Timelines for Potential Interstellar Contact: UCLA Study Maps Signals From Pioneer, Voyager, and New Horizons with Earliest Return by 2029

To the point

UCLA researchers led by Reilly Derrick say signals sent to Pioneer 10 and 11, Voyager 1 and 2, and New Horizons may have reached other stars and could bring back replies in coming decades (Pioneer 10 perhaps by 2029), a point Howard Isaacson ties to Carl Sagan’s Contact, and the work could help narrow SETI targets while scientists also search for life signs such as water, atmospheric gases, biosignatures, and habitable zones.