A detailed preprint, posted recently here, suggests a new path in the search for technological signatures of extraterrestrial civilizations. The idea is to analyze a cubic meter of lunar regolith and look for sub-micron dust particles that might be relics from long gone technological structures of past civilizations in the Milky-Way galaxy. Such particles may survive over billions of years in their journey through interstellar space and eventually land on the lunar surface.
The traditional search for electromagnetic signals from extraterrestrial civilizations requires contemporaneous transmissions, akin to waiting for a phone call. However, as I had been arguing after the discovery of the anomalous interstellar object 1I/’Oumuamua nine years ago, material relics accumulate over time even if their senders are long extinct. The Moon has no geological activity and may collect such relics on its surface like a museum with a historic exhibition spanning 4.5 billion years, the last third of cosmic history. For that reason, I often referred to the Moon as an important platform for the frontier of interstellar archaeology, as reviewed here.
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