BRITAIN LENDS AMERICA AN EAR IN THE HUNT FOR 'ALIEN LIFE'

Mon, 12 Aug 1996
Source: The Times (UK)
BY ANJANA AHUJA

BRITAIN is about to join the United States in the hunt for alien life. Scientists at Jodrell Bank, site of the country's largest radio telescope, are holding talks with the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute in California, which wants to search the skies above Britain for alien radio signals.

The collaboration will widen the net in the hunt for other civilisations, which has been given added impetus by the evidence last week that primitive life may have existed on Mars.

Professor Frank Drake, president of the SETI Institute at Mountain View, near San Francisco, said: "British scientists have always been rath er conservative in their views about extraterrestrial life but they have a brilliant record in radio astronomy, so we are thrilled at the prospect of doing something together."

He said that SETI researchers would visit Jodrell Bank, in Cheshire, over several months to make observations with the 76-metre Lovell radio telescope.

The incoming signals would be analysed to filter out Earth-based noise, such as from mobile telephones and microwave ovens.

Andrew Lyne, Professor of Astronomy at Manchester University, which operates the telescope, confirmed that negotiations were under way. The project would be likely to take place within the next two years, before a possible upgrade of the telescope in 1998. "We would provide the telescope and sensitive receivers, and the SETI Institute would provide the expertise to look at the signals," Professor Lyne said.

A joint project was mooted ten years ago but, because the technology was relatively basic, it was almost impossible to distinguish signals from terrestrial noise: "Now scientists can sort the wheat from the chaff," he said.

Professor Lyne agreed that the news about Mars last week had stirred interest in such projects: "Our raison d'etre is to further research into the universe as a whole and the question of other civilisations is of great public interest. Now, possibly, the time is right."

Nasa first proposed the idea of combing space for alien signals in the 1970s. The greatest hope of a breakthrough came in 1977, when a mysterious signal was detected by scientists at Ohio State University. It was nicknamed the "Wow" signal after an excited researcher scribbled the exclamation on a printout. The signal was never detected again nor explained satisfactorily, although scientists are sure it was of intelligent origin.

Three years ago budget pressure led the United States Congress to withdraw funding from the search for alien life. The SETI Institute was set up as a distinct organisation with similar aims in 1984 and is financed by private donations.

As well as being president of the SETI Institute, Professor Drake holds a chair in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1960 he became the first astronomer to scan the skies for extraterrestrial signals.

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