2009-09-18

Text-Chatting Aliens

The aliens flying above Bengt's house are having some difficulties contacting their home planet. They want a unified protocol for sending information about location from each of their many space ships scattered around the galaxy, and they want to use earthly communication standards, so as not to be detected. They tried using TCP/IP, but found it to be a terrible and outdated standard. For lack of a better alternative, they decided to use SMS.
Each text message can contain either the name of a star (the aliens all know where the stars are), or a number (such as the distance from said star). They want to use as few messages as possible.

    Device a system for them to identify a location. The aliens will all be informed of the new standard. How many messages will they need?