Elon Musk issues warning about ‘potentially hostile alien threat’ that could ‘kill most of human life’
Elon Musk has shared his thoughts on the extraterrestrial object which is currently making its way through our solar system, 3I/ATLAS.
The object first popped up on radars of experts back in July, with experts being unsure of its origin or composition.
Harvard professor Avi Loeb went as far as claiming there was a 30 to 40 percent chance of it not being a 'naturally formed' object, telling LADbible that NASA are 'pretending to be the adults in the room' after writing off any possibility of it being otherworldly.
Loeb said it could even be an 'alien mothership', though as it is currently behind the Sun, it won't be visible again until it makes its way around, which will be around early December.
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According to NASA, this is when scientists will next be able to make 'renewed observations' of the object, as several figures in the field have also sided with the space agency about their findings.
Loeb isn't alone in his beliefs, though he has recently suggested that images may be showing a 'hot engine or source of artificial light'.
Now, Musk has claimed that the object 'could be alien' after all, though he has gone a step further by suggesting it could destroy continents or 'kill most of human life'.
The composition of the interstellar object has confused experts for months, as it continues to blast through our solar system, as the SpaceX and Tesla CEO told Joe Rogan on his podcast that it 'could be alien', though admitted he isn't sure.
He said that if it goes off course from its plotted Earth fly-by on 19 December, it could pose a huge collision risk, as that is the day boffins think it will be closest to our planet.
They believe it won't come any closer than 170 million miles away, but the space agency chairman said experts must keep tabs on it as any impact with Earth could be 'worse' than a continent being destroyed, saying it can 'probably kill most of human life. If not all of us'.
The object is the third confirmed visitor from another star system after 2017’s 1I/'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov in 2019, with experts even theorising that the object may have been wandering alone for 10 billion years.
3I/ATLAS was even seen making non-gravitational accelerations, before a radio signal was detected by experts, shocking observers.
Among those who are against the idea of the object being alien, is none other than Professor Brian Cox, who said that it is 'drivel' to suggest that the object is anything other than a 'comet, made of carbon dioxide and water ices and bits of other stuff'.
He said it is 'entirely natural in origin', saying online: "Its orbit is as expected and it will whizz around the sun and then disappear off into the galaxy again."
Cox said that the object is a 'pristine lump of rock and ices', which may have originated from a dead star billions of years ago, pointing out: "Isn’t that wonderful enough?"
Joshua Nair