Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

What happens when you meld the search for ET with Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology?

The SETI Institute has announced it is incorporating the new NVIDIA IGX Thor platform to enhance its real-time search for signals from space at the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) situated in Northern California.

The ATA is the first radio telescope designed from the ground up to be used for SETI searches.

NVIDA is billed as a go-to source for those that need massive computing power to handle their AI needs.

Recognizing unusual or promising data

The SETI Institute is to tap into the ATA’s grouping of 42 antennas that scan the sky for radio signals that may provide clues to cosmic events or, one day, evidence of intelligent life.

NVIDIA IGX Thor.
Image credit: NVDIA

Using the NVIDIA IGX Thor platform there will be the ability to process and interpret these signals directly at the telescope, “dramatically reducing the time it takes to recognize unusual or promising data,” explains the SETI Institute.

Image credit: SETI Institute

This new collaboration builds on the SETI Institute’s earlier success with NVIDIA IGX Orin.

That effort powered the world’s first real-time AI search for fast radio bursts (FRBs)— flashes of radio energy that last milliseconds.

Greater precision

Now the move to IGX Thor will expand those capabilities, allowing researchers to analyze more of the sky, more quickly, and with greater precision.

“By combining scientific curiosity with advanced technology, we’re transforming how we explore the universe,” said Andrew Siemion, Bernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.

“The new NVIDIA platform gives us the reliability and performance to run complex AI models right at the telescope,” Siemion said. “It’s an incredible step forward for our mission,” he explained in a SETI Institute statement.

Allen Telescope Array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).
Image credit: Seth Shostak/SETI Institute