The mystery of flying objects
Hollywood’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Interstellar have served to feed human imagination about extraterrestrial life. Strange radio signals have been picked up by NASA for some time now, probably emanating from outer space. NASA reportedly has beamed revealing human pictures into space to entice any such probable entities to come calling. The Life magazine in the 1960s showed light phenomena linked to unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Mostly airline pilots and US naval aviators have reported these sightings. Now for the first time, after some 50 years, these alleged enigmatic phenomena are sought to be investigated rationally by US agencies.
A US Congressional hearing on UFO showed service members have indeed encountered what is referred to as ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon’ (UAP) and the military had been tasked to investigate the origins of such UFOs and UAPs. The US navy has a task force in place which will investigate if UAPs are adversarial or just ‘unknown advanced technological occurrences’. Flight safety considerations call for such happenings to be ‘identified, characterised and if necessary, mitigated’. This is even more intriguing to the uninitiated.
‘Area 51’, a highly classified USAF facility at the Nevada Test and Training Range develops experimental aircraft and weapon systems. Its heavy secrecy led to conspiracy theories about UFOs and aliens. But the nature of these unknown phenomena and the intrigue surrounding them definitely calls for a wider worldwide inquiry into them. However, it may still be possible that the USAF and the CIA (which operates Area 51) could well be holding back some information in this regard, under the garb of ‘national security’.
The fact remains that the USAF has been unable to give a valid explanation for nearly a 140-odd UFO sightings and the ongoing Congressional hearing is seeking to bring that investigation into the realm of public knowledge. Seven years ago, a US navy fighter pilot had a close-in encounter with a delta-winged UFO, including a radar lock. As we venture into the realm of deep space exploration and with advancements in radio, radar and avionics technology, we should aim to stay ahead of what possibly could unfold in the days ahead. There have been almost 400 or so UFO sightings in the US. Mostly these have been in military-controlled training areas. Though there is no tangible evidence yet to prove that these sightings have anything to do with extraterrestrial objects, there is also no evidence that it may not be the case. More so, if they constitute entities even more advanced than humans in the evolution chain. A Star Wars-kind of scenario could then be in the realm of possibility.
