When ET phoned home in 1982, a whole generation dreamed of finding extra-terrestrial life. One inspired moviegoer was Australia’s eccentric science minister Kim Carr.
Today he launched a bizarre scheme encouraging citizens to send messages into outer space with the hope of discovering other beings.
And, by logging on to a website, hundreds have already sent missives to Gliese 581d, the only know planet that - since it resembles Earth – could support life.
Some have asked aliens to help find lost socks, while others invited non-earthlings from planet Gliese 581d over for a cup of tea.
In what is believed to be the world's first attempt to make contact with the planet, Mr Carr himself got the ball rolling.
‘Hello from Australia on the planet we call Earth,’ he wrote.
‘These messages express our people’s dreams for the future. We want to share those dreams with you.’
The only catch to his vision of uniting peoples from across the universe is that takes 20.3 light years for the messages to reach the planet.
And, with no information on who or what might receive them, the answer could come whizzing back - or take an eternity.
Whether aliens will be able to understand English has also not deterred Mr Carr.
Afterwards, he said: 'As a child I, like many Australians, stared up at the stars and wondered what was out there.
'Now science has allowed me to send a personal message that may answer that question.' Gliese, whose 'years' last just 66.8 days and was discovered in 2007, is eight times the size of Earth and 120 trillion miles away.
The invitation to Australians to try to reach an alien life form has been launched to mark National Science Week.
They log into the website www.HelloFromEarth.net and type a Twitter-like message 160 characters long, which will then be beamed into outer space by the Canberra observatory.
Astronomers believe the planet could hold abundant liquid water, necessary for supporting life - and if there is anyone out there the first thing they will need, perhaps, is a dish to receive the messages from Earth.
To ensure that messages aren't so threatening they could spark an inter-galactic war or an invasion of Earth, the messages will be monitored by special 'space watch' staff who, like the Dalek in Dr Who, will 'exterminate' them.
Wilson da Silva, a spokesman for the HelloFromEarth project said it was like a 'message in a bottle' drifting off into outer space to be picked up by...well, who knows who?
