By 
May 22nd, 2023
Image credit: A Sign in Space
Break out your secret decoder ring!
There is an open call for the public, specialists and experts from all fields to take on the decoding of an extraterrestrial message, a communiqué crafted for A Sign in Space, an interdisciplinary project.
Shout out
As part of the venture, on May 24, 2023, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter in orbit around the Red Planet will send out an encoded message to Earth to simulate receiving a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence.
Artist’s impression of the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars.
Credit: ESA/ATG medialab
Putting their ear to the sky to receive the shout out is the Green Bank Telescope (West Virginia), the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station (Italy), the Allen Telescope Array (California) and the Very Large Array (New Mexico).
The subsequent decoding and interpretation process will determine both the technical and cultural content of the message.
Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico.
Credit: Bettymaya Foott, NRAO/AUI/NSF
Interdisciplinary project
A Sign in Space is an interdisciplinary project by media artist Daniela de Paulis, an established interdisciplinary artist and licensed radio operator who currently serves as Artist in Residence at the SETI Institute and the Green Bank Observatory.
De Paulis brought together a team of international experts, including SETI researchers, space scientists, and artists to stage the project.
The idea is to rehearse and prepare for the scenario of a received ET broadcast through global collaboration – “an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines,” according to the project’s website.
Media artist Daniela de Paulis.
Image credit: de Paulis/SETI Institute
Take part
All are requested to submit your scientific data, thoughts, sketches, drawings, and ideas for the technical decoding and cultural interpretation of the message.
Contributions will be posted on the project’s website and social media associated with the project, sharing the process of decoding and interpreting the message with the world.
To participate, go to:
https://asignin.space/decode-the-message/
Go to the general website at:
To view an informative video on the endeavor, go to:
Posted in Space News
