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Satellite dish: astronomers around the world listen for possible messages from extraterrestrials in space
Photo: Getty Images
Stephen Hawking, the famous astrophysicist, once said that if aliens ever visit us, the result will be something like Christopher Columbus' arrival in America.
"And that didn't end well for Native Americans."
Some scientists fear the possible superiority of extraterrestrial life so much that they think it would be better not to seek contact at all.
But the reminders are apparently in the minority.
Many scientists are convinced that we are not alone in space.
There are projects around the world looking for extraterrestrial life.
But what happens when they are successful?
When aliens contact the world, who decides what to do next?
An international research team at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland aims to answer precisely these questions.
"We cannot afford to be ill-prepared for an event that could occur at any time," coordinator John Elliott told the Guardian.
Aliens turned out to be a microwave
'Look at the mess we made when Covid hit.
We would be like headless chickens,” the computer specialist said of possible alien contact.
So far, there is at best a rough guideline for how to proceed in this case.
The International Aerospace Academy issued an initial statement in 1989.
Accordingly, anyone who believes they have received an extraterrestrial signal - astronomers speak of a "technosignature" - must ensure that no earthly explanation can be found.
Australian astronomers once thought they had recorded a strange signal.
In fact, it came from a microwave oven in the research facility's kitchen.
To be sure that extraterrestrials have actually reported, the signal should be recorded by more than one research facility, the policy says.
If it is confirmed that there is a message from aliens, the UN is to be informed.
But what then?
Should humanity answer?
In which form?
Who decides what to send back?
Elliott wants to clarify these questions and bring international research teams together.
But what could such a message from space look like?
Elliott, who is also a linguist, hopes each civilization will transmit some sort of phrasebook that can be used to decipher the message.
Great grandma sends request, granddaughter gets answer
Astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell of the University of Westminister in London considers Elliott's initiative to be an important step.
However, he doubts that mankind would be under time pressure when answering the message.
The nearest intelligent civilization could be hundreds if not thousands of light years away.
Generations would pass before the message got across.
"Even if we get a signal tomorrow," he told the Guardian, "we would have plenty of time to assemble an international team of diverse experts to decode the message and consider how and if Earth should respond." The more important question, according to Dartnell, is how to prevent companies or individuals from responding to the message on their own.
Elliott thinks the best place to deliver a message on behalf of humanity would be through the United Nations.
Mankind sent the first message of possible extraterrestrial life into space back in 1974 with the Arecibo telescope.
The message of 1679 zeros and ones contains information about the most important elements for life on earth and the structure of human DNA.
The message's destination is the globular cluster Messier 13, and it will be more than 20,000 years before it arrives.
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