This could all be yours! (photo:@monkeyleader)
Where’s my tinfoil?
Have you ever wanted to start searching outer space for aliens, but just didn’t know where to start? I think I have a good answer for you.
Popsci.com is reporting that SETI, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, in a new initiative called Setiquest, is “opening up SETI’s servers to the public calling for a worldwide, open source contribution to the search … SETI’s data, compiled from 25 years of scanning the skies with advanced astronomical telescopes, will be made available on a special SETI website this summer, at which point users can take whatever data sets they wish and comb through … The site is currently configured for those with some kind of background in signal processing and the like, but SETI is working to make it more accessible to users of all backgrounds and ages.”(*1)
Free research, and they want your help.
So, up to 50 years of extraterrestrial research at your fingertips, for free. This is a big risk for them in one sense, but open-source collaboration may be the best way to make some headway on an area of research that has overwhelmingly odds … or too much tinfoil getting the way.
Jill Tarter, SETI’s Director, says “In the future, we hope that a global army of open-source code developers, students and other experts in digital signal processing, as well as citizen scientists willing to lend their intelligence to our exploration, will have access to the same technology and join our quest.”(*1)
Are they just at their wits end, or more simply trying to tap into our universe of brainpower to help progress the research? Either way, a good solution to a big area of research.
If you’re interested in pursuing your inner, outer space, alien, go here (although they aren’t releasing the research until the Summer).
Sources:
1. SETI Releases Its Collected Data to the Public, Wants Open-Source Search for Whatever’s Out There, Popsci.com, Apr.21, 2010
2. SETI.org, SETI Institute