Scientists propose to use the LIGO gravitational wave detector to search for extraterrestrial civilizations. They suggest that alien ships under certain conditions can generate these almost imperceptible “oscillations of space”.
LIGO can sense alien ships
Scientists from several scientific institutions of the United States have proposed to involve the LIGO observatory in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations. It is designed to capture gravitational waves and is commonly used to study the merger of black holes and neutron stars. In particular, it recently made it possible to study the amazing orbits of these objects in star clusters.
The article, available on the preprints site arXiv, claims that alien ships can emit gravitational waves. There are also conditions under which LIGO will be able to sense them.
First of all, the alien ship must be extremely large. Its size can be compared with the largest planet in the solar system. At the same time, it must move at a speed of at least 1/10 that of light. In addition, it should happen relatively close to us — no further than 326 thousand light years. This zone encompass the entire Milky Way.
All these parameters are for spacecraft flying using conventional propulsion methods. However, they can move using theoretically possible devices for warping space, which in science fiction is called a warp drive. In this case, gravitational from much smaller spacecraft could be observed.
