They asked me how I came to pursue this search. I explained that my interest was triggered by the discovery of the first astronomical object from outside the Solar system, `Oumuamua on October 19, 2017. This 100-meters-size object was anomalous in its inferred pancake-like shape and non-gravitational acceleration with no sign of evaporation. In short, `Oumuamua did not resemble familiar asteroids or comets from the Solar system.
`Oumuamua’s wake-up
call revealed a research opportunity that I never encountered before in
the preceding thirty years of my academic career. The search for
extraterrestrial artifacts could carry huge implications for the future
of humanity but is largely abandoned by the scientific community. Other
transformative themes, like the search for the unknown nature of dark
matter, often have a long history and are crowded with many competing
practitioners. This means that the prospects for making a unique
contribution to their knowledge base is small. However, here was a
research path not taken, to which I can make a major contribution. My
training was in theoretical physics, but I was willing to lead the
experimental Galileo Project, aimed to collect evidence that could guide us towards a better understanding of our cosmic neighborhood....<<<Read More>>>....
