Elon Musk’s plans refer to an idea conceived in the 1960s. What is the Kardashev scale? | CNN

Elon Musk’s plans for the future of SpaceX, and humanity, are rooted in an idea conceived in the 1960s when astronomers began to pick up mysterious, unknown radio sources in the cosmos. Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev was a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence at the time, and some of the signals fascinated him. Intrigued by the idea that a transmission from potential alien civilizations could possibly be detected from Earth, he proposed a scale to classify such civilizations based on the energy they could produce — and then devote to interstellar communications. His concept is now known as the Kardashev scale. Musk has referenced the scale often, most recently in video shared on X, his social platform, ahead of SpaceX’s blockbuster initial public offering in June and in a signed statement on the company’s website, which summarizes a request filed this year with the US Federal Communications Commission. In the request, SpaceX asks for permission to send up to 1 million new satellites into orbit, with the goal of creating data centers in space. Musk said that this new constellation of satellites would represent “a first step towards becoming a Kardas