Recession hit all of us hard but we are not alone, now, even the ETs are getting to feel the heat. The SETI Institute has finally decide to
abandon, albeit temporarily, its Allen Telescope Array. The telescope was mainly used for scanning the skies, searching for signal sent by ETs. Now, the institute has admitted that it lacks funds to continue the program, and kaput goes our dream of meeting our own little Martian.
The shut down could not have come at more unfortunate time. Just when NASA and other research bodies are discovering newer and newer celestial bodies, thus increasing the chances of finding extraterrestrial civilizations, the Hat Creek Facility found that it cannot afford to spend $1.5 million per year required to keep running it.
SETI started operating some 50 years back and had its fair share of detractors. Back in 1993, Congress actually went ahead banned funding for the institute. Interestingly, Allen Telescope array was initially funded by Microsoft co founder Paul Allen, who donated $25 million for the project. The institute is still looking to shore up its funds and hopes to collect enough money to restart the project in 2013. We just hope that our little extraterrestrial friends will wait till then.
