Photonics advances allow us to be seen across the universe, with major implications for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, says UC Santa Barbara physicist Philip Lubin
Looking up at the night sky — expansive and seemingly endless, stars and constellations blinking and glimmering like jewels just out of reach — it’s impossible not to wonder: Are we alone?
For many of us, the notion of intelligent life on other planets is as captivating as ideas come. Maybe in some other star system, maybe a billion light years away, there’s a civilization like ours asking the exact same question.
Imagine if we sent up a visible signal that could eventually be seen across the entire universe. Imagine if another civilization did the same.
The technology now exists to enable exactly that scenario, according to UC Santa Barbara physics professor Philip Lubin, whose new work applies his research and advances in directed-energy systems to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). His recent paper “The Search for Directed Intelligence” appears in the journal REACH – Reviews in Human Space Exploration.
“If even one other civilization existed in our galaxy and had a similar or more advanced level of directed-energy technology, we could detect ‘them’ anywhere in our galaxy with a very modest detection approach,” said Lubin, who leads the UCSB Experimental Cosmology Group. “If we scale it up as we’re doing with direct energy systems, how far could we detect a civilization equivalent to ours? The answer becomes that the entire universe is now open to us.
“Similar to the use of directed energy for relativistic interstellar probes and planetary defense that we have been developing, take that same technology and ask yourself, ‘What are consequences of that technology in terms of us being detectable by another ‘us’ in some other part of the universe?’” Lubin added. “Could we see each other? Can we behave as a lighthouse, or a beacon, and project our presence to some other civilization somewhere else in the universe? The profound consequences are, of course, ‘Where are they?’ Perhaps they are shy like us and do not want to be seen, or they don’t transmit in a way we can detect, or perhaps ‘they’ do not exist.”
The same directed energy technology is at the core of Lubin’s recent efforts to develop miniscule, laser-powered interstellar spacecraft. That work, funded since 2015 by NASA (and just selected by the space agency for “Phase II” support) is the technology behind billionaire Yuri Milner’s newsmaking, $100-million Breakthrough Starshot initiative announced April 12.
Lubin is a scientific advisor on Starshot, which is using his NASA research as a roadmap as it seeks to send tiny spacecraft to nearby star systems.
In describing directed energy, Lubin likened the process to using the force of water from a garden hose to push a ball forward. Using a laser light, spacecraft can be pushed and steered in much the same way. Applied to SETI, he said, the directed energy system could be deployed to send a targeted signal to other planetary systems.
“In our paper, we propose a search strategy that will observe nearly 100 billion planets, allowing us to test our hypothesis that other similarly or more advanced civilizations with this same broadcast capability exist,” Lubin said.
“As a species we are evolving rapidly in photonics, the production and manipulation of light,” he explained. “Our recent paper explores the hypothesis: We now have the ability to produce light extremely efficiently, and perhaps other species might also have that ability. And if so, then what would be the implications of that? This paper explores the ‘if so, then what?’”
Traditionally and still, Lubin said, the “mainstay of the SETI community” has been to conduct searches via radio waves. Think Jodie Foster in “Contact,” receiving an extraterrestrial signal by way of a massive and powerful radio telescope. With Lubin’s UCSB-developed photonics approach, however, making “contact” could be much simpler: Take the right pictures and see if any distant systems are beaconing us.
“All discussions of SETI have to have a significant level of, maybe not humor, but at least hubris as to what makes reason and what doesn’t,” Lubin said. “Maybe we are alone in terms of our technological capability. Maybe all that’s out there is bacteria or viruses. We have no idea because we’ve never found life outside of our Earth.
“But suppose there is a civilization like ours and suppose — unlike us, who are skittish about broadcasting our presence — they think it’s important to be a beacon, an interstellar or extragalactic lighthouse of sorts,” he added.
“There is a photonics revolution going on on Earth that enables this specific kind of transmission of information via visible or near-infrared light of high intensity. And you don’t need a large telescope to begin these searches. You could detect a presence like our current civilization anywhere in our galaxy, where there are 100 billion possible planets, with something in your backyard. Put in context, and we would love to have people really think about this: You can literally go out with your camera from Costco, take pictures of the sky, and if you knew what you were doing you could mount a SETI search in your backyard. The lighthouse is that bright.”
The Latest on: Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
[google_news title=”” keyword=”Search for extraterrestrial intelligence” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
- SETI Scientist Says Announcement of Alien Life Could Be Imminenton April 25, 2024 at 12:37 pm
Webby Awards One of the world's foremost experts in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) believes that with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, humans are closer to discovering ...
- Where Is Everybody in Our Universe?on April 25, 2024 at 9:02 am
In Exoplanets, astronomer Michael Summers and physicist James Trefil explore remarkable recent discoveries: planets revolving around pulsars, planets made of diamond, planets that are mostly water, ...
- During the solar system's chaotic era, Jupiter may have helped form Earth's moonon April 25, 2024 at 5:01 am
The great planetary instability coincides with the collision that formed Earth's moon — could the two events be linked?
- Forget green: Purple may be key to finding planets capable of hosting alien life, study sayson April 22, 2024 at 12:03 pm
Purple bacteria that thrive in low-energy red or infrared light with a simpler method of photosynthesis could cover another planet, a new study says.
- SETI Institute Claims They've Successfully Communicated With a Whaleon April 16, 2024 at 1:31 pm
Speaking Whale A team of scientists from the SETI Institute, which is devoted to the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, claims to have had a "conversation" with a humpback whale in Alaska. And ...
- Scientists have a ‘conversation’ with a humpback whale —which they hope will help mankind communicate with alienson April 15, 2024 at 9:31 am
Whales are a proxy for aliens,” animal behaviorist Dr. Josie Hubbard tells the Post. “The things we learn from communicating with whales could help us when it comes time to ...
- A Harvard professor is risking his reputation to search for aliens. Tech tycoons are bankrolling his quest.on April 8, 2024 at 2:46 am
Avi Loeb thinks the public has a right to know the truth about UFOs. He hopes his controversial ideas backed by tech tycoons will help shed light.
- Europe's upcoming Mars rover now has a detailed map to aid its search for ancient Red Planet life (video)on March 29, 2024 at 5:00 am
The genesis of the map was actually a COVID-lockdown project, with 80 trained volunteers characterizing 134 discrete locations each a square kilometer in area based on data from Europe's ExoMars Trace ...
- SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Board Game Revealedon March 28, 2024 at 12:13 pm
SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the ...
- 'Are we alone?':If extraterrestrials are out there, $200 million gift should help SETI find themon November 15, 2023 at 5:48 am
Researchers at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute have spent decades scanning the cosmos for any sign proving that humanity is not alone. Considering the unfathomable ...
via Bing News