A group of scientists in partnership with NASA plans to beam a radio message into outer space via a high-tech telescope with detailed information on human life, including a cartoon of two nude people.
The researchers led by Jonathan Jiang of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory published a paper on the preprint server arXiv.org about the updated Arecibo message to extraterrestrial intelligence in the Milky Way galaxy.
Humanity sent its first message to outer space on the afternoon of Nov. 16, 1974, using the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico and nobody has responded yet.
“The 13-page epistle, referred to as the “Beacon in the Galaxy,” is meant to be a basic introduction to mathematics, chemistry, and biology that draws heavily on the design of the Arecibo message and other past attempts at contacting extraterrestrials,” according to Scientific American.
“The transmission also features a freshly designed return address that will help any alien listeners pinpoint our location in the galaxy so they can—hopefully—kick off an interstellar conversation.”
A Beacon in the Galaxy: Updated Arecibo Message for Potential FAST and SETI Projects https://t.co/W1Lnez0vSS #Astrobiology #SETI #CarlSagan pic.twitter.com/oCBn1xzLB9
— Astrobiology (@astrobiology) March 24, 2022
Lad Bible reported:
In a bid to connect with alien life – attempts of which have proven unsuccessful for over 150 years – NASA scientists are now looking to thirst trap any ulterior life forms out of hiding with the help of a saucy snap.
The group hope to send a cartoon of two nude people out of Earth’s atmosphere to peak potential alien’s curiosity and encourage communication.
The project, called the ‘Beacon in the Galaxy’ (BITG), shows the figures of a man and woman, fully naked, with their hands raised in a wave.
On the project’s website, the scientists detail: “The proposed message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the Solar System’s time-stamped position in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitized depictions of the Solar System, and Earth’s surface.
“The message concludes with digitized images of the human form, along with an invitation for any receiving intelligences to respond.”
The code the scientists are using to send the message is called a binary code, which is thought to be as much of a universal language as possible, using a lot of 1s and 0s.
The group explained: “Though the concept of mathematics in human terms is potentially unrecognisable to [extraterrestrial intelligence], binary is likely universal across all intelligence.
Read more here.
Stephen Hawking, English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, expressed concern numerous times about humans contacting aliens arguing that aliens won’t necessarily be friendly, according to Newsweek.
“If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced,” Hawking warned at the time.
Hawking continued and said aliens could be more powerful than human beings and “may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”