75 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
75 lines
4.6 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: SETI OPTICAL SEARCH BEST ? FILE: UFO1002
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PART 2
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SETI 2
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Last year, OE REPORTS had an interview with Dr. Monte Ross of Laser
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Data Technology Inc., in which he described his thoughts about the
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search for extraterrestrial intelligence in the optical spectrum. At
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that time, I was unaware of Dr. Ross's work. Last January, I had just
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published electronically on Internet a very long paper on the subject
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in this Electronic Journal. This was the six-part article in THE
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ELECTRONIC JOURNAL OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF THE ATLANTIC (EJASA,
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Vol. 3, No. 6A-6F).
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As a result of my electronic paper, during the summer I was asked
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by Dr. David L. Begley of Ball Aerospace Systems Group to organize a
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special session on Optical SETI (OSETI) for SPIE as part of the OE/LASE
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'93 symposium. David Begley is the previous chairman of the Free-Space
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Laser Communications conferences. The Optical SETI event was originally
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planned to be a single session in SPIE's Free-Space Laser Communication
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Technologies V conference, chaired by Dr. Stephen Mecherle of TRW, Inc.
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Even though summer was a difficult time to start organizing a
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conference, I was able to get so many papers at short notice that the
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single session was extended into a dedicated conference with three
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sessions and a separate published proceedings. The latter will be
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available as SPIE Volume 1867 after the conference and will constitute
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the first publication on this subject. The conference will be held
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on January 21-22, 1993 at the Los Angeles Airport Hilton Hotel and
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immediately follows the Free-Space Laser Communication Technologies V
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conference. The Optical SETI conference cochair will be Monte Ross.
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This event is effectively, though unofficially, the First International
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Conference on Optical SETI.
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This SETI event will be of particular interest to laser communi-
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cations scientists and engineers. It presents the opportunity to help
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resolve the dichotomy within NASA that while lasers are fine for GEO
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to GEO, GEO to LEO, deep space, and interstellar communications, ETIs
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would not use such technology to signal emerging technical civilizations
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(us). The first session will bring the laser communications community
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up to speed on microwave (conventional) SETI and general SETI related
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matters. The second and third sessions are specifically devoted to
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optical SETI topics. Many shades of opinion are included.
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We are fortunate in being able to have Arthur C. Clarke kick off
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this conference from his home in Sri Lanka. This will be a videotaped
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address. These days, Clarke's health precludes extensive traveling. We
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are also investigating the possibility that NASA Select TV could cover
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the entire conference on a live or tape-delayed basis. If you cannot
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attend this conference but would like to see it transmitted by NASA
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Select, write to SPIE and NASA Headquarters requesting this coverage.
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The more people lobby for this, the more likely is the cooperation of
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the concerned parties. For those with a TVRO (TeleVision Receive Only)
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satellite dish, NASA Select TV is available on Satcom F2R (72 W),
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Transponder 13.
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Among the 16 papers scheduled: Dr. David Brocker, who heads NASA's
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High Resolution Microwave Survey, will give the keynote paper on NASA's
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search for evidence of extraterrestrial technologies (Dr. Peter Backus
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will now be presenting this paper). Drs. David Latham and David
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Soderblom will discuss the strategies for the SETI star targeting
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survey and Drs. Michael Klein and Samuel Gulkis from JPL will describe
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the high-resolution all-sky survey. The "Grand Old Man" of SETI,
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Dr. Bernard M. Oliver, who is extremely critical of the optical
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approach, will demonstrate for the first time to the laser communi-
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cations community why ETIs would not use lasers for SETI interstellar
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communications. Professor Frank Tipler, a strong critic of SETI, will
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explain why both microwave and optical SETI is a waste of time, since
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he thinks that we are the first civilization in the Milky Way galaxy.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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