"Are We Ready?" Earth to Receive Simulated 'Alien Transmission'

Today’s news include: China's Mysterious Space Plane Released an Unidentified 'Object' in Orbit to What is the Heaviest Element in the Universe?

Earth to receive a simulated 'alien transmission'. On the 24th of May, a program called "A Sign in Space" will send a fake "alien transmission" from the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter to test how we would react, reports Christopher McFadden for Interesting Engineering. "The European Space Agency's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which orbits around Mars, will send an encoded message to Earth on May 24, 2023. This transmission aims to simulate the act of receiving a signal from extraterrestrial intelligence."

NASA Responds To Claims That The World Is Going To End Tomorrow, reports Jonathan O'Callaghan for IFL Science. “Various people are ‘predicting’ that [the] world will end Sept 23 when another planet collides with Earth,” NASA said, blind to the terrifying end that awaits us all. “The planet in question, Niburu, doesn't exist, so there will be no collision.”

Newfound alien planet has nuclear fusion going in its core, reports Andrew Jones for Space.com. HD 206893 c is on the boundary between a planet and a brown dwarf, or "failed star."

China's mysterious space plane released an unidentified 'object' in orbit, US intelligence reveals, reports Joanna Thompson for Live Science.--Here's what we know (and don't know) about China's mysterious space plane, which just landed after nine months in orbit on a secret mission.

Gravitational wave detector LIGO is back online after 3 years of upgrades – how the world’s most sensitive yardstick reveals secrets of the universe, reports The Conversation. "Since 2020, the Laser Interferometric Gravitational-Wave Observatory - commonly known as LIGO – has been sitting dormant while it underwent some exciting upgrades. These improvements will significantly boost the sensitivity of LIGO and should allow the facility to observe more-distant objects that produce smaller ripples in spacetime."

As many as 1.7 billion T-rexes once dominated Earth, finds new study--In 2021, paleontologists estimated that up to 2.5 billion T. rexes lived on Earth. A new study, however, has refuted this claim, reports Interesting Engineering.

Is Oganesson the Heaviest Element In The Universe? explores IFL Science. Uranium, plutonium, oganesson, one yet-to-be-discovered, or something completely different? "The reason why the elements are so dense has to do with a peculiar balancing act. They have a high enough atomic mass but quite a small atomic radius due to well-organized electrons, so in the same volume, you can pack more osmium atoms than any other known element. Osmium has 22.6 times the density of liquid water."

Desert Monoliths Reveal World’s Oldest Architectural Plans--Engravings found in Jordan and Saudi Arabia appeared to match nearby ancient megastructures known as desert kites as seen from above, reports the New York Times.

Curated by The Galaxy Report editorial staff.