Cosmic Call

RT-70 in Yevpatoria

Cosmic Call was the name of two sets of interstellar radio messages that were sent from RT-70 in Yevpatoria, Ukraine in 1999 (Cosmic Call 1) and 2003 (Cosmic Call 2) to various nearby stars. The messages were designed with noise-resistant format and characters.[1][2]

The project was funded by Team Encounter,[3] a Texas-based startup, which went out of business in 2004.[4]

Both transmissions were at ~150 kW, 5.01 GHz (FSK +/-24 kHz).[5]

Message structure

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Each Cosmic Call 1 session had the following structure. The Scientific Part (DDM, BM, AM, and ESM) was sent three times (at 100 bit/s),[6] and the Public Part (PP) was sent once (at 2000 bit/s),[6] according to the following arrangement:

DDM → BM → AM → ESM → DDM → BM → AM → ESM → DDM → BM → AM → ESM → PP,

where DDM is the Dutil-Dumas Message,[7][8] created by Canadian scientists Yvan Dutil and Stéphane Dumas, BM is the Braastad Message, AM is the Arecibo Message, and ESM is the Encounter 2001 Staff Message.[6]

Each Cosmic Call 2 session in 2003 had the following structure:

DDM2 → DDM2 → DDM2 → AM → AM → AM → BIG → BIG → BIG → BM → ESM → PP,

where DDM2 is modernized DDM (aka Interstellar Rosetta Stone, ISR), BIG is Bilingual Image Glossary.[5] All but the PP were transmitted at 400 bit/s[5]

The ISR was 263,906 bits; BM, 88,687 bits, AM, 1,679 bits; BIG was 12 binary images 121,301 bits; ESM 24,899 bits. Total = 500,472 bits for 53 minutes. PP was 220 megabytes and sent at a rate of 100,000 bit/s for 11 hours total.[5]

Error in Cosmic Call 1

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The DDM incorrectly states the neutron mass as 1.67392... instead of the known value 1.67492... This error was corrected in DDM2.

Stars targeted

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The messages were sent to the following stars:[9]

Name Designation HD Constellation Date sent Arrival date Message
16 Cyg A HD 186408 Cygnus May 24, 1999 November 2069 Cosmic Call 1
15 Sge HD 190406 Sagitta June 30, 1999 February 2057 Cosmic Call 1
HD 178428 Sagitta June 30, 1999 October 2067 Cosmic Call 1
Gl 777 HD 190360 Cygnus July 1, 1999 April 2051 Cosmic Call 1
GJ 49 HIP 4872 Cassiopeia July 6, 2003 April 2036 Cosmic Call 2
GJ 208 HD 245409 Orion July 6, 2003 August 2040 Cosmic Call 2
55 Cnc HD 75732 Cancer July 6, 2003 May 2044 Cosmic Call 2
HD 10307 Andromeda July 6, 2003 September 2044 Cosmic Call 2
47 UMa HD 95128 Ursa Major July 6, 2003 May 2049 Cosmic Call 2

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Oberhaus, Daniel (2019-09-27). Extraterrestrial Languages. MIT Press. pp. 99–104. ISBN 978-0-262-35527-8. OCLC 1142708941.
  2. ^ Dumas, Stéphane; The 1999 and 2003 messages explained, 2005
  3. ^ Chorost, Michael (September 26, 2016). "How a Couple of Guys Built the Most Ambitious Alien Outreach Project Ever, History of Cosmic Calls". Smithsonian.
  4. ^ "Team Encounter Mission: What Happened?". Astronomy.com Forums. Archived from the original on 2009-05-15. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  5. ^ a b c d Braastad (Team Encounter, USA), Richard; Zaitsev (IRE RAS, Russia), Alexander. "Synthesis and Transmission of Cosmic Call 2003 Interstellar Radio Message".
  6. ^ a b c "Broadcast for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence from Evpatoria Deep Space Center" Report on Cosmic Call 1999
  7. ^ "Bitmap". Archived from the original on 2007-05-12. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  8. ^ "Image". Archived from the original on 2012-01-14. Retrieved 2021-09-22.
  9. ^ "Передача и поиски разумных сигналов во Вселенной". Archived from the original on 2012-02-10. Retrieved 2009-02-22.
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