SETI program bites the dust

The search for extra-terrestrial life (ET) seems to have stopped – at least for the moment, since the decades-long search for extraterrestrial life will be closing down due to a very common reason, which is the lack of funding. What is one going to do with a $50 million alien telescope array?

SETI (short for Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) is a project that has been long running, using the power of idle computers in the search for life apart from planet earth, where the original plans actually included the Allen Telescope Array, which was part of the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, where it was meant to house up to 350 dishes.

Budgetary constraints proved to be the undoing here, as the SETI Institute was forced to shut down the first 42 telescopes that were installed four years ago which were used to scan the skies for evidence of alien life. No idea on whether these telescopes will ever return to operations though, as SETI has to date received the bulk of its funding via the National Science Foundation and the State of California – and with the latter bankrupt in a sense, this news does not come as a surprise.

Edwin Kee
Categories: General