The Galileo Project: Avi Loeb’s continued search for scientific proof of the existence of extraterrestrial technological civilizations ( ETC’s)

I recently received my first personalized invitation to a press conference that wasn’t a general mail out or a case of the wrong email address and as such, was quite exciting. Not only was it addressed to me ( I must confess that I am not completely sure of how I got on the list but no complaints and I registered immediately ) but it was on a topic that I am deeply passionate about and the work of a man whose work I have been following with great interest.

Avi Loeb has a bold vision , a startling hypothesis and as he announced in his July 26th press conference- the very one that I attended ( virtually) – the funding to pursue it. If you have been reading this blog–you know who Dr. Loeb is as I have written about him before. ( See March 21st/2020 post: Reflecting on Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb’s belief that we are not alone and how that will change us ) If you don’t know who he is–he is a professional astronomer, astrophysicist and former chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University, He came to media prominence in 2017 when he hypothesized that the first interstellar object seen in our local solar system , an unusual comet named Oummuamua, may be a craft of extraterrestrial origin propelled by a type of light sail technology ( similar to that being employed by the Planetary Society’s current light sail project). Despite Loeb’s scientific argument to support his views, his ideas became controversial in the scientific community and put his stellar reputation for adherence to scientific principle and scholarly work at risk. But with his July 26th announcement of the privately funded Galileo project , he will be using new technology to work within the rigorous methods of science to study a subject that requires looking at science in a new way and a willingness to expand our world view and challenge our long held belief that we are alone in the Universe. The main mission of the project will be to “systematically search for cross validated evidence of astro-archeological artifacts of active technical equipment made by putative existing or extinct ET civilizations,” Which is a bit of a mouthful that is basically saying that Loeb and his team will be using what we would consider hard core science to prove the existence of intelligent life elsewhere ( as opposed to just “life elsewhere” which could be bacteria or some other form of microbial life ) This team will be looking for technologically advanced life ! No anecdotes , second hand information or urban legend which, as we all know can be and usually is, easily dismissed.

The project appears to be at least partially motivated by the Pentagon’s recent release of reports and radar data of UAP ( Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) sighted by US navy personnel over the past 6 years. I confess to being quite pleased to see this acronym replacing the term UFO which is a trigger term that has become synonymous with “little green men” in our popular culture and thus marginalizes and dismisses what should otherwise be a s serious scientific examination of what may be one of the most important discoveries in human history. Hopefully the term “alien” will follow suit and disappear from the lexicon as well. This has long been a pet peeve of mine and as someone who writes for a living and knows the power of words, I hope that Loeb will avoid both of these terms in his future communications as the project progresses and keep with UAP and ETC—(even though the terms mean basically the same thing) —these new terms are less stigmatized and therefore will come across as more professional.

Getting back to the July 26th press conference, I was, needless to say, quite excited to have been included in what I assume was a large gathering of luminaries in this field . The limitations of a virtual conference , at least in this case, prohibited me from seeing who else was there or even a list of names, except during the Q and A period where the names of journalists who were asking questions appeared in the chat line. I was somewhat disappointed that my submitted question was not answered in the time allotted and as well as a bit uncharitably annoyed that one of the writers from a large and well known Astronomy magazine had 2 questions answered. Oh well —it’s understandable –such is the lot of a small town journalist.:( But the Universe does indeed work in strange ways and that turned out to be a mixed blessing. When I submitted my question to the email provided at the end of the conference, I received a personal response from none other than Dr. Loeb himself. And he sent me 3 of this short papers which were related to my questions. I’m still going through “When Will We Get a Response?” and reflecting on his particular vision and where it could take him—and us 🙂 I will report back when I can. A tsunami of life events have kept me sidelined from this blog more than I would like to be but it is time to get that fire re-ignited. :{)

I would love to know your thoughts on this very big topic,

M.A.N.