Posted on 04/06/2005 7:25:34 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy for SETI might be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars THE search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) could be taking the wrong approach. Instead of listening for alien radio broadcasts, a better strategy may be to look for giant structures placed in orbit around nearby stars by alien civilisations.
"Artificial structures may be the best way for an advanced extraterrestrial civilisation to signal its presence to an emerging technology like ours," says Luc Arnold of the Observatory of Haute-Provence in France. And he believes that the generation of space-based telescopes now being designed will be able to spot them.
Arnold has studied the capabilities of space-based telescopes such as the European Space Agency's forthcoming Corot telescope and NASA's Kepler. These instruments will look for the telltale dimming of a star's light when a planet passes in front of it. They could also identify an artificial object the size of a planet, such as a lightweight solar sail, says Arnold. His work ...
Looking for space structures is cheaper than those person-to-alien interplanetary calls (especially with the roaming charges).
That is true..
Our inner planets are missing all or part of what should be a light metal shell (most likely in the form of calcium and phosphorus compounds). In fact, two of them, Mercury and Venus, seem to have had it removed entirely while Earth seems to have escaped with just under half of what it had.
Then there's a ring of calcum carbonate debris between Mars and Jupiter ~ it's orbiting there just like it was a shipment awaiting pickup.
We can go on from there in examining Earth to see if there's any other kinds of evidence of large scale planet mining.
ACK! Will I have to download a new SETI program??
Proud to say I'm #40. About to clean "Slings and Arrows" clock I am....
Catch me if ya can!
;-)
Didn't Fox Mulder figure out that they were really robot cockroaches?
We could go looking for residue left behind where massive carbon fiber cables were used to connect orbiting space "mining stations" to activities on the ground.
These are probably pretty easy to manufacture and install from space, but after a few hundred million years they'd probably fall to the surface of the planet, turn to tar, and soak in.
BTW, all of Earth's major hydrocarbon deposits occur along what was the equator about 2 billion years ago.
There may well be other artifacts that give us an idea of how the calcium carbonate ore was kicked into orbits further out. For example, the miners could have built a boom arm with a pivot point on the Moon to help launch ore out to the Asteroid belt.
What kind of evidence would there be of that? One might be a very deep circular crater at the North or South pole of the Moon.
We know that the deepest crater found so far in the Solar System is smack dead center at the Moon's South Pole.
I wish they would try searching for intelligent life on this planet first.
As for searching for aliens, I'm not so sure it's a good idea to be broadcasting our presence all over the universe. As my friend, DWSUWF used to say, earth could be in one of the slum neighboorhoods of the universe.
EARTH FIRST
Well strip mine the other planets later
Maybe we can ask the Chinese to look for us once they establish their moon base in a few years.
We could trade them some paper for this task, since that's about the only thing this country produces anymore. Paperwork.
Makes a lot of sense... Whenever I want to signal my presence to an emerging technology, I always do it by placing a giant structre in orbit around a nearby star...
Naw, we got plenty of spare lawyers. We could send them a few hundred thousand. Bet they'd be a lot of use on the Chinese moonbase.
If they are using spread spectrum tech it wouldn't matter what band they use. We would see or hear nothing of interest.
FYI
Is this a Ringworld Ping???
Hehe. I've always liked that. :-) On a serious note though, if the envoronmentalist wackos really wanted to be useful, they coul put their support fully behind us getting into space. The asteroid belt is ready-made for extensive mining operations. I'd love to see that get started before I pass on, but I don't see it happening any time this century.
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