For those who feared scientists would not find aliens in their lifetime, you might be in luck.
A team of scientists from the University of California believes aliens could make contact with Earth as soon as 2029.
In 2002, NASA sent radio wave transmission to the Pioneer 10 probe in a routine protocol to send data and ensure communication was established.
This signal also reached a star roughly 27 light-years from our planet as transmission spreads out when they contact an object.
The UC researchers hope this signal was intercepted by extraterrestrials that returned a callback to Earth.
In 2002, NASA sent radio wave transmission to the Pioneer 12 probe in a routine protocol to send data and ensure communication is established. This signal also reached a star roughly 27 light-years from our planet as transmission spreads out when they contact an object
Howard Isaacson, a University of California, Berkeley astronomer and co-author, acknowledged the move to PopSci: ‘This is a famous idea from Carl Sagan, who used it as a plot theme in the movie Contact.’
The 1997 movie Contact, based on the story by Carl Sagan, tells the story of a SETI scientist who finds evidence of aliens on a distant planet 26 light-years from Earth and chooses to make first contact by sending radio wave signals.
The study used signals sent from Earth to Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons, mapping out where the signals may have spread out when sent into the universe.
The study used signals sent from Earth to Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 and New Horizons, mapping out where the signals may have spread out when sent into the universe
These spacecraft have communicated with the Deep Station Network (DSN) radio antennas in order to download scientific data and telemetry data
Signals to Voyager 1 and New Horizons will encounter their first stars in the near future.
The team calculated the data nearby stars would be hit with transmissions by considering the speed that the speed of light covers one parsec every 3.26 years.
This allowed them to determine the time in years for the transmissions to reach each star, such as the transmissions to Voyager 1 have not yet reached any yet.
Signals are predicted to reach one in 2044, and all of its transmissions will reach 277 stars by 2341.
Signals sent to Voyager 1 (pictured) are predicted to reach one in 2044, and all of its transmissions will reach 277 stars by 2341
Howard Isaacson, a University of California, Berkeley astronomer and co-author, acknowledged the move to PopSci : ‘This is a famous idea from Carl Sagan, who used it as a plot theme in the movie Contact’ (pictured)
‘This difference is primarily due to New Horizons having a later launch date and spending less time within the heliosphere.’
This work ‘gives Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence researchers a more narrow group of stars to focus on,’ lead author Reilly Derrick, a University of California, Los Angeles engineering student, told PopSci.
However, some astronomers are not sold on this movie plot-themed idea.
Kaitlin Rasmussen, an astrobiologist at the University of Washington not affiliated with the paper, calls this study told PopSic that the research is ‘an interesting exercise, but unlikely to yield results.’
The study comes as news about new Roswell-style UFOs have surfaced.