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NASA to Begin Search for Inhabited Planets
NASA TO BEGIN SEARCH FOR INHABITED PLANETS On Oct.12
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
HIGH RESOLUTION MICROWAVE SURVEY (HRMS)
PRESS KIT
OCTOBER 1992
PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS
NASA HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Office of Space Science and Applications
Michael Braukus (Phone: 202/358-1547)
Ames Research Center,
Mountain View, Calif.
Michael Mewhinney (Phone: 415/604-9000)
Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif.
Mary Hardin (Phone: 818/354-5011)
CONTENTS General Release
1 Media Services Information
3 Quick-Look Facts.
4 Project History
5 Project Objectives
6 Targeted Search
7 Sky Survey
9 Signal Detection Plans
10 Project Management.
11 RELEASE:92-161 NASA TO BEGIN SEARCH FOR INHABITED PLANETS On Oct.12
NASA will begin the most comprehensive search ever conducted
for evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. The search
will use telescopes and antennas to detect radio transmissions from
other planetary systems. The search will commence 500 years after
Columbus landed in North America. "In the first few minutes, more
searching will be accomplished than in all previous searches
combined," according to Dr. John Billingham of NASA's Ames
Research Center, Mountain View, Calif. "Over the past few decades,"
Billingham added, "scientific opinion has increasingly supported
the theory that complex life may have evolved on planets orbiting
other stars in the galaxy and the universe. In some cases, further
evolution may have led to the emergence of intelligence, culture and
technology." Billingham, the program chief at Ames, said the High
Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) consists of two parts -- a
Targeted Search and a Sky Survey. The Targeted Search will use the
largest available radio telescopes around the world to search the
frequency range from 1,000 to 3,000 megahertz, seeking a variety of
patterns that may indicate the presence of an artificially generated
signal. A megahertz is a unit of frequency equal to one million
cycles per second. The Targeted Search will perform the most
sensitive search ever conducted of solar-type stars less than 100
light-years distant. The Targeted Search begins from the world's
largest radio telescope at the National Astronomy and Ionosphere
Center's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. It is operated for the
National Science Foundation by Cornell University. The Sky Survey
will use the 34-meter antennas at NASA's Deep Space Network sites
in the northern and southern hemispheres to scan the entire sky over
the frequency range from 1,000 to 10,000 megahertz. The Sky
Survey begins at the Goldstone, Calif., site. "Because of the large
increase in the area of sky and frequencies covered, a signal will
have to be stronger to be detected by the Sky Survey," Billingham
said. "But it could detect signals emitted in distant regions from
directions that would be overlooked if the search were limited to
nearby solar- type stars," he added. Both elements of the HRMS are
using specially developed digital signal processing systems capable
of simultaneously analyzing tens of millions of radio frequency
channels. The HRMS is managed by NASA's Ames Research
Center, which also is responsible for the Targeted Search project.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is responsible for
the Sky Survey. The HRMS is part of NASA's Toward Other
Planetary Systems program in the Solar System Exploration
Division, Office of Space Science and Applications at NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. - end - MEDIA SERVICES
INFORMATION NASA Select Television Transmissint on Oct. 12,
1992. Video footage of the HRMS deployment will be taken for
documentary and archival purposes. Media Coverage Those
interested in attending the initial deployment at Arecibo on Oct. 12,
contact Michael Mewhinney at NASA Ames Research Center by
calling 415/604-9000. Those wishing to attend the initial
deployment at Goldstone, Calif., contact Mary Hardin at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory by calling 818/354-5011. Because of limited
parking, use of private vehicles at both sites will be restricted. Buses
will be available at both locations to transport reporters. Reportt the
press desks at either the Holiday Inn, Barstow, Calif., or the Hyatt
Dorado Beach Hotel, Dorado, Puerto Rico, for transportation and
admissionhis telescope is operated for the National Science
Foundation by Cornell University. The new 34-meter (112- foot
diameter) antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space
Communications Complex near Barstow, Calif., will be used for the
Sky Survey. Time of Deployment: Targeted Search at 3 p.m. EDT,
Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Sky Survey at noon PDT, Goldstone, Calif.
Project Duration: Expected to last until about 2001. PROJECT
HISTORY The Earth is the only location known to harbor life. But
as knowledge of the nature of lhere may, in the long run, be one of
science's most important and most profound contributions to
mankind and to our civilization." Also in 1972, NASA published its
first report describing how NASA-developed technology could make
such a search possible. In the years between 1972 and 1988, NASA
maintained a low- level research and development activity that
resulted in the initiation of the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence Microwave Observing Project (MOP) in FY 1989. In
1992, NASA established the High Resolution Microwave Survey
(HRMS) as part of the Toward Other Planetary Systems (TOPS)
program within NASA's Solar System Exploration Division. The
Sky Survey (scanning the entire sky for strong signals coming from
any direction) will begin observations at noon PDT using a 34-meter
antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications
Complex near Barstow, Calif. PROJECT OBJECTIVES The
detection and characterization of planetary systems around other
stars is the goal of NASA's Toward Other Planetary Systems (TOPS)
program. Earth's solar system is still the only known example of a
planetary system, and Earth is the only known planet that sustains
life. Recent astrophysical observations suggest the existence of other
planetary systems around distant stars. The existence of these
systems could support the hypothesis that lifts TOPS program to
include a new project called the High Resolution Microwave Survey
(HRMS). The project will observe the microwave region of the
electromagnetic spectrum in a manner that can detect signals
produced by a distant technology. Potentially, there are billions of
solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy at tremendous distances from
Ear provide for an expanded comparative study of the universe.
TARGETED SEARCH Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center
will conduct the Targeted Search portion of the HRMS. The
Targeted Search will examine 1,000 nearby solar-type stars within
100 light years distance from Earth (one light year is approximately
5.9 trillion miles). The objective is to test the hypothesis that
extraterrestrial technologies are transmitting radio signals whose
characteristics are greatly different from natural sources of radio
emissile sensitivity, the largest available radio telescopes will be
used to conduct the Targeted Search. The number of targets covered
will be much larger than previous searches, and the range of
frequencies covered will be thousands of times greater than all
previous searches combined. To accomplish this, specialized digital
signal processing equipment has been constructed to listen for
microwave radio transmissions reaching the Earth from distant
planetary systems. The specialized digital signal processing
equipment will simultaneously study the radio spectrum over tens of
millions of individual frequency channels, at spectral resolutions
ranging from 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 28 helses, a likely form of interstellar
transmission. An automatic data analysis subsystem will be used to
detect the presence of fixed frequency or drifting continuous wave
(CW) signals or sequences of regularly spaced pulses. The Targeted
Search will use the National Science Foundation's National
Astronomy and Ionosphere Center's 305-meter (1,000-ft) diameter
radio telescope located at the Arecibo Observatory near Arecibo,
Puerto Rico, for the initial deployment of the HRMS on Oct. 12,
1992. Theng very large observations of each target at each frequency.
It will serve as the logistical hub of the HRMS Targeted Search.
Over the next 3 years, three more such systems will be built and
packaged into two mobile research facility trailers for air transport to
the observation sites. SKY SURVEY The NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will conduct the Sky Survey portion of
NASA's HRMS to search for radio signals from other planetary
systems. The Sky Survey will scan all directions of the sky to cover a
wide range of frequencies from 1,000 to 10,000 megahertz. NASA's
HRMS will conduct a comprehensive, systematic search of a portion
of the microwave radio spectrum to detect evidence of radio
transmissions from other planetary systems. An intentionally
transmitted signal is easiest to detect in a frequency band where the
background radio noise or static is minimal. One of the quietest
frequency bands is the "microwave window," which lies between
1,000 and 10,000 megahertz. Since thstic of microwave ally mapping
small areas of the sky, called sky frames. As the observations are
completed, over the entire sky. For each of 31 frequency bands, the
sky is divided into sevplex of NASA's Deep Space Network in
California's Mojave Desert. Toward the latter part of the survey, the
search will move to a The prototype receiver, spectrum analyzer and
signal processor will break up incomiwith 40 megahertz total
bandwidth or a dual polarization mode with 20 megahertz total
bandwidth. Specially designed digital hardware, operating at
supercomputer speeds, will simultaneously process the 2 million
channels to identify and separate intersterch organizations. After the
discovery has been verified, national and international authorities are
to be informed. News of the confirmed discovery then will be
disseminated promptly, openly and widely through scientific
channels and the news media. All data necessary for the
confirmation of the detection will be made available to the
international scientific community through publications, meetings,
conferences and other appropriate means. No response to any
confirmed signal will be sent from Earth until appropriate
international consultations have occurred. PROJECT
MANAGEMENT NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Dr.
Wesley Huntress Director, Solar System Exploration Division Dr.
Nicholas Renzetti Manager, Telecommunications and Data
Acquisition Science Complex Goldstone Deep Space
Communications Complex Dr. Michael J. Klein JPL SETI Project
Manager and HRMS Sky Survey Manager Dr. Samuel Gulkis
HRMS Deputy Project Scientist J. Richard Kolden HRMS Sky
Survey Implementation Manager Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico
Dr. Daniel Altschuler Director ___ _____ ___ /_ /| /____/ \ /_ /| Ron
Baalke | [email protected] | | | | __ \ /| | | | Jet Propulsion
Lab | ___| | | | |__) |/ | | |__ M/S 525-3684 Telos | Einstein's brain is
stored /___| | | | ___/ | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | in a mason jar in
a lab |_____|/ |_|/ |_____|/ | in Wichita, Kansas. ><Picture>
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