Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

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EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals: What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars!

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Oct 4, 2025

Guest

Avi Loeb

Avi Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist and director of the Galileo Project, shares groundbreaking insights on the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS recently observed by NASA's HiRISE camera. He discusses the significance of these images for planetary science and why this rare visitor may reshape our understanding of cosmic phenomena. Loeb highlights intriguing anomalies such as its extreme polarization and potential technosignatures. He emphasizes the importance of observing these mysteries and warns against the dangers of scientific complacency in the face of the unknown.

01:56:52

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Episode notes

00:00 / 00:00

Mars Orbiters Offer Highest-Resolution View

HiRISE on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can image interstellar object 3I/ATLAS at ~30 km/pixel, offering unprecedented resolution.
That image can tightly constrain the object's size and surface area by using the brightest pixel and assumed albedo.

00:00 / 00:00

No Recoil Implies Huge Mass

Motion analysis of 3I/ATLAS shows no detectable non-gravitational acceleration despite measured mass loss.
That implies a very large mass (>=33 billion tons) and a nucleus likely larger than ~5 km if solid.

00:00 / 00:00

Sunward Jet Defies Comet Norms

3I/ATLAS shows a sunward jet ten times longer than wide, unlike typical comet tails that point away from the Sun.
This unusual geometry could relate to the extreme negative polarization observed and remains unexplained.

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HiRISE and Mars Close Approach Imaging

01:10 • 5min

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Observability from Earth vs. Mars and Possible Maneuvering

05:52 • 1min

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List of Anomalies: Size, Jet, Chemistry, Polarization

07:19 • 3min

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What Is Polarization and Why It Matters

10:10 • 3min

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Orbital Alignment and Wow! Signal Connection

13:03 • 5min

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Scientific Responsibility and Proposal to the UN

18:25 • 7min

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Perseverance Rover Sighting and Brightness/Polarization

25:12 • 2min

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Using HiRISE Pixels to Constrain Size and Mass

27:31 • 2min

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Measured Polarization and Mass-Arrival Rate Tension

29:59 • 9min

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Why Comet Tails Form and 3I/ATLAS's Jet vs. Tail

38:32 • 4min

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Detection of a Trailing Dust Tail and Ablation Rates

42:13 • 4min

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Nickel-Rich Composition and Technosignature Question

46:24 • 3min

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Re-examining the Wow! Signal and Natural Explanations

49:01 • 9min

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Galileo Project: Building Observatories to Gather Data

58:26 • 6min

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Scientific Culture, Censorship, and the Value of Risky Research

01:04:28 • 13min

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Radio Follow-up and SETI's Limited Focus

01:17:16 • 9min

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Observable Technosignatures and Intercept Opportunities

01:25:56 • 10min

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Policy, International Coordination, and Caution Sending Messages

01:36:19 • 5min

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Competition and Global Roles in Space Science

01:41:24 • 4min

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What to Expect When 3I/ATLAS Nears the Sun

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Final Orbit

Martin Cruz Smith

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Galileo

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Sidereus Nuncius

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Galileo

Published on March 13, 1610, Sidereus Nuncius is the first scientific work based on observations made through a telescope. It reports Galileo's findings on the imperfect and mountainous Moon, hundreds of stars not visible to the naked eye, and the discovery of four moons orbiting Jupiter, later known as the Galilean moons. This work challenged the prevailing Ptolemaic and Aristotelian views of the cosmos and marked a significant milestone in the history of astronomy.

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins Brian Keating to discuss a groundbreaking observation: the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar visitor, from the vantage point of Mars.

In this episode, we explore:

• What HiRISE detected and why it matters for planetary science.

• How interstellar objects like ʻOumuamua and 3I/ATLAS challenge our theories.

• Why Mars may become an ideal outpost for detecting future interstellar visitors.

• The implications for astrobiology, planetary defense, and our search for extraterrestrial technology.

✨ Just as the 1977 “Wow! Signal” jolted radio astronomers with a one-time unexplained burst, 3I/ATLAS may be its optical cousin—an anomalous, fleeting, but potentially transformative messenger. Loeb even calculated that 3I/ATLAS’s trajectory passed within about one degree of the Wow! Signal’s sky position, making the connection more than metaphorical. Ignoring such rare alignments risks repeating history: anomalies slip through our fingers while orthodoxy insists nothing unusual happened. The Wow! Signal warned us of the danger of complacency; 3I/ATLAS reminds us that cosmic surprises often lurk at the margins of expectation, carrying lessons we may miss if we force every mystery into old categories.

🚀 EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars! 🌌

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins me to discuss the latest revelations about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to Mars. From HiRISE images to unusual chemistry, polarization anomalies, and even a potential link to the Wow! Signal, this conversation explores whether 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet—or a possible technological artifact. Along the way, we cover censorship from Galileo to today’s UAP debates, the “Sputnik moment” of interstellar objects, and what a global response might look like.

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction & why this day is special

1:29 – 3I/ATLAS closest approach to Mars: HiRISE imaging

2:50 – Mass, size, and what it means for its trajectory

5:06 – Global spacecraft observing 3I/ATLAS (NASA, ESA, UAE, China)

7:21 – Explaining the anomalies: jets, chemical makeup, negative polarization

13:06 – Alignment with the plane of planets (0.2% likelihood)

14:31 – Coincidence with the Wow! Signal and radio SETI opportunities

18:52 – White paper to the UN: global response to interstellar visitors

24:21 – Perseverance rover possible detection of ATLAS

29:47 – Nickel–iron anomaly and unusual chemistry

36:44 – Science inefficiency & missed discoveries (Hot Jupiters analogy)

43:29 – Why critics are wrong about “just a comet”

55:04 – Galileo, Pinker, and common knowledge parallels to UAP debates

1:01:20 – Peer review, censorship, and suppression in modern science

1:03:59 – Anti-science, conspiracy theories, and science communication

1:11:55 – Risk vs. safety in research; why scientists avoid anomalies

1:23:28 – China, Mars samples, and the race for extraterrestrial life

1:37:32 – JWST chemistry results: carbon dioxide vs water

1:41:42 – Should we send signals to 3I/ATLAS?

1:44:12 – Wake-up call for humanity & final reflections

️ The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast has featured 22 Nobel Prize winners, Fields Medalist Terence Tao, and legendary mathematician Jim Simons. Subscribe to join the conversation at the frontiers of science, math, and technology.

👉 What do YOU think HiRISE really saw? Could 3I/ATLAS change how we understand our place in the cosmos? Drop your thoughts in the comments below!

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