A father-daughter team from the United States, Ken and Keli Chaffin, have deciphered a simulated "extraterrestrial" message transmitted from Mars in May 2023 via a radio signal sent by the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO). The message, which was intercepted by three observatories on Earth, was part of an artistic project called "A Sign in Space," which aimed to engage citizen scientists in decoding an alien message.
The Chaffins realized that the message contained a diagram representing the structure of five amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of life. According to specialists from the European Space Agency, the Chaffins ran simulations for "days on end" before hitting upon the solution. They "followed their intuition and conducted hours-long simulations every day," ultimately organizing the bits into coherent structures using computer simulations and reversible cellular automata.
The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter beamed the simulated signal towards Earth in May 2023, which was received 16 minutes later. A worldwide community of over 5,000 citizen scientists quickly got to work on the raw data, managing to extract the signal within ten days. In the first phase, this group of amateur scientists successfully extracted the encrypted message from the raw radio signal, showcasing the potential of global collaboration in the event of real extraterrestrial contact.
The project "A Sign in Space" was initiated by multimedia artist Daniela de Paulis, who collaborated with the European Space Agency, the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, and INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. The image contained in the message was designed by de Paulis and a team of astronomers and computer scientists, with support from these institutions. The project was conceived as an experiment to test which methods might be useful for decoding transmissions from extraterrestrial civilizations.
Amino acids are the building blocks of life, and their inclusion in the message raises numerous questions: What do the five biological components represent? Are the implications of amino acids indicative of an attempt to communicate about life itself?
The project encourages the global community to delve deeper into the meaning of this abstract message from Mars. Many questions arise: Are the aliens friendly or hostile? What is the significance of the cellular formations and life forms identified in the message?
According to the European Space Agency, the results of the project "A Sign in Space" showed that if humanity ever receives a signal from real extraterrestrials, citizen scientists could play a crucial role in its deciphering. The involvement of over 5,000 amateur scientists in the initial extraction phase and the subsequent success of the Chaffins in decoding the message demonstrate the power of collaborative efforts and diverse approaches in tackling complex problems.
While the Chaffins' work has provided significant insights into the content of the message, the search for its meaning begins. The true meaning of the message remains a matter of debate, and the project continues to engage the global community in interpreting the implications of this simulated extraterrestrial communication. As the exploration of the message's significance unfolds, the collaboration between scientists, artists, and citizen scientists highlights the interdisciplinary nature of such endeavors.
Earlier, a British scientist announced the discovery of signals from extraterrestrial civilizations. This, alongside the findings from "A Sign in Space," suggests a growing interest and progress in the search for intelligent life beyond Earth.
Now that "A Sign in Space" has been decoded, the global community is invited to discuss the meaning of this abstract message from Mars, while its interpretation remains open. The project aims to explore the reaction of the global community to a hypothetical alien message and to test whether citizen scientists can collaborate effectively in such a monumental task.
Sources: IFLScience, Gazzeta.Ru, Scienze Notizie
This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq