Lifeboat Foundation

The new “Independence Day” is likely to be a popcorn-chomper, but it does provide us with some serious food for thought. We need to take a page from our former secretary of defense’s playbook and start thinking about such ‘known-unknowns.’ Eg., we need to take the development of interstellar propulsion much more seriously for a whole host of reasons.

As debris from an exploded mothership burned through Earth’s atmosphere, many audiences likely left the 1996 film “Independence Day” wondering when the rest of this ugly, stinking group of fictional extraterrestrials would return for a sequel? The answer lies in “Resurgence,” Roland Emmerich’s new blockbuster about locust-like space aliens that appear hellbent on killing off earth-like civilizations.

Good news alien hunters! A Kickstarter to fund a year-long investigation into KIC 8462852—the star voted most likely to harbor an advanced alien civilization—just got funded. Alien megastructure or not, we may finally get to the bottom of this bewildering, flickering star.

This crowdfunding campaign was set up in May by Yale astronomer Tabby Boyajian, and it managed to meet its $100,000 goal in just 30 days. A $10,000 surge in the last 100 minutes of the campaign managed to put the project over the top. The next step is to figure out the logistics, but Boyajian, who’s been leading the research into KIC 8462852, says observations could start as early as later this summer.

The ultimate goal of the project will be to determine why this star’s light dims at such irregular intervals, and at times by as much as 20 percent. These huge dips in luminosity are way too large to be a passing planet, hence the suspicion the anomaly is being caused by swarms of comets, a distorted star, some unknown astronomical phenomenon—or an advanced alien civilization in the process of building a gigantic solar array around the star.

Continue reading “We Might Finally Solve the ‘Alien Megastructure’ Mystery” »

Even by conservative estimates, a mind-boggling number of extraterrestrial civilizations have existed in the universe.

Prior to the B2 bomber was released; many saw a black triangle object flying at dusk/ evening and no noise. Therefore, this article doesn’t surprise me because governments have to test their jets and other machines.

Just this week, Elon Musk said that he hopes to send people to Mars by 2024; now, Illinois residents are wondering if the black triangles they’re seeing in the sky are alien spacecraft or U.S. military technology. As The Verge reported, Musk announced his plans to ferry humanity to the red planet at the Code Conference on June 1. On May 22, an Illinois man reported seeing a black triangle craft in the sky at about 9:30 p.m.

Could the Illinois black triangle sighted in May (and the many other black triangle sightings that have occurred in the past) be related to plans to get humanity to Mars? Maybe.

Continue reading “Illinois Black Triangles: Are Mysterious Crafts In The Sky UFOs Or Secret Government Tech?” »

Is it aliens? Sure sounds like aliens—but these strange, glowing patches over Pluto are actually something else (almost) as mysterious.

NASA’s New Horizons snapped this photo of sunlight streaming through Pluto’s haze haze during the spacecraft’s close approach on July 14, 2015. But, as researchers looked closer at the photo, a question emerged: Uh, what’s with that weird glowing patch in the upper right hand corner?

More Videos by Quarks To Quasars.

Advocates of Active SETI say it’s better to put our best foot forward first, before E.T. gets the wrong idea about us from shock jocks and reality TV. As in politics, define ourselves before someone else does it for us. Plus, they contend, they’d already know we’re here anyway.

Two new separate groups of scientists now want to send coded radio messages into the cosmos in hopes of deliberately attracting the attention of intelligent space aliens. Known as Active SETI (Active Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), it’s arguably no safer to entice unknown offworlders into our planetary living room than to invite total strangers in for coffee and crullers.

But even if they are totally unsavory, it’s highly likely that an interstellar civilization would already be picking up our electromagnetic leakage and therefore already know we’re here, Douglas Vakoch, President of the San Francisco-based non-profit METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) International, told me.

Continue reading “Hiding From Hostile Space Aliens Is No Longer An Option” »

A new study released by NASA on Tuesday shows that oceans on Europa, one of Jupiter’s 67 known moons, might have a lot in common with our own oceans, including a chemical balance capable of harboring life.

Scientists have been eyeing the mysterious water world as one of the most promising places to find alien life for a while now, and this study suggests they’re on the right track.

The moon, which is only a quarter the size of Earth, is covered in a thick shell of ice. But there is strong evidence that there could be a salty ocean deep beneath its surface.

Continue reading “Scientists just found evidence that there could be alien life lurking beneath the surface of this mysterious water world” »

Friends have been asking me to write something on space exploration and my campaign policy on it, so here it is just out on TechCrunch:

When people think about rocket ships and space exploration, they often imagine traveling across the Milky Way, landing on mysterious planets and even meeting alien life forms.

In reality, humans’ drive to get off Planet Earth has led to tremendous technological advances in our mundane daily lives — ones we use right here at home on terra firma.

Continue reading “Space exploration will spur transhumanism and mitigate existential risk” »