A message from Mars is coming to Earth. It is expected on May 24 and three radio telescopes in Italy and the United States are preparing to listen to it, while the whole world is called to decode it: it is not a science fiction story, but the project "A sign in space" conceived by the artist Daniela de Paulis, inspired by Italo Calvino's Cosmicomiche and realized in collaboration with the National Institute of Astrophysics, European Space Agency, the Seti Institute and the Green Bank Observatory. The goal is to involve the public around the world in the simulation of an unprecedented scenario and the experiment, broadcast live by the Seti Institute from 20.15 Italian on May 24, can also be followed on ANSA Scienza.
Inspired by the story of the Cosmicomics "A sign from space", the project includes a space performance that, in addition to radio telescopes, involves the Trace Gas Orbiter probe of the ExoMars mission, which is in Martian orbit. It will be this, at 21.00 Italian on May 24, to transmit to the Earth a coded message that simulates the reception of a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization. About 16 minutes later, it will be captured by the Italian radio telescope of Medicina (Bologna), managed by INAF, and two American radio telescopes: the Allen Telescope Array of the SetiI Institute, in California, and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope.
The message, whose content is secret, was conceived by de Paulis in collaboration with an interdisciplinary research group. "Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformative experience for all of humanity. A Sign in Space offers an unprecedented opportunity to tangibly experience and prepare for this scenario through global collaboration, promoting a search for meaning without a fixed term, involving all cultures and disciplines".
The interviews Daniela de Paulis, Germano Bianchi and Stelio Montebugnoli (edited by Media INAF)
It will also be an opportunity to test the technology, observes Germano Bianchi, INAF technologist at the Medicina station: "we will finally go to test our technology, which we have created for Seti research, receiving a 'real' signal. In this way, we will perfectly simulate the whole procedure as if we received an artificial signal from an intelligent civilization, from data acquisition to information sharing with the Seti community."
To participate in the challenge, immediately after the live broadcast you can download the data to try to decode the message and interpret its content, joining the discussion on the project website and on the online platform Discord. In the following weeks, webinars (in English) are planned to guide the public in the enterprise, including the one organized by the Inaf for May 31st.
