A Sign in Space Project: Decoding an Extraterrestrial Message

The possibility of receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization has intrigued humanity for ages. Daniela de Paulis, an interdisciplinary artist and licensed radio operator, initiated a groundbreaking project called A Sign in Space. This global theater production aims to explore the process of decoding and interpreting an extraterrestrial message through collaboration between SETI researchers, space scientists, and artists, involving the wider public as well. The project necessitates global cooperation and aims to bridge conversations around SETI, space research, and society across diverse cultures and areas of expertise.

Simulating the Extraterrestrial Message

As part of the A Sign in Space project, the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in orbit around Mars transmitted an encoded message to Earth on May 24, 2023. This transmission was designed to simulate the reception of a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence. The transmission reached the earth in 16 minutes.

Daniela de Paulis, the visionary artist behind the project, believes that receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profound and transformative experience for humanity. A Sign in Space provides a unique opportunity to rehearse and prepare for such an event through global collaboration, fostering an open-ended search for meaning across cultures and disciplines.

Three world-class radio astronomy observatories will play a crucial role in detecting the encoded message: the SETI Institute's Allen Telescope Array (ATA), the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT) at the Green Bank Observatory (GBO), and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory managed by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). The specific content of the encoded message remains undisclosed, allowing the public to contribute to the decoding and interpretation process.

Live Stream Event and Global Engagement

To engage the public, the SETI Institute will host a social media live stream event, featuring interviews with key team members, including scientists, engineers, and artists. The live stream will connect participants from around the world, including the control rooms at ATA, GBT, and Medicina. The event will provide insights into the SETI community's collaborative efforts to receive, process, analyze, and understand the potential extraterrestrial signal.

Data Processing and Preservation

Following the transmission, the ATA, GBT, and Medicina teams processed the signal and make it available to the public for decoding. The SETI Institute secured store the processed data in collaboration with the Breakthrough Listen Open Data Archive and Filecoin, ensuring its preservation and accessibility for future analysis and decoding endeavors.

Protocol Labs' Filecoin, the world's largest decentralized storage network, partners with the SETI Institute for this groundbreaking project. Filecoin's decentralized data storage solutions are ideally suited to securely and reliably store the vast amount of data generated by the A Sign in Space project, ensuring its availability for analysis.

A Sign in Space presents an unprecedented opportunity for global collaboration in the decoding and interpretation of a simulated extraterrestrial message. By engaging the SETI community, professionals from diverse fields, and the broader public, the project aims to foster a collective effort to unravel the potential meaning behind an extraterrestrial communication. This groundbreaking endeavor invites humanity to explore the boundaries of our understanding and connect across cultures and disciplines in the search for cosmic significance.