The “alien mothership” claim, put forward by Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, has been refuted by Elon Musk. Musk, speaking on Joe Rogan‘s podcast, stated that the scientific explanation for the nickel-rich object, which changed its orbit, is simply a comet approaching the Sun.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest person and CEO of the private space company SpaceX, spoke about the new interstellar object 3I/ATLAS and the hypothesis that it could be an “alien mothership.” Unsurprisingly to probably anyone, it is clear this object is not a spaceship.
On July 1, 2025, ATLAS astronomers detected an object passing through our Solar System at high speed, soon to exit. Other telescopes also turned to this object—now known as the comet 3I/ATLAS—and confirmed it was indeed on an escape trajectory. This became the Solar System’s third confirmed interstellar visitor, following 1I/’Oumuamua in 2017 and 2I/Borisov in 2019.
Scientists want to study this object much more closely, primarily because it is an interstellar object that may have traveled alone for 10 billion years—a time capsule from an earlier era of the universe and a traveler from a different corner of our galaxy.
However, the reason the object has drawn so much attention is the wild speculation that it could be an alien vehicle. This idea was initially proposed by Harvard astronomer and physicist Avi Loeb. Loeb suggested, as a “teaching exercise,” that an alien craft wishing to hide might choose to stay behind the Sun to maneuver during its closest approach on October 30.
Musk and Rogan Join the Fray
Although this hypothesis was dismissed as “unnecessary” by NASA, SETI, and almost the entire astronomical community, the names that really matter have now decided to join the debate: Elon Musk and UFC commentator/podcaster Joe Rogan.
Rogan asked the owner of X, who was appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast, if he was paying attention to 3I/ATLAS, “whatever it is.” Musk quickly shut down the alien speculation, correctly identifying the object as a comet. Musk told Rogan, “I promise you, Joe. If I am aware of any evidence of aliens, I will come on your show and announce it on the show.”
As Loeb himself explained in a blog post, 3I/ATLAS is experiencing an acceleration of “1.1×10^(-6) au/day squared radially from the Sun” and “3.7×10^(-7} au/day squared transversely to the Sun’s direction.” While this sounds strange, it is not unexpected and doesn’t mean it’s an alien ship. As comets approach the Sun, they heat up, and the volatile ices on their surface sublimate (vaporize), causing them to lose mass. The principle of conservation of momentum shows that the object accelerates as a result. The comet’s trajectory changed because it was behaving just like a comet approaching the Sun.
What Does the Unusual Amount of Nickel Mean?
Rogan then brought up the issue of the unusual amount of nickel in the object. He implied this could be a sign of an alien craft and incorrectly added that on Earth, nickel is only found in industrial alloys. This is where Musk stepped in to show his space expertise.
Musk replied to Rogan, “No, there are definitely comets and asteroids made primarily of nickel.” He continued: “The places where you mine nickel on Earth are actually where a nickel-rich comet or asteroid impacted the Earth. Nickel-rich deposits… come from impacts. You wouldn’t want to be there at the time, because everything would be destroyed. But today, these are the sources of nickel and cobalt.”
With Musk’s answer, Rogan moved to another topic and read a Reddit post. The post quoted again from Avi Loeb‘s blog post, which mentioned the “first hint that something other than gravity is affecting its acceleration.” As explained earlier, this was likely the result of a comet‘s outgassing. Rogan again tried to say nickel is only found in manufacturing.
After Musk stated for a second time that there are plenty of nickel-rich objects in the universe, he returned to his own area of expertise, adding, “If you made it all out of nickel, that would be a very heavy spaceship.”
When Musk didn’t go along with the “alien mothership” scenario, the pair moved on to how much destruction the object would cause if it hit Earth. Musk said, “It could destroy a continent,” and added: “Maybe even worse. It would probably kill most, if not all, of human life.” But during the conversation, no indication was given that this object had any possibility of hitting Earth.
In conclusion, Musk was insistent that the object has a natural explanation. Just as every astronomer has been saying for the past few months, this object is a comet…
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