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- Could there be evidence of alien technology<\/strong> \u2026 on the moon? SETI scientists have proposed a new way to search for it.<\/li>\n
- A new mission would collect samples of lunar regolith<\/strong> and then scientists would search for microscopic particles that might have originated from alien technology elsewhere.<\/li>\n
- These tiny technosignatures could have drifted through space,<\/strong> shed from alien structures, much as particles shed from human satellites.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
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Microscopic bits of alien tech on the moon?<\/h3>\n
As scientists searched for intelligent extraterrestrial life \u2014 i.e., aliens<\/em> \u2014 they\u2019ve focused on a short list of standard possibilities. In other words, they\u2019ve searched for radio signals, laser pulses or other technosignatures. Now a team of scientists, led by the SETI Institute, has a new idea. The researchers are proposing we search the moon\u2019s surface for microscopic bits of material shed by alien technology. <\/p>\n
The moon would act as a \u201ccollection plate,\u201d as it were.<\/p>\n
As the SETI Institute noted in a statement on September 8, 2026, the study presents the first quantitative framework for testing whether microscopic technosignatures could accumulate in lunar soil over billions of years.<\/p>\n
A preprint version of their new paper was submitted to the arXiv server on August 17, 2026. The paper is currently in peer review for submission to the International Journal of Astrobiology<\/em>.<\/p>\n
Leftover debris from alien civilizations<\/h3>\n
The proposed scenario is really simple. If an alien civilization ever did have advanced technology in the space near Earth, then space weather \u2014 the changing conditions of charged particles, plasma, magnetic fields, and radiation throughout our solar system \u2014 might gradually have worn down this alien debris to microscopic bits. As a result, the structures could shed microscopic bits of debris. Those particles would then drift in space, perhaps even spreading across the galaxy.<\/p>\n
The idea is similar to that of how microplastics have spread around Earth, contaminating almost everything.<\/p>\n
Lewis Pinault, an affiliate scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and a researcher at Birkbeck College, University of London, led the new study. He told The New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n
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If any other technological civilization has ever existed in our galaxy, it\u2019s not an unreasonable hypothesis to think that particles of them are on the moon in some quantity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Pinault also said:<\/p>\n
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The moon has been quietly accumulating material from space for billions of years, much of it likely billions of years older than the moon itself. We\u2019re asking whether that ancient collection might contain microscopic traces of technologies that existed long before humans ever looked up at the sky.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The moon would be an ideal place to look for such material, since it has no atmosphere to speak of, and no flowing water or active geology. The particles could remain preserved for billions of years.<\/p>\n
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?? The next breakthrough in SETI may come not from a radio telescope, but from a microscope.Researchers propose searching lunar soil for microscopic engineered particles\u2014potential traces of technologies that could have existed billions of years ago. ? ?<\/p>\n
\u2014 SETI Institute (@setiinstitute.bsky.social) 2026-09-08T19:01:25.607Z<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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Neat writeup of a recent study about looking for the tiniest physical technosignatures!<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jason Wright (@astrowright.bsky.social) 2026-09-07T17:16:45.389Z<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Tiny particles of alien technology<\/h3>\n
This concept isn\u2019t far-fetched. Our own satellites shed tiny microscopic particles into space as space weather erodes them on a microscopic scale. For the study, the team modeled how particles from alien space structures could eventually disperse across our galaxy. It\u2019s a new take on the search for alien tecnnosignatures.<\/p>\n
As Sofia Sheikh, a scientist at the SETI Institute, noted:<\/p>\n
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We know on Earth that time and entropy take their toll on everything that humans make, and there\u2019s a lot more to explore in how the breakdown of technological artifacts can be applied to SETI searches.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Co-author Ian Crawford, a professor of planetary science at Birkbeck College, University of London, added:<\/p>\n
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If you concede that looking for alien intelligences is a legitimate part of science, which clearly it is, then looking for the technological products \u2014 aka artifacts of these intelligences \u2014 ought to be just as scientifically valid as looking for their radio emissions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Alien tech on the moon: a fringe idea<\/h3>\n
It might sound like a long shot, and it probably is. It\u2019s also partly based on a proposal that was considered fringe back in the 1990s. Ukrainian researcher Alexey V. Arkhipov had suggested searching the moon for traces of alien technology; in this case, though, more like actual artifacts of technology.<\/p>\n
The new proposal is similar, but looking for that evidence on a microscopic scale. Pinault surmised that aliens:<\/p>\n
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\u2026 may have become starfarers who are developing similar technologies around each star system that they go to, so the potential of there being quite a bit of interesting debris in the galaxy is pretty high.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
SETI researcher Jason Wright at Penn State is supportive of the plan. He said:<\/p>\n
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They\u2019ve revived what is actually a pretty obscure idea and shown that it\u2019s plausible.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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- A new mission would collect samples of lunar regolith<\/strong> and then scientists would search for microscopic particles that might have originated from alien technology elsewhere.<\/li>\n
![\"Smiling](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2026\/09\/Lewis-Pinault-SETI-Institute.jpg\")