Tag Archives: oumuamua

Did an alien spaceship land in the ocean, and can we find it?

Yes and yes, according to at least one serious astronomer, Avi Loeb, who was also a strong proponent of Oumuamua being an alien spaceship. Although the fierce debate over that one might be hard to resolve with hard evidence, Loeb is now looking for a specific object that crashed into the ocean in 2014.

Loeb co-authored another paper, this time with a student, Amir Siraj, suggesting that the meteorite was yet another interstellar object, based on its speed and orbital trajectory. Later, the Department of Defense issued a statement in support of Loeb and Siraj’s hypothesis. The statement reads, in part, “Dr. Joel Mozer, the Chief Scientists of Space Operations Command, the United States Space Force service component of the U.S. Space Command, reviewed analysis of additional data available to the Department of Defense related to this finding. Dr. Mozer confirmed that the velocity estimate reported to NASA is sufficiently accurate to indicate an interstellar trajectory.”

Having locked down an interstellar origin, Loeb set about recovering any remains of the object, now dubbed Interstellar Meteor 1 (IM1). He’s interested in IM1 not only because it’s a piece of material from beyond our solar system, but because he thinks there’s a good chance — or he’s at least operating on the assumption — that it’s a piece of technology made by aliens.

Syfy.com

It’s interesting to think that we might find evidence of aliens in outer space, and yet argue over it or never fully believe it. On the other hand, if someone found incontrovertible evidence in the ocean and made it public before a government or private entity could stop them, that could be the most interesting thing that ever happened.

Artist’s impression of ʻOumuamua (Weryk 2017)

Austin Powers – Rocket Scene