MIT Not so smart: wants to attract ETs with laser beams
MIT Not so smart: wants to attract ETs with laser beams
"If we had to successfully close a handshake and start communicating, we could send a message, at a data rate of a few hundred bits per second, that would come in a few years."
And in a few years later? Will a band of hungry aliens, prospectors and conquerors with weapons, exercises and cookbooks ready to conquer our planet ... after thanking MIT for informing them that we are here? That is a scenario that could happen if a project of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology goes from being a drawing board to reality. Do we really want to send a bat signal for what could be real hitters? What else could go wrong?
"The types of lasers and telescopes that are being built today can produce a detectable signal, so that an astronomer could take a look at our star and immediately see something unusual in its spectrum. I do not know if the intelligent creatures around the sun would be their first guess, but they would certainly attract more attention. "
That is the proposal of James Clark, a graduate student in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of MIT and author of the study, "Optical detection of lasers with short-term technology in interstellar distances", published this week in The astrophysical magazine. It even has some objectives in mind for the signal: Proxima Centauri b, the exoplanet that orbits in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri; and TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool red dwarf star only 40 light-years away, which has seven temperate planets capable of harboring life forms that may have evolved into astronomers who might be exploring the skies for intermittent signals of " Come and find us! " In fact, the beam that James has in mind could be captured by ET astronomers who perform even brief scans of the Milky Way.
Art print of Proxima Centauri b
As his final project for MIT class 16.343 (spacecraft, and aviation instruments and sensors), James proposes to pair a conventional infrared laser with a large telescope whose mirror would be used to intensify the beam up to ten times the infrared brightness of the sun. Identifying it as something out of the ordinary. At MIT press release, he speculates that either a 2-megawatt laser pointed through a 30-meter telescope or a 1-megawatt laser reflected by a 45-meter telescope could be seen by the TRAPPIST-1 or Proxima Centauri planets. Existing equipment that could meet it would include the United States Air Force's Airborne Laser (designed to shoot down ballistic missiles) and, while it is still under construction, the 24-meter Giant Magellan Telescope and the 39-meter Extremely Large European Telescope at Chile.
What could go wrong? One thing I may not have considered is that a beam of this type would be extremely dangerous to those who work and live around it.
"A beam of this type would produce a flow density of approximately 800 watts of power per square meter, which approximates that of the sun, which generates about 1,300 watts per square meter. While the beam would not be visible, it could damage people's vision if they looked at it directly. The beam could also potentially encode any camera aboard a spacecraft that passes through it. "
No problem, says James. Just build it on the dark side of the Moon. That would put it in a place where it can not hurt any human or its spaceships and would make Pink Floyd very happy.
If we can send this signal to the ETs, can we see if they return one? Not yet, says James. Current imaging technology would require a telescope to be aimed directly at the beam source when it is sent.
Then, you can see us with your superior technology, which could also be used for spacecraft, but we can not see them. What could go wrong?
"Whether or not this is a good idea is a discussion for future work."
Does MIT have a class on that?
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