Nasa to send nude photos to space to ‘attract aliens’
KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 ― Scientists from Nasa plan to launch pictures of a nude man and woman into space in hopes of attracting alien species to Earth.
The aliens should not be too surprised though.
The pictures are not photographs of real humans but pixelated drawings of a nude man and woman waving next to an illustration of a double helix structure and some objects falling down.
Nasa scientists unveiled the picture in a study called ‘Beacon in the Galaxy’ which aims to send messages to any alien civilisations that may be out there.
Though the idea may seem bizarre, it is part of a binary-coded message that scientists claim is the easiest form of communication between humans and extraterrestrials.
The study has been conducted by astrophysicist Jonathan Jiang of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and his team in a preliminary paper released in April.
“Though the concept of mathematics in human terms is potentially unrecognisable to extra-terrestrial intelligence, binary is likely universal across all intelligence.” explained the team of scientists.
“Binary is the simplest form of mathematics as it involves only two opposing states: zero and one, yes or no, black or white, mass or empty space.”
This won’t be the first time that we have sent nude depictions and messages into space.
In the 1970s, the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions included plaques that had drawings of naked humans.
Many critics have been concerned about the dangers of reaching out to intelligent civilisations in the cosmos.
“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans,” the late theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking warned in a Discovery Channel documentary.
Jiang, however, believes establishing contact with aliens may prove beneficial for the future of humankind.
“We believe the advancements of science that can be achieved in pursuit of this task, if communication were to be established, would vastly outweigh the concerns.” the scientists wrote.
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