The Galileo Project

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Logo of The Galileo Project The Galileo Project Logo.png
Logo of The Galileo Project

The Galileo Project is an international scientific research project to search for extraterrestrial intelligence or extraterrestrial technology on and near Earth and to identify the nature of anomalous Unidentified Flying Objects/Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UFOs/UAP).

Contents

It was launched in 2021 by Harvard University astrophysicist, Avi Loeb, shortly after the ODNI UFO report (prepared by the U.S. Intelligence), which reported sightings of aircraft or other devices apparently flying at mysterious speeds or trajectories, and a 3 June 2021 speech by the head of NASA, Bill Nelson, in which he stated scientific analysis of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena detected by a multitude of instruments was needed. [1] [2] [3] On 5 June, Loeb emailed NASA to suggest such a scientific project but received no reply upon which he launched the project on his own on 26 July 2021 with the help of donations. [1] [2] [4] [5]

The non-profit project is searching for extraterrestrial technological equipment, which can be considered to be technosignatures, including gathering new data about peculiar UFOs with dedicated optimized unclassified sensor systems. [6] [7]

Overview

The project aims to use existing and new telescopes to systematically look for artifacts in Earth's orbit, interstellar objects, and unexplained craft, sometimes called "anomalous aerial vehicles" (AAV), [8] [9] in Earth's atmosphere. Research into UFOs, including ufology, has often been criticized for working with or providing only little or low-quality data, especially as adherence to the "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" adage is a guiding principle of scientific inquiry. The project aims to address the data-quality issue by setting up new sensor systems. The project aims to make the collected data publicly available to scientific scrutiny and publish papers with "transparent" scientific analysis in peer-reviewed scientific journals. [10] [11] [2] [12] [13] Loeb notes that "people in the military or in politics are not trained as scientists, and should not be asked to interpret what they see in the sky." [2] [14] [15] [16] The project uses an agnostic (or "secular" [7] or "unbiased, empirical inquiry") [17] [18] approach by which no potential explanations – including those that are considered to be unlikely by some experts – are rejected a priori but data is gathered and scientifically investigated to, based on the results, develop any conclusions. [19] [20] [5]

Its two other main avenues of research are searching for "two further types of potential extraterrestrial technological signatures with the use of AI": 'Oumuamua-like interstellar objects, and non-manmade artificial satellites. [21] [22] [23] [11]

Over 100 scientists worldwide are involved in the project. [1] [13] [24]

In July 2023, astronomer Avi Loeb and his team reported the possibility of finding interstellar material. [25] Claims made by Loeb and his team about their findings have been doubted by their peers according to a report in The New York Times . [26]

Activities

"Constructing new telescope systems to infer the nature of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), similar to those mentioned in the ODNI report (ODNI 2021) to the US Congress" First all-sky Galileo Observatory for UAP on the roof of the Harvard College Observatory (Cambridge, MA).png
"Constructing new telescope systems to infer the nature of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), similar to those mentioned in the ODNI report (ODNI 2021) to the US Congress"

Loeb has stated that at a minimum, the "Galileo Project will gather rich data sets that may foster the discovery of – or better scientific explanations for – novel interstellar objects with anomalous properties, and for potential new natural phenomena or terrestrial technology explanations for many presently inexplicable UAP". [11]

Telescopes

One project aims to construct a series of optical and infrared telescopes to monitor the sky and use artificial intelligence to classify and analyse the observations. Its first telescope was installed on the roof of the Harvard College Observatory in 2022. [1] [15] More sensor systems are planned to be deployed worldwide, possibly in a networked way. [13] [27] [15] [28] In September 2022, it was reported that the project should begin collecting observations in January [29] and Loeb has stated in an online post on 24 October that instruments designed by the Galileo Project are "by now collecting new high-quality data". [30] [ clarification needed ]

The telescope systems use machine learning to sort out, for example, "birds, balloons, drones, atmospheric events, aircraft and satellites from more mysterious sightings". [1] [31] [32] [33] [34] [11] [16]

The telescopes could be supplemented by radar systems that would "distinguish a physical object in the sky from a weather pattern or a mirage". [16] [5] Moreover, like NASA for their UAP study, [35] the project is looking into also using Earth observation satellites, in particular data collected by miniature satellites by Planet Labs. [31]

Loeb has stated that so far SETI was mainly "predicated on the assumption that extraterrestrials communicate via radio waves, a technology we have used for just over a century and which advanced extraterrestrials may have long ago left behind", noting that a better strategy may be "to look for artefacts: alien tech". [1] Astronomer Jason Wright affirms that "very little" of such searching is being done, but "artefact SETI" seems to "have got more traction lately". [1] Artefacts may have been able to accumulate in the Solar System – like our "mailbox" – for 4.55 billion years. [1]

A goal of the project is to capture "new crisp images with better instruments than have ever been used by civilians". [16] While relevant sensors are not only photographic cameras, Loeb stated in early 2022 that a high-resolution images could be collected within two years. [36] [37]

Study of interstellar objects like 'Oumuamua

"Mining high-quality telescope data, e.g. from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory or from the Webb telescope to discover anomalous interstellar objects, and designing intercept or rendezvous space missions that that[sic] will identify the nature of interstellar objects that do not resemble comets or asteroids, like 'Oumuamua" Space mission to intercept or rendezvous with the next 'Oumuamua.png
"Mining high-quality telescope data, e.g. from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory or from the Webb telescope to discover anomalous interstellar objects, and designing intercept or rendezvous space missions that that[sic] will identify the nature of interstellar objects that do not resemble comets or asteroids, like ‘Oumuamua"
According to Loeb, observational data indicates Oumuamua could be a light sail; and solar sail technology could be a way to intercept such an object with a probe, as e.g. Project Lyra suggests. IKAROS solar sail.jpg
According to Loeb, observational data indicates Oumuamua could be a light sail; and solar sail technology could be a way to intercept such an object with a probe, as e.g. Project Lyra suggests.

The project plans to search for, characterize and study interstellar objects (ISOs) like the peculiar Oumuamua detected in 2017. [11] [39] They intend to use astronomical surveys like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory so that such objects can be identified more quickly, and to design a space mission so a probe could intercept it and gather close-up data. [11] [1] [2] The team intends to develop software that "will analyze data collected from the Vera Rubin Observatory". [18] It is thought that when the observatory commences its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), "it will be able to detect ISOs entering our Solar System at a rate of a few per month". [5]

In collaboration with Alan Stern, principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons mission, they have received funding to develop such a space mission concept. [40]

The project may trace its origins back to 2017 when its founder, Loeb, first got excited about the topic and gained substantial public attention after the first known interstellar object, ’Oumuamua, was discovered and displayed highly unusual properties and behavior. Loeb investigated and elaborated these anomalies and proposed that it could be a kind of extraterrestrial technology in scientific journals, many media appearances and a book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth . [15] [4] [5]

The Interstellar Object Studies branch is led by Amir Siraj, a Harvard astrophysicist who frequently collaborates with Loeb and co-discoverer of one or two (see below) interstellar objects. [38] [41] [5]

In 2022, Siraj and Loeb reported the discovery of an additional candidate interstellar meteor, CNEOS 2017-03-09, in a preprint using the same fireball catalog as they used for CNEOS 2014-01-08 (see below ). They find that the implied material strength of the two objects (these are the highest and third-highest of the catalog's 273 fireballs) suggests that interstellar meteors "come from a population with material strength characteristically higher than meteors originating from within the solar system". [42] [43]

Deep-ocean expedition to recover CNEOS 2014-01-08 fragments

The project focused on the 2014 meteor CNEOS 2014-01-08, which Loeb and Siraj claimed was "rare both in composition and in speed", leading them to claim it was an interstellar object. [44] The scientific community remained skeptical of those claims, even after the United States Space Command confirmed their own sensor data. [45] [46] [47] Loeb announced that private philanthropists were funding an expedition to search the floor in the suspected region of impact [48] by dragging a magnetic sled on the seafloor off the coast of Papua New Guinea. [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] In 2023 Loeb announced the discovery of an anomalous 8-millimeter-long curled piece of wire, designated "ISI-2". X-ray fluorescence analysis determined it was chiefly composed of Manganese and Platinum, commonly used in the manufacture of corrosion resistant laboratory electrodes. However, the relative composition of the elements in the wire was significantly different than that used in electrodes. [54]

Additionally, metallic shards were discovered that were determined to be composed of a S5 steel alloy, which bears a yield strength that far exceeds that of iron meteorites, reflecting previously published results that characterized IM1's strength. [55] Two varieties were found, dubbed "red" and "gray" which are representative of a differing oxidation state. Further fragments were found several kilometers away. [56]

The broader scientific community remained skeptical of all the associated claims, from whether the meteor was interstellar, to whether it landed in that part of the ocean, to whether fragments could be recovered, to whether or not those specific objects found were of off earth origin. [57] The seismic data on which Loeb partially based his estimate of the impact cite was shown to be the result, not of an impact, but of nearby truck traffic. [58]

Search for non-human artificial satellites

The project intends to systematically search for non-manmade artificial satellites (or semi-artificial satellites or artifacts on them) in Earth's orbit – for example by designing algorithms for telescopes to recognize and filter orbiting objects and using modern sky surveys. [11] [59]

An object in a geosynchronous orbit may have been there for many millions of years and both intact material, as well as debris from degraded probes, could be detected even if they have undergone multiple collisions during this period. [59] As any "high-albedo objects are moving, spinning and emitting reflections from time to time", it should be possible to "confirm their existence through customized searches of modern data". The project can search for "these glinting events more effectively than was possible with other surveys". [60]

Members

The team includes scientists who as of 2021 work on a voluntary basis from Caltech, Cambridge University, Harvard, Princeton, Stockholm University, the University of Tokyo, and other institutions. [2] The project also lists "Affiliated professionals who offer useful expertise and input to the Research Team", [61] and members of a "Scientific Advisory Board" and a "Philanthropic Advisory Board". [62]

Funding

Its activities are funded by donations – $1.8 million as of 2021. [10] The funders include Frank Laukien, CEO of Bruker Corporation and William A. Linton, founder of Promega Corporation, both listed on the project's Philanthropic Advisory Board. The donations are reported to be unconditional and philanthropic. [1] [6] [5] [19] [63] [15] [3] Further funding that covers the costs of an expedition to retrieve fragments of an interstellar object was announced in September 2022. [48]

Loeb has stated that around $100 million would be needed to fully realise its project of identifying the nature of UAP. [1] [28] [64] Loeb has pointed out that research of dark matter is a still unsolved topic that he suggests to be "just as bizarre as aliens and far less relevant to daily human life" [15] and that $100 million are only two percent of the Large Hadron Collider's "$5bn budget" and an even smaller fraction of Elon Musk's SpaceX project "valued at around $100bn". [28] The creation of an interstellar object interceptor mission would be more expensive and was estimated to cost $1bn. [1]

Reception and impact

The project gained substantial mainstream media coverage, [65] was applauded by many, including scientists, [27] [66] and gained traction on social media and in online communities of people interested in UFOs. An NBC News article describes the project as "exactly the kind of research many have called for after the release of the Pentagon's intelligence report in June [2021]". [15]

There have also been various concerns, doubts and criticism about the prospects of the Galileo Project. [67] [15] [66]

Some astronomers are worried that astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) are getting undermined by projects like the Galileo Project. [64] Senior astronomer for the SETI Institute, Seth Shostak has compared his organization's and broader UFO-unrelated SETI efforts with Loeb's project, describing his preferred approach as "studying unknown fauna in the rainforest", and the latter's search for aliens in Earth's atmosphere as "hoping to find mermaids or unicorns". [64] However, Shostak also stated that Loeb's "peers" (i.e. the academic astronomical community) "should be grateful for [Loeb's] effort," and that he is "grateful that [Loeb] has the freedom—and the guts—to go where few would dare to go". [68]

Some astronomers have also criticized claims by the project's lead scientist for "insufficient" evidence to "support his bold conjectures about alien life". [69] Astrobiologist Caleb Scharf stated that the Galileo Project has "intermingled legitimate scientists with" what he assessed to be fringe people. [64] Nonetheless, on August 24, 2023, The New York Times published an article about Loeb and his related search for signs of extraterrestrial life and The Galileo Project. [70]

See also

Related Research Articles

Extraterrestrial life, or alien life, is life which does not originate from Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms such as prokaryotes to intelligent beings, possibly bringing forth civilizations that might be far more advanced than humans. The Drake equation speculates about the existence of sapient life elsewhere in the universe. The science of extraterrestrial life is known as astrobiology.

The search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is a collective term for scientific searches for intelligent extraterrestrial life, for example, monitoring electromagnetic radiation for signs of transmissions from civilizations on other planets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unidentified flying object</span> Airborne, submerged, and transmedium phenomena considered unusual and unidentified

An unidentified flying object (UFO), or unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP), is any perceived airborne, submerged or transmedium phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.

Extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) refers to hypothetical intelligent extraterrestrial life. No such life has ever been verifiably observed to exist. The question of whether other inhabited worlds might exist has been debated since ancient times. The modern form of the concept emerged when the Copernican Revolution demonstrated that the Earth was a planet revolving around the Sun, and other planets were, conversely, other worlds. The question of whether other inhabited planets or moons exist was a natural consequence of this new understanding. It has become one of the most speculative questions in science and is a central theme of science fiction and popular culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ufology</span> Study of UFOs

Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy, is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience.

The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avi Loeb</span> Israeli-American theoretical physicist

Abraham "Avi" Loeb is an Israeli-American theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University, where since 2007 he has been Director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Center for Astrophysics. He chaired the Department of Astronomy from 2011 to 2020, and founded the Black Hole Initiative in 2016.

The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interstellar object</span> Astronomical object not gravitationally bound to a star

An interstellar object is an astronomical object in interstellar space that is not gravitationally bound to a star. This term can also be applied to an object that is on an interstellar trajectory but is temporarily passing close to a star, such as certain asteroids and comets. In the latter case, the object may be called an interstellar interloper.

The cultural impact of extraterrestrial contact is the corpus of changes to terrestrial science, technology, religion, politics, and ecosystems resulting from contact with an extraterrestrial civilization. This concept is closely related to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), which attempts to locate intelligent life as opposed to analyzing the implications of contact with that life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Technosignature</span> Property that provides scientific evidence for the presence of technology

Technosignature or technomarker is any measurable property or effect that provides scientific evidence of past or present technology. Technosignatures are analogous to biosignatures, which signal the presence of life, whether intelligent or not. Some authors prefer to exclude radio transmissions from the definition, but such restrictive usage is not widespread. Jill Tarter has proposed that the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) be renamed "the search for technosignatures". Various types of technosignatures, such as radiation leakage from megascale astroengineering installations such as Dyson spheres, the light from an extraterrestrial ecumenopolis, or Shkadov thrusters with the power to alter the orbits of stars around the Galactic Center, may be detectable with hypertelescopes. Some examples of technosignatures are described in Paul Davies's 2010 book The Eerie Silence, although the terms "technosignature" and "technomarker" do not appear in the book.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breakthrough Listen</span> Initiative to search for intelligent extraterrestrial life

Breakthrough Listen is a project to search for intelligent extraterrestrial communications in the Universe. With $100 million in funding and thousands of hours of dedicated telescope time on state-of-the-art facilities, it is the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date. The project began in January 2016, and is expected to continue for 10 years. It is a component of Yuri Milner's Breakthrough Initiatives program. The science program for Breakthrough Listen is based at Berkeley SETI Research Center, located in the Astronomy Department at the University of California, Berkeley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ʻOumuamua</span> Interstellar object passed near Earth in 2017

ʻOumuamua is the first interstellar object detected passing through the Solar System. Formally designated 1I/2017 U1, it was discovered by Robert Weryk using the Pan-STARRS telescope at Haleakalā Observatory, Hawaii, on 19 October 2017, approximately 40 days after it passed its closest point to the Sun on 9 September. When it was first observed, it was about 33 million km from Earth and already heading away from the Sun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Hoskinson</span> American cryptocurrency entrepreneur

Charles Hoskinson is an American entrepreneur who is a co-founder of the blockchain engineering company Input Output Global, Inc., and the Cardano blockchain platform, and was a co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain platform.

<i>Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth</i> 2021 popular science book by Avi Loeb

Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth is a popular science book written by American theoretical physicist and Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on 26 January 2021.

CNEOS 2014-01-08, also known as Interstellar meteor 1 (IM1), was a 0.45 m (1.5 ft) meteor that impacted Earth on 8 January 2014 near the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea. It was claimed to be an interstellar object in a 2019 preprint by astronomers Amir Siraj and Abraham Loeb, and this was published in 2022. This was confirmed by the U.S. Space Command in 2022 based on the object's velocity relative to the Sun. Other astronomers doubt this, and still other experts found Earth-related explanations for the purported meteorite impact instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outline of extraterrestrial life</span> Overview of and topical guide to extraterrestrial life

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<i>Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars</i> 2023 popular science book by Avi Loeb

Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars is a popular science book written by American theoretical physicist and Harvard University astronomer Avi Loeb that was published by Mariner Books on 29 August 2023.

Amir Siraj is an American astrophysicist, pianist, and science and music communicator.

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