I think this article makes SETI scientists out to be rather conspiratorial against interstellar travel. If they are I think it is much more subtle than this article implies. I definitely don't think it would apply to the majority of them. Certainly, if we fully developed known technologies we could have a robotic craft capable of achieving at least 0.1 to 0.2 C that could be launched by the end of the century. Manned interstellar travel - would of course be several orders of magnitude more difficult. Assuming survival of the species, I think robotic exploration of the local set of stars is inevitable. If fact, in some small way we've already started it with Voyager and Pioneer. I was also curious about the drawing of the Allen Radio Telescope Array used in the article. All the other pictures that I've seen of it show the feed horns in more of an "off axis" configuration. I wonder if there has been a design change? Clear & dark skies, Dale.
-----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy- bounces+dale.hooper=sdl.usu.edu@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Wiggins Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 2:00 AM To: utah astronomy listserve Subject: [Utah-astronomy] SETI politics
SETI politics
by Gregory Anderson
Tuesday, September 6, 2005
SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has a fundamentally fascinating hypothesis.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/444/1
Patrick