Harvard physicist says meteor may be alien probe, plans expedition to prove it – National | 24CA News
A distinguished Harvard physicist will spend US$1.5 million on an expedition to Papua New Guinea in quest of the remnants of a meteor he believes could be an alien probe.
The formidable expedition is being organized by Avi Loeb, the chairman of Harvard’s astronomy division and founding father of the additional terrestrial-hunting Galileo Project.
In a weblog put up, Loeb introduced he’s in quest of fragments of CNEOS1 2014-01-08, which smashed into Earth in 2014 and exploded into tiny fragments a few hundred kilometres off the coast of Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.
“Within a couple of months, I will be leading an expedition to collect the fragments of the first interstellar meteor. This meteor is the first near-Earth object ever detected by humans from outside the solar system,” he wrote on Medium.
In his put up, Loeb posits that his exploration to the depths of the ocean might probably flip up fragments of alien know-how, launched a billion years in the past by an historic civilization exterior our photo voltaic system.
“In case we recover a sizable technological relic from the Pacific Ocean, I promised the curator of the Museum of Modern Art, Paula Antonelli, that I will bring it for display in New York. This piece would represent modernity for us, even though it is a relic of ancient history for the senders,” he wrote about his future plans, ought to his concept show right.
Loeb detailed his concept within the weblog put up, writing that he seen the article in 2019 and recognized it as the primary interstellar meteor ever found. He additionally writes that the meteor’s origin was confirmed by NASA and the U.S. Department of Defence final 12 months and that evaluation from his workforce concluded that the meteor was comprised of a materials a lot more durable than the entire different 272 meteors in NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies catalog.
Loeb says that his workforce is well-prepared for the mission: “We have a boat. We have a dream team, including some of the most experienced and qualified professionals in ocean expeditions. We have complete design and manufacturing plans for the required sled, magnets, collection nets and mass spectrometer.”
Loeb outlined the main points for the operation, writing that his workforce will tow a sled mounted with cameras, magnets and lights alongside the ocean flooring in a 10-kilometre by 10-kilometre search space that has been verified by numerous sources. The particular sand-sifting tools is now within the ultimate levels of growth, and Loeb writes that he hopes to set sail this summer season.
“It’s just like mowing the lawn,” Loeb informed NPR of the exploration know-how final 12 months. “We are planning to use a sled with a magnet that will scoop a very thin layer off the top of the muck.”
Despite his lofty concept, nonetheless, he does understand the expedition carries some danger and that he may very well be unsuitable.
“There is a chance it will fail,” he informed The Daily Beast, saying that any recovered fragment might become pure in origin. He additionally admits that he wants hermetic proof to again up his claims.
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,” he mentioned.
Earlier this month, Loeb and Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, launched a draft report outlining the likelihood that alien spacecraft might have been capable of journey to Earth by rigorously analyzing the bodily constraints of how objects journey by means of area. The report remains to be beneath evaluate.
And regardless of Loeb’s simple authority within the astronomy group, his theories of aliens visiting Earth have typically been thought-about controversial.
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