Onion omelette, standard vest and all the accoutrements that my peers who love the Fantozzi saga will know well. The live broadcast is not from Wembley Stadium, however, but from a conference convened by NASA on May 31 in Houston, at 10:30 am (local time).
The item? The results of the analyzes that the independent study team put together by the American space agency obtained from data on UAPs, the so-called unidentified aerial phenomena. Yes, you got it right, we're talking about the artists formerly known as UFO. And if you have questions to ask, NASA says, you can do them here.
They are not birds, they are not planes…
As you know, NASA wants to examine and study these UAPs with data, technologies and scientific instruments. Before your imagination takes flight (I had to say it), know that they are not trying to identify mysterious sightings, but they take the obvious approach: the opposite.
Primarily, threats to national security, and the fear (which almost resulted in panic, with the episode of the Chinese spy balloons) that nations hostile to the USA have made some important "technological leap".
So, if from this conference you hope to obtain the famous confirmation that we are not alone in the universe, you may be disappointed.
On the other hand, if everything were so easily explainable, they wouldn't need a team to study these cases. Possible interstellar visitors are always the last option to consider, but they are there some cases with evidence too solid to discard. They may not be little green men, but they are certainly something that does not fall within our range of things that can easily be classified as "terrestrial".
What topics will this conference cover?
Fans of the genre like the judicious Flavio Vanetti, author of the column “BUfo mystery” on the Corsera, they certainly know the 2022 Annual Report on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
In this case there wasn't a real presentation conference, but a bit of fat came out anyway. The report (you can find it here) indeed reveals that out of 366 actively investigated UAP cases, only 195 can be considered “insignificant” and probably attributable to drones, balloons or wildlife.
And the other 171? Some of these UAPs, quote, “appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities” that make their identification difficult. And for this reason, the report concludes, these cases must be taken more seriously.
Ready. We were born serious, the rest of us
NASA's public conference on May 31 is a step towards this goal. We are all curious to see the team's final recommendations, which will be released during the summer. It doesn't matter what name we give to these phenomena (whether they are UFOs or UAPs). One thing is certain: the truth is out there, and the important thing is to reveal it.
It may not be the confirmation of life on other planets that many hope for, but it will open up new avenues of investigation. Perhaps our understanding of these unexplained phenomena will increase, perhaps it will increase our understanding of ourselves: because somehow we are the aliens.
It doesn't matter if you are a ufology enthusiast or a science and space enthusiast: on May 31st, I'm sure, you too will have a family member of ice-cold beer next to you.
