[meteorite-list] OT: INTERSTELLAR DIPLOMACY

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 23:45:27 -0500
Message-ID: <015501c929c9$db03e280$264de146_at_ATARIENGINE>

Hi, List,


Ok, a little Off Topic, but a fascinating
story just the same.

First, an extra-terrestrial planet, a Super Earth,
is discovered near-by, only 19.9 light years away:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321

Gliese 581c, was discovered 4 April, 2007,
and announced 24 April 2007:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_c

It's an very interesting place:
http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=1200

It becomes the target of SETI dishes listening
for messages from the inhabitants or just to
capture their cable TV for free:
http://notes.kateva.org/2007/04/now-aiming-seti-dishes-at-gliese-581.html

Now, a social networking company, Bebo,
has set up a project to collect 500 messages
from Earth children and beam them to Gliese
581c, a new kind of FaceBook (which assumes
the Gliesians HAVE faces):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jul/29/bebo.digitalmedia?gusrc=rss&feed=media

Gives a whole new meaning to My Space,
doesn't it?

They say:
    "Conceived by Oli Madgett of RDF Digital,
a subsidiary of Wife Swap... the project claims
to be the first to democratically selected content
to be transmitted into space. Users can post entries
and vote for the best ones on a dedicated Bebo
page. The winning 500 will be sent into space.
The vote runs from August 4 until September 30.
The digital time capsule with the 500 selected
messages will be transmitted on October 9.
RDF is covering the ?20,000 data cost of the
four-and-a-half-hour transmission from the
National Space Agency in Ukraine, sending
the messages on the 120 trillion-mile journey
to Gliese 581c.

According to the BBC, the messages have been
sent tonight. Answers can be expected in about
40 years.


Sterling K. Webb
Received on Thu 09 Oct 2008 12:45:27 AM PDT