Feasability of Cosmic Communication Beacon Using Pulsars

Ok, been reading a space/scifi/"alien contact" novel of late; it's entitled "The Hercules Text". I believe this book has been around for some time, and may have been re-released not long ago to update social and scientific plot elements to match more modern world events.

The story thus far is kind of "meh". I've read/seen films numbering no less than 5-6 on the same plot theme, and so far I don't think anyone has written this story any better than Mr. Sagan did.

Anyhow, without spoiling too much of the plot, the ETs in this book are able to alert us Earthlings of their presence by manipulating a pulsar to act as a beacon/signal mechanism, This got me thinking about the plausibility of this actually being anything remotely capable in real life.

Now actually physically moving/disrupting the processes of a pulsar are just so completely inconceivable that IMO it doesn't warrant any discussion, BUT...if someone were able to construct an apparatus similar to a Dyson sphere, NOT TO COLLECT ENERGY from the pulsar, but simply to block out the burst of energy that the pulsars emit (from their poles IIUC), it just might be feasible. Considerations:

- would need some material or construct that could not get obliterated by X-ray and other intense radiation emitted by pulsar (giant solar mirror?)
- would need to set up this mechanism very precisely, and A LONG way away from the pulsar, to avoid gravitational influence, absorbing too much radiation, and also having enough size to completely occlude the radiation streams generated by the pulsar
- would need amazing timing and mechanical or electrical precision to permit blocking/unblocking the pulsar beam at arbitrary short intervals, e.g. for transmitting a Morse code like signal

Obviously way way beyond what we're capable of, hell we can't even /travel/ out of our back yard let alone approach any pulsars. Nevertheless I thought this was kind of a novel and interesting concept.

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

If I remember correctly from Astronomy class way back in college, Scientists do something similar with satellites; not for communication but for observation. I asked my professor if there is a way to use rocky planets to "bounce" light so that Astronomers could see the hard to see places in Space. He told me that they already do that. So, if Astronomers figured out a way to do that then I'm almost sure that someone has figured out a way to do what you suggest.

The idea sounds good but if your tech is that advanced surely you would just pop over in a ship rather than mess around a lot and have the hope that someone is watching that pulsar 24x7 and recording it and more importantly is able to spot that there is an embeded signal in there and decode it.

Such communications would still be at the speed of light so would take years to reach us and any signal reaching us now probably would of been aimed at the dinosaurs.

a reply to: lostbook
Remembered an article I read in a magazine waiting in hospital. Quick google search came up with this, just they did it with license plates.

www.osapublishing.org...

originally posted by: lostbook
a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

If I remember correctly from Astronomy class way back in college, Scientists do something similar with satellites; not for communication but for observation. I asked my professor if there is a way to use rocky planets to "bounce" light so that Astronomers could see the hard to see places in Space. He told me that they already do that. So, if Astronomers figured out a way to do that then I'm almost sure that someone has figured out a way to do what you suggest.

Interesting thought, but this concept isn't actually about bouncing/redirecting light; it's about blocking the light source temporarily, encoding some type of message using the "on/off" effect of the pulsar beam.

After more thought, towing a group of asteroids into position and figuring out how to orchestrate their movement as almost a "lamp hood" was my low-tech idea for achieving this.

originally posted by: Maxatoria
The idea sounds good but if your tech is that advanced surely you would just pop over in a ship rather than mess around a lot and have the hope that someone is watching that pulsar 24x7 and recording it and more importantly is able to spot that there is an embeded signal in there and decode it.

Such communications would still be at the speed of light so would take years to reach us and any signal reaching us now probably would of been aimed at the dinosaurs.

Well now, you are presuming that FTL technology is a thing, and we can achieve it. If Bob Lazar is being honest, and I'm inclined to believe he is, then yeah it'd be much more efficient to warp-space on over to whomever you'd like to chat with. That said, we don't have tangible, concrete proof that FTL propulsion exists and can be done.

I agree with your other points, the pulsar beams are still bound be the laws of physics, not only are they constrained by C but the visibility cone of a pulsar is very very small, so this is not something you could point in an arbitrary direction and signal away. It'd be more of a message in a bottle type of deal, where you send your signal. not aware who would be aligned to receive your data.

The speed of light is so impossibly slow when you are considering inter-galactic communications.

originally posted by: tkwasny
The speed of light is so impossibly slow when you are considering inter-galactic communications.

For humans maybe. An immortal life form wouldn't have any issues waiting 20-30 mil years for a reply.

a reply to: moebius

Don't know about that, waiting more than a couple of minutes in a cue feels like a million plus years! We have to be able to bend space time not muck around with light speed communication, too slow.

For the sake of argument, consider the resources required to occlude a pulsar. Also assuming that FTL is impossible.
What would their motive be to expend such energy for a chance encounter ?

a reply to: SleeperHasAwakened

Pulsars can make black holes seem tame by comparison as to some respects to what they do.

On the Kardashev scale that's going to require at least the technology and resources of a Type III civilization to be manipulation those things.

I mean if you get that one wrong and it somehow spits out strange quark matter is apt to be the end of the universe.

a reply to: tkwasny

That's where quantum entanglement and spooky action at a distance will come into play i imagine.