A signal linked to aliens was actually from a truck, scientists say

Rumble was just a vehicle driving past, rather than a sign of extraterrestrial technology

Joshua Tree National Park is best enjoyed at night (Getty Images)

A signal that has been linked to aliens was actually just a passing truck, scientists have said.

In January 2014, a meteor flew into the atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean. Last year, researchers found materials on the ocean floor, thought to have fallen from that meteor – and said that they were evidence of alien technology.

Part of that theory was based on the fact that a nearby seismic station in Papua New Guinea had picked up ground vibrations, suggesting that the meteor’s fireball had arrived nearby.

But that signal appears to have come from the rumble of a passing truck, scientists say. As such, the materials scavenged from the ocean might not have come from the meteor at all – let alone being evidence of alien technology.

“The signal changed directions over time, exactly matching a road that runs past the seismometer,” said Benjamin Fernando, a planetary seismologist at Johns Hopkins who led the research. “It’s really difficult to take a signal and confirm it is not from something.

“But what we can do is show that there are lots of signals like this, and show they have all the characteristics we’d expect from a truck and none of the characteristics we’d expect from a meteor.”

The meteor actually entered the atmosphere somewher else, the researchers say. And there is no reliable seismic evidence that suggests otherwise.

“The fireball location was actually very far away from where the oceanographic expedition went to retrieve these meteor fragments,” he said. “Not only did they use the wrong signal, they were looking in the wrong place.”

The materials brought up from the bottom of the ocean were probably tiny, normal meteorites, the researchers said.

“Whatever was found on the sea floor is totally unrelated to this meteor, regardless of whether it was a natural space rock or a piece of alien spacecraft—even though we strongly suspect that it wasn’t aliens,” Fernando said in a statement..