Humans are one step closer to communicating with aliens.
The SETI Institute, a non-profit dedicated to understanding life in space, simulated an extraterrestrial signal that was beamed from a Mars orbiter at 3 pm ET.
The radio waves soared through space at the speed of light and were captured by three massive telescopes in 16 minutes.
The first-of-its-kind exercise was designed to prepare scientists for the ‘profoundly transformational experience for all humankind’ when otherworldly beings contact our planet.
Scientists in the US and Italy were overjoyed as the message appeared on computer screens, which downloaded the radio waves in sections.
People on Earth with a ham radio also picked it up at 8.4 gigahertz – although it was not the entire signal.
The team is keeping key details about the stunt secret – including the type of signal and what it includes.
The tight lid is because the encoded transmission will be shared with the public, allowing them to help with the decoding.
Daniela dePaulis, the visionary artist behind the A Sign in Space project, said during the live-streamed event: ‘It was very real. This is not the first time we have received a signal from TGO [ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter], but this one is a real message.’
The signal will be sent from the European Space Agency’s TGO, which hangs over Mars, studying its atmosphere.
Three massive telescopes around the globe captured the transmission: The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in California, Robert C. Byrd at the Green Bank Observatory (GBO) in West Virginia and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station in northern Italy.
The signal cannot be heard on Earth or at the telescope stations.
Victoria Catlett, GBO software engineer, explained: ‘A radio signal is not inherently sound, but a light wave.
‘When we receive it with something like a car radio, that light wave gets translated into the up and down movement in the speaker – and that is what you hear.’
She said once the radio waves have been completely captured, the team will upload the data and let the public download it.
The teams will securely store the processed data in collaboration with Breakthrough Listen Open Data Archive and Filecoin, a decentralized storage network.
