Many scientists have speculated that the sheer scale of the universe makes it unlikely we are alone, but what would happen if ET really did reach out? A team from the SETI Institute and European Space Agency (ESA) aims to find out. These SETI researchers, astronomers, and artists have devised a simulated first-contact scenario. The project, known as A Sign in Space, will task scientists and the general public with decoding the transmission to make contact with a simulated ET.
The project will begin on May 24 when the ESA's Mars-based Trace Gas Orbiter beams a signal toward Earth. This encoded message was created by Daniela de Paulis, an artist and radio operator who works as the artist in residence at the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory. In collaboration with an international team, de Paulis crafted something suitably alien, which will be received by three different radio telescopes: the SETI Allen Telescope Array, the Green Bank Telescope (above), and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station in Italy.
It will take 16 minutes for the signal to get to Earth after it is transmitted. Of course, any real message from ET would have been traveling much longer—it takes years for a signal to reach even the closest stars. Consequently, there would be no particular rush in figuring out what they said. The team hopes to foster a collaborative approach to solving this problem. "A Sign in Space offers the unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and prepare for this scenario through global collaboration, fostering an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines," says de Paulis.
The open nature of A Sign in Space almost guarantees people will race to see who can decode the message first. The transmission and reception will be streamed live on YouTube, along with a series of Zoom discussions with project contributors. Following the transmission, the telescope teams will archive the processed data on the FIlecoin decentralized storage network. And those who want to work the problem together can join a Discord chat hosted by SETI. The project website has a submission form for anyone who thinks they've cracked the code.
A Sign in Space might be an interesting simulation, but human minds still crafted the message. No one knows what a truly alien communique would look like. Would we even recognize it as a message? If so, could we decode it, and would it make any sense when we did? A Sign in Space can't address those questions, but we can at least make sure people are thinking through the problems before ET comes calling.
