Fragments of crashed meteor could be extraterrestrial in origin: expert

Material recovered from the seafloor could be from an extraterrestrial spacecraft, showing a tube with traces of the material found, Harvard astrophysicist Abraham "Avi" Loeb has said in an interview.

Professor Loeb, the Baird Professor of Science and Institute director at Harvard University, has recently concluded a $1.5 million expedition aimed at detecting indications of an enigmatic meteor named IM1.

This meteor, which is thought to have originated from deep space, crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014.

To determine its origins, Loeb and his team went to the Pacific Ocean, and collected molten droplets from the surface of the object that were formed when it was exposed to the extreme heat produced when entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The team found spherical marbles, a millimetre each in size, embedded in volcanic ash, which Loeb and his team bottled and brought back for examination.

The team is now checking whether "their composition in terms of elements and radioactive isotopes makes the material that they were made of very different from solar system materials, in terms of its element abundances, in terms of its age," to determine if the materials are signs of alien technology.

To determine this, the team is using mass spectrometers, electron microscopes, and X-ray fluorescence analysis.

If the origin of the meteorite was indeed interstellar in origin, meaning that it was not made of the materials in our solar system, Loeb's team can conclude that the material "could have been enriched by a different exploding star, a different supernova".

"Moreover, it could have been technological in origin. But even just a natural origin would be historic because this is the first time we found a physical origin bigger than half a meter that came from far away," he said.

'We're not alone'

Should the team determine that the material's origin is technological that would mean that we are not alone in the universe, just like "going out to our backyard and finding a tennis ball that was thrown by a neighbour," Loeb says.

The findings could also inspire humanity because they could realign humanity's notions of our place in the universe, and offer a glimpse into our technological future, Loeb said.

Our neighbours could be more advanced than our one-century-old technology, and they could have had millions or billions of years to develop their own, offering an opportunity to learn from them, Loeb hopes.

Loeb's findings coincide with remarks from a former Air Force intelligence official in late July, who said he "absolutely" believes the US government has UAPs, or unexplained anomalous phenomena.

The remarks by David Grusch came during a hearing on the implications of UFOs on national security held by the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability's Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs.

Grusch said he "absolutely,” believes it, “based on interviewing over 40 witnesses over four years," when asked by Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee.