The Morse Message was a series of brief radio messages in

Russian Morse code The Russian Morse code approximates the Morse code for the Latin alphabet. It was enacted by the Russian government in 1856. To memorize the codes, practitioners use mnemonics known as ''напевы'' (loosely translated "melodies" or "chants"). ...

that were transmitted from the

Evpatoria Planetary Radar The Yevpatoria RT-70 radio telescope (P-2500, RT-70) is an RT-70 radio telescope and planetary radar at the Center for Deep Space Communications, Yevpatoria, Crimea. In scientific literature, it is often called the Evpatoria Planetary Radar (EPR ...

(EPR) complex and directed to the planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

in 1962.MIR, LENIN, SSSR
/ref> The message consisted of three words, all encoded in Morse code: the word “Mir” (, meaning both “peace” and “world”) was transmitted from the EPR on November 19, 1962, and the words “

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

” () and “USSR” (, the abbreviation for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

— , ''Soyúz Soviétskikh Sotsialistícheskikh Respúblik'') were transmitted on November 24, 1962. In Russian, the Morse Message is referred to as the Radio Message “MIR, LENIN, USSR”. The message was the first radio broadcast intended for extraterrestrial civilizations in the history of mankind. It was also used to test the radar station (though not for measuring the distance to Venus, since the EPR relied on a different technology, a coherent waveform with frequency manipulation, for distance measurements). The signals reflected off the surface of Venus and were received back on Earth 4 minutes, 32.7 seconds and 4 minutes, 44.7 seconds later (for the November 19 and November 24 broadcasts, respectively). The ongoing search for

life on Venus The possibility of life on Venus is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to Venus's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no definitive evidence has been found of past or present life there. In the early 1960s, studies conducted vi ...

has not yet found any life-forms, let alone any capable of receiving the message. The signals are currently in transit to the star

HD 131336 HD may refer to: Business * H-D or Harley-Davidson, a motorcycle manufacturer * The Home Depot, NYSE stock symbol: HD Chemistry * Hydrogen deuteride, a diatomic compound of hydrogen and deuterium * Mustard gas Codes * Air Do, formerly Ho ...

HD131336
/ref> in the Libra constellation. The famous star

Gliese 581 Gliese 581 () is a red dwarf star of spectral type M3V which hosts a planetary system, away from Earth in the constellation Libra. Its estimated mass is about a third of that of the Sun, and it is the 101st closest known star system to ...

, the addressee of the modern interstellar messages

A Message From Earth Gliese 581c (Gl 581c or GJ 581c) is an exoplanet orbiting within the Gliese 581 system. It is the second planet discovered in the system and the third in order from the star. With a mass about 6.8 times that of the Earth, it is classified as a ...

and

Hello From Earth Active SETI (Active Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) are attempts to send messages to intelligent extraterrestrial life. Active SETI messages are predominantly sent in the form of radio signals. Physical messages like that of the Pion ...

, is also located in Libra.

References

{{Reflist 1962 in the Soviet Union Interstellar messages Science and technology in the Soviet Union Space program of the Soviet Union Venus

See also

References