Lasers could attract extraterrestrials to Earth, according to a study by MIT

James Clark, a graduate student in MIT's Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and author of the study, acknowledged that creating the project would be "difficult" but not impossible.

"If we managed to close a handshake and start communicating, we could send a message, at a data rate of a few hundred bits per second, that would arrive in just a few years," Clark said in a statement. .

Clark noted that lasers of this magnitude had already been created, such as the Airborne Laser of the US Air Force, an obsolete system to shoot down ballistic missiles. However, a telescope large enough to create a potential extraterrestrial signal is currently not available.

So, could humans read a signal if extraterrestrials – assuming they exist – sent one to Earth? The researchers said that it was possible with the right telescope, but that one would have to point the signal source directly to see it.

Clark said he hoped the study would open the door to advances in infrared imaging techniques.

"While the infrared spectra of exoplanets are investigated for traces of gas indicating the viability of life, and that open-air surveys reach greater coverage and become faster, we can be more certain that, if AND call, we'll detect it. "Clark said.