Elon Musk’s plans for the future of SpaceX, and humanity, are rooted in an idea conceived in the 1960s when astronomers began to pick up mysterious, unknown radio sources in the cosmos. Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev was a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at the time, and some of the signals fascinated him.

The Kardashev Scale

Intrigued by the idea that a transmission from potential alien civilizations could possibly be detected from Earth, Kardashev proposed a scale to classify such civilizations based on the energy they could produce — and then devote to interstellar communications. His concept is now known as the Kardashev scale.

Musk has referenced the scale often, most recently in a video shared on his social platform, ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering in June and in a signed statement on the company’s website, which summarizes a request filed this year with the US Federal Communications Commission.

The Kardashev scale has three levels, moving from planet to star to galaxy. A Type I civilization can use all the energy of a single planet, either produced by the planet itself — for example in the form of geothermal or wind power — or received from its host star, like solar power.

Expert Opinions

Experts have recognized the framework as a useful tool to grade potential civilizations, albeit one that is not used in any official capacity. According to Zaza Osmanov, an affiliate of the SETI Institute and associate dean of the School of Physics at the Free University of Tbilisi in Georgia, the Kardashev scale is, in principle, almost the only scientific framework we have for objectively assessing a civilization’s technological level, specifically in terms of its ability to harness and utilize energy.

Judging by that standard, any alien civilization that were to happen upon Earth now likely wouldn’t be too impressed, Musk suggested in the video SpaceX shared last month. But could the company’s plans for orbital data centers, which face a number of technical hurdles, and its ongoing development of Starship, the most powerful launch system ever built, really change that view?

Original reporting: KTVZ (Central Oregon) — read the source article.