September 24, 2013: The Kepler Telescope and the Future Search for ET - Seth Shostak
Shostak describes a proposal to detect alien civilizations by measuring waste heat from their cities using large optical telescopes focused on stars within 60 light years. He updates listeners on SETI's ongoing search of Kepler's planetary candidates in Cygnus, scanning across an unprecedented range of radio frequencies. Art presses him on whether the government would disclose a confirmed signal, and Shostak walks through official detection protocols, insisting that SETI's decentralized structure makes a cover-up impractical.
The two spar over UFO evidence, with Art recounting his own sighting of a silent triangle craft passing 150 feet overhead. They explore how confirming extraterrestrial intelligence would affect religious institutions and debate whether a message revealing alien involvement in life's origins on Earth could ever be made public. Shostak also recalls his advisory role on the film Contact and shares behind-the-scenes production stories.
Key Moments
Has SETI already found ET?: Art opens by accusing Shostak point-blank of withholding contact news from the public. Shostak deflects with the line that if it were true, he'd already be in Stockholm collecting a Nobel - the show's signature opening exchange.
Looking for the waste heat of alien cities: Shostak describes a colleague's plan to build a giant optical telescope that could detect alien civilizations within 60 light years not by their lights but by the waste heat their advanced industrial society radiates - distinguishing it from volcanoes by watching it rotate with the planet.
Kepler is dead: Art asks if the Kepler space telescope - the instrument that found thousands of Earth-like planet candidates - is in trouble. Shostak confirms it: yes, Kepler is effectively dead, the reaction wheels have failed.
Why we innately care about other tribes: Shostak frames the human appetite for ET as evolutionary: a hundred thousand years ago you needed to know who was over the next hill and you needed to know the habits of predators - we never stop making shows about predators, never about gerbils.
What actually happens if SETI gets a hit: Shostak walks through the real post-detection protocol: first you ask other observatories to confirm the signal at the same coordinates and frequency before going public - unlike the movie Contact, where they 'know right away.'