A global team of space scientists and artists have pooled together for a "dress rehearsal" of humankind's first contact with alien life. The team of international experts are calling on members of the public for their interpretations of a simulated message from an extraterrestrial civilisation sent from a satellite orbiting Mars.
The project, called A Sign in Space, promises the chance to 'rehearse' and prepare for the transmission of what would be a 'profoundly transformative experience' for all of humankind. The global experiment will see a signal transmitted from Mars' orbit which will be received on Earth around 16 minutes later by radio telescopes in California and West Virginia in the United States, as well as another in Italy.
The global team will then set about decoding the specific, encoded message - which remained undisclosed until its transmission. The researchers are calling on the public for their interpretations of the message by hosting global live-streaming events on social media, featuring interviews with key members of the team including scientists, engineers and artists.
