D
dryson
Guest
<p>Well, on Jan. 31, Dr. Seth Shostak posted a column on Space.com entitled Galactic Wi-fi. <br /><br />Dr. Seth seems to be feeling a little self-defensive. He seems to be embarrassed that after all these years, no signal has ever been found so now he is trying to make up excuses for why this is. He is trying to find a way to keep SETI well funded and respected in the public’s eye. <br /><br />Look at what he says in this article:<br />“Now consider the plight of aliens wishing to get in touch. Because the separation between one civilization and another is likely to be at least hundreds — and maybe thousands — of light-years, any interstellar pinging is effectively one-way. Back and forth conversations will take too long. So perhaps the aliens will opt to send, not the easiest-to-find signal, but a signal that says it all — a signal bristling with information.”<br /><br />Problem is, there is no way to prove what he is saying. It is nothing but conjecture to help keep people hoping. <br /><br />Then he says “there may be difficulties in sending certain kinds of complex radio signals over significant distances in the Galaxy. Interstellar correspondence could be restricted to mere postcards, which would be a disappointment to aliens interested in heavy-duty data distribution. However, some Swedish physicists are pointing out a possible scheme for beating this rap.” <br /><br />“…the Swedish scientists are noting another way to send information in a radio signal — even a narrow-band radio signal — by encoding it in the orbital angular momentum.”<br /><br />SETI has been focusing on narrow-band signals, but they have not found anything. However Dr. Seth thinks “The investigation of new transmission modes by Thide and Bergman hints that if we do find a signal from ET, we may wish to reconfigure our radio telescopes to look for encoding of the message via such subtle effects as orbital angular momentum.”<br /><br />Well, first of all, congratulations to these scie </p><p> </p><p>What about this for establishing a network of comm satellites to detect extra solar entities (EST's). We could launch a series of satellites that would orbit the same path of Pluto and then relay back to a central control unit any signals received. Other satellites could then be launched that would leave the solar system and then relay to the outer Pluto network any signals received. This type of network could be possible with the help of SETI being the main collection network here on Earth.</p>