— The search for alien life One extension to the research could be examining exoplanets already found by space telescopes, such as NASA's now-retired Kepler or the agency's still-active Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the team suggests. Another direction could be parsing the sources of Earth's radio leakage, which will likely include Wi-Fi networks, radars for the military and civilian agencies, mobile handsets, and even satellite constellations such as SpaceX's Starlink. SpaceX recently surpassed 4,000 individual active Starlinks in orbit and hopes to grow that number to at least 40,000. If SpaceX and other companies send up tens of thousands of satellites, Earth's artificial radio signal will be much easier to spot. "Current estimates suggest we will have more than 100,000 satellites in low Earth orbit and beyond before the end of the decade. The Earth is already anomalously bright in the radio part of the spectrum," Garrett said. "If the trend continues, we could become readily detectable by any advanced civilization with the right technology." A study based on the research was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society in February. Elizabeth Howell is the co-author of "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book about space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com. See all comments (1)