Scientists Think Clues About Aliens May Lie on the Moon

The moon may be wearing a dusting of alien junk, and a group of researchers wants to go looking for it. In a new study that's under peer review for the International Journal of Astrobiology, scientists with SETI ties argue that advanced civilizations, if they ever existed in our galaxy, would shed microscopic debris as their infrastructure erodes, much like satellites do around Earth, per the New York Times. Some of that dust, they say, could have drifted across space and settled into the lunar surface.

The team modeled how such particles might spread through the galaxy and survive impacts on the moon, dubbing hypothetical fragments of extinct civilizations "Arkhipov particles" and alien microscopic probes "Bracewell particles." Testing the idea would mean sending a mission to sift through about 35 cubic feet of lunar soil, though that would likely turn up human-made bits first.

Finding even one genuine alien speck, scientists say, would instantly rewrite our understanding of life in the universe. "It would be a very, very important discovery if made ... but it is a needle-in-a-haystack exercise," says the University of London's Ian Crawford, one of the study's co-authors. The Independent has more on the technologies that could confirm advanced alien presence.