Heaven at SETI's Doorstep Read online

HEAVEN AT SETI’S DOORSTEP

  By Shelton Ranasinghe

  This is work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Heaven at SETI’s Doorstep

  ISBN: 978-0-615-38292-0

  Copyright © 2011, by Shelton Ranasinghe

  2665 Devon Hill Road, Rocky River, Ohio 44116, USA

  [email protected]

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011912434

  First Edition

  All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the author.

  DISCLAIMER

  All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in “Heaven at SETI’s Doorstep” are fictitious. Any similarity to any real person either living or dead is purely coincidental. No similarity to any person either living or dead is intended or should be inferred. All organizational names, trade names, product names and trademarks of third parties, including any trademarked characters, used in “Heaven at SETI’s Doorstep” are used without the authorization, permission or consent of those third parties. No authorization, permission, consent, sponsorship, endorsement, affiliation or other association by or with any such third party exists or should be implied.

  ~

  Lovingly dedicated to the kindest woman on earth my wife Dilani and to my two wonderful children Ayesha and Sajeev.

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  Sincere thanks to my good friend Bunchy Rahuman for his wholehearted efforts to improve my book. His expert knowledge of English, clear and objective viewpoints and brotherly attitude were what I appreciated most.

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  HEAVEN AT SETI’S DOORSTEP

  SETI institute seeks evidence of life in the universe outside the earth. SETI is an acronym for Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence. Their main activity comprises scanning of the skies for any radio signals or radio waves originating in outer space, presuming they are sent by intelligent beings living on other heavenly bodies. According to current scientific thinking, life can originate and perpetuate on any planet with a suitable environment, given a sufficiently long period of time to evolve and stabilize. Once life emerges, evolutionary processes will eventually lead to development of a life form equipped with a special ‘thinking organ’ with the ability to develop advanced technologies, similar to the processes that took place on the earth. Based on this fundamental idea, extraterrestrial life forms could be expected to exist and be detected and communicated with. To this end it would be necessary to employ a systematic full spectrum, daily scan of space and listen in on the widest possible spectrum of radio waves to mitigate possible scanning misses. However though the universe had been scanned over the past four decades and millions of dollars had been spent on this research institute; no detections had been made so far by it. SETI Institute was funded entirely by donations from individuals and grants from private foundations. This shows the immense support for and enthusiasm of the public for such research.

  Seemingly as if in reward for the dedication of the staff; on 7th August 2011, SETI Institute was hit by a strange radio signal from outer space. Wow! This was the rare moment they had anxiously awaited, for decades. Within a few minutes, the whole facility exploded in excitement as the news passed back and forth. The emotions and reactions of the thrilled staff were wide and varied. Some were speechless or dazed, many were shocked, yet others felt that the instruments in use needed to be checked. Almost everyone could not believe it had really happened.

  While it was no doubt a time for everybody to cope with their emotions, the devoted scientists and technicians were not unduly distracted from the task of following up on the extraterrestrial signal. All sensing equipment was seamlessly fine-tuned to pin point and lock on to the source and to record the input with the highest possible clarity and detail. Of course, the greatest emphasis was on verifying if the signal had any coded information, seeking a response from us, “Humans on the earth”. Unfortunately and to everyone’s utter disappointment, the signal faded out sharply, lasting around fifteen minutes, and totally disappeared without any prior indication. Being conscious of the enormous significance of this event, the staff tried vainly to re-detect and establish contact with the signal over the next several hours. Everybody understood the immeasurable good fortune of being able to detect the signal and the ‘once in a lifetime’ rarity of this event. If there had been a message in the signal, the inability to reply would have been a great tragedy. Opportunities for communicating with alien beings from any part of the universe would be hard to come by and therefore a great misfortune to not exploit fully. However, with time, and due to the inability to detect even the faintest of signals from the original direction, efforts at signal re-tracing were abandoned. A feeling of emptiness mixed with disappointment remained and the only consolation was the possibility to extract clues from the information that was recorded during the total period of contact with the signal.

  No time was lost in initiating analysis and research on the recorded data. Teams of experts were formed to look into areas that needed specialized data evaluation capabilities. Appropriate specialists were immediately contacted to supplement the efforts of their teams. The foremost task was to confirm that this was a signal from outer space and not from any other earth bound source. Verification of this fact was a minimum requirement for the institute, before any news could be released to the communication media. It was widely known that clandestinely operated radio equipment was in use by various parties, by-passing laws and governing regulations. The possibility that the detected signal originated from any such sources had to be conclusively eliminated by thorough checking. Considering the major repercussions of erroneous information being transmitted through the media, extreme caution had to be exercised in the release of information to the public.

  After months of sustained and laborious analysis, cross checking to eliminate the possibility of other sources for the radio signals and reviewing the opinions of many scientists; the data evaluation team was able to narrow down the source of the signal to a sizable space object that had come into the ‘field of view’ of the scanning instruments. This space object was a very large meteorite well known to astronomers for decades. But a radio signal had never before been detected as emanating from this meteorite. A few more weeks of exhaustive study verified that this particular space object was radio inert. This was confirmed by past observed data as well as further scientific investigation and analysis. The meteorite concerned was passing the moon at a distance of 3.5 million miles at that time the signal was detected. Considering the relative proximity of this object to the moon and the earth, the only possible explanation was that the signal was in fact a wave reflected off this object and the point of origination of the signal was an abandoned manmade radio instrument on the moon. Further analysis coupled with simulations run and re-run, checked and re-checked, confirmed beyond doubt that the signal had been transmitted from the far side of the moon. As there was no line of sight from the far side of the moon to earth and also due to the specific position of the object relative to the moon, the data evaluation team, was forced to the conclusion that the signal was a reflected radio wave, off the space object. Before a final conclusion was confirmed, further mathematical calculations were performed using the most advanced programs and computers which took into consideration the position of the moon, the earth and the distance to the meteorite; the result was even stronger evidence that the signal was transmitted from the far side of the moon. However even the most sophisticated techniques and experts combined with the best computing resources could not detect a code embedded in the entire
14.76 minute recorded data of the signal which somehow seemed to have a pattern. All experts associated with the data evaluation assignment were highly motivated and very pleased about the opportunity they got to work on the project. Most of them volunteered to provide further support to explore further if they were called upon to do so. Still however, SETI Institute did not wish to release news of the events at this stage and had reservations about the source of the signal. Moreover, they were concerned about adverse comments that might be made by the public and other professional researchers.

  The obvious first follow up task was to check if the signal could have resulted from accidental re-activation of a manmade object sent to the moon earlier. To verify this, details of all objects that man had ever sent to the moon was perused. This was dated back to the early nineteen sixties, the time that moon exploration was started at a very minute scale. Gathering all the information was a very tedious task considering the number of countries involved and the fact that many explorations took place nearly half a century ago. SETI Institute needed help from the many countries involved in moon exploration but preferred to conduct the information gathering effort in secrecy. As a result, many countries from whom information was sought from were suspicious and perplexed as to why the need for this historical information which to their thinking would not serve any purpose. Much time passed by and they were getting desperate as the required data was not forthcoming as readily as expected.

  As time passed, SETI Institute realized the importance of having the cooperation of all the countries to help them in their work. They understood they had no other alternative than to divulge the purpose of their request and to be truthful to the scientific parties in all the countries associated with their search. After this change of attitude, many sources of assistance were forthcoming to provide the necessary information. But there were also many groups who ridiculed them as a bunch of lunatics wasting public funds. Gradually, a mass of comprehensive historical technical data was acquired on operations involving placing of ‘radio-live’ equipment on the moon’s surface. However, even after careful sifting through all the information compiled, it was not possible to identify a single manmade object on the moon that could have generated the signal. All the evidence seemed to be pointing towards the possibility that the signal originated on the moon itself!!

  To determine the actual status, it was decided to seek the assistance of NASA. This was at the time NASA was concentrating on Saturn’s moon Titan after the Cassini and Huygens spacecraft brought back images and information of extremely high clarity on Titan’s landscape. After a top level meeting between the scientists at the two institutions, NASA agreed to help. They offered to send a special purpose orbiting satellite to the moon to verify the signal, but on condition that SETI Institute would provide the funding.

  Very great precautions were taken prior to releasing the news to the public. Because a message of such nature answers our psyche’s very fundamental question of “are we alone in the universe?” it could have very big philosophical and sociological impacts on the human population. The media had created panic situations in the past even with simple radio broadcasting on the subject of aliens that were meant for entertainment. However, in spite of the secrecy exercised, the news had got out in to the public domain through various sources. Hence, it was no more a secret. The alien signal was the hot topic looming over the TV news in many countries. Here was an opportunity to attract public support. Funds began flowing into the ‘signal exploration project’. As the funds were flowing in, the project was also gaining momentum. As is usually the case in many such instances, there were varied reactions by the public. These reactions were openly published and discussed over the media. Some activist groups argued that money should not be wasted for projects of this nature and should be diverted for humanity enhancement projects. Some religious groups also objected to the project. There were reactions even within the NASA community as to whether they should undertake this project. However a very large percentage of the public supported the project with great enthusiasm.

  In the midst of all these reactions, things moved and progressed very well. SETI Institute was very happy about the overall outcome as they were in command of the project and kept the public informed of project progress through their web site, twitters and other social media. After nine months of hard work, NASA launched a custom built satellite to orbit the moon looking for radio signals. The satellite launch was a flawless event without a single hiccup. After four days involving flight, directional and speed corrections and other maneuvering and exchange of command signals, the satellite was placed on a stable equatorial orbit of the moon.

  The satellite was programmed to detect a signal when it was orbiting above the signal’s transmission area. As the signal was determined to have been transmitted from the far side of the moon, detection obviously would take place when the satellite was also on the far side of the moon. When this occurred, the satellite had no communications with the earth as the moon acted as a barrier between the earth and the satellite. As such, during this orbital time the satellite was programmed to record all the information it received. The recorded information was then transmitted to the earth when the satellite was passing over the visible near side of the moon. Based on the data of the original signal, NASA had sufficient information to focus the satellite’s antennae to the coordinates of the ‘transmission area’ of the original signal.

  Four days after the launch, the satellite was in an orbit around the moon as planned. All instruments were tuned in to detect the signal. This was an anxious moment for the SETI Institute team as well as for the NASA team. But the anxious waiting of both parties was rewarded only with disappointment for seven consecutive days as the satellite was unable to trace any signal. The calendars were all marked for one full week of ‘no result’ and the teams were losing hope and adjusting themselves to lower expectation levels.

  On the Eighth day, Bingo! A signal had been detected. The satellite was a success! It detected a very steady signal. According to the data transmitted to the earth, the signal was beamed from a location in the region of the crater “Daedalus”. The altitude instruments in the satellite, with capability to assess distance with an accuracy of one eighth of an inch, also indicated that the signal did not originate from an object on the surface of the moon but from beneath the surface of the moon! In other words it had been generated underground in the moon! This was checked and re-checked and found to be correct. This was astounding news. According to experts who interpreted the data, the signal generation point was at least 30ft below the surface of the moon. The exact location of the signal was established and confirmed by the GPS instruments in the satellite. The impact crater “Daedalus”, was very familiar to NASA and was known as a region which had a very vide area of flat terrain. NASA scientists verified that this particular signal location was thousands of miles away from the nearest possible spot where a man-made object had ever touched down or even been deliberately crashed on the moon. As the satellite was circling the moon at a low altitude, it could be in touch with the signal only for about 27 minutes. NASA was keen on putting the satellite to a higher orbit the next day, to increase the signal capturing time. Unfortunately, disappointing everybody, the satellite started spinning during maneuvering. This could not be corrected despite all the remedial measures tried out. However, the detection of the moon based signal by the satellite was sufficient to conclude the signal’s existence, precise location and the fact that it was generated from below the moon’s surface. Everybody was anxious to learn more but they would have to wait - the monitoring satellite had turned into ‘space junk’.

  Detection of the signal from the moon was groundbreaking news to the entire world population. People reacted in many ways; each with their own theories to explain the possible sources. The media did not waste time in capturing the people’s imagination and publishing the multifarious theories and explanations. These ranged from intelligent underground l
ife colonies of the moon to alien established sophisticated radio monitoring stations. Some even said that there could be people like us living in the moon’s underground. In the midst of this extraordinary discovery including the underground source of the signal, NASA backed by SETI Institute had an emergency meeting and it was decided to evaluate and re-establish NASA priorities. The Moon Signal Research Project was the unanimous top priority selection over many other projects that were in the priority ladder.

  Planning committees were formed. Various brain storming sessions were conducted. Ideas were flowing with abundance to determine as to what was to be done next. A manned moon probe was an obvious long term solution, but they were well aware of the infeasibility of it in the very short or even short term. Such mission was estimated to be at least a decade away even on an accelerated basis. As an interim measure, one of the strategies considered was to have two satellites in Luna-synchronous orbit. One satellite was to be stationed above the spot where the moon signal originated from, and the second satellite at a place such that it had direct line of sight with both the first satellite and the earth. The basic idea was to have the first satellite pick up the moon signal and transmit it to earth immediately through the second one. This arrangement would allow NASA to receive the signal continuously as well as perform more interactive experiments and testing as they wished. Both satellites had to be stationary relative to the moon such as in a Luna synchronous orbit for this to happen. This idea while having positive attributes involved some technical problems to sort out.

  Just a bit of Rocket Science now, to sort out the technical issues!

  NASA had to find something corresponding to geostationary orbit when placing the two satellites in orbit round the moon. In the case of the earth, finding a ‘stationary’ orbit is quite easy. Just use of high school math would yield the radius at which a satellite will be in equilibrium when orbiting the earth at the same angular velocity as the earth’s spin. This radius works out at 32,000 miles and the term “geosynchronous orbit” is used to refer to this specific orbit. The name of science fiction writer Arthur C Clark is also given to this orbit as it was he who was the first to write about the usefulness of this orbit. Doing the same calculation for the moon, Luna synchronous orbit works out to have a radius of about 64,000 miles. You might think the radius should be much less because of the low gravity of the moon but it is not so due to the slow 28 day orbital period of the moon. Can a satellite be kept at 64,000 mile radius orbit round the moon? No. It is difficult and problematic. Unlike the case of geostationary orbit, where the gravity exerted by the relatively low mass of the moon is insignificant on satellites orbiting earth, the earth’s gravitational force on corresponding satellites orbiting the moon is quite high. As the earth’s gravity tends to overwhelm the gravity of the moon, establishing lunar stationary orbit involves a complicated problem. Mathematician Leonhard Euler (1703 -1783) discovered however that there were three points on the line joining the centers of the earth and the moon, at which the combined effects of the pull from the earth and moon generate the exact required centripetal force to keep a satellite in Luna-synchronous orbit. Mathematician Louis Lagrange’s later fuller investigations showed up two extra points where this fine-tuned balancing was achieved. These two points were also unique in that they allowed very stable orbits compared to the viable but somewhat unstable orbits at the first three. These five ‘equilibrium’ points named after Louis Lagrange as Lagrange points are usually denoted L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5.

  These equilibrium points are located as follows:

  L1 – Lies between the earth and the moon, on the line joining their centers. This point was irrelevant to the project.

  L2 – Lies 37,000 miles behind the moon on the line joining the centers of the earth & the moon.

  L3 - Lies also on the same line passing through L2 and L1, but is on the opposite side of Earth from the moon. This point was also irrelevant to the project.

  L4 and L5 – Lie on opposite sides of the apexes of the two equilateral triangles - one above and one below – with a common base formed by the line joining the centers of the earth and the moon. Being at apexes of the equilateral triangles, the distances from the centers of the moon and earth to these points are equal and are 238,000 miles while the from the earth and the moon to these points form an angle of 60 degrees with the line joining the centers of the earth and the moon.

  NASA found that Lagrange Point L2 was almost directly above the spot from where the initial moon signal originated according to the available data and hence was an ideal point at which to station the first satellite to pick up the signal. The second satellite that was to be a relay unit was to be located at Lagrange Point L4 which had direct line of sight with the earth as well as the first satellite at L2.

  Once again, as news of the planned missions was spreading around the world, the public were very interested and expressed their great enthusiasm in supporting the exploratory missions. Major companies in USA and other international corporations offered ready support. Project funding now seemed to be the least problem! This was very encouraging for SETI Institute. Space exploration enthusiasts were very optimistic that the investments on this project would give a unique return - by way of solving many issues relating to mystic curiosity of the human psyche.

  The project attracted enormous publicity, almost completely dwarfing all the other important events that were happening around the world at the time. It was difficult to find anybody who did not know about the moon signal. Even children in pre-schools were talking about and drawing pictures relating to the moon signal and the gossip around it. The entire world population was impatient to know more.

  NASA scientists responded with no delay whatsoever to design, plan, manufacture and follow up on all the activities that were necessary to expedite the dispatch of the two satellites to moon orbit. After 13 months of hard work, NASA successfully launched the two satellites; one after the other within a time span of 1 day. Five days after the launch, NASA ground controllers managed to position the satellites at the two Luna-stationery orbits as planned. The preparatory work on the ‘messaging network’ to transmit and receive the intermediate signals and the all-important source signal was checked and completed as planned.

  All the hard work, enthusiasm and high hopes of the NASA and SETI Institute staff were however subject to the same disappointment that the first monitoring satellite faced. This time perhaps even more as the eighth day followed the seventh with ‘no result’. The monitoring satellite had not received any signal this time even on the eighth day. Checking and re-checking of the coordinates of the previously established location, repeated testing of the instruments and computer programs, nothing seemed productive. The Eighth day with ‘no result’ had set off a freeze within the NASA – SETI Institute group as well as the enthusiastic public. As the news was aired, most people in the world, especially the science community who anticipated new discoveries from this exploration were thoroughly disappointed. As had happened previously, critics blamed various institutions for wasting money. Some said the entire project was a hoax. Others said that the aliens were maintaining radio silence to avoid detection. However NASA kept on without interruption to look for a signal as the days passed. They were very hopeful of detecting it again as their first satellite launched a year ago, had positively confirmed the existence of the signal. For SETI Institute staff who, were all quite used to handling disappointment and were well experienced in exercising patience, the bad news of the past eight days was merely nothing. They still had not given up hope of receiving the signal again. This time it was the symmetrical number of eleven that turned out to be the lucky number. On the 11th day a signal was detected. Suddenly there was no more tiredness; everywhere there was alertness to acknowledge the receipt of the moon signal. TV stations stopped all their regular broadcasts and started flashing the news on the moon signal. People at offices stopped their work and logged into the internet or tuned into their radios or rush
ed to the closest TV screen to know more about the exhilarating news.

  The signals received from the monitoring and relay satellite combination was in a very steady stream. The receiver station on earth was able to record all the data coming directly from the moon source. The signal definitely appeared to have coded information. The media could not present much detail to the public other than stating that the satellite has detected an alien signal and it was ongoing. TV stations broadcast a few pictures of the moon taken by the satellite showing the area from which the signal was emanating. For the people it was merely one more familiar picture of the moon surface that they had seen before. The live TV broadcast was continuing in some channels with technical experts and non-experts commenting on the hypothetical possibilities related to the mystery. Unfortunately this exciting period did not last long. An unbroken signal lasted 1 hour and 12 minutes and abruptly ceased. Everybody wondered why? Nobody could give a reason. The signal did not appear thereafter. Attempts to re-detect the signal were continued over a long time but with no luck.

  Having worked together for very many years, by now, all the prominent scientists in the SETI Institute and NASA were one big coherent family. They had been living and breathing these developments, successes and failures together. Though they did not have a definite conclusion as to what happened to the signal, many opinions were tabled for discussion and evaluation. One of the scientists was concentrating on whether there was some sort of relationship amongst the dates on which they detected the signal. By developing and running a special computer program that he had formulated to study this fact, he discovered that the days on which the signal was detected in the past, fell into a mathematical linear series of fourteen. Based on this finding, he predicted that there was a great likelihood that the signal would reappear on the fourteenth day after the previous encounter. The tension was mounting at SETI-NASA center on the thirteenth day as they had not detected a signal up to then. All eyes, ears, hearts and the instruments were keenly focused from the very first second of the fourteenth day.

  Bingo!

  What great joy, the monitoring satellite received the signal a few hours after the dawn of the fourteenth day. It was the “Eureka!” moment. Everybody was thrilled. The scientist who had this exceptionally smart discovery was congratulated for his brilliant prediction. NASA was once again busy in getting on with their work. As noticed in the first mission, the signal ceased abruptly after about an hour. Receipt of the signal became a common occurrence thereafter on every fourteenth day. Each time it only lasted around one hour to one and a half hours. The team presumed that the fourteen day signal cycle could be something to do with the twenty eight day cycle of the moon. But none of the team members were able to give any specific reason as to why it was happening this way.

  Now the main interest was to figure out who or what it was that was sending the signal and what information there was in the signal. The fourteen day signal cycle brought in more curiosity as it implied it was a planned signal rather than a randomly generated signal. Scientists realized that clearly, the signal had some form of coded information though they were unable to decode the content.

  By this time the media had all sorts of stories associated with the signal. These stories were from the general public as well as from world renowned intellectuals including space scientists. Programs and articles published through the mass media indicated that there could be highly intelligent people living in the moon’s underground. One group of scientists stated that these signal waves may be due to geological activity occurring inside the moon; that were hitherto unknown to mankind. They connected their reasoning to the moon’s rotation around the earth on a 28 day cycle. Some geologists even produced mathematical formulae to prove this hypothesis and published papers for consideration of the scientific community. Another group said the radio waves could have been set off by creatures like electric eels living in the moon’s underground. Yet others said there could be massive rivers and living colonies in the moon’s underground. The organizations affiliated in supporting the concept of UFOs, opined that the signals were sent out by alien established radio stations and emphasized the possibilities of aliens living on the moon. Surfacing from this multitude of ideas, the undeniably apparent fact was the enormous interest shown by the general public. Everybody who had been following this was quite unable to have peace of mind due to the mystic implications of the findings. This is how our mind works – we need to have answers to nagging mystic questions. The enormous urge many had was to know the reason for this fourteen day intermittent signal and whether there was somebody behind its origination.

  NASA-SETI Institute was able to detect the signal on every 14th day without exception. Most times the signal lasted around one hour while on some days it lasted for up to one and a half hours. The shortest time was 23 minutes. The information coded in the signal had been similar all the time. The team was quite convinced that the codes were not randomly generated. In other words, it appeared that the signal was definitely from a stable source and the information was coded to denote something or for some purpose. Four months had now elapsed after the first detection of the fortnightly signal by the monitoring satellite. During these four months, recording of the signal and regular analysis of the data contained was carried out continually. But to add to the mystery, there was no breakthrough in decoding of the data. The team of experts did not have any leading clues to proceed further.

  The NASA-SETI Institute team was contemplating the steps that should be taken next. Considering the unexpected level of global support forthcoming, it was apparent that financing of another additional stage to “Know more about the moon signal - Project” would not be an issue. The task was to determine the most feasible next step to be implemented. As many suggested, the best option would be sending of a manned probe. But it would be ten years down the line. An accelerated program of eight years was a possibility for a manned probe, but at an enormously increased cost. The other counter suggestion that emerged was to take up the whole issue for a comprehensive review in the first place. After detailed study, analysis and brain storming a broad proposal was brought up for discussion. This was a proposal structured with the idea of implementing the exploration mission in three phases.

  Phase 1 planning, evolved to the use of two more satellites. One was to replace the existing satellite which was in L2 position in Luna-stationary orbit with advanced instruments of receiving and transmitting capabilities and the other was to be placed in a low altitude orbit for reconnaissance purposes. The first satellite was to interact with the source and attempt to elicit a response to a radio signal beamed to it. If the signals detected earlier by earth were originated by intelligent beings, they might respond or react to the signals beamed by the satellite. The low orbital satellite was chiefly to be deployed to perform various reconnaissance tasks around the vicinity of the signal location. This satellite was to have capabilities of communicating with the first satellite when it was moving on the far side of the moon and with the second one at L4 when it was on the near side of the moon.

  The team thought that they could come up with some simple signal coding system, which could be transmitted to the moon source, to convey that another party was trying to communicate with it. In a nutshell, this was the principal idea, however, it needed pooling of a wide range of expertise to formulate a workable plan covering all the different aspects that were necessary to be addressed. The estimate for the phase 1 plan time frame including the necessary satellite launch was in the region of fourteen months.

  Phase 2, involved sending a probe like the Mars Rover, that could scout around the area of the signal generation point and get a close up look of the signal transmitting area by employing several types of remote sensing devices. This probe was to have a high powered mast type drill capable of drilling to a depth of up to 100 feet into the moon’s surface and also to be separately equipped with compact ultra-sonic instruments to study the sub-surface conditio
ns of the moon. However, the specific research and investigating capabilities of the probe were to be reviewed (and expanded if necessary), close to the time of its manufacture and assembly, by the team of experts selected to work out the specifics. Most of the team members who were involved in the successful Mars Probes Projects (Spirit and Opportunity) were invited and readily agreed to head the team functions to take over the Phase 2 planning, design and implementation. NASA-SETI Institute officials expected that the outcome of Phase 1 of the project would provide the Phase 2 team with clues for reviewing, decision making and perfecting their objectives. The timeline for Phase 2 was set at twenty two months.

  Phase 3, comprised landing a manned craft similar to Apollo 17 with a moon rover to drive around the signal area. Addition of a moon rover was an obvious choice, though details were very sketchy at this stage. Phase 3 plans were confined to a very broad spectrum of ideas only. The team understood that this was at least ten years down the line. However, The NASA-SETI Institute team jointly decided that they should commence on all the preliminary planning and design tasks immediately. The NASA-SETI Institute team anticipated referring to the Phase 1 and Phase 2 findings at an appropriate facet of the Phase 3 works to ensure refinement of the final form and scope of the project. Phase 1 and Phase 2 findings would dictate the changes to be made to the designs and operational segments of the Phase 3 tasks or might even lead to the complete abandoning of Phase 3 works, if the signal turned out to be nothing more than ‘cosmic noise’ or had no merit to make further endeavor worthwhile.

  After the decision was made to proceed with the project it was inaugurated formally with very much emphasis placed on conforming to the planned target dates for each segment of activity.

  Phase 1 project work was already underway in the designing of the two satellites; one with receiving and transmitting capability to ‘communicate’ with the moon signal source and the other low orbital one for reconnaissance tasks. As the L2 position that was vertically above the signal was to be occupied by this new satellite, the earlier monitoring satellite would be directed to fire its rockets to drift out of orbit and crash into a ‘debris’ spot on the near side of the moon. The ‘crash’ procedure was to be initiated eight to twelve days ahead of the Phase 1 launch. The existing second satellite - the one with the line of sight from earth at the equilibrium position of L4 could however continue to function as the “Relay Unit”. It had all the tracking hardware, jets to adjust its orientation etc. and the necessary transponders for communication with the Phase 1 satellite as well as the earth station. It had sufficient solar supplementation of battery power to work for over fifteen years. The team was more than confident that this arrangement would work without any technical glitches. Due to the re-usability of this satellite, the work involved reduced considerably and also helped to suppress additional expenditure. However, the replacement satellite at the far side at L2 would have to be larger, with additional propellant storage tanks and somewhat added features of a much larger Photo Voltaic array especially to supply the energy required to transmit highly penetrative and intense radio waves. While Phase 2 and Phase 3 project works were mostly restricted to the drawing boards, The Phase 1 part of the project was on the fast track and being carried through smoothly and without delay. A separate team was deployed to develop a language communications system to interact with the moon’s signal source. Initially they suggested something similar to “Morse code” however, later, during brain storming sessions, it was realized that Morse code was too complicated for easy comprehension as it was associated with a particular (English) language. As such a need was seen for the basis of signaling to be developed in a form independent of human language. The communications system had to have characteristics to teach the receiver that someone was trying to communicate with them. Also, it had to be simple to enable the receiver to understand the message quickly and transmit back its responses in an appropriate mode. If on basic interaction it was seen that there was a measure of even primitive understanding, the fundamental focus was to have adequate flexibility to develop a two way communication process that both parties could understand. The most important thing was to make it as simple as possible.