SETI forced to shutter its Allen Telescope Array

by Steven Mostyn - Apr 27 2011, 09:04

The astronomical costs associated with searching for extraterrestrial life has forced the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, to close its famous Allen Telescope Array—thus hanging up the receiver on an open call to the greater universe.

According to SETI chief executive officer Tom Pierson, the array has been placed in a state of non-functioning “hibernation” due to a lack of monetary support from the likes of the National Science Foundation and the state of California.  

The array field consists of 42 radio dishes, all of which are directed towards the stars in the hope of capturing communication signals from intelligent life on distant planets.

Prior to this week’s announcement, SETI had been conducting deep scans of the heavens since 2007, and had been looking forward to exploring the possibility of life on some 1,235 planets recently discovered by the Kepler space telescope.

The iconic Allen Telescope Array cost some $50 million USD to build ($30 million USD of which was donated by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) and carries an annual operating cost of around $2.5 million USD.

SETI director Jill Tarter has suggested funding from the U.S. Air Force might yet resurrect the inoperative array, but warned that budget constraints related to the armed forces could scupper that possibility.

The SETI Institute, which stands for Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, was first founded in 1984. Famously, it was used as the focal point for astronomer Carl Sagan’s novel Contact, which was made into a Hollywood blockbuster starring Jodie Foster.

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