A planetary cloaking device used to be the far off dreams of sci-fi nerds but NASA has now made the technology a reality. Using a simple laser beam, we can disrupt distant observations of Earth making it look like our planet is completely uninhabited. Thus, diverting the attention of any evil aliens that may be lurking around.
NASA USES LASER BEAMS TO SAVE THE WORLD
The idea of using laser beams to cloak the world came from David Kipping, an astronomer at Columbia University. NASA recently detected a dimming star that many are saying could be alien megastructures orbiting the star. While this is unlikely, it made Kipping think about ways that we could send signals through space or even more so, how NASA could hide them from resource hunting evil aliens. By shining a bright laser or group of lasers towards a suspicious star, these evil beings wouldn’t see any change in solar brightness, thus deterring them from interacting with us.
BIOCLOAK COULD HIDE US FROM EVIL ALIENS
Another way NASA could use lasers is by creating a cloak. Using the various wavelengths and strengths of the laser beam, humans could hide Earth from prying eyes. With just 250 megawatts, the laser could make the earth look like almost anything. Evil aliens could be starring right at is and see an artificial, featureless box for example. Lasers could also be used to conceal our planet’s atmosphere. When a planet is passing by a star, that little bit of light passing through the atmosphere can help scientists (or evil aliens) determine the atmosphere’s makeup. By sending out certain laser beams, NASA could hide any signs of oxygen or other “biosignatures”. This would make our planet look like a desolate wasteland void of any life from a distance.
FIND OR BE FOUND
The thing about concealing our existence is that we have to know where someone is looking from in order for that to work. In order to do this, we have to find aliens first, before they find us. As one can imagine, that is no easy task. Astronomers like Kepler have looked at 100,000 stars without any hint of life. The search will continue, though. Once some knowledge of alien civilizations come to life, then we can think of how to hide from them.
