NASA Considers Sending ‘Message for Aliens’ to New Horizons
NASA is considering giving New Horizons a message for aliens. That spacecraft has recently begun exploring Pluto’s environment. A group of interested parties wants, if NASA agrees, to compile the message via crowdsourcing.
New Horizons recently began exploring the vicinity of Pluto, one of the dwarf planets at the edge of our Solar System. After years of travel, the spacecraft should fly close to Pluto on July 14. NASA wants to learn more about the distant dwarf planet and its – so far – five moons in this way.
However, it seems that New Horizons’ mission is not over after the Pluto research. NASA is considering giving the spacecraft a message for advanced aliens. Space.com reports this based on statements by Jon Lomberg, a science journalist who is currently thinking about the message.
Lomberg leads the private One Earth Message project, which aims to educate advanced life forms in intergalactic space about life on Earth. The journalist was also previously involved in the Golden Record gramophone recording, which was launched in 1977 in the Voyager spacecraft. They are currently still flying through space.
Unlike the gramophone recording, the message that may be sent to New Horizons will be accompanied by digital files. This form of ‘bottle mail’ includes not only text, but also images and sounds. Video does not fall under this category, because this form of communication is too large in terms of size. Lomberg’s team can only beam 150MB of data to New Horizons.
Only a select group of experts were allowed to participate in the Golden Record gramophone recording. But the One Earth Message project is all about crowdsourcing, which means that virtually anyone worldwide can come up with a message and send it in. The participants are assisted by 86 advisors, consisting of scientists, artists, journalists, entrepreneurs, information disseminators and teachers.
NASA must first agree to send the message. Lomberg does not want the space agency to ask that either, but instead asks the global community to contribute financially to the private initiative. He hopes to raise half a million dollars with his campaign, converted around 449,000 euros. The campaign will run for 55 days.
If the financing is in place and NASA agrees to the idea, there is still plenty of time to put together the ‘bottle mail’. The message could be sent to New Horizons in July next year at the earliest. This is even possible in 2019 at the latest, if the mission is extended.