A Beacon in the Galaxy: Updated Arecibo Message for Potential FAST and SETI Projects

Abstract

An updated, binary-coded message has been developed for transmission to extraterrestrial intelligences in the Milky Way galaxy. The proposed message includes basic mathematical and physical concepts to establish a universal means of communication followed by information on the biochemical composition of life on Earth, the Solar System’s time-stamped position in the Milky Way relative to known globular clusters, as well as digitized depictions of the Solar System, and Earth’s surface. The message concludes with digitized images of the human form, along with an invitation for any receiving intelligences to respond. Calculation of the optimal timing during a given calendar year is specified for potential future transmission from both the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope in China and the SETI Institute’s Allen Telescope Array in northern California to a selected region of the Milky Way which has been proposed as the most likely location for life to have developed. These powerful new beacons, the successors to the Arecibo radio telescope which transmitted the 1974 message upon which this expanded communication is in part based, can carry forward Arecibo’s legacy into the 21st century with this equally well-constructed communication from Earth’s technological civilization.

Advanced Life Peaked Billions of Years Ago According to Black Holes

“…Since habitability studies have advanced significantly, the Drake equation should be seen as a rule of thumb for understanding life in the Universe. Given the times and places identified for ETIs in this work, we expect SETI searches to require that signals come from Kardashev Type III civilizations (although see [24]). To the extent that we may someday speak of a peak era for the emergence of technologically advanced life in the Universe, our simplified exploration of the emergence of life in the context of AGN feedback indicates that such a time is in the past.…”

Affordances in Outer Space: Forms of Life, Material Engagement, and Meaning within Space Exploration and SETI

“…Second, we do not know if the other will understand the respective content. For the latter, hypothetical and factual interstellar messages often employ concepts and ideas of mathematics and science (Cockell, 2011;DeVito, 2011;Dumas, 2011;Jiang et al, 2022;Sagan, Sagan and Drake, 1972; The Staff at the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, 1975;Vakoch, 1998). It was pointed out that one problem with this approach is that it is unclear how much extraterrestrial and human science may overlap (Rescher, 1985).…”

“…Any human attempt to start an interstellar dialogue with extraterrestrials (Jiang et al, 2022) must A) find a way of communication identified as meaningful because intentional, B) craft the content of the message in attunement to an interstellar ontology to establish a foundation of communication, and C) make sure that responding to the message is a relevant affordance for the extraterrestrial receiver. Overall, the number of potential receivers of human communication is limited by human and extraterrestrial technological development and the sensuomotorical attunement to the modalities of the message and its medium.…”

“…One possibility is to use a specific frequency that refers to a material property of the Universe (Cocconi and Morrison, 1959). Another may be the direct reference to the point of alleged universal interests, such as globular clusters, to mark the message's origin (Jiang et al, 2022). Crafting a signal in a way that it somewhat reflects the properties of a planet suspected to host alien life is also conceivable.…”

Reflecting on Our Present Self‐Awareness of Not Having Found Any Life Beyond Earth

“…Efforts in communication with civilizations beyond our Solar System have been on going over the past several decades, including the Arecibo Message (Sagan, 1975), Evpatoria Transmission Message (Dutil & Dumas, 2016), Beacon in the Galaxy (Jiang et al, 2022), Message in a Bottle (Jiang et al, 2023), and those of Vakoch (2008Vakoch ( , 2009Vakoch ( , 2011. They proposed bold approaches toward representing humanity in all its complexity while simultaneously capturing a universal yet contextual understanding of modern human society, evolution of life on Earth, and challenges for the future.…”