Make way, SETI (aka the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). There’s a new game in town, which might be called SETA (the Search for Extraterrestrial Artifacts), though it’s officially known as the Galileo Project.
SETI began in 1960 and has, in the intervening six decades, been almost exclusively limited to the search for radio and laser signals from potential alien civilizations. The Galileo Project, which was launched this month with a July 26 press announcement, will instead embark on a systematic search of the skies above Earth and outer space for artificial objects of extraterrestrial origin — possible space probes, active sensors, or long-defunct “astro-archaeological artifacts.”
