Cosmic Call

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RT-70 in Yevpatoria Vitino, RT-70 radio telescope (planetary radar, space exploration radar), Crimea.jpg
RT-70 in Yevpatoria

Cosmic Call was the name of two sets of interstellar radio messages that were sent from RT-70 in Yevpatoria, Ukraine in 1999 (Cosmic Call 1) and 2003 (Cosmic Call 2) to various nearby stars. The messages were designed with noise-resistant format and characters. [1] [2]

Contents

The project was funded by Team Encounter, [3] a Texas-based startup, which went out of business in 2004. [4]

Both transmissions were at ~150 kW, 5.01 GHz (FSK +/-24 kHz). [5]

Message structure

Each Cosmic Call 1 session had the following structure. The Scientific Part (DDM, BM, AM, and ESM) was sent three times (at 100 bit/s), [6] and the Public Part (PP) was sent once (at 2000 bit/s), [6] according to the following arrangement:

DDM → BM → AM → ESM → DDM → BM → AM → ESM → DDM → BM → AM → ESM → PP,

where DDM is the Dutil-Dumas Message, [7] [8] created by Canadian scientists Yvan Dutil and Stéphane Dumas, BM is the Braastad Message, AM is the Arecibo Message, and ESM is the Encounter 2001 Staff Message. [6]

Each Cosmic Call 2 session in 2003 had the following structure:

DDM2 → DDM2 → DDM2 → AM → AM → AM → BIG → BIG → BIG → BM → ESM → PP,

where DDM2 is modernized DDM (aka Interstellar Rosetta Stone, ISR), BIG is Bilingual Image Glossary. [5] All but the PP were transmitted at 400 bit/s [5]

The ISR was 263,906 bits; BM, 88,687 bits, AM, 1,679 bits; BIG was 12 binary images 121,301 bits; ESM 24,899 bits. Total = 500,472 bits for 53 minutes. PP was 220 megabytes and sent at a rate of 100,000 bit/s for 11 hours total. [5]

Error in Cosmic Call 1

The DDM incorrectly states the neutron mass as 1.67392... instead of the known value 1.67492... This error was corrected in DDM2.

Stars targeted

The messages were sent to the following stars: [9]

NameDesignation HD ConstellationDate sentArrival dateMessage
16 Cyg A HD 186408 Cygnus May 24, 1999November 2069Cosmic Call 1
15 Sge HD 190406 Sagitta June 30, 1999February 2057Cosmic Call 1
HD 178428 Sagitta June 30, 1999October 2067Cosmic Call 1
Gl 777 HD 190360 Cygnus July 1, 1999April 2051Cosmic Call 1
GJ 49 HIP 4872 Cassiopeia July 6, 2003April 2036Cosmic Call 2
GJ 208 HD 245409 Orion July 6, 2003August 2040Cosmic Call 2
55 Cnc HD 75732 Cancer July 6, 2003May 2044Cosmic Call 2
HD 10307 Andromeda July 6, 2003September 2044Cosmic Call 2
47 UMa HD 95128 Ursa Major July 6, 2003May 2049Cosmic Call 2

See also

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References

  1. Oberhaus, Daniel (2019-09-27). Extraterrestrial Languages. MIT Press. pp. 99–104. ISBN   978-0-262-35527-8. OCLC   1142708941.
  2. Dumas, Stéphane; The 1999 and 2003 messages explained, 2005
  3. Chorost, Michael (September 26, 2016). "How a Couple of Guys Built the Most Ambitious Alien Outreach Project Ever, History of Cosmic Calls". Smithsonian.
  4. "Team Encounter Mission: What Happened?". Astronomy.com Forums. Archived from the original on 2009-05-15. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Braastad (Team Encounter, USA), Richard; Zaitsev (IRE RAS, Russia), Alexander. "Synthesis and Transmission of Cosmic Call 2003 Interstellar Radio Message".
  6. 1 2 3 "Broadcast for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence from Evpatoria Deep Space Center" Report on Cosmic Call 1999
  7. "Bitmap". Archived from the original on 2007-05-12. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  8. "Image". Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  9. "Передача и поиски разумных сигналов во Вселенной". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2009-02-22.