He believes that by measuring the complexity of communications for different species on earth, we could get a good indication of how advanced an extraterrestrial signal is.
In March 2004 the Project announced that after checking the 800 stars on its list, it had failed to find any evidence of extraterrestrial signals.
The question of whether or not a purported extraterrestrial signal has been confirmed as authentic, and with what degree of confidence, will also influence the impact of the contact.
The SKA will be capable of detecting extremely weak extraterrestrial signals if existing, and may even detect planets capable of supporting life.
Now she was picking up extraterrestrial signals and discussing them with a twenty-two-year-old reporter she had just made out with in a police car.
The final machine will eventually be capable of receiving at least 10 million channels from space, and sorting them in a way that will isolate the logical candidates for an extraterrestrial signal.
It is theoretically possible that SETI groups are not reporting positive detections, or governments have been blocking extraterrestrial signals or suppressing publication of detections.
In the movie, extraterrestrial signals are received in New Mexico, but that is artistic license.
When later, in the observatory, a new possible artificial extraterrestrial signal is received from space, Bludd destroys all evidence of it with a smile.
A general sky survey would also be undertaken in which every degree of the heavens would be searched for extraterrestrial signals.