Bracewell probe
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A Bracewell probe is a hypothetical concept for an autonomous interstellar space probe dispatched for the express purpose of communication with one or more alien civilizations. It was proposed by Ronald N. Bracewell in a 1960 paper, as an alternative to interstellar radio communication between widely separated civilizations.
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[edit] Description
A Bracewell probe would be constructed as an autonomous robotic interstellar space probe with a high level of artificial intelligence, and all relevant information that its home civilization might wish to communicate to another culture. It would seek out technological civilizations — or alternatively monitor worlds where there is a likelihood of technological civilizations arising (see the Sentinel hypothesis) — and communicate over "short" distances (compared to the interstellar distances between inhabited worlds) once it discovered a civilization that meets its contact criteria. It would make its presence known, carry out a dialog with the contacted culture, and presumably communicate the results of its encounter to its place of origin. In essence, such probes would act as an autonomous local representative of their home civilization and would act as the point of contact between the cultures.
Since it can communicate much faster, over shorter distances, and (if lying dormant waiting under the "sentinel hypothesis") over large spans of time, it can communicate with alien cultures more efficiently than radio message exchange might. The disadvantage to this approach is that such probes cannot communicate anything not in their data storage, nor can their contact criteria or policies for communication be quickly updated by their "base of operations".
While a Bracewell probe need not be a Von Neumann probe as well, the two concepts are not incompatible, and a self-replicating nature would greatly speed up a Bracewell probe's search for alien civilizations.
It is also possible that such a probe (or system of probes if it was launched as a Von Neumann probe) may outlive the civilization which created and launched it. What such a probe would do in such a case depends on its programming.
[edit] References
- Bracewell, R. N. (1960). "Communications from Superior Galactic Communities". Nature 186: 670—671. Reprinted in A.G. Cameron (ed.), Interstellar Communication, W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, pp. 243-248, 1963.
- Bracewell, Ronald N. (1973). "The Opening Message from an Extraterrestrial Probe". Astronautics & Astronautics 11: 58—60.
- McCollum, Michael (1983). LifeProbe. New York: Ballantine Books.
[edit] Fictional examples
- In Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Fountains of Paradise the extraterrestrial Starglider probe is an example of a Bracewell probe.
- In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic a kind of Bracewell probe is found on Dantooine. It communicates in various alien languages, only one the player can understand. According to it, it is approximately 20,000 years old.
- The black monoliths in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey are similar to Bracewell probes operating under the Sentinel hypothesis.
