What is that sausage-looking object passing by us in space?
Category
📺
TVTranscript
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)