aAn astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics plans a $1.5 million expedition to retrieve what he believes may be alien technology sleeping on the ocean floor. .
A meteor traveling at over 100,000 miles per hour exploded and crashed into the South Pacific eight years ago. According to reports, scholars such as Professor Avi Loeb believe it is from another star system.
By retrieving fragments of that meteor, Loeb hopes to discover its origins, going so far as to suggest it could be alien technology.
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The object, designated CNEOS 2014-01-08, was first detected by satellites in 2014, according to reports.
After receiving data from its detection, Loeb and Amir Siraj, then studying astrophysics at Harvard University, hypothesized in 2019 that it was not from Earth’s solar system.
“It traveled very fast, about 40 kilometers per second, when it exploded in the lower atmosphere,” says Loeb. “And from that we can infer that it was too fast to be constrained to the sun.”
The scientists’ initial study was dismissed for incomplete data, but in April of this year NASA released a statement confirming the idea that the object is from another solar system. .
6/ “I was honored to be able to sign the memo. @ussfspocDr. Moser, chief scientist at , has confirmed that the previously detected interstellar object is indeed an interstellar object, a confirmation that will help the wider astronomy community. ” pic.twitter.com/PGlIOnCSrW
— US Space Command (@US_SpaceCom) April 7, 2022
Armed with this new knowledge, Loeb announced the launch of a privately funded expedition to retrieve debris from the ocean floor, according to the report.
According to Loeb, “It’s like mowing the lawn.” “We plan to use a sled with magnets that skim a very thin layer out of the mud.”
Once found, he hopes to study the composition of the object.
“It could also be made of some alloy that is not synthesized in nature, which suggests that the object is technical,” Loeb said. “If you ask me what my wish is, if it’s really artificial and part of the object survives, if there’s a button, I’d love to press it.”
The idea that the wreckage is of extraterrestrial origin excites Loeb, but many other astronomers are skeptical of the idea, the report notes.
They have a much simpler “natural” explanation and the data are incomplete and “sanitized,” the report claims.
Meenakshi Wadhwa, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University, said: “I think there will be claims made that this could be of interstellar origin.
“[But I would] I add the caveat that none of the previous studies on this are in the peer-reviewed literature. …Science is not as scrutinized as I would like to be scrutinized. ”
Another critic seemed to have little faith in the expedition’s idea.
“If you want to invest in renting a submarine, diving to the bottom of the ocean and chasing geese, you can do that,” said Ethan Siegel, an astrophysicist and science communicator. “If you want to throw all your money in the middle of the ocean, you can do that too.”
Loeb was undeterred by criticism, calling his expedition a tackling “interstellar archaeology.”
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“My point is that if a caveman finds a mobile phone, the caveman will claim that the mobile phone is a type of rock that has never been seen before,” he said. “The only way to know it is to press some buttons on this phone and realize that it’s recording your voice and recording an image of you. Then , it will become clear that it is not a lock.”
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