Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Billingham, John.
Various aspects of project SETI are discussed. Some of the topics discussed include spectrum analyzers, signal processing, sky surveys, radiotelescopes, high resolution microwave survey, Deep Space Network, and signal detection.
The paper presents a broad range of issues that raise important questions about the search for exterrestrial life forms or intelligence. The history of the concept of plurality of inhabited worlds is reviewed, and disciplinary areas are cited that are considered crucial for SETI. Such issues involve analogs of the discovery of ETI, immediate responses to such detections, and the significance of journalistic and media response. The responses of religion is also considered, and it is suggested that humankind respond to the discovery of ETI with a single voice and message. The issues discussed demonstrate the need for explicit protocols that would be followed after any discovery of the types discussed.
The question of the formulation of a proper response to the detection of an extraterrestrial civilization is considered. It is proposed that an international agreement or declaration of principles establishing procedures enabling international participation in the making of such decisions be developed and that the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Aeronautics, in cooperation with other interested bodies, draft an agreement or declaration of principles that would set up these procedures; and that the draft be presented to the United Nations for consideration through the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. A suggested outline of the agreement or declaration is presented and proposes that a response to the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence should be on behalf of all humankind; that this decision should be made by an appropriately representative international body; and that the content of the reply should reflect an international consensus.
The maximum range is calculated at which radar signals from the earth could be detected by a search system similar to the NASA SETI Microwave Observing Project (SETI MOP) assumed to be operating out in the Galaxy. Figures are calculated for the Targeted Search and for the Sky Survey parts of the MOP, both planned to be operating in the 1990s. The probability of detection is calculated for the two most powerful transmitters, the planetary radar at Arecibo (Puerto Rico) and the ballistic missile early warning systems (BMEWSs), assuming that the terrestrial radars are only in the eavesdropping mode. It was found that, for the case of a single transmitter within the maximum range, the highest probability is for the sky survey detecting BMEWSs; this is directly proportional to BMEWS sky coverage and is therefore 0.25.
There are major unresolved questions about changes in physiology of the crews of future zero-gravity manned Mars mission vehicles. This paper summarizes the changes induced by long duration weightlessness in different body systems, and emphasizes the need for further research into these changes using animal and human subjects in space and in ground-based simulations. If the changes are shown not to be acceptable, it will be necessary to provide artificial gravity for the crew. Artificial gravity itself produces some physiological problems, and these also require extensive study. Both lines of research must be pursued with some urgency so that the major decision to have or not to have artificial gravity can be made on the basis of adequate information.
In considering the probabilities that intelligent life might exist elsewhere in the Universe, it is important to ask questions about the factors governing the emergence of complex living organisms in the context of evolutionary biology, planetary environments and events in space. Two important problems arise. First, what can be learned about the general laws governing the evolution of complex life anywhere in space by studying its history on the Earth? Second, how is the evolution of complex life affected by events in space? To address these problems, a series of Science Workshops on the Evolution of Complex Life was held at the Ames Research Center. Included in this paper are highlights of those workshops, with particular emphasis on the first question, namely the evolution of complex extraterrestrial life.
A bibliography of reports concerning the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence is presented. Cosmic evolution, space communication, and technological advances are discussed along with search strategies and search systems.