Article by Mindy Weisberger July 27, 2021 (livescience.com)
• The Galileo Project, a multi-institutional team of scientists led by Harvard astronomy professor Avi Loeb, will analyze data from astronomical surveys and telescope observations and design new algorithms using artificial intelligence (AI) in order to identify potential interstellar travelers, alien-built satellites and unidentified aerial phenomena that could represent defunct or still-active ‘extraterrestrial technological civilizations’ (ETCs).
• “Science should not reject potential extraterrestrial explanations because of social stigma or cultural preferences that are not conducive to the scientific method of unbiased, empirical inquiry,” Loeb said. “We now must ‘dare to look through new telescopes,’ both literally and figuratively.”
• Loeb, who is also director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has previously suggested that the oddball cosmic object ‘Oumuamua — which passed by Earth in 2017 — was an example of alien tech. ‘Oumuamua’s flattened, cigar-like shape and erratic motion stymied many astrophysicists. Loeb was one of several scientists who proposed that the object could be a type of spacefaring equipment made by extraterrestrials.
• ‘Oumuamua was our solar system’s first interstellar visitor (that we know of, at least). One of the Galileo Project’s research branches will focus on developing strategies for finding and tracking such objects from space and from ground-based telescopes. Other project research areas will include searching for small ETC satellites that may be observing Earth, and analysis of UAP sightings.
• The Galileo Project should not to be confused with Rice University’s Galileo Project – an online resource for information on Galileo Galilei’s life and work. Whether or not the Galileo Project will definitively settle the question about intelligent extraterrestrials’ existence and their purported technological prowess remains to be seen. But actively searching for such physical evidence greatly improves the chances of finding the first examples of alien tech.
• As the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei wrote in 1632: “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered — the point is to discover them.”
Are there intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations capable of building technologies that
can travel between the stars? An international research project is poised to find out.
The Galileo Project, helmed by a multi-institutional team of scientists led by Avi Loeb, a professor of science in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University, will seek and investigate evidence that could represent defunct or still-active “extraterrestrial technological civilizations,” or ETCs, project representatives said in a statement released on Monday (July 26).
The project will analyze data from astronomical surveys and telescope observations, and design new algorithms using artificial intelligence (AI), in order to identify potential interstellar travelers, alien-built satellites and unidentified aerial
phenomena (UAP), according to the statement.
“Science should not reject potential extraterrestrial explanations because of social stigma or cultural preferences that are not conducive to the scientific method of unbiased, empirical inquiry,” Loeb said in the statement. “We now must ‘dare to look through new telescopes,’ both literally and figuratively.”
Loeb, who is also director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has previously suggested that the oddball cosmic object ‘Oumuamua — which passed by Earth in 2017 and was widely identified as a comet or asteroid — was an example of alien tech. ‘Oumuamua was visible only briefly before it continued on its journey to distant stars, and its flattened, cigarlike shape and erratic motion stymied many astrophysicists; Loeb was one of several scientists who proposed that the object could be a type of spacefaring equipment made by extraterrestrials, Live Science previously reported.
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