A project called Galileo envisages the creation of an international worldwide network of medium-sized telescopes, cameras and computers. Together, they would examine unidentified flying objects known by the acronym UFO. The project has already received the first funding, and private donors supported it with $ 1.75 million, or about 37 million crowns.
“Recent research has shown that Earth-like planets predominate throughout our galaxy (not gas giants but solids),” we can no longer ignore the possibility that technological civilizations existed before us, “Professor Avi Loeb told reporters at a news conference. .
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“The impact of the possible discovery of extraterrestrial technology on science, our technology and our entire worldview would be enormous,” the scientist added in a statement. In addition to the project, other scientists from Harvard, Princeton, Cambridge, the California Institute of Technology and Stockholm University are also participating in the project.
The Galileo initiative was launched just one month after the Pentagon published a report on UFO sightings, stating that it was not clear what their origin was. “What we see in our sky should not be interpreted by politicians or soldiers because they have not been trained as scientists – this is what the scientific community has to figure out,” Loeb said, adding that he hopes to increase funding for the project at least tenfold.
A controversial project led by a controversial scientist
The project is already controversial – funding the search for “flying saucers” has long been associated with lunatics, pseudo-scientists and fraudsters. In this case, the personality of the founder of the initiative is also controversial. Professor Avi Loeb is a respected scientist, but in recent years he has issued a number of problematic statements – especially in connection with the Oumuamua space object, which flew through the Solar System in 2017.
Loeb argued that this body could be an alien probe sent to Zelmi by an advanced alien civilization; it was to be driven by the solar wind. However, this hypothesis was very poorly substantiated and was therefore very easily refuted. In addition, it damaged Loeb’s reputation a lot.
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A project with great ambitions
The Galileo project has chosen to monitor unidentified flying objects as its main goal, but it also has several secondary goals – how much it will be possible to meet depends mainly on how much money it will raise.
These include, for example, the study of objects entering the solar system from the outside, such as the Oumuamua object. Loeb describes such research as a completely new branch of astronomy; he calls it “space archeology.” According to him, it should complement the already existing field of SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), which focuses mainly on the search for extraterrestrial radio signals.
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