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Space

Fake alien message sent to Earth to prepare us for first contact

A coded message has been sent from a spacecraft orbiting Mars to simulate potential communication from an advanced alien civilisation

By Jonathan O’Callaghan

25 May 2023

The Allen Telescope Array

SETI’s Allen Telescope Array in California has picked up a message sent back from a spacecraft orbiting Mars

Seth Shostak/SETI Institute

A message has been sent to Earth from a spacecraft orbiting Mars, to simulate potential communication from an advanced alien civilisation.

On 24 May, a spacecraft at Mars, the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), was used to send a coded message – just a few kilobytes in size – to our planet. Picked up by radio receivers on Earth, groups of astronomers and enthusiasts then set to work decoding it, a potential dry run …

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