3I/ATLAS could ‘obliterate a continent’ and ‘kill most of human life’, says Elon Musk
SpaceX chief says while 3I/ATLAS may be an unusual comet or asteroid but he feels there’s a chance to could actually end us all
Elon Musk says a mystery object hurtling through space ‘could be alien ’ and may ‘obliterate a continent’ or ‘kill most of human life’.
The make-up of interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS has been baffling boffins for four months. While some claim it is a comet blasting through the Solar System at 130,000mph leading theoretical physicist Avi Loeb has suggested it could be an alien ‘mothership’.
UFO experts think it could be ET trying to make first contact. SpaceX chief Musk told the Joe Rogan Experience podcast that while it may be an unusual comet or asteroid it ‘could be alien – I don’t know’.
He warned whatever it is it will pose a massive collision risk if it deviates from its plotted Earth fly-past on December 19. That is the date scientists reckon it will come closest to Earth.
They reckon it will get no nearer than 170 million miles away. But Musk warned space chiefs must continue to monitor its approach in case it deviates from its predicted flight path.
He said if it hit Earth it ‘would like obliterate a continent type of thing,’ adding, “Maybe worse. Probably kill most of human life. If not all of us.”
Astronomers at the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System spotted the Manhattan-sized object hurtling through the Solar System on an escape trajectory on July 1 triggering widespread speculation about its origin.
It is only the third confirmed visitor from another star system following 2017’s 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov two years later. Experts have speculated 3I/ATLAS could have been wandering alone for 10 billion years.
As it got closest to the Sun on October 30 it was spotted making non-gravitational accelerations while a detected radio signal from the object shocked observers.
Professor Loeb said its ‘anomalies’ suggest it ‘might’ be an extraterrestrial spaceship.
Its behaviour has been so odd he said he will never be able to rule out the possibility it is an alien craft.
On his UFO scale where zero represents something ‘consistent with known natural phenomena’ and 10 is of ‘confirmed extraterrestrial origin’ he said 3I/Atlas would always at least be a two – an object ‘meriting attention’. Telescopes worldwide are tracking its every move.
Brit documentary film-maker Mark Christopher Lee has said mankind could be about to make first contact with ET in time for Christmas.
He has said: “These are weird times and we’ve always looked to the stars for guidance – and we need guidance now in 2025.
“The UFOlogist in me sees 3I/ATLAS’s Earth flyby just before Christmas as no coincidence.” We could detect signals or course changes by December 19 to 25. They’re centralising contact authority just as the world watches.”
