Time passes and SETI still has not found extraterrestrial life. The pressure on those responsible is increasing, reaching a point where there are those who are losing trust in them. Luckily, the increased pressure they are under is going to be reflected in a way that could ultimately make a difference.
SETI was founded in 1984 and, since then, it has not stopped researching, improving its technology and trying, once and for all, to find extraterrestrial life. But it’s not being easy. In the past they had a technological limitation that made things very difficult for them. Today they have more advanced means, but it is obvious that analyzing every corner of the galaxy is not exactly easy.
A new donation
We would all love to receive pressure just like SETI is doing. Aware of the importance of the mission of this institute and seeing that progress in recent years has been below expectations, the famous Franklin Antonio, co-founder of Qualcomm, prepared something before he died. Apparently, he could have stipulated that, once all the aspects related to his death were resolved, his family would prepare a generous donation to the institute that would allow them to get on track to eventually discover extraterrestrial life. end. In total, 200 million dollars that will now be used with the intention of making different investments that were very necessary.
Antonio spent much of his life collaborating with SETI and trying to help its experts take the steps necessary to discover what, apparently, is hidden so well in the sky. Over the years, he worked closely with the institute and even provided them with his technical knowledge with the intention of further advancing the research. However, it is possible that he was frustrated by seeing how the years went by without him discovering anything. Who died at the age of 69, Antonio surely dreamed of seeing the day when humanity would come into contact with another civilization.
How are they going to speed up their work?
The key is to be able to accelerate investigations. Nobody forgets that, in 2014, one of the SETI astronomers assured that they would discover extraterrestrial life in the lifetime of all the people who were in the place where he was making the statements. Almost 10 years have passed and, although we do not know if Antonio was there, what is obvious is that it is too long a period of time. These promises and forecasts have not been fulfilled and, at least for the moment, it does not seem that they will do so.
But there is hope that SETI can begin to meet expectations thanks to that 200 million donation they just received. They say they will use the money to collaborate and reach out to new researchers from all corners of the world, as well as with the intention of establishing scholarships and grants to help continue exploring the galaxy in search of life. In addition, they also want to start new training programs, as well as hold educational sessions in communities where the work they do or the objectives they have are not normally so widespread. Last but not least, they are aware that they will also use some of the money to invest in new technology.
And although the words of their statements do not give the impression that they are feeling the pressure, SETI remembers that they have active programs on a total of six different fronts. They are investing in exploring exoplanets, since they know that one of them could be the place where there is life that, for now, has not yet been discovered. They are also investing in astronomy and astrophysics programs, in the exploration of the best-known planets, in astrobiology and they do not leave aside the importance of studying the climate. Although all of these programs are directed towards the same objective, which is none other than searching for extraterrestrial life, they also dedicate part of their resources to this mission through initiatives that do not fit into the other categories.
They believe and hope that, in this way, they will be able to answer the great question that society has asked itself for decades and that worries millions of people around the world. Getting an answer would be something that we would all love and that would surely help generate new ideas for science fiction films and series to be filmed. May it happen soon!
