BBS in a Box 15/BBS in a box XV-1.iso/Files/Educ/NASA-Space/ExtraTerrestrials.sit/ExtraTerrestrials

Text File | 1992-09-25 | 3.6 KB | 62 lines | [TEXT/ttxt]

Searching for Extraterrestrial Intelligence

SPACELINK NOTE: This is an excerpt from the Fall 1992 Educational Horizons


"Are we alone?" This question has been a focus of philosophical speculation
since humans first contemplated the cosmos.  Within recent decades, it has also
become a topic of legitimate scientific inquiry within the field of exobiology,
the study of the origin, evolution and distribution of life in the universe.
Current knowledge of the origin and nature of life, the process of the
formation of stars and planets, and the evolution of intelligence and
technology leads many scientists to speculate that there are millions of other
potential "life sites" within the Milky Way galaxy.  To test this hypothesis,
NASA will inaugurate the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
Microwave Observing Project (MOP) on October 12, 1992.  The NASA SETI MOP is
the most comprehensive attempt ever undertaken to answer this compelling and
enduring question.

The SETI MOP will employ some of the world's largest and most sensitive radio
telescopes and the advanced radio antennas belonging to NASA's Deep Space
Network. Upon completion of its initial observing period (through 2001), the
SETI MOP will have probed 10 billion times more search space than the sum of
all previous searches, and at frequencies and sensitivities not previously
obtainable.  The project employs two complementary search strategies; a
Targeted Search and a Sky Survey. The very high sensitivity Targeted Search
will use the world's largest radio telescopes and will focus on 800 solar-type
stars within 100 light years of Earth at frequencies between 1 and 3 gigahertz
(GHz).  The Sky Survey will perform a high- resolution search of the entire
celestial sphere, including the 99.9 percent of the sky that the Targeted
Search does not cover, at frequencies from 1 to 10 GHz. The Sky Survey will
employ the 34-meter high efficiency radio antennas of the NASA Deep Space
Network. The NASA Ames Research Center is the lead center for the project and
is in charge of the Targeted Search. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in charge
of developing and implementing the Sky Survey.

The interdisciplinary nature of SETI and the natural enthusiasm children show
for the subject make SETI an exciting avenue to attract and retain student
interest in science and engineering disciplines.  Therefore, the SETI Program
is developing several educational initiatives that are designed to introduce
young students to science, mathematics, and engineering, and to help science
teachers develop innovative classroom materials and become more familiar with
the effective classroom presentation of space science, physics and astronomy;
all to make science "tangible and enjoyable."

Educators at the SETI Institute recently received a 3-year, $700,000 National
Science Foundation award (to which the SETI Program added $300,000) for a
curriculum development project entitled "Life in the Universe--An Exciting
Vehicle for Teaching Integrated Science" to develop cross-disciplinary and
multidisciplinary science curriculum guides for grades 3-9.

Curriculum guides for grades 5, 6 and 8 have been developed and evaluated in
classrooms by interdisciplinary teams of teachers, education specialists, NASA
scientists and support staff.  Each guide is written, tested and revised three
times before publication.  Details of the SETI curriculum project will be
displayed next April at the National Science Teachers Association Convention,
in Kansas City.

The SETI Program is part of NASA's Exobiology Program and is managed by the
Life Sciences Division, Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, DC.