Heaven at SETI's Doorstep Page 8
The signal strength of the moon source as detected by “Hi” and relayed to the SETI-NASA command center had been unvarying over the first 15 minutes. The instruments on the satellite reconfirmed the fact that the signal originated from below the surface of the moon by a distance of at least 30ft. As planned, the time had arrived for the SETI-NASA team to transmit the “dot”, “dot”, “dot” and “dot”, “dot”, “dot”, “dot” radio waves to the target. In an atmosphere charged with expectant hope and optimism, with all eyes and ears focused on the instrument panels, the transmission from “Hi” was initiated. The transmission was maintained for five minutes paused for two minutes and the pattern was repeated. The pauses were deliberately introduced to prompt and capture the attention of the source. Even if the source reciprocated while the “dot”, “dot”, “dot” signal burst was on, the instruments in the satellite were capable of detecting a direct response or a variation in the pattern or intensity of the so far steady moon signal. The electronic ears were on in continuous listening mode. Unfortunately, no indication even remotely resembling a response was detected for the next sixty seven minutes at which point the signal died away abruptly. The cessation of the signal was not unexpected, but the silence that met the signal of greeting from “Hi” was very disappointing considering all the hard work put in and the enormous expectations of the staff at the SETI-NASA command center.
However though the lack of a response from the moon’s signal source was no doubt a setback, other planned tasks in the overall program had to be executed. The satellite “Buddy” was used by the teams in conducting a wide range of investigative activities. Buddy had cameras with extremely powerful and high resolution type telephoto capture facilities to photograph the signal source area. These cameras are of a type used in agricultural crop measurement, geological and topography mapping and similar purposes. The cameras in the satellite were of the highest refinement and capability with full color and 3D capability. It could read a bill board of 30ft x 30ft size and reproduce a clear image easily even at its miles long orbiting distance. This gives an indication of the quality of pictures that could be expected. The lack of an atmosphere on the moon also contributed to the enhancement of the quality of the pictures. The pictures were taken continuously according to a planned program. From time to time the camera mode was turned on to produce 3D images and other multi-resolution pictures. Towards the latter part of the picture taking program, the schedule also included taking pictures of other proximate areas that were chosen as places of interest. These included a few craters, deep valleys and flat terrain in close proximity to the source area. A special panel of image scientists had instant access to these high resolution optical images no sooner they were received by the SETI-NASA command center for their evaluation and analysis.
This satellite also had infrared (IR) thermograph camera equipment. Infrared thermograph equipment is quite different from night vision equipment. Night vision equipment amplifies the faint night light and permits seeing in the dark. IR cameras are designed to detect the thermal energy emitted by objects and produce images depicting their temperature variations and therefore IR imaging is not affected by light intensity. High temperature objects radiate more heat than cold objects. When viewed through a thermograph camera against a cooler background on the earth, humans and other animals could easily be detected and depicted as images. The thermo graphic images that were to be taken on the signal area had its own group of experts to process and interpret the images.
From previous missions, NASA had surface maps of the entire moon with a modest degree of details of its mineral composition. However, the satellite “Buddy” was equipped with a highly technologically advanced instrument known as an infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer able to map the mineral composition around the signal area with very great accuracy. The satellite also had the most developed subsurface sounding radar altimeter. The purpose of the subsurface sounding radar altimeter was firstly to find water. The technique was to bounce radar waves off the source area and to receive and analyze the “echoes”. If there were near-surface liquid water accumulations the bouncing signal would be stronger than if the signal bounced off a hard surface. Secondly, the thickness of the dust layer that covered the source area could be determined. Thirdly, the surface materials around the signal spot could be characterized. The satellite had a purpose built set of special antennae with a span of 100ft, for these purposes. Other hardware packed in the satellite had capabilities to determine the surface chemistry around the source spot, including detecting the presence of moisture, gases or any other emissions from the sub-surface. All these scientific data were to be channeled to separate experts specialized in the respective fields.
The SETI-NASA team was now preparing for their next fourteenth day signal detection and messaging routine. The action plan remained more or less the same. As regards the transmission of a LASER signal in addition to the radio signal beamed by “Hi”, it would be tried out after first having the radio signal on for 35 minutes. If any feedback was obtained within these 35 minutes, the radio signals would be continued with and the LASER signal will not be beamed. There was still a lot of expectation and hope of establishing a reciprocating communication arrangement with the signal source. But some riddles yet remained!
After expert review of the photographic images and various other data based on a range of tests and measurements, the principal commanders had a more detailed understanding of the area around the signal source. The image scientists were amazed at the pictures that they saw. They confirmed that the signal location was situated in an area with a vast layer of lunar regolith that had been subjected to agglutination. This finding was supported by the scientists who were involved with the infrared mineralogical spectrometer mapping. Agglutinated lunar regolith is the translucent material mentioned earlier. Most lunar regolith material samples that the Apollo program brought back to earth between 1969 and 1972 was translucent. But the surface material in the pictures appeared to be exceptionally translucent and spread out wide. A major portion of this area was covered with common moon dust and debris from meteorite impacts. The 3D pictures and the sounding radar altimeter gave an assessment of the terrain and the thickness of the dust layers. Pictures zoomed on the signal spot indicated a wide patch of smooth textured transparent surface. The dust layer in this area was only a few inches deep. At some spots the smooth surface layer was very clearly exposed and looked like glass. As the pictures were mostly concentrated on the signal source area, the images that were planned to be taken on craters, deep valleys and flat terrain were not available at this stage for assessment of the surrounding areas. The infrared imaging investigations performed on the signal spot revealed temperature differences between the surface and the underground. As the surface temperature depends on the time and the sector of the moon’s day, the data that was available so far was not sufficient to yield a meaningful interpretation of the results. However, an observation that stood out was that the subsurface temperature at the signal source area throughout the last 12 earth days was relatively steady. It was 72◦F compared to the surface temperature fluctuation of 12◦F to 220◦F. This was quite unexpected.
From the first phase of investigations performed through the infrared mineralogical mapping spectrometer, the dust on the signal area was inferred to be silicon based with a high percentage of Iron and Nickel. These results tallied with the details NASA already had from various previous renaissance missions.
The preliminary results obtained through the sounding radar altimeter showed leading evidence to conclude that the signal area had a hollow subsurface. In fact some results showed that the surface thickness above the cavity was in the range of 4 to 25 feet. To the scientists, this was a remarkable finding because of the astounding fact that the actual source of the signal was about 30 feet below ground level. The longitudinal extent of the cavity was yet to be investigated and establish
ed. Water vapor was not found on the surface. SETI Institute and NASA were very tight lipped about these findings and none of the findings were released to the public. However, media representatives were kept happy by giving them a general version of the progress of the project.
As expected the moon signal was received on the 14th day. The satellite’s “dot”, “dot”, “dot” and “dot”, “dot”, “dot”, “dot” radio waves were targeted at the signal source. This time the SETI-NASA team had Buddy’s imaging cameras focused at the signal spot and recorded images every half second so as to detect any activity at the spot. As on the previous occasion, the satellite did not receive any response from the signal spot. It was the same old monotonous signal with a steady stream of useless data without any variation in content. NASA anticipated some intermittent breaks or differing modulation patterns in the signal in response to their message. Regrettably, none of these anticipated responses were noticed during the first 35 minutes. The SETI-NASA team decided to adopt their game plan B; that was the fire-up of the LASER beam with the same “dot”, “dot”, “dot” and “dot”, “dot”, “dot”, “dot” sequence with intermittent 2 minutes of pause. This was kept on for nearly 26 minutes, until the moon signal stopped. No response was received from the signal source during this entire period.
From the data gathered during the LASER beam transmission event, the SETI-NASA team realized that that the moon’s surface at the signal area exhibited the properties of glass as the LASER beams easily penetrated the surface material. This piece of evidence was another remarkable fact for the disappointed but information hungry team. The immediate question that arose in everybody’s mind was whether they had detected the glass dome of an alien moon base?
This thought was not new and was a big media speculation in 1994 after the US navy sent the satellite “Clementine” to the moon to compile a perfect moon map. Out of the 1.8 million images Clementine took, 170,000 images were released to the public. The rest was treated as classified. Third party groups who analyzed these pictures, claimed to have found incredibly massive artificial structures on the moon in the basin of the “Tycho” Crater. Some of these pictures had been censored later by NASA. One of the structures was a massive glass dome like. It looked like a woven bird’s nest. This was a hot topic at that time. In 1994 a group backing the claim of existence of UFO’s declared this dome as the greatest discovery in history. They said the government and military agencies knew about this for decades but were concealing it from the public. They further said that the alien moon base had been there for tens of thousands of years. Existence of such a dome was denied by the NASA scientists with facts and figures but some skeptical persons still believe the government was not disclosing the truth. However, this particular dome was on the far side of the moon at a location not anywhere close to the spot that the moon signal was emanating from.
All analysis of the images taken by Buddy on the signal spot at 30 second intervals, on the day the satellite “Hi” was in touch with the moon signal, was now complete. It revealed yet another strange fact. The dust on the surface at the signal source spot seemed to be drifting to a side. These dust movements were noticed during the time the moon signal was being beamed. This movement of dust was not apparent on any other day. Many more images were taken later to confirm that this was not happening on the other days, when Buddy was flying over the spot. Scientists were busy in reasoning out why it was happening. If it was due to some blowing over the moon’s surface, why was it not happening on the other days? However, no instruments fitted on board Buddy detected a blowing over the surface. The atmosphere over the moon’s surface was virtually non-existent. But there have been NASA studies of this effect as this event has also been detected before at different parts on the moon. NASA had explanations as to why some parts of the moon demonstrated levitating dust. These explanations suggested that the dust on the surface can levitate due to continual bombardment of high energy radiation from the sun in the forms of UV, X-rays, and solar wind plasma, combined with the magnetosphere. But such an explanation cannot be applied to the signal spot, simply because the movement was seen only when the moon signal was present. So, the reason for dust movement was still a mystery, unless it could be totally attributed to the moon signal.
One of the priority tasks planned for “Buddy” at the next encounter of the signal, was to confirm the dust movement happening once more. A question as to whether the moon signal had anything to do with the dust movement arose. NASA also had scientists who researched on dust removal techniques for the previous moon missions. During the Apollo missions a dust removal technology was developed using electrostatic and di-electrophoretic forces to prevent accumulation of dust on solar panels. Scientists who continued their research on this subject were consulted to ascertain whether the radio wave phenomenon could be correlated to dust movement on the moon’s surface. They seemed to think that it was highly probable but had their reservations due to lack of specific technical data on the signal.
As a desperate attempt to prompt the source to respond, instead of waiting for another 14 days to capture the signal, The SETI-NASA team decided to continue the “dot”, “dot”, “dot” and “dot”, “dot”, “dot”, “dot” sequence of radio waves and LASER beam signal to operate in parallel and continuously in alternating ‘on’ and pause mode.