American astrophysicist Avi Loeb’s thesis regarding the interstellar comet “ʻOumuamua” has received official support from the head of the Pentagon Research Office for Unidentified Air Phenomena, Sean Kirkpatrick. In a draft paper co-written by Loeb, published on March 7th, Kirkpatrick suggests that ʻOumuamua may have been an artificial interstellar object used as a “mother ship” to release smaller probes during a close flyby of Earth.
The paper, which takes an unusually clear position on UFO sightings, suggests that the ejected “dandelions” could be separated from the mother ship either by the sun’s tidal gravity or through maneuverability. The researchers explain their probe speculation based on coincidences, but point out that the astronomers were not able to notice the spray from the mini-flying objects as they do not reflect enough sunlight to be seen by local telescopes.
The draft goes on to suggest that the technological ‘dandelion seeds’ could be equipped with a high surface area-to-mass ratio of a parachute and that they would be able to slow down in Earth’s atmosphere to avoid burning up. They could then track their targets wherever they landed. Kirkpatrick suggests that the probes may use starlight to charge their batteries and liquid water as fuel. This would explain why they target the habitable region around stars, where liquid water might exist on the surface of rocky planets with an atmosphere like Earth.
According to Loeb, who is currently searching for extraterrestrial life with the Galileo project, he has not received any money from the Pentagon or access to confidential information. The professors use correspondence between some orbital parameters of ‘Oumuamua’ and a meter-sized interstellar meteor (IM2) as the reason for their explanations. The tilt of IM2’s orbital plane around the Sun was completely different than that of ‘Oumuamua’, meaning the two objects are unrelated.
The draft suggests that one aim of such missions might be that the “seeds” pass on the blueprints of their senders. As with organic seeds, the raw materials on the planet’s surface could also be used by them as nutrients for self-replication or simply for scientific exploration.
A small number of sighted objects have allegedly shown acceleration or other capabilities that could not be easily explained in the context of known technologies. Loeb and Kirkpatrick argue that calculations leading to objects exceeding the transsonic and supersonic range should be checked against known physical phenomena such as ionization. Temperature, sound, radar reflection, and other phenomena should also be taken into account.
Alejandro Rojas of the Science Coalition for UFO Studies has warned that the Pentagon appears to support some ideas previously considered unfounded. The controversial paper has been published in several scientific gazettes, “Military Times”, and the “Politico” online portal.
