contact with intelligent beings living somewhere on a distant planet. In fact, since the 1980's focused International efforts have been going on in this direction on a large scale.

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To date, we have not been successful in finding any forms of life outside Earth. It is not clear whether we will ever find life somewhere in the universe, but this possibility of having intelligent beings somewhere outside our planet cannot be ruled out totally. This has facilitated the search for such beings. You may have reservations in accepting that intelligent beings or any other civilization ever existed or is still active somewhere far away from Earth. Since no major breakthrough has been achieved so far in this regard, therefore, a lot of people strongly feel it's a mere waste of time and money. 

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Let's not forget science is all about experimentation. Who knows, we may come across an advanced civilization somewhere in space at some given stage. Maybe there exist beings who are more intelligent than us. It is important to carry out more research to reach a conclusion on this subject. We have perhaps covered a very small part of the universe, more needs to be done to find an answer to this question.

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Already many international radio telescopes are being used for SETI searches. Some of them are the Lovell Telescope in the UK, the Murchison Widefield Array in Australia & Low Frequency Array in Europe. The SETI Institute collaborated with Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the Berkeley SETI Research Center. The idea behind this initiative was to develop a specialized radio telescope array to support SETI studies. It was known as One Hectare Telescope although later on it was renamed as "Allen Telescope Array". You will be amazed to know, its sensitivity would be equal to a single large dish of more than 100 meters.

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Project Phoenix is regarded as one of the most comprehensive projects for the search of Extraterrestrial beings that had been conducted till 2015. It began observations in February 1995, by using Parkes 210-foot radio telescope in Australia ( New South Wales). 

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SETI Project started in 1959. This is a project directed at detecting radio signals from intelligent life in space. Radio telescopes are being used by SETI Projects all over the world to scan the sky and find special patterns in radio waves sent by other advanced civilizations from space. Radio waves can travel very far away in space, this is precisely the reason why radio telescopes are being used. Such radio waves can't be absorbed by thick clouds of gas and dust found in certain regions of space. Radio signals travel into space at the speed of light and there is a possibility such waves may be detected by some advanced civilization at some given point in time.

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There hasn't been any signal from aliens as of now, but 2020 has been a very exciting year for scientists. They have accessed and collected a lot of data from previous years' radio signals which need to be analyzed more deeply. Scientists have been working with a lot of new technologies and strategies likely to throw more light on the search for extraterrestrial intelligent life in space. Under the SETI Project,  apart from searching for radio signals, the scientists are also looking for technosignatures which include varieties of possible signs of alien life including laser pulses and chemical changes in a planet's temperature, etc.

Conclusion

SETI Project has been a pioneer in the search for intelligent beings in space. Mankind has carried out a lot of space missions and has got an insight into space. Scientists are looking into every possible angle to know whether we are all alone or whether other beings as intelligent as we are or perhaps more intelligent than us, are living somewhere deep in space. SETI has poured in a lot of effort by using different radio telescopes in this regard. Whether these endeavors of SETI will go in vain or will produce something substantial, is a million-dollar question. 

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