{"id":33993,"date":"2025-11-18T10:03:31","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T10:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/?p=33993"},"modified":"2025-11-19T10:31:29","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T10:31:29","slug":"alien-ship-or-comet-elon-musk-settles-the-3i-atlas-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/alien-ship-or-comet-elon-musk-settles-the-3i-atlas-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Alien Ship or Comet? Elon Musk Settles the 3I\/ATLAS Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The &#8220;<strong>alien mothership<\/strong>&#8221; claim, put forward by Harvard astronomer <strong>Avi Loeb<\/strong>, has been refuted by <strong>Elon Musk<\/strong>. Musk, speaking on <strong>Joe Rogan<\/strong>&#8216;s podcast, stated that the scientific explanation for the <strong>nickel<\/strong>-rich object, which changed its orbit, is simply a <strong>comet<\/strong> approaching the Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Elon Musk<\/strong>, the world&#8217;s richest person and CEO of the private space company <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/tag\/spacex\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"153\">SpaceX<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, spoke about the new <strong>interstellar object<\/strong> <strong>3I\/ATLAS<\/strong> and the hypothesis that it could be an &#8220;<strong>alien mothership<\/strong>.&#8221; Unsurprisingly to probably anyone, it is clear this object is not a spaceship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-9-16 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"3I\/ATLAS: The Alien Visitor from Another Star \ud83c\udf0c | Are We Being Watched?\" width=\"422\" height=\"750\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CUmW6yxUCiU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>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\u2014now known as the <strong>comet<\/strong> <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/3i-atlas-an-interstellar-visitor-or-a-silent-watcher\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"31825\">3I\/ATLAS<\/a><\/em><\/strong>\u2014and confirmed it was indeed on an escape trajectory. This became the Solar System&#8217;s third confirmed interstellar visitor, following <strong>1I\/&#8217;Oumuamua<\/strong> in 2017 and <strong>2I\/Borisov<\/strong> in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists want to study this object much more closely, primarily because it is an <strong>interstellar object<\/strong> that may have traveled alone for 10 billion years\u2014a time capsule from an earlier era of the universe and a traveler from a different corner of our galaxy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the reason the object has drawn so much attention is the wild speculation that it could be an <strong>alien vehicle<\/strong>. This idea was initially proposed by Harvard astronomer and physicist <strong>Avi Loeb<\/strong>. Loeb suggested, as a &#8220;teaching exercise,&#8221; that an alien craft wishing to hide might choose to stay behind the Sun to maneuver during its closest approach on October 30.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Musk and Rogan Join the Fray<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"853\" src=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-Atlas-3I-Changed-Direction-A-Historic-First-NASA-Activated-the-Planetary-Defense-System-2.png\" alt=\"cropped-Atlas-3I-Changed-Direction-A-Historic-First-NASA-Activated-the-Planetary-Defense-System-2.png\" class=\"wp-image-31928\" style=\"width:750px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-Atlas-3I-Changed-Direction-A-Historic-First-NASA-Activated-the-Planetary-Defense-System-2.png 640w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-Atlas-3I-Changed-Direction-A-Historic-First-NASA-Activated-the-Planetary-Defense-System-2-225x300.png 225w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/cropped-Atlas-3I-Changed-Direction-A-Historic-First-NASA-Activated-the-Planetary-Defense-System-2-150x200.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Although this hypothesis was dismissed as &#8220;unnecessary&#8221; by <strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/tag\/nasa\/\" data-type=\"post_tag\" data-id=\"170\">NASA<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, SETI, and almost the entire astronomical community, the names that <em>really<\/em> matter have now decided to join the debate: <strong>Elon Musk<\/strong> and UFC commentator\/podcaster <strong>Joe Rogan<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rogan asked the owner of X, who was appearing on <em>The Joe Rogan Experience<\/em> podcast, if he was paying attention to <strong>3I\/ATLAS<\/strong>, &#8220;whatever it is.&#8221; Musk quickly shut down the alien speculation, correctly identifying the object as a <strong>comet<\/strong>. Musk told Rogan, &#8220;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.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As Loeb himself explained in a blog post, <strong>3I\/ATLAS<\/strong> is experiencing an acceleration of &#8220;1.1&#215;10^(-6) au\/day squared radially from the Sun&#8221; and &#8220;3.7&#215;10^(-7} au\/day squared transversely to the Sun&#8217;s direction.&#8221; While this sounds strange, it is not unexpected and doesn&#8217;t mean it&#8217;s an alien ship. As comets approach the Sun, they heat up, and the <strong>volatile ices<\/strong> on their surface sublimate (vaporize), causing them to lose mass. The principle of <strong>conservation of momentum<\/strong> shows that the object accelerates as a result. The comet&#8217;s trajectory changed because it was behaving just like a <strong>comet<\/strong> approaching the Sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Does the Unusual Amount of Nickel Mean?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"529\" src=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-31815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race.webp 940w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race-300x169.webp 300w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race-768x432.webp 768w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race-390x220.webp 390w, https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/NASAs-Decision-Angers-Elon-Musk-SpaceX-is-No-Longer-Unrivaled-in-the-Moon-Race-150x84.webp 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Rogan then brought up the issue of the unusual amount of <strong>nickel<\/strong> in the object. He implied this could be a sign of an alien craft and incorrectly added that on Earth, <strong>nickel<\/strong> is only found in industrial alloys. This is where Musk stepped in to show his space expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Musk replied to Rogan, &#8220;No, there are definitely comets and asteroids made primarily of <strong>nickel<\/strong>.&#8221; He continued: &#8220;The places where you mine <strong>nickel<\/strong> on Earth are actually where a <strong>nickel<\/strong>-rich <strong>comet<\/strong> or asteroid impacted the Earth. <strong>Nickel<\/strong>-rich deposits&#8230; come from impacts. You wouldn&#8217;t want to be there at the time, because everything would be destroyed. But today, these are the sources of <strong>nickel<\/strong> and cobalt.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With Musk&#8217;s answer, Rogan moved to another topic and read a Reddit post. The post quoted again from <strong>Avi Loeb<\/strong>&#8216;s blog post, which mentioned the &#8220;first hint that something other than gravity is affecting its acceleration.&#8221; As explained earlier, this was likely the result of a <strong>comet<\/strong>&#8216;s <strong>outgassing<\/strong>. Rogan again tried to say <strong>nickel<\/strong> is only found in manufacturing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After Musk stated for a second time that there are plenty of <strong>nickel<\/strong>-rich objects in the universe, he returned to his own area of expertise, adding, &#8220;If you made it all out of <strong>nickel<\/strong>, that would be a very heavy spaceship.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When Musk didn&#8217;t go along with the &#8220;<strong>alien mothership<\/strong>&#8221; scenario, the pair moved on to how much destruction the object would cause if it hit Earth. Musk said, &#8220;It could destroy a continent,&#8221; and added: &#8220;Maybe even worse. It would probably kill most, if not all, of human life.&#8221; But during the conversation, no indication was given that this object had any possibility of hitting Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In conclusion, Musk was insistent that the object has a natural explanation. Just as every astronomer has been saying for the past few months, <strong>this object is a comet&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">You Might Also Like;<\/h3>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/can-we-actually-survive-on-the-moon\/\">The Harsh Reality of Lunar Colonies: Can We Actually Survive on the Moon?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/the-hard-truth-about-the-gta-vi-pc-release-delay\/\">The Hard Truth About the GTA VI PC Release Delay<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/boston-dynamics-in-crisis\/\">Boston Dynamics in Crisis: The Mass Production Clash with Hyundai<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The &#8220;alien mothership&#8221; claim, put forward by Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, has been refuted by Elon Musk. Musk, speaking on Joe Rogan&#8216;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&#8217;s richest person and CEO of the private space &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"googlesitekit_rrm_CAown96uCw:productID":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[159,271],"class_list":["post-33993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spaces","tag-elon-musk","tag-space-news"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/metaverseplanet.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}