We have just read the news: Flying Saucers are Real!

(Or Are They?)

On June 25, 2021 by an order of Congress, the US government has finally admitted the existence of UFOs (now called UAP: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena). However, it was surely not what the public had hoped for. We wanted them to come clean on Roswell. And Hangar 18. We wanted nice, crisp photographs. But none of this was forthcoming. Not surprisingly, after 180 days of preparation, the report was merely labeled “Preliminary”, in spite of the fact that Senate Report 116-233 required, among other things, a “detailed analysis of UAP data and intelligence reporting collected…” So when will we get the full report, if ever?

And now what? Who are they? What do they want? Are they hostile like some luminaries (including the late Stephen Hawking) have proposed? Let’s examine this using the scientific method.

So where do they come from?

The first possibility: Earth itself. Is it possible that one of our enemies or even our own military has invented such crafts? Even as far back as biblical times, for example, there are those that feel that the wheel in the sky, as seen by Ezekiel, was a UFO. In more modern times, though, the UFO craze began in 1947 with the Roswell incident. Newspapers across the US carried such headlines as, “RAAF Captures Flying Saucer” and “Army Says Has Disc”, only to later be denounced by the Pentagon as a “weather balloon.” But in 2020, the US government finally admitted to recent UAP encounters with US naval ships. What’s more, there is radar and other evidence to prove it. The Pentagon states that they are truly unidentified, have no visible means of propulsion, make no noise, and are able to move from place to place almost instantaneously.

True, we flew the SR-71 spy plane from 1966 to 1998 without the public being aware of its existence. The public had also not been aware of the B-117 until its first use in Iraq. But these were just planes.

What we’re talking about here are definitely not planes. And in 74 years, one would think that the existence of such craft and their origins would now be widely known, if in fact they were of Earth origin. And we’ve all heard conspiracy theories such as “they live among us but go unnoticed because they are disguised as humans.” Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I think not.

So if they are not from Earth, then they must come from somewhere “not Earth.” Could they be from within our own solar system? Unlikely, since NASA and others have probed all of the planets, many of the extraterrestrial moons, and even a few dwarf planets and asteroids. So far, we have not detected any signs of life, let alone intelligent life, which leads us to conclude that they must originate from outside of our solar system.

There are theories of parallel worlds, other dimensions, and even other universes. But for the moment, let’s work with the most obvious (our own universe) before we proceed to the obscure. In 1994, Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre showed mathematically that faster than light (FTL) travel was theoretically possible without violating any of Einstein’s theories. Let’s assume that some civilization outside of our solar system has perfected FTL, and therefore is able to visit Earth within a reasonable timespan. The question then is, why are they here? What are their intentions?

We can look at this from two perspectives. First, what would the aliens want from Earth? It is far easier for a space-faring civilization to mine minerals from asteroids rather than bothering with Earth. In fact, we are fast running out of many minerals, such as the rare earth elements which are used in computer chips. Water is plentiful in the universe; just grab some from your neighborhood comet, so they certainly would not need our oceans. One Twilight Zone episode, To Serve Man, depicted a race of cannibal aliens who wanted to have us for dinner-literally. This, to me is a stretch. Furthermore, let’s say some alien planet is overcrowded and they are looking for more real estate. Why not find a planet similar to Earth as it was100 million years ago, lush with vegetation and wildlife, but with no overcrowding and no real competition?

We can also look at this from the perspective of our own space program. We visit other objects in the solar system because we are curious, and because we want to know if we are alone or not. We go there for scientific reasons. It seems far more logical that aliens would do the same. When the US first landed a rover on Mars, other nations followed suit. Could it be possible that, somewhere, out there, there is an intergalactic council of planets, all sharing the results of their scientific expeditions with other each other? If so, this would explain the wide variety of UAP we have seen. They may very well have multiple origins.

So why haven’t they made contact? One explanation is that what we are seeing are unmanned crafts, such as we are now sending to other planets. Beyond that, who knows? One thing seems reasonable, however. They have been coming here for at least 74 years, maybe 74 thousand, or even 74 million years. We have no way of knowing. But if they had wanted to wage a “War of the Worlds”, they could have done it long before now.

So for me, I am not losing any sleep over a possible alien invasion. But if they do land, and shout over their PA system, “People of Earth, throw down your weapons; they are useless against us!”, I strongly advise that you do so.

Extra Credit Reading 1

So how do those little buggers fly, anyway? No sound, no visible means of propulsion, yet able to travel at speeds of over 10,000 miles per hour, evidently exerting forces well over 1,000 g on their crafts (and occupants, if any). The answer may very well lie in Alcubierre’s warp drive. In his FTL theory, physicist Miguel Alcubierre states that the occupants of a warp drive craft would not experience any g forces because the warp field causes space-time itself to move while the vessel is actually standing still. Neither would the occupants age (relative to their starting point) in this scenario. So what if they used warp drive to go less than the speed of light, say .001% of light speed? They would still be zipping around the Earth at 6,696 mph, similar to what UAPs are reported to do.

Extra Credit Reading 2

But they are often seen buzzing around nuclear power plants and naval fleets. Could they be looking for military targets or assessing our military capabilities? And why do they dive under water? Is that where they hide?

 Let’s back off of the paranoia and again, look to our own space program for some answers. One of the many instruments found on most Mars rovers and other solar system exploratory spacecraft is a radiation detector. Finding a major source of radiation on the surface of another planet would certainly pique our curiosity, as would any source of electromagnetic emission. Many ships are nuclear powered, and many submarines are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. So it should not be a surprise that a curious probe would be interested in a large radiation footprint in the middle of the ocean, namely, a naval fleet.

And why do they go under water? NASA is currently developing a submarine to explore the oceans under the ice on Jupiter’s moon, Europa. Since 90% of the living space on Earth is in its oceans, any explorer visiting Earth would hope to find a lot more life there than on the surface.

And Finally,

The Pentagon’s report went on to say, “Explaining UAP will require analytic(s), (data) collection and resource investment.” The Senate Report also required the Pentagon to provide “recommendations regarding increased collection of data, enhanced research and development, additional funding, and other resources.”

If we are ever to learn what these UAP are, we need to go on the offensive.

1) Naval ships, nuclear and conventional power plants, and scramble aircraft all need to have equipment capable of monitoring the entire electromagnetic spectrum, radiation detectors, etc., plus high quality camera and video equipment in order to study the UAP we encounter.

2) If we could capture a UAP, we could then study it. One idea would be to create a giant Faraday cage with a sliding roof, about the size of a football field. In it we would place a source of radiation. When the UAP comes down to investigate, the roof would slam shut, thereby trapping the UAP. The Faraday cage would prevent the craft from communicating with the outside. Would it work? Perhaps you have another idea? Let us know!

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Author Ken Lunde is the President and CEO of

Space Mission Architects, Inc., Coconut Creek, Florida.

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