Strange science 😦

[Thumpalumpacus]

Alien Probes Could Already Lurk in Our Solar System, Study Says

According to new research by Professor Alex Ellery of Carleton University, self-replicating probes may have already visited the Solar System, and some could be operating here right now.

As he recommends in a recent paper, future SETI surveys should be on the lookout for the telltale technosignatures these probes would produce.

Ellery concludes that the activities of interstellar self-replicating probes would follow a basic pattern that can be broken down into the six likely steps.

First, they would target the ubiquitous asteroids and moons in a specific system for their readily accessible raw materials, which are required for universal construction.

Second, from these materials, they would build surveying probes to survey the extrasolar system for resources and life-bearing environments comprehensively.

Third, they would select and secure resource-rich locations to establish bases for self-replication operations. Fourth, they would begin replicating more copies of themselves, including surveyor probes and sentinels.

The fifth step would consist of the long-term and detailed exploration of the extrasolar system using these same probes.

The sixth and final step would see the probes execute specific task instructions, which could include building O'Neill Cylinders for future settlers while (hopefully) not encroaching on potentially life-bearing planets.

Another possible task, and a highly controversial one, would be the seeding of planets with simple or more complex organisms (aka. Directed Panspermia). Based on this breakdown of activities, self-replicating probes would produce technosignatures that future surveys could look for.

Ultimately, Ellery concluded that asteroidal processing would be difficult to distinguish from natural processes and that the Moon would be an ideal base for self-replicating probes to center their manufacturing operations.

Moreover, he suggests that nuclear reactors would likely power these operations, as they are a highly fuel-efficient power source that provides virtually unlimited energy density. This could include Magnox models, a type of gas-cooled reactor that utilizes natural uranium, graphite, and carbon dioxide gas as the heat exchange coolant.

These, he concluded, could be constructed using lunar resources, and that the reactors would have left isotopic ratio signatures of Thorium-232, Neodinium-144, and/or Barium-137.

All of this makes the Moon the ideal place to begin searching for possible indications of associated technosignatures.

https://www.sciencealert.com/alien-probe...study-says

That's awfully anthropocentric.