Information theory,animal communication,and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence

We present ongoing research in the application of information theory to animal communication systems with the goal of developing additional detectors and estimators for possible extraterrestrial intelligent signals. Regardless of the species, for intelligence (i.e., complex knowledge) to be transmitted certain rules of information theory must still be obeyed. We demonstrate some preliminary results of applying information theory to socially complex marine mammal species (bottlenose dolphins and humpback whales) as well as arboreal squirrel monkeys, because they almost exclusively rely on vocal signals for their communications, producing signals which can be readily characterized by signal analysis. Metrics such as Zipf's Law and higher-order information-entropic structure are emerging as indicators of the communicative complexity characteristic of an “intelligent message” content within these animals’ signals, perhaps not surprising given these species’ social complexity. In addition to human languages, for comparison we also apply these metrics to pulsar signals—perhaps (arguably) the most “organized” of stellar systems—as an example of astrophysical systems that would have to be distinguished from an extraterrestrial intelligence message by such information theoretic filters. We also look at a message transmitted from Earth (Arecibo Observatory) that contains a lot of meaning but little information in the mathematical sense we define it here. We conclude that the study of non-human communication systems on our own planet can make a valuable contribution to the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence by providing quantitative general measures of communicative complexity. Studying the complex communication systems of other intelligent species on our own planet may also be one of the best ways to deprovincialize our thinking about extraterrestrial communication systems in general.     

SETI in the light of cosmic convergent evolution

Theodosius Dobzhansky, one of the founding fathers of the modern evolutionary synthesis, once famously stated that “nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution”. Here it will be argued that nothing in astrobiology makes sense except in the light of “Cosmic Convergent Evolution” (CCE). This view of life contends that natural selection is a universal force of nature that leads to the emergence of similarly adapted life forms in analogous planetary biospheres. Although SETI historically preceded the rise of astrobiology that we have witnessed in the recent decade, one of its main tenets from the beginning was the convergence of life on a cosmic scale toward intelligent behavior and subsequent communication via technological means. The question of cultural convergence in terms of symbolic exchange, language and scientific capabilities between advanced interstellar civilizations has been the subject of ongoing debate. However, at the core of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence lies in essence a biological problem since even post-biological extraterrestrial intelligences must have had an origin based on self-replicating biopolymers. Thus, SETI assumes a propensity of the Universe towards biogenesis in accordance with CCE, a new evolutionary concept which posits the multiple emergence of life across the Cosmos. Consequently, we have to wonder about the biophilic properties the Universe apparently exhibits, as well as to try to find an encompassing theory that is able to explain this “fine-tuning” in naturalistic terms. The aims of this paper are as follows: 1) to emphasize the importance of convergent evolution in astrobiology and ongoing SETI research; 2) to introduce novel and biology-centered cosmological ideas such as the “Selfish Biocosm Hypothesis” and the “Evo Devo Universe” as valuable arguments in theorizing about the origin and nature of extraterrestrial intelligence and 3) to synthesize these findings within an emerging post-biological paradigm on which future SETI efforts may be founded.     

SETI meets a social intelligence: Dolphins as a model for real-time interaction and communication with a sentient species

In the past SETI has focused on the reception and deciphering of radio signals from potential remote civilizations. It is conceivable that real-time contact and interaction with a social intelligence may occur in the future. A serious look at the development of relationship, and deciphering of communication signals within and between a non-terrestrial, non-primate sentient species is relevant. Since 1985 a resident community of free-ranging Atlantic spotted dolphins has been observed regularly in the Bahamas. Life history, relationships, regular interspecific interactions with bottlenose dolphins, and multi-modal underwater communication signals have been documented. Dolphins display social communication signals modified for water, their body types, and sensory systems. Like anthropologists, human researchers engage in benign observation in the water and interact with these dolphins to develop rapport and trust. Many individual dolphins have been known for over 20 years. Learning the culturally appropriate etiquette has been important in the relationship with this alien society. To engage humans in interaction the dolphins often initiate spontaneous displays, mimicry, imitation, and synchrony. These elements may be emergent/universal features of one intelligent species contacting another for the intention of initiating interaction. This should be a consideration for real-time contact and interaction for future SETI work.     

Space security through the transatlantic partnership

On 12–14 June 2011, a conference was convened in Prague entitled ”Space Security through the Transatlantic Partnership“, co-sponsored by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and the Prague Security Studies Institute (PSSI). It was the first non-governmental transatlantic conference of its kind dedicated to this topic, attended by over 100 senior space policy officials and high-level representatives of multilateral institutions, NGOs, academia, and industry from Europe, the USA, and Japan. The overarching goal of the conference was to solicit and assess both converging and diverging views on the multifaceted subject of space security and to seek to establish an on-going “Track II” non-governmental process designed to assist with the crafting of a future architecture for the management of this key dimension of space policy on a trilateral, and eventually global, basis. This report summarizes the proceedings.     

INTERBALL-1 Observations of the Kilometric “Continuum” of the Earth's Magnetosphere

The electromagnetic radio-frequency emission of the inner region of the Earth's plasmasphere discovered recently by the GEOTAIL satellite [4] and referred to as the kilometric continuum was observed by the INTERBALL-1 satellite (1995–2000) in the 100–500 kHz band in the AKR-X experiment. During a period of low solar activity (1995–1997), this continuum was found leaving the inner plasmasphere at geocentric distances of 2–4R _E as isolated pencil-like (1°–6°) beams located in the magnetic equator plane. During a time of high solar activity (1999–2000), the occurrence of the emission was extremely rare (it was observed only at a considerable fall of this activity). If detected, at the same geocentric distances (2–4R _E) the continuum demonstrated a strongly variable and perturbed character, as well as a considerably larger extension of the beam over the geomagnetic latitude (10°–20° and more). In addition, quasi-periodic (QP) signals, similar to the observed QP emissions of Jupiter, were sometimes detected in this period. The probable nature of the observed features of the kilometric continuum is briefly discussed.     

An international symbol for the sustained exploration of space

As humanity prepares to extend its reach beyond low-Earth-orbit for the first time since the 1970s, a new symbol of international cooperation is needed to further promote the message of peace and collaboration such exploration entails. The space race that occurred between the USSR and the USA is an ill-suited model for long-term sustained space exploration because it is too costly and too resource-intensive for a single nation to bear. While competition is healthy for technology development, the success of a sustained space exploration strategy lies beyond technological capabilities. It lies in international cooperation, space policy, and public support. Without these, no program can realistically achieve a sustained presence in space beyond low-Earth orbit. To this effect, this paper proposes a cost-effective first step in the form of a universal symbol which, when placed alongside national flags displayed on hardware and astronaut/cosmonaut/taikonaut flight-suits, would send a strong message to the world that space exploration is done for the benefit of humanity as a whole, not just for spacefaring nations. The “Blue Marble”, the first complete picture of Earth taken from space by humans in 1972, fits this universally appealing symbol. This symbol requires no political collaboration between countries, yet is an image that anyone, anywhere in the world, can relate to regardless of nationality, ethnic origin or religious beliefs. Placed on the shoulder pads of human ’nauts – ambassadors of planet Earth – or prominently displayed on spacebound hardware, this symbol would send a universal message to present and future generations that, in space, our planet is working together for the benefit of everyone.     

A protocol for messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence

Messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence (METI) is a branch of study concerned with constructing and broadcasting a message toward habitable planets. Since the Arecibo message of 1974, the handful of METI broadcasts have increased in content and complexity, but the lack of an established protocol has produced unorganized or cryptic messages that could be difficult to interpret. Here we outline the development of a self-consistent protocol for messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence that provides constraints and guidelines for the construction of a message in order to maximize the probability that the message effectively communicates. A METI protocol considers several factors, including signal encoding, message length, information content, anthropocentrism, transmission method, and transmission periodicity. Once developed, the protocol will be released for testing on different human groups worldwide and across cultural boundaries. An effective message to extraterrestrials should at least be understandable by humans; releasing the protocol for testing will allow us to improve the protocol and develop potential messages. Through an interactive website, users across the world will be able to create and exchange messages that follow the protocol in order to discover the types of message better suited to cross-cultural communication. The development of a METI protocol will serve to improve the quality of messages to extraterrestrials, foster international collaboration, and extend astrobiology outreach to the public.     

Space and maritime security–strategies for countering the pirates

Following previous work on space and internal security as part of the European Space Policy Institute's (ESPI) Space and Security programme, ESPI initiated a workshop dealing with an issue of high political as well as public concern – using space as an instrument in the broader strategic context of maritime security – together with the Austrian Institute for European and Security Policy (AIES), which has special expertise in security matters related to Europe. Over 50 high-ranking professionals took part in the 30 November 2009 event, “Space and Maritime Security - Strategies and Capabilities to Counter Piracy”, held at the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKÖ) in Vienna. The use of space assets for maritime security has moved up the political agenda as a result of the reliance of the EU ATALANTA NAVFOR mission on services and data provided by the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC). The workshop therefore addressed technological capabilities as well as industrial approaches in the context of the political framework conditions. It provided a dialogue between space and non-space security communities.     

L׳ADROIT – A spaceborne ultraviolet laser system for space debris clearing

Small (1–10 cm) debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) are extremely dangerous, because they spread the breakup cascade. Pulsed laser active debris removal using laser ablation jets on target is the most cost-effective way to re-enter the small debris. No other solutions address the whole problem of large (~100 cm, 1 t) as well as small debris. Physical removal of small debris (by nets, tethers and so on) is uneconomical because of the energy cost of matching orbits. In this paper, we present a completely new proposal relative to our earlier work. This new approach uses rapid, head-on interaction in 10–40 s rather than 4 minutes, using 20–40 kW bursts of 100 ps, 355 nm UV pulses from a 1.5 m diameter aperture on a space-based station in LEO. The station employs “heat-capacity” laser mode with low duty cycle to create an adaptable, robust, dual-mode system which can lower or raise large derelict objects into less dangerous orbits, as well as clear out the small debris in a 400-km thick LEO band. Time-average laser optical power is less than 15 kW. The combination of short pulses and UV wavelength gives lower required fluence on target as well as higher momentum coupling coefficient. An orbiting system can have short range because of high interaction rate deriving from its velocity through the debris field. This leads to much smaller mirrors and lower average power than the ground-based systems we have considered previously. Our system also permits strong defense of specific assets. Analysis gives an estimated cost less than $1 k each to re-enter most small debris in a few months, and about 280 k$ each to raise or lower 1-ton objects by 40 km. We believe it can do this for 2000 such large objects in about four years. Laser ablation is one of the few interactions in nature that propel a distant object without any significant reaction on the source.     

Metalaw and relations with intelligent beings revisited

A body of Metalaw must be recognized or established in order to anticipate the discovery of an incident of intelligent life indigenous to a place or dimension outside the realm and comprehension of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) as understood on the planet Earth. It has been said that the limits of your language are the limits of your world. Recognition of life and communication between intelligent beings is and will be the determining factor in humankind's world of the future. But what is the correct language to use in the search for ETI? Philosophical, legal and sociological realities will govern our future as beings of the universe and beyond. This is a study which must be pursued and perfected to the extent of our abilities prior to the immediacy of our need. Such study was begun many years ago by the best of our scholars but their activities are not well known today. In arguing for the need to proceed with our evolving discoveries of realities and possibilities, this article also brings to light the earlier work of jurists and philosophers on relationships with ETI.     

An ethical duty: Let astronautical development unfold – to make the people more secure

In examining alternative space-development models, one observes that Heinlein postulated the first Moon flight as the outcome of the focused action of an individual – building upon an ample commercial aerospace transportation infrastructure. The same technological basis and entrepreneurial drive would then sustain a fast human and economic expansion on three new planets. Instead, historically, humans reached the Moon thanks to a “Faustian bargain” between astronautical developers and governments. This approach brought the early Apollo triumphs, but it also created the presumption of this method as the sole one for enabling space development. Eventually, the application of this paradigm caused the decline of the astronautical endeavor. Thus, just as conventional methods became unable to sustain the astronautical endeavor, space development appeared as vital, e.g., to satisfy the people?s basic needs (metabolic resources, energy, materials, and space), as shown elsewhere. Such an endeavor must grow from actions generating new wealth through commercial activities to become self-supporting. Acquisition and distribution of multiform space resources call, however, for a sound ethical environment, as predatory governments can easily forfeit those resources.     

Moon first versus flexible path exploration strategies: Considering international contributions

This paper analyses potential future collaborative space exploration architectures in terms of 1) the technical capabilities of contributing partners; and 2) the constraints imposed by internal and international politics. We find that when international partners are considered endogenously, the argument for a “flexible path” approach is weakened substantially. This is because international contributions can make “Moon first” economically feasible; and characteristics of proposed “flexible path” approaches may preclude international involvement because of the disproportionate risk that those contributions inherently bear. This could have serious implications for future collaborations. We also note that while there are multiple feasible collaborative architectures, there is currently substantial overlap among the potential niche contributions identified by the international partners.     

Observations in the thermal IR and visible of a retired satellite in the graveyard orbit,and comparisons to active satellites in GEO

There exists a population of defunct satellites in the geo-stationary arc that potentially pose a hazard to current and future operational satellites. These drifting, non-station-kept objects have a variety of ages and sizes, and many are trapped in libration orbits around the Earth?s two gravitational potential wells (the non-spherical nature of the Earth gives rise to two geo-potential wells or “stable points” that affect objects in geostationary and geosynchronous orbits), whereas others were boosted to higher altitudes into so-called “graveyard” orbits.     

Transforming solar system exploration: The origins of the Discovery Program, 1989–1993

The Discovery Program is a rarity in the history of NASA solar system exploration: a reform program that has survived and continued to be influential. This article examines its emergence between 1989 and 1993, largely as the result of the intervention of two people: Stamatios “Tom” Krimigis of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), and Wesley Huntress of NASA, who was Division Director of Solar System Exploration 1990–92 and the Associate Administrator for Space Science 1992–98. Krimigis drew on his leadership experience in the space physics community and his knowledge of its Explorer program to propose that it was possible to create new missions to the inner solar system for a fraction of the existing costs. He continued to push that idea for the next two years, but it took the influence of Huntress at NASA Headquarters to push it on to the agenda. Huntress explicitly decided to use APL to force change on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the planetary science community. He succeeded in moving the JPL Mars Pathfinder and APL Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission proposals forward as the opening missions for Discovery. But it took Krimigis's political skill and access to Sen. Barbara Mikulski in 1993 to get the NEAR into the NASA budget, thereby likely ensuring that Discovery would not become another one-mission program.     

Optical search for extraterrestrial intelligence with Air Cerenkov telescopes

We propose using large Air Cerenkov telescopes (ACTs) to search for optical, pulsed signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. Such dishes collect tens of photons from a nanosecond-scale pulse of isotropic equivalent power of tens of solar luminosities at a distance of 100 pc. The field of view for giant ACTs can be on the order of 10 square degrees, and they will be able to monitor 10-100 stars simultaneously for nanosecond pulses of about 6th magnitude or brighter. Using the Earth's diameter as a baseline, orbital motion of the planet could be detected by timing the pulse arrivals.     

Observations on the evolution of satellite launch volume and cyclicality in the space industry

Satellites have been rightly described as the lifeblood of the entire space industry and the number of satellites ordered or launched per year is an important defining metric of the industry's level of activity, such that trends and variability in this volume have significant strategic impact on the space industry. Over the past 40+ years, hundreds of satellites have been launched every year. Thus an important dataset is available for time series analysis and identification of trends and cycles in the various markets of the space industry. This article reports findings of a study for which we collected data on over 6000 satellites launched since 1960 on a yearly basis. We grouped the satellites into three broad categories – defense and intelligence, science, and commercial satellites – and identified and discussed the main trends and cyclical patterns for each of these. Institutional customers (defense and intelligence, and science) accounted for over two-thirds of all satellites launched within our time period (1960–2008), and, in the 1960s and 1970s, they accounted for 90% and 73.5%, respectively. A fair conclusion from this data is that the space industry was enabled by, and grew because of the institutional customers, not commercial market forces. However, when the launch data is examined more closely, a growing influence of the commercial sector is noticeable. Over the past two decades communication satellites accounted for roughly half of all launches, thus reflecting an important shift in the space industry in which the commercial sector is playing an equal role (on a launch volume basis) to that of the institutional market. Cyclical patterns in the satellite launch volume over the past decade are separately discussed before we sum up with a conclusion.     

微波光子技术在信号情报侦察中的应用研究

由于微波光子技术的宽带特性、低损耗和抗干扰等优势,微波光子技术在信号情报侦察领域已经引起了强烈关注,尤其在微波信号的产生、处理、控制及传输等方面。着重对微波光子中光学真延时光控阵列技术和光学模数转换技术在宽带信号情报侦察系统中的应用进行了研究。分析了当前信号情报侦察系统面临的问题以及利用微波光子技术的解决框架思路,阐述了光学真延时技术和光学高速模数转换技术的基本原理及关键技术实现途径,并对应用前景进行了分析,最后给出结论。     

The “peaceful purposes” principle in outer space and the Russia–China PPWT Proposal

Using the global commons for “peaceful purposes” is agreed upon among states in principle but disputed in substance. While non-militarization has been superceded by the doctrine of non-aggression, the latter, as a necessary rather than sufficient condition for “peaceful purposes”, is tested to its limit by the pressing issue of space weaponization. An international treaty to plug the gaps of the Outer Space Treaty should be negotiated. This would require the prohibition of both weapons in outer space and anti-satellite weapons on Earth. The Draft Treaty on Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space and of the Threat or Use of Force against Outer Space Objects, proposed by Russia and China at the Conference on Disarmament, is an effort in this direction. However, divided views are held on several issues arising from the draft treaty, e.g. the efficiency of the current regime of outer space law, definitions of “weapons in space” and “threat or use of force”, and verification. A primary reason for US opposition to the draft treaty are security concerns over its space assets. However, exercising the right of self-defense is excluded from the obligations of disarmament and this is explicitly affirmed in the draft treaty.     

Visions of exploration

The word “exploration” threads its way through every discussion of human space flight and often headlines national policy statements about the US space agency. Yet this concept, so rooted in our culture, remains remarkably ill-defined. In this paper, we examine various presumptions implicit in the term and its ramifications for federally supported space endeavors. We argue that historical examples of exploration, widely used by policy makers, often make poor models for contemporary space travel. In particular, historical precedents of exploration set up a land-biased view of discovery, a restriction which impedes full expression of the Vision for Space Exploration and its possible scientific returns. These same precedents also set up a view of discovery that is biased toward in situ human presence, a view that modern technology is rendering increasingly absurd.     

Earthly environmentalism and the space exploration movement, 1960–1990: A study in irresolution

Little analysis exists of the interaction between the two most influential modern science-based social movements: space exploration and environmentalism. Since 1970 the term “Spaceship Earth” has been in common usage and the notion that the world requires careful stewardship has been acknowledged. Yet NASA had comparatively little to do with this important process of conceptual change for decades. It was meteorologists and oceanographers, among others, who established new government agencies including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to pioneer areas like climatology. This paper examines how NASA’s view of itself as a “space” agency long underplayed Earth as a part of the Solar System. Conceptual conflicts continue, to the detriment of political and public support for space.