SETI Live: Searching the Moon for Microscopic Alien Technology

A new study led by SETI Institute Affiliate Scientist Dr. Lewis Pinault proposes searching lunar regolith for microscopic technosignatures: tiny, durable particles of engineered material that could have traveled through interstellar space and accumulated on the Moon over billions of years.

Unlike Earth, the Moon has no atmosphere, flowing water, or active geology to continually erase its ancient record. That makes its regolith a potentially remarkable archive of material from across the Solar System - and perhaps beyond.

The researchers developed a quantitative framework for determining whether microscopic artificial particles could survive interstellar journeys, reach the Earth-Moon system, and remain detectable in lunar soil. They estimate that examining about one cubic meter of lunar regolith with modern microscopy, spectroscopy, tomography, and machine-assisted analysis could begin to place meaningful constraints on the amount of artificial material produced by technological civilizations throughout the history of the Milky Way.

Importantly, the researchers have not discovered extraterrestrial technology on the Moon. Instead, their work proposes a new, testable form of “exo-archaeology” that future lunar sample-return missions and laboratory studies could explore.

Join SETI Institute Senior Planetary Astronomer Dr. Franck Marchis and lead author Dr. Lewis Pinault to discuss microscopic technosignatures, the Moon as an archive of Galactic history, and what scientists might learn even if the search finds nothing.

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