Tomorrow , Earthlings will get a garb dry run of what it may be like to receive a message from an extraterrestrial refinement . A message will be sent from the European Space Agency ’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter ( TGO ) on May 24 at 7 pm UTC ( 12 pm PDT ) . About 16 minute later , it will be picked up by the people of Earth . But the substance is not straightforward . It will demand to be decoded and that ’s where the general populace comes in .
Three world - class radio observatories are quick to detect the message : The SETI Institute ’s Allen Telescope Array , the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope at the Green Bank Observatory , and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory managed by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics . The project , A Sign In Space , will host and deal the data .
The Divine of this project is visionary artist Daniela de Paulis . She and her squad are fuddled - lipped about the content of the content , which is a challenge for the SETI ( Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ) community , and serious practice for what wemight experience one dayif we get a subject matter from another intelligent mintage .
“ Throughout history , humanity has searched for meaning in powerful and transformative phenomenon , ” Delaware Paulisexplained . “ Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformational experience for all world . A Sign in Space offers the unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and prepare for this scenario through globose collaboration , fostering an open - end hunting for import across all cultures and correction . ”
The goal of the task is to see how such detection would pan out , especially how the scientists and the public will go about decoding and read the content . People that want to cooperate in decrypt the substance will have access to a dedicatedDiscord serverand aportal for submission , whether for psychoanalysis of the data or artistic interpretation .
“ This form of experiment is long overdue . We have been search for extraterrestrial signaling for more than 60 days , but we never really intend about what receiving and decoding such a signal would be like , " Franck Marchis , Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute and Chief Science Officer at Unistellar , told IFLScience .
" The ' A Sign In Space ' simulation is finally an opportunity to gather all the curious and diverse minds at the forefront of science and art , so that we will be quick if a signaling reaches us one Clarence Day . "
Marchis has organized the outreach and the outside collaboration and will co - present a live current of Earth receiving the signal . Just like the genuine deal , this project will need worldwide cooperation . It is not just about scientific expertness or distance know - how , this is about Earth ’s societies , cultures , and competency across many field work together in the face of something world - change : we are not alone out there .
