In recent years, American scientists have proposed the “Galileo Project,” aimed at searching for remnants of extraterrestrial civilizations within our solar system and beyond. This includes investigating mysterious celestial bodies such as “Oumuamua“—which scientists once considered remnants of alien civilizations. Potential alien probes or massive structures in distant space are also of interest. Currently, scientists hope to utilize the latest technologies to search for signs of extraterrestrial life, fundamentally changing our understanding of the universe.
Below are four potential technologies that could lead us to discover life beyond Earth:
1. Superstructures
Spherical shell surrounding the host star – “Dyson Sphere”.
Just as Earth’s energy needs are increasing, so too are the energy demands of an advanced extraterrestrial civilization. In 1960, British-American physicist Freeman Dyson proposed that advanced civilizations would harness the entire energy output of their host stars. When the energy demand becomes too high for the host star to meet, such civilizations could dismantle the asteroid belt and reconstruct it into a spherical shell surrounding their star—a “Dyson Sphere.” This would not only provide a massive amount of energy but also offer a vast surface area for the internal components of the structure to thrive.
Such structures could be detected because, according to thermodynamic laws, they would heat up by absorbing light and then emit heat as radiation or infrared light.
2. Industrial Chemicals
With the rapid advancement of science and technology, humanity has released large amounts of polluting chemicals into Earth’s atmosphere. Similarly, extraterrestrial civilizations would also develop and produce these chemicals.
According to astrophysicist Avi Loeb, certain industrial chemicals need to be detected in alien atmospheres, such as tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and trichlorofluoromethane (CCl3F)—both of which are refrigerants and among the most detectable chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
Avi Loeb stated, “If the atmosphere of a planet has tetrafluoromethane and trichlorofluoromethane levels ten times higher than those found in Earth’s atmosphere, the James Webb Space Telescope would be able to observe these significant chemical indicators in 1.2 and 1.7 days, respectively.”
3. Solar Sails
If extraterrestrials attempt to travel through interstellar space, they will face similar challenges to humans—requiring vast amounts of fuel.
The idea to address this issue was proposed by Robert Forward from Hughes Research Laboratories in California, who suggested a laser-powered light sail in 1984. In this concept, spacecraft would be equipped with a massive, ultra-thin sail made of reflective material, propelled by a solar-powered laser. His calculations indicated that a one-ton probe could be attached to a 3,600-meter-wide light sail, accelerating to 11% of the speed of light using a 65GW laser.
The solar sail is a spacecraft propulsion method that utilizes radiation pressure from sunlight acting on large mirror-like panels. Several space missions to test solar-powered propulsion and navigation have been proposed since the 1980s.
Recently, the Breakthrough Starshot project has reintroduced the concept of solar sails. Currently, its design theory is still in the early stages, but the ultimate goal is to use a 100GW laser array to execute a small payload flight through interstellar space at 20% of the speed of light.
If extraterrestrials plan to traverse space and travel between stars using solar sails similar to Earth’s controlled propulsion, we might be able to detect them through the flickering light signals from their laser switches on the sails.
4. Wormhole Transmission Systems
Wormholes are shortcuts through time and space.
An advanced intelligent civilization could manipulate time and space, creating “wormholes.” According to Einstein’s gravitational theory, wormholes are shortcuts through time and space. Creating such shortcuts becomes feasible once a certain technological level is achieved, allowing travel across galaxies in the blink of an eye.
Wormholes are inherently unstable. They require “exotic matter” to stabilize the openings. The energy required is equivalent to that released by numerous stars within the Milky Way.
If extraterrestrials were to create a network of wormholes, it could be detected using the gravitational microlensing method, where the gravity of an object magnifies the light from a distant star as it passes between Earth and the star. Professor Fumio Abe at Nagoya University, Japan, noted that if a wormhole exists, the brightness and darkness of stars would vary significantly. If the radius of a wormhole is between 100-100 million km and it connects to the Milky Way, appearing as common as normal stars, then by reanalyzing historical data, we could gain deeper insights into the mysteries of wormholes.
