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The mystery surrounding white balloons flying over the skies of the United States, which were also allegedly seen in India, has reignited the debate over the existence of life beyond earth. Despite the fact that the balloon incident has since been linked to China and that the US shot it down for being a spy balloon while Beijing maintains it was a research probe, social media is rife with talk of extraterrestrial life. After the first object was determined to be a balloon from China, the number of online posts referencing extra-terrestrials increased by almost 300%, the Associated Press reported. (ALSO READ: High altitude selfie, please? US pilot captures China spy balloon at 60,000 feet)
We highlight different methods scientists use to detect life beyond earth and will also venture if there is any significant progress or if there is any substantial evidence to ascertain alien presence have been found.
Different ways aliens can be spotted
1. The most popular way, thanks to fiction writers, of ascertaining alien presence is by detecting UFOs.
2. Looking for broadcast signals – such as television and radio broadcasts- that are being transmitted to earth by alien species.
3. Aliens, like humans, may not reveal their presence as they rarely send out intentional signals to the universe. However, some signals emitted by technologies used at the site can be detected from afar. Thus, signals from alien-used equipment can be used as evidence. (ALSO READ: The truth is out there: Tales from India’s UFO investigators)
4. Evidence of pollution is another technosignature that can aid in the search for life beyond Earth. It could be a sign of life if astronomers discover a planet with an atmosphere filled with chemicals that can only be produced by technology.
5. By spotting biosignatures. If the Webb Telescope detects oxygen and carbon dioxide in other planets’ atmospheres, it could imply that an exoplanet, like ours, supports plants and animals.
Has there been any concrete proof of alien life?
Nasa, to a big disappointment for the UFO enthusiasts, have categorically denied having evidence of the presence of life beyond Earth. “No life beyond Earth has ever been found; there is no evidence that alien life has ever visited our planet,” a blog on Nasa’s website reads. However, to investigate signs of life on other space bodies, as one of the US agency’s key goals is the search for life in the universe, it has an astrobiology programme. It uses missions such as the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), Hubble Space Telescope, James Webb Space Telescope to spot evidence of life in space.
Last year in October, Nasa commissioned an independent team to examine unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) – observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena. The team is expected to make results public later in the year.
The Pentagon too has opened an office called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office to investigate around 510 reports of UFOs.