Research programmes arising from ‘Oumuamua considered as an alien craft

IF 1.7 4区 物理与天体物理 Q3 ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
M. Elvis
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Abstract

The controversial hypothesis that ‘Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1) was an alien craft dominated by a solar sail is considered using known physics for the two possible cases: controlled and uncontrolled flight. The reliability engineering challenges for an artefact designed to operate for ~105–106 year are also considerable. All three areas generate research programmes going forward. The uncontrolled case could be either ‘anonymous METI’ (messaging extraterrestrial intelligence) or ‘inadvertent METI’. In the controlled case the nature of the origin star, trajectory guidance from the origin star to the Sun, and the identity of a destination star are all undecided. The ‘controlled’ case has more strikes against it than the ‘uncontrolled’ case, but neither suffers a knock-out blow, as yet. Some of the issues turn out not to be major obstacles to the alien craft hypothesis, but others weaken the case for it. Most, however, imply new studies. Some of these, e.g. intercept missions for new interstellar objects, are concepts being developed, and will be of value whatever these objects turn out to be. Overall, these considerations show that a many-pronged, targeted, research programme can be built around the hypothesis that ‘Oumuamua is an alien craft. The considerations presented here can also be applied to other interstellar visitors, as well as to general discussions of interstellar travel.
Oumuamua被认为是一艘外星飞船的研究计划
有争议的假设认为,Oumuamua (1I/2017 U1)是一艘由太阳帆主导的外星飞船,该假设使用已知的物理学来考虑两种可能的情况:受控和不受控制的飞行。对于设计寿命为105-106年的人工设备,可靠性工程方面的挑战也是相当大的。这三个领域都产生了未来的研究项目。不受控制的情况可能是“匿名METI”(发送外星智慧信息),也可能是“无意的METI”。在受控情况下,起源恒星的性质、从起源恒星到太阳的轨迹制导以及目的地恒星的身份都未确定。“受控制”的情况比“不受控制”的情况受到更多的打击,但到目前为止,两者都没有遭受致命打击。其中一些问题并不是外星人飞船假说的主要障碍,但另一些问题却削弱了它的说服力。然而,大多数都意味着新的研究。其中一些,例如拦截新星际物体的任务,是正在开发的概念,无论这些物体是什么,都将是有价值的。总的来说,这些考虑表明,围绕“奥陌陌”是一艘外星飞船的假设,可以建立一个多管齐下、有针对性的研究计划。这里提出的考虑也可以适用于其他星际访客,以及星际旅行的一般讨论。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
International Journal of Astrobiology
International Journal of Astrobiology 地学天文-地球科学综合
CiteScore
3.70
自引率
11.80%
发文量
45
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: International Journal of Astrobiology is the peer-reviewed forum for practitioners in this exciting interdisciplinary field. Coverage includes cosmic prebiotic chemistry, planetary evolution, the search for planetary systems and habitable zones, extremophile biology and experimental simulation of extraterrestrial environments, Mars as an abode of life, life detection in our solar system and beyond, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, the history of the science of astrobiology, as well as societal and educational aspects of astrobiology. Occasionally an issue of the journal is devoted to the keynote plenary research papers from an international meeting. A notable feature of the journal is the global distribution of its authors.
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