Astronomer plans $1.5 million expedition to recover possible alien technology in the ocean
An astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is planning a $1.5 million expedition to recover what he believes could be alien technology resting on the ocean floor.
A meteor traveling at more than 100,000 mph exploded and fell in the South Pacific eight years ago, and academics like Professor Avi Loeb believe it was from another star system, according to a report.
By recovering the debris from that meteorite, Loeb said he hopes to discover its origins, even going so far as to suggest it could be alien Technology.
The object is designated CNEOS 2014-01-08, and was first detected by satellites in 2014, according to the report.
After receiving data from its detection, Loeb and Amir Siraj, who was at Harvard University studying astrophysics at the time, postulated in 2019 that it was not from Earth’s solar system.
“It was moving very fast, about 40 kilometers per second, when it exploded in the lower atmosphere,” Loeb said. “And from that, we can infer that it was moving too fast to be tied to the sun.”
The scientists’ initial work was rejected due to incomplete data, but in April of this year, NASA released a statement that seemed to confirm the notion that the object was from another solar system.
5/ From the @AsteroidWatch tabletop exercise earlier this year, we learned that as long as the simulated asteroid was in the space domain, #USSPACECOM was the supported combatant command within the @DeptofDefense.
—U.S. Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) April 6, 2022
With this new knowledge in hand, Loeb announced that he would launch a privately funded expedition to recover pieces of the object that rests on the ocean floor, according to the report.
“It’s like mowing the lawn,” according to Loeb. “We are planning to use a sled with a magnet that will pull a very thin layer off the top of the sludge.”
When he finds it, he hopes to study the composition of the object.
“There is also the possibility that it is made of some alloy that nature does not produce, and that would imply that the object is technological,” Loeb said. “If you ask me what my wish is, if it is of artificial origin, if there were any components of the object that survived, and if it has any buttons, I would love to press them.”
The idea that the debris has extraterrestrial origins excites Loeb, but many other astronomers are skeptical of the idea, the report notes.
They claim that there are far more and much simpler “natural” explanations, the report noted, and that the data is incomplete and has been “sanitized.”
“I think there’s a case to be made that this could be interstellar in origin,” said Arizona State University planetary scientist Meenakshi Wadhwa.
“[But I] would add the caveat that none of the work so far on this is in the peer-reviewed literature… The Science hasn’t really been scrutinized to the extent that I’d like to see it scrutinized.”
Another reviewer seemed to have little faith in the idea of an expedition.
“If you want to invest in renting a submarine and going down to the bottom of the ocean on…a wild goose chase, you can do it,” said Ethan Siegel, an astrophysicist and Science communicator. “If you want to take all your money and throw it in the middle of the ocean, you can do that too.”
Loeb is not intimidated by criticism, calling his expedition an effort in “interstellar archaeology.”
“My point is that if a cave dweller found a cell phone, the cave dweller would argue that the cell phone is a type of rock we’ve never seen before,” he said. “And the only way to know is to press some buttons on this cell phone and realize that it records your voice, it records your image. Then it will be clear that it is not a rock.”
Comments
Post a Comment