How To Prepare For Alien Encounters? Researchers Working On 'Protocols' To Decode Mysterious Signals

As space agencies like NASA and ESA continue their search for alien life forms in the distant nooks of the universe, a team of researchers is busy preparing a set of "protocols" to communicate with extraterrestrials.

Scientists at the University of St Andrews have joined hands with UK SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research Network to establish protocols and procedures that can be used when we come in contact with aliens.

According to the research team, humans have several measures in place to combat potential threats from space like an asteroid strike, but there is no proper response plan if a radio signal is picked up from an advanced alien species.

SETI post-detection hub

To establish these protocols, researchers have set up the SETI Post-Detection Hub, which comprises experts from all around the world. They will discuss ways to decipher space signals, along with formulating space laws and anticipate societal impacts, Telegraph reported.

"Will we ever get a message from ET? We don't know. We also don't know when this is going to happen. But we do know that we cannot afford to be ill-prepared – scientifically, socially, and politically rudderless – for an event that could turn into reality as early as tomorrow and which we cannot afford to mismanage," said John Elliott, an honorary research fellow at the School of Computer Science, St. Andrews, and coordinator of the hub.

The existing protocols to deal with aliens were quite old and were framed long back in 1989. Also, they focus entirely on scientific conduct.

In a new BBC documentary, titled "First Contact: An Alien Encounter," scientists admitted that humans may never succeed in understanding what aliens are trying to communicate.

Elliott said deciphering the communication of aliens could be tricky as their language "has a structured system that is multi-layered and has an internal structure."

"By identifying any patterns within the signal and calculating how these patterns interact, we will then be able to know if it passes this initial surface structure test for displaying evidence of being language-like," he said. "If so, we will then be able to move on to identifying internal structures displayed by all known intelligent species. Once this is done, we can then move onto deeper levels of 'syntax' to ultimately where it 'meets' semantics."

UFO sightings

Conspiracy theorists have long been claiming that aliens do exist in the universe, and citing sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFO), they argue that these advanced alien beings have already visited the earth.

In 2020, the Pentagon officially released three short videos of UFOs and later confirmed that these clips were real and not a hoax.

Earlier in October, NASA formed a 16-member team to study unidentified aerial phenomena. The team included leading scientists, data and AI practitioners, aerospace safety experts and other experts. The study is expected to last nine months and a full report on the team's findings is expected to be released next year.