Alien signal comes from Mars

Humanity tirelessly continues to search for signs of life in space, listening to the Universe. The SETI project is most interested in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations, so scientists are now preparing to receive a potential message from them. For this, the SETI team conducted a small test that simulated receiving such a message.

An artist’s image of the European Trace Gas Orbiter, which operates in the orbit of Mars. Image: ESA/ATG medialab

On May 24, at 06:00 p.m. GMT+3, the European probe Trace Gas Orbiter Mars from the orbit of Mars transmitted a coded message to Earth. 16 minutes later, it was received by three large radio telescopes on Earth, which started a global effort to decipher the “mysterious” message.

The signal transmission took place as part of the multi-week A Sign in Space project led by Daniela de Paulis from the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia.

“Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be an incredible experience for all mankind. A Sign in Space offers an unprecedented opportunity to significantly rehearse and prepare for this scenario,” the scientist commented.

The signal was listened to by the Green Bank Observatory, the Allen Telescope of the SETI Institute and the Medicina radio astronomy station. Researchers at each of these facilities will now process the signal and provide it to their colleagues around the world and the general public. The project team wants people with different experiences to study the signal and try their hand at decoding it.

You can learn more and submit your own ideas about the message on the project website. You can also participate in A Sign in Space in other ways. For example, over the next six to eight weeks, the project team will hold a series of meetings at Zoom, which, among other topics, will focus on the social consequences of detecting technosignatures from advanced alien life.

Earlier we reported on how scientists were preparing a plan for “first contact” with aliens.

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