---
title: "A Giant Space Laser on Earth Could Blast Messages at Alien Planets"
description: "A giant space laser, built with mostly-existing technology, could serve as a homing beacon for any aliens that might be out there."
date: "2018-11-05"
modified: "2018-11-05"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/space-laser-alien-life"
categories:
  - "Astronomy"
  - "Exobiology"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "aliens"
  - "extraterrestrial"
  - "SETI"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# A Giant Space Laser on Earth Could Blast Messages at Alien Planets

![A giant space laser, built with mostly-existing technology, could serve as a homing beacon for any aliens that might be out there.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/space-laser-alien-life.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Tag Hartman-SimkinsChris Barbalis/Tag Hartman-Simkins\</em\>*

## Phone Home

Scientists have a new idea to contact alien civilizations: build a huge laser and start blasting exoplanets with messages.

We could build such a laser, according to research by MIT scientists [published Monday in *The Astrophysical Journal*](<http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/aae380>), with technology that either exists today or requires just minor developments.

## Death Star

The laser is [more of a homing beacon](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/technosignatures-nasa-alien-life>) than a death ray. A one or two-megawatt laser, beamed out through a 30 to 45-meter telescope**,** would be powerful enough to reach planets as far as 20,000 light years away. For reference**,** the star nearest our sun is Proxima Centauri, which is [just over four light years](<https://www.britannica.com/story/how-do-we-know-how-far-away-the-stars-are>) from us.

If any planet hit with our laser that happens, by [some infinitesimally small chance](<https://futurism.com/life-universe-scientist-drake-equation-study>), to host extraterrestrial life that had developed advanced technology, its occupants would be able to look back at Earth and see signs of life.

## Waiting Game

The scientists behind this research are counting on SETI, the government agency responsible for scanning the night sky for alien life, to complete more full-sky scans and invest in the infrared technology that could help identify which distant planets likely [have habitable atmospheres](<https://futurism.com/martian-lakes-alien-life>).

With those advances and if there are aliens out where with a laser of their own — that’s a big "if" — the researchers argue that we could have a back-and-forth conversation over decades or centuries, with each message taking many years to reach its target.

**READ MORE:** [E.T., we’re home](<https://news.mit.edu/2018/laser-attract-alien-astronomers-study-1105>) \[*MIT News*\]

***More on the search for alien life: [Scientists want Your Help Crafting a Message to Aliens](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/arecibo-message-aliens>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)