Posted on 10/11/2007 2:05:36 PM PDT by Freeport
Today, in the remote northeast corner of California, technology innovator and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will hit the big red button.
No, he won't be throwing heavy-duty machinery into an emergency shutdown, nor will he be sending ICBMs screaming from their silos (traditional functions for ruddy buttons). Instead, he'll be christening a new telescope that, in its significance, could eventually outpace the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria.
The famous technologist will be inaugurating the initial 42 antennas of his namesake, the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) – the first major radio telescope designed from the pedestal up to efficiently (which is to say, rapidly) chew its way through long lists of stars in a search for alien signals. Within two decades, it will increase the number of stellar systems examined for artificial emissions by a thousand-fold. The ATA will shift SETI into third gear.
This telescope is truly a geek's barn-burner. In the last two decades, high-performance radio amplifiers have gotten smaller and, more importantly, much cheaper. This has changed the recipe for building radio telescopes, and the ATA is taking advantage of the new formula.
Consider: the single most consequential characteristic of a radio telescope (at least, for SETI) is its collecting area: the number of square meters boasted by its "mirror." There are two ways to increase this area: either build a bigger antenna, or build lots of smaller ones and hook them together. As an example of the former strategy, imagine doubling the diameter of the antenna's "dish", thereby increasing the collecting area by a factor of four. A good thing, surely. But since an antenna is a three-dimensional device, the amount of aluminum and steel necessary for the larger antenna has gone up by a factor of eight...
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
We’re alone, except for God and the angels.
The aliens have already landed.
Maybe they could find my home now.
If they are out there, they don’t want us to listen in, because if they are out there, they would be fully capable of broadcasting a discernable signal across megalight years.
These guys are wasting their time and money. We’ve been having an interesting discussion on how astronomically low the SETI chances are, once you look at the Drake equation with respect to the chances of things like the chance formation of amino acids.
The origin of species, and Everything Else: coping with evolution and religion
National Review via The Free Library ^ | October 8, 2007 | Jim Manzi
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904271/posts
Posted on 09/29/2007 6:12:27 PM PDT by Tahts-a-dats-ago
.
.
.
You can enter your own values into the Drake Equation here:
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/drake/default.asp
BSOD = Big Set Of Dishes
So, we were smart enough to make it kilolight years.
That, and message only lasted about three minutes, iirc. That was about the limit that they figured the crowd could last ooohing and ahhhhing about a hunk of metal directing invisible EMR towards a non-visible destination.
Å great waste of space then.
Hey, if its their money let them spend it.
But this is probably the same crowd that wants you and me to pay from their crumb crunchers medical bills with SCHIP.
As a result, the Drake equation can have any value from "billions and billions" to zero. An expression that can mean anything means nothing. Speaking precisely, the Drake equation is literally meaningless, and has nothing to do with science.
The Drake equation is statistical masturbation.
radar was developed as a result for a search for a super death ray
But can it locate illegal aliens?
ping
hmmmm, so boring that He created not only yours, AND ours which you can’t somehow perceive?
Nope, we’re alone.
Nothing boring about it though...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.