SETI Efforts to Search for Aliens with Grant Funds of IDR 3.1 Trillion

JAKARTA – The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) received a grant of 200 million US dollars (IDR 3.1 trillion) from technology entrepreneur and one of the founders of Qualcomm, Franklin Antonnio.

Before being declared dead on May 13 last year, Franklin worked for 12 years with SETI. Even though he is no longer part of the SETI project, Franklin is still considered to have contributed through the grant funds provided.

These funds will be very useful for SETI. So far, efforts to search for alien life have not been easy and SETI requires a lot of sophisticated tools with a lot of money.

Providing this grant funding has also greatly benefited SETI. Carl Sagan Research Center Director Nathalie Cabrol said the grant will have a major impact on all areas of research at SETI.

"This will give our team the freedom to pursue their own science priorities and to examine the technological, philosophical, and social impacts of their (the researchers') research on our daily lives on Earth," said Nathalie, quoted by VOI from Space.

SETI was founded in 1984 to search for alien life and technology in the solar system. The organization employs more than 100 scientists in hundreds of separate programs.

Even though it has been around for decades, SETI has not found any signs of alien civilization. However, SETI did not stop looking for this civilization considering that humans have only explored a small part of the cosmos.

Currently, SETI is targeting the discovery of aliens in 2036. They are optimistic about this program because the computers they use are said to be more sophisticated than before and are able to listen to foreign signals in outer space.