How are messages encoded in ice?

 How are messages encoded in ice?

 

Messages are encoded in ice by leveraging the natural phenomenon of air bubbles being trapped in water as it freezes. The core idea is to control the formation and arrangement of these bubbles to represent information.

Here's a detailed breakdown of how messages are encoded:

•Bubble Formation and Control:

◦When water freezes, it traps air bubbles within the ice.

◦The shape and arrangement of these trapped bubbles are dependent on the speed at which the water freezes.

◦Scientists found that a bubble's final shape is determined by how fast the "freezing front" (the part of water turning to ice) moves.

•Encoding with Bubble Characteristics:

◦The research team identified two main bubble shapes: egg-shaped and needle-shaped.

◦By measuring their height and width, regions of ice could be classified based on the types of bubbles present: containing only egg-shaped bubbles, only needle-shaped bubbles, both, or no bubbles at all.

◦These distinct classifications, based on bubble presence and shape, are then used to represent information, similar to the dots and dashes in Morse code or the 1s and 0s in binary code.

•Creating Information Layers:

◦To form these information-carrying bubble layers, the team rapidly changed the freezing speed. This was achieved by suddenly lowering the temperature of the plate the water was resting on.

◦Each sudden change in temperature resulted in the formation of a new layer of bubbles. This technique could be repeated to create multiple distinct layers within a single slice of ice.

•Conversion and Reading Process:

◦A message, such as letters, is first converted into a specific temperature-control pattern.

◦This pattern then guides the freezing process to ensure the bubble layers form at the correct positions within the ice.

◦To "read" the message, a camera scans the frozen ice, and a computer interprets the layers by recognizing light and dark bands in the image, which encode the message.

◦While Morse code was found to be easier to control, binary code proved to be the most efficient method for delivering messages. The team successfully recorded letters such as “FL,” “CN,” and “BJ” using this technique.

This method provides a unique way to store information, particularly useful in cold environments like the Arctic, the moon, or Mars, where traditional storage methods like paper or electronics are difficult to maintain