Michael Braukus

Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 15, 1991

(Phone: 202/453-1549)

Diane Stanley
Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
(Phone: 415/604-3934)

RELEASE: 91-7

NASA SELECTS SCIENTISTS FOR SETI MICROWAVE OBSERVING

PROJECT

NASA has selected 9 scientists from around the country to

participate as team members and interdisciplinary scientists in
the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Microwave
Observing Project, scheduled to begin in 1992.

The SETI Microwave Observing Project consists of two

elements, a Targeted Search element and a Sky Survey element.
The Targeted Search will use the largest available antennas
around the world and search over the frequency range from 1 to 3
gigahertz (GHz), seeking a variety of patterns in the
frequency/time domain that could be indicative of an artificially
generated signal. The Targeted Search will perform the most
sensitive search ever conducted of nearby (less than 80 light-
years distant) solar-type stars.

In a complementary search strategy, the Sky Survey will use

the 34-meter antennas at NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) sites in
the northern and southern hemispheres to scan the entire sky over
the frequency range from 1 to 10 GHz. Because of the tremendous
increase in the area of the sky covered, a signal will have to be
stronger to be detected by the Sky Survey. But this element
could detect signals coming from the vicinity of distant sun-like
stars or from directions that might be overlooked if the search
were limited to nearby solar-type stars.

The SETI observations will formally commence on Columbus Day

1992, with the Sky Survey system deployed at the Goldstone,
Calif., DSN complex and the Targeted Search System mounted on the
large radio telescope at the National Science Foundation's
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

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The selected investigators were chosen on the basis of a

proposal to strengthen and/or enhance the SETI observations
planned by NASA. The designs for the SETI-specific hardware that
will be utilized to make these searches are already quite mature,
but the investigators will assist in finalizing the system
designs and in the development of prototype systems.

The selected investigators will form the core of the project

science team that will help refine the SETI search procedures,
optimize the list of targeted solar-type stars, and formulate
methods to extract the greatest amount of traditional radio
astronomical data during the course of the scheduled SETI
observations. The science team will be led by Project Scientist
Dr. Jill C. Tarter at Ames Research Center, Mountain View,
Calif., and by Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Sam Gulkis of the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

The overall Microwave Observing Project is being managed by

NASA's Ames Research Center, which also bears responsibility for
the Targeted Search portion of the Project. NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory is working with Ames and has responsibility
for the Sky Survey portion of the search. The SETI Microwave
Observing Project is part of NASA's Exobiology Program and is
managed by the Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

The selected SETI Microwave Observing Project principal

investigators, their current affiliations and the title of their
research proposals follow:

Dr. Peter B. Boyce

American Astronomical Society
Washington, DC
"SETI Interdisciplinary Investigations; Search Strategy,
Verification and Education"

Dr. James M. Cordes

Cornell University
Ithaca, NY

"Interstellar Scattering Implications for SETI Detection Samples"

Dr. Michael M. Davis

Arecibo Observatory (NAIC)
Arecibo, Puerto Rico

"Research Facility Team Membership for the SETI Targeted Search"

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Dr. Dayton L. Jones

Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, CA

"Interdisciplinary Proposal for Radio Astronomy Investigations

with the SETI Microwave Observing Project"

Dr. David W. Latham

Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Cambridge, MA

"Target Selection and Characterization: A Team Member

Investigation Proposal for the Targeted Search Project of the
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Microwave Project"

Dr. David R. Soderblom

Space Telescope Science Institute
Baltimore, MD

"An Enhanced Target Selection Strategy for the SETI Microwave

Observing Project"

Dr. Kenneth C. Turner

Innovative Systems
Centreville, VA

"Special Targets in the SETI Microwave Observing Project"

Professor Paul G. Steffes

Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA

"Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence/Microwave Observing

Project: Sky Survey Team Member Proposal"

Dr. Woodruff T. Sullivan

University of Washington
Seattle, WA

"MOP Search Strategies and Interpretations"

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