12-04, 10:40–11:00 (Europe/Luxembourg), Banquet Room
This study evaluates the feasibility and crucial importance of establishing interstellar communication among future human colonies dispersed across approximately 60 stellar systems, using an approach based on numerical calculation. We specifically focus on the reciprocal exchanges of communications, employing gravitational lensing to amplify signals across vast distances. We assess several critical parameters necessary for effective communication, including antenna gain, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), bit error rate (BER), and channel capacity at both microwave and optical frequencies. Additionally, we examine the challenges posed by stellar corona noise.
Our analysis includes a comprehensive exploration of different communication configurations. We conclude that dual gravitational lenses offer the most effective strategy for microwave transmissions, providing optimal signal amplification. For optical transmissions, the effectiveness of using two gravitational lenses is comparable to that of a single lens.
Furthermore, we have evaluated potential data compression algorithms suitable for these long-range communications to optimize bandwidth and reduce transmission times.
To add a practical dimension to our theoretical study, we analyze and derive the optimal sequence of stellar colonization, which could guide future expansion strategies.
Our findings highlight the significant advantages of advanced gravitational lensing-based communication systems in maintaining a shared culture, ensuring technological progress, and fostering mutual enrichment between Earth and its interstellar colonies. Despite the inevitable time delays and potential for cultural divergence over huge distances, these communication strategies hold the promise of keeping both civilizations connected and advancing in unison.
Physicist from the Università di Torino in Italy with a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino.
He is project manager in Bitia, an IT company, and serves as a data manger.
He taught Electromagnetism at the Politecnico di Torino.
Since 2019 he is an associate of the National Institute of Astrophysics, in Italy, where he conducts research on radio astronomy, SETI, interstellar communications and quantum computing.
Claudio Maccone (born 6 February 1948, in Torino (Turin), Italy) is an Italian SETI astronomer, space scientist and mathematician.
Career
He obtained two degrees from the University of Turin: in physics in 1972 and in mathematics in 1974. He obtained his PhD at the Department of mathematics of King's College London, England, in September 1980.
In 1985 he briefly held a position as "Professore di ruolo" in Mathematics at "Liceo Scientifico Albert Einstein" in Turin.
He then joined the Space Systems Group of Aeritalia (later called Alenia Spazio S.p.A. and now Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A.) in Turin on September 19,1985, and immediately got involved in the design of new space missions.
In 2002 he was awarded the "Giordano Bruno Award" by the SETI League, "for his efforts to establish a radio observatory on the far side of the Moon."
After his early retirement from Alenia Spazio S.p.A. on December 30, 2004, he taught at Politecnico di Torino for five years (2005-2009) at Post-Doctoral level. He was Advisor to Ph.D. candidates in the Aerospace and Electronics Departments of Politecnico di Torino.
Since 2010 he is the Director for Scientific Space Exploration of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA, based in Paris, France).
From 2012 to 2021 he served as Chair of the IAA SETI Committee.
He has published over 200 scientific and technical papers.
Books
His first technical book was Telecommunications, KLT and Relativity in 1994.
In 1998 his second book was The Sun as a Gravitational Lens: Proposed Space Missions (proposing FOCAL space telescope), IAA Book Award 1999. Both books were published by IPI Press, at Colorado Springs, CO, USA.
Maccone's third book Deep Space Flight and Communications – Exploiting the Sun as a Gravitational Lens was published by Praxis-Springer in 2009. This revolutionary book was translated into Chinese by 2014 and awarded the IAA Book Award in 2018.
In September 2012, his fourth book, Mathematical SETI - Statistics, Signal Processing, Space Missions was published, website.
Maccone's fifth highly mathematical book, Evo-SETI – Life Evolution Statistics on Earth and Exoplanets, was published in February 2021. This book deals with Mathematical Astrobiology. IAA Book Award 2022.
Maccone's sixth book is The Living Galaxy, co-authored with Eugenio Mieli and Andrea M. F. Valli. It is currently in print in both the English and Italian version, and should be published in January 2025.
Honours and awards
The central main-belt binary asteroid 11264 Claudiomaccone was named in Maccone's honor on 2 September 2001, NASA website https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11264_Claudiomaccone
Maccone is a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) and an Associate of “Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF)” in Italy.
Since December 2021 Maccone is serving as Chair of the IAA Moon Farside Protection Permanent Committee. His Co-chair is Prof. Jack O. Burns (University of Colorado at Boulder).
On February 8, 2024, Maccone gave his third speech at the United Nations COPUOS in Vienna about the Moon Farside Protection.
Finally, on March 21-22, 2024, Maccone and co-workers run the First IAA Symposium on Moon Farside Protection in Turin (Torino, Italy), described at this website https://www.moonfarsideprotection.org/
External links
The Sun's Gravity lens and its use for Interstellar Exploration NASA-JPL TALK, August 18th, 1999
Deep Space Flight and Communications Talk at the SETI Institute, 11/25/2009, Video on YouTube (Retrieved 09/30/2011)
Habitable Planet Statistics - Claudio Maccone (SETI Talks) on YouTube
Claudio Maccone: Breakthrough Discuss Workshop – FOCAL Missions to 550 AU Insuring Interstellar LINKS on YouTube (time 20:18 min.), Stanford University, April 2016
Claudio Maccone Talk at Milan (Italy) on YouTube, at the Big History Conference on July 15, 2019
First IAA symposium on Moon Farside protection Three talks by Claudio Maccone at the First IAA Symposium on Moon Farside Protection, Turin (Italy), April 21-22, 2024
Aerospace engineer from the Politecnico di Torino with a Master’s degree from Stanford University.
Since 2009, he has been the CEO of the engineering company iMEX.A, which operates in the aerospace sector, and since 2023, he has been the CTO of Skyproxima, a company providing advanced air mobility services with drones. He teaches in a second-level Master’s program at the University of Turin on space mission and system design and conducts research on advanced space propulsion, relativistic interstellar missions, and interstellar communications.
Additionally, he has been active in space science outreach for twenty years.
