Musk disputes 3I/ATLAS alien spaceship theory: 'Nickel-rich asteroids and comets exist'

Elon Musk has jumped into the 3I/ATLAS debate, talking to podcast host Joe Rogan about what he thinks of aliens and the interstellar comet. The SpaceX CEO, who dreams of establishing a human colony on Mars, says the day he finds proof of alien existence, he will reveal all about it on Rogan's show, and "not commit suicide." “If I have any evidence of aliens, I promise, I will come on your show and reveal it to you. I am never committing suicide. It's on camera, guys,” Musk said. His remark seems to be about conspiracy theories that anyone who learns too much about aliens, vanishes mysteriously. He, meanwhile, disputed that it could be an alien spaceship just because it is releasing "industrial nickel." Musk said, "There are cases of nickel-rich asteroids and comets," and if it were unnatural, "it would be too heavy and big to be made entirely of nickel."

Also Read: 3I/ATLAS oddities might increase as it emerges from Sun's glare - 'If 5 billion tons of gas...'

Rogan and Musk talked about the strides SpaceX is making in space exploration, how the Moon could become a tourist destination, his multiple ventures, etc. Musk and Rogan also talked about how the Moon might one day become a tourist destination. "It is possible that people will pay to go to the Moon," Rogan said, to which Musk said, "Yes, possible." NASA has been working to send humans to the Moon again as part of the Artemis mission. Artemis III is planned to be the first human landing on the Moon since the Apollo missions. It is currently scheduled to launch in mid-2027. Before that, Artemis II will take a crewed flight to the Moon's orbit to test the feasibility of sending a human mission to the Moon.

Also Read: 3I/ATLAS has a ninth anomaly, as Loeb calls on 'science populariser' to explain all of them

About 3I/ATLAS

The interstellar comet was discovered on July 1. Since then, it has intrigued astronomers who are baffled by everything it has been doing. 3I/ATLAS is moving at an insane speed of 200,000 km/hr, faster than the previous two interstellar objects - Oumuamua and Borisov. While Oumuamua was termed a dark comet, since it was simply a piece of dry rock, Borisov was an active comet. 3I/ATLAS is believed to be huge, the size of Manhattan, and yet it is moving at such a high speed, something that has been flagged as an anomaly. It is older than our solar system, dated to be born around 7 to 14 billion years ago. It recently reached its nearest point to the Sun, where it brightened unexpectedly. It also turned blue and displayed non-gravitational acceleration. Scientists are now waiting to make more observations when it fully comes out of the Sun's glare by mid-November.