COSMIC, also known as the Commensal Open-Source Multimode Interferometer Cluster, is part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) by attempting to find technosignatures using the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico. This new project is a joint venture between the SETI Institute and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO). The initial plan is to search for these technosignatures among about 40 million star systems.
Technosignature are basically indicators of technology not caused by natural phenomena. Examples include radio signals, pollutants, nighttime lighting, megastructures, or even the fallout from a nuclear war (not very optimistic, I know). This is different than the biosignatures that other astronomers are looking for among exoplanets by studying the composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere.
The NRAO has created a page on the COSMIC project that provides plenty of details.
It is good to see federal funding going into the SETI program again after Congress walked away from the program in 1993. With all the new evidence coming to us regarding the multitude of exoplanets, it only makes sense to have a multi-pronged approach to find alien life, particularly intelligent life.
Let’s hope COSMIC is the start of a new and stronger SETI partnership.
Our Awesome Universe 