Yuri Milner's philanthropic activities know no limits as the Russian billionaire announced that he will be spending at least $100 million within the next 10 years to support the search for signs of alien life.

Specifically, Milner will be supporting Breakthrough Listen, a Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) effort that will allow astronomers to observe the kinds of radars used for controlling air traffic from the 1,000 closest stars to Earth and detecting laser output equivalent to the power output of a standard 100-watt light bulb from as far as four light-years away. At the same time, scientists part of the effort will also be guaranteed time on the biggest radio telescopes in the world.

SETI scientists can't believe Milner's announcement was real but there's also no better time than now to start looking for signals of extraterrestrial life, what with technological advancements providing technology up to 50 times more sensitive than before. Thanks to technology, astronomers need not guess which channel alien life forms may try to contact Earth because they can listen on all available at the same time.

SETI efforts have been going on for decades but despite the usual cosmic silence they get, astronomers are not at all discouraged, waiting for the smallest squeak that could change history. Milner is looking exactly for this kind of perseverance.

"We have a responsibility to not stop searching. It should always be happening in the background. We should be listening," he said.

To run Breakthrough Listen, Milner enlisted several scientists, including Lord Martin Rees, Peter Worden, Geoffrey Marcy, Dan Werthimer, Ann Druyan and Andrew Siemion. According to Werthimer, a third of Milner's money will be used to build new equipment while another third will be invested in hiring other astronomers and students. The remaining third will be utilized to secure time on telescopes, like Australia's Csiro Parkes Telescope and West Virginia's Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope.

By agreeing to underwrite 20 percent of the costs to run these telescopes, Milner was able to block off 20 percent of the facilities' observing time for Breakthrough Listen.

To Frank Drake, emeritus professor from the University of California, Santa Cruz, SETI has truly come a long way, recounting how his first radio search had a budget of $2,000.

Photo: Miki Yoshihito | Flickr