SETI finds no alien tech signals from interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS

The SETI Institute has officially cleared interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS of any extraterrestrial technology. In a statement Wednesday, the organization detailed that radio observations from its Allen Telescope Array in Northern California turned up zero technosignatures after scanning the object for more than seven hours. The team identified and analyzed roughly 74 million narrow-band radio signals, searching for patterns that would indicate intelligent design—all to no avail.

Discovered last summer, 3I/ATLAS is only the third known object from another star system to enter our solar system, following 'Oumuamua and Comet 2I/Borisov. Despite initial speculation from a few without evidence, scientists quickly classified it as a natural comet. The icy visitor made its closest approach to Mars in October 2025, passing within 30 million kilometers of the red planet, and came nearest to Earth in December at a distance of 269 million kilometers. Multiple NASA spacecraft, including the James Webb Space Telescope, observed the comet as it traversed the inner solar system. SETI's thorough search adds to the growing body of evidence that interstellar objects are likely just natural debris from other planetary systems.