The specimen raised eyebrows because it appeared capable of causing levitation.
To The Stars
s Earthlings, we’re curious about whether alien civilizations like ours are out there or if they exist at all—which is why scientists were intrigued when a mysterious shard of metal exhibited signs that it might have come from intelligent minds on a distant planet.
This peculiar specimen fell to Earth around 1947 in a supposed UFO wreck that seemed linked to the infamous Roswell incident, which had members of the general public believing a flying saucer had crashed to Earth. It turned out that the debris found in Roswell was actually from a U.S. Air Force balloon meant to spy on Soviet nuclear experiments.
The true origins of the metallic specimen were debated for decades. Eventually, Blink-182 frontman and UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge’s To the Stars Academy got a hold of it. The organization independently researches possible alien phenomena, and the sample had an apparently unprecedented material structure that could indicate an extraterrestrial technosignature. Then, the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which investigates unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) for the U.S. government, took over the investigation to learn more about the object’s physical and chemical properties that made it potentially capable of inertial mass reduction—levitation.
The object in question is a magnesium alloy whose main components are magnesium and zinc. It also contains bismuth, lead, and other trace elements.
AARO asked Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to conduct an analysis in 2022 because scientists were especially interested in whether the sample was of terrestrial origin and if its bismuth content meant it could have possibly been used by aliens as a terahertz waveguide, a metal object that directs electromagnetic waves emitted by an energy source. ORNL was originally established during WWII to investigate things such as atomic weapons, and most of what its scientists investigate is still energy-related. However, the lab has also studied materials suspected to be extraterrestrial. This metal shard specimen “purportedly exhibits extraordinary properties,” according to AARO and ORNL’s recently published findings on the object.
ORNL scientists looked for evidence of life beyond our planet by studying the sample for possible biosignatures, which are naturally occurring substances associated with life, and technosignatures, which are signs of extraterrestrial technology that scientists especially seek out when searching for intelligent life. Some UAPs might have both.
In looking for alien biosignatures, ORNL scientists wanted to see whether the isotopes of the metals in this alloy were from Earth. Finding out where the metals originated meant investigating their isotopic signatures. These represent the ratios of different element isotopes in a material (when versions of the same element exist, but each has a different atomic mass.) Analysis showed that the isotopic signatures of magnesium and lead indicated a terrestrial origin. The magnesium’s isotopic signature had undergone some fractionation, or separation of lighter and heavier isotopes, probably due to stress from heat and physical or chemical manufacturing processes. However, it was still within the normal range for magnesium that forms on Earth, not an alien biosignature.
Strengthening the case for a local origin, the magnesium in this sample also showed a proportion of isotopes that occurs only in our solar system. Scientists know this because the isotopic signature of magnesium originally comes from a particular star-forming region and so is unique to each star system. Magnesium is an extremely common element in the universe, produced in great amounts by larger, older stars that scatter it into space when they die and go supernova. It is often recycled by young star systems, where it forms a unique isotopic signature, depending on the conditions.
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