NASA and UFOs

The Face on Mars

The image of a "face" was on Mars, but, unfortunately, looked at under different light conditions the "face" reveals just random rock formations. Our brain is programmed to "make sense" of things around us, so it is not surprising that we "see" objects in what are really random patterns. Think of of what ancient people saw in constellations for example.

Now, I, and many scientists, think that the likelyhood that life exists outside the solar system, in planets similar to earth, is very good. if we do find evidence for past or present life on Mars even if only microbial, this theory would have a great boost.

Of course the exciting corollary of this theory is that, if there is ANY form of life, in time, there is bound to be intelligent life as well. Nobody knows the numbers, but, to pull something out of a hat, maybe 1 in 1000 earth-like planets could have life... and 1 in a million intelliget life... or 1 in a billion? Who knows? The first step is to be able to find and examine those planets.

So, the real argument among scientist is whether even very intelligent beings could in fact travel interstellar distances. There is a problem with both time and energy required. I personally am on the side of those who think that that possibility shouldn't be discounted. But suppose now, you were an intelliget alien species travelling to our solar system, presumably to observe us, would you make a stop-over on Mars just to build a "face" in the sand?

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UFOs and "The End of Science"

Somebody recently wrote a book titled "The End of Science" (or something like that). I didn't read it, but the idea was that the most important discoveries of science have already been made.

I find that idea both arrogant and naive. If we look at the increase in our understanding of physics in just the past 100 years, and how we went from the first flight to landing on the moon in 50 years, we cannot even fathom what 1000 or a million years will do to that understanding and to our technology.

Yes I think that either the discovery of new sources of energy or the ability to manipulate space-time (as you are suggesting) may hold the key to interstellar travel. There is also the possibility of civilizations that will choose to build travelling space colonies and take their time to travel through space.


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NASA makes no general claims about UFOs

The following site was mentioned as one where NASA made a general claim about UFOS

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/travelinginspace/no_ufo.html

What the title says is "UFO (singular) no longer unidentified" Then it proceeds to show that this particular object has in fact been identified. In this context it also says "some purported UFOs aren't UFOs at all". So, what's new about this?

Remember also that whoever wrote this was journalist whose job is to popularize NASA research. S/he read the scientist's report and wrote the piece. It seems to me that the study is probably correct in identifing the UFO as the tip of the boom.

Does this invalidate all UFO's sightings? Not by a long shot, and the article doesn't say that either.

Yes, the point of the article is that not all UFOs are necessarily alien spacecraft. Even the most ardent believers would concede that.

In fact, in a scientific framework THAT has to be the starting point. You first try to explain things in the simplest possible way, and only when you really cannot do so, you proceed to make other conjectures, but they remain conjectures until you can prove them.

All I have been saying is that NASA has no program or mandate to study the UFO phenomenon in general (but I am not surprised that someone would take the time to look at the event mentioned at the site). If you were to ask 100 NASA scientists my guess is that 80 would say that all UFOs are simple earthly phenomena, and 20 would say that some cannot easily be explained away and are worthy of serious study (I belong to the 20).
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NASA and Extraterrestrial Intelligence 11/11/2004 3:16 PM


The only offcial NASA program that looked at the possibility of extra-terrestrial intelligence was SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence). This program was stopped by congressemen who felt it was "weird" and a waste of money. SETI still exists but is is now a privately funded program.

NASA is actively LOOKING for life, any life, with its Astrobiology program. That's what the Mars robots are doing. We are also looking for distant (extra solar) planets that could harbor life "as we know it" (with water, carbon, etc.). Any definitive proof of life (current or fossile) from any of these projects would be met with extraordinary excitement.

If anybody already had evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence it would put all these questions to rest, but the main point is that these programs are indeed driven by a deeply held conviction held by many scientists (including me) that life is a phenomenon that can be found all over the universe.

W/r to whether NASA "already knows" and is hiding that information, I can only say that I doubt it very much for many reasons I have stated before (please see my other posts in the "NASA faked landing (NOT!)" topic.

My personal belief is that at least some UFO evidence could and should be treated as serious scientific data, worthy of serious scientific study, but there is no NASA program to fund this work.

It is entirely possible that the Dept. of Defense has a completely different perspective on these issues. They would also be very likely to keep it a secret. Their mission is not to spread knowledge, rather to keep the country "secure" and there are reasons they would feel it necessary to keep such info from people.

Contrary to what many folks think, the US Gov is not a monolith. NASA, NIH, NRC, NSA, CIA, Army, Navy etc follow quite different goals and philosophies.

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NASA and secret programs

With regard to "secret" NASA programs I might not know about, of course I cannot "prove a negative". All I can tell you is that NASA has a culture of sharing scientific information with the world. NASA folks make a career out of running missions and publishing in journal and at conferences. Secretive Gov entities wouldn't "trust" NASA and wouldn't need to use NASA expertise. They could (and would) just as easily hire their own expertise and keep it under their control.

That's what they did whith the Manhattan project (atom bomb) and all other secret projects.

Also, in case it's not clear, I am NOT here as a troll to debunk the idea of UFOs and Aliens. I think these are subjects worthy of serious consideration and study.

I WISH NASA could be involved, but I am just telling you, from what I know about it (and I have been working there for 24 years), that they aren't. Still that means absolutely nothing of consequence w/r to whether UFOs are an important subject or not, or whether other agencies have knowledge.