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

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. The 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 or received from its host star.

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. In the request, SpaceX asks for permission to send up to 1 million new satellites into orbit, with the goal of creating data centers in space. Musk said that this new constellation of satellites would represent “a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization.”

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, “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. 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: KRDO (Colorado Springs metro) — read the source article.