Expert claims 'alien mothership' 3I/ATLAS could drop 'technological device' in our solar system
A mystery object hurtling through space could be an alien mothership designed to drop technological devices on Jupiter, a top boffin has warned. Theoretical physicist Avi Loeb says interstellar visitor 3I/ ATLAS is expected to reach its closest distance from the planet on March 16 next year. And he claims the level of non-gravitational acceleration was finely tuned to bring the mysterious space entity exactly to the radius of Jupiter’s gravitational influence, based on its currently trajectory. It comes after he highlighted 12 anomalies that support his theory.
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Avi Loeb says interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS could be an alien mothership designed to drop devices on Jupiter
A mystery object hurtling through space could be an alien mothership designed to drop technological devices on Jupiter, a top boffin has warned. Theoretical physicist Avi Loeb says interstellar visitor 3I/ ATLAS is expected to reach its closest distance from the planet on March 16 next year. And he claims the level of non-gravitational acceleration was finely tuned to bring the mysterious space entity exactly to the radius of Jupiter’s gravitational influence, based on its currently trajectory. He wrote in a blog post: "If 3I/ATLAS is technological in origin, it might have fine-tuned its trajectory with the help of thrusters so as to arrive at Jupiter’s Hill radius.
The Hill Radius theory and what it would take to drop devices near Jupiter
Harvard professor Loeb said for 3I/ATLAS to drop Jupiter with the devices, it must arrive within the planet's radius of gravitational influence – known as its Hill radius – when its gravity overcomes the gravitational tide from the Sun. During this period, Jupiter’s gravity wins over the Sun’s gravity and can keep low-speed orbiters bound without the Sun ripping them away. He added: "If 3I/ATLAS were to deposit devices within the Hill sphere of Jupiter on March 16, 2026, these devices would need to fire their engines in order to cancel out the high speed of 3I/ATLAS relative to Jupiter, which is 65.9 kilometers per second." The make-up of the space rock – blasting through the Solar System at about 209,213 kilometers per hour – has been baffling boffins for months. Many, including top dogs at Nasa, believe is a comet, but Loeb has long-maintained it could be something else.
What it would mean for Earth and our cosmic ego
"If we find technological satellites of Jupiter that we did not send, it would imply that Jupiter is of interest to an extraterrestrial civilization. Not finding similar gadgets near Earth might be disappointing because it would suggest that our interstellar guest is not interested in us. Not only that we are not at the centre of the Solar system, but we are also not at the centre of attention of our cosmic neighbourhood. This will deliver a blow to our ego, akin to attending a party where nobody is interested in dancing with us. Perhaps this is because the human species arrived late to the party — only a few million years ago, whereas Jupiter — the biggest planet in the Solar system, was visible to the senders of 3I/ATLAS when the mission was launched billions of years ago. After all, most stars formed billions of years before the Sun and it would take 3I/ATLAS a billion years to cross the Milky-Way disk. Here’s hoping that when our own interstellar spacecraft reach their target planetary systems, the press conference held by space officials there will not refer to our technological products as 'definitely comets', based on the ices and dust that accumulated on their surface during their journey through the cold interstellar medium. For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here .
