A Russian billionaire named Yuri Milner is pledging $100 million to a massive search for radio transmissions from alien beings elsewhere in the universe.
According to Reuters, Breakthrough Listen is not just about finding alien life, but is aimed at solving problems the people of Earth currently face. For example, Milner hopes to be able to communicate with whatever being the project finds in the hopes of learning how to take better care of the planet.
Milner's donation will fund the University of California (UC) - Berkeley in the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
"If we're alone, we need to cherish what we have," Milner told Reuters. "The message is, the universe has no backup."
Aiding the search, which is to be kept open to anyone who wishes to access it, will be Stephen Hawking.
"There is no bigger question," he told the Associated Press. "It is time to commit to finding the answer to search for life beyond Earth."
Breakthrough Listen will be able to listen for radio transmission throughout the Milky Way Galaxy, as well as the nearest 100 neighbors. A SETI effort has never been so well funded, nor has technology been so capable of maximizing the results.
Breakthrough Listen will borrow unused computing power and ultimately generate enough of it to equate to having nine million volunteers working at the same time.
"The Breakthrough Listen initiative is our first opportunity to test the fundamental hypothesis behind modern radio SETI," Andrew Siemion, a postdoctoral fellow at UC - Berkeley, said in a press release. "We will be able to search the entire 'quiet' portion of the radio spectrum that is accessible to us from the surface of Earth, from a few hundred megahertz where our own TV stations transmit, to 10 gigahertz where we communicate with nearby spacecraft. This is a dramatic leap forward in our bandwidth, and will offer the best opportunity in history to detect advanced life beyond Earth."
