Bebo users to send messages into space
Monday August 04 2008
Social networking website Bebo is offering its members the chance to send a message into space in a "digital time capsule.' The website has joined forces with Dr Alexander Zaitsev, an authority on inter-stellar radio messaging at the Russian Academy of Science.
They plan to send 500 user generated messages into space using the National Space Agency of Ukraine's RT-70 radio telescope.
The messages will be sent as a binary stream of information and will travel at the speed of light to the planet Gliese 581c, which is 20.5 light years away.
They should reach their target planet in 2029.
Gliese 581c was discovered last year, and is thought to be capable of supporting life, as it orbits a region with the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface.
A web vote will take place to decide which 500 messages will be sent into space.
The project was conceived by Oli Madgett, who has previously worked on Big Brother and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, and is run in conjunction with RDF Digital.
- Harriet Shawcross
