ESA Antenna Could Intercept Alien Messages From Black Holes, Scientists Say
by Niño Cabatingan May 10. 2019 (ibtimes.com)
• When launched, the next-generation ‘Laser Interferometer Space Antenna’ (LISA – pictured above) developed by the European Space Agency will be the first-ever space-based gravitational wave detector. It will consist of space probes arranged in a triangular formation with distance of about 2.5 million kilometers from each other.
• Professor Marek Abramowicz, the lead researcher from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, believes that LISA may also be able to detect extraterrestrial communication. If the space antenna array were placed around a black hole, it could possibly decipher encrypted messages from an advanced alien civilization. Abramowicz said that that there is a chance of finding such an alien civilization if we know where to look. Technologically advanced civilizations may use the black hole’s innermost stable orbit to send messages to the rest of the galaxy.
• Abramowicz and his colleagues suggest that in the Milky Way, the central black hole called Sagittarius A* would be the ideal spot for a technologically advanced alien civilization to broadcast communications for the rest of the galaxy. “In order to be recognized as (a message), a gravitational wave Messenger beacon must emit a clearly unnatural signal, such as a persistent emission of gravitational waves at a constant frequency,” added Abramowicz.
• “We argue that if a sophisticated extraterrestrial civilization would decide to construct a device to study the massive black hole in the galactic center, or to extract energy from it, or even for intentions unfathomable to the human mind, this device can also serve as a Messenger,” Abramowicz explained.
• The ESA’s LISA is scheduled to launch into space to study gravitational waves by the year 2034.
A sophisticated space-based antenna developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) is designed to measure gravitational waves, but it could possibly also decipher encrypted messages from an advanced alien civilization, a new paper suggests.
A team of physicists suggested that the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) would be able to detect messages from an advanced alien civilization if it is placed around a black hole where the hypothetical extraterrestrials could look to.
LISA is the next-generation space instrument that is designed by ESA to detect and measure gravitational waves from space. If successfully launched, it will be the first-ever space-based gravitational wave detector. It will consist of space probes arranged in a triangular formation with distance of about 2.5 million kilometers from each other.
Professor Marek Abramowicz, the lead researcher from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, believes that LISA is the answer to uncovering alien life in the Milky Way galaxy.
“Gravitational waves phenomena are omnipresent in the universe and with sufficient technological prowess relatively straightforward to detect,” the researchers said, adding they believe LISA plays a role in detecting extraterrestrial communication.
With the number of habitable planets in our galaxy and the estimation of the existence of advanced alien life using the Drake Equation, Abramowicz said that that there is a chance of finding one if we know where to look.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.