LONDON — The search for extraterrestrial life received a major boost Monday with the launch of an ambitious $100 million program, backed by famed physicist Stephen Hawking and tech billionaire Yuri Milner.
Combining unprecedented computing capacity with the world’s most powerful telescopes, Hawking and the Russian-born Milner seek to intensify the search for life beyond Earth.
Hawking explained the reason for the project: “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”
Milner, who made a fortune through investments in companies such as Facebook, said the power of Silicon Valley technology and innovation would be used.
Organizers say the “Breakthrough Initiatives” project is the biggest ever scientific search for alien life.
It includes a “listening” program — the effort to analyze vast amounts of radio signals in search of signs of life — and a “messaging” program that will include $1 million in prizes for digital messages that best represent Earth. The Associated Press
