UFO. For 50 years, UFOs have fascinated. Between conspiracy theory and extraterrestrials, these aerial phenomena nourish many fantasies. Today, NASA seeks to explain these curious manifestations.
[Mis à jour le 17 juin 2022 à 12h42] After decades of silence and despite the public’s enthusiasm for the subject, the Pentagon has finally expressed itself on the potential presence of UFOs in the terrestrial sky. In May 2022, during a US Congressional hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena, the increase in the number of reported cases of such sightings was mentioned by a Pentagon official following a study conducted in 2021 on the subject.
In turn, NASA announced that it had launched its own investigation into the matter in June 2022. A team will therefore be responsible for studying as many cases of sightings of unexplained aerial phenomena as possible in a scientific and rigorous manner. Astrophysicists, aeronautical experts and other scientists will analyze all the data collected for several months to produce a public report.
The subject of UFOs and unexplained aerial phenomena has therefore not finished making ink flow. But where does this fascination for flying saucers come from? When was the first observation of such a phenomenon and what do NASA and the Pentagon think of it? Between wacky beliefs and scientific facts, we take stock of UFOs!
What NASA UFO investigation?
After the announcement in June 2021 of the results of a study on UFOs carried out by the Pentagon, it is NASA’s turn to formalize the launch of its own investigation into these unexplained aerial phenomena. On June 9, 2022, the US space agency said in a statement then in a tweet, take a close interest in this question and set up a 9-month study starting in the fall of 2022 on the subject.
The investigation must first collect as much data as possible and then determine the cases that can be explained by natural phenomena. The final objective of the study is to seek to understand these phenomena as much as possible, as one would for any scientific subject. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA astrophysicist, says, “We have the tools and the team that can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is.” NASA therefore seeks to restore scientific credibility on the subject of these phenomena, but also to strengthen air safety by improving knowledge of atmospheric phenomena.
What Pentagon study on UFOs?
May 17, 2022 is sure to go down as a red-letter day in UFO history in the United States. During a public hearing on the subject of UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), Naval Intelligence official Scott Bray said: “Since the early 2000s, we have observed an increasing number of unauthorized objects or not identified”. This is the first time in more than 50 years that the US Congress has spoken on the subject during a hearing.
This announcement follows a report published in 2021 by the Pentagon detailing the results of an investigation into more than 120 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena. Commissioned in 2020 with the aim of improving the transparency of the Pentagon on the subject of UFOs, this study does not reach any conclusion in favor of the existence of extraterrestrial visitations, but has made it possible to declassify a large number of observations and to restore a scientific consistency on this subject generally derided. Because if at the present time the Pentagon does not fear an attack by little green men, the United States fears more for the security of its country vis-à-vis technologies developed abroad. On this subject, André Carson, elected Democrat, believes that “unidentified aerial phenomena constitute a potential threat to national security”, reports Point.
What are the latest UFO sightings filmed?
In April 2020, the Pentagon officially acknowledged and declassified a series of three videos of strange phenomena observed by Army pilots. These black and white videos, named “Flir”, “Gimbal” and “Go fast”, were captured by infrared cameras on US Navy fighter jets in 2004 (for “Flir”) and 2015 (for “Gimbal” and “Go fast”). Qualified by the Pentagon as “unidentified aerial phenomena”, we see flying objects performing maneuvers that do not correspond to any known machine and seem impossible to explain by the technologies currently deployed.
In the first video called “Flir” and recorded on November 14, 2004 off the coast of San Diego, California, the camera picked up an elongated shape which, at the end of the video, began to suddenly accelerate to the left before disappear from the field of vision:
In the second video called “Gimbal”, which is commented on by the pilots, an oval-shaped object is filmed in front of a sea of clouds, then at the end of the video, the object rotates.
In the final video called “Go fast”, a tiny dot moving at high speed over the water is locked into the pilot’s sight after the third attempt.
David Fravor, the captain who made the sighting of the first “Flir” video, commented in 2017 on CNN on what he saw: “First of all, it had no wings, so we thought it was a helicopter, but there was no rotor wash on the water, no rotor,” he explained. “It was extremely abrupt, like a ping pong ball bouncing off a wall and changing direction. , then accelerate in less than 2 seconds and disappear, that’s something I’ve never seen in my life,” he continued.
These videos have long been classified by the US military, which did not have the right to broadcast these images for national security reasons. Now made public for more “transparency” according to the Pentagon spokesperson, these videos do not constitute proof of the existence of extraterrestrial vessels, but are a good example of unidentified aerial phenomena.
When was the first appearance of a UFO?
If the UFO frenzy was in full swing in the 1970s, we have to go back to June 24, 1947, to find the first case of a UFO sighting. That day, while piloting his plane in search of a missing military aircraft, American entrepreneur and aviator Kenneth Arnold saw objects not far from his position flying at an extraordinarily fast speed. in full cold War, Kenneth does not consider the trail of space visitors and is more concerned that it is Soviet craft. He therefore decides to contact the FBI to tell them of his fears, but he is not taken seriously. He then chooses to contact the press to make his story known.
During the interview, Kenneth compares the moving motion of the objects to a saucer ricocheting off water. This is only a metaphor, but journalists are using the term all over the place, now presenting the objects that Kenneth saw in the form of flying saucers. Kenneth Arnold may correct this version and specify several times that the machines he thinks he has encountered have more of a boomerang shape, rounded at the front and pointed at the rear, rumors travel quickly and that is how flying saucers were born.
Hundreds of testimonies follow one another then quickly, each witness claiming to have also observed a flying saucer. Kenneth Arnold’s misadventure will come to an end in December 1947 when the conclusion of an investigation will indicate that it is most certainly about quite ordinary planes or an illusion linked to the atmosphere.
What is the GEIPAN which hunts UFOs in France?
In France, the Group for Studies and Information on Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (GEIPAN) investigates the cases of observations recorded on the territory. It is a structure attached to the CNES (National Center for Space Studies). The members of the group proceed in a scientific way by studying each testimony and collecting as much data as possible on the weather conditions, the presence of satellites or spacecraft. Some cases also require meeting the witnesses and going to the site in order to better understand the conditions under which the observation was made.
If unidentified aerial phenomena are not always resolved, this lack of explanation does not prove the presence of extraterrestrials. Thus, Roger Baldacchino, head of GEIPAN reminds the magazine National Geographic that “the GEIPAN does not research the extraterrestrial hypothesis and does not work either on observations of a paranormal nature. This is not its role”.
The GEIPAN then classifies the cases studied in different categories according to whether the phenomenon has been explained or not and according to the reliability of the testimonies. Thus in March 2022, the GEIPAN counts 2,978 cases studied which contain only 3.3% of cases not identified after investigation.
What is a UFO?
The term UFO is an acronym meaning Unidentified Flying Object. This name refers to the many observed and unexplained aerial phenomena. If the majority of reported phenomena end up finding an explanation, some of them can remain obscure for decades, fueling the craziest theories. The term UFO is now closely linked to the extraterrestrial presence in the collective imagination.
We qualify as extraterrestrial, a form of life, an object or any manifestation whose origin is not terrestrial. The term UFO, which stands for Unidentified Flying Object, refers only to an object in the air of unexplained origin. It is therefore a flying object whose nature is unknown, or for which the scientific community finds no explanation. Extraterrestrial intervention is only one of many possible interpretations.
What is the difference between a UFO and a UFO?
The terms UFO and UFO refer to the same thing since they are the same acronym in two different languages. OVNI means Non-Identified Flying Object in French while the word UFO means Unidentified Flying Object in English.
The word UFO appeared in 1952, invented by a member of Project Blue Book who was then in charge of investigating the numerous testimonies of unexplained phenomena. It thus replaces the term “flying saucer” used until then, which reflected badly the diversity of the forms of the unexplained demonstrations. This project led by the US Air Force investigated several thousand cases until 1962, some of which remained unsolved.
What is the difference between a UFO and a UAP?
The term UFO, which designates a flying object whose nature is unknown, does not reflect the reality of observations of aerial phenomena. A large number of them correspond to reflections, lights or even unidentified meteorological phenomena. The designation PAN thus encompasses all Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, whether material objects or not. This term is increasingly used, because it better represents the reality of the observations.