What If Aliens Have Been Trying To Contact Us But We Are Unable To Decode Their Messages?
Receiving communication from an extraterrestrial civilization would have a profoundly transformative impact on the entire human race.
What steps or actions do we plan to take following that?
This intriguing concept forms the basis of a new project helmed by Daniela de Paulis, a notable artist working at the intersection of multiple disciplines, who also happens to be a certified radio operator.
Presently, she holds the Artist in Residence position at both the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory. De Paulis has rallied an international cohort of experts, ranging from SETI researchers and space scientists to artists, for her latest endeavor, A Sign in Space.
This groundbreaking initiative employs global theater as a medium to delve into the methodology of decoding and interpreting messages from otherworldly entities. The project fosters a cooperative worldwide effort, uniting professionals from diverse fields, members of the extensive SETI community, and the general public. The endeavor promotes a global dialogue encompassing SETI, space exploration, and societal implications, extending across myriad cultures and disciplines.
A pivotal element of A Sign in Space is an event slated for May 24, 2023. During this event, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) – a spacecraft currently circling Mars under the aegis of the European Space Agency – will beam an encrypted message to our planet. This exercise is intended to mimic the scenario of Earth receiving a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence.”
“Throughout history, humanity has searched for meaning in powerful and transformative phenomena,” adds Daniela de Paulis. “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 renowned radio astronomy observatories spread across different parts of the world have been chosen to detect a mysterious encoded message. These observatories are the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) operated by the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) situated at the Green Bank Observatory (GBO), and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory managed by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). The content of the encoded message, designed by de Paulis and her team, remains undisclosed, inviting the public to participate in deciphering and interpreting its meaning.
On May 24 at 19:00 UTC / 12:00 pm PDT, the ESA ExoMars Orbiter will transmit the encoded message, which will be received on Earth approximately 16 minutes later. To engage the public in this exciting endeavor, the SETI Institute has organized a social media live stream event. The live stream will include interviews with key members of the team, such as scientists, engineers, and artists, who will be joining from various locations worldwide, including the control rooms at ATA, GBT, and Medicina. The event will commence at 11:15 am PDT and will be hosted by Dr. Franck Marchis from the SETI Institute and Victoria Catlett from GBO. You can access the live stream event here.
Dr. Wael Farah, ATA Project Scientist, expressed the significance of this experiment, stating, “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. 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.”
After the transmission, the ATA, GBT, and Medicina teams will carefully analyze the signal and subsequently release it to the public for decoding purposes.
To ensure the long-term preservation and accessibility of the processed data, the SETI Institute will collaborate with the Breakthrough Listen Open Data Archive and Filecoin, the largest decentralized storage network globally. This joint effort guarantees the secure storage of the processed data, protecting its availability for future analysis and decoding initiatives while maintaining its integrity.
Individuals engaged in decoding and analyzing the message are encouraged to participate in the A Sign in Space Discord server, where they can engage in discussions regarding the process. If you have any findings, thoughts, or artistic and scientific contributions, please utilize the dedicated submission form on the project’s website: https://asignin.space/decode-the-message/.
Following the transmission, the A Sign in Space team will conduct a series of Zoom-based discussions, open to the public, exploring topics that delve into the societal implications of detecting a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization. These discussions will span over a period of 6-8 weeks after the transmission.
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