Volunteers to search for evidence of alien life on Earth's Moon

Scientists are looking for online volunteers to help them identify signs of alien life in images of the lunar surface collected by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). The LRO has collected more than 34,000 images of the lunar surface since 2009.

Huffington Post reports that scientists Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University believe that the Moon which lacks an atmosphere is an ideal environment in which to search for evidence of past extraterrestrial visitors to our solar system. Alien visitors might have left evidence of their presence in the form of footprints, wastes, abandoned instruments, messages or past mining activity on the lunar surface. According to Discovery News, the Moon's lack of an atmosphere means that any disturbance of its surface will remain intact for a long time provided the visitors did not deliberately try to erase traces or evidence of their presence when they were leaving. Daily Mail reports that according to Davies and Wagner, searching the Moon for artifacts or other evidence of aliens who might have explored our solar system in the past is possibly a more efficient way to search for extraterrestrial life than the current focus on detecting radio signals emanating from distant civilizations. The scientists explain that the growing body of images would be impossible for a small team of experts to examine. So they are inviting amateur enthusiasts to help examine the images and identify possible evidence of extraterrestrial presence or visitors to the Moon. In a paper published online in the journal Acta Astronautica, the scientists argued: “Although there is only a tiny probability that alien technology would have left traces on the moon in the form of an artifact or surface modification of lunar features, this location has the virtue of being close, and of preserving traces for an immense duration. If it costs little to scan data for signs of intelligent manipulation, little is lost in doing so, even though the probability of detecting alien technology at work may be exceedingly low...Alien civilizations may have sent probes to our region of the galaxy. Any mission to the solar system would probably have occurred a very long time ago.The lunar environment could preserve artifacts for millions of years.”

NASA

Sunlight grazes over a small dome in the central part of the Compton-Belkovich complex on the far side of the moon in this image from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The dome was likely formed by rare, viscous lava on the moon.

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The scientists explained that alien explorers looking to establish a long-term platform for observing our planet would readily assess the Moon as an ideal location. The Moon provides an ideal spot for alien explorers to land a robotic probe. Our Earth with its weather, rough oceans and living organisms is a risky surface on which to land a robotic probe. According to the scientists, a probe landed on a location such as the peak of the Malapert Mountain near the lunar South Pole could survive millions of years. Although the scientists are downplaying the chances of finding evidence of alien presence on the Moon, they are convinced that if aliens have visited and conducted extensive exploration of our world or the solar system in the past, searching the Moon is our best chance of detecting the evidence.