If one scientist’s theory is confirmed, humans could one day travel across the universe via free-floating planets.
Civilizations could use free-floating planets instead of hopping on a giant spacecraft to escape planetary doom, says a new study published in the International Journal of Astrobiology.
Free-floating planets are planetary-mass objects that do not currently orbit their star.
Many of these individual planets, each about the size of Jupiter, can be found in a region of the Milky Way known as the OB Scorpio Upper Star Association.
Now, one researcher, Irina Romanovskaya, proposes that “alien civilizations may use free-floating planets as interstellar vehicles to reach, explore and colonize planetary systems.”
Romanovskaya believes that a highly advanced extraterrestrial civilization (ETC) may already be doing this, leaving a technosignature in the process.
“The observation of only one or a few unexplained emission of electromagnetic radiation along the lines of observations of planetary systems, stellar groups, galaxies, and seemingly empty regions of space may be a technical signature produced on free-floating planets located along the line. Observe,” Romanovskaya said.
Where does this theory come from?
To date, astronomers have discovered between 70 and 170 free-floating planets.
According to Science Alert, the planets have the potential to carry their own life in subsurface oceans that are kept warm by radioactive decay.
So, every time a free-floating planet is gravitationally pulled into its star’s orbit — actually making it more habitable — life has essentially transported itself to a more habitable environment.
Given this situation, Romanovskaya asks: Why can’t ETC do the same thing?
Free-floating planets, when acting as lifeboats, offer some undeniable benefits, such as providing “constant surface gravity, vast amounts of space and resources,” Romanovskaya wrote.
“Free-floating planets with surface and subsurface oceans could provide water as a depleting resource and protect from space radiation.”
Controlled nuclear fusion as an energy source
In theory, advanced ETCs could direct free-floating planets to energy through “controlled fusion,” Romanovskaya said.
Fusion, also known as “nuclear fusion,” refers to the combination of two or more atomic nuclei to form one or more distinct atomic nuclei and subatomic particles (neutrons or protons).
Because the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei, the remaining mass becomes energy.
While the concept of “controlled fusion” has yet to materialize, researchers have been toying with the idea as a potential energy source.
In the study, Romanovskaya said that advanced ETCs may already be using the technology to convert free-floating planets into temporary life-supporting objects.
Four ways ETC travels on a free-floating planet
Romanovskaya proposed four scenarios for how ETC could travel from its home star to a free-floating planet.
The first is for free-floating planets passing through the ETC parent star.
If the ETC is advanced enough and free-floating planets usually get close to their parent stars, they might have the ability to spot it and get close to it.
The second involves the use of “astronomical techniques” to guide a free-floating planet closer to a civilization’s home so they can travel to flyby objects.
“Astronomical engineering” describes techniques or methods used to alter the motion of objects in the universe.
Scenario three describes a civilization that may use astronomical engineering to actively eject an object from its planetary system, thereby artificially turning it into a free-floating planet.
However, this scenario, which requires very advanced and powerful technology, can bring many potential problems.
For example, bringing a large foreign object into the inner solar system would disrupt the orbits of nearby planets.
In the fourth scenario, if a civilization can pinpoint exactly when a planet is free-floating—say, after losing the sun—they could ride that planet out of a dying solar system.
In all of these cases, a civilization could escape doom with a free-floating planet — but it’s important to note that these are only temporary solutions.
“For all of the above, free-floating planets may not serve as a permanent means of escaping existential threats,” the authors explain.
“These planets end up unable to sustain liquid water oceans (if such oceans exist) due to the weakening of the heat generated within them.”
What about humans?
In about 5 billion years, our sun will become a red giant, expanding and engulfing the inner planets, including Earth.
If humans still existed at that time, could we have advanced enough to survive?
Impossible to know, but if we did, then maybe humans would test Romanovskaya’s theory and hop on a free-floating planet.
With spacecraft currently incapable of helping us out of existential threats, this approach may be the only option for future humans.
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