Alien Contact Possible If Humans Send Space Signals With Inbuilt Instruction Manual, Claims Expert

A group of researchers have reportedly claimed that if humans want to hear from aliens then we need to be more instructive about the messages that are sent out to space. Transmitting a detailed signal to space is the only way of getting back one in return from our galactic neighbors, as conveyed by researchers in a recent interview.  

President of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), a nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, Douglas Vakoch believes that the current signals being sent into space are far too simplistic and primitive to be interpreted by alien civilizations. Furthermore, he suggests that aliens may be waiting for a clear signal from us that shows our willingness to talk.

To aid the process of communication with extraterrestrials, the team at METI has launched a new campaign that wants to create both informative and provocative messages for alien civilizations. METI has big plans, and the team is looking at sending out the first radio transmission towards the end of 2018. The messages, that are going to be sent, will reveal basic scientific and mathematical concepts which could be interpreted easily by any extraterrestrial civilization that comes across it.

"It's too late to conceal ourselves in the universe, so we should decide how we want to represent ourselves," said Douglas Vakoch. "'It would be ideal to use a powerful transmitter like those used for planetary radar studies, such as Arecibo Observatory". Something similar to this has been attempted in the past, a famous example being the Arecibo radio telescope sending out such a signal into space in 1974.

However, sending a signal with only binary digits that reveal information about our star system is not enough according to Vakoch. The president of METI feels the signal should contain a sort of instruction manual to help aliens decode and understand our messages more easily. Furthermore, including the entire Periodic Table of Elements will also be helpful.

The theory has not been taken too well by other researchers, moreover many are not in favor of aliens finding or landing on Earth. According to scientists from Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), technologically advanced aliens may take control of our planet on landing here.  However, Jill Tarter from SETI institute feels if an extraterrestrial species were advanced enough to reach Earth then they must have also learned to behave in a peaceful manner. Incidentally, according to NASA's chief scientist Ellen Stofan, there are chances of finding alien life forms in the next 20 to 30 years; however the aliens could just be microbes.