SETI Suffers From Budget Cuts

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The budget crisis has taken its toll on many worthy projects and now it has caused the shutdown of the Allen Telescope array near Hat Creek, California. This project was part of the SETI program, the Search For Extraterristrial Intelligence. These radio telescopes once swept the skies listening for any signs of intelligent signals.

"The nonprofit SETI Institute, the Bay Area organization that runs the Allen Telescope Array, is scrambling to keep the project alive. Proposals under consideration include helping the U.S. Air Force track space debris in return for operating funds, and a "citizen scientist" program that would enable people to link up with radio telescope receivers at a cost of about $5 per minute," writes Louis Sahgun in a May 7, 2011 artile in the Los Angeles Times.

This facility was named for Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.