Preparations for alien contact

DATELINE ZERO -  From a 3-page article at Smithsonian.com comes the following:

Though SETI scientists have yet to find evidence of extraterrestrials, they are well prepared for success. “Yes, we do have a plan,” Tarter says. “It starts with champagne.”

The plan comes from a document known as the “Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence,” which grew out of plans spawned in the years when NASA had an office dedicated to SETI research, before Congress cut off funding in 1993. The first step, according to the protocol, is verifying the find through independent confirmation by another observatory using different equipment and software. “We’re a very attractive target for hoaxes,” Tarter says. If the signal passes this first test—which could take days—and is confirmed, the SETI scientists would notify the secretary general of the United Nations. The scientists would also alert the international astronomy community by e-mails to members of the International Astronomical Union. And they would tell the public, probably by holding a press conference to announce the discovery to the world.
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A draft document states that any such samples would be treated with the same precautions as the Ebola virus, at least until they were deemed safe. But scientists must first develop a plan to protect this planet from anything they might find. “It would be really stupid to bring something back and then not know how to kill it if it was trying to eat us,” says Catharine Conley, whose title is NASA’s Planetary Protection Officer. (Conley says she has only the second-coolest title in NASA history; there once was a “Director, Universe.”)

Conley envisions a scenario in which the research on potential alien life is conducted in front of cameras hooked up to the Internet. “The expectation is that none of this will be done in secrecy,” she says. “We want people to be interested.”

Continue reading, from the full post at DATELINE ZERO.