Related papers: Scouting the spectrum for interstellar travellers
In this paper it is presented the concept and design of a new type of spacecraft that could be used to make the first manned interstellar travel. Solar one would integrate three near-term technologies, namely: compact nuclear fusion…
Recent research has proposed that advanced propulsion mechanisms such as warp drives are more physically feasible than previously thought, using positive energy sources potentially sourced by known classical physics. Motivated by this, we…
Here we extrapolate the idea of launching SpaceX's Starlink satellites and study the possibility of building planetary megastructures (either designed as solid objects or as a web of satellites) by Type-I civilizations and the consequent…
We demonstrate how observations of pulsars can be used to help navigate a spacecraft travelling in the solar system. We make use of archival observations of millisecond pulsars from the Parkes radio telescope in order to demonstrate the…
I discuss the scientific rationale and opportunities in the study of high energy particle accelerators away from the Earth; mostly, those outside the Solar System. I also briefly outline the features to be desired in telescopes used to…
We propose a search for sources of directed energy systems such as those now becoming technologically feasible on Earth. Recent advances in our own abilities allow us to foresee our own capability that will radically change our ability to…
Achieving relativistic flight to enable extrasolar exploration is one of the dreams of humanity and the long term goal of our NASA Starlight program. We derive a fully relativistic solution for the motion of a spacecraft propelled by…
A system of synchronized radio telescopes is utilized to search for hypothetical wide bandwidth interstellar communication signals. Transmitted signals are hypothesized to have characteristics that enable high channel capacity and minimally…
Glints of light from specular reflection of the Sun are a technosignature of artificial satellites. If extraterrestrial intelligences have left artifacts in the Solar System, these may include flat mirror-like surfaces that also can glint.…
Probing the speed of light is as an important test of General Relativity but the measurements of $c$ using objects in the distant universe have been almost completely unexplored. In this letter, we propose an idea to use the multiple…
Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can…
Gravitational microlensing finds planets through their gravitational influence on the light coming from a more distant background star. The presence of the planet is then inferred from the tell-tale brightness variations of the background…
We investigate looking for black hole starships using very high energy gamma ray telescopes. We find they would be above the threshhold of visibility although there are many unknown factors.
The discovery of exoplanets has both focused and expanded the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The consideration of Earth as an exoplanet, the knowledge of the orbital parameters of individual exoplanets, and our new understanding…
The StarLight program conceptualizes fast interstellar travel via small wafer satellites (wafersats) that are propelled by directed energy. This process is wildly different from traditional space travel and trades large and slow spacecraft…
Our ability to explore the cosmos by direct contact has been limited to a small number of lunar and interplanetary missions. However, the NASA Starlight program points a path forward to send small, relativistic spacecraft far outside our…
We analyze the properties of searches devoted to finding planetary transits by observing simple stellar systems, such as globular clusters, open clusters, and the Galactic bulge. We develop the analytic tools necessary to predict the number…
Technosignatures can represent a sign of technology that may infer the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. This had usually meant searches for extraterrestrial intelligence using narrow-band radio signals or pulsed…
We show that an interferometer moving at a relativistic speed relative to a point source of light offers a sensitive probe of acceleration. Such an accelerometer contains no moving parts, and is thus more robust than conventional…
Stellar occultations have been used to search for Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud objects. We propose a search for interstellar objects based on the characteristic durations ($\sim 0.1 \mathrm{s}$) of their stellar occultation signals and high…