Theory connects radio bursts, alien intelligence

     Here it is: Mysterious phenomena called fast radio bursts could be evidence of advanced alien technology. “Specifically, these bursts might be leakage from planet-sized transmitters powering interstellar probes in distant galaxies,” explains a March 9 news release on the center’s website. Light-sails could be powered by a radio beam generated on the surface of a planet.
     Here’s the rundown:

What are fast radio bursts? They are “millisecond-long flashes of radio emission," according to the news release. "First discovered in 2007, fewer than two dozen have been detected by gigantic radio telescopes like the Parkes Observatory in Australia or the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico,”  the release states. “They are inferred to originate from distant galaxies, billions of light-years away.”

Why do scientists think that they might be evidence of alien life? “Our analysis shows that beams used for powering large light sails could yield parameters that are consistent with FRBs (fast radio bursts),” write Manasvi Lingam of Harvard University and Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Their research has been accepted by the Astrophysical Journal Letters. In the news release, Loeb explains, "Fast radio bursts are exceedingly bright given their short duration and origin at great distances, and we haven't identified a possible natural source with any confidence."

How did they approach their research? They examined “the feasibility of creating a radio transmitter strong enough for it to be detectable across such immense distances,” the news release explains. “If the transmitter were solar powered, the sunlight falling on an area of a planet twice the size of the Earth would be enough to generate the needed energy. Such a vast construction project is well beyond our technology, but within the realm of possibility according to the laws of physics.”

But really, could there be passengers? Sounds like it. “The amount of power involved would be sufficient to push a payload of a million tons,” the news release says, “or about 20 times the largest cruise ships on Earth.”

OK, so how far can such a spacecraft go? In their research, they speculate that it would be “more likely to operate over interplanetary distances. Hence, there may be a large number of interplanetary spacecrafts operating at extra-galactic distances that are too faint to be detected. In contrast, such spacecrafts (and beams) within our galaxy are potentially detectable.”

    Related:

    High-powered telescope to search for life 

    Study: Life elsewhere could be extinct 

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