| Bebo time capsule looks for life in space |
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Bebo members have been asked to contribute to a digital time capsule that will be sent on a 120 million-mile journey to the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system. More than 12 million Bebo users can create their own messages to see if theirs will be one of 500 eventually selected for a place in the capsule. The final 500 will be chosen in a web vote that runs until September 30. The messages from earth will be broadcast on October 9 by the National Space Agency of Ukraine by its gigantic RT-70 radio telescope. The messages will travel at light speed, passing the moon in just 1.7 seconds. They will leave our own solar system within seven hours, before heading onto Gliese 581c, 20.5 light years away. The message will reach its destination in the spring of 2029. Gliese 581c has a radius that is 1.5 times the Earth's. Scientists have estimated that its average temperature is between 0 and 40 degrees Centigrade, meaning that water would exist in a liquid state – one of the essential ingredients for life as we know it. The project was designed in conjunction with Dr Alexander Zaitsev, one of the world's leading authorities on inter stellar radio messaging, based at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Science. Entrants to A Message from Earth can submit photographs, drawings or text and can make their message about any topic they want. Copyright: Telegraph RDF and Bebo launch a project that's out of this world! RDF Digital, part of the RDF Media Group, has partnered up with the social network site Bebo.com to allow its community to create a ground-breaking digital time capsule that will be beamed 120 trillion miles into space. Launched on 1 August 2008, A Message From Earth lets young people make their mark on history with personal messages and pictures that will be broadcast to the nearest planet that could hold life. A Message From Earth lets the public contribute to a galactic time capsule created democratically via the internet for the very first time. More than 12 million users of Bebo can create their own messages and vie for a spot in the final 500 that will be decided via a web vote which runs until 30 September. A Message From Earth is one of the most advanced third party applications to be integrated within a social network environment, and users are able to use the application canvas to submit images, text, or draw pictures, which are all translated into a binary format which can be broadcast into deep space via high powered radio waves. The chosen messages will be broadcast on 9 October by the National Space Agency of Ukraine's giant RT-70 radar telescope. The messages will travel at light speed, and will pass the moon in just 1.7 seconds and will leave our own solar system within seven hours, before heading on to Gliese 581C, the target planet 20.5 light years away. The message will reach its target during spring 2029. To ensure its technical viability, the project was developed in conjunction with Dr Alexander Zaitsev, one of the world's leading authorities on inter stellar radio messaging, based at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics Russian Academy of Science. A Message From Earth is the next in a line of pioneering web media projects that Bebo has launched, following the success of KateModern, Sophia's Diary and The Gap Year. Mark Charkin, Bebo VP Sales, says: "A Message From Earth presents an opportunity for the digital natives of today, for whom the Internet is both a fact of life and an integral part of their lives, to reconnect with science and the wider universe in a simple, fun and immersive way." The project was conceived by Oli Madgett, and he sees the purpose of it being: "to use the angle of space to help capture young people's imaginations and inspire them to think about our own planet earth and humanity's impact upon it, as well as their personal worlds and the things that they feel should represent them." The project is backed by RDF Media Group, the company behind hit TV shows such as Shipwrecked, Location Location Location, and Wife Swap. RDF Television, one of the production companies in the Group, is currently developing a TV format around the concept. A Message From Earth will be ad funded, and commercial partners are being sought for integration across all aspects of the project. Zad Rogers, Creative Director of RDF Digital sees social networks as the natural launch pad for such multi-platform formats. "We were originally looking at the feasibility of developing a stand-alone site, but it makes total commercial sense for us to partner exclusively with Bebo to give us critical mass in terms of the audience from launch, and in an online environment where the idea should spread virally like wildfire." To watch a short animation that explains A Message From Earth, visit www.amessagefromearth.com |
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