Letters of Intent received in 2024

LoI 2026-2210
Advancing the Search for Technosignatures

Topics

This online symposium will invite observational, theoretical, and archival research in any of the following topics:

Radio technosignatures
Optical technosignatures
Spectroscopic biosignatures and technosignatures in exoplanet atmospheres
Megastructures, astroengineering, and other technosignatures in exoplanetary systems
Solar system technosignatures
Galactic-scale technosignatures
X-ray, gamma ray, and gravitational wave technosignatures

Rationale

The astrobiological search for remotely detectable evidence of life involves an effort to understand a broad range of plausible biosignatures that could arise in extraterrestrial environments. Technology is one possible consequence of planetary-scale life, which could generate “technosignatures” that could be abundant, long-lived, highly detectable, and unambiguous compared to other biosignatures. The search for both biosignatures and technosignatures is now entering a new era in which observations with the James Webb Space Telescope, large ground-based telescopes, and new radio arrays are allowing the first attempts at systematically searching for signs of extraterrestrial life. Mission concepts such as NASA’s Habitable Worlds Observatory and ESA’s Large Interferometer for Exoplents (LIFE) mission indicate the potential for characterizing statistically significant quantities of habitable planets to look for spectroscopic biosignatures and technosignatures.

The search for evidence of extraterrestrial technology remains in its infancy, but great potential exists for leveraging the existing global fleet of observatories and data archives for advancing this search. In many cases, the search for technosignatures can occur in tandem with the search for other biosignatures or even as a commensal search alongside other unrelated research. Likewise, many existing data archives from all domains in astronomy, astrophysics, and planetary science could be leveraged for additional analysis to place statistical constraints on the presence of technosignatures in a given spatial domain. In some cases, members of the astronomy community could contribute ancillary science toward the search for technosignatures alongside their existing research, simply by keeping in mind the relationship that exists with technosignature science and reporting any relevant results, including null results, to help advance this nascent field.

This online symposium seeks to advance the search for technosignatures by inviting contributions on any theoretical, instrumental, observational, or data analysis ideas for characterizing and detecting technosignatures. Emphasis will be placed on methods that are relevant to current and future exoplanet observations with facilities such as space- or ground-based telescopes, ongoing solar system exploration missions, and any other analyses of data from existing Earth or space observations. Participation will be especially encouraged for researchers from institutions or nations that are underrepresented in technosignature research as well as early career researchers that are exploring connections between their existing research and technosignature science.

The goal of this symposium is to foster discussion on ways to advance the search for technosignatures by leveraging existing missions and data archives. Invited speakers and discussants will be invited to contribute papers to an IAU proceedings volume for this symposium, which will serve as a resource for the ongoing search for life.

SOC Members
Jacob Haqq-Misra (chair) - Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (USA)
Ravi Kopparapu - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (USA)
Beatriz Villarroel - Nordic Institute of Theoretical Physics (Sweden)
Martin Dominik - University of St Andrews (UK)
George Profitiliotis - Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (Netherlands)
Svetlana Berdyugina - Istituto ricerche solari Aldo e Cele Daccò (Italy)