Close encounter of the second kind? Hypothetically Speaking.?

Question

Using New Horizon as the spacecraft that finds it. Currently New Horizon is headed for the Planet Pluto. It current location is half way between Jupiter and Saturn.

What if New Horizon sent back pictures of an ancient spacecraft floating into our solar system but with possible doom for that alien vessel. Ancient, because pictures show damage. Our earth bound scientist determine that the alien spacecraft is going to crash into the planet Uranus in about 30 years.

Should we spend the money to try to retrieve that vessel and put it into orbit around the planet Mars until we can establish a lab on Mars? Or should we spend that money on other things. Using a figure of $50 billion for the whole project, retriveal and labs.

Answer 1

The investigation of a non-earth civilization would have important consequences for our society, and should be pursued at any cost.

We have a lot of idealists right now saying things like "it's arrogant to think that we're the only intelligence species in the universe" but the honest fact is that no one knows how likely it is that life has occured anywhere else.

The planet earth is the ONLY planet we know about for sure, and for all we know, we could be the only life that exists in this universe or any other universe.  It's not a matter or arrogance so much as it is a matter of ignorance.  For right now, we CAN'T KNOW if life exists anywhere else in the universe.

So if we found a probe from a non-earth civilization, I think it would be worth any cost to save it, just so we could know that there really is life on other planets, and we're not alone in the universe.

Answer 2

Well, since I have no idea the cost involved, or the resources (revenue) available, I don't think I would be a good person to answer this....

Wonder if anyone from NASA is on YA... but then I'm sure they have much better things to do than answer questions in the middle of the night... (Yes, I realize that although most people (even me) have better things to do than answer questions in the middle of the night, there are still many of us that are here, anyway.)... But you never know...

It would be interesting to bring the ship in- examine it, learn from it... Maybe we would be able to bring it to an orbit around Earth, study it via the space station... or cut it up and bring it down in pieces, re-assemble it....

Answer 3

hmm....its hard to say, but...if no contact is made with the "ancient craft" it is safe to say it is empty or not distressed or they cant communicate, however....if it is abandoned and floating empty, i would say let it crash into uranus....its a dead planet as far as we know, and if there are life forms on that planet, let them worry about it, we have too many of our own problems on earth to worry about someplace else. what if after we used fifty billion and many other resources to secure the craft in the orbit of a planet, but then an asteroid or some crazy c**p happened that threatened earth? we wouldnt be in a great position to do so, because we just used all our money and stuff to save a planet that looks pretty through a powerful telescope, many people dont even know what uranus looks like, so let a craft crash into it, it wont destroy the planet anymore than a craft crashing into our planet.....(ps. pluto is not a planet anymore.)

Answer 4

Who's starring in it. and when is the release date.

Answer 5

Assuming that we do not have more advanced, less "public" technology that affords us alternative options in this scenario, and, assuming that we have not already been all over that craft like back in the 50's, the U.S. would definitely scramble all over itself to rescue that vessel, at all costs, secondary to the investigation into and harvesting of the alien technology and information stores in the craft.