Michael Braukus
  Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                   January 15, 1991
  (Phone:  202/453-1549)
  
  Diane Stanley
  Ames Research Center, Mountain View, Calif.
  (Phone:  415/604-3934)
  
  
  RELEASE:  91-7
  
  NASA SELECTS SCIENTISTS FOR SETI MICROWAVE OBSERVING PROJECT
  
  
       NASA has selected 9 scientists from around the country to 
  participate as team members and interdisciplinary scientists in 
  the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Microwave 
  Observing Project, scheduled to begin in 1992.
  
       The SETI Microwave Observing Project consists of two 
  elements, a Targeted Search element and a Sky Survey element.  
  The Targeted Search will use the largest available antennas 
  around the world and search over the frequency range from 1 to 3 
  gigahertz (GHz), seeking a variety of patterns in the 
  frequency/time domain that could be indicative of an artificially 
  generated signal.  The Targeted Search will perform the most 
  sensitive search ever conducted of nearby (less than 80 light-
  years distant) solar-type stars.
  
       In a complementary search strategy, the Sky Survey will use 
  the 34-meter antennas at NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) sites in 
  the northern and southern hemispheres to scan the entire sky over 
  the frequency range from 1 to 10 GHz.  Because of the tremendous 
  increase in the area of the sky covered, a signal will have to be 
  stronger to be detected by the Sky Survey.  But this element 
  could detect signals coming from the vicinity of distant sun-like 
  stars or from directions that might be overlooked if the search 
  were limited to nearby solar-type stars.
  
       The SETI observations will formally commence on Columbus Day 
  1992, with the Sky Survey system deployed at the Goldstone, 
  Calif., DSN complex and the Targeted Search System mounted on the 
  large radio telescope at the National Science Foundation's 
  Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
  
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       The selected investigators were chosen on the basis of a 
  proposal to strengthen and/or enhance the SETI observations 
  planned by NASA.  The designs for the SETI-specific hardware that 
  will be utilized to make these searches are already quite mature, 
  but the investigators will assist in finalizing the system 
  designs and in the development of prototype systems.
  
       The selected investigators will form the core of the project 
  science team that will help refine the SETI search procedures, 
  optimize the list of targeted solar-type stars, and formulate 
  methods to extract the greatest amount of traditional radio 
  astronomical data during the course of the scheduled SETI 
  observations.  The science team will be led by Project Scientist 
  Dr. Jill C. Tarter at Ames Research Center, Mountain View, 
  Calif., and by Deputy Project Scientist Dr. Sam Gulkis of the Jet 
  Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
  
       The overall Microwave Observing Project is being managed by 
  NASA's Ames Research Center, which also bears responsibility for 
  the Targeted Search portion of the Project.  NASA's Jet 
  Propulsion Laboratory is working with Ames and has responsibility 
  for the Sky Survey portion of the search.  The SETI Microwave 
  Observing Project is part of NASA's Exobiology Program and is 
  managed by the Office of Space Science and Applications, NASA 
  Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
  
  The selected SETI Microwave Observing Project principal 
  investigators, their current affiliations and the title of their 
  research proposals follow:
  
  Dr. Peter B. Boyce
  American Astronomical Society
  Washington, DC
  
  "SETI Interdisciplinary Investigations; Search Strategy, 
  Verification and Education"
  
  
  Dr. James M. Cordes
  Cornell University
  Ithaca, NY
  
  "Interstellar Scattering Implications for SETI Detection Samples"
  
  
  Dr. Michael M. Davis
  Arecibo Observatory (NAIC)
  Arecibo, Puerto Rico
  
  "Research Facility Team Membership for the SETI Targeted Search"
  
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  Dr. Dayton L. Jones
  Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  Pasadena, CA
  
  "Interdisciplinary Proposal for Radio Astronomy Investigations 
  with the SETI Microwave Observing Project"
  
  
  Dr. David W. Latham
  Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
  Cambridge, MA
  
  "Target Selection and Characterization:  A Team Member 
  Investigation Proposal for the Targeted Search Project  of the 
  Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Microwave Project"
  
  
  Dr. David R. Soderblom
  Space Telescope Science Institute
  Baltimore, MD
  
  "An Enhanced Target Selection Strategy for the SETI Microwave 
  Observing Project"
  
  
  Dr. Kenneth C. Turner
  Innovative Systems
  Centreville, VA
  
  "Special Targets in the SETI Microwave Observing Project"
  
  
  Professor Paul G. Steffes
  Georgia Institute of Technology
  Atlanta, GA
  
  "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence/Microwave Observing 
  Project:  Sky Survey Team Member Proposal"
  
  
  Dr. Woodruff T. Sullivan
  University of Washington
  Seattle, WA
  
  "MOP Search Strategies and Interpretations"
  
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