On May 24, 2023, as part of the A Sign in Space project, ESA’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) will transmit an encoded message to Earth to simulate receiving a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization.
“Throughout history, humanity has searched for meaning in powerful and transformative phenomena,” said Daniela de Paulis, the visionary artist behind the A Sign in Space project and artist in residence at the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory.
“Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformational experience for all humankind.”
“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.”
Three world-class radio astronomy observatories — the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA), the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at the Green Bank Observatory, and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory — will detect the encoded message.
The specific content of the encoded message, developed by de Paulis and colleagues, is currently undisclosed, allowing the public to contribute to decoding and interpreting the content.
TGO will transmit the encoded message on May 24 at 19:00 UTC (12:00 pm PDT), with receipt on Earth 16 minutes later.
“This experiment is an opportunity for the world to learn how the SETI community, in all its diversity, will work together to receive, process, analyze, and understand the meaning of a potential extraterrestrial signal,” said Allen Telescope Array project scientist Dr. Wael Farah.
“More than astronomy, communicating with ET will require a breadth of knowledge.”
“With A Sign in Space, we hope to make the initial steps towards bringing a community together to meet this challenge.”
Following the transmission, ATA, GBT,…
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