Crowdsourcing Lunar Search for Signs of Alien Life

December 28, 2011 By IdeaConnection

If intelligent alien lifeforms exist our chances of detecting them may be improved if they are untidy.

Two prominent physicists, Prof Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University are proposing a new crowdsourcing initiative that would have volunteers all over the world scouring hundreds of thousands of photos of the moon  for tell-tale signs that ET may have once passed through our cosmic neighbourhood.


The two scientists argue that there might be evidence of extra terrestrial life in the form of waste, messages and scientific instruments they left behind and that these could be spotted by examining images already taken by telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.

The project would complement current searches for alien life i.e., SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) that look for direct signs of ET intelligence such as deliberately beamed radio messages.

“Existing searchable databases from astronomy, biology, earth and planetary sciences all offer low-cost opportunities to seek a footprint of extraterrestrial technology,” the scientists write in a paper published online in the journal Acta Astronautica.

“Although there is only a tiny probability that alien technology would have left traces on the moon in the form of an artefact or surface modification of lunar features, this location has the virtue of being close, and of preserving traces for an immense duration,” they add.

Even though the chances of finding something interesting are extremely remote, the costs of such a crowdsourcing project are so small that nothing is lost by embarking on the search.


Share on      
Next Post »

Add your Comment

[LOGIN FIRST] if you're already a member.

fields are required.




Note: Your name will appear at the bottom of your comment.