A Legal and Ethical Frontier
Under current international law, there is no binding global framework governing extraterrestrial contact. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty—drafted in the shadow of the Cold War—addresses sovereignty and weapons in space but says nothing about diplomacy with non-human species.
Loeb’s critics argue that the UN lacks both authority and capability to manage such a process, suggesting that an expanded consortium of scientists, ethicists, and legal scholars—perhaps would be more effective.
What’s Next
3I/ATLAS is expected to reach perihelion on October 30, 2025, passing roughly 203 million kilometers from the Sun before heading back into interstellar space.
Whether or not 3I/ATLAS proves to be an alien artifact, Loeb’s campaign has already forced a reckoning: Earth’s readiness for first contact may depend less on technology than on cooperation—and right now, cooperation is in short supply.
