Joe Rogan's guest says '3I/ATLAS' could release mini probes toward Earth and Mars
Loeb revealed that 3I/ATLAS is aligned with the plane of the planets to within five degrees, an alignment that occurs by chance only once in 500 cases.
1. The Mysterious Visitor From Beyond the Solar System
During his recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, Avi Loeb described 3I/ATLAS as a rare interstellar object with features too precise to be random. Estimated to be the size of Manhattan Island, the object’s behaviour has raised eyebrows among astronomers who can’t explain its retrograde trajectory or unusual brightness.
2. A Path Too Perfect to Be Accidental
Loeb revealed that 3I/ATLAS is aligned with the plane of the planets to within five degrees, an alignment that occurs by chance only once in 500 cases. What’s more, the object is moving against the natural orbital flow of planets, a direction Loeb says would be ideal for deploying smaller probes into planetary orbits.
“If someone wanted to study the planets up close, this is exactly the kind of trajectory they would choose,” Loeb told Rogan.
3. Why Scientists Are Divided
Most astronomers have labelled 3I/ATLAS a comet. However, Loeb challenges this assumption, pointing to its Sun-facing jet, a feature opposite of normal comet tails that are pushed away from the Sun. He argues that such behaviour could indicate controlled propulsion or deliberate engineering.
4. The Mini Probe Hypothesis
According to Loeb, the retrograde path of 3I/ATLAS could make it an ideal launch platform for small probes. These could, in theory, slow down and enter orbits around Earth, Mars, or Jupiter to study them. He clarified that while this is speculative, the physics of such a manoeuvre “makes sense if intelligence is involved.”
5. The Publishing Controversy
Loeb shared that when he first suggested the possibility of intelligent design in a research paper, an editor refused to publish it unless he removed the sentence. “That’s how science suppresses curiosity,” Loeb told Rogan. He criticised the scientific establishment for being too cautious to consider bold ideas that might redefine our understanding of the universe.
6. Manufactured Metal or Natural Rock?
Spectral readings from 3I/ATLAS’s gas plume show high nickel but very little iron, a composition common in industrial alloys used in aerospace materials, but rare in nature. Loeb noted, “It’s the kind of material we would use to build spacecraft.”
7. Are We Being Watched?
Loeb emphasised that this doesn’t mean 3I/ATLAS is necessarily alien, but if it were, it might represent a technological relic from an older civilisation or even an active probe. “If it’s intelligent,” Loeb said, “then those mini probes might already be here, quietly observing.”
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