Beyond Contact

In the early 1960s, Frank Drake, a young astronomer with the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Green Bank, West Virginia, developed what is now known as the "Drake Equation" in an effort to determine how many intelligent, communicative civilizations our galaxy could harbor. For forty years, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has combed the skies in search of signals from star systems within the galaxy. In Beyond Contact: The Alien Communication Handbook, author Brian McConnell goes behind the scenes and examines what goes into the search for intelligent life.

SETI is a four-step process. First we have to know where to look; then we must be able to send and receive signals to that star system. Once signals arrive, scientists then need to be able to interpret those signals into something that can be understood. And although we haven't yet received any signals (except for our own Earth-based transmissions), we'll eventually have to figure out a protocol for responding.

Beyond Contact introduces readers to:

• The history of SETI research, including the early searches of Project Ozma, traditional radio astronomy, the search for intelligence in optical wavelengths (known as Optical SETI, or OSETI), and the SETI@home project.
• An overview of the Drake Equation and the Rare Earth Hypothesis, which scientists use to estimate the number of planets in our galaxy that could harbor intelligent, communicative life forms.
• How signals are sent and received over interstellar distances. The author explains the principles of signal and image processing, and how SETI researchers identify and process analog signals using Fourier transforms to see how the power in a signal is distributed across different frequencies.
• How to build a general-purpose symbolic language for sending signals, and even computer programs, with present-day SETI equipment. The ability to transmit computer programs enables us to let another civilization know about our knowledge and technological capabilities.

The author also shows how SETI research--though often thought to be a mere flight of fancy--has spawned technological improvements in astronomy, computers, and wireless communications.

Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Worlds sidesteps the "little green men" approach to take a hard, realistic look at the technologies behind the search for intelligent life in our universe.

Contents

1: SETI for Everyone

2: Listening to the Stars

3: The Drake Equation

4: Evolution

5: Communicative Civilizations

Part II: Getting a Dial Tone

6: Radio Communication

7: Lightwave (Laser) Communication

8: Signal Processing and Confirmation

9: Bringing SETI Home

10: Teleporting Bits

Part III: Communicating With Other Worlds

11: CETI-Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence

12: Binary DNA

13: Symbols

14: Memory and Programming

15: Concepts and igenes

16: Sequencing the Binary Genome

17: Pictures

18: Simulations

19: Abstract Symbols and Language

20: Semantic Networks

21: Content

22: Epilogue

Part IV: Appendix

A: Message Replication

B: SETI Resources on the Internet

C: SETI Program Timeline

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Acknowledgments

How to Contact Us

Index