Should SETI Scour Moon’s Surface for Alien Footprints?

Evidence of extraterrestrial life could be sitting on the Moon at this very moment

Source: Dateline Zero

With plans to send a human expedition to Mars becoming a tangible reality, there’s been an increased effort to study Earth’s Moon. After all, a lunar base will play a role in manned missions to Mars.

Recent lunar missions have included the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that’s been returning dazzling, high-resolution imagery of the moon’s surface — including some sharp images of the Apollo landing sites.

More recently, NASA has sent two spacecraft to orbit the Moon with the intention of collecting data on the Moon’s gravity field. Of particular interest in the Moon’s gravity anomalies.

SEE RELATED: “NASA to study moon’s gravity field”

While we are studying the Moon with the aim of building a lunar base to aid in future space exploration, we oughtta’ be on the look out for signs of alien life. This is the recommendation of Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University.

In a paper published in the latest issue of Acta Astronautica, the two researchers present a pretty compelling argument for going alien-relic hunting on the Moon. They further suggest crowd-sourcing as a cost-effective way to scour the Moon for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The paper is convincing enough that it seems to have been well received — at least in the news media. The paper is measured, makes no assumptions, and is driven by genuine scientific and historical interest. Best of all, the proposed lunar relic-hunting is doable.

After all, NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is currently beaming back plenty of high-resolution images. The means to do this is readily available.

“Although the probability for success is low, building a crowd-sourcing effort like the hugely popular SETI@home and Galaxy Zoo projects could be a very efficient and low-cost means to analyze the lunar surface,” writes Ian O’Neill at Discovery News.

“Simply distribute images being beamed back from lunar satellites to participating members of the public — using PC idle time (like SETI@Home) or asking for voluntary participation (like Galaxy Zoo) — and see if any strange shapes in the lunar regolith need some follow-up investigation.”

Due to the moon’s pristine environment, any modification of lunar surface features will remain preserved for eons — the lack of an atmosphere means features are not eroded away. Unless, that is, aliens covered their tracks before they vacated their camp.

From Paul Davies and Robert Wagner’s paper:

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 [the researchers mention probes sent to our galaxy by alien civilizations as an example]. Existing searchable databases from astronomy, biology, earth and planetary sciences all offer low-cost opportunities to seek a footprint of extraterrestrial technology… [databases like] 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.

Original post at Dateline Zero

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