Stephen Hawking launches biggest-ever search for alien life Monday July 20,2015

 

British cosmologist Stephen Hawking on Monday July 20,2015 launched the biggest-ever search for intelligent extraterrestrial life in a $100-million (92-million-euro), 10-year project to scan the heavens.

Russian Silicon Valley entrepreneur Yuri Milner, who is funding the Breakthrough Listen initiative, said it would be the most intensive scientific search ever undertaken for signs of alien civilisation.

"In an infinite universe, there must be other occurrences of life," Hawking said at the launch event at the Royal Society science academy in London.
"Somewhere in the cosmos, perhaps, intelligent life may be watching.
"Either way, there is no bigger question. It's time to commit to finding the answer, to search for life beyond Earth.
"It is important for us to know if we are alone in the dark."
The project will use some of the biggest telescopes on Earth, searching far deeper into the universe than before for radio and laser signals