"Alien Message" From Mars Has Been Received By Earth. These Steps Will Attempt To Decode It

In order to simulate the complexity of an alien communication, a group of scientists and artists utilized a spacecraft orbiting Mars to broadcast a complicated message to Earth. Everyone now has to figure out how to decode it.

The experience of receiving a communication from an alien culture will be practiced for Earthlings. On May 24 at 7 PM UTC (12 PM PDT), a message will be sent by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the European Space Agency. It will be retrieved by someone on Earth 16 minutes later. However, the message is not clear-cut. The whole population will be needed to help with the decoding process.

The Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory, the Allen Telescope Array operated by the SETI Institute, and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory run by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics are three top-notch radio telescopes ready to pick up the signal. The data will be hosted and shared via the initiative A Sign in Space.

According to de Paulis, "Humanity has looked for significance in dramatic and transforming experiences throughout history. "For everyone of humanity, hearing from an alien civilisation would be a profoundly transformative event. Through international collaboration, A Sign in Space gives the once-in-a-lifetime chance to concretely practice and get ready for this scenario, encouraging an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines.

This initiative was started by visionary artist Daniela de Paulis. She and her colleagues are keeping quiet about the communication's substance, which presents a challenge to the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) community and serves as a useful simulation of what would occur if we ever get a message from an advanced alien civilization.

Artist Daniela de Paulis came up with the concept for her artwork, A Sign In Space. The message was transmitted on May 24 at 7 p.m. UTC by the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) of the European Space Agency and received 16 minutes later by the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory, the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array, and the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory.

Each telescope's files have been uploaded to a special Filecoin server that makes it possible for everyone to download them from anywhere in the globe. Do not be startled if they are not cute tiny recordings you can play on your phone when you open the file. Actually, these are the observatory's raw data files.

At first, this could sound a little discouraging. The files can be analyzed, although doing so necessitates some computer, GitHub, and coding expertise. If you're interested in trying it out, there are instructions available.

But it's critical that they be disseminated in this manner. Research indicates that full disclosure is the optimum course of action in a post-first-contact situation since the discovery of an extraterrestrial message would be revolutionary for humans.

If deciphering radio signals is not your strong suit, someone on the project Discord server is already working on it, and we are confident they will have the signal in an easier-to-handle format very soon.

The team responsible for the signal has emphasized that they have produced something that won't be simple to decode and that it will need individuals from many various backgrounds coming together to figure out what the signal is all about. While waiting for the signal, SETI held an entire event where they spoke with de Paulis, members of the radio telescope teams, Exomars, and those who are just interested in being involved.