A solar-powered airplane finished crossing the United States on Saturday, landing in New York City after flying over the Statue of Liberty during its historic bid to circle the globe, the project team said. The spindly, single-seat experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse 2, arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport at about 4 a.m. local time after it took off about five hours beforehand at Lehigh Valley International Airport in Pennsylvania, the team reported on the airplane's website. Such a pleasure to land in New York! For the 14th time we celebrate sustainability," said the project's co-founder Andre Borschberg on Twitter after flying over the city and the Statue of Liberty during the 14th leg of the trip around the globe. The Swiss team flying the aircraft in a campaign to build support for clean energy technologies hopes eventually to complete its circumnavigation in Abu Dhabi, where the journey began in March 2015. The solar cr...
The SETI Institute scans the heavens, looking for a beacon sent by an alien civilization. SETI researcher Douglas Vakoch thinks now it’s time for a program called Active SETI. Active SETI involves transmitting an intentional signal saying “we want to make contact.”
At the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he and other scientists, like David Grinspoon of the Planetary Science Institute, discussed what such a message might say and who would say it. It’s an action that is inherently global, done on behalf of the people, or even the creatures, of Earth.
As to whether the signal might draw the attention of an evil civilization, they point out that aliens advanced enough to reach earth would also be advanced enough to pick up the light and broadcast signals we’re already producing. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society. SETI stands for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Researchers in this field work to detect intelligent extraterrestrial life. Usually this involves searching the sky for radio transmissions, or optical beams that might be coming from extraterrestrials. SETI researchers are searching for messages from aliens.
In contrast, Active SETI takes a more direct approach. Instead of listening for a signal from outer space, Active SETI would involve deliberately attracting the attention of intelligent extraterrestrials by creating and transmitting messages, usually in the form of radio signals, to outer space. While "regular" SETI is a well known and approved field of research, Active SETI is still a controversial topic, which means that scientists are not in agreement about whether or not Active SETI would be a good idea.
This is why on 13 February 2015, scientists (including David Grinspoon, Seth Shostak, and David Brin) at an annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, discussed Active SETI and whether transmitting a message to possible intelligent extraterrestrials in the cosmos was a good idea. Later that week, leading astronomers, anthropologists, and social scientists came together at the SETI institute for a symposium to begin the process of fleshing out a proposal for Active SETI and begin a dialogue that would include politicians, policy makers, and the general public.
Comments
Post a Comment