Hawking launches biggest-ever search for alien life

Milner’s money will help some of the leading scientists in the world, including legendary figures like Stephen Hawking.

He will fund the rejuvenated quest to find life on other planets through his Breakthrough Initiatives project, which will hand over $100 million (£64 million).

Hawking has invested $US100 million into a project which will actively seek signs of intelligent life during a ten-year-long project announced in London on Monday.

Milner, who made a fortune through investments in companies like Facebook, said the power of Silicon Valley technology and innovation would be used.

Russian tech investor Yuri Milner is on a mission to answer a fundamental human question: are we alone in the universe.

Big plans… Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Initiatives project, which will provide $US100 million ($135.49 million) over the next decade for those searching for extraterrestrial life.

Hawking said some form of simple life on other worlds seemed very likely, but the existence of intelligence was another matter, and humankind needed to think hard about making contact. “If we find that the universe is teeming with life, we can learn how they get through their bottlenecks when they were killing each other, and we can become part of the galactic civilisation”.

“Current technology gives us a real chance to answer one of humanity’s biggest questions – are we alone?” he said. Beyond that, it will also listen to 100 galaxies farther afield with the hopes of finding alien activity.

This project will examine over 10 times more sky than previous programs, and will use two of the world’s most powerful telescopes to do it – the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.

Launching Breakthrough Listen, Mr Milner said: “Today we are launching the most comprehensive search programme ever”.

The researchers say they will be able to collect as much data in one day that which was collected in a year. “Our strategy to knowledge can be open and profiting from the issue-fixing energy of social networks”, defined Milner. As the Chronicle reports, Berkeley has a major Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project at its Science Space Laboratory.

The pool of the worldwide prize will complete United States dollars 1,000,000 and its particulars shall be unveiled within the coming months. An adviser to Breakthrough Listen, Drake is also chairman emeritus of the SETI Institute.

“If a civilization based around one of the 1,000 nearest stars is transmitting to us with the power of a common aircraft radar, the Breakthrough Listen telescopes can detect it”, said Breakthrough Listen in a statement.