You remember that part in Independence Day where SETI had picked up the sound signal from an not so little green men? Well that will not be happening anytime soon. SETI has been suspended. That means operations of its Allen Telescope Array will not be running anymore. It use to be funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. I know he still has a chunk of change. The array is a collection of radio dishes that scan the skies for signs of life. We will have to wait until 2013 when the institute’s new round of funding begins all over again. We can only hope that someone anyone helps them out with some cash. SETI wants to raise at least $5 million to bring the Array back online. In the meantime it is using other telescopes around the world, including the Hubble Space Telescope. SETI says that it’s especially bitter since a number planets were recently. NASA’s Kepler mission found more than 1,235 plants.
Not only won’t we hear the aliens but we also won’t be going to see them anytime soon since NASA has officially set a launch date of June 28 for the very last space shuttle flight. Although the mission was authorized by Congress last year, the check for the flight has yet to be written. This will also be the third flight of 2011. The last flight will be called STS-135 and flown by space shuttle Atlantis. This is a sad time of you love space and discovery.
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