Earth Will Receive an 'Alien' Transmission From Mars This Week

The imaginable of receiving an alien awesome is some exhilarating and daunting, and we’ll really get to acquisition it connected Wednesday—or astatine least, a simulation of specified a thing, arsenic a group of scientists and artists transportation retired a fascinating SETI experiment.

On May 24 astatine 3:00 p.m. ET, nan European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded connection to Earth. A trio of ground-based power observatories will effort to person nan awesome erstwhile it arrives 16 minutes later. The signal, an encoded connection developed by creator Daniela de Paulis and her colleagues, will past beryllium made disposable to nan public, who are invited to effort to make consciousness of nan message.

The event, which you tin watch above, will beryllium livestreamed connected Wednesday from 2:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. ET. The media arena will see scientists, artists, engineers, and different experts.

Of course, nary alien civilization is presently beaming messages astatine us, astatine slightest not that we cognize of, but nan experiment, called A Sign successful Space, explores this very possibility. Over 30 abstraction scientists, artists, and SETI researchers are helping pinch nan interdisciplinary task (SETI stands for nan hunt for extraterrestrial intelligence), pinch ESA and abstraction logistics institution D-Orbit besides taking part.

“Throughout history, humanity has searched for meaning successful powerful and transformative phenomena,” de Paulis, a licensed power usability and an creator successful residence astatine nan SETI Institute and Greenbank Observatory, said successful a statement. “Receiving a connection from an extraterrestrial civilization would beryllium a profoundly transformational acquisition for each humankind.” The research “offers nan unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and hole for this script done world collaboration, fostering an open-ended hunt for meaning crossed each cultures and disciplines,” she added.

Three astronomy stations will beryllium fresh to person nan signal, namely nan SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array, nan Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope astatine nan Green Bank Observatory, and nan Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory managed by Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. The contents of nan message, developed by de Paulis and her collaborators, person not been disclosed.

Artist’s belief of nan ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter, which is presently successful orbit astir Mars. Image: ESA

“This revolutionary position of world theatre intends to research nan process of decoding and interpreting an extraterrestrial connection by engaging nan worldwide SETI community, professionals from different fields and nan broader public,” nan SETI Institute explained. Deciphering a existent extraterrestrial awesome and its connection “would statesman an endless and varied process of technological and taste mentation that would item our limitations, arsenic good arsenic our basal request to transcend them,” nan institute added.

It’s an absorbing thought for a crowd-source tabletop exercise, successful which nan nationalist is being asked to decode nan simulated alien signal. We evidently don’t speak alien languages, but it whitethorn beryllium imaginable for america to find ways of communicating pinch extraterrestrials done symbolic connection aliases different means. The squad is asking contributors to taxable technological data, sketches, thoughts, and different ideas successful nan effort to decode nan signal.

After nan observatories process nan incoming signal, they’ll station it to nan A Sign successful Space Discord server for decoding. Anyone willing successful contributing to this research is invited to motion up here. A bid of discussions will past return spot complete six to 8 weeks pursuing nan transmission.

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