![\"3I\/ATLAS\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/3IATLAS-NOIRlab.jpg\")
(Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/Shadow the Scientist)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image Credit: International Gemini Observatory\/NOIRLab\/NSF\/AURA\/Shadow the Scientist)<\/p>\n
Welcome to this edition of The Intelligence Brief\u2026 This week, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) launched a new global campaign to monitor 3I\/ATLAS, the interstellar comet that entered our solar system earlier this year. In our analysis, we\u2019ll examine 1) how the campaign\u2019s true scientific goals have been overshadowed by online speculation about a \u201cplanetary defense\u201d initiative, 2) why NASA\u2019s ongoing shutdown has left the agency unable to participate in this rare research opportunity, 3) why astronomers say collecting accurate astrometry on 3I\/ATLAS is critical to ensuring this interstellar visitor doesn\u2019t become one of science\u2019s greatest missed opportunities, and 4) why, despite the misinformation surrounding 3I\/ATLAS, discussion about the possible discovery of technosignatures or hypothetical \u201cblack swan\u201d events should not be dismissed outright.<\/p>\n
Quote of the Week <\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cEuropa Clipper has a rare opportunity to sample an interstellar object\u2019s tail.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n \u2013 Samuel Grant and Geraint Jones<\/strong><\/p>\n If you enjoy the news and perspectives offered by The Debrief, make sure that you aren\u2019t missing our stories by making us one of your \u201cpreferred sources\u201d on Google News. You can simply follow this link<\/a> to add The Debrief to your list of favorites, and you can read more about Google\u2019s preferred sources in our recent article here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n RECENT NEWS from The Debrief<\/p>\n A New Campaign to Monitor 3I\/ATLAS<\/strong><\/p>\n This week, the International Asteroid Warning Network<\/a> (IAWN) announced<\/a> a new campaign that will target 3I\/ATLAS, the unusual interstellar comet that was first detected in our solar system back in July.<\/p>\n The campaign, which will begin in late November and run through January 27, 2026, is focused on improving the collection of \u201caccurate astrometry\u201d of comets, according to an Editorial Notice issued in an electronic circular issued by the Minor Planet Center on October 21, 2025.<\/p>\n Using 3I\/ATLAS as a target for a campaign to improve our data-gathering about objects moving through our solar system makes a lot of sense, since the rare interstellar comet has dominated the attention of many astronomers in recent months. Additionally, the object displays unusual characteristics<\/a>, raising significant new questions about the kinds of behaviors we can expect from comets and other objects that originate beyond our solar system.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the IAWN\u2019s most obvious reasons for wanting to monitor the movement of an interstellar visitor passing through our planetary neighborhood seem to have been overlooked by many news sites, which instead began airing speculations about the enactment of a new \u201cplanetary defense\u201d initiative by NASA, feeding into the ongoing hype and misinformation that has surrounded 3I\/ATLAS now for several weeks.<\/p>\n A Planetary Defense Initiative, or Just Misinformation? <\/strong><\/p>\n Following the release of the IAWN\u2019s bulletin, several websites have reported that NASA is now involved<\/a> in what some characterize as a \u201cplanetary defense<\/a>\u201d initiative involving the object, with others citing the \u201cactivation<\/a>\u201d of a new \u201ctraining drill<\/a>\u201d related to 3I\/ATLAS.<\/p>\n What most of these sensational news reports fail to recognize, however, is that NASA had far less to do with the launch of the recent campaign than usual, and for a couple of reasons. Primarily, the IAWN is an international collaboration of organizations and astronomers that, according to its website<\/a>, has been \u201crecommended by United Nations resolution\u201d and whose combined efforts \u201cwork to detect, monitor, and characterize potentially hazardous asteroids and Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).\u201d<\/p>\n To be clear, that isn\u2019t to say that NASA doesn\u2019t play a significant role in IAWN\u2019s activities. \u201cNASA\u2019s involvement was essential to the formation of IAWN,\u201d reads an article<\/a> at the space agency\u2019s website from January 2024. The article notes that NASA\u2019s current role involves \u201ccoordinating IAWN, which includes convening the semi-annual meetings of the steering committee and signatories as well as leading the periodic campaigns to exercise the astronomical and modeling capabilities of the worldwide network.\u201d<\/p>\n However, it would have been difficult for NASA, of all agencies, to launch such a planetary defense initiative right now, given that the ongoing U.S. government shutdown halted the space agency\u2019s operations on October 1, 2025. For several weeks now, NASA hasn\u2019t even updated its websites, and so reconciling its inactivity with the idea that it could have launched an international planetary defense effort amid the shutdown would indeed be problematic.<\/p>\n Nonetheless, the current lapse in federal government funding highlights another significant concern related to 3I\/ATLAS\u2014one that more websites should focus on rather than misinformation: NASA\u2019s inopportune hiatus during one of the most significant space-related developments in recent memory.<\/p>\n 3I\/ATLAS: A Missed Opportunity?<\/strong><\/p>\n Arguably, the most concerning thing about 3I\/ATLAS is not whether it could be alien technology (this seems unlikely based on the current evidence<\/a>, but more on that later) or whether it represents a threat to Earth (there is currently no evidence supporting this).<\/p>\n No, the real concern involves NASA\u2019s current inability to collect potentially useful data about the rare interstellar visitor.<\/p>\n Just two days after the beginning of the most recent U.S. government shutdown, which is already now the second longest in history, 3I\/ATLAS made its closest approach to Mars<\/a>. At that time, no camera anywhere on the Red Planet was better equipped to capture high-resolution imagery of the object as it passed than the HiRISE camera aboard NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Yet, frustratingly, it remains unclear if HiRISE imagery of the object was successfully obtained, let alone whether we\u2019ll be seeing it any time soon.<\/p>\n Additionally, a recent study by European Space Agency scientists Samuel Grant and Geraint Jones suggests that while 3I\/ATLAS will remain far out of reach of Earthly space probes, NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper mission could potentially find itself passing through the \u201cion tail\u201d<\/a> carried away from the object by the solar wind following its trip around the Sun.<\/p>\n Of course, detecting any of these interstellar ions\u2014a scientific first, and a significant one, no doubt\u2014would require the Europa Clipper\u2019s scientific instruments to be activated. That prospect is seeming increasingly unlikely, as the potential encounter between the spacecraft and the projected location of the comet\u2019s ion tail looms nearer by the day, yet still with no immediate signs of the U.S. government resuming operations.<\/p>\n A \u201cBlack Swan\u201d Event?<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, while most of the issues addressed up to this point relate to 3I\/ATLAS\u2019s identity as an interstellar comet, this should not be taken as a complete dismissal of some of the reasons experts have put forward for why studying the object has relevance to planetary defense, and even the potential discovery of extraterrestrial technologies.<\/p>\n In an August 2025 paper<\/a> titled \u201cTechnosignature Searches of Interstellar Objects,\u201d the authors stated that the \u201crapidly growing suite of observations for 3I\/ATLAS strongly supports the conclusion that it is a comet,\u201d though adding that their paper nonetheless aimed \u201cto motivate the systematic study of these objects for possible technosignatures\u201d in the unlikely event that they could be transporting alien technologies<\/a>.<\/p>\n Similarly, Harvard theoretical physicist Avi Loeb has championed the controversial<\/a> position that the anomalies 3I\/ATLAS displays should, at the very least, warrant consideration in the study of such objects, which Loeb argues \u201ccould pose a threat to humanity if they happen to carry alien technology.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBlack swan events with small probabilities must be considered seriously if their implications to the future of humanity are large,\u201d Loeb recently wrote in a post on his Medium page<\/a>.<\/p>\n For now, given the data at hand, arguably one of the greatest concerns we should have about 3I\/ATLAS remains that, as one of the rarest and most fascinating scientific discoveries in recent memory has been traversing our solar system, NASA has been unable to act on it due to the current lack of federal funding. Add to that, of course, the countless NASA employees, as well as those in various other U.S. government agencies, who, along with their families, are being impacted during this period while going without pay.<\/p>\n With any luck, the IAWN\u2019s campaign to collect \u201caccurate astrometry\u201d about 3I\/ATLAS will be successful. Right now, if we don\u2019t want 3I\/ATLAS to become one of recent history\u2019s greatest missed opportunities, it seems we\u2019ll need all the data we can get.<\/p>\n That concludes this week\u2019s installment of\u00a0The Intelligence Brief.\u00a0You can read\u00a0past editions of our newsletter at our website<\/a>, or if you found this installment online,\u00a0don\u2019t forget to subscribe\u00a0and get future email editions from us here<\/a>. Also, if you have a\u00a0tip<\/a> or other information you\u2019d like to send along directly to me, you can email me at micah [@] thedebrief [dot] org, or reach me on X: @MicahHanks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Astronomers have discovered the longest gamma-ray burst ever recorded, revealing that a black hole literally consumed a star from the inside out over the course of seven hours.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n New research indicates that schizophrenia\u2019s auditory hallucinations may result from the brain failing to recognize its inner monologue.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Brainwaves scan the cerebral cortex like a radar system to bring attention to visual anomalies, according to new MIT research.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n While the loss of Arctic Sea ice remains an impending climate disaster, the melting may give an unexpected boost to carbon-eating algae.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n This week in news from The Debrief, DARPA is pursuing strange physics, and NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope makes a major discovery.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Analysis of a massive wooden monument has uncovered new secrets of Cahokia, America\u2019s greatest lost civilization.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n New James Webb Space Telescope observations indicate that early galaxies were more chaotic than previous results suggested.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3I\/ATLAS is producing a \u201chidden\u201d tail of charged particles, and these scientsts have a bold new plan to send spacecraft into it.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/latest.png\")
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