That Twinkling Star Could Be E.T. Calling

As computing power grows, so will the search. "If we're scanning 100,000 channels this year, we'll be scanning a million next year. If we're scanning a million next year, it will be 10 million the year after that," Horowitz said. A massive new array of radio telescopes, bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will be able to scan the entire relevant range of radio frequencies, from 0.5 to 11.2 gigahertz. Construction of the Allen Telescope Array should finish around 2008.