The search for extraterrestrial intelligence—SETI

Abstract

This article is taken from a NASA Special Publication, SP-419, released in March 1978. The publication deals with most of the current major topics in the field of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and, as described in the Preface, was the result of a two year series of Science Workshops carried out for NASA by a team of eminent U.S. scientists and engineers under the chairmanship of Dr. Philip Morrison. It seemed to us to be of sufficient interest to extract the first part of the SETI publication SP-419 and include it in this issue of Acta Astronautica. We have therefore taken the first 35 pages of SP-419 and reproduced them in the following pages. They embrace the CONSENSUS of the Science Workshop Team members, and their CONCLUSIONS. Not included here is the rest of SP-419 which gives more detailed coverage to the science and technology of SETI in Part II, Colloquies, and Part III, Complementary Documents. Those wishing to have a complete copy of SP-419 should write to Dr. John Billingham, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, U.S.A.