Phone ET…or Send Him an Email
(Trust us, this is no joke…)
The world’s first "Intergalactic Communication System," www.TalkToAliens.com, has announced that its new "E-Mail to Aliens" service is now available for the public worldwide. A user simply visits the website and selects the "E-Mail to Space" option. The user then writes a message up to 1,000 words in length. The service’s transmitter then broadcasts the text into deep space. In addition to sending the message into space, the user will also receive a free "Certificate of Interstellar Broadcast"—a frameable certificate that indicates the date and time of the broadcast, as well as the first 500 characters of the message sent. According to www.TalkToAliens.com, the free "Certificate of Interstellar Broadcast" is the "perfect gift for your favorite astronomy lover, space fan or science-fiction enthusiast." The service costs just $19.95, and includes the free message confirmation Certificate.  |
Where, in space, are the messages being sent? According to the site, the system’s parabolic dish antenna is pointed into the area of space with the highest density of regional stars and, thus, hopefully towards planets and other civilizations in the Milky Way. As the sky appears to turn over the earth, the parabolic antenna sweeps through much of the galaxy and its estimated 400 billion stars. The service receives in excess of 5,000 Web visitors per day, from nearly 50 countries around the globe. Messages are transmitted into space via the organization’s custom-developed and proprietary transmission system. The system was designed by RF and broadcast engineers with over 75 years of combined experience in terrestrial and satellite communications. The project has been in development for over five years, since January 2000. The transmission signal itself is a frequency-modulated carrier operating at 2.43211 GHz. This frequency was chosen as it is in an RF band commonly used on earth. As stated on www.TalkToAliens.com: "If any intergalactic entity is already ‘listening in’ on earth happenings, they should be aware of this portion of the RF spectrum" and provide the best chance for the messages being received. But the question remains: Will our alien neighbors respond? One can only anticipate.
