'Interstellar Meteor' Remains From 2014 Could Contain Extraterrestrial Equipment, Scientist Says

The meteor debris can be scooped up with a magnet, physicist Avi Loeb suggested, potentially yielding “sizeable chunks of interstellar matter” and allowing researchers to examine the object’s “composition and nature”.

After US Space Command this month apparently confirmed the findings of Harvard physicist Avi Loeb and his research partner Amir Siraj, who proposed that a meteor that crashed off the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea in 2014 arrived from beyond our solar system, Loeb suggested that it might be possible to recover the remains of that interstellar object.

Sharing his thoughts on the subject in an article posted on The Debrief website, Loeb pointed out that while a mission to retrieve a sample from an interstellar object in space like ‘Oumuamua might cost a pretty penny, it would take a lot less money to recover the remnants of such an object that is already located on our planet.

"The debris from CNEOS-2014-01-08 landed on the ocean floor near Papua New Guinea and it is possible to scoop them with a magnet", he proposed. "Once collected, we could place our hands around sizeable chunks of interstellar matter and examine its composition and nature".

Loeb, who previously speculated that ‘Oumuamua might be of artificial origin, ventured a similar hypothesis regarding the 2014 meteorite.

"The fundamental question is whether any interstellar meteor might indicate a composition that is unambiguously artificial in origin?" he mused. "Better still, perhaps some technological components would survive the impact. My dream is to press some buttons on a functional piece of equipment that was manufactured outside of Earth".