Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do.
Have we already been visited by aliens?
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Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#12In the linked chat with Lex Fridman, Loeb also mentioned how such objects are likely to be zipping by essentially all the time.
It'd be great if by the time we spot the next one (of whatever nature) we had a probe/robot/something able to catch up with it (or better, catch it!)
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#13I'm willing to disagree with most things I read here. Entertaining, but way too many assumptions. He* started with Oumaumua, which I am willing to entertain, and then went way off in other "thought leadership" directions that should all be their own articles. *Avi Loeb, he. Not Elizabeth Kolbert the author.
*She
*They
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#14Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do. What about jellyfish that move about the oceans pushed by wind?
(Specifically: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velella)
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#15I'm willing to disagree with most things I read here. Entertaining, but way too many assumptions. He* started with Oumaumua, which I am willing to entertain, and then went way off in other "thought leadership" directions that should all be their own articles. *Avi Loeb, he. Not Elizabeth Kolbert the author.
She'
Avi Loeb wrote the book and who I am talking about. There isn't ambiguity about whether I was talking about the article writer or the person the article was talking about. Read the article again, there is a particular person talking about Oumaumua and then assumptions about alien natural selection.
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#16I watched Ancient Aliens so clearly the answer is Yes
/s
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#17I just started to watch the 1993 series Star Trek new generation. The show has some interesting ideas regarding advanced civilizations vs the primitive ones. One of which is called the prime directive prohibiting any star fleet from intervening with the evolution of primitive people.
In one of the episodes “who watches the watcher” the USS enterprise travels to planet Minkita 2 for a rescue mission and encounters a primitive species of humanoid. By accident, they exposed themselves and their technologies to the people there. Now, those people consider star fleet personnel as god. Without spoiling much, Jean Luc idea to refuse them this thought is interesting and worth thinking when it comes to our scenario here, don’t you think?
(I have to say that I am now big fan of the Star Trek series with Sir Patrick. How could I miss it all those years?)
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#18Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do. What about jellyfish that move about the oceans pushed by wind?
s/natural world/inorganic matter/
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#19Such an object would function as a sail—one powered by light, rather than by wind. The natural world doesn’t produce sails; people do. What about jellyfish that move about the oceans pushed by wind?
Yeah, I can think of a lot of examples of sails in the natural world. Dandelion seeds, winged tree seeds, etc.
Re: Have we already been visited by aliens?
#20In the linked chat with Lex Fridman, Loeb also mentioned how such objects are likely to be zipping by essentially all the time. It'd be great if by the time we spot the next one (of whatever nature) we had a probe/robot/something able to catch up with it (or better, catch it!)
If you can figure out how to generate that much delta V you've solved solar system level space travel.