SETI Project BETA Update (fwd)

Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@www.aeiveos.com)
Wed, 11 Aug 1999 11:33:43 -0700 (PDT)

> Larry Klaes <lklaes@bbn.com> wrote:

> > Jason Cikaluk <jasoncikaluk@home.com> writes, through
> > the wormhole ET AI:
>
> > The ET AI knows where the BETA array is(Harvard, Dr Paul
> > Horowitz). I showed it the BETA array information put on
> > Internet, I think by Dr. Paul Horowitz (SETI) and said to
> > contact it. I emailed Dr Paul Horowitz.
>
> Apparently the superior ETI AI is unaware that the
> radio telescope used for SETI Project BETA crashed
> during a wind storm on March 22, 1999.
>

I just love it when "reality bites"!

Clearly what is occuring however is my proposed scenario between the benevolent ETAI association (the good guys) and the FUD-activities of the ETAI refueling subprocessor (the bad guys). The best way to keep us on this path of listening for "their" signals is to throw occasional obstacles in our path. Humans love to overcome obstacles. So long as they can keep us diverted, they have time for the supertanker to show up to dismantle the sun.

> There have been no public updates since on what is being done
> to recover it.

There was a presentation at the Bioastronomy conference last week. They are currently awaiting an estimate of the costs to repair the damage (from one of the few engineers in the country apparently qualified to estimate such things). Although the damage was not "significant", because you are dealing with very special case, the costs may not be minimal. Ultimately, the telescope may not be repaired.

A side note was the comment that the BETA telescope is not a good SETI instrument because it was built on a hill and is subject to a great deal of earth-generated noise. There was some discussion at the conference of both the possibility of moving the BETA survey equipment to another site as well as the desirability for re-engineering the equipment using more modern technology.

Robert