What Do Big Data And Aliens Have In Common?

Big Data and Aliens have little in common other than IBM, NASA and SETI’s interest in them.

IBM has announced that they will be lending their Big Data analytics systems to SETI ( Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute to aid in their hunt for extra terrestrial life. NASA is also working with IBM and SETI, providing deep space radio signals that may contain signals that lead to a discovery of other life forms.

How can IBM help SETI look for aliens? 

SETI will be utilizing IBM’s Spark system for it’s machine learning qualities. Spark is an open source data system that is continually improving, making it a wonderfully useful tool in searching for the unknown. The deep space radio signals can be processed by Spark to potentially catch any signals that human analysts may have missed.

SETI is extremely excited about the partnership with IBM as their resources have vastly improved. SETI can now search for extra terrestrial life faster and more meticulously. Instead of relying on stargazers and fanatics, SETI now has the help of NASA which means they will receive data on the far out places of space they never had access to before.

This unique partnership is an innovative way to use Big Data. Many companies today are engaging in Big Data Anlalytics to extract information to better their business, but this is the first we are hearing of Big Data working with SETI. Big Data is such a dynamic tool that can be used in almost any realm. From healthcare to banking Big Data is helping people make decisions and discover more accurate information. With IBM, NASA and SETI working together we are making major leaps in the search for intelligence beyond our world.

Just like its effect on other industries, the use of a Big Data analytics system like Spark saves time and money. SETI is now discovering evidence they have been searching for for years! SETI is especially lucky to have their partnership with IBM so that they do not need to run their own Spark system and can simply use IBM’s.

Who knows, maybe in the next ten years we will be tracking extra terrestrial signals in real time, becoming faster and smarter on our hunt to find life forms beyond ourselves.

To learn about how Big Data is being used in other unusual ways check out this interesting article!