How the Black Knight could exist

Let’s pretend for a moment that the Black Knight really does exist. How could it slip by unnoticed for 13 000 years? Gorman has a few ideas.

The first: mimic one of the small pieces of space junk that are no larger than 10 cm in size – space organisations exercise more scrutiny over larger objects. ‘We’re going to assume that aliens have much more advanced technology than us, so something [that size] could be just as advanced as something the size of a house.’ To avoid collisions with other scraps of space junk, aliens could develop miniaturised force-field technology to keep their probe from getting hit, Gorman says.

And thinking long-term, there’s the possibility that Earth could eventually have its own ring system – made up entirely of space junk in the ‘graveyard orbit’, about 300 km above most working satellites. If and when that day comes, the Black Knight will have a decision to make, Gorman says: ‘Will it join this ring and risk detection, or run away and hide?’ – Courtney Linder