Breakthrough Initiatives commit $100 million to search for extraterrestrial life

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      A $100-million initiative to search for extraterrestial life was announced at a press conference in London, England today (July 20) .

      Funded by Russian tech investor Yuri Milner, the Breakthrough Listen initiative will use two of the world's largest telescopes—the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Telescope in Australia—to listen for radio signals originating from other areas of the Milky Way and beyond.

      A portion of the $100 million has been set aside to buy time at Lick Observatory in California, which will perform an optical search for laser transmissions from space; with current technology, this means researchers would be able to detect a 100-watt laser from a star located 25 trillion miles away.

      At the press conference, Milner admitted that the chances of discovering an alien civilization are low. "Irrespective of what the answer is, it's a powerful answer," he said. "At any given time, we should apply the best technology and use the best instruments available to search for that answer."

      "We are alive, we are intelligent—we must know," said professor Stephen Hawking, who was on hand for the announcement. "It is important to know if we are alone in the dark.

      In a press release, the Breakthrough Initiative said, "There has never been a better moment for a large-scale international effort to find life in the Universe. As a civilization, we owe it to ourselves to commit time, resources, and passion to this quest."

      All transmissions received during the project's 10-year run will be released to the public. Volunteers with the SETI@home project will help analyze data.

      Breakthrough Message, an international competition seeking messages that might be sent to other civilizations in the future, was also announced today. According to project organizers, Breakthrough Message aims "to learn about the potential languages of interstellar communication and to spur global discussion on the ethical and philosophical issues surrounding communication with intelligent life beyond Earth."

      It is thought there may be tens of billions of inhabitable planets in the Milky Way alone.

      An InsightWest poll from 2013 found that 52 percent of British Columbians believe that UFOs exist.

      Comments

      5 Comments

      don't care if there are aliens

      Jul 20, 2015 at 3:15pm

      What a crazy waste of money. Maybe if we lived in an Utopian world where $100 million couldn't be used towards issues on earth.

      You should care there are aliens

      Jul 20, 2015 at 4:10pm

      We are running out of resources to deal with earth problems and should in fact be looking for other habitable planets. In this case, I would like to tell you to think outside the planet. To infinity and beyond.

      re: you should care there are aliens

      Jul 20, 2015 at 4:37pm

      So what you're saying is to not use money we actually have to fix problems here but, rather spend millions of dollars to maybe find aliens? Then what? Spend billions more to take their resources or inhabit their planet and use their resources? It's just ridiculous.

      Yes I'm saying that.

      Jul 20, 2015 at 5:03pm

      That's exactly what I'm saying. Actually no. Not take their resources, it's to look for new life and new technology. No one said anything about taking anything from anyone and this conversation seems to be going a negative route. Live long and prosper my friend.

      Anonymous

      Jul 20, 2015 at 8:46pm

      In other news astronomers may have discovered a new planet.
      The name being suggested is Poverty but legislation dictates it has the rights to that system of government and private interests should think of a more intelligent way to
      explore for alienated life.
      One method being considered is a mirror instead of a tax break.