Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI)

SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is a scientific undertaking that seeks evidence of non-human technological life in space. It is part of astronomy and astrobiology, largely making use of standard astronomical instrumentation, funded governmentally and philanthropically. Some policy tensions include differences of opinion about the risk of detection and deliberate transmission from Earth, and from the risk of governments or militaries misperceiving the likely nature of and the military, political, or scientific benefits of alien contact. Active areas of international cooperation and negotiation include the post-detection protocols, which cover data-sharing, signal confirmation, public communication, and response composition. They also include a shared desire with radio astronomy generally for regulation of radio frequency transmissions for terrestrial purposes, which interfere with radio telescope operations, and for protection of the lunar farside as a radio quiet zone for future radio observatories.