A question I always ask about a SETI detection scheme is: "Would the scheme detect a technological civilization in our Solar System if it were on a hypothetical world orbiting Alpha Centuri?" SETI schemes typically assume the extraterrestrials are beaming a signal of enormous power towards the Earth. IMHO this is nonsense. If a SETI scheme can not detect ordinary radio traffic, (communications satellites, military RADAR beams, etc.) then it's a waste of money. KEPLER is the first astronomy project with potential astrobiological significance that makes scientific sense. I strongly favor KEPLER and wish the project had been immediately funded when the necessary CCD technology became viable (about 5 years ago). If KEPLER hits paydirt and detects earthlike worlds orbiting F, G and K class stars then it becomes politically feasible to fund the very expensive instruments that could detect planetary disks and perform simple spectroscopy. If the detected planet is of a bluish color, has a surface temperature of around 20 deg.C along with the atmospheric spectral signatures of ozone, water vapor and methane then the search for extraterrestrial life has achieved success. This could happen in our lifetime. A potential downside concerning present day SETI and Martian exobiology is the strong possibility that legitimate astrobiology could be tarred through association as pseudoscience with further funding becoming politically impossible.

Gary