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SETI Stars are our monthly supporters who keep the search running. They sustain the researchers, instruments, and bold, interdisciplinary work that makes discovery possible.
Breakthroughs happen through sustained effort, careful observation, and the willingness to ask the biggest questions at the intersection of science and society. That is what SETI Stars make possible — a steady commitment that lets the SETI Institute pursue research that takes years to bear fruit.
For a small monthly commitment, you become part of that effort. Not as a bystander, but as someone the search depends on.
What SETI Stars make possible:
- Cutting-edge research: SETI Stars fund scientists working across astrobiology, technosignatures, exoplanets, and planetary exploration. This is the work that moves humanity's understanding forward, year after year.
- Telescope time & instruments: From the Allen Telescope Array to LaserSETI, the instruments that scan the sky for signals require ongoing operational funding. Your monthly gift helps keep them pointed at the right places.
- Education and outreach: Your support reaches students, educators, and communities through programs that bring the search for life to the next generation of scientists and thinkers, including internships and public events.
Member benefits
What you get as a SETI Star
01 | The Signal, our newsletter for SETI Stars
Updates from behind the scenes, fresh research developments, and stories you won't find published anywhere else. Sent only to SETI Stars, so you stay close to the search as it unfolds.
02 | Exclusive event invitations
Step inside the search through virtual conversations and private gatherings with the people who drive it, including SETI Institute scientists like Jill Tarter and Seth Shostak, plus special guests such as bestselling author Andy Weir.
03 | Annual SETI Star recognition
Exclusive SETI Star swag and an invitation to our annual ice cream social, where we celebrate the supporters who keep the search going. It is our way of saying thank you and welcoming you onto the team.
04 | A stake in the search
The knowledge that you are one of the people keeping the search alive, not symbolically but materially. Your recurring gift sustains the patient research that unfolds over years.
Ready to join the search?
Monthly giving is the most effective way to support the SETI Institute and the search it leads. It gives our interdisciplinary teams reliable funding, lets us plan for the long term, and makes your impact greater than a single gift of the same total amount.
"I think that contact with another intelligent civilization would be the most important scientific discovery of our lifetimes. So, I decided to contribute what I could to further this important aspect of scientific exploration."
-Seetha Sharma
"I believe science and space exploration are required to fulfill humankind's destiny to become space explorers, miners, and citizens of other planets and moons… And why pay $9 for coffee when you could help find ET? What could be bigger?"
-Ken Lim
"There are only a few big questions. One of them is, "Are we alone?" SETI is the due diligence of the human race trying to answer that question."
-Mark Schindler
"I became a SETI Star because understanding whether life exists beyond Earth is one of the most important pursuits of our time."
-Margaret Reeb