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Space



This article is more than 7 months old


GALILEO PROJECT: SCIENTISTS TO SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

This article is more than 7 months old

Team will search for evidence of extraterrestrial life by looking for advanced
technology it may leave behind



A 3D illustration of the interstellar object known as Oumuamua. Photograph:
Aunt_Spray/Getty Images/iStockphoto
A 3D illustration of the interstellar object known as Oumuamua. Photograph:
Aunt_Spray/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Maya Yang
Tue 27 Jul 2021 18.49 BSTLast modified on Tue 27 Jul 2021 19.05 BST
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A team of scientists will embark on a new international research project led by
Harvard University to search for evidence of extraterrestrial life by looking
for advanced technology it may leave behind.

The Galileo Project is led by the Harvard astronomy professor Avi Loeb. Loeb
co-founded the project with Frank Laukien, CEO of Bruker Corporation, a
Massachusetts-based manufacturer of scientific equipment.



“Given the recently discovered abundance of Earth-Sun systems, the Galileo
Project is dedicated to the proposition that humans can no longer ignore the
possible existence of Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations (ETCs),” the
team announced in a statement on Monday.



The project follows the US government’s report from last month on a number of
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that were reported by navy personnel and Oumuamua,
an interstellar pancake-shaped object that entered the solar system in 2017.
Oumuamua did not resemble any previously observed comet or asteroids and in turn
sparked a debate among astronomers regarding its true origin.

According to the Galileo Project team, “Oumuamua turned out to have highly
anomalous properties that defy well-understood natural explanations.” “We can
only speculate … by stretching our imagination to ‘Oumuamua’ perhaps being an
extraterrestrial technological object, similar to a very thin light-sail or
communication dish,” it added.

Rather than searching for electromagnetic signals, the Galileo Project will
search for physical objects associated with extraterrestrial technological
equipment, also known as technosignatures.



The project will follow three major avenues of research: obtain high-resolution
images of UAP through multi-detector sensors to discover their nature, search
and conduct in-depth research on “Oumuamua-like” interstellar objects, and
search for potential ETC satellites.

“It is very important that we keep in mind that the Galileo Project is not for
everything, and it is not for everyone,” said Laukien. “It has a defined scope,
and it has limitations,” he added, referring to the project’s aim of only
exploring known physics explanations rather than speculating on prior UAPs,
alleged observations and informal reports.

“We want to clear the fog through a transparent and scientific analysis by
assembling our own data, not data based on government-owned sensors, because
most of that data is classified,” Laukien said.

Currently, the team is selecting instruments it plans to purchase and is
planning to set up tens of telescope systems globally. Each system will consist
of approximately two 25-centimeter (10in) telescopes with a camera suitable to
detect objects of interest, connected to a computer system that will filter out
data.

“We are planning to get some interesting results in the coming year, hopefully,”
Loeb said in a recent press conference.

The project, named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei who is known for
his pioneering use of telescopes, pledges to “dare to look through new
telescopes, both literally and figuratively”.


Topics
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 * Harvard University
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