MIT Scientists Plan to Use Massive Laser to Attract Aliens to Earth

[zorgon]

MIT Scientists Plan to Use Massive Laser to Attract Aliens to Earth



Using extremely powerful lasers, scientists want to try and contact aliens located as far as 20,000 light years away.

E.T., we're home

Existing laser technology could be fashioned into Earth's "porch light" to attract alien astronomers, reports MIT News.

A new study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) proposes to create a cosmic beacon, with available laser technology, strong enough to attract potential aliens located as far as 20,000 light years away.

The research, called "feasibility study," appears in the Astrophysical Journal.

The findings suggest that if a 1 to 2-megawatt high-power laser were to be focused through a massive 30 to 45-meter telescope and into space. This combination would produce a beam of infrared radiation strong enough to stand out from the sun's energy.

MIT researchers propose a radical method for aliens elsewhere in the universe. The ESO 3,6-meter telescope located at the La Silla Observatory in Chile, with images of the stars Proxima Centauri, is shown in this image.

Furthermore, scientists explain that once this signal is picked up by potential alien civilization, we could use the same system to transmit brief messages, in order to communicate with aliens.

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"If we were to successfully close a handshake and start to communicate, we could flash a message, at a data rate of about a few hundred bits per second, which would get there in just a few years," explained author James Clark, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

The best part is that the technology needed to get this working is already available to use, and such an instrument could soon be developed.

"This would be a challenging project but not an impossible one," Clark explains.

"The kinds of lasers and telescopes that are being built today can produce a detectable signal so that an astronomer could take one look at our star and immediately see something unusual about its spectrum. I don't know if intelligent creatures around the sun would be their first guess, but it would certainly attract further attention."

Several possible configurations were considered by experts before the eventually picked two that would work best for their design.

By using a 2-megawatt laser, and putting it through a 30 meter-telescope, we could produce a powerful signal that could be picked up clearly from Proxima Centauri B, one of the planets closest to our sun, and possibly home to alien life.

By using a 1-megawatt laser, and putting it through a 45-meter telescope, we could then produce a signal that is powerful enough to be intercepted by anyone inhabiting the Trappist-1 system, located 40 light years away from Earth.

TRAPPIST-1 planetary system compared to our solar system. Image Credit: NASA
However, Clark explains that both options could be detectable as far as 20,000 light years away.

But while this plan may sound attractive and could help us find out whether we are alone in the cosmos, the plan has a few risks.

Despite the fact that shinning the powerful laser through the telescope would not be something that you could see with the naked eye, the powerful beam could disrupt spacecraft instruments on its path and could also harm a person's eyesight if he or she were to stare directly at it.

Clark explains that "If you wanted to build this thing on the far side of the moon where no one's living or orbiting much, then that could be a safer place for it."

"In general, this was a feasibility study. Whether or not this is a good idea, that's a discussion for future work."

It wouldn't work the other way around

While this plan could work for us if we were to try and signalize aliens 'hey we are here', the same thing wouldn't work the other way around.

According to scientists, if the roles were reversed, and we were instead to look for a similar laser beacon coming from space, it would be difficult to spot with currently available technology.

"It is vanishingly unlikely that a telescope survey would actually observe an extraterrestrial laser unless we restrict our survey to the very nearest stars," Clark explains.

"With current survey methods and instruments, it is unlikely that we would actually be lucky enough to image a beacon flash, assuming that extraterrestrials exist and are making them," Clark adds.

"However, as the infrared spectra of exoplanets are studied for traces of gases that indicate the viability of life, and as full-sky surveys attain greater coverage and become more rapid, we can be more certain that, if ET is phoning, we will detect it."

SOURCE: MIT

[zorgon]

Okay so...

Using extremely powerful lasers, scientists want to try and contact aliens located as far as 20,000 light years away.

That means the beam will need 20,000 years to reach that distance and another 20,000 years to get a reply



LASER's travel at the speed of light therefore the beam would take 4.5 years to reach the closest star Alpha Centauri

We invented radio just over 100 years ago... only in the last 50-60 years was it strong enough to be anything more than background noise outside the solar system... that means any aliens at the 50 LY mark are only now watching us fight WW 2 and Hitler. Beyond that no one has heard us yet

Pioneer and Voyager space craft with messages just barely left our solar systems outer boundary a few years ago

Stars within 50 Light Years of Earth

[zorgon]

WHY is it so hard to find signals from other inhabited planets?

Take for example the famous WOW signal... that signal was not spotted live... it was seen when they checked the printouts later.  So imagine two planets in space... Earth and Valerian Now we know how fast Earth is moving (roughly ) but what most do not understand is that it is moving in many directions at once, so you have to calculate the actual vector. 

Now this is not an issue for a person living on the planet, but it is vital for a space navigator...

1) The Earth "wobbles" on its polar axis. This motion is not relevant to the calculations needed to return to earth from interstellar space as it is an "in situ" motion, but it exists. 
2) The Earth revolves {spins} on its axis. For these calculations we will use the equator with a circumference of approx. 25,000 miles. One rotation of Earth is approx. 24 hours. Again this is "in situ" motion so not relevant to space travel, but adds to our "stationary chair" model
 
25000/24 =1041.7 MPH 

3) The Earth is orbiting the Sun once a year. The circumference of the Earth's orbit is approx.  607.6  million miles {or 940 million kilometers}. One year is approx. 365 days
365 days X 24 = 8760 hours
607,600,000/8760 = 69,360.73 MPH

So far we have basically 3 Directions of Motion {Wobble, Spin and Orbit} and a combined speed of 1041.70 + 69,360.73 = 70,402.43 MPH for a person sitting in a chair at the Equator. 
{Note: We will do the actual vector calculations at the end}

[zorgon]

Anyone dizzy yet? A little motion sickness perhaps?

When you take into account the three-dimensional picture of the Sun's movement through our Milky Way Galaxy, things get very complicated.

4) The sun {and hence the solar system} is moving towards the constellation Hercules, namely towards the star Lambda Herculis at 12 miles per second {or 20 kilometers per second} which is 43,200 MPH

5) The Solar system is also moving upwards, at 90 degrees to the plane of the Milky Way, at 4.34 miles per second or 15,624 MPH. But we are actually leaving the Galaxy, out about 50 light years now and will be moving out to 250 light years before it reverses. Details of the mechanics of this are explained in the link below. We also crossed the Galactic plane 2 million years ago.

6) The Solar system is orbiting around the Galaxy at an "estimated" speed of 124 miles per second {or 200 kilometers per second} which is 446,400 MPH. The way that figure has been calculated can be found at the link below.  This is where finding our way home becomes difficult, as we do NOT have an actual true figure for this calculation. The further out we go, taking into account the various motions and speed, the more difficult it becomes to get precise calculations ergo the more room for error. Until we can actually go and measure the distances, a "best guess" is all we have. Over the past few decades these values have been revised several times, and are constantly being added to today.

From an Astronomer's point of view  this is not a problem, as they are merely observing from Earth and can fix their calculations when they get new data... no harm done... just reprint the maps.

BUT from a spaceship pilot point of view...touring just within our own galaxy... the problems are enormous.

From a navigator's point of view, we can leave out the "wobble" and the Earth's rotation as those movements are "in place". For later calculations we could also leave out the Earth orbiting the Sun, because if we can make it back to the Sun, I am sure we can locate Earth.

So our "armchair Astronaut" is now moving through 6 different directions and a combined speed of approximately 574,585 MPH

  69,361 MPH Spin and Orbit
  43,200 MPH Towards Lambda Herculis
  15,624 MPH Perpendicular to Galactic Plane
446,400 MPH Orbiting the Galactic Center {or Galactic Spin Rate}
-------------------
574,585 MPH Speed of Earth within Our Galaxy

So for every hour you are away from the solar system, your planet is moving half a million miles, and in several directions...

Now if you want to leave the galaxy add another 1,339,200 MPH to the calculations. This is the speed the galaxy is moving through the universe. But THEN you really get into difficulties pin pointing you reference point. Details can be found here...

So you see... the propulsion unit is the least of your worries...

You better have a REALLY GOOD NAVIGATOR.

This paper actually was requested by two universities

https://www.thelivingmoon.com/41pegasus/02files/Speed_of_Earth.html

[zorgon]

WHY is it so hard to find signals from other inhabited planets?

So here is the problem with finding signals from another planet. That WOW signal was a short random blip... 



WOW Signal

We first have to find WHERE in the sky it came from... but by the time we do that the originating planet has MOVED and so has the EARTH...  by the large numbers shown above. And we HAVE NO CLUE as to the speed and directions the originating world is moving.  Trying to relocate and lock on to that signal is pretty much impossible.

And then there is the time factor. We don't know when that signal was transmitted. If it came from a planet 100 LY away, that signal left that world 100 years ago and that world is so far gone from its original location we will never find it again considering we have no idea which direction to look.

Oh and about that vector calculation thing? ...
Forget it I have a headache! ...
Go ask a rocket scientist! ...
 

[zorgon]

VGER

Voyager 1 Leaves the Solar System, and 'Star Trek' Says It May Try to Kill Us in 260 Years



The unmanned Voyager 1 and 2 probes were launched in 1977 on a mission to visit all the outer planets of the solar system. Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977, about two weeks after its twin, Voyager 2.

Voyager 1 Crossed the Outer Boundary of the solar system Sep 12, 2013





Both spacecraft are still communicating  Details HERE: [img=https://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov]http://NASA VOYAGER[/img]

[ArMaP]

We invented radio just over 100 years ago... only in the last 50-60 years was it strong enough to be anything more than background noise outside the solar system... that means any aliens at the 50 LY mark are only now watching us fight WW 2 and Hitler. Beyond that no one has heard us yet

50 years ago it was 1969, 60 years ago 1959.

WW 2 ended in 1945, almost 74 years ago.

[zorgon]

Mantooth Bear Light and radio waves aren't the same at all, and don't travel (or emit) for the same distance. SETI is listening for radio waves from outside the solar system when they normally wouldn't get past the sun's heliosphere around the outer planets and Ort Cloud. This solar shield protects the planets from the intergalactic radiation and winds, and its unlikely that Earth's radio transmission reach past that point.

Ron Schmidt

Light and radio ARE the same just different frequencies on the EM band, but both travel the same speed in a vacuum. While a LASER can be sharply focused into a tight beam (thus being able to go further before the signal deteriorates, radio waves tend to be spread out... What you are referring to is the MODULATION. This is the wave that is added to the basic radio wave (carrier wave) that carried the sound information. And that modulation breaks down relatively fast So I tend to agree with you that the modulation may not make it past the barrier If that is TRUE, then NO ONE has heard us yet. And SETI seeking ET looking for radio signals is a total waste of time and money . They SHOULD be looking for ship to ship communication in Earth's LEO considering how many Aliens are buzzing around Any space traveling race would long ago have had to replace radio with something else.

However we DID try to use the big dish at Aricebo to send a focused high power radio signal to the Gliese 581 system a few years back. It was called "HELLO FROM EARTH" The website is already down but it is on the wayback machine. The Gliese 581 system is 20.5 Light years form us The signal will get there in 10 yrs 305 days 23 hrs 58 min 12 sec from now

https://web.archive.org/.../gliese581d/links/index.htm

For those who do not know it Gliese 581D is an earth like planet in the habitable zone. 28,000 message included.

The top message is: "Hello Gliese 581d inhabitant. Can you help us humans travel through space and become smart like you. Please do not eat us we are a friendly race.
Angus Pigott, Canberra, Australia"

Below is the Gleise System compared to ours



From this MIT article we get another system:

By using a 1-megawatt laser, and putting it through a 45-meter telescope, we could then produce a signal that is powerful enough to be intercepted by anyone inhabiting the Trappist-1 system, located 40 light years away from Earth.

[zorgon]

50 years ago it was 1969, 60 years ago 1959.

Tempus Fugit   I am certain most people here are smart enough to realize I am currently copy/pasting older articles...

Besides we have YOU to make such corrections