LaserSETI Expands Network to Puerto Rico, Growing Toward AllSky Coverage

Under the tropical skies of Puerto Rico, a new observatory joined the LaserSETI Network, expanding the SETI Institute’s ability to search for technosignatures. Bringing cutting-edge instruments to an island with an already astronomical history, the project will scan the heavens for fleeting flashes of light. With this installation, Puerto Rico now plays a central role in optical SETI efforts. 

What is LaserSETI?

LaserSETI differs from traditional telescopes, which focus on a narrow slice of the sky. Instead, each instrument uses pairs of off-the-shelf, wide-field, optical cameras to continuously monitor swaths of the heavens that span 75 degrees across. These instruments are tuned to catch brief, millisecond-order bursts of monochromatic light by splitting all incoming light into its parts. Since optical pulses from natural, known sources are not monochromatic, such a detection could indicate an optical technosignature — a hallmark expected of advanced civilizations. While radio astronomy has long been the cornerstone of SETI, the addition of optical SETI broadens the search, opening a new avenue to explore the SETI Institute’s founding question: are we alone?

LaserSETI at Isla Magueyes

This new LaserSETI site, marking the fourth observatory in the network, was made possible through collaboration with the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) at Mayagüez’s Department of Marine Sciences and with the support of local partners who continue the island’s proud tradition of cosmic discovery. Collaborator Dr. Abel Méndez, professor at UPR at Arecibo and Director of UPR’s Planetary Habitability Laboratory, scouted the island for the perfect place to host the new instruments. Thanks to his efforts and the generosity of the Department of Marine Sciences, LaserSETI was provided a prime location. Now, the new instruments sit atop the main building of the Department’s Magueyes Marine Station on a small islet off the southern coast, called Isla Magueyes. In a recent SETI Live, Méndez stated the myriad reasons why Isla Magueyes was his top pick for the new observatory, and with the Department’s help to prepare the roof, the LaserSETI instruments have the perfect home in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico’s location provides crucial sky coverage, filling in a geographic gap and ensuring confirmation of potential signals when combined with LaserSETI’s other sites. This new observatory is the first with three instruments, each pointed in a different direction. Two of the stations will overlap in field of view with the Sedona, AZ instruments, while the other will overlap with a future site currently slated for the Canary Islands. Despite the overlap, LaserSETI Puerto Rico will still increase the network’s coverage from a third of the night sky to approximately 40% of it.

A timelapse of the second day of the LaserSETI installation.

The installation not only expands LaserSETI’s sights but also offers new opportunities for local students and researchers, who now have a front-row seat to a new generation of SETI research. Dr. Méndez will continue to collaborate with the team to analyze the data once all systems are go, and he will train students to tap into LaserSETI’s scientific potential in other realms, such as meteor studies.

A Smooth Installation

Although it’s never a true LaserSETI experience without a delayed flight, the team — including Méndez, LaserSETI Principal Investigator Eliot Gillum, Project Manager Dr. Franck Marchis, and Outreach Manager Dr. Lauren Sgro — traveled to La Parguera, the nearest town to the islet observatory site. From there, they took a boat to Isla Magueyes, where they assessed the rooftop location and inspected the instruments. Shipping damage was minimal; however, the marine environment will likely require more frequent maintenance than other LaserSETI sites. Volunteers Evans Ortiz Ortolaza and Martin Jude Irizarry from the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean (Sociedad de Astronomía del Caribe) and its president, Rafael Emmanuelli, joined the effort, moving the instruments to the roof and helping prepare them for installation. Once everything was roughly in place, the team set about cutting wires and tubing to close out the day’s work.

The team — joined by Francisco Pacheco-Vellón, a student from UPR Mayagüez who will perform monthly maintenance at the observatory — spent the next day connecting wiring and bringing the instruments online. With support from the Department of Marine Sciences, the instruments were powered and linked to the internet, with one unit (known to the LaserSETI team as MAG1) serving as the hub for the others. After confirming that all systems functioned at a basic level, the team adjusted their positioning and completed the assembly.

On the final day of installation, the team applied finishing touches—for example, securing the instrument housing and testing every connection—before departing the next morning. Gillum worked through the night (even sleeping on site!) to ensure that all the instruments were communicating properly. Thanks to that dedication, the team achieved first light with one of the units, known as MAG3. This instrument is now fully online, precisely focused, and already capable of making SETI observations. The two remaining instruments developed camera shutter issues. These challenges are expected to be resolved quickly with the support of local collaborators. In projects such as this, teamwork truly makes the dream work.

Overall, the installation went smoothly and successfully, with the team continuing to refine the process for greater efficiency. The contributions of volunteers and students were invaluable, providing essential support that helped bring this new observatory to life. It is this communal effort that LaserSETI aims to foster, and that will continue to keep the observatories’ eyes on the sky for years to come.

Looking Ahead, Around the Globe

The vision for LaserSETI has always been global, aiming to have eyes on the entire sky at all times. With observatories already in California, Hawaii, and Arizona, the addition of Puerto Rico marks a critical expansion. Each site pairs with others around the world to create overlapping fields of view that help distinguish genuine astronomical events from local interference. The next steps for the teams at the SETI Institute and in Puerto Rico will be to focus the remaining two instruments and to begin sharing data, echoing the collaborative effort behind this global search. Then, the team will look forward to the next LaserSETI site.

This worldwide coverage is essential because a true technosignature could appear anywhere and at any time. By connecting observatories across longitudes, LaserSETI continues to build toward its ambitious goal: a planet-wide network capable of continuously monitoring the night sky. While much work remains, each new installation brings us one step closer to that vision.