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Alan Boyle / msnbc.com
SETI astronomer Jill Tarter looks out from the radio dish named after her at the Allen Telescope Array in northern California. The array's 42 linked dishes search for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations.
The real-life astronomer who inspired the central character in "Contact," the book and movie about the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, is retiring from her research post at the age of 68. But that doesn't mean Jill Tarter is giving up on the SETI quest. Instead, she's focusing on the search for funding for the non-profit SETI Institute.
For most of the institute's 28-year history, Tarter has been serving as director of the Center for SETI Research as well as holding the Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI. "I've worn two hats," she explained. Now she's passing along the center's top research hat to physicist Gerry Harp, a colleague at the institute — and wearing the Oliver Chair hat full-time as a fundraiser.
"We have got to get this endeavor stably funded," she told me.
Tarter knows as well as anyone on Earth how much of a challenge that will be. In the 1980s and 1990s, she participated in NASA-funded efforts to search for alien radio signals — efforts that drew intense fire from some members of Congress. The fire became so intense that NASA as well as the National Science Foundation were barred from funding SETI research in 1993. To keep hope alive, Tarter spearheaded a program to continue the search with private donations.
Breakthrough ... then, a bummer
A breakthrough came in 2007 with the dedication of the 42-antenna Allen Telescope Array in Northern California, a facility funded with $25 million in seed money from software billionaire Paul Allen and matching funds from other contributors. The SETI Institute partnered with the University of California at Berkeley to operate the array, and it looked as if the search for alien signals was finally on stable footing.
That didn't last long, however.
Berkeley had to drop out of the partnership due to money troubles. Last year, the institute mothballed the array and put out a plea for $200,000 in contributions to restart operations. "That certainly put an exclamation point on the funding crisis," Tarter said. The money was raised in a month and a half — thanks in part to a big financial and moral vote of support from actress-director Jodie Foster, who played the Tarter character (named Ellie Arroway) in the movie version of "Contact."
Now the telescope array is back in business with a new partner, SRI International, which maintains the facility in return for getting half of the array's observing time to track satellites and orbital debris for the U.S. Air Force. But Tarter wants to get the institute's SETI effort out of its scrimp-and-scrape mode. "Lots of startups do that, but they don't last very long if they don't get secure funding," she said.
One of Tarter's top objectives is to build up an endowment for SETI research. "I find it very interesting that at any one time, even in this economy, there are endowment campaigns of $100 million. We could be one of them," she said.
Stable funding would reassure the researchers who work with the institute that they'll be able to pursue their projects over the long term, Tarter said. "We have to make this a real destination for folks who want to do visionary things. ... They're in some sense hanging on a cliff, because there's no guaranteed scientific payoff, although there are lots of interesting instrumentation payoffs along the way," she said.
New twists for SETI
Lots of interesting twists are in store for the SETI quest. For example, researchers are working their way through a list of hundreds of candidate planets identified by NASA's Kepler mission. Tarter said about 10 percent of the Kepler field has been surveyed so far, at a rate of 30 targets a day.
"We don't yet have Earth 2.0, but we almost can taste it," she said. "That will change the whole approach. Does anybody live there? That's going to concretize so many things which are now a bit abstract."
The institute is already using a survey setup that checks three star systems at once for telltale patterns in radio emissions that could hint at an artificial source. The setup, known as SonATA, uses the triple-check to confirm the nature of any interesting effect that's detected. If the same effect is detected from three separate directions, that's a tip-off that the telescopes are picking up on earthly radio interference rather than E.T.'s phone call.
"The next thing we're going to take on is real-time imaging of a wide field of view," Tarter said. "There are lots of challenges there, and lots of opportunities for SETI detections that haven't been there in the past."
Those are the sorts of challenges that Gerry Harp will be taking on as the new director of the Center for SETI Research. Meanwhile, Tarter will be focusing on the long-term future of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
"If we can get the research to the next level, there is something so fundamental that we can learn from the detection of a signal, even if it's just a cosmic dial tone," Tarter said. The message would be that technological civilizations can actually survive long enough to reach out to other corners of the cosmos.
"If they can do it, then dammit, we can do it," Tarter said.
More about the SETI quest:
- Gallery: 50 years of looking for E.T.
- Interactive: What are the odds of finding E.T.?
- Scientists need your eyes to look for E.T.
- Cosmic Log archive on SETI
The SETI Institute is celebrating Tarter's 35 years of SETI research at SETIcon II, set for June 22-24 at the Santa Clara Hyatt in California's Silicon Valley. SETIcon is a public convention that draws together more than 60 scientists, artists and entertainers to focus on the present and future search for life in the universe. Tarter will be honored at a gala event on June 23. Speakers will include fellow SETI astronomer Frank Drake; former astronaut Mae Jemison, a leader of the 100 Year Starship effort; and "Star Trek" actor Robert Picardo. Tickets are available via the SETIcon website.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Leave a Comment:
what an interesting life to have led...
been doin the seti deal on my PC since 2000, hope something turns up soon lol
Gain to loss ratio: no signal to ongoing investment: ROI = 0.
But all it takes is one hit and the ratio goes huge.
That changes EVERYTHING!
I sure hope they get permanent funding.
If we got really lucky it would be wonderful.
But, actually this could take a long time and it would be tragic if it were just dropped.
Practically, who's can major in a field that doesn't have any jobs?
to think we only thing in the universe is big self centered. Same thinking we did when we thought world was flat. just keeps going
SETI's concept has always been fascinating to me but I never had any hope for it. It seems it is all predicated on the premise that we will 'receive' something---and that's assuming if there are other intelligent life forms in the universe, they would communicate (by transmission) the same way we do.
that's the thing... if you don't look, you're guaranteed to NEVER find it.
theres so many solar systems in this galaxy alone and im sure theres planet in habitable zone distance from sun that makes it warm enough for planet have life. ( m class planets) out of all of them im sure theirs civiliation but if u was aliens and u see how paranoid and dangerous we are you wouldnt reveal youself until humans reach point where once we can travel beyond our system and united as a people then maybe they reveal ourselfs until then i think they watch us but thats it
They're not just looking for communication that is the "same as what we do", which I would take to mean radio and television, microwave relays and such. They are looking for ANYTHING which might be a sign of artificially generated meaningful structure. Most of the work involves incredibly tedious analysis of reams and reams of computerized data in the form of what are essentially random numbers. When a pattern in the numbers shows up, as it did with the famous "wow" signal, (I think that's included in the interactive graphic) that might mean that something significant has been detected... or it might not. It's entirely likely that the "wow" signal was just a glitch, since it's never been repeated again. And so far, unfortunately, unlike in the movie, that's the closest they have come to anything even close to significant.
Does this mean that the search should be abandoned? Not at all. It may need to become more specific, as I understand they are doing from the article, and look at testing the emissions of particular star systems instead of just a blanket approach, but the work should not be stopped. It's not that expensive in comparison to say, the military budget, and if anything significant is ever detected, it will change everything about our lives, our view of the universe and our relationship to it.
I read some articles about Dr Tarter over the years. She seems to be extremely dedicated and passionate about her trade. We can only hope she is successful in raising funds to continue SETI research into the future. It's sad that a lot of people consider this research a waste of time and money. The question "Are we alone in the universe?" will continue to be one of the biggest in the history of mankind. And the answer could only be a signal away.
The lady has done a lot for this program
This lady has done a lot , for SETI
she looks nothing like jodi foaster lol
didnt she traveled to vega on that machine thing
actually i believe that the odds are better that we make contact than my odds of winning the lottery, lol
If your chances of winning the lottery were as good as mine, I might have racks of crunching blades by now and I could afford the electric bill...but out of all the other lottery winners, if finding ET had any similar odds, there would seem to be a fairly higher chance we'll find something.
Yeah and keep the non-government funding handouts coming Paul Allen.
In spite of the possibly good intentions of some SETI employees, all funding for SETI must be cut off indefinitely - until they come clean with what they have found - and that information is shared with you and I - we the people.
And they have found what they have been searching for - evidence of life/communication outside of our planet - details of which are not being released.
Not acceptable.
That's 'you and me' .. you don't want the aliens to think yer dumb
DOUG - You are correct. It is "you and me" - however I don't believe the ETs would consider me to be "dumb" - they understand the concept of lovingkindness more than most of us do. In fact I will bet that occasionally they even use a preposition to end a sentence with.
What, besides your own 'Project Bluebook is a white wash and there ARE real aliens at Area 51' type of paranoia, makes you believe they have detected anything which they are not "coming clean" with?
Nice job Jill Tarter ....
They say "where there is hope , there is faith , where there is faith , there can be miracles" ....
To have lived in this mind set for so many years , is a great blessing ....
Keep hoping ....
Keep your faith ....
Your work and SETI may not be called a miracle ....
But look at their advanced supercomputer's capabilities to analyze digital data with such sensitivity of frequency ranges ....
Now they are making it accessible to everyone , to listen to SETI's receptions , to hopefully discover an ET on line ....
Thanks to people like you , who kept the SETI project alive ....
Seems pretty cool to me ....
Have fun Jill ....
Noble woman indeed - I have always been impressed with her.
But SETI is hopeless. As mentioned previously, it operates on the assumption that some other planet is beaming signals at us....we don't have radio telescopes powerful enough to pick up random signals. If another planet 10 light years away is doing the same thing (very close in terms of space), neither of us would know the other one is there.
It breaks my heart too....I hope that SETI will find new ways to search for intelligent life. Current methods will continue to yield the same eery silence we've experienced for the last 50 years.
Retiring from research but not from her love of what's up there, which will be a good thing for those of us who share her passion. Thank you Jill Tarter.
Last night I saw upon the stair
A little man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
I wish, I wish he'd go away.
Great Job Jill!! I'm really glad somebody views this SETI work as important, what a profound change the discovery of life on another planet would mean to us. But maybe before she goes much farther in space, she could turn the telescopes on Earth, to see if there is intelligent life here!!
What if everyone's listening and no one's transmitting?
We're transmitting so that's already not happening.
What I find strange is that certain people in Congress objected to funding this project. Maybe they were afraid that we would actually find something. I also find it stange that those objectors were not mentioned by name. Since we fund losing wars for $600 billion at the drop of a hat, I would think that something like this would also get some funding, but silly me. Saber rattling is MUCH more important than finding out if we're the only people in the universe...
What the people in Congress aren't yet realizing is that the real wars in the future will be economic, with boots on the ground wars merely maneuvers in the game. This was how we beat the Soviet Union...how come we have not yet realized that China is trying to do the same to us? Oh, I forget, we're too busy debating gay marriage and abortion issues to bother with something like that...but we're really going to regret it in the long run! We're becoming like one of these 3rd world countries that is too stuck in their religious battles to really look at what is important to become a strong country. Come on guys, wakey wakey!
Twenty eight years of free-loading on a government handout. Pretty good record. The secret of success is to keep looking for what does not exist on a government grant.
RJ - The SETI Institute is 100% privately funded; your comment is as inaccurate as it is lame.
RJ - You just got OWNED.
RJ - Ouch! BTW, would you happen to be a republican?
It was a clear winter night.
Who would be trusted more to reveal what if anything that may have been found already, the government, privately funded sources, or is there just that larrger interest to go through all the trouble of building and integrating all this technology with other planet hunting efforts. I have seen something through an 18-20 foot long turn of the century telescope, a Newtonian at Chabot in Oakland before the facility was moved. I tracked it practically from horizon to horizon, except it was above the horizon when I first aquired it, and it never fell off the horizon. I wasclambering up and down the step ladder to change the dome's position. It looked like it was travelling through this solar system and it was out there and had to have really been moving at incredible speed to cross the night sky at that distance in the 8-12 minutes that i observed it. It did not appear to be in orbit, the smaller spotter scope couldn't see it, maybe the lens cover wasn't off, this orangeish bright object appeared to be travelling through the solar system, it exited well above the horizon, appearing to increase its energy output, before it finally began to fade, I could assume that extra energy output may have been neccessary to exit the sheath or bubble of our solar system into interstellar space. I still do not know what to make of it, i know satellites can make several orbits within 24 hours...but to cross almost the entire sky in 8-12 minutes! And perhaps only the resolution of such a beautiful historical telescope could capture the object? I was just free panning looking around until i saw this thing, there was nothing else moving that caught my attention as this object did. And now years later i ask myself wether i may have been the only person on the planet to see an alien spacecraft travelling through our solar system. It did not shimmer like satellites would, it was too far out...it did seem to pulsate, it didn't stop or turn on a time...it wasn't a comet and there was no tail..I recall having noticed what may have been atmospheric effects or what looked like a slight heat-energy trail, and one could expect it might become brighter as it passed overhead, it didn't. it remained constant until it just seemed to be putting out more energy before it finally faded well above the horizon, it was out there I mean way out there, too far out for a satellite. (may sound funny), It sure as hell left me sitting there trying to figure out what it was I had just seen to this day.
A typical pass of the International Space Station is visible from the ground for up to ~6 mins. The Hubble Space Telescope, in a slightly higher orbit, is visible for ~8 min. These satellites are in "Low Earth Obit"; there are any number of satellites that orbit a bit higher which would cross your local sky in the time frame you describe.
With location, date, and time we could probably figure out if it was a sat.
Cheers! ~Michael (Astronomy.FM★Radio)
It was a clear winter night.
Who would be trusted more to reveal what if anything that may have been found already, the government, privately funded sources, or is there just that larrger interest to go through all the trouble of building and integrating all this technology with other planet hunting efforts. I have seen something through an 18-20 foot long turn of the century telescope, a Newtonian at Chabot in Oakland before the facility was moved. I tracked it practically from horizon to horizon, except it was above the horizon when I first aquired it, and it never fell off the horizon. I wasclambering up and down the step ladder to change the dome's position. It looked like it was travelling through this solar system and it was out there and had to have really been moving at incredible speed to cross the night sky at that distance in the 8-12 minutes that i observed it. It did not appear to be in orbit, the smaller spotter scope couldn't see it, maybe the lens cover wasn't off, this orangeish bright object appeared to be travelling through the solar system, it exited well above the horizon, appearing to increase its energy output, before it finally began to fade, I could assume that extra energy output may have been neccessary to exit the sheath or bubble of our solar system into interstellar space. I still do not know what to make of it, i know satellites can make several orbits within 24 hours...but to cross almost the entire sky in 8-12 minutes! And perhaps only the resolution of such a beautiful historical telescope could capture the object? I was just free panning looking around until i saw this thing, there was nothing else moving that caught my attention as this object did. And now years later i ask myself wether i may have been the only person on the planet to see an alien spacecraft travelling through our solar system. It did not shimmer like satellites would, it was too far out...it did seem to pulsate, it didn't stop or turn on a time...it wasn't a comet and there was no tail..I recall having noticed what may have been atmospheric effects or what looked like a slight heat-energy trail, and one could expect it might become brighter as it passed overhead, it didn't. it remained constant until it just seemed to be putting out more energy before it finally faded well above the horizon, it was out there I mean way out there, too far out for a satellite. (may sound funny), It sure as hell left me sitting there trying to figure out what it was I had just seen to this day.
Everything on this page suddenly went all screwey, text overlayed the edit functions. So yeah repost it.
Too bad the aliens didn't have such a nice telescope, they could have seen you looking at them
Mr Spock,
"Our minds are one", "Yes we are one, we are the only one's seeing this region of space." "If it was under intelligent control what would its purpose be to travel such a distance. Are they humanoid, are they returning home or visiting another world. They have passed through our solar system before, there along a clear path they traverse our space, it is not near us."
The Drake Equation Works for Me, Just a Matter of Time Before We Make Contact . . .
Jill Tarter has made quite a Great Impact on SETI and We Have to Keep Up the Search.
Thank You Jill . . . Nice Work Indeed.
Sadly the chances of us getting a signal within 500 years is pretty small. You see, not only do we have to get our broadcasts out to "them" in ''"their" system, but they have to be listening at that particular time as well and then they send a reply.
Our current broadcasts are just short of 100 light years distant. That is but just a smattering of the number of stars in our section of our galaxy. For example, if there was an advanced civilization with radio telescopes 600 light years away, which is pretty close, they will not know we even exist for another 500 years, IF they are listening at that time. So their reply will not be expected for another 1100 years from now.
We have hardly begun to listen in the last 50 years and we are still not actively listening all the time. To make it all work, both parties need to be listening and broadcasting, 24 x 7 for hundreds of years.
In addition to being separated by distance, we are also separated by time.
We do not need to detect a "reply" to any particular signal we have generated, such as reruns of the I Love Lucy show. We just need to detect some form, any form, of meaningful structure in the radiation energy we are able to receive.
....But, I believe we are not alone. So I have given them some of my money and I give them some of my computer cycles as well... and remain ever hopeful for that headline.
It will be a day of days.