Forty years on from the launch of NASA's Voyager 1 probe , some researchers are questioning whether or not the space agency made a serious mistake.
Aboard Voyager 1 is a golden disc containing sounds and images that represent the diversity of life on Earth. The disc also contains a map showing our planet's location - which NASA felt would allow extra-terrestrials to understand where the probe came from.
The maps were designed by American astronomer Frank Drake, who said: "We needed to put something on the Voyager that said where it came from, and how long it was traveling.”
After launching in 1977, Voyager 1 has become the first ever man-made craft to reach interstellar space - crossing beyond the area of the galaxy directly influenced by the sun.
But some critics have now spoken out to say that broadcasting our location to potentially hostile aliens may not have been a very smart idea.
Kathryn Denning, an anthropologist from York University who studies the ethics of sending messages to extraterrestrials, said: “Back when Drake did the pulsar map, and Carl Sagan and the whole team did the Voyager record, there hadn't been very much debate over the pros and cons of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence.
“Now, however, as you know, there is a major debate among scientists and a variety of stakeholders about the wisdom of doing anything other than listening.”
Even Drake himself now has some reservations about the decision to guide aliens to Earth.
They've been here for a long, long time, and they haven't attacked yet. ;-) To read more, click here.