ANITA was placed in Antarctica because there is little chance of interference from other signals. To capture the emission signals, the balloon-borne radio detector is sent to fly over stretches of ice, capturing what are called ice showers. Credit: Stephanie Wissel / Penn State

But analysis found the pulses discovered under the ice in Antarctica are ‘anomalous’ meaning they did not match standard particle physics. The Pennsylvania State University is now developing a more powerful detector called PUEO, which could shed more light on what the signals detected are.