Optical (Laser) SETI Is A 40 Year Old Idea (Score 1)

While this will be the first optical telescope dedicated to SETI research, the idea of searching for continuous or pulsed laser beacons is not new. It was proposed by Charles Townes and R N Schwartz in a 1961 paper on the subject on inter-stellar laser communication. It's interesting to note that the idea of using laser's for inter-stellar communication is about as old as lasers themselves. Several groups at Berkeley, Harvard and Princeton are working on OSETI projects that operate on a part-time basis, or piggy back on other experiments. There is also an Australian OSETI project underway, as well as several privately operated OSETI observatories. There is a great deal of interesting work being done in optical SETI, with both new facilities and detection hardware under development. The reason for the sudden upswing in interest has a lot to do with the growth of optical communication, and is not a sign that researchers are abandoning the microwave band. The basic consensus is that nobody really knows which signaling format would be preferred (if any), and so we need to look at the largest possible search space. Brian McConnell, Author Beyond Contact : A Guide to SETI & Communicating with Alien Civilizations (upcoming SETI book from O'Reilly & Associates)