The Sign in Space project is in full swing, the purpose of which is to search for traces of extraterrestrial civilizations. The initiative is led by artist Daniela de Paulis in collaboration with the SETI Institute, ESA (European Space Agency), Green Bank Observatory and INAF (Italian National Institute of Astrophysics).

SETI is the largest research institute for the search for life on other planets – Photo: Pixabay / Reproduction / ND

An exciting milestone was reached on May 24 when the ESA ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter transmitted a coded radio message from Martian orbit to Earth.

This transmission was successfully received by three radio telescopes that have played a key role in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence over the years.

The radio telescopes involved include the SETI Allen Telescope Array in California, the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, and the INAF Radio Medical Astronomy Station in Italy.

After just 16 minutes of transmission, the data were received by three radio astronomy teams. Now these teams are hard at work processing the information and making it available to the public for decryption. This is a collaborative effort to decipher any possible messages sent by an alien civilization.

The processed data will be securely stored in collaboration with Breakthrough Listen to Open Data Archive and Filecoin, a decentralized storage network. This measure ensures that all information is preserved and available for future research.

Anyone can join the search for “aliens”

To encourage global participation and interaction, anyone interested in deciphering and interpreting the alien message can join a dedicated community on the project’s Discord server. In addition, results and observations can be shared with the team through a secure form on the official website of the project.

A Sign in Space will also offer a series of online discussions on the Zoom platform in the coming weeks. The focus of these discussions will be the study of the social consequences of the possible detection of signals from an extraterrestrial civilization. The full schedule of events can be found on the SETI Institute website, where interested parties can register and stay tuned.