Using Puerto Rico's powerful Arecibo observatory, some scientists purposely broadcasted a radio transmission including information about the basic chemicals of life, the structure of DNA, Earth's role in our solar system, and a stick figure of a living entity.
The topics that the scientists hope to communicate are basic communication principles, basic mathematical notions, physics concepts, DNA components, and details about beings and the Earth. Dr. Jonathan Jiang of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is leading the latest endeavor, which was planned by Cornell astronomy professor Frank Drake and physicist Carl Sagan in 1974.
The message will feature digitalized depictions of the Solar System, Earth's exterior, and human form and an open invitation for anyone with intellectual ability to react, according to the team in a document that has yet to be peer-reviewed and published on arxiv.
The results, on the other hand, were not encouraging. In our own cosmos, NASA has uncovered over 5,000 exoplanets with the capacity to support life. However, with today's technology, investigating all of these realms is impossible.
The chances of extraterrestrial life hearing the message are small, and even slimmer are the chances of them responding. On the other side, scientists are hopeful that humans will discover our place in the expanse of the cosmos as we continue to explore deeper space, with ambitions to travel beyond our solar system and investigate interstellar media.
This long-exposure picture taken early on July 22, 2020, shows a view of the Milky Way galaxy rising in the sky through a hole left by a collapsed dome of a destroyed mosque in the town of Binnish in Syria's northwestern Idlib province.
Sending A Message To Space is Risky, Experts Say
While some scientists are eager to establish the first contact with life in space, others are wary about disclosing our galaxy's position. In fact, some experts say it's a high-risk venture.
According to Anders Sandberg, a senior research fellow at Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute (FHI), sending out a message has a high impact that people need to take it pretty seriously.
"These dangers are small, but poorly understood and not yet well managed," Sandberg's colleague at the FHI Toby Ord wrote via Futurism in a 2020 book called "The Precipice" on the topic.
Given that the downside could be considerably greater than the potential, the experts don't think that is an appropriate position in which to initiate contact.
Scientists such as Stephen Hawking had already cautioned about the dangers of these messages. In a documentary from 2010, it was revealed that interactions on Earth between civilizations with varying levels of technological advancement frequently fail to benefit the group with the lowest level of advancement.
Meanwhile, Toby Ord of Oxford's Future of Humanity Institute has expressed concern that the communication could signal to hostile species that Earth is open to them.
"The main relevant question is the ratio of peaceful to hostile civilizations," Ord wrote, as quoted by The Telegraph." He added that experts have little proof to indicate whether this is high or low, and there is no scientific evidence.
The broadcast will include information concerning the position of the solar system and computerized representations of the Earth's surfaces and male and female humans.
Jonathan Jiang of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed the beacon, and his team believes our space neighbors are clever enough to "understand the need of peace and collaboration."
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