From Mars, a message is to be sent to Earth to stage extraterrestrial signals. The public can help decipher the message.
Mountain View – The possibility of contacting extraterrestrial intelligence has long fascinated mankind. While science fiction films and books often feature spectacular encounters, the question arises: what would really happen if we came into contact with aliens one day? A group of researchers and artists wants to simulate such an encounter.
Team of artists and researchers wants to simulate contact with aliens
Daniela de Paulis, an established interdisciplinary artist and radio operator, has launched the project called "A Sign in Space". She is currently Artist in Residence at the US-based SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory. While the SETI Institute is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated to the search for intelligent extraterrestrial life, the Green Bank Observatory is a partially federally funded radio astronomy research and development organization based in the U.S. state of West Virginia.
For her extraordinary experiment, de Paulis put together a team of international experts. Among them are SETI researchers, space scientists and artists. "Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformative experience for all of humanity. 'A Sign in Space' offers a unique opportunity to rehearse and prepare this scenario," said the artist de Paulis in a statement from the SETI Institute. Recently, researchers have shown, for example, that extraterrestrials could discover the Earth on the basis of mobile phone signals.
Contact with extraterrestrials: Several telescopes to receive messages
As part of the "A Sign in Space" project, the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will send an encrypted message to Earth from orbit around Mars on May 24, 2023 at 19 p.m. (UTC, i.e. around 21 p.m. in Germany). About 16 minutes after sending the message, it should reach us, as the SETI Institute explains.
Several telescopes on Earth are designed to receive the simulated message from extraterrestrials. © Skatelescope/dpa
Three radio observatories then track down the message. These include the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA), the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT), and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station Observatory, which is operated by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). The exact content of the encrypted message, which was developed by de Paulis and her team, is not disclosed, so the public can help decipher and interpret the content.
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The public can discuss the message on the Internet
For this purpose, the SETI Institute wants to make the signal available to the public after reception. Anyone who wants to help decipher and interpret the message can discuss their thoughts with other participants on the Discord server "A Sign in Space". The team is also planning a series of public Zoom discussions in which researchers and artists will address the societal implications of detecting a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization. The interviews will take place over six to eight weeks after the broadcast.
According to a study by the SETI Institute, the fact that aliens have not yet made contact with Earth could be due to the fact that the Earth is well hidden. (tt)
