Join the Quest

What is setiQuest?

For centuries humans have looked at the stars and wondered “are we alone?” Now, setiQuest is an opportunity for you to help answer that question. In 1960, Frank Drake conducted the first scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Since then, scientists from many countries have conducted more than 100 projects looking for communication signals from other civilizations. With the spread of the Internet in the 21^st century, it is now possible for humans around the globe to participate in this new SETI program.

You can participate as a software developer, signal detection algorithm developer, or a citizen scientist.

What is SETI?

SETI is an acronym that stands for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Since we currently have no mechanism for directly discovering intelligence across the vast distances between the stars, we look for something produced by intelligence (at least here on Earth). We attempt to find evidence of another civilization’s technology. At the SETI Institute we search for engineered radio signals using the Allen Telescope Array, and for short bright laser pulses using the optical telescopes at Lick Observatory.