The search for alien life is not only a hot topic of today. In fact, from scientists to the average person, everyone is equally interested in learning about them. One cannot help but wonder about the consequences of searching for an extraterrestrial civilization.
Scientists And Interstellar Objects
In Rendezvous With Rama, a novel by Arthur C Clarke, there is 50-kilometer-long cylindrical spacecraft that enters the Solar system. A space mission is carried out to analyze and study the Solar system before it disappears into space darkness again.
Prof Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard University, thinks that Oumuamua, a mysterious interstellar object found flowing in the Solar System in 2017, can be an alien Rama-like artifact. And to find it out, he started Project Galileo. The goal is to scan the heavens in search of a new Oumuamua. It will allow scientists to photograph this amazing object.
Over 100 scientists are involved in Project Galileo, which Loeb leads. They are trying to move away from SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) to searching for signs of objects that can be alien technology.
According to Loeb, it is high time we start searching for alien technologies roaming around us in our Solar system instead of focusing on ways to interact with them. He thinks 70 years of doing the same thing has been a knock on the wrong door. It is the moment to move beyond the radio signals coming from the Galaxy.
Dr. Alexey Arkhipov, Institute of Radio Astronomy in Kharkiv, Ukraine, stated that there are, at times, pieces of our space technology unavoidably ousted from the Solar System by certain events. It could be a collision or some kind of explosion in space. And the same happens in reverse. The alien civilizations could end up in our Solar System.
Interestingly, Earth’s geological activity and weather tend to re-mold its surface. And that can make the search for alien artifacts difficult.
Scientists think that searching for objects such as Oumuamua is worth all our efforts and time, and we should continue with the process.
Takeaway
Undoubtedly it is always interesting to learn about aliens, but making an effort to talk to them can be a bad idea. In his book The Fourth Signal, Mark Daniel Proulx discusses that humans’ eagerness to talk to aliens may not be a good idea. It involves thought-provoking explanations that every science fiction fan would prefer to read.