The year is 2063 and brilliant scientist Zefram Cochrane has just carried out the first successful test flight of a ‘warp engine’, unlocking the seemingly impossible possibilities of faster-than-light travel.
The warp signature is detected by a nearby Vulcan ship, the crew of which determine that humanity has finally matured enough for first contact. And that –in the universe of Star Trek – is how we become aware of the existence of aliens.
“I don’t think you could rule out such a scenario,” says Prof Michael Garrett, director of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and the current chair of the International Academy of Astronautics Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (IAA SETI) Permanent Committee.
“Any alien civilisation is likely to be significantly more advanced than we are. They could be cloaked.”
According to Garrett, our knowledge of intelligent alien life is more likely to come from an observatory receiving an extraterrestrial signal rather than the sudden arrival of a ship.
