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From: Stig Agermose <Stig_Agermose@online.pol.dk>
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 14:40:42 +0200
Fwd Date: Mon, 24 Aug 1998 12:29:52 -0400
Subject: Reason For Optimism In ET Search - Scientist


Source:Business Wire.

Stig

*******

Scientist: Reason for Optimism in ET Search

Friday, August 21 6:20 PM ET


BOSTON (BUSINESS WIRE) - SETINOW reports that scientists
conducting Searches for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
recently received good news: ET signals may be numerous because
the transmitting technology is easy to develop. In the latest
issue of the journal SetiQuest, Boston University professor and
radio astronomer Nathan Cohen shows how a device called an
'aperture engine' could be used to transmit across the Galaxy.

SETI uses radio telescopes to attempt reception of radio
transmissions from ET's from distant stars in the galaxy and
beyond. No ET signals have been found to date. SETI is
considered a legitimate scientific enterprise and is not
connected with UFO studies or alleged alien abductions.

A cosmic signal's transmitted power must be made very large.
Traditional thinking dictates doing this by using a powerful and
expensive transmitter or through the magnification or 'gain'
from a very large antenna dish. This produces an inefficient and
expensive technological tradeoff.

Cohen says the two are likely to be linked as an optimized,
aperture engine. The transmitting antenna also is a stellar
power collector and transmitter module array, combining three
key functions in one physical area, with high efficiency. It
would look like a collection of flat panels with multiple
layers. A typical aperture engine would be a dozen acres on a
side for transmission to Earth from the other side of the
Galaxy, 70,000 light years away. For closer transmissions out to
1000 light years it would be slightly bigger than a football
field. The closest star is about 4 light years away.

The total number of ET civilizations spread across the Galaxy is
a matter of speculation. Guesses run between 1 and 100,000,000.
No matter how big or small the actual number, Cohen suggests
that there is a good chance a vast majority of them above a
modest technological threshhold are capable of trying to contact
us or others with radio transmissions from aperture engines.
Even distant and humble ET's will have the chance for a cosmic
contact. Cohen adds: "ET contact is not just the plaything of
the few super-smart civilizations, but even the far more
numerous ones at our level or slightly above it." Asked to
speculate on the number of detectable ET's Cohen guessed between
100 and 100,000. "But we have no useful data which constrains
that number. Until you find any ET's and survey the sky
correctly no one knows", he cautioned.

Cohen also cautions that the optimized effort on the transmit
side has to be matched by one on our end, and that the
conversation is one-way, because of the great distances and time
scales. "For a chance to find even one ET signal, you need
patience, the largest radio telescopes and to look at thousands
of stars at a time", explains Cohen, " also you have to be smart
enough to know that the changing, thin plasma of space requires
a special spread spectrum method called polychromatic SETI." At
the moment, says Cohen, ongoing Earth SETI's are receive-only
and fall substantially short of optimized efforts. The most
comprehensive survey has looked at less than 700 stars out of
500 billion in the galaxy. "The amazing thing is not that we've
found nothing so far, but that we're not doing the receive
effort the right way." Cohen believes SETI will be successful
within a generation of changing its observing strategies.

Copies of the SetiQuest issue may be purchased through its
website:

http://www.setiquest.com

SETINOW sponsors dissemination of important breakthroughs in the
SETI through its in-construction web site, scheduled for a
September debut.

Contact: SETINOW Rick Gordon or Phil Salkind 617-489-6207