Researchers: Fast Radio Bursts Could Power Alien Spaceships — Voice of America
Extremely brief but powerful radio bursts coming from billions of light years away could be evidence of an advanced alien civilization, according to a
Fast radio bursts, which are “millisecond-long flashes of radio emission” could be “leakage” from
«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,» said theorist Avi Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. «An artificial origin is worth contemplating and checking.»
The bursts were first observed in 2007, and so far, fewer than two dozen have been detected using massive radio telescopes.
For the paper, researchers tried to assess the feasibility of creating massive transmitters, determining that while it would be well beyond our technology, it would be within the realm of possibility, according to the laws of physics.
They also investigated whether such a device would be viable from an “engineering perspective,” with particular focus on how something that would need such massive amounts of energy would not melt.
Researchers theorize that the use of such massive radio transmitters could be to power “interstellar light sails.” The power would be enough to push a ship of a million tons or about the same as
«That's big enough to carry living passengers across interstellar or even intergalactic distances,» said
In order to do that, the beam of energy would need to be focused constantly on the
The paper was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.