On May 24, 2023, at 19:00 UTC / 12:00 pm PDT, the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) in orbit around Mars will transmit an encoded message to Earth to simulate receiving a signal from an extraterrestrial intelligence. 

This will trigger the start of “A Sign in Space” — a global theater project by artist Daniela de Paulis in collaboration with the SETI Institute, the European Space Agency, the Green Bank Observatory and INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics.

“Receiving a message from an extraterrestrial civilization would be a profoundly transformational experience for all humankind,” de Paulis explains. “A Sign in Space offers the unprecedented opportunity to tangibly rehearse and prepare for this scenario through global collaboration, fostering an open-ended search for meaning across all cultures and disciplines.” 

Three radio astronomy observatories will detect the encoded message: the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array (ATA), the Green Bank Telescope (GBT, not to be confused with GPT) at the Green Bank Observatory, and the Medicina Radio Astronomical Station observatory.

The public is invited to help decode this ET message on a form on the project’s website. More on Facebook, Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, and Discord.

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