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A message that will be broadcast into space later in 2002 has been released to scientists worldwide, to test that it can be decoded easily. The researchers who devised the message eventually hope to design a system that could automatically decode an alien reply.

Unlike previous interstellar broadcasts, the new message is designed to withstand significant interference and interruption during transmission.

"People have tried sending messages in the past, but have not accounted for noise," says Yvan Dutil, who currently works for a Canadian telecommunications company, but developed the message as a private project with Stephane Dumas, who works at the Defence Research Establishment Atlantic in Canada.

If new message had been based on language, it would be impossible for an alien intelligence to decode it. So, instead, a two-dimensional image was converted into a binary string of ones and zeros. These can then easily be transmitted as a radio or laser signal.

"Currently, most resources are focused on signal detection, and not message composition or decoding," says Brian McConnel, author of Beyond Contact: A Guide to SETI and Communicating with Alien Civilisations. "I think it is important to research the latter because the worst-case scenario would be positive confirmation of an ET signal that nobody can comprehend."

The image has not been revealed to those playing the role of alien decoders and about 10 per cent meaningless noise has been added to the data. Some parts have even been deleted. This degradation of the message is intended to simulate the interference that might be experienced during transmission to distant planets.

Dutil says that the binary string is designed to provide clues that should make it decipherable even with such significant disruption.

See the article at
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991757

and the project home site
http://www3.sympatico.ca/stephane_dumas/CETI/