What If We Caught an Interstellar Visitor?

WHAT IF

What is that sausage-looking object passing by us in space?

Transcript

00:00 An unexpected guest has made its way

00:04 into our Solar System.

00:07 This is 'Oumuamua.

00:10 Looks like a weird rock, right?

00:13 Well, it's an interstellar object, an ISO.

00:18 And it's tumbling through space

00:21 in a way that can't be explained by gravity alone.

00:25 What the heck is going on here?

00:28 Well, these ISOs pass through our Solar System occasionally,

00:32 but only for a small window of time.

00:35 They're basically giant mystery boxes

00:38 floating around in space,

00:40 filled with secrets.

00:42 So what if we managed to catch it?

00:46 Where did it come from?

00:49 And could data collected from a captured ISO

00:53 change the way we think about our Solar System,

00:56 and even the Universe?

00:59 This is WHAT IF,

01:01 and here's what would happen

01:02 if we caught an interstellar visitor.

01:06 All right, WHAT IF is officially on the case.

01:10 What would we have to do to snag

01:11 one of these floating bundles of mystery?

01:15 Well, let's start with our top suspect,

01:17 'Oumuamua.

01:19 'Oumuamua made its way past Earth in 2017,

01:24 and has been described by researchers as

01:27 "absolutely nothing like anything else in our Solar System."

01:31 New computer simulations revealed

01:34 a possible origin story for the interstellar object.

01:38 They suggest that a planet was ripped to pieces

01:41 by its home star,

01:42 leaving behind a wake of long, thin fragments.

01:46 Some of these fragments would have been launched into space,

01:50 and millions or billions of years later,

01:52 'Oumuamua landed in our Solar System.

01:56 That means if we managed to catch 'Oumuamua,

01:59 and others like it,

02:01 we could potentially learn the secrets of dead alien planets.

02:06 I know, it's a bit of a leap,

02:08 but think of the possibilities.

02:11 But first, we have to catch the darn thing.

02:15 In order to observe an ISO,

02:18 timing is everything, so we have to act fast.

02:21 Richard Linares of MIT

02:24 has proposed the concept of a dynamic orbital slingshot

02:27 for rendezvous with interstellar objects.

02:31 He suggested using static satellites

02:33 enabled by a solar sail

02:35 to cancel out the Sun's gravitational force,

02:38 no matter how far away it is.

02:40 This would create a propulsive force,

02:44 allowing the satellite to hover in place indefinitely.

02:47 Essentially, these satellites would be on a stakeout for any ISOs.

02:53 So let's say our stakeout operation is a success,

02:56 and we managed to catch one.

02:58 What does that mean for us?

03:00 Well, it would be incredible for starters.

03:03 When 'Oumuamua was discovered in 2017,

03:07 it was unlike anything we've seen in our Solar System.

03:11 Which also means it was incredibly confusing.

03:15 If we catch an ISO,

03:16 we might be able to learn about how quickly and commonly

03:20 objects transit between solar systems,

03:23 helping us understand the feasibility

03:25 of the interstellar travel between stars.

03:28 As in finding out that we might not be alone in the Universe.

03:32 And that's just one of the potential secrets an ISO could unlock.

03:37 They may contain valuable resources we could mine.

03:40 This might open up an entirely new age of humanity,

03:44 with new technology and more.

03:46 The bad news is,

03:48 humans don't generally like to share their toys.

03:51 "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the war room!"

03:54 There would be huge debates over who gets to keep the ISOs.

03:58 We would need a massive amount of coordination

04:01 to deal with our latest discovery.

04:04 That's if a government even tells the public

04:06 that we captured an ISO in the first place.

04:09 Why would a government keep it secret?

04:12 Well, I'm not saying the ISO has aliens,

04:14 but it's an alien object.

04:18 Still, awesome.

04:20 Sadly, we're still a long way away

04:23 from developing the technology to capture interstellar objects.

04:27 Having said that, we do have the drive, ambition and motivation.

04:33 Once we're able to observe more interstellar objects,

04:37 it will be easier to identify them,

04:38 and it may be easier to study them.

04:42 There are still a lot of secrets out there in the galaxy,

04:45 and who knows what we might find.

04:47 But what if interstellar beings

04:50 are already trying to get in touch with us?

04:53 What if we detect a signal from outer space?

04:58 Well, that's a story for another WHAT IF.

05:03 [ ♪ ]

05:06 [siren]

05:08 (siren blaring)

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