Space & Astronomy

Scramble to divert NASA probe to visit 'alien' interstellar visitor

By T.K. Randall
August 6, 2025 ·  0 comments

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) This mysterious cosmic interloper was first revealed on July 1st following its discovery by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) - a robotic astronomical survey which uses multiple telescopes to scan the night sky for small near-Earth objects.

Measuring 12 miles across, the object is heading toward the inner solar system at 152,000 mph.

While many scientists believe that 3I/ATLAS is likely to be a comet, others, such as Harvard's Professor Avi Loeb, maintain that it could in fact be under intelligent extraterrestrial control.

Now, in a renewed bid to investigate the object for signs of alien life before it passes through our solar system and disappears again into deep space, Loeb and a few others have proposed the possibility of sending a spacecraft to intercept it and record as much data as possible.Due to its speed and distance away from us, launching a probe from the Earth won't be viable as it wouldn't be able to reach 3I/ATLAS in time.

Instead, the idea has been proposed to divert NASA's Juno spacecraft - which is currently orbiting Jupiter - to move to intercept the object when it passes near the gas giant next year.

"Juno is in orbit around Jupiter and was planned to end its mission in mid-September 2025," Loeb told Mail Online.

"The instruments on Juno can all be used to probe the nature of 3I/ATLAS from a close distance, far better than any observatories on Earth."

While the idea does have some support in the US government, it remains unclear whether or not NASA will be willing to cut its Jupiter mission short and whether it would even be possible for Juno to reach 3I/ATLAS in time.

Source: Mail Online | Comments (0)

Tags: Interstellar, Jupiter