Well, it looks like the search for ET will continue as SETI has finally received enough money to get their dishes rotating again, at least till the end of the year.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence or SETI for short is a program that does just that, searches the skies for ET or evidence of ET. To cut through all the specifics the most widely known method is the use of radio telescopes that search for, you guessed it, radio signals.
You can read more about the program here.

SETI shut down in April of this year due to lack of funding. Now thanks to donations from private citizens the program is operational again.

Is this kind of a tip off of how people feel about ET and UFOs in general? Let me be more specific. There have been times in the past where I’ve been involved with (various sites) board threads and had to talk believers down off the ledge. It is my contention that outside of the few people (and believe me, it’s few) who frequent UFO websites, most are oblivious and/or could care less about what or who may or may not be visiting our planet. It is because of this that things happen, such as the SETI program shutting down for 4 months.

Of course, who can blame people for focusing on other things in life. Kid needs braces, car in the shop, wife nagging, nagging, nagging….*smacks self* Sorry, the fang got stuck on the old tone arm cobra. Anyway, you get the idea. On the other side, sometimes people get so wrapped up in the subjects they hold interest in, they unknowingly project that passion onto the general populous.

The point is that it’s a small UFO world, so don’t be surprised if SETI shuts down again.

E.T., the phone line is open and SETI is waiting for your call. And apparently Jodie Foster, too.

The nonprofit Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, which was forced earlier this year to shutter its Allen Telescope Array, used to listen for alien signals, due to budget issues, has raised enough money to resume the search for life beyond planet Earth.

The institute reached its goal last week of raising $200,000 to operate the telescope through the end of this year. The funds came from over 2,000 private donors, including the actress Jodie Foster, who played fictional SETI scientist Ellie Arroway in the 1997 movie “Contact.”

“Just like Ellie Arroway, the ATA is ‘good to go’ and we need to return it to the task of searching newly discovered planetary worlds for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence,” Foster wrote in a note accompanying her donation. “The Allen Telescope Array could turn science fiction into science fact, but only if it is actively searching the skies.” [10 Wild Attempts to Contact Aliens]

The Allen Telescope Array is SETI’s collection of 42 radio dishes, each 20 feet (6 meters) wide, at Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Northern California. The dishes work together to scan the heavens for signs of an intelligent civilization out there in the cosmos creating non-random signals.

The instrument, named after Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who funded its construction, is the first to be dedicated almost entirely to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

“Its main advantage is that we can use it 24/7,” said SETI senior astronomer Seth Shostak. “In principle it’s always available to us. When you’re using someone else’s antenna you get a certain amount of time on the instrument. That makes for very inefficient observing. I liken it to borrowing a microscope to do cancer research.”

The instrument became operational in 2007, but SETI was forced to shut it down in April 2011 for lack of funds. Now, by raising donations through its online SETIStars program, the institute has enough money to get the array up and running again within a couple months. [5 Bold Claims of Alien Life]

Shostak said it was encouraging to learn just how much people care about the quest to find life in the universe.

“For me it’s the general public — the fact that people are willing to reach into their wallets to pay for a voyage of exploration that might or might not succeed,” Shostak told SPACE.com. “SETI, despite the fact that it’s an uncertain bit of exploration with no guarantee of success, people find it interesting.”

Other contributors to the SETIStars fund include science fiction writer Larry Niven and Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders, who wrote: “It is absolutely irresponsible of the human race not to be searching for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.”

Source: Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com