Something doesn’t feel right. It’s as if you are being watched,
but no one else is around. Stars fill the night sky; the wind gently blows,
rustling the leaves on the trees around you. Then a bright light flashes on directly above you. The
air seems to shimmer as an alien spacecraft decloaks. The beam of light encompasses you
as your feet lift off the ground. As you look up, you are pulled towards the levitating flying
saucer. You scream, but the force field around you refuses to let your cries for help escape.
There are those among us who believe that there is no such thing as aliens. But to think that
Earth is the only planet with life on it in a universe made up of trillions of stars,
each with several planets orbiting them just like our solar system,
is the epitome of human hubris. There are almost certainly other worlds with alien life on them.
Perhaps these planets are inhabited only by microbes. Or maybe there are advanced
civilizations billions of light-years away in an exotic galaxy that we will never know about.
The point is that just because there are aliens out there doesn’t necessarily mean they have
visited Earth and probed its people. Then again, maybe we have been visited by curious aliens.
In this case, how would an alien spaceship actually work? What technology would it need,
and is it even possible to travel through the vast distances of space in a reasonable amount of time?
The craziest part of all is that while you are watching this video, aliens could be watching you
without you knowing it. The universe is around 13.7 billion years old. Earth formed about 4.5
billion years ago, and humans evolved less than a million years ago. This leaves a lot of time for
alien civilizations to evolve and develop advanced technology to explore the cosmos. Any alien
species that visits Earth has an understanding of the universe we can only dream of right now.
The first thing you need to know about alien spaceships is that they can move extremely fast.
If aliens live in our closest neighboring solar system, Alpha Centauri, it would take them just
under four and half years to reach Earth if they traveled at the speed of light. This seems doable,
but the likelihood of intelligent life being that close is pretty small. Therefore,
aliens must travel much further distances if they are visiting us here on Earth.
It’s possible that an alien spaceship could contain cryotubes that would put the crew asleep
during a long journey across the cosmos. Even if their ships could travel at the speed of light,
every single mission to Earth could take hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years,
depending on where their home planet is. The cryotubes would put the aliens into a
frozen stasis so that their bodies would not age and their cells would not degrade
as they made the long flight to Earth. This could be done by subjecting their
bodies to intensely cold temperatures, but the aliens would need to find a way
to dethaw themselves and re-start their life processes once it’s time for them to wake up.
Although, the alien spacecraft might not actually need any type of cryosleep machinery
at all. We don’t know how long alien species live for. If the average life expectancy of
an alien is a million years, then spending a few decades traveling to and from Earth
isn’t that big of a deal. Maybe the aliens have downloaded their consciousness into machines,
and they can live forever. Then it really wouldn’t matter how long the journey took.
Cryotubes are one technology that aliens probably need aboard their spacecraft,
but a bigger problem is how do they get their ship from their homeworld to Earth. Like the
early explorers on Earth, maybe the Aliens would use sails to travel across the void of space.
Solar sails or light sails are gigantic lightweight sheets made of aluminized mylar
that use photons to move across the cosmos like the sails of a ship use the wind to move across
the ocean. Solar sails could use the photons released from stars, but these power generators
can be few and far between. Instead, the alien homeworld could build a giant laser and shoot
it directly toward Earth. The laser wouldn’t be harmful to our planet as it would only consist of
photons that would either pass right through us or be deflected by Earth’s magnetic shield, but
the alien spaceship could use its solar sails to ride the photon laser beam all the way to Earth.
The beauty of spaceships that use light sails is that they will constantly accelerate once they are
in the stream of photon particles. At first, the alien craft connected to the solar sail would be
moving slowly, but as time went on, the constant acceleration would cause the speed to ramp up
until the vessel was moving at close to the speed of light. This would allow the alien ship
to travel across the galaxy while not having to use any energy for thrust. The energy saved could
then be used for life support systems, the return trip, and to explore strange planets like Earth.
For the sake of argument, let’s hypothesize that the aliens don’t live forever and need
to travel across the universe quickly so that they can visit Earth and return home
before the weekend ends. What technology would the alien spaceship need to be equipped with
in order to allow them to traverse the cosmos in the blink of an eye?
Alien astronomers and scientists have been exploring the cosmos for millions of years.
They have developed sophisticated navigation devices that track down naturally occurring
wormholes that connect two points in spacetime. Maybe one wormhole connects the alien’s region
of space with our own, and they are using it as a bridge to come to Earth. The alien spacecraft
would need to be equipped with special shielding or a force field that would allow them to safely
pass through the wormhole without being crushed. They would also need a gravity-altering device to
make sure the wormhole didn’t collapse with them inside it. If these problems could be overcome,
they would be able to travel across the universe almost instantaneously.
However, wormholes are likely pretty rare in the universe, and a wormhole that connects an
alien’s specific region of space with ours seems highly improbable. Luckily, the alien
spaceships are equipped with wormhole-creating particles. Us humans have no idea what these
would look like or what they would be made from, but theoretically, if there were particles that
could tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime, then travel between any two points might be possible.
Wormhole opening technology seems highly unlikely even for an advanced alien spacecraft. However,
warp drives may be much more suitable to the alien’s needs. Rather than only traveling between
two points in space, a warp drive would allow the alien ship to travel through space faster than the
speed of light. However, you might remember from a different Infographics Show video that the laws of
physics prevent anything from moving faster than the speed of light, so how would this be possible?
The alien ship would need to be equipped with a device that could warp the space around the
vessel. This would create a warp bubble that would stretch and relax the spacetime around the craft,
allowing the alien ship to move across space faster than the speed of light since it is
not technically the object moving. The fabric of spacetime would warp and unwarp over and
over again, taking the spaceship with it. And since spacetime doesn’t have a speed limit,
the aliens wouldn’t be breaking the laws of physics as they zoomed around the universe.
Humans have no idea how warp drive technology would work with our current technology and
understanding of physics, but if aliens have visited us, it’s likely this is their key mode
of transportation. Regardless of what type of propulsion the alien spacecraft uses,
there is one main problem they must overcome before they can venture out
into the universe. In order to make it to Earth, the alien spaceship would need
to generate a massive amount of power. There are a few ways they might be able to do this.
Everything from the engines and computers to life support systems aboard an alien
spacecraft needs to get their power from somewhere. Aliens may have found ways to
harness energy from exotic particles in space or generate cold fusion in their reactor cores
to create massive amounts of power. Here on Earth, we are exploring ways to equip spacecraft
with fusion nuclear generators and antimatter drives. If we assume that these are the best
options for aliens to use as their power sources, their systems might look something like this.
At the heart of the alien spacecraft, there is a nuclear power station. It would not
look like a nuclear power station we have on Earth but would be self-contained and easily
able to fit into a single room. The amount of fuel needed to generate enough energy to
move the spacecraft around the cosmos and keep all systems running isn’t a problem as these
nuclear generators run off hydrogen atoms. Hydrogen is abundant in the universe as it’s
the main fuel source for stars and found in the atmospheres of almost every planet.
The aliens would not need to store a lot of hydrogen because if they ever ran low,
they could just swing by the nearest gas giant and refuel. The energy released from the fusion
reaction of two hydrogen atoms fusing into helium is then used to power the entire ship. The best
part is that the helium can then be repurposed for other uses or ejected back into space.
Aliens might take a different approach than fission if they plan on traveling large
distances that may not have any celestial bodies within them. The universe is composed mostly
of empty space, and the distance between solar systems can be incredibly far. In these cases,
the alien spaceship might use antimatter engines to generate the power they need.
Scientists hypothesize that the amount of antimatter needed to
power a spacecraft from Earth to Mars is only a millionth of a gram. Therefore,
a gram of antimatter could carry a vessel a million times the distance between Earth
and Mars or roughly 125 trillion miles. The energy for this type of engine would
be created when antimatter and regular matter come into contact and annihilate.
The best part about this type of reaction is that one hundred percent of the mass
of the antimatter is converted into energy when the reaction occurs. Nothing is lost,
which makes it extremely efficient. The reactions are also 1,000 times more powerful than a nuclear
fission reaction, meaning the engine would need to be secured within a very powerful containment
field. The aliens likely overcame this problem long ago when they initially started exploring
the solar system. But it may be wise to have a backup generator that runs off of fusion
just to power the antimatter container field and make sure that it never fails.
The aliens built a magnetic storage system that separates the antimatter from normal matter,
so it doesn’t annihilate prematurely, vaporizing the alien spacecraft and everything in the
surrounding area, including any planets such as Earth. This magnetic field moves the antimatter
from its storage area into a feed system. It’s here where the antimatter is held until the
engines need to generate more power. Once it’s ejected from the feed system, the antimatter and
regular matter come into contact and immediately annihilate, causing an enormous burst of power.
This energy will be used in systems all over the ship. There will likely be excess energy
created as well, which can then be siphoned to the magnetic rocket thrusters. When the
blast is released into space, it will propel the alien spacecraft forward and could serve
as an alternate mode of transportation to explore the surrounding area. So little
antimatter is required to keep all systems going and provide propulsion
that this will likely be one of the main power sources aboard all alien spacecraft.
Everyone knows the iconic shape of a flying saucer. Yet,
there are very few manmade aircraft that look like this. Why do aliens prefer this shape,
and how would it be possible for their spacecraft to move seamlessly in any
direction? The answer is by using electrodes and the gasses in a planet’s atmosphere.
The shape of a flying saucer works particularly well if aliens want to have the ability to move
their vessels in any direction at a moment's notice. The hull is shaped in a way that creates
very little air resistance or drag. But it is the electrodes placed all around the outside of the
alien craft that gives it the ability to hover in place and then shoot off in any direction.
The way the electrodes work is that they use an electrical charge to change the gasses in the
air into plasma. On average, our atmosphere’s negative and positive particles are pretty much
balanced. However, by heating up the air, the electrodes cause some particles to lose their
electrons and gives them a positive charge. The alien spacecraft then uses its electrodes
to generate an electrical current into the newly formed plasm, which then causes it to push against
the neutral air around it. As the non-charged air pushes back on the ionized plasma, it also pushes
on the alien spaceship in the opposite direction, propelling the craft in the desired direction.
If the electrical current is equal on all sides of the spaceship, the flying saucer will just
hover in place. Then all the aliens have to do is change the intensity of the electrical
current on the opposite side of the ship from where they want to move, and it will be able to
zip across the planet. Perhaps the flying saucer shape is not just used for aerodynamics but also
because it allows for an even distribution of electrodes across the hull of the vessel.
This form of propulsion does not require any fuel or thrust to move the alien craft.
Therefore it would be relatively silent as it flew around observing humans. The
power to turn on the electrodes could come straight from the alien’s antimatter engines,
solar panels, or any other form of electricity-creating device.
If we’re honest with ourselves, then we know that aliens are pretty sneaky. If they weren’t, then
everyone around the world would have seen a UFO at this point. Therefore, the alien spacecraft must
be equipped with some kind of cloaking device. This system may fail from time to time, which
could explain why there are UFO sightings every now and then. However, cloaking would absolutely
be a necessity for any spacefaring aliens who want to observe local populations without being seen.
The way that alien cloaking devices could work is by bending the light around the spacecraft.
In theory, the aliens could use special lenses that cause any light that comes in contact with
the ship to bend so that it’s never reflected back at an observer. This would need to be done
in such a way that the light is not absorbed by the lenses or reflected directly off of them
but is bent so that the light from behind the spacecraft still reaches the observer’s eyes.
If they did use this form of cloaking, there would be a sort of ripple effect
like when you look at a straw going from the air into a glass of water. Although the
straw doesn’t actually break or shift, the change in medium causes the light reflected
off the straw to bend differently. The same type of effect might occur with the alien
cloaking device causing it to distort the image your eyes should be seeing.
You probably wouldn’t be able to make out the exact shape of the spaceship that was using the
cloaking device, but you would notice that there was something there if you looked hard enough.
This is not 100% ideal for the aliens that want to remain hidden from humans. However,
there is another form of cloaking device that may solve all their problems.
Rather than using lenses to bend light around a spaceship,
the aliens might use thousands or millions of little cameras and screens to hide their
vessels. On the hull of the ship, tons of extremely high-definition
screens project images of the background and landscape. When these screens are turned on,
the camera on the back of the ship signals the screens on the front of the ship to project
what they are seeing. This is done all around the alien spacecraft, making it completely invisible.
The aliens would need super high-tech cameras, screens, and computers that could process millions
of images at once even while the spacecraft was moving, but since aliens are able to travel
across the vast distances of space to visit us, this shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
This brings us to the technology used to collect samples for their studies
of Earth. Aliens didn’t come all this way just to be observers. At some point,
they need to gather information and samples. Landing on the surface of Earth is too risky
as someone might accidentally stumble upon their spacecraft, so the aliens use their
tractor beam to pull cows, cars, and people into their vessels for further analysis.
The tractor beams might use a couple of different methods to raise their specimens
off the ground and bring them on board. The use of high-power magnets would be
great for lifting metal objects like cars. These magnets could also be used to pull
other aircraft towards the spaceship, where they could be stored safely in the alien docking bay.
However, not all objects of interest are metallic. For example, a large magnet would never be able to
pull a human off the ground and into a spacecraft. Therefore, one way that aliens might get around
this problem is by using incredibly loud speakers to create high-pressure vortexes that could pull
things towards the ship. This would likely be extremely loud and painful for anyone caught
in the beam but could work if the sound was concentrated around the object or person.
A more viable option for a tractor beam may be to use what is called a solenoidal light beam.
This would look sort of like a tornado of light that would wrap around an object and then slowly
pull it towards the spacecraft. In tests here on Earth, the concept of using a helix of light
to move objects seems viable, but only at the microscopic level. Therefore, the light beam would
need to be pretty intense to lift a human off the ground and into the alien ship. There would be a
delicate balancing act between bombarding the space around someone with high-energy particles
without burning them to a crisp. Perhaps this is why scorch marks found on alien abduction
victims and the planet’s surface around where they were abducted seem not to be all that uncommon.
An alien craft would also need to be able to defend itself. In space,
there are countless objects that could cause hull breaches or wreak havoc on alien engines.
On the planets that the spaceship visits, there might be hostile entities that try to destroy
their ship. Therefore, it’s imperative that the alien spaceship has some kind of force field.
The hull of the alien ship is made out of an immensely strong lightweight material,
but that might not be enough protection. The alien spacecraft could use electromagnetism
to deflect incoming objects. In order for this to work,
the object that the spacecraft is trying to deflect must first be charged up so
that when it comes into contact with the electromagnetic force field, it’s repelled.
The alien ship could do this by using an advanced tracking system and firing an
ionized bolt of energy at the incoming projectile. This would charge up the
particles around the outside of the object. The force field would then be adjusted to
match the opposite polarity of the now ionized object, and the electromagnetic force between
the two oppositely charged particles would repel each other and keep the ship safe.
Another protective measure that alien crafts might be equipped with is a high-powered
annihilation shield. The alien ship could have an outer hull and an inner hull that
has an electric current flowing between the two. When an object either pushes
the outer hull and inner hull together or penetrates them, it will complete a circuit,
and the electricity flowing through both hulls will be dumped into that object. This will only
work for metal objects or anything that can close a circuit, but the effects would be devastating.
All of the electricity coursing around the ship will instantaneously enter the object,
essentially vaporizing it. The problem with this shield is that it will then need time
to charge up before it can be used again. Therefore, if multiple objects were to impact
the spaceship one right after another, there might not be enough time to get the shield
back online before the second impact. However, alien spacecraft have likely
found a way around this problem by implementing multiple types of force fields on each vessel.
As a last line of defense, the alien craft might need to fight back. At this point,
they have done everything they can to observe in secret. But due to some unforeseen circumstances,
humans have started to become hostile, and their defensive measures have all failed.
The alien ship is equipped with several sets of lasers and highly devastating weapons.
They launch antimatter missiles first. Inside each is a small core that annihilates on
impact. The antimatter inside them powers the missiles, so they can travel for incredibly
long distances. In fact, the alien spacecraft could be on the other side of the solar system
when they launch the antimatter missiles, and there would still be plenty of fuel to destroy
pretty much any object once it reaches its target. When the missile impacts its target,
the magnetic field holding the antimatter in stasis is deactivated;
the antimatter comes into contact with regular matter and annihilates. This releases a huge
amount of energy that consumes the target and destroys it instantly.
The alien spaceship also has lasers and particle beams that it can use with pinpoint accuracy. The
particle beams are some of the most deadly weapons the universe has ever seen. These work by using
a huge amount of energy to shoot hydrogen atoms along with free electrons and protons through a
tube aimed at the intended target. When these high-energy particles impact another object,
they transfer their energy to the atoms within it. This causes a cascading effect
as more and more atoms become energized, eventually resulting in the target exploding.
This could be done to anything that is made up of matter, which is everything in the
known universe except energy. The scariest part about the alien particle beam is that
it doesn’t matter what size an object is; anything can be blown up with enough hits
from the particle beam. Human soldiers would be instantly vaporized. Any aircraft trying to
defend our planet would blow up in a fiery explosion. The planet itself could even
be destroyed if billions of spaceships all bombarded Earth with particle beams at once.
That being said, we are still here. And it seems like if alien ships have visited our planet,
they have remained pretty well hidden. Therefore, it’s much more likely that any
alien craft that has been to Earth was here for exploratory purposes and not to conduct
a planetary invasion. Perhaps in the future, aliens will reveal themselves to us and help
us unlock the mysteries of the universe that allow them to build such wonderful spacecraft.
Now watch “First 72 Hours After Aliens Make Contact (Hour by
Hour).” Or check out “Space Chief Makes a Shocking Alien Confession.”