Extraterrestrial

When can we expect to receive a response from an alien civilization ?

By T.K. Randall
January 27, 2025

Image: The 64-M Parkes Radio Telescope
Credit: Stewart Duff, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (adapted) It has been more than 50 years since we started sending signals into deep space and some of these will have already reached several nearby star systems with potentially habitable worlds.

Signals sent to the Mariner 10 probe in 1973, for example, have since reached a white dwarf star, while signals sent to Voyager 2 reached a brown dwarf star 24 light-years away back in 2007.

But if there really was an advanced alien civilization living in one of these systems that intercepted the signal and decided to send a response, when would we expect to receive it ?

This was the subject of a study by scientists from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California (UCLA) who analyzed data collected by NASA's space probes to determine where the signals may have reached and how long it would have taken them to get there.So when exactly could we expect a response from the nearest star system reached by these signals ?

"Our estimates for when we might expect an answer from an alien civilization are based upon the length of time required for our radio signals, traveling at the speed of light, to reach the nearest star that is in their path," lead researcher Howard Isaacson told The Debrief back in 2023.

"The duration of light travel time to that star and back to us results in a return data in 2029. We made this calculation using astronomical mapping data from the most precise measurements of star positions ever conducted, those from the Gaia space mission."

Two years on and Isaacson maintains that the 2029 estimate remains accurate.

"While the odds are very low of finding signals from intelligent life at this exact time and location, we hope it also offers inspiration to conduct new searches, inspire scientists (and the public), and think of new ways to search for life beyond the Earth," he added.

Source: The Debrief

Tags: Alien, Extraterrestrial