3 - 7 August 2020
TECHNOCLIMES
An Online Workshop to Develop a Research Agenda
for Non-Radio Technosignatures
About the Event
TechnoClimes 2020 was a NASA-sponsored interdisciplinary workshop to develop a research agenda to prioritize and guide future theoretical and observational studies of non-radio technosignatures. TechnoClimes was convened as an online-only event on 3-7 August 2020. Participation included scientists and other academic scholars with research interests that relate to the search for extraterrestrial technology.
Talks from TechnoClimes 2020 are available on Youtube
Posters from TechnoClimes 2020 are available on Authorea
(Note: The views and opinions expressed in these talks and posters are those of the authors and are not necessarily those of the workshop organizing committee, NASA, or any other sponsoring organization.)
Why Study Technosignatures?
Technosignatures are observational manifestations of technology, particularly those that could be detected through astronomical or other means. Possible technosignatures include waste heat, artificial illumination, artificial atmospheric constituents, artificial surface constituents, stellar pollution, non-terrestrial artifacts, and megastructures. This workshop welcomes discussion of this broad set of technosignatures, as well as any others that could conceivably be detected by a current or future NASA mission.
NASA’s recent interest in technosignatures resulted in the convening of a technosignatures workshop in 2018, which produced a report that defined the state of the field and emerging opportunities. The 2018 workshop represented a significant step in NASA’s astrobiology strategy by emphasizing the connection between the search for life on exoplanets and the possibility of detecting signs of extraterrestrial technology.
TechnoClimes continued the momentum of the previous NASA workshop on technosignatures by holding a focused 5-day discussion with the goal of delivering a research agenda on technosignatures to the broader community.
TechnoClimes Outcomes
Searching for technosignatures in exoplanetary systems with current and future missions
Haqq-Misra, J., Schwieterman, E.W., Socas-Navarro, H., Kopparapu, R., Angerhausen, D., Beatty, T.G., Berdyugina, S., Felton, R., Sharma, S., Gabriel, G., Apai, D., and the TechnoClimes 2020 workshop participants (2022) Acta Astronautica 198: 194-207.
Concepts for future missions to search for technosignatures
Socas-Navarro, H., Haqq-Misra, J., Wright, J.T., Kopparapu, R., Benford, J., Davis, R., and the TechnoClimes 2020 workshop participants (2021) Acta Astronautica 182: 446-453.
Evaluation of investigational paradigms for the discovery of non-canonical astrophysical phenomena
Singam, C.A., Haqq-Misra, J., Balbi, A., Sessa, A.M., Villarroel, B., De la Torre, G.G., Grinspoon, D., Furukawa, H. and Timmaraju, V. (2020) arXiv:2103.01536.
Technosignatures as a Priority in Planetary Science
Sheikh, S., Berea, A., Davis, R., De la Torre, G.G., DeMarines, J., Fisher, T., Foote, S., Gelino, D., Grinspoon, D., Profitiliotis, G. and Sessa, A.M. (2021) Whitepaper #427 submitted to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Survey 2023-2032.
Organizing Committee
Jacob Haqq-Misra
Jason Wright
Adam Frank
Dawn Gelino
Ravi Kopparapu
Ryan Felton
Funding for TechnoClimes was provided by the NASA Exobiology program under award 80NSSC20K1109.
Please contact admin@technoclimes.org with any questions.