Earth’s communications with a spacecraft on Mars could have been “accidentally calling aliens,” says astrophysicist Dr Maggie Lieu.
While the century-old theory that TV broadcasts could reach alien worlds has been debunked due to weak signals, our focused transmissions to Martian equipment tell a very different story.
Explaining the theory to GB News, Dr Lieu said: "Looks like we might have been accidentally calling aliens. That sounds super fun, right?
**ARE YOU READING THIS ON OUR APP? DOWNLOAD NOW FOR THE BEST GB NEWS EXPERIENCE**
"So there’s this kind of age-old theory, which actually goes back to the movie Contact, about how we’ve been broadcasting TV signals for the past 100 years.
"Those signals emit radio waves, and in 100 years, they would have travelled 100 light-years."
She added: "One of the things we do have is more focused transmissions aimed at our orbiters and landers on Mars. We’ve been communicating with orbiters, rovers, and other equipment there.
"These signals are stronger and more focused than regular TV broadcasts. Astronomers have calculated that these signals could be strong enough to reach 23 light-years away.
"We’ve been sending transmissions to Mars for around 60 years, and within that radius, there are about 500 star systems that could, in theory, pick up the signals we’ve been sending."
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Recent research from Penn State University has illuminated precisely how these interplanetary transmissions might appear to distant observers.
Scientists examined Nasa's Deep Space Network records, cross-referencing transmission logs with spacecraft positions to map Earth's outgoing radio signals.
Pinchen Fan from Penn State's Eberly College of Science explained that whilst Mars cannot obstruct entire transmissions, the overflow continues travelling through space.
Any extraterrestrial civilisation positioned along these communication pathways could potentially intercept these signals when Earth and Mars achieve specific alignments from their vantage point.
The cleanest map ever of space has been produced thanks to these new findings | GETTYThe investigation revealed that Earth's most potent and persistent radio emissions originate from the Deep Space Network's ground facilities, which maintain constant contact with distant spacecraft exploring our solar system.
The research findings highlighted Mars as the primary destination for Earth's deep space communications, with the majority of transmissions directed towards spacecraft orbiting or exploring the Red Planet.
Additional signals targeted other planets and the gravitationally stable Lagrange point between Earth and the Sun.