Program Preps to Send Alien Messages Despite Warnings; Could Trigger Invasion, Experts Say

This is it, mankind will finally begin to try and speak to aliens. This is despite warnings that could lead to the destruction of the human race itself.

The mission, to be launched by the METI project, will be a revolutionary take on the concept of extraterrestrial communication. It stands for Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and it's a new project that will be sending out signals in space that extraterrestrials can pick.

Independent says the project will officially begin in 2018. This will allow humanity to get in touch with aliens, rather than waiting for them to talk to us.

However, scientists have already warned about the dangerous nature of sending such messages. Alerting aliens of the existence of man, of a civilization that is barely space-faring, could lead to our destruction.

According to Xinhua, Stephen Hawking has been an astute nay-sayer in the idea of sending signals to space. He added earlier this year that humans should be "wary" of responding to any messages from aliens. He said doing so would probably be like when the Native Americans first met Christopher Columbus, where it "didn't out so well."

Hawking also suggested any civilization we did make contact with is likely to see us no more developed than bacteria. As a consequence, it may not even want to kill us, and just wipe us out because they don't care.

According to People, there are no regulations governing whether or not messages can be sent out into space, or what they should say. This means MET and other groups can send out their own signals without any objections.

However, those behind METI says it can be used to "learn" and share information, if it's successful. The team is now currently working on how best to tackle this problem, and put out a message that could potentially be understood by other living things in the distant universe. The initial message may use basic mathematical and scientific concepts. 

The group wants to raise approximately $1 nillion to start their work. This money will go to building or borrowing a powerful transmitter that can send a message to the universe.