Alien contact: METI group wish to ship second message to TRAPPIST-1 system

METI, an organisation aiming to make contact with different civilisations, will ship out its second message from Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, UK

By Matthew Sparkes

A message containing scientific knowledge and samples of music might be broadcast to a star system 39 mild years from Earth within the hope of sparking dialog with a sophisticated alien intelligence.

The message is simply the second to be transmitted by the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) organisation, primarily based in San Francisco. Unlike the seek for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) group, METI goals to proactively contact different civilisations somewhat than simply hear for proof of them. Sending such messages requires vastly highly effective transmitters as a result of the energy of the sign, even when tightly targeted, quickly diminishes in energy over the big distances required.

The message might be despatched on 4 October from the Goonhilly Satellite Earth Station in Cornwall, UK, in the direction of TRAPPIST-1, a star orbited by at the very least seven planets. Three of those small worlds lie inside the so-called Goldilocks zone the place water might stay liquid and doubtlessly assist life.

Douglas Vakoch at METI says the transmission might be shaped from brief pulses despatched in 4 totally different phases of the identical frequency. The starting might be a sequence of bursts to determine it as a man-made message, and it’ll then go on to explain easy counting, set out particulars of the periodic desk and relay depictions of atoms, earlier than together with a number of musical samples.

“Our goal is to have redundant information, to have multiple ways of representing that information, to have the humility to say that what seems obvious to us may not be obvious to the extraterrestrials,” says Vakoch. “So let’s send them information in as many formats with the hope that one of them will make sense.”

The music portion of the message will embrace Ode 1. Ode to the Herald of God. A Beauty of the Earth by Eduard Artemyev and Journey Through the Asteroid Belt by The Comet is Coming, in addition to tracks from DJs and musicians performing on the Stihia competition in Muynak, Uzbekistan, which is held to spotlight the environmental affect of the shrinking of the Aral Sea.

If any life varieties within the TRAPPIST-1 system get the message and reply, will probably be round 80 years earlier than we obtain phrase from them, says Vakoch. “If we get a reply back from the first half a dozen or dozen stars that we target, that means effectively the universe is chock full of intelligent life,” he says.

“We’re testing a version of the zoo hypothesis – that, in fact, they are out there, they already know that we’re here, but in order to gain access to the galactic club, we have to submit an application and maybe even pay a little dues,” says Vakoch. “So this is our attempt to pay our dues, and see if they’ll welcome us into the club.”

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