How Paul Allen Saved the American Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence

dmoberhaus writes: Paul Allen died on Monday evening at the age of 65. Motherboard spoke with SETI researchers about how the Microsoft co-founder single-handedly saved the American Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence by building the first dedicated SETI radio telescope and its legacy one decade later. Less than a year after NASA's SETI program started, it was shut down by members of Congress who didn't want to spend money on the 'great Martian chase.' In order for the program to continue, it needed private funding. 'Fortunately, one of the earliest SETI Institute supporters was Barney Oliver, who founded and directed Hewlett Packard laboratories,' reports Motherboard. 'So in 1993 Oliver called Bill Hewlett and David Packard of Hewlett Packard, Intel founder Gordon Moore, and Paul Allen to ask for their support.' They supported Project Phoenix, a SETI program that ran from 1995 to 1998.

SETI astronomers then realized that they needed a dedicated SETI radio telescope, or array of small telescopes, if the search were to have any chance of success. Allen was able to foot the $25-million bill required to build this array of telescopes. The telescope array was built in northern California, 'the first facility specifically built for SETI in the U.S.,' Motherboard notes. 'The cost of building a 350-telescope array ended up being far more expensive than anyone at the SETI Institute had anticipated, however. By the time the Allen Telescope Array came online in 2007, only 42 telescopes had been built and Allen's donation had largely been consumed.' The report notes that the Allen Telescope Array 'has analyzed 200 million signals from thousands of stars, studied unusual high-energy radio emissions, and even scanned the 'spliff-shaped' Oumuamua asteroid for signs of intelligent life.'

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