Donors help re-open mothballed telescopes searching for ET

[Tank]

Donors help re-open mothballed telescopes searching for ET

Telescopes looking for extra terrestrial intelligence should re-open within weeks after donors replaced income lost in public funding cuts.

The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, had to shut the $30m (£18.3m) Allen Telescope Array in April.

Donors, including actress Jodie Foster, raised more than $200,000 (£122,000).

The 42 radio telescopes, in northern California, search space for potential signals from alien life forms.

Ms Foster was one of more than 2,400 people who contributed to the fund to save the Allen Telescope Array. She played the lead role of an astronomer looking for evidence of aliens in the 1997 film Contact...

Keeping the door open  

[Davin]

Excellent.

[OldGit]

I'm very happy they can go on searching.  I get worried when they start sending out signals to make contact.  We have absolutely no idea what might happen.
Yes, I know, we've been broadcasting indiscriminately all over the radio spectrum for decades.  But going looking for trouble is still foolishness,

[hismikeness]

I think it's awesome that Jodie Foster is a donor. That just seems, right. Maybe Tom Skerritt can try and stop it from happening and the blind guy can save the day and such.