The Daily Beast reports that Avi Loeb, a Harvard physicist, is closer to completing an expedition with the potential of uncovering insights into alien life.
Loeb’s group is preparing for a trip to Papua New Guinea in search of a meteorite that landed on the coast of the Pacific island country in 2014. According to the Daily Beast, he described the mission as justifiable but not without risk.
According to Medium’s Jan. 27 posting, he and his team are targeting the meteorite as it is most likely “from interstellar spaces.” For the expedition, he said that a boat and a dream team were available along with approval from the Papua New Guinea government.
CNEOS1 2014-01-01-08 would find fragments from meteorite. These fragments are extremely tiny at a scale of just millimeters. Loeb said to the Daily Beast that such fragments could be “technological” or artificially manufactured.
Loeb explained to the outlet that if the fragments are “technological”, they could indicate the existence of alien life in the universe. They could also be made of a special type of metal. Loeb said that regardless, “we will still learn something.”
Loeb and his crew will be scouring the seafloor over a two-week period with a variety of specialized sifters. Some of them have magnetic assistance and are designed to search through the sand for meteorite fragments.
Ravi Kopparapu, a NASA astronomer, said that even though the fragments were not evidence of alien life, it “could give me more confidence on the origin of the interstellar meteor and could point out whether this meteorisitis unique or a new type of meteorites.”
Eight years in the making, the expedition will sail this summer. Loeb admitted that there is a possibility the project might fail, but said to the outlet that “extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.”
