The post-detection protocols
Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) – 2026 Update
The current protocols, rewritten for a search that now spans many kinds of technosignature and for a media environment shaped by social media and AI. Its eight principles cover handling candidate evidence, communicating during verification, reporting a confirmed detection, archiving and data access, data and frequency protection, a standing Post-Detection Sub-Committee, replying to a detection, and ethical and legal considerations. New provisions include steps to protect the safety of researchers, a right for individuals to decline media engagement, prompt disclosure when a candidate is ruled out, peer-reviewed verification reports, and archiving in at least two geographically separate repositories.
Prepared by the IAA SETI Committee Post-Detection Task Group, chaired by Michael Garrett, with Kathryn Denning, Les Tennen and Carol Oliver.
Earlier versions
Two earlier declarations, from 2010 and 1989, were adopted and later replaced. Alongside them sits the 1996 IAA Position Paper on how humanity should decide whether to reply to a detection.
- 2010
The 2010 Declaration
Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Superseded - 1996
The 1996 Position Paper
A Decision Process for Examining the Possibility of Sending Communications to Extraterrestrial Civilizations: A Proposal
Adopted IAA Position Paper - 1989
The 1989 Declaration
Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Superseded
How the 2026 Update was made
Most recent first, from 2026 back to 2021, when the Committee, under its new Chair, restarted work on the protocols. Each step links to its source document.
- 7 Oct 2026
The Committee meets at IAC 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye, to plan the next steps, including a Post-Detection Sub-Committee. Source
- Jun 2026
The IAA publishes the Declaration (dated 1 June 2026) and announces it in a press release. Source
- Spring 2026
The IAA Board of Trustees adopts the 2026 Update as an IAA Position Paper. Source
- Dec 2025 – Jan 2026
Committee vote on the 27 November 2025 version: 53 for, 1 against, 3 abstentions. Source
- Oct 2025
The September 2025 draft and the consultation results are presented in Sydney. Source
- May–Aug 2025
Consultation with Committee members and then the wider SETI community. Source
- Oct 2024
First full draft, a comparison with the 2010 text, and a consultation plan are presented in Milan. Source
- Oct 2023
First public report on the revision at IAC 2023 in Baku. Source
- 2022
The Committee makes updating the 2010 Declaration a high priority and forms a Post-Detection Task Group, chaired by Michael Garrett, with Kathryn Denning, Les Tennen and Carol Oliver. Source
- Oct 2021
Michael Garrett becomes Chair of the IAA SETI Committee at IAC 2021 in Dubai. The new Executive, including Andrew Siemion, Carol Oliver and Lori Walton, makes revising the protocols a priority, and serious work on the update begins. Source
Documents
The protocols and position papers (newest first, from the 2026 Update back to the 1989 Declaration), the Rio and San Marino scales, histories of the Committee and its governance documents. Select an entry for its summary, details and file.
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Protocols and position papers 6
1 June 2026Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) – 2026 UpdateCurrent
The current protocols, rewritten for a search that now spans many kinds of technosignature and for a media environment shaped by social media and AI. Its eight principles cover handling candidate evidence, communicating during verification, reporting a confirmed detection, archiving and data access, data and frequency protection, a standing Post-Detection Sub-Committee, replying to a detection, and ethical and legal considerations. New provisions include steps to protect the safety of researchers, a right for individuals to decline media engagement, prompt disclosure when a candidate is ruled out, peer-reviewed verification reports, and archiving in at least two geographically separate repositories.
Prepared by the IAA SETI Committee's Post-Detection Task Group, chaired by Michael Garrett, with Kathryn Denning, Les Tennen and Carol Oliver. Developed in 2022–2025 with wide community consultation, approved by a vote of the Committee that closed on 31 January 2026, and adopted by the IAA Board of Trustees as an IAA Position Paper in spring 2026. This is the version published by the IAA, dated 1 June 2026. It replaces the 2010 Declaration.
5 June 2026IAA Press Release 26/01: IAA adopts updated Declaration of Principles for SETIPublic announcement
The public announcement of the 2026 Update, described as the first major overhaul of the protocols in over 15 years and the product of consultation with more than 350 SETI researchers and practitioners. It highlights technosignatures beyond radio, protection of researchers, and managing viral rumours and hoaxes, and restates that any reply is a decision for all of humanity. Next steps are a permanent Post-Detection Sub-Committee, lodging the Declaration with the UN, and a technical presentation at IAC 2026 in Türkiye.
30 September 2010Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial IntelligenceSuperseded
A streamlined replacement for the 1989 Declaration, in eight principles. It adds a commitment to transparent searching and responsiveness to the media, and says there is no obligation to disclose verification work while it is under way. The Rio Scale is recommended for conveying the significance of candidate signals. Confirmed detections go to the public, the scientific community, the UN Secretary-General and the IAU. The Declaration keeps data archiving and ITU frequency protection, refers to a Post-Detection Task Group, and says signatories will not respond to a confirmed signal without first seeking the guidance and consent of a broadly representative international body such as the United Nations.
Unanimously adopted at the annual meeting in Prague on 30 September 2010. Replaced by the 2026 Update.
1996A Decision Process for Examining the Possibility of Sending Communications to Extraterrestrial Civilizations: A ProposalAdopted IAA Position Paper
An IAA Position Paper proposing an international process for deciding whether and how to send a communication to an extraterrestrial civilisation, whether in reply to a detection or in its absence. It reviews the science of SETI, sets out the issues raised by transmitting from Earth, and proposes that a Declaration of Principles on sending communications be developed.
Endorsed by the IAA Board of Trustees and the IISL Board of Directors. Sent by the IAA in September 1996 to the 63 member nations of COPUOS. Presented to COPUOS in June 2000 by Jill Tarter. This copy was printed from iaaseti.org in September 2026.
28 March 1996Cover letter from the IAA SETI Committee on the 1989 Declaration and the proposed Position PaperHistorical record
A one-page letter summarising how the 1989 Declaration was adopted and endorsed. It records that the Declaration was sent in July 1992 to SETI researchers and organisations with a request to endorse it, and that the Committee had assembled a special post-detection committee under Principle 9. It also introduces the Position Paper that expands Principle 8 into a decision process for sending a reply.
Written on IAA SETI Committee letterhead from the SETI Institute, Mountain View. The PDF was created in 2003.
April 1989Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial IntelligenceSuperseded
The original post-detection protocols. The discoverer should verify that extraterrestrial intelligence is the most plausible explanation before any public announcement, alert the other parties to the Declaration and national authorities, then notify the IAU Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams, the UN Secretary-General (under Article XI of the Outer Space Treaty) and a list of international scientific bodies. Confirmed detections are to be disseminated openly, with data shared and permanently archived, and the relevant radio frequencies protected through the ITU. Principle 8 states that no reply should be sent until appropriate international consultations have taken place. Principle 9 commits the IAA SETI Committee to continuing review and to setting up an international post-detection committee.
Approved in April 1989 by the IAA Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law. Endorsed over the following three years by COSPAR, the IAU, URSI Commission J and the IAF. Replaced by the 2010 Declaration. This copy was printed from the IAA SETI Committee website (iaaseti.org) in September 2026.
Assessment scales 8
Two scales developed within the Committee to put a number on events that are otherwise hard to judge. The Rio Scale rates the significance of a claimed detection of extraterrestrial intelligence; the San Marino Scale rates the potential impact of a deliberate transmission from Earth. Both were formally adopted and have not been withdrawn, but they are no longer regarded as the best tools for these purposes and are kept here as part of the historical record (see Schwarz et al. 2026, pp. 3–5). Below them are related papers: the original Rio Scale paper, the proposed Rio 2.0 revision and the debate it prompted, and the London Scale for claims of extraterrestrial life. Rio 2.0 and the London Scale were never adopted.
2000 (adopted 2002)The Rio ScaleHistorical tool
An ordinal scale from 0 to 10 for rating the significance of any public claim of evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence, modelled on the Torino asteroid-impact scale. The value is RS = Q × d, where Q combines the class of phenomenon, the type of discovery and the distance, and d is the assessed credibility. It is meant to be revised as a claim is investigated. The 2010 Declaration recommends it for explaining candidate signals to non-specialists. The scale was formally adopted and has not been withdrawn, but it is no longer regarded as the best tool for the purpose; see Schwarz et al. 2026, pp. 3–5.
Proposed at the 51st IAC in Rio de Janeiro in October 2000. Adopted by the Committee in 2002; Revision 1.2 accepted in Bremen in 2003. A revised Rio Scale 2.0 was presented to the Committee in 2017. This copy was printed from iaaseti.org in September 2026.
2005 (adopted 2007)The San Marino ScaleHistorical tool
The counterpart to the Rio Scale for transmissions from Earth. It rates the potential exposure of a deliberate transmission or reply on a scale of 1 to 10, as SMI = I + C, where I measures signal intensity relative to the Sun's background at the same frequency and C reflects the information content. It gives the debate over messaging to extraterrestrial intelligence (METI) a common measure. The scale was formally adopted and has not been withdrawn, but it is no longer regarded as the best tool for the purpose; see Schwarz et al. 2026, pp. 3–5.
Proposed in San Marino in March 2005 at the 6th World Symposium on the Exploration of Space and Life in the Universe. Endorsed and adopted by the Committee in Hyderabad in September 2007. This copy was printed from iaaseti.org in September 2026.
January 2019Rebuttal to: ‘Deconstructing the Rio Scale: problems of subjectivity and generalization’Published paper
The Rio 2.0 authors' reply to Traphagan, published alongside his critique. They defend the scale as an attempt by physical scientists to explain to journalists and the public how seriously a claimed signal should be taken.
Copyright Cambridge University Press, so the entry links to the journal.
January 2019Deconstructing the Rio Scale: problems of subjectivity and generalizationPublished paper
A social scientist's critique of Rio 2.0. It accepts the value of tools that help scientists communicate the significance of a contact event, but argues that the scale is conceptually problematic and should not be used to inform the media or the public about the detection of a signal.
Copyright Cambridge University Press, so the entry links to the journal.
July 2018 (journal issue 2019)Rio 2.0: revising the Rio scale for SETI detectionsProposed revision (not adopted)
A proposed revision of the Rio Scale, prompted by the growth in the number of groups searching for extraterrestrial intelligence and the wider range of possible technosignatures. It aims to build agreement across disciplines on how to classify candidate signals, to help explain to the public how scientists come to understand a signal, and to calibrate expectations when signals are discussed in the media. It also proposes a common vocabulary for discussing signals.
Marked PROPOSED: Rio 2.0 was presented to the Committee in Adelaide in 2017 but was not formally adopted; the adopted scale remains the Rio Scale of 2002. Copyright Cambridge University Press, so the entry links to the journal.
February 2011Discovery of extra-terrestrial life: assessment by scales of its importance and associated risks (the London Scale)Proposed scale (not adopted)
Proposes the London Scale, a counterpart to the Rio Scale for announcements of extraterrestrial life rather than intelligence, whether found on Earth, elsewhere in the Solar System or beyond. Like the Rio Scale it combines several parameters (life form, nature of the phenomenon, type of discovery and distance) with a credibility factor to give an index from 0 to 10, and it rates any associated risk or biohazard separately.
Named after the Royal Society Discussion Meeting in London, January 2010, where it was presented. Never adopted by the Committee. Copyright the Royal Society, so the entry links to the journal.
2000 (published 2009)The discovery of ETI as a high-consequence, low-probability eventPublished paper
The paper that introduced the Rio Scale, first presented at the 51st International Astronautical Congress in Rio de Janeiro in 2000. Modelled on the Torino Scale for asteroid impacts, it rates the potential consequences of an announced discovery of extraterrestrial intelligence together with its credibility.
Copyright Elsevier, so the entry links to the journal.
October 2002The Rio Scale applied to fictional SETI detectionsConference paper
Illustrates the Rio Scale by applying it to fictional contact events from the cinema and to some real claims, such as the Wow! signal and the 1998 EQ Peg hoax, to show how the scale would rate them.
Presented at the 53rd International Astronautical Congress, Houston, 2002.
Histories 7
The history of the IAA SETI Committee has been written by Lori Walton in a series of papers presented at the International Astronautical Congress, running from the Committee's origins to 2009. They are listed here with other documents of note, including Stéphane Dumas's Catalogue of SETI Publications. Each year the IAA Symposium on SETI opens its two sessions with a named lecture: the Pešek Lecture in SETI I (science and technology) and the Billingham Cutting-Edge Lecture in SETI II (SETI and society). Lists of the lecturers since 2000 close this group. They are not yet complete: if you can fill a gap or correct an entry, please get in touch (see Contact below).
September 2025The History of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee – 2000 to 2009Published paper
The fourth paper in the history series, covering the 2000s. The decade began with Jill Tarter's presentation of the IAA Position Paper to COPUOS, and the Committee worked on updating the Declaration throughout it. It also covers the debate over 'active SETI', the Rio and San Marino scales, and the search programmes of the period.
Presented at the 76th IAC, Sydney, 2025. Copyright the International Astronautical Federation; reproduced with the permission of the IAF and the author.
October 2023The History of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee – 1990 to 1999Published paper
The third paper in the history series, covering the 1990s, which it calls a pivotal and turbulent decade for SETI. The Committee continued to disseminate the 1989 Declaration of Principles and worked on the IAA Position Paper on whether and how to respond to a detection. The paper also covers the growing public interest at the end of the decade: the first confirmed extrasolar planets, the claim of possible fossil life on Mars, the film Contact, false claims of detections and the launch of SETI@home.
Presented as the Billingham Cutting Edge Lecture at the 74th International Astronautical Congress, Baku, 2023. Copyright the International Astronautical Federation; reproduced with the permission of the IAF and the author.
October 2019The History of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee – 1980 to 1989Published paper
The second paper in the history series, covering the 1980s. It describes how the Committee studied the legal, political and social implications of detecting an extraterrestrial signal and drafted the Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, approved by the IAA Board of Trustees and the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law in 1989. It also covers the roughly thirty SETI searches of the decade, NASA's SETI programme and the founding of the SETI Institute.
Presented at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Washington DC, 2019. Copyright the International Astronautical Federation; reproduced with the permission of the IAF and the author.
October 2015The History of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee – The Early YearsPublished paper
The first in a series of papers on the Committee's history, covering the introduction of extraterrestrial intelligence to the IAA in 1965, the first CETI review session at the 1972 IAC in Vienna, and the founding of the Committee in 1974 and its work up to 1979. It describes the Committee's mandate, including its long-standing role in drafting protocols for detection, verification, announcement and response.
Presented as the John Billingham Cutting Edge Lecture at the 66th IAC, Jerusalem, 2015. Copyright the International Astronautical Federation; reproduced with the permission of the IAF and the author. This copy is marked as a draft.
January 2016Catalogue of SETI PublicationsReference work
A bibliography of SETI papers, books, proceedings, reports, IAC papers and special issues of Acta Astronautica, commissioned by the IAA SETI Permanent Committee's history of SETI working group. It was circulated at the Bremen meeting in 2018. Stéphane Dumas died in 2016.
28 September 2026Rudolph Pešek Lecturers, IAA Symposium on SETI (session A4.1)Reference list
A year-by-year list of the Pešek Lecturers since 2000, with the congress and the title of each lecture. The Pešek Lecture is the keynote of the SETI I session (SETI Science and Technology) of the IAA Symposium on SETI, named after Rudolph Pešek, who coined the acronym CETI and was the first Chair of the IAA's CETI Committee.
A few years are not yet known and some are still to be confirmed. Corrections are welcome.
28 September 2026Billingham Cutting-Edge Lecturers, IAA Symposium on SETI (session A4.2)Reference list
A year-by-year list of the Billingham Cutting-Edge Lecturers since the lecture was established in 2005, with the congress and the title of each lecture. The lecture opens the SETI II session (SETI and Society) of the IAA Symposium on SETI and honours John Billingham, long-time member and former Chair of the Committee.
A few years are not yet known. Corrections are welcome.
Post-Detection History Reference Collection (In Progress) 12
A reference collection on the history of thinking about post-detection, brought together by Kathryn Denning (York University), a member of the Committee since 2005 and of its Post-Detection Task Group. It runs from the papers that led to the 1989 Declaration to work that preceded and accompanied the recent revision, and is still being added to. Items marked Proposed were never adopted; internal Committee proposals are listed for the record but not published.
October 2026Best Practices Guidelines for Science and Risk Communication for Technosignatures Searches and Detections: A Draft for DiscussionForthcoming paper
A draft set of Best Practices Guidelines for science and risk communication in technosignature searches, one of the supplements to the 2026 Update. Its pages 3–5 discuss the Rio and San Marino Scales and why they are no longer the best tools.
To be presented at the 77th International Astronautical Congress, Antalya, October 2026. Copyright the International Astronautical Federation.
27 November 2025Draft Revised Declaration of Principles – 2026 Update (version 27 November 2025)Version voted on
The text put to the Committee's vote between 2 December 2025 and 31 January 2026, and approved by 53 votes to 1, with 3 abstentions. After the vote it was turned into an IAA Position Paper, with minor changes of form, and adopted by the IAA Board of Trustees in spring 2026.
October 2025SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards a New Version (IAC 2025 presentation)Conference presentation
The slides for the IAC 2025 paper on the protocols, presented in session A4.2 in Sydney.
27 September 2025SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards a New VersionPublished paper
The third task group paper, presenting the results of the structured consultation and a new draft of the revised Declaration at IAC 2025 in Sydney. It explains that the aim was to keep the lasting values of the earlier documents while making them fit twenty-first-century science, media and public engagement, and that the protocols are a living document that will need continued refinement.
The version submitted to the IAC 2025 proceedings on 27 September 2025. Presented at the 76th International Astronautical Congress, Sydney, 2025. Copyright the authors; released to the IAF to publish.
September 2025The Case of the EQ Peg Hoax 25 Years Ago: Would a Replay in Today's Media Be the Same?Published paper
Revisits the 1998 EQ Peg hoax, a false claim of a SETI detection that ran in the world's media for five days, and asks how such a story would play out today, with fake news, polarisation and social media, drawing lessons for how a real detection should be communicated.
Presented at the 76th International Astronautical Congress, Sydney, 2025. Copyright the authors.
October 2019SETI and Post-Detection: Towards a New Research RoadmapPublished paper
A multi-authored discussion paper by Committee members, written to give the background to the post-detection report of that year. It argues that discovery is a process rather than a moment, recasts 'post-detection' as preparation for discovery, the process of discovery and protocol during detection, reviews earlier work, and suggests supplementing the Protocols with Codes of Conduct and Best Practices guidelines.
Presented at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Washington DC, 2019. The authors were not formally tasked by the Committee with this work. Copyright the authors.
October 2018Review of the SETI Post-Detection and Reply Protocols: Current Actions and DevelopmentsPublished paper
Written after the Committee's Executive asked Tennen and Forgan to review the protocols. It argues that the 2010 revision had not kept pace with SETI's scientific and technical advances or with the shift from print and broadcast media to social media, and makes the case for re-examining the Protocols.
Presented at the 69th International Astronautical Congress, Bremen, 2018.
30 September 2018Proposal to form a SETI ComPAS (Communication and Post-Detection Analytics Strategies) SubcommitteeProposal
A proposal to the IAA and the Committee's Executive for a new post-detection subcommittee, noting that the Committee had traditionally had a post-detection task force but had none at the time, and setting out a forward-looking strategy for the decade ahead.
16 April 2018Proposal to form a SETI SCOPE (Society, Communications, Outreach, Post-Detection, Ethics) SubcommitteeProposal (not approved)
The earlier draft proposal for a subcommittee covering society, communications, outreach, post-detection and ethics, circulated in April 2018. It was not approved; the ComPAS proposal of September 2018 followed.
2007–2008 (this draft dated March 2008)Proposed revision of the IAA Position Paper on sending communications (draft revision 2.4)Proposed revision (not adopted)
A proposed revision of the 1996 Position Paper, prepared by the Committee's Transmissions from Earth Subcommittee during the debates of the 2000s over active SETI. A version was presented to the IAA in March 2007; this copy is the 14-page draft revision 2.4 of March 2008. Its foreword records what happened to the 1996 paper: only seven of the 63 COPUOS member states replied and none was prepared to table it. The revision was never adopted and is included here only for the record.
Marked PROPOSED: this text was never adopted by the Committee or the IAA. The adopted text remains the 1996 Position Paper.
1999 (workshops 1991–1992; report prepared 1994)Social Implications of the Detection of an Extraterrestrial Civilization: A Report of the Workshops on the Cultural Aspects of SETI (CASETI)Published report
The report of the Workshops on the Cultural Aspects of SETI (CASETI), held in three sessions at Santa Cruz, California, in October 1991, May 1992 and September 1992, while NASA was preparing its High Resolution Microwave Survey. Historians, social scientists, policy specialists, educators and journalists considered how people and institutions might respond to the detection of a signal. Chapters cover the NASA search itself, SETI in the history of ideas, likely human responses, policy, and education and the media. The executive summary gathers the recommendations, and the appendix reproduces the 1989 Declaration of Principles. The report was prepared in March 1994 and published by SETI Press in 1999.
Scanned from a library copy; the interlibrary-loan cover sheets and duplicate title pages have been removed. Copyright the SETI Institute; reproduced with its permission.
Contents (7 items)
- Front matter: participants, preface, foreword, introduction, postscript and in memoriam Seth Shostak, David Milne, Roger Heyns and John Billingham pp. 1–16 PDF
- Chapter 1. The NASA Observing Program: A High-Resolution Microwave Survey Coordinator: Michael J. Klein pp. 17–32 PDF
- Chapter 2. SETI and History Coordinator: J. L. Heilbron pp. 33–60 PDF
- Chapter 3. SETI and Human Behavior: Human Responses to an ETI Signal Detection Coordinator: Michael Ashkenazi pp. 61–82 PDF
- Chapter 4. SETI and Policy Coordinator: Michael A. G. Michaud pp. 83–94 PDF
- Chapter 5. SETI, Education, News, and Entertainment Coordinator: Andrew Fraknoi pp. 95–120 PDF
- Executive summary, appendix (the 1989 Declaration of Principles) and references Stephen Doyle and David H. Milne pp. 121–145 PDF
1990Acta Astronautica special issue on the detection of extraterrestrial intelligence and an international protocolPublished papers
The special issue that published the 1989 Declaration of Principles together with the papers behind it. It collects the papers presented at two sessions of the International Astronautical Congress: "Legal, Political and Social Implications of the Detection of an Extraterrestrial Intelligent Signal" (Innsbruck, 1986) and "Formulation of an International Protocol for Activities Following the Detection of a Signal from Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (Brighton, 1987). After Brighton, a drafting session and later rounds of comment led by Michael Michaud produced the draft agreement that became the Declaration, endorsed by the IAA and the IISL in April 1989 and printed as the last item of the issue. The papers cover verifying a signal, announcing it, the pressures towards secrecy, diplomacy, international law and the question of a reply.
Scans of the published papers, reproduced with the permission of Elsevier. The issue grouped the papers by topic; they are listed here in page order.
Contents (17 items)
- Preface Jill Tarter and Michael Michaud (editors) pp. xi–xii PDF
- SETI false alerts as “laboratory” tests for an international protocol formulation Jean Heidmann pp. 73–80 PDF
- Signal verification in the real world: when is a signal not a signal? Peter B. Boyce pp. 81–84 PDF
- The first two steps after the signal arrives: verify and tell the world Peter B. Boyce pp. 85–88 PDF
- Announcing the first signal: policy aspects John M. Logsdon and Christine M. Anderson pp. 89–92 PDF
- Signals from ETI detected — what next? Zbigniew Paprotny pp. 93–95 PDF
- A critical examination of factors that might encourage secrecy Allen Tough pp. 97–102 PDF
- Diplomatic and political problems affecting the formulation and implementation of an international protocol for activities following the detection of a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence Allan E. Goodman pp. 103–108 PDF
- Contact: releasing the news Roberto Pinotti pp. 109–115 PDF
- The impact of contact Ben Finney pp. 117–121 PDF
- International law implications of the detection of extraterrestrial intelligent signals Vladimír Kopal pp. 123–126 PDF
- XII Tables for researchers on extraterrestrial intelligence Aldo Armando Cocca pp. 127–130 PDF
- Discovery of ETI: terrestrial and extraterrestrial legal implications Ernst Fasan pp. 131–135 PDF
- Diplomacy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) Allan E. Goodman pp. 137–141 PDF
- Basic elements of an international terrestrial reply following the detection of a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence G. C. M. Reijnen pp. 143–148 PDF
- Who will speak for Earth? Possible structures for shaping a response to a signal detected from an extraterrestrial civilization Donald Goldsmith pp. 149–151 PDF
- Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence IAA and IISL pp. 153–154 PDF
Governance 1
Expected 2026Terms of Reference for IAA Committees, including the SETI CommitteeForthcoming
New Terms of Reference for all IAA committees, including the SETI Committee, are expected to be adopted soon by the IAA Board of Trustees. They will set out each committee's scope, officers, membership and procedures, including the election of new members. The document will be added here once it has been adopted.
Committee meetings
Agendas, notes, reports and presentations from the Committee's meetings, most recent meeting and most recent document first. Meetings tagged Post-detection include discussion of the protocols. Drafts of the protocols presented at meetings are kept for the record; the current text is the 2026 Update.
IAC 2026, Antalya
6 documentsPost-detection7 October 2026IAA SETI Committee agenda, IAC 2026 AntalyaMeeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the meeting at IAC 2026 in Antalya, Türkiye: the formal report on the vote approving the 2026 Update, the published Declaration and press release, global SETI updates, the new IAA Committee Terms of Reference (Les Tennen), post-detection developments (Kathryn Denning), and next steps for the post-detection protocols.
The link to the meeting documentation has been removed from this copy.
September 2026IAA SETI Committee report to Commission 1, 2026Committee reportPost-detection
Reports the adoption of the 2026 Update after community consultation and a Helios vote of the membership, its adoption by the IAA Board of Trustees, and the press coverage that followed. It previews the IAC 2026 SETI symposium and the Committee meeting, where the main business is establishing a Post-Detection Sub-Committee and the new IAA Committee Terms of Reference, after which elections of new members will begin.
A private Dropbox link has been removed from this copy.
5 June 2026IAA Press Release 26/01: IAA adopts updated Declaration of Principles for SETIPublic announcement
The public announcement of the 2026 Update, described as the first major overhaul of the protocols in over 15 years and the product of consultation with more than 350 SETI researchers and practitioners. It highlights technosignatures beyond radio, protection of researchers, and managing viral rumours and hoaxes, and restates that any reply is a decision for all of humanity. Next steps are a permanent Post-Detection Sub-Committee, lodging the Declaration with the UN, and a technical presentation at IAC 2026 in Türkiye.
1 June 2026Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) – 2026 UpdateCurrent
The current protocols, rewritten for a search that now spans many kinds of technosignature and for a media environment shaped by social media and AI. Its eight principles cover handling candidate evidence, communicating during verification, reporting a confirmed detection, archiving and data access, data and frequency protection, a standing Post-Detection Sub-Committee, replying to a detection, and ethical and legal considerations. New provisions include steps to protect the safety of researchers, a right for individuals to decline media engagement, prompt disclosure when a candidate is ruled out, peer-reviewed verification reports, and archiving in at least two geographically separate repositories.
Prepared by the IAA SETI Committee's Post-Detection Task Group, chaired by Michael Garrett, with Kathryn Denning, Les Tennen and Carol Oliver. Developed in 2022–2025 with wide community consultation, approved by a vote of the Committee that closed on 31 January 2026, and adopted by the IAA Board of Trustees as an IAA Position Paper in spring 2026. This is the version published by the IAA, dated 1 June 2026. It replaces the 2010 Declaration.
2 February 2026Declaration of Principles vote (2025–2026): summary reportOfficial recordPost-detection
The result of the Committee's vote on the 27 November 2025 version of the 2026 Update, held on the Helios secure voting system from 2 December 2025 to 31 January 2026. Of 91 eligible members, 57 voted (63% turnout): 53 in favour (93%), 1 against and 3 abstentions. Ballots were anonymous.
27 November 2025Draft Revised Declaration of Principles – 2026 Update (version 27 November 2025)Version voted on
The text put to the Committee's vote between 2 December 2025 and 31 January 2026, and approved by 53 votes to 1, with 3 abstentions. After the vote it was turned into an IAA Position Paper, with minor changes of form, and adopted by the IAA Board of Trustees in spring 2026.
IAC 2025, Sydney
17 documentsPost-detection13 October 2025Notes from the Chair, IAA SETI Committee meeting, IAC 2025Meeting recordPost-detection
Notes from Sydney, where about 35 people attended in person and 12 online. Items included tributes to Claudio Maccone and Alexander Ollongren, the consultations of May and August 2025, the plan to put the new draft to members for approval after the meeting, and Kathryn Denning's review of post-detection initiatives worldwide.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
October 2025Feedback process for the 2025 update of the Post-Detection ProtocolsCommittee presentationPost-detection
Reports on the consultations held in spring 2025 (Committee members) and summer 2025 (the wider community, including the Order of the Octopus, the SETI Post-Detection Hub and the IISL SETI and Law Working Group). About 20% of those invited responded, and over 70% rated the draft 8 or more out of 10. It sets out the path to adoption: a final round of member comments, an anonymous online vote decided by a simple majority, submission to the IAA Board of Trustees, and a public presentation at IAC 2026.
Presented at the IAA SETI Committee meeting, IAC 2025, Sydney.
1 October 2025IAA SETI Committee agenda, IAC 2025 SydneyMeeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the Sydney meeting, including tributes to Claudio Maccone and Alexander Ollongren, global SETI updates and the post-detection discussion of the September 2025 draft.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
1 October 2025IAA SETI Committee chair's report, IAC 2025Committee presentation
The Chair's update since IAC 2024, including membership lists and the continuing wait for new IAA Terms of Reference.
1 October 2025Post-detection report to the IAA SETI Committee, 2025Committee reportPost-detection
Covers the IAC 2025 post-detection abstracts, NASA's Communicating Discoveries workshop, recent publications, and next steps after the revision, including restarting a post-detection sub-committee and developing Best Practices. It collects the abstracts of the task group's 2023, 2024 and 2025 papers.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
1 October 2025Claudio Maccone (1948–2025)Meeting record
Slides remembering Claudio Maccone, Chair of the Committee from 2012 to 2021: his work on the KLT, the FOCAL mission, protection of the lunar farside, and his many roles in the IAA.
Converted from PowerPoint.
1 October 2025Major upgrades to Italian radio telescopes (and SETI systems)Committee presentation
Upgrades to the Northern Cross and the 32-metre radio telescopes and their SETI systems.
Converted from PowerPoint.
1 October 2025SETI update in ChinaCommittee report
Written version of the update on SETI in China, prepared at the Committee's request: the national space science plan for 2024–2050, which makes habitable planets a key theme, SETI funding, and SETI work with FAST.
1 October 2025UCLA SETI updateExternal link
Update on the UCLA SETI programme. The slides reproduce pages of published journal papers whose copyright is held by the American Astronomical Society, so they are not hosted here; the programme's own site has the papers and results.
1 October 2025SETI Post-Detection Hub: 2025 annual updateCommittee reportPost-detection
Annual update from the SETI Post-Detection Hub at the University of St Andrews, including its first Post-Detection Futures Workshop in July 2025.
1 October 2025Post-detection and SETI in society: developments in 2025 (slides)Committee presentationPost-detection
The slides for Kathryn Denning's 2025 post-detection report.
October 2025SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards a New Version (IAC 2025 presentation)Conference presentation
The slides for the IAC 2025 paper on the protocols, presented in session A4.2 in Sydney.
27 September 2025SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards a New VersionPublished paper
The third task group paper, presenting the results of the structured consultation and a new draft of the revised Declaration at IAC 2025 in Sydney. It explains that the aim was to keep the lasting values of the earlier documents while making them fit twenty-first-century science, media and public engagement, and that the protocols are a living document that will need continued refinement.
The version submitted to the IAC 2025 proceedings on 27 September 2025. Presented at the 76th International Astronautical Congress, Sydney, 2025. Copyright the authors; released to the IAF to publish.
25 September 2025Draft Revised Declaration of Principles – 2026 Update (version 25 September 2025)DraftPost-detection
The draft that came out of the 2025 consultations and was presented to the Committee at IAC 2025 in Sydney. It is close to the final text. After one more round of comments from members, a version dated 27 November 2025 was put to the vote.
Presented at the IAA SETI Committee meeting on 1 October 2025.
September 2025IAA SETI Committee report to Commission 1, September 2025Committee reportPost-detection
Reports that a revised draft of the protocols went to members in May 2025 and to the wider community in August 2025, with feedback gathered through online forms. A September 2025 version would be presented in Sydney, put to the members for approval after IAC 2025, and then sent to the IAA Board of Trustees.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
September 2025The Case of the EQ Peg Hoax 25 Years Ago: Would a Replay in Today's Media Be the Same?Published paper
Revisits the 1998 EQ Peg hoax, a false claim of a SETI detection that ran in the world's media for five days, and asks how such a story would play out today, with fake news, polarisation and social media, drawing lessons for how a real detection should be communicated.
Presented at the 76th International Astronautical Congress, Sydney, 2025. Copyright the authors.
22 August 2025Addio a Claudio Maccone (INAF)External link
Obituary published by INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (in Italian).
IAC 2024, Milan
12 documentsPost-detectionMarch 2025IAA SETI Committee report, March 2025Committee reportPost-detection
A short progress report. The Committee is drafting a new version of the Post-Detection Protocols to replace the 2010 edition, is collecting feedback from members and the wider community, and aims to finalise or substantially advance the document at IAC 2025. It also reports the SETI session at IPSPACE 2024 in Hainan, China.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
16 October 2024Chair's notes, IAA SETI Committee meeting, IAC 2024Meeting recordPost-detection
Notes from Milan, where about 35 people attended in person and 10 online. The first full draft of the revised Declaration was presented and the consultation process agreed. The notes also include reports from Breakthrough, the SETI Institute, FAST, SETI Italia and South Africa, and a discussion of the history of SETI.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
October 2024Feedback process for the 2024 update of the Post-Detection ProtocolsCommittee presentationPost-detection
The consultation plan agreed in Milan. Committee members, including the heads of Breakthrough Initiatives and the SETI Institute, would comment first, followed by the wider SETI community (the IAA SETI community list of about 325 people) and groups such as the Order of the Octopus. Feedback would be anonymous, by email or online survey. The final draft would go to a member vote decided by a simple majority, followed by notification of IAA officials and a public presentation at IAC 2025.
Presented at the IAA SETI Committee meeting, IAC 2024, Milan.
16 October 2024Final agenda and documentation list, IAC 2024 MilanMeeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the Milan meeting, including the post-detection report, the first full draft of the revised Declaration and the consultation process.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
16 October 2024IAA SETI Committee chair's report, IAC 2024Committee presentation
The Chair's update since IAC 2023: membership lists, the wait for new Terms of Reference before new members can be elected, and the Committee's activity within the IAA.
October 2024Group photograph, IAA SETI Committee, Milan 2024Photograph
Group photograph of Committee members and guests at IAC 2024.
16 October 2024Post-detection report to the IAA SETI Committee, 2024Committee reportPost-detection
Reports that a small task group is revising the Declaration, and surveys post-detection work beyond the Committee: IAC 2024 abstracts, A Sign in Space, the IAU/Kavli symposium and the new IISL SETI and Law Working Group.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
16 October 2024Post-detection update: slides, 2024Committee presentationPost-detection
The slides for Kathryn Denning's 2024 post-detection report, including the IAC 2024 abstracts related to post-detection.
Converted from PowerPoint. The recorded narration is not included.
1 October 2024Draft Revised Declaration of Principles Concerning the Conduct of SETI (version 1 October 2024)DraftPost-detection
The first full draft of the revised Declaration, presented at IAC 2024 in Milan. It introduces the technosignature framing, the balance between timely public information and the safety of individual scientists, and the plan to supplement the Declaration with Best Practices Guidelines and a Code of Conduct that can be updated regularly.
Presented to the IAA SETI Committee meeting on 16 October 2024 and in session A4.2 of IAC 2024.
October 2024Comparison of the 2010 Declaration and the October 2024 draftWorking documentPost-detection
The October 2024 draft annotated to show its lineage. Significant changes from the 2010 Declaration are marked in green, and wording brought back from the 1989 Declaration is marked in blue. Useful for seeing which parts of the original protocols the revision deliberately restored.
Circulated with the draft for the 2024 consultation.
October 2024The Future of the SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards RevisionsPublished paperPost-detection
Reports the task group's progress after Baku, including further community consultation and proposed text. It sets out the model the revision followed: timeless Principles in the spirit of the 1989 Declaration, supplemented by Codes of Conduct and Best Practices that can be updated as circumstances change. It places the work alongside the 2024 NASA and IAU/Kavli meetings, the SETI Post-Detection Hub at St Andrews, and the IISL working group on SETI and the Law.
Presented at the 75th International Astronautical Congress, Milan, 14–18 October 2024. Copyright the authors; released to the IAF to publish.
October 2024The Future of the SETI Post-Detection Protocols: Progress Towards Revisions (slides)Conference presentationPost-detection
IAC 2023, Baku
5 documentsPost-detectionMarch 2024SETI Committee report to IAA Commission 1, March 2024Committee reportPost-detection
Reports on the Baku meeting and on the growing activity around post-detection protocols inside and outside the Committee, including the SETI Post-Detection Hub at St Andrews and the new IISL SETI and Law Working Group, and notes that a paper by Tennen, Denning, Oliver and Garrett was being prepared for IAC 2024.
Private Dropbox links have been removed from this copy.
3 October 2023Post-detection report to the IAA SETI Committee, 2023Committee reportPost-detection
Reports that, although the Committee still had no formal post-detection working group, a small task group had begun preliminary work on revising the Protocols, and reviews post-detection work by members and researchers outside the Committee.
3 October 2023Post-detection update: slides, 2023Committee presentationPost-detection
October 2023Revising the SETI Post-Detection Protocols for the 2020s and Beyond: A Report on Work in ProgressPublished paperPost-detection
The first public report from the task group set up in 2022 to revise the 2010 Declaration. It traces the protocols from 1989 and explains why revision is needed: social media and repeated false alarms have changed how information moves, and technosignature searches at Breakthrough Listen, the SETI Institute, FAST and elsewhere have grown in scale and scope, drawing in researchers who may not see themselves as working on SETI.
Presented at the 74th International Astronautical Congress, Baku, 2–6 October 2023. Copyright the authors; released to the IAF to publish.
October 2023IAA SETI Committee meeting, IAC 2023: notes from the chairMeeting recordPost-detection
Notes from Baku. Kathryn Denning reviewed post-detection protocol activity worldwide, John Elliott presented the new SETI Post-detection Hub at St Andrews, and the task group's first paper (Oliver et al.) was presented in session 2. The notes also record that under the new IAA Terms of Reference the Committee would now be called the 'SETI Committee'.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
IAC 2022, Paris
5 documentsPost-detectionMarch 2023SETI PC report to IAA Commission 1, March 2023Committee reportPost-detection
Reports that the main activity of the year had been to restart work on updating the post-detection protocols, last revised in 2010, led by Carol Oliver and Kathryn Denning with the Executive and Les Tennen, and that a paper on the update had been submitted to IAC 2023. It also covers membership records, colleagues who had died, including Frank Drake, and the rapid growth of SETI worldwide.
Private Dropbox links have been removed from this copy.
20 September 2022Agenda, IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting, IAC 2022 ParisMeeting record
Agenda including tributes to Frank Drake, changes to the IAA Terms of Reference, harmonising the membership list, and the post-detection working group report.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
20 September 2022Post-detection report to the IAA SETI Committee, 2022Committee reportPost-detection
Sets out the unresolved issues facing the protocols: today's information environment, new search strategies and detection types, and a much larger community of searchers. It argues that addressing them needs expertise not well represented on the Committee, and that post-detection research is essential but underfunded.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
20 September 2022Post-detection update: slides, 2022Committee presentationPost-detection
The slides that accompanied Kathryn Denning's 2022 post-detection report.
Converted from PowerPoint.
September 2022SETI PC report to IAA Commission 1, September 2022Committee report
Annual report to the IAA's Commission 1. It records the new Executive, the consolidation of a membership of about 80, the wait for new Terms of Reference, the Committee's focus on technosignatures beyond Earth's atmosphere, and continued support for work on the post-detection protocols.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
IAC 2021, Dubai
11 documentsPost-detection29 October 2021Chair's notes, IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting, IAC 2021Meeting recordPost-detection
The new Chair's summary of the 2021 meeting, the first under Michael Garrett. The Executive named post-detection as one of the Committee's most important activities, setting the course for the revision of the protocols. Kathryn Denning reported on post-detection activity, and John Elliott presented the UK SETI Research Network's plan for a Post-detection Hub. Other outcomes: a review panel for IAC abstracts, updating the Terms of Reference, and the report on UAP.
Phone numbers and private Dropbox and Zoom links have been removed from this copy.
27 October 2021Annual meeting minutes, IAC 2021 Dubai (draft)Draft minutes
Minutes of the meeting at which the new Executive took over: Michael Garrett as Chair, Andrew Siemion and Carol Oliver as Co-Chairs, and Lori Walton as Secretary. Claudio Maccone reported as outgoing Chair, and members paid tribute to colleagues who had died since 2019, including the space lawyers Patricia Sterns, Ernst Fasan and Elisabeth Back Impallomeni.
These minutes are marked as a draft.
27 October 2021Report from the outgoing Chair after nine years, 2012–2021Meeting record
Claudio Maccone's review of his nine years as Chair. It lists the Committee's chairs from Rudolf Pešek onwards and the conferences held with each IAC, and records that membership grew from about 20 in 2012 to about 100 in 2021.
27 October 2021Post-detection report to the IAA SETI Committee, 2021Committee reportPost-detection
Written while the Committee had no post-detection working group. It recalls the approach proposed in the 2019 update by Denning and Les Tennen: timeless Principles, a Code of Conduct for active researchers revised as needed, and Best Practices for public communication revised every couple of years. That model shaped the eventual 2026 Update.
27 October 2021Agenda, IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting, IAC 2021 DubaiMeeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the first meeting under the new Executive: the outgoing Chair's report, commemorations of Stu Bowyer, Nichi D'Amico and Lev Gindilis, changes to the IAA Terms of Reference, the UAP working group report and the post-detection working group report.
The Zoom link has been removed from this copy.
October 2021Commemoration of Stuart Bowyer (1934–2020)Meeting record
Jill Tarter's tribute to Stuart Bowyer, who founded the field of extreme-ultraviolet astronomy, started UC Berkeley's SETI programme and recruited her into SETI.
2021In memoriam: Ernst Fasan (1926–2021)External link
Obituary published by the International Institute of Space Law, remembered at the 2021 meeting.
2021In memoriam: Patricia Margaret Sterns (1952–2018)External link
Obituary published by the International Institute of Space Law, remembered at the 2021 meeting.
2021Prof. Elisabeth Back ImpallomeniExternal link
Obituary published by the European Space Agency, remembered at the 2021 meeting.
27 October 2021Post-detection update: slides, 2021Committee presentationPost-detection
The slides that accompanied Kathryn Denning's 2021 post-detection report.
Converted from PowerPoint.
2021Report of the Ad Hoc Subcommittee on UFO Studies with Respect to IAA SETI Permanent Committee BusinessCommittee report
Written after a dispute over rejected UFO-related abstracts. The report records a range of views within the subcommittee and recommends polling the membership, defining the Committee's scope more precisely and setting criteria for accepting abstracts. The Committee's later decision to keep its focus beyond Earth's atmosphere is reflected in the 2026 Update, which excludes UAP.
Online meetings, 2020
2 documentsPost-detection11 December 2020Agenda, online Committee meeting, 11 December 2020Meeting record
Agenda including the election of 19 nominees, a report on protocols and societal issues by Kathryn Denning, and possible new study groups.
16 October 2020Agenda, online Committee meeting, 16 October 2020Meeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the first online meeting held during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a proposal from Kathryn Denning to create a post-detection sub-committee on protocols and societal issues, and the election of new members.
IAC 2019, Washington DC
3 documentsPost-detection23 October 2019Agenda, IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting, Washington DCMeeting recordPost-detection
Agenda for the Washington meeting. It includes progress on 'SETI Protocols 2.0' (Les Tennen, Duncan Forgan, Iván Almár and others) and on setting up a post-detection sub-committee, alongside reports on the lunar farside, Breakthrough Listen and the SETI Institute.
23 October 2019Post-detection related developments, ongoing work towards SETI Protocols 2.0, and SETI in Society newsCommittee presentationPost-detection
The post-detection update given to the Committee in Washington in 2019. It proposed that the Protocols be supplemented by a Code of Conduct and Best Practices guidelines, the approach later taken in the 2026 Update.
October 2019SETI and Post-Detection: Towards a New Research RoadmapPublished paper
A multi-authored discussion paper by Committee members, written to give the background to the post-detection report of that year. It argues that discovery is a process rather than a moment, recasts 'post-detection' as preparation for discovery, the process of discovery and protocol during detection, reviews earlier work, and suggests supplementing the Protocols with Codes of Conduct and Best Practices guidelines.
Presented at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Washington DC, 2019. The authors were not formally tasked by the Committee with this work. Copyright the authors.
IAC 2018, Bremen
5 documentsPost-detection3 October 2018Agenda, IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting, BremenMeeting record
Agenda for the Bremen meeting.
3 October 2018SETI PC meeting notes, IAC 2018 BremenMeeting recordPost-detection
Notes of the Bremen meeting. The Committee agreed a process for appointing new members, and Les Tennen reported that he would present the status of the SETI detection protocols at IAC 2018. Also covered: protection of the lunar farside, COSPAR 2018 and the NASA Technosignatures Workshop.
2–5 October 2018Schedule of SETI-related activities, IAC 2018 BremenMeeting record
One-page schedule of the SETI sessions, the Committee meeting and the interactive presentations at IAC 2018.
October 2018Review of the SETI Post-Detection and Reply Protocols: Current Actions and DevelopmentsPublished paper
Written after the Committee's Executive asked Tennen and Forgan to review the protocols. It argues that the 2010 revision had not kept pace with SETI's scientific and technical advances or with the shift from print and broadcast media to social media, and makes the case for re-examining the Protocols.
Presented at the 69th International Astronautical Congress, Bremen, 2018.
January 2016Catalogue of SETI PublicationsReference work
A bibliography of SETI papers, books, proceedings, reports, IAC papers and special issues of Acta Astronautica, commissioned by the IAA SETI Permanent Committee's history of SETI working group. It was circulated at the Bremen meeting in 2018. Stéphane Dumas died in 2016.
Video meetings, 2018
2 documentsPost-detection19 April 2018Agenda for the video meeting, 19 April 2018Meeting recordPost-detection
Agenda and open action items. A new set of post-detection actions aimed to put post-detection back on the agenda at IAC 2018, find a chair for a working group and, in the agenda's words, 're-energize activity in PD issues'.
The agenda's header reads 'Thursday April 11, 2018', but 11 April 2018 was a Wednesday; the file name and the Committee's other records give 19 April.
18 January 2018Minutes of the video meeting, 18 January 2018Draft minutesPost-detection
Review of the Adelaide action items, including the still-open task to prepare a 2018 update of the Protocols, and discussion of quorum and the process for appointing new members.
These minutes are marked as a draft.
IAC 2017, Adelaide
2 documentsPost-detection26 September 2017SETI PC meeting notes, IAC 2017 AdelaideMeeting recordPost-detection
Notes of the Adelaide meeting. After a presentation by Les Tennen on the protocols, Tennen and Duncan Forgan were asked to prepare an update for IAC 2018. Iván Almár and Duncan Forgan presented Rio Scale 2.0, with an action to consider how it connects to post-detection activity.
Final version as approved at the Bremen meeting in 2018.
10 August 2017Notes of the informal video meeting, 10 August 2017Meeting record
Notes from the Committee's first informal video meeting, covering an update of the Rio Scale, the protocols, dark and quiet skies, machine learning, standardising SETI data and project news, ahead of IAC 2017.
IAC 2016, Guadalajara
1 documentPost-detection27 September 2016IAA SETI Permanent Committee meeting minutes, IAC 2016 GuadalajaraMeeting recordPost-detection
Minutes of the meeting chaired by Claudio Maccone. After discussion of a RATAN-600 candidate signal from the star HD 164595, members agreed on the need to make better use of the Rio Scale and to prevent press excitement over future candidates, and a group was formed to look again at the scale. Other items: FAST, SKA precursors, the Committee's history, protection of the lunar farside, and moving the Committee website to Berkeley.
Paris, March 2015
2 documentsMarch 2015Report of the Sixth IAA Symposium on Search for Life Signatures, ParisMeeting record
Rapporteur's report of the Paris symposium, attended by about 22 participants from eight countries. It covers the proposal to protect the lunar farside from radio interference, the new UK SETI Research Network, SETI Italia and the Sardinia Radio Telescope, optical SETI at FOAM13, and other contributions.
26–27 March 2015Programme: Sixth IAA Symposium on Search for Life Signatures and SETI Permanent Committee meetingMeeting record
Programme for the Committee meeting (open to all) and the one-day symposium at IAA headquarters in Paris, with sessions on protecting the lunar farside, the UK SETI Research Network, radio and optical SETI, artefact searches, astrobiology and the One Earth New Horizons message initiative.
About
This site
Maintained by the IAA SETI Committee to keep its meeting records and the texts of the post-detection protocols together in one place that anyone can read.
The summaries were written for this site. The documents themselves are the authoritative source.
Copyright
The Committee's meeting records, presentations and reports are placed in the public domain with the agreement of their authors. Texts issued by the International Academy of Astronautics are reproduced for reference, and copyright in them stays with the IAA. Papers whose copyright is held by the International Astronautical Federation are reproduced with the permission of the IAF and their authors. Papers from the 1990 special issue of Acta Astronautica are reproduced with the permission of Elsevier. The report of the Workshops on the Cultural Aspects of SETI is reproduced with the permission of the SETI Institute. Obituaries published elsewhere are linked rather than copied.
Sources
Some copies were printed from the Committee's earlier website, iaaseti.org, and carry the print date. Where an official copy exists elsewhere, the entry links to it.
The current Declaration is published by the IAA at iaaspace.org.
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