Earth receives first-ever signal from Mars: but it's not quite what everyone expected

Scientists from the SETI research project, which searches for alien life, have launched the Sign in Space experimental project, in which observatories on Earth received an "alien message" from Mars. Scientists urge everyone to join in deciphering the message.

The purpose of this experiment is to ensure that humanity is not unprepared to communicate with life forms from outer space at the most crucial moment in its history. Decoding the file, however, will require some knowledge from the participants.

Despite the fact that the signal is conventionally "alien", it was indeed sent to Earth from space using the European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, which is located near the red planet.

The message was sent at 19:00 on May 24 and within 16 minutes it reached the Earth, where it was received by the Allen Telescope of the SETI Institute, the Robert Byrd Telescope of the Green Bank Observatory and the Observatory of the Medicina Radio Astronomy Station.

The message was written by a team of artists and scientists, who are now waiting for the skilled to decipher it, as it is a complex message similar to what humanity may actually receive in the future.

The files received from Mars have been uploaded to a special Filecoin server, allowing anyone from any part of the world to download them.

However, do not expect to receive a beautiful picture that can be easily opened on your phone.

The team that created this signal emphasises that they have created something that will not be easy to decipher, and it will require people with different backgrounds to come together to figure out what the signal is about.

Scientists suggest that candidates for decrypting the file should have certain computer, GitHub and coding skills.

The initiators of the experiment believe that the discovery of an alien message would be revolutionary for humanity, and research shows that full disclosure is the best policy in a post-first contact scenario.

You can download the message from the Martians at this link, and you can learn about the work on its decoding on the Discord server.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL also told the story of how Nikola Tesla announced receiving a signal from Mars more than 120 years ago.

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