“A Sign in Space”: decrypt the first intelligent message received from space


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SPACE LETTER. Music, equations, poetry… The content of this encrypted communication, transmitted by a European space probe, is an enigma.





By Chloe Durand-Parenti

How would we react if an extraterrestrial message reached us and how would we come to understand its meaning? A participatory experiment is underway to try to determine this.
 © UNIVERSAL / AMBLIN / CHRISTOPHEL COLLECTION / ChristopheL Collection via AFP

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PFor the very first time, an intelligent message from space was received on Earth this Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Transmitted by the Trace Gas Orbiter probe of the ExoMars program of the European Space Agency ESA, it was intercepted by three observatories : the Medicina radio astronomy station of the National Institute of Astrophysics (Inaf), near Bologna in Italy, the Green Bank Observatory located in West Virginia (United States) and the Allen Telescope Array based in California.

The latter belongs to the Seti Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence), precisely dedicated to the search for intelligent beings in the Universe. Is it a coincidence? Absolutely not. Sending this message is part of a scientific-artistic project called A Sign in Space and straight out of the spirit of…




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