On the first floor of the Main Fair Pavilion, within the Global Digital Forum in Nizhny Novgorod, JSC TsNIImash and Roscosmos are showcasing an unusual interactive project entitled “Your Message to Space”. This installation gives every participant the chance to send a personal message into the depths of the Universe—to potentially habitable exoplanets, to the Pole Star, or even to the very centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way.

To send a message, simply approach the interactive panel and choose one of six available languages: Russian, English, French, Spanish, Arabic or Chinese. After composing the message, the participant selects the final destination of the cosmic dispatch. Upon completion, each user can download a video of the transmission to their mobile device via QR code.

“This project is carried out with the support of the Russian Deep-Space Communication Centre. All collected messages undergo special processing and are converted into signals, which are then transmitted to the chosen points in the Universe using professional equipment,” explains Oksana Sukhareva, Head of the Sectoral Communications Centre at JSC TsNIImash.

Delivery time depends on the selected destination: a message will reach the Moon in just 1 light-second, Mars in 15 light-minutes. More ambitious participants may send a message to the Tau Ceti planetary system (12 light-years) or even to the Andromeda Galaxy—though in the latter case the signal will need 2.5 million light-years to arrive.

Participants can capture the landmark moment in a photograph and, by leaving an e-mail address, receive confirmation of the actual dispatch of their message. The installation is open on 5 and 6 June from 10:00 to 18:00.