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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2018

A three-steps Road Map to the New Frontier: locating the nearest ETIs, and the role of astronauts.

Jean-Loup Bertaux
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Résumé

An obvious New Frontier for humanity is to locate our nearest neighbors technically advanced (ETI, extra-terrestrial intelligence), in response to the question "Are we alone in the Universe?" This quest can be achieved with three steps: 1. find the nearest exoplanets in the habitable zone (HZ) of their host stars. 2. find bio-signatures in their atmospheric and surface spectra. 3. find unvolontary signs of advanced technology (city lights at night, radio signal leaks). We argue that steps 2 and 3 will require large space telescopes that need to be oriented to targets already identified in step 1 as hosting exoplanets of Earth or super Earth size in the habitable zone. We show that non-transiting planets in HZ are 3 to 9 times nearer the sun than transiting planets, the gain factor being a function of star temperature. The requirement for step 1 is within the reach of a network of 2-4 m diameter ground-based automated telescopes associated with HARPS-type spectrometers. The search should be done by increasing distance from our sun. Steps 2 and 3 will require the building in space of large size telescopes, which elements could launched separately, and be assembled in space by astronauts, in a fashion similar to the way was built the International Space Station. The telescopes could also be placed on the moon or at Lagrange L2 point. Since ETI can spot us, we must be able to spot them. Communication is an independent matter to be discussed separately. The author acknowledge support from the Russian Government Grant #14.W03.31.0017.
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insu-04438899 , version 1 (05-02-2024)

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Jean-Loup Bertaux. A three-steps Road Map to the New Frontier: locating the nearest ETIs, and the role of astronauts.. 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Jul 2018, Pasadena, United States. pp.Abstract id. F3.8-21-18. ⟨insu-04438899⟩
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