Scientists are developing a new message that will be sent into space to attract the attention of alien life out there. What's the message?
The message, named Beacon in the Galaxy (BITG), is the latest attempt to communicate with other life in the universe. This message is similar to the Arecibo message sent in 1974 to the star cluster M13.
This space message was the brainchild of Jonathan Jiang, a scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and colleagues. They recently released the motivation and methodology of this experiment in a study on the Arxiv website.
"The proposed message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information about the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the time position of the Solar System in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitizing depictions of the Solar System, and the Earth's surface, " Jiang and colleagues wrote in the study, as quoted from Vice, Monday (11/4/2022).
"The message will conclude with a digital image of the human form, along with an invitation to any receiving life intelligence to respond."
To make this message easy for aliens to understand, Jiang and his colleagues chose to write BITG in binary code. This message will later be broadcast using the FAST Telescope in China and the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array in California, USA to areas of the galaxy that are most likely to have intelligent life.
"Binary is the simplest form of mathematics because it involves only two opposite states: zero and one, yes or no, black or white, mass or empty space," Jiang said.
"Therefore, the transmission of binary code will most likely be understandable to all ETI (extra-terrestrial intelligence) and form the basis of the BITG message."
Humans have sent many messages into space aimed at aliens. Including a physical Golden Records message carried by NASA's Voyager spacecraft.
But this experiment turned out to be quite controversial. Many experts warn that broadcasting Earth's position in the galaxy could provoke dangerous alien species to attack humans.
One of them was the late Stephen Hawking, who had previously warned not to contact alien life because it could potentially end in disaster.
"One day we may receive a signal from a planet like this, but we must be careful when answering it. Meeting an advanced civilization could be like a Native American meeting Columbus. It didn't end well," Hawking explained.
Jiang and colleagues are aware of the risks, but they have a more optimistic outlook. They saw human history as a species that relied on communication to finally cooperate.
They also think that aliens who are able to understand BITG messages may already be so smart that they are less likely to act aggressively.
"Logic indicates that species that have reached sufficient complexity to communicate through the cosmos are also likely to have reached a level of cooperation among themselves and thus will recognize the importance of peace and collaboration," he concluded.