Research

SETI

The SETI Institute's program actively explores one of humanity's most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe? This field of research uses scientific methods to search for evidence and place constraints on the prominence of technologically advanced civilizations beyond Earth.

SETI is no longer considered fringe science: it is now an active and rigorous area of research that builds upon decades of technological and scientific progress. The SETI Institute’s mission is not just to detect a signal, but to understand our place in the universe, and what it means if life, especially intelligent life, is a common outcome of cosmic evolution.

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The ATA at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory

Central to this work is the Allen Telescope Array (ATA), a radio interferometer in Northern California designed specifically for SETI and radio astronomy, owned and operated solely by the SETI Institute. Researchers use the ATA to scan the sky for narrowband radio signals, potential technosignatures that could arise from extraterrestrial technologies. Advanced signal processing, machine learning, and real-time computing techniques sift through enormous volumes of data to identify patterns not easily explained by natural astrophysical sources or human-made interference. Researchers are also exploring a broader range of potential technosignatures, including pulsating radio beacons and transmissions that defy known astrophysical propagation laws.

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COSMIC at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array

COSMIC, short for Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster, is another SETI Institute project based at the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico, a telescope operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). In a first of its kind system at the VLA, COSMIC collects a copy of the data from each of the radio dishes, and analyzes them in real-time for unusual signals that might indicate alien technology, using a network of computers and signal processing tools. Designed to be flexible and powerful, the COSMIC system can run many types of analyses simultaneously, making it one of the most advanced efforts ever launched in the Northern Hemisphere to search for signs of intelligent life beyond our solar system.

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LaserSETI

Scientists search for technosignatures across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not just in radio waves. One example is LaserSETI, a SETI-Institute-based project designed to detect ultrashort optical flashes lasting just a few nanoseconds (a billionth of a second), with no known natural origin. LaserSETI aims to establish a global network of high-speed imaging systems capable of continuously monitoring the entire sky for these fleeting events. Other optical SETI initiatives include the search for signs of large-scale alien engineering, such as “megastructures" orbiting stars. Unusual dips in a star's brightness—light curves that don’t match patterns from natural phenomena like exoplanet transits—could reveal these technosignatures.

In addition, SETI Institute scientists are exploring whether advanced technologies might emit infrared waste heat. Just as human infrastructure radiates heat, large-scale alien technologies could produce excess thermal energy detectable as “leakage” infrared radiation from energy-intensive extraterrestrial civilizations. Researchers are also studying how a potential SETI signal would propagate through interplanetary and interstellar media, accounting for effects that could alter or obscure its original form.

Looking ahead, SETI is becoming a computer-driven science. By leveraging advances in machine learning, signal processing, and high-performance computing, researchers are pushing the limits of how quickly and broadly we can search. With real-time data pipelines and expanding sky coverage, the field is accelerating toward a future where the search for intelligence spans the cosmos faster and more comprehensively than ever before.