SETI

First off, I feel SETI is more important than many realize. I would go as far as saying that it may very well be the single most important undertaking mankind has going. It very well could be all our fates are entwined with SETI, After so much history and so much time of man trying and failing to unite man, I have come to believe the only thing that can accomplish this is positive evidence of life being found.
SETI and observatories in general, in my opinion, no matter how grand they are and no matter how big they are, are still just the most powerful eye on the planet....with a cataract.

I spent some time going all around the web, asking questions to people all over the world and a picture started getting painted to me.
When I asked people if they would donate money to build a telescope on the moon. The overall replay was that there are enough telescopes.
In time the question evolved to," Would you donate to put a school on the moon?"
For this people responded very positively. So for something like The Carl Sagan Lunar University of Astronomy and Physics, people all around the world would help finance.

My intention is to convince you that it is feasible to remove the cataract from the eye of SETI, and in the process tackle some of the biggest problems we face moving ahead. But only if conditions exist that we allow ourselves to do it as people not nations.
(NEXT)

Id rather put a telescope in orbit around the sun. Similar orbit to earth, just entirely outside of earth

Doesnt the moon have a limoted atmosphere?

Hubble doesnt have a cataract. But its only one scope.

reply to post by ronnieray123


As a member of the Planetary Society I also hope that more people would realize how important this is. And SETI is not just a search for aliens but real science. Some of their findings may help to make your live better. Maybe we learn something about hydrogen that enables us to build better cars or we might learn something about optics (Optical Seti is one of the projects I donated for) that enabled us to build the next Blueray disc

If every ATS member would just spend a few dollar for such a project the world would be a better place. Everyone always complain about TPTB hiding their knowledge but if there is a possibility to sponsor a privat (not owned by TPTB) telescope they even can't afford this $1. So please don't complain about TPTB but help building/fixing or own telescopes.

reply to post by ronnieray123


We have a very bad problem right now that should scare a lot more people than it does. There are not enough young people going into the sciences. To me it is the obvious response to a promise broken, and could be changed overnight with one speech. As of yet no one has the ability to make this speech.
In 1968 when man landed on the moon people thought "Well here we go," and the dreams of space began. We had the Carl Sagan's appear, the Stephan Hawkings and so many many others. By about 1974 it became very obvious that those promises made to a generation of young people were about as empty as space itself. So instead of dreaming of the moon, they dreamed of boardrooms, banks and Wallstreet.

For the sake of our kids we have to do something to reignite that dream, and to fulfill for them the promise that was made to us those decades ago. We can not wait for government to remedy this for us, for they will surely fail. We must do it ourselves.

Next I will layout how we can do this.
(Next)

There are businesses right now that are making plans to use the moon for everything from mining to military, if we at citizens do not do something to intercede this will become reality. A reality that I do not desire to see come to fruition.
The only way that I can see to nudge this business model into something more beneficial to all is for the establishment of a charity. A charity to fund the construction of a lunar based university.
With enough funds to be taken seriously, these businesses would be eager to become the logistical support needed to deliver cargo and supplies to a lunar based school.
If such a charity did exist and students knew there was a real opportunity to spend a semester on the moon, you would surely see our young people flock to the different branches of science and the promise made to us all those years ago could finally be fulfilled.

I ask all of you now to picture this scenario, because this above all else convinces me that people from all over the world would be very generous.

Imagine taking your child or grandchild into the back yard, pointing a telescope at the moon and saying," See those lights? That's a school and if you study really hard you just might be able to go to school there".
Is that worth $5 to you? $10 ?? maybe even $20.
(NEXT)

As I said earlier, I spent a lot of time gathering data. What I came away with is that the average person would gladly help fund such an endeavor, IF.
If the two brightest students that a nation has to offer are allowed to attend a semester there, people will get behind the idea on a global scale.
The question is how much money can realistically be raised. Well, if no charity is created the answer is zero. It has become my opinion that there is a portion of the population whose numbers tell me that they alone have the resources to finance this school and that anyone else who donated is just a welcome bonus.

66% of the people believe life is out there
10% of the people believe they have seen a UFO. This 10% alone is enough to build such a school and I will tell you why they would do it.......Fear.
When I asked people who believe in UFOs they felt very strongly that anything other than a place of higher learning as mans first lunar outpost would send the wrong message to our alien visitors. Their numbers alone have the ability to pay for the construction costs and they would be eager to help. If the 66% were able to donate just $1 that becomes a staggering amount of money.
Now take those donations and place them in the hands of a skilled investor and you have the means to not only build a school but also the means to provide for it as well.
We do not need a dollar from everyone on the planet, we need the ability to invest and make that equal out to a dollar for everyone on the planet.

The only time we as a people living together on a planet have been able to come together was when Neil Armstrong made history. For one week we stopped being countrymen and the planet celebrated not because an American walked on the moon, but because a man did. We can relight that candle and keep the flame burning, I know we can.

Someone with the ability to do so needs to start a legitimate 501 charity.
Every resource available to spread the word such as schools, the media and UFO networks such as MUFON needs to get on board.
Companies like SpaceX need to be shown how their businesses could benefit from abandoning mining and embracing delivering supplies and students.

We can make this happen, but only if someone who has the ability to get the ball rolling is willing to do so. DO this and the rest will fall into place and in the end SETI will be able for the first time ever see the universe with eyes not blurred by the cataracts the atmosphere places on them

reply to post by ronnieray123


WOW!!! Awsome Idea, A private University on the moon.. To be honest, The thought never crossed my mind.

I am old enough to remember watching the Apollo missions and watching the moon landing,The 1960's were very turbulant times in the US. But as the OP. stated for a short time most of the world came together and marveled at what we could accomplish, Not the US. But we, as humans.. It is such a shame that "feeling" was so fleeting.

When the challenge was put forth to send a man to the moon, it was not looked upon as something that the government ordered us to do, At that time most people in the US felt that it was upon us as individuals to help make this happen, we did not fully expect or even think that the government was capable of doing this.

And it wasn't.. there were alot of private industries that had to step in and basically create the hardware and the technology to make the hardware needed, for example, the company that made the 'playtex bra' is the company that designed and made the apollo space suits.. Many private companies contributed to parts and pieces of this endeavor..

My point is, back then we did not have this attitude that the government is supposed to be the one and only entity to take care of everything, it seems to me that only 50 years ago we did not depend, expect, or want as much from our government as we do now. We just knew if we wanted something done, and done properly, we should do at least most of it ourselves..

What you are suggesting is pretty much that.. let us not wait, and depend on any government, or Nation to do this. Let us do this privately as Humankind for the betterment of ourselves and our decendants, Let this be our legacy as Humans, not Nations, So that when generations from now look out the window in the 'Neil Armstrong memorial Astrophysics lab' at earth they can say "This is what we as a species can do when we work together"

reply to post by SideWynder


Exactly Sidewynder, as it sits right now if the children ask us what we have left them, what was our gift to the coming generations, what is the best we can say to them? Well we didn't blow up the world or Well we landed a man on the moon and then proceeded to make fancy gliders called Space Shuttles but got bored with them.

I for one would much prefer to answer that with a finger pointing at the moon and say.....We built you a school.

Think about the excitement each nation would have choosing its 2 students, the excitement the teachers would feel knowing they were going to be teaching the brightest kids the world has to offer......and most importantly for these young people to return home and when asked what did they learn while they were up there respond," I learned that we are just a little blue ball and that Jew, Muslim, Christian is of no consequence ."
Protest are not gonna change the world, wars are not gonna change the world. We have tried this for countless centuries. But teaching 100s of young people a year through experience and not through words, what only a handful of astronauts know in the heart to be true, will change the world in just a few short years.

If I had the money to start the charity I spoke of myself, I would. I know the paperwork involved is not that much money to a lot of people, but it is to me.
If I had this charity I would be calling MUFON and SETI, visiting schools and telling students.
You gotta strike a match before you can start a fire.

The real question in my mind is, How much money does a charity need in the bank before you can walk into the office of SpaceX and say"We need to talk"

reply to post by phroziac


Your thinking optical... (Where a lower orbit is plenty good enough.) But the far side of the moon would be great for radio astronomy. (Which also ties into SETI). It's shielded from all the radio noise on Earth by the Moon itself, and about half of every month it's also shielded from the sun. And there's no ionosphere or weather effects acting as noise sources either. The best part is that a good chunk of radio spectrum that's just too noisy due to reflections on Earth would be opened up to observation. Thus with a lowered noise threshold, it should be possible to detect fainter emission sources and emissions on frequencies not easily observed otherwise.

Oh, i see. Thatd be cool as hell.