Aliens Could Contact Earth By 2029: NASA Scientists

In 2002, NASA sent radio wave transmission to the Pioneer 12 probe in a routine protocol to send data and ensure communication is established. This signal also reached a star roughly 27 light-years from our planet as transmission spreads out when they contact an object.

Howard Isaacson, a University of California, Berkeley astronomer and co-author, acknowledged the move to PopSci, "This is a famous idea from Carl Sagan, who used it as a plot theme in the movie Contact."

The Deep Station Network is NASA's international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth.

The team determined that transmissions to Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, and Pioneer 11 have already encountered at least one star. The transmissions of Pioneer 10 encountered one white dwarf star in 2002.

'Outward transmissions from DSN travel to the spacecraft and beyond into interstellar space.'

The Deep Station Network is NASA's international array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth. The team determined that transmissions to Voyager 2, Pioneer 10, and Pioneer 11 have already encountered at least one star.

The transmissions of Pioneer 10 encountered one white dwarf star in 2002. Pioneer 10's transmissions will encounter 222 stars by 2313. 'The earliest we can expect a returned transmission is 2029,' the team shared in the report.