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Stephen Hawking warned that extraterrestrial messaging was a really terrible idea – similar to posting a sign saying "ATTACK HERE".
But scientists at MIT have said that we could use existing laser technology to create a "beacon" visible to aliens up to 20,000 light-years away.
The researchers suggest that if we focus a high power laser across a huge telescope (up to 147 feet), it would be visible to extraterrestrial astronomers (even among the radiation of our sun).
If extraterrestrial astronomers have spotted the signal, we could also use it to send a message in Morse code, says MIT scientist James Clark.
Clark says, "If we managed to close a handshake and start communicating, we could send a message, at a data rate of a few hundred bits per second, that would arrive in a few years."
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Clark suggests that the laser / telescope device could be built on the moon – to avoid dangers such as the powerful beam striking the spacecraft flying overhead.
Clark said, "I wanted to see if I could take the types of telescopes and lasers we are building today and make them a detectable beacon.
"In general, it was a feasibility study. Whether or not it's a good idea, this is a discussion for future work.
Professor Stephen Hawking was a fierce opponent of attempts at "message" or direct contact with extraterrestrials.
Professor Hawking thinks it's a terrible idea because any extraterrestrial sophisticated enough to receive our message and travel here is likely to crush us without mercy.
"If extraterrestrials visit us, the result would be the same as when Columbus landed in America, which did not work well for the Amerindians."
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