Trevor Collins

I think this will forever be one of those philosophical debates and conversations because it's all very possible and odds say definite that aliens are out there, but the physical limitations are so hard to grasp.

Yeah.

So those kind of end the major theories.

There are two more that I could have nested into some of these smaller answers with a little bit more nuance that I'll kind of talk about briefly.

But in 2021, scientist James Benford proposed the idea that the signal could have come from what he called leakage from a microwave beam that was used to propel an interstellar spacecraft that was using a light sail.

Let me break that down.

Okay.

A light sail spacecraft is essentially a propellant-free craft, usually.

It's a very lightweight spacecraft, and it uses the momentum of photons reflected off a massive, massive thin reflective surface, kind of like sails on the sea.

So when you see a boat and it's got sails, it's catching the wind.

That wind is fat particles moving.

The sail is catching it.

It's pushing the ship across the ocean.

In space, you could do that with photons.

Photons, if you look at the equation of momentum, I think it's momentum equals...

Speed times mass.

Photons have incredibly low mass, but incredibly high velocity.

And the idea is, you know, if you cast a like think of like aluminum foil, but maybe even way thinner and cast into the size of a football field, you cast a wide enough net.

You're going to start bouncing photons off of that and slowly.

Slowly over time, those photons will transfer enough momentum, enough speed to the craft that in theory, this spacecraft could get to 10 to 20 percent the speed of light.