Observing the Earth as a Communicating Exoplanet

This white paper highlights an observing project that aims to advance and refine our search for life in the Universe, measure the Earths technosignature over time, and foster collaborations between radio astronomers and the wider astrobiology community for the next decade and beyond. This paper highlights the Moonbounce Project and prospective opportunities for project expansion.The Moonbounce Project is the pet name of a radioshine observation effort that attempts to measure Earths radio leakage, reflected by the moon, through the Green Bank Telescope as a study of our technosignature. This project attempts to expand upon earlier radioshine observations conducted in the late 70s and once again 2012 and has implications for refining SETI searches. Plausible expansions of the Moonbounce project include with optical observations of our technosignature (i.e. anthropogenic emissions) from ground-based and space-based telescopes in the NIR/VIS/UV wavelengths. Corroboration of technosignature data across the electromagnetic spectrum can help inform future SETI searches and yield insight to how our own technosignature is changing over time (i.e. will CFCs be non-existent in our atmosphere in 50 years, or will we be radio quiet as we move toward fiber optic communications?). Figure 1: The Moonbounce Project: Observing Earth’s Technosignature