One of the things that Galnet has been doing lately is to set up the background lore of the game, especially in relation to resolving potential ambiguities from/with the previous games. Thus we have had information about the Antares incident, the Thargoids and this alien artefact. The timing of some of these articles, however, may be significant.
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The nature of this artefact found in the distant past (for 3302) on Mars is odd: for it to be clear that it is genuinely alien would have represented an incredibly significant moment in history, at the time of its discovery. At the very least, it would have had to have been investigated by multiple parties, independently, to be sure of the findings (e.g. isotopic and metallurgical analysis). To then not share any information other than its size, the planet it was found on and the fact of its non-human origin would have been considered bizarre and, very likely, unpopular in the past. Two reasons I can think of for keeping further details secret are that information might have been recovered from it suggesting a threat, or that it was itself transmitting information on its surroundings and needed to be kept in a shielded location to hide the fact of its recovery from its manufacturers. Either way, it means that the civilisation that made it exists in ED (whether implemented in part in the Rift or elsewhere, or awaiting implementation at a later date, e.g. in a permit-locked region) and may one day be encountered. Perhaps then more information may be forthcoming...
