Searching for alien artifacts on the moon |
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| Institution: | 1. South African Astronomical Observatory, 1 Observatory Road, Cape Town 7925, South Africa;2. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave. Cambridge, MA 02139, USA;3. Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA;4. Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, Cape Town 7701, South Africa;5. Deutsches SOFIA Institut, Universität Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 29, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany;6. SOFIA Science Center, NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop N211-1, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA;7. Las Cumbres Observatory, 6740 Cortona Drive Ste. 102, Goleta, CA 93117, USA;1. State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;3. Institute of Geochemistry Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China;4. CAS Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Hefei 230026, China;5. School of Information and Electronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China |
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| Abstract: | The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has a low probability of success, but it would have a high impact if successful. Therefore it makes sense to widen the search as much as possible within the confines of the modest budget and limited resources currently available. To date, SETI has been dominated by the paradigm of seeking deliberately beamed radio messages.However, indirect evidence for extraterrestrial intelligence could come from any incontrovertible signatures of non-human technology. Existing searchable databases from astronomy, biology, earth and planetary sciences all offer low-cost opportunities to seek a footprint of extraterrestrial technology. In this paper we take as a case study one particular new and rapidly-expanding database: the photographic mapping of the Moon's surface by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to 0.5 m resolution. Although there is only a tiny probability that alien technology would have left traces on the moon in the form of an artifact or surface modification of lunar features, this location has the virtue of being close, and of preserving traces for an immense duration.Systematic scrutiny of the LRO photographic images is being routinely conducted anyway for planetary science purposes, and this program could readily be expanded and outsourced at little extra cost to accommodate SETI goals, after the fashion of the SETI@home and Galaxy Zoo projects. |
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