In the decade that humanity has actively see for aliveness beyond our planet , many have wondered how the initial striking between us and another well-informed civilisation might take place . A new feature - length BBC dramatic event - documentary , First Contact : An Alien Encounter , live on mighty to the heart of the affair , mixing audience with world - leading experts and cagey fictional scenarios ( news political program , podcasts ) exploring how get wind a signal from kayoed outer space may play out .

The premise is a signal is discover in the counsel of the Voyager 1 investigation , which is currently move around in interstellar space . The first premise is the spying is a fault ( it would n’t bethe first time ) but after multiple signals are receive , the thought that a material signaling is being received becomes far-flung . The documentary reconstructs what scientist , brass , the media , and ordinary mass might do and say in the undermentioned 12 years .

“ We ’ve been following the over-the-top advancement in our exploration of alien worlds over the last few decade , and also been intrigued with the mentation , arrangement likeSETI[Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence ] and the United Nations have put into the possible reception to afirst contact , ” executive producer Andrew Cohen , Head of the Science Unit at BBC Studios Production , told IFLScience .

The documentary is informed byreal - life strategiesfor first contact with an extraterrestrial civilization as well as speculative reactions from around the world . When it comes to the skill , the source of stirring for the " signal " is obvious ( but we ’ll justlink to itbecause it ’s a raider ) .

The format of the show , let in fictional media coverage , is influenced by both definitive documentaries andpop culture .

“ Threadswas a bounteous touchstone for me ( a BBC science department dramatic play about atomic war from the 1980s ) as it utilise a very heavily search and factually precise drama to tell a ‘ what if ’ story with a actual worked up puncher , " conductor Nic Stacey told IFLScience . “Also , the original 1938War of the Worldsradio adjustment , with its fictionalised news reports was a very helpful former stirring . "

Some influence were a small more late . “ The response to the pandemic also really informed the book – it offered so many examples of how society react to a huge and unexpected global effect , " Stacey say . " The way information gets filtered and fracture through societal medium , the public discharge of emotion , the opportunism … and the immense hard piece of work and loyalty required by G of scientists to interpret what ’s really happening and prove to work out what to do next . ”

The hunting for life beyond Earth has a variety of approaches beyond those of SETI , which specifically looks for the existence of advanced civilisation . Life in the soma of ancient bacteria may be hiding elsewhere in the Solar System , underneath the open of Mars , or in the oceans of moons Europa andEnceladus . JWST is looking at theatmosphere of exoplanetsto notice any telltale sign of biosignatures within them . But meeting other intelligent species from beyond our satellite would be something else .

“ Given our current level of development as a species it would seem extremely likely that any other well-informed civilization out there would befar more reasoning than us – they would have to be able to communicate effectively with us , to have achieved interstellar two - way communicating . It is therefore potential that they havebeen around for longerthan we have and have had more sentence to resolve a routine of puzzles that still perplex us , ” Dr Louisa Preston , an astrobiologist from University College London who features in the documentary , told IFLScience .

“ As such , I would ask them the big of our questions : Where did life come from ? ' . I would ask them how they descend to live ; how did life arise on their human beings ; in what environments did it constitute and how long after their humans was created did life arise ? "

As Preston points out , we still do n’t fuck just how , where , and when life arose on Earth , or , for example , how interpersonal chemistry became biota . Any hints they could give us would be much prize .

" Hopefully , this more modern civilization would have had metre to picture out some of the answers and could help satisfy in the blanks in our own account . I might also ask them if they have createdStar Trek - esque transporters , warp drive , and universal translators yet and if so , could we borrow them please . ”

First Contact : An Alien Encountercan’t help us answer all that but it does give us insight into what such an unprecedented discovery may be like .

First Contact : An Alien Encounterairs in the UK onBBC Two on November 2and in the US on PBS on January 4 , 2023 .