From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: HRMS Press Kit (Repost)
Followup-To: sci.space
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4   
Reply-To: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 23:03:48 GMT

[I'm reposting this since the previous version contained garbled text.  Thanks
 to Andrew Yee for supplying a clean version. - Ron Baalke ]


HIGH RESOLUTION MICROWAVE SURVEY  (HRMS)

PRESS KIT

OCTOBER 1992

PUBLIC AFFAIRS CONTACTS

NASA HEADQUARTERS, WASHINGTON, D.C.
Office of Space Science and Applications
Michael Braukus

Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
Michael Mewhinney

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Mary Hardin


CONTENTS


General Release                  1
Media Services Information       3
Quick-Look Facts                 4
Project History                  5
Project Objectives               6
Targeted Search                  7
Sky Survey                       9
Signal Detection Plans           10
Project Management               11



GENERAL RELEASE

NASA TO BEGIN SEARCH FOR INHABITED PLANETS

RELEASE:  92-161


     On Oct. 12, NASA will begin the most comprehensive search ever conducted
for evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

     The search will use telescopes and antennas to detect radio transmissions
from other planetary systems.  The search will commence 500 years after
Columbus landed in North America.

     "In the first few minutes, more searching will be accomplished than in all
previous searches combined," according to Dr. John Billingham of NASA's Ames
Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.

     "Over the past few decades, " Billingham added, "scientific opinion has
increasingly supported the theory that complex life may have evolved on planets
orbiting other stars in the galaxy and the universe.  In some cases, further
evolution may have led to the emergence of intelligence, culture and
technology."

     Billingham, the program chief at Ames, said the High Resolution Microwave
Survey (HRMS) consists of two parts -- a Targeted Search and a Sky Survey.

     The Targeted Search will use the largest available radio telescopes around
the world to search the frequency range from 1,000 to 3,000 megahertz, seeking
a variety of patterns that may indicate the presence of an artificially
generated signal.  A megahertz is a unit of frequency equal to one million
cycles per second.

     The Targeted Search will perform the most sensitive search ever conducted
of solar-type stars less than 100 light-years distant.  The Targeted Search
begins from the world's largest radio telescope at the National Astronomy and
Ionosphere Center's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. It is operated for the
National Science Foundation by Cornell University.

     The Sky Survey will use the 34-meter antennas at NASA's Deep Space Network
sites in the northern and southern hemispheres to scan the entire sky over the
frequency range from 1,000 to 10,000 megahertz.  The Sky Survey begins at the
Goldstone, Calif., site.

     "Because of the large increase in the area of sky and frequencies covered,
a signal will have to be stronger to be detected by the Sky Survey," Billingham
said. "But it could detect signals emitted in distant regions from directions
that would be overlooked if the search were limited to nearby solar- type
stars," he added.

     Both elements of the HRMS are using specially developed digital signal
processing systems capable of simultaneously analyzing tens of millions of
radio frequency channels.

     The HRMS is managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, which also is
responsible for the Targeted Search project.  The Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., is responsible for the Sky Survey.

     The HRMS is part of NASA's Toward Other Planetary Systems program in the
Solar System Exploration Division, Office of Space Science and Applications at
NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.


- end -


MEDIA SERVICES INFORMATION

NASA SELECT TELEVISION TRANSMISSION

     There will be no live NASA Select coverage of the HRMS deployment on Oct.
12, 1992.  Video footage oftghe HRMS deployment will be taken for documentary
and archival purposes.



HRMS QUICK LOOK

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:  The High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) operates
under the aegis of the Toward Other Planetary Systems (TOPS) program in the
Solar System Exploration Division at NASA Headquarters.  The TOPS program will
employ a variety of astronomical techniques, including microwave surveys, to
search for planets around other stars.  The HRMS Targeted Search and the Sky
Survey will begin concurrently at Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and Goldstone, Calif.
The project's initiation is called the "Initial Deployment of the NASA High
Resolution Microwave Survey."

INITIAL DEPLOYMENT DATE/SITES:  Oct. 12, 1992 - The National Astronomy and
Ionosphere Center's 305-meter (1,000-foot diameter) radio telescope near
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, will be used for the Targeted Search.  This telescope is
operated for the National Science Foundation by Cornell University.  The new
34-meter (112-foot diameter) antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space
Communications Complex near Barstow, Calif., willbe used for the Sky Survey.

Time of Deployment: Targeted Search at 3 p.m.  EDT, Arecibo, Puerto Rico; Sky
Survey at noon PDT, Goldstone, Calif.

Project Duration:  Expected to last until about 2001.


PROJECT HISTORY


     The Earth is the only location known to harbor life.  But as knowledge of
the nature of life has grown, so too have estimates of the likelihood of life
beyond Earth.  Some locations can be searched directly for signs of life as
Mars was by the Viking Project of the mid-1970's.  There are billions of other
locations outside of this solar system that cannot be searched directly because
of the enormous distances involved.

     In 1959, it was first proposed that a method existed to accomplish an
indirect search for life by the use of radio astronomy techniques to detect
signals that might be produced on other planetary systems.  Such signals would
provide unique evidence of the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the
universe.

     In 1972, a National Academy of Sciences report on astronomy and
astrophysics stated that "a project with the goal of detection of intelligent
life elsewhere may, in the long run, be one of science's most important and
most profound contributions to mankind and to our civilization."  Also in 1972,
NASA published its first report describing how NASA-developed technology could
make such a search possible.

     In the years between 1972 and 1988, NASA maintained a low-level research
and development activity that resulted in the initiation of the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence Microwave Observing Project (MOP) in FY 1989.

     In 1992, NASA established the High Resolution Microwave Survey (HRMS) as
part of the Toward Other Planetary Systems (TOPS) program within NASA's Solar
System Exploration Division.  The Sky Survey (scanning the entire sky for
strong signals coming from any direction) will begin observations at noon PDT
using a 34-meter antenna at NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
near Barstow, Calif.

     The HRMS will be initiated on Oct. 12, 1992 in two concurrent phases, the
Targeted Search, managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.,
and the Sky Survey, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

     The Targeted Search (focusing with a very high degree of sensitivity on
1,000 nearby stars similar to the sun) will begin observations at 3 p.m. EDT
using the National Science Foundation's National Astronomy and Ionosphere
Center's 305-meter telescope near Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

     The Sky Survey (scanning the entire sky for strong signals coming from any
direction) will begin observations at noon PDT using a 34-meter antenna at
NASA's Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex near Barstow, Calif.


PROJECT OBJECTIVES


     The detection and characterization of planetary systems around other stars
is the goal of NASA's Toward Other Planetary Systems (TOPS) program.  Earth's
solar system is still the only known example of a planetary system, and Earth
is the only known planet that sustains life.  Recent astrophysical observations
suggest the existence of other planetary systems around distant stars.  The
existence of these systems could support the hypothesis that life may exist
beyond Earth in another solar system.

     Beginning in fiscal year 1993, NASA's Solar System Exploration Division
will expand it TOPS program to include a new project called the High Resolution
Microwave Survey (HRMS). The project will observe the microwave region of the
electromagnetic spectrum in a manner that can detect signals produced by a
distant technology.

     Potentially, there are billions of solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy
at tremendous distances from Earth.  There are billions of locations outside
Earth's solar system that may contain life but cannot be searched by robotic
spacecraft.  By providing a means of locating and studying distant planetary
systems for evidence of technology generated by life in those systems, the
addition of HRMS to TOPS will expand and enhance this search for evidence of
life.

The TOPS program originally was designed to be fully responsive to the document
"Strategy for the Detection and Study of Other Planetary Systems and Extrasolar
Material: 1990-2000," issued in 1990 by the Space Studies Board's Committee on
Planetary and Lunar Exploration.  In the same year, the Space Studies Board's
Committee on Planetary Biology and Chemical Evolution recommended the following
four objectives in its report entitled "Search for Life's Orign":

   1) To determine the frequency and morphology of nearby planetary systems.

   2) To determine the frequency of occurrence of conditions suitable to the
orign of life.

   3) To search for presumptive evidence of life in other planetary systems.

   4) To search for evidence of extraterrestrial technology.

     With the incorporation of the HRMS, the TOPS program will address each of
these objectives and provide for an expanded comparative study of the universe.


TARGETED SEARCH


     Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center will conduct the Targeted Search
portion of the HRMS.

     The Targeted Search will examine 1,000 nearby solar-type stars within 100
light years distance from Earth (one light year is approximately 5.9 trillion
miles).  The objective is to test the hypothesis that extraterrestrial
technologies are transmitting radio signals whose characteristics are greatly
different from natural sources of radio emissions and that the HRMS radio
telescopes are sensitive enough to detect them.  Some stellar clusters and
nearby galaxies also will be observed.  The frequency range covered will be
1,000 to 3,000 megahertz (MHz).

     Scientists believe that electromagnetic radiation is the most efficient
means for accompishing information transfer over interstallar distances.  All
electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light, but radio waves use lower
energy photons than light or other radiation and are not absorbed by the
interstaller medium.

     Of all possible electromagnetic frequencies, the radio portion of the
spectrum suffers least from natural background noise.  Microwave radio
frequencies between about 1,000 and 10,000 megahertz allow detection of the
weakest signals because the background noise, due to our galaxy and the Earth's
atmosphere, is least.

     To achieve the highest possible sensitivity, the largest available radio
telescopes will be used to conduct the Targeted Search. The number of targets
covered will be much larger than previous searches, and the range of
frequencies covered will be thousands of times greater than all previous
searches combined.

     To accomplish this, specialized digital signal processing equipment has
been constructed to listen for microwave radio transmissions reaching the Earth
from distant planetary systems.

     The specialized digital signal processing equipment will simultaneously
study the radio spectrum over tens of millions of individual frequency
channels, at spectral resolutions ranging from 1, 2, 4, 7, 14 and 28 hertz
(cycles per second).  The equipemnt can automatically detect continuous carrier
waves or narrow band (limited range of frequencies) pulses whether they remain
constant in frequency or drift slowly because of some relative acceleration
between transmitter and receiver.  Low noise feeds and cryogenically cooled
receivers will provide access to all frequencies between 1,000 and 3,000
megahertz.

     A special wide frequency bandwidth Multi Channel Spectrum Analyzer (MCSA)
and real-time pattern recognition systems will be deployed at radio astronomy
observatories with the largest existing antennas.  The MCSA is a spectroscope
that dissects the incoming radio signal into a large number of very fine
resolution frequency channels.  When combined with the NASA signal detectors
built for the project, the sytem also is capable of detecting continuous wave
signals as well as narrow band pulses, a likely form of interstellar
transmission.  An automatic data analysis subsystem will be used to detect the
presence of fixed frequency or drifting continuous wave (CW) signals or
sequences of regularly spaced pulses.

     The Targeted Search will use the National Science Foundation's National
Astronomy and Ionosphere Center's 305-meter (1,000-ft) diameter radio telescope
located at the Arecibo Observatory near Arecibo, Puerto Rico, for the initial
deployment of the HRMS on Oct. 12, 1992.  The system will have a total of 10
megahertz of bandwidth.  It will simultaneously analyze tens of millions of
channels of spectral data at 1, 2, 4, 7, 14, and 28 hertz resolutions.  The
system will be transported to other large radio telescopes around the world in
a systematic fashion over the 10-year period of the search.  This will ensure
that all target stars have been fully covered.

     In 1995, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's (NRAO) 140-foot
telescope in Green Bank, W. Va., will become a dedicated facility for the HRMS,
permitting very large observations of each target at each frequency.  It will
serve as the logistical hub of the HRMS Targeted Search. Over the next 3 years,
three more such systems will be built and packaged into two mobile research
facility trailers for air transport to the observation sites.


SKY SURVEY


     The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., will conduct the Sky
Survey portion of NASA's HRMS to search for radio signals from other planetary
systems.  The Sky Survey will scan all directions of the sky to cover a wide
range of frequencies from 1,000 to 10,000 megahertz.

     NASA's HRMS will conduct a comprehensive, systematic search of a portion
of the microwave radio spectrum to detect evidence of radio transmissions from
other planetary systems.  An intentionally transmitted signal is easiest to
detect in a frequency band where the background radio noise or static is
minimal.  One of the quietest frequency bands is the "microwave window," which
lies between 1,000 and 10,000 megahertz.  Since the quiet characteristic of
microwave frequencies does not change throughout the galaxy, it is
reasonable to assume that others might also choose this band.

     The Sky Survey observation technique involves automatically mapping small
areas of the sky, called sky frames.  As the observations are completed, the
sky frames will be assembled to form mosaic maps, one for each frequency band,
of all the microwave detections over the entire sky.  For each of the 31
frequency bands, the sky is divided into several hundred frames, as if the sky
were a giant checkerboard.  Each frame takes 1 to 2 hours to map.

     The Sky survey will initially use the 34-meter (112-foot) diameter
antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications complex of NASA's Deep
Space Network in California's Mojave Desert. Toward the latter part of the
survey, the search will move to a similar antenna near Canberra, Australia.

     In 1992, the Sky Survey will begin with a prototype system.  The
prototype receiver, spectrum analyzer and signal processor will break up
incoming microwave radio signals into 2 million separate frequency
channels.  The system can be configured in a single polarization mode
with 40 megahertz total bandwidth or a dual polarization mode with 20 megahertz
total bandwidth.  Specially designed digital hardware, operating at
supercomputer speeds, will simultaneously process the 2 million channels to
identify and separate interstallar signals that have "artificial"
characteristics from background radio noise and terrestrial interference, such
as Earth-orbiting satellites.  The most promising candidate signals will be
subjected to detailed screening and will be saved for subsequent verification
and study by the scientific community.

     The prototype will be used to test and verify the design of the Sky Survey
control and data processing algorithms.  The operational Sky Survey system
currently is being designed and constructed.  It will provide 16 times the
capability of the prototype and will feature a 32 million channel spectrum
analyzer with a bandwidth of at least 320 megahertz.  Starting in 1996, the
system will begin to map the entire sky 31 times in both the northern and
southern hemispheres during an observational phase that is expected to last 6
years and produce more than 25,000 sky frames.


SIGNAL DETECTION PLANS

     In the event that a signal is detected from another planetary system, a
formal verification procedure will be implemented.  The procedure stipulates
that before any public announcement is made, the signal detection must be
independently onfirmed by other observers or research organizations.

     After the discovery has been verified, national and international
authorities are to be informed.  News of the confirmed discovery then will be
disseminated promptly, openly and widely through scientific channels and the
news media.  All data necessary for the confirmation of the detection will be
made available to the international scientific community through publications,
meetings, conferences and other appropriate means.

     No response to any confirmed signal will be sent from Earth until
appropriate international consultations have occurred.


PROJECT MANAGEMENT


NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Wesley Huntress    Director, Solar System Exploration Division
Dr. Nicholas Renzetti  Manager, Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Science
                       Complex, Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex
Dr. Michael J. Klein   JPL SETI Project Manager and HRMS Sky Survey Manager
Dr. Samuel Gulkis      HRMS Deputy Project Scientist
J. Richard Kolden      HRMS Sky Survey Implementation Manager


Arecibo Observatory, Puerto Rico

Dr. Daniel Altschuler  Director

     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Einstein's brain is stored
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | in a mason jar in a lab
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | in Wichita, Kansas.

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