Could it be We've Recieved Alien Signals in the Past and Didn't Notice? Not Bloody Likely, According to New Study

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Not AGAIN! NASA's Artemis II moon mission is delayed for a second time after several last–minute issues are spotted on the SLS rocket – as furious fans call for SpaceX to step in

• READ MORE: The 5 worst–case scenarios for Artemis II, revealed 

By WILIAM HUNTER, SENIOR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY REPORTER

NASA's Artemis II moon mission has been delayed for a second time after several last–minute issues were spotted on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

After successfully completing the second wet dress rehearsal last Thursday, hopes had been high that the historic moon mission would launch in March.

However, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman now says the March launch window is 'out of consideration'.

That means Artemis II will not take its crew – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen – around the moon until April 1 at the very earliest.

Mr Isaacman says that the reason for the delay is an 'interruption in helium flow in the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage'.

The system worked during both wet dress rehearsals, but engineers were unable to get helium flow through the vehicle during routine maintenance on Saturday night.

Now, as the long–awaited moon mission is pushed back once again, some frustrated fans have called for Elon Musk's SpaceX to step in with assistance.

Taking to X, one fan vented: 'Time to scrap the 1960s tech and innovate to build next gen space launch vehicles and to stay on par with SpaceX.' 

NASA's Artemis II moon mission has been delayed for the second time, as last–minute technical issues are found in the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket 

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said that the issue had been caused by an 'interruption in helium flow in the SLS interim cryogenic propulsion stage'

Fed–up space enthusiasts have taken to social media to vent their irritation over the persistent delays.

One commenter wrote: 'At this rate, the Chinese will soundly beat us to the Moon.'

Others explicitly suggested that SpaceX should be called on to lend assistance or even replace the SLS rocket altogether.

On X, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, one commenter wrote: '@SpaceX Those guys need a ride to the moon, please help them.'

Another asked: 'When will NASA stop the financial haemorrhaging and turn this program over to SpaceX?'

'Can we get out of this contract and save money with SpaceX,' suggested another.

In particular, a number of space fans suggested that the experimental Starship rocket could make a viable replacement.

Mr Isaacman (left) says that the setback will 'almost assuredly' affect the intended March launch date, ruling out the Artemis II launch until April 

Mr Isaacman says the systems performed well during both wet dress rehearsals, but unexpectedly failed during a 'routine operation'  

On X, frustrated space fans have called for Elon Musk's SpaceX to provide assistance to the Artemis II programme

'I beginning to think that the SpaceX Starship will be launching astronauts to space before the Artemis program,' one commenter suggested.

While one added: 'Time to replace SLS with Falcon Heavy. Might even actually do it faster with Starship.'

For context, SpaceX has been contracted by NASA to provide a modified version of Starship for the lunar landing during the Artemis III mission.

In April 2021, NASA awarded Elon Musk's company a $2.9 billion contract to provide the first crewed lunar lander, but SpaceX is widely expected to miss the 2027 target date.

Last year, acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy threatened to open up the contract to other countries due to persistent delays, saying at the time: 'The problem is, they're behind.'

However, NASA's immediate problems are the ongoing delays afflicting the problem–plagued SLS rocket.

Mr Isaacman says that the source of the problem could be located in one of the filers or quick–disconnect 'umbilicals' that pass gases between the ground and the rocket.

Alternatively, he says that the issue could have been caused by a 'failed check valve onboard the vehicle, which would be consistent with Artemis I'

Angry commenters lamented the costs of the SLS rocket and its persistent delays, arguing that the mission should be turned over to SpaceX

One commenter asked why America could 'get out of this contract' in order to save money with SpaceX

The SLS rocket will now need to roll back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Launch Centre for repairs, meaning that another wet dress rehearsal is almost certain 

After problems with the helium system were discovered overnight, NASA has now made the disappointing decision to roll SLS back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Centre.

While the agency has a limited capacity to fix issues at the launch tower, more serious problems need to be addressed in the VAB, which gives engineers better access to the vehicle.

The vibrations caused by rolling the rocket in or out of the VAB risk loosening or disturbing seals and valves, meaning that one or two more wet dress rehearsals are almost certain.

After the success of the second wet dress rehearsal, the Artemis II crew entered quarantine in Houston, Texas, on Friday night.

During quarantine, the crew limit their exposure to other people so that they can stay in good health for the flight.

This procedure usually starts 14 days out from the launch date, but NASA has not said whether the crew will be able to leave quarantine before the April launch date.

Writing on X, Mr Isaacman added: 'I understand people are disappointed by this development. That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.'

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{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

Scientists are baffled by a rule–breaking black hole that's growing at 13 TIMES the cosmic 'speed limit'

• READ MORE: Animation shows a supergiant collapsing into a black hole

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

An exceptionally hungry black hole from the dawn of the universe is growing at 13 times the cosmic 'speed limit', experts say.

Astronomers have used high–tech telescopes to 'look back in time' to around 12 billion years ago, not long after the universe was born.

There, they spotted something unexpected – a supermassive black hole that already weighed 440 million solar masses.

This means it was growing at an unimaginably fast rate, they said, absorbing gas and dust quicker than it was believed possible.

According to theory, there should be a limit on how fast black holes can grow because the act of 'ingesting' matter creates an opposing force which prevents more matter from being absorbed.

But this cosmic giant, known as ID830, is defying expectations – and could mark the discovery of the fastest–growing supermassive black hole of a similar mass found to date.

Researchers suggest the black hole may have 'collided' with a star or clump of gas, giving it enough energy for this remarkable growth spurt.

'This discovery may bring us closer to understanding how supermassive black holes formed so quickly in the early universe,' lead author Sakiko Obuchi said.

A graph displaying ID830's uniquely brilliant luminosity, compared to previously observed objects. The solid line shows the upper 'limit' of how it should be growing

An artist's impression of a supermassive black hole. Gas accretes onto the central black hole, forming an accretion disk and jets

The team, from Waseda University and Tohoku University in Japan, used the Subaru Telescope to analyse the black hole.

What makes this one even more striking is its multiwavelength behaviour, the researchers, who published their findings in The Astrophysical Journal, said.

When black holes undergo growth spurts, most models predict that their structure changes in ways that can reduce X–ray emissions and that their plasma and radiation jets may be less obvious.

However, this particular black hole shines brightly in both X–rays and radio wavelength.

This unexpected combination suggests scientists still have more to learn about the mechanisms of early black hole growth, the team said.

'Going forward, we hope to explore the mechanisms of X–ray and radio wave emission from this quasar and determine whether there are any similar objects yet to be discovered,' Dr Obuchi said.

They suggest they may have observed the black hole during a short transitional period, possibly following a sudden influx of gas.

This could prompt both the X–ray–emitting corona and the radio jet to become highly energised before the system gradually settles into a more typical mode of growth.

In a press release from the universities, the researchers said: 'Data from the Subaru Telescope show a surprising mix of traits.

'The quasar is pulling in matter at an exceptionally high rate while also emitting intense X–rays and launching a strong radio jet.

READ MORE

• Milky Way may NOT have a supermassive black hole at its centre: Scientists claim our galaxy may be run by an enormous clump of mysterious dark matter

'Many existing theories suggest these features should not appear together, making this object a rare and revealing find.

'The observations provide fresh insight into how supermassive black holes may have grown so quickly in the Universe's early days.'

 { https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/index.html }

Background: What You Know About The Foo Fighters May Well Be Wrong

Ask most UFO enthusiasts about the Foo Fighters and you will probably hear vague stories about US Army Air Force night-fighter crews who saw balls of light following their aircraft over Germany during the last months of World War Two. They may cite the Smokey Stover cartoon, popular among aircrew at the time, as the origin of the name “Foo Fighter”. Some may even throw in cases from the Pacific Theatre of Operations, again dating from the final year of the war, when crews watched “balls of fire” pacing their B-29 Superfortresses on missions over Japan.

What is less well known is that Royal Air Force bomber crews had been reporting strange lights, luminous objects, and large “aeroforms” in the skies over Germany since March 1942. The small number of UFO researchers who have looked at the subject in depth have discovered a huge number of sightings spanning the globe from 1942 onwards, although if you look hard enough, there are also reports of strange lights dating back to the time of the German invasion of Belgium in May 1940. Although the American night-fighter crews used the term Foo Fighters, the phenomenon had been known by many other names prior to that phrase being coined. Terms such as “meteors” and “rockets” were often used in official reports, but many RAF pilots simply referred to the phenomenon as “The Light” or “The Thing”. What is also not widely known is that lights were not the only items aircrews reported seeing. Huge cylindrical objects with portholes, inverted “bathtubs” and huge “blankets” were also sighted.

“You guys must be nuts! Nobody up there but your own plane. Aint seeing things, are you?” – Ground radar station reply to American night-fighter pilot after report of strange lights, November 1944

Over the last twelve months, I have been revisiting and re-evaluating the known Foo Fighter cases, and in the course of my research, have also found some new encounters in preparation for a book I am writing on the subject. Much of the information is buried in Air Intelligence files and squadron war diaries, most of which is barely legible due to the ravages of time on the flimsy wartime grade of paper used. However, many cases never saw official recognition, and researchers have to rely upon aircrew logbooks and personal interviews, in many cases conducted decades after the events being recalled. The vast majority of wartime witnesses are now deceased, and a large proportion took the details of their sightings to their graves, electing to keep quiet about their encounters.

There are well over one hundred known Foo Fighter sightings from the three main battlefronts during World War Two (Western Europe, Mediterranean, and Pacific), but strange lights and unidentifiable craft were also witnessed over both North Africa and the Eastern Front. To give an idea of the encounters that transpired during the war, here are three of those cases, all of which occurred long before the traditionally accepted start of the Foo Fighter phenomenon in November 1944.

“Several projectiles seemed to enter the luminous disc, but without result, although the object was well within range, approximately 150 metres.” – March 1942 encounter over the Ruhr Valley, Germany

A Polish-crewed Vickers Wellington bomber was returning from a raid on Essen just before midnight on 25th March 1942 when the aircraft’s rear gunner spotted a bright light approaching their aircraft. However, instead of a Luftwaffe night-fighter, it resembled a large fuzzy copper-colored ball, about the size of the Moon. Approaching within 200 yards of the bomber, the gunner opened fire, watching helplessly as his tracer rounds entered the ball of light to no visible effect. They did not come out the other side, nor did they inflict any appreciable damage. The strange light then shot forward and took up position off the Wellington’s port wingtip.

Now the aircraft’s nose turret guns could be brought to bear on the strange light, and both gunners blazed away at what was still thought to be a Luftwaffe night-fighter. The pilot executed a series of evasive maneuvers but could not shake the ball of light. It remained at the same fixed distance, seemingly undamaged, for several minutes until it finally flew around to a point ahead of the Wellington, remaining in place for a few seconds before shooting off into the distance and disappearing. Another crew flying behind the bomber also had their own encounter with the object but refused to report the incident for fear of ridicule.

“By turning suddenly and steeply, I was able to chase the light around in a circle until I could aim my four 20mm cannons at it. This I did several times until my ammunition was exhausted, but each time I observed, no apparent change in the behaviour of the light.” – RAF fighter pilot’s 1943 sighting

In the spring of 1943 over North Africa, a New Zealand fighter pilot was followed by an orange-red glow, a light that then moved to sit off his wingtip, matching his every turn, including a series of violent evasive maneuvers designed to throw off potential attackers. Taking advantage of an apparent time lag before the object matched his actions, he managed to fire his Hawker Hurricane’s guns at the light on a few occasions, but to no effect. The pilot could not distinguish what kind of aircraft or object was generating the light, as it was so bright. It grew dimmer as they crossed the front line but once beyond the firing it glowed with its original intensity. The RAF pilot’s mysterious companion vanished as he returned to base. He knew of numerous colleagues who also had run-ins with “The Light”. This encounter, similar in many respects to Commander David Fravor’s now-infamous dogfight with the “Tic Tac”, predated that event by more than sixty years.

“He was terrified, as white as a ghost. Something up there sure scared the hell of out him, he was nearly frantic when he got out of his aircraft.” – The effect on an American night-fighter crewman, October 1944

The US Army Air Force’s 422nd Night-Fighter Squadron had its fair share of sightings in late 1944 and early 1945, including a notable event over western Germany during the first week of October 1944 when an extremely rapid object latched onto the tail of one of the unit’s Northrop P-61 Black Widows. The mysterious ball of light followed the crew’s machine as the pilot threw it into a violent set of evasive maneuvers. Despite his best efforts, he could not shake off his pursuer, and in desperation finally dove into a bank of cloud. The ball of light did not follow. Colleagues in the squadron stated that the pilot’s radar observer was badly shaken by the experience and was “still sucking wind 24 hours later”. The mysterious ball of light was officially logged as a Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket-propelled interceptor. There would be many more bizarre encounters with strange lights before the year was out.

Analysis: Were the Foo Fighters Enemy Secret Weapons?

The night skies over the industrial cities of Germany were filled with lights when a raid was in progress. Multi-colored flares were dropped to mark targets and were replaced during attacks as they burned out. The Germans employed decoy flares to distract RAF bomber crews, and Luftwaffe night-fighter crews used “fighter flares” to silhouette enemy aircraft against the clouds, rendering them more visible to their colleagues. Sudden explosive balls of light, accompanied by sparkling lights, were often seen falling slowly towards the ground. RAF crews believed they were German attempts to simulate bombers being shot down in an attempt to lower morale. Nicknamed “Scarecrows”, they featured prominently in intelligence bulletins, and crews were encouraged to believe they were indeed German scare tactics. In reality, they were aircraft being blown out of the sky by flak and night-fighters. However, Allied aircrew had been very familiar with all of these flares and lights. They did not resemble the Foo Fighters in any way, shape, or form.

Because of wartime secrecy and censorship, most reports of strange lights and unconventional flying craft were never publicized due to the possibility that they may have been German secret weapons. Also, individual unit intelligence officers decided whether such reports were officially recorded and then sent up the chain of command for analysis. They frequently dismissed crew testimony and instead asked them whether they had been drinking. If official reports were filed, ribald comments and ribbing from colleagues followed, at least until they too saw something weird and unsettling. The Foo Fighter reports that do exist are a fraction of a much larger number of sightings.

 “[The enemy] have several land service rocket weapons, and the introduction of anti-aircraft rockets seems a likely and logical development.” – 1943 Air Intelligence briefing

Both the British and American Air Intelligence staff were completely flummoxed by the reports of strange flying objects and the balls of fire that followed aircraft without committing hostile acts. The early reports of 1942 and 1943, including “rockets” that altered course when pursuing RAF bombers, plus a 200-foot long object with red lights spaced at regular intervals along its length, were thought to be examples of new German secret weapons. Extra-terrestrials and so-called “flying saucers” were still several years off into the future, and they were never considered as a possible explanation. Most reports of mysterious lights were believed to be sightings of decoy flares, airborne searchlights, or rudimentary surface-to-air missiles, items which the enemy were believed to be developing at that time. With the available information to hand, these were rational and sensible suggestions, but with the benefit of hindsight, and a working knowledge of German wartime weapons research and deployment, these suggestions were actually way off the mark. 

The RAF had experimented with fitting searchlights into night-fighters but found that they blinded their pilots, rendering the scheme useless, and the Germans refused to devote resources to the subject, instead relying on ground-based installations. Several surface-to-air missile projects were being developed in late 1943 and throughout 1944, however frequent engine and guidance problems, together with political interference, prevented any achieving operational status. Most test launches were failures. Air-to-air rocket mortars were fired at B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators on daylight raids over Germany by defending fighters by mid-1943 onwards, although again these weapons were never used at night. The Luftwaffe almost deployed a wire-guided air-to-air missile in early 1945 but the factory producing the rocket motors was destroyed in a bombing raid. 

Once the Luftwaffe started to fly their early jet and rocket-powered interceptors in the autumn of 1944, the strange nocturnal lights were frequently referred to as “jets” in both American and British official records. This, despite the fact that the crews were actually witnessing balls of light, not aircraft, and in any case, the Germans did not operate their jet or rocket types at night at that time. A small number of Messerschmitt Me 262s jet fighters, converted to the night-fighter role, operated in the defense of Berlin from mid-December 1944 but they never flew in areas where Foo Fighters were encountered. The rocket-propelled Me 163 Komet appears in numerous combat reports by RAF night bomber crews, but it was never flown in the dark, as it was almost too dangerous to fly even by day. However, none of these German secret weapons matched the witness reports describing the Foo Fighters’ maneuvers and capabilities.

“Intelligence reports seem to indicate it is radio-controlled from the ground and can keep pace with planes flying 300 miles per hour.” – US newspaper report, 1945

Labeled as new Nazi secret weapons, reports of Foo Fighters started appearing in American newspapers during December 1944, but the armchair experts called upon by editors to comment on the stories were just as clueless as the Air Intelligence staff. As Allied ground forces pushed into Germany during the spring of 1945, the number of sightings dropped almost to zero. When the war finally ended in May 1945, the Foo Fighters seemed to disappear from Western Europe, suggesting that they were indeed German secret weapons. However, scrutiny of captured aircraft factories and testing facilities found nothing that resembled the Foo Fighters. None of the aircraft or missile designs that were discovered, or design plans that were found, matched the tremendous capabilities displayed by the balls of light. Captured scientists and technicians were interviewed but could not shed any light on the matter either. It turned out that the Germans were as much in the dark about the phenomenon as the Allies were.

The focus of the war changed to the Pacific, where similar sightings of strange balls of light, impervious to machine-gun fire, had been witnessed since August 1944, although sporadic reports of odd-looking objects had been filed since the end of 1942. Crews from Major William (“Butch”) Blanchard’s 40th Bomb Group saw mysterious “balloons” over Japan in October 1944, and Blanchard himself would be at the center of the Roswell UFO crash controversy almost three years later. Air Intelligence believed that some sightings in the Pacific were of German technology supplied to the Japanese. Plans for various weapons were indeed donated by Germany towards the end of the war, however, it was too late to put them into production. Once hostilities in the Pacific ended with the dropping of the two atomic bombs, the number of reports dwindled too. Interest in the Foo Fighters waned, and the wartime reports were filed away and forgotten. No one ever managed to put forward an explanation that stood the test of time. The Foo Fighters are as much a mystery to today’s researchers as they were to the intelligence officials of 1944.

Outlook: The More UFOs Change, The More They Stay The Same

Looking back to incidents that occurred nearly eighty years ago may seem like a waste of time to people caught up in the current heady rush of US Navy encounters, UAP photos, and future government briefings. What appears to be forgotten is that the accounts of November 1944 and November 2004 are not too dissimilar when you boil them down to their basics. Drop a P-61 Black Widow pilot into the front seat of a F/A-18F Super Hornet and he might gaze in awe at the new technology on display in front of him. Put him in David Fravor’s position and the P-61 pilot would realize that the “Tic Tac” demonstrates a much higher level of sophistication than the machine he was now flying. Military aircraft may have vastly improved over the intervening sixty years, but whatever our pilots are continuing to come up against during training flights, the mysterious lights and objects are still running rings around them. To this observer at least, it also appears as if those who are supposed to be “in the know” still don’t have a clue what is going on, something else which hasn’t changed since 1944.

“We have encountered a phenomenon which we cannot explain.” – Secret 1945 memo sent from XII Tactical Air Command intelligence staff to the First Tactical Air Force

Trying to ascertain the origin and motives of the Foo Fighters is akin to figuring out what is going on with the current UAP phenomenon. Stories suggest that German pilots also encountered the Foo Fighters during World War Two, but I have not been able to find any reports that stand up to even the briefest scrutiny. Without trying to sound like a debunker, the photographic “evidence” that exists is probably faked, is a film defect, or another mundane occurrence. Pictures that pass these tests subsequently fail in terms of a lack of supporting information. None of the photos I have found in the course of my research have accompanying notes about locations, dates, or names of the aircrew involved, and are therefore treated with a healthy dose of skepticism. Without context, they are practically meaningless. I like to think that if annotated photos exist in a military archive somewhere, they presumably sit on a shelf next to pictures of the crashed Roswell craft and the Kecksburg “Acorn”. 

Despite a lack of photographic evidence, the Foo Fighter phenomenon is redeemed in terms of the sheer number of witness statements, logbooks, and intelligence reports that confirm the existence of strange lights and other odd flying objects during World War Two, if not their nature. Reports of Foo Fighter encounters are compelling but leave plenty of scope for argument and debate over their veracity, origin, and purpose. Fast forward to April 2021 and a quick read through postings on UFO Twitter tells me that nothing has changed in this respect. UAPs remain unidentified, and people continue to argue over what they represent.

If and when the current spate of UAP sightings is explained to the satisfaction of most commentators and onlookers, perhaps the information we receive will help us understand historical encounters such as the Foo Fighters, Roswell, and Socorro. One could argue that the Foo Fighters are still with us. They might have changed their shape and name, but they are still the same elusive phenomenon that has baffled military personnel who have confronted them in the skies for almost eighty years.

• Follow and connect with author Graeme Rendall on Twitter: @Borders750
• Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, to weigh in and share your thoughts. You can also get all the latest  news and exciting feature content from The Debrief on Flipboard, and Pinterest. And subscribe to The Debrief YouTube Channel to check out all of The Debrief’s exciting original shows: The Official Debrief Podcast with Michael Mataluni– DEBRIEFED: Digging Deeper with Cristina Gomez –Rebelliously Curious with Chrissy Newton

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Orbs Over Stojeszyn, Lublin Voivodeship, Poland – January 19, 2026 (approx. 5:00 PM) UFO UAP Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Jan 19, 2026

Location of sighting: Stojeszyn, Poland

 

UFOs are constantly being seen around the world, often being mistaken for something else when in reality...it's an alien craft. Here we have several orbs moving about knowing full well that there are people down below watching and recording them. Aliens know the time for full disclosure is very near, and they no longer want to wait. These are alien entities ai technology recording and sometimes controlled by biological entities at an alien base somewhere underground or under the ocean floor. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

UFO caught in NASA images over moons surface, Apollo 10. UAP Sighting News.

 

Strange UFO Sighting of cone caught in NASA image over moons surface, Apollo 10 Mission.

Location: Moons Surface
Date: May 18 until 26, 1969

While looking over some NASA images in their archives of Apollo 10 moon mission I found these Five interesting photos. Remember the purpose of this mission was to be a "dry run" for the Apollo 11 mission, testing all of the procedures and components of a Moon landing without actually landing on the Moon itself. See the UFO orb on far right? The first and second photos show the module floating near two UFO orbs that apparently came to investigate them. These photos are labeled "flyby sequence" because they are flying over the moon to investigate future landing spots. Now two orbs on right.The third through fifth images shows a UFO that is shaped like an upside-down cone. This giant UFO also seems to have the two orbs flying around it. Notice the orbs position changes in each photo. 

Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily

 

 

Source:

• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-27-3864
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-27-3865
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3988
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3989
• http://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS10-28-3990
  
  

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{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Onverwachte verschuiving van de magnetische noordpool

©Getty Images

Onverwachte verschuiving van de magnetische noordpool

De magnetische noordpool van de aarde is aan het verschuiven. Hoewel dit eeuwenlang een geleidelijk proces is geweest, hebben recente waarnemingen een verandering in het tempo van de beweging aan het licht gebracht. Maar waarom gebeurt dit en wat zijn de gevolgen voor onze planeet?

Van de manier waarop onze smartphones werken tot de navigatie van vliegtuigen, de verschuivende magnetische noordpool heeft een verrassende invloed op ons dagelijks leven.

Geïntrigeerd? Klik door deze galerij om het zwervende magnetische veld van de aarde en de verrassende implicaties ervan te ontdekken.

©Getty Images

Wat is het magnetische veld van de aarde?
De aarde is een gigantische, bolvormige magneet. De aarde is omgeven door een magnetisch veld dat in de tijd en in de ruimte verschuift. Dit veld is afkomstig van verschillende bronnen binnen en buiten de aarde.

©Getty Image

Als een staafmagneets
Het lijkt erg op het veld dat wordt gecreëerd door een staafmagneet, maar dan geplaatst in het middelpunt van de aarde. Magnetische velden worden gecreëerd door bewegende elektrische ladingen. In een staafmagneet zijn deze ladingen elektronen die rondjes draaien in atomen.

©Shutterstock

Kernelementen
Binnenin de aarde zijn deze bewegende ladingen elektronen die worden meegevoerd door circulerende stromen gesmolten ijzer.

©Getty Images

William Gilbert
Wetenschappers bestuderen het magnetisme van de aarde al eeuwenlang. William Gilbert, een 17e-eeuwse Engelse natuurkundige, was een pionier op dit gebied. Zijn experimenten en het gebruik van termen als 'elektrische kracht' en 'magnetische pool' legden de basis voor de moderne elektriciteit.

©Getty Images

Reuzenmagneet
Gilberts boek uit 1600, 'De Magnete', zorgde voor een revolutie in het begrip van magnetisme. Na uitgebreid onderzoek stelde hij voor dat de aarde zich gedraagt als een reusachtige staafmagneet, wat het gedrag van kompasnaalden en magnetische variaties gekoppeld aan geografische kenmerken verklaart.

©Getty Images

Bevindingen
Hij besprak het magnetisme van de aarde aan de hand van een model: een bolvormig stuk laststeen dat een terrella (kleine aarde) wordt genoemd. Magnetische naalden op een terrella wijzen naar de noordpool (aangeduid als punt A). Zelfs op een oneffen oppervlak, zoals bij punt O, wijzen de naalden nog steeds naar het noorden.

©Getty Images

Vintage uitrusting
In het begin van de 19e eeuw bestudeerden wetenschappers het magnetisme van de aarde met behulp van dipnaalden. Deze maten de hoek van het magnetische veld van de aarde op een willekeurig punt. Naalden staan horizontaal op de evenaar en verticaal op de polen. Wetenschappers gebruikten dompelnaalden op expedities vanaf de 18e eeuw.

©Getty Images

Ontdekking
De Schotse schout-bij-nacht Sir James Clark Ross ontdekte de Noordelijke Magnetische Pool in het noorden van Canada voor het eerst in 1831, na een aantal Arctische expedities.

©Getty Images

Technische vooruitgang
Een beter begrip van de magnetische polen van de aarde leidde tot vooruitgang in de navigatie. De 'True Course Finder', bijvoorbeeld, automatiseerde berekeningen voor zeelieden, waardoor ingewikkelde formules niet meer nodig waren. Vóór deze apparaten konden zeelieden alleen het magnetische noorden bepalen met een kompas, waardoor ze extra berekeningen nodig hadden voor het ware noorden.

©Getty Images

In beweging
Eeuwenlang hebben wetenschappers de magnetische noordpool gevolgd. In tegenstelling tot de stationaire geografische noordpool is de magnetische noordpool voortdurend in beweging. Tussen 1600 en 1900 bewoog hij ongeveer 10-15 kilometer per jaar.

©Getty Images

Siberië-gebonden
In de jaren 1990 dreef het naar de Atlantische Oceaan voordat het versnelde richting Siberië. Aan het begin van de jaren 2000 was de snelheid toegenomen tot ongeveer4 kilometer per jaar.

©Getty Images

Siberië-gebonden
In 2005 probeerden de Canadese geofysicus Larry Newitt en de Franse geoloog Jean-Jacques Orgeval het magnetische veld van de aarde vast te stellen tijdens een expeditie naar het Canadese noordpoolgebied. Ze bevestigden dat de dolende pool internationale wateren was binnengedrongen en op weg was naar Siberië.

©Public Domain

Magnetisch Wereldmodel
Het World Magnetic Model (WMM), gezamenlijk ontwikkeld door het Amerikaanse National Geophysical Data Center en de British Geological Survey (BGS), is een grootschalig model van het magnetisch veld van de aarde dat wordt gebruikt om de locatie van de pool te voorspellen. Het WMM wordt elke vijf jaar bijgewerkt en de nieuwste versie is nu beschikbaar.

©Shutterstock

Op de rem
Terwijl de reis richting Rusland doorgaat, is de magnetische migratie van de Noordpool de afgelopen vijf jaar vertraagd tot ongeveer 35 kilometer per jaar. Deze snelheid van vertraging is volgens wetenschappers ongekend.

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Canada vs. Rusland
Een team onder leiding van professor Phil Livermore van de Universiteit van Leeds heeft een verklaring voorgesteld voor het recente gedrag van de magnetische Noordpool. Hij suggereert dat de pool gevangen zit in een touwtrekwedstrijd tussen twee concurrerende magnetische krachten, de ene onder Canada en de andere onder Siberië.

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Canada vs. Rusland
Livermore suggereert dat de Canadese magnetische patch uitgerekt en gesplitst is, waardoor de Siberische patch mogelijk sterker is geworden. Deze verschuiving in het evenwicht zou de verschuiving van de pool naar Rusland kunnen verklaren.

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Wat veroorzaakt de beweging?
De buitenkern van de aarde bestaat voornamelijk uit gesmolten ijzer, een vloeibaar metaal. Als warmte uit de kern ontsnapt, beweegt dit gesmolten ijzer en wordt het magnetische veld van de aarde opgewekt.

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Ronddwarrelend
Onvoorspelbare veranderingen in de wervelende beweging van dit gesmolten ijzer, dat zich ongeveer 3.218 kilometer onder het oppervlak bevindt, beïnvloeden het magnetische veld van de aarde en de positie van de magnetische pool.

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Warme thee
"Het is net een reusachtige kop thee," legt William Brown uit, een wereldwijde modelleur van het aardmagnetisch veld bij de British Geological Survey. "Het is een hete vloeistof met de substantie van water."

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Implicaties voor de echte wereld
De beweging van de noordelijke magnetische pool is cruciaal voor nauwkeurige navigatie. De gegevens die worden verzameld door de beweging te volgen, worden gebruikt om kompassen en andere navigatieapparaten te kalibreren.

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GPS en smartphones
Het speelt een rol in alledaagse GPS-systemen, waaronder de kompasfunctie op onze smartphones.

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Militaire navigatie
Het leger vertrouwt ook op het World Magnetic Model voor nauwkeurige navigatie van onderzeeërs, vooral in moeilijke omgevingen zoals de Noordpool.

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Luchthavens
Landingsbanen van luchthavens zijn genummerd op basis van hun kompasrichting. Als het magnetisch veld van de aarde verschuift, moeten deze nummers worden bijgewerkt. De noordbaan van Berlin Brandenburg Airport veranderde bijvoorbeeld van 25R/07L naar 24R/06L in oktober 2024.

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Constante bewaking
Hoewel het onmogelijk is om exacte bewegingen te voorspellen, blijft de BGS het magnetische veld van de aarde in de gaten houden. Ze gebruiken een netwerk van grondstations en satellieten om het veld op verschillende locaties in kaart te brengen.

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Pool flip?
Wetenschappers weten dat het gesmolten ijzer in de kern van de aarde voortdurend wervelt en dat de magnetische polen altijd bewegen. Is het dan mogelijk dat er een volledige omkering plaatsvindt, waarbij het noorden het zuiden wordt en omgekeerd?

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Magneetveld spiegelen
Hoewel omkeringen van de aardmagnetische polen niet vaak voorkomen, zijn ze in de geschiedenis van de aarde wel voorgekomen.

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Magneetveld spiegelen
De laatste volledige omkering vond 780.000 jaar geleden plaats. Een tijdelijke omkering vond 41.000 jaar geleden plaats, maar die duurde slechts 250 jaar voordat hij terugkeerde naar, de positie waar de polen zich vandaag de dag nog steeds bevinden.

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Geen reden tot zorgen
Hoewel omkeringen van de aardmagnetische polen alarmerend kunnen klinken, vinden ze over een lange periode plaats en vormen ze geen directe bedreiging voor het leven. Wetenschappers hebben bevestigd dat dergelijke gebeurtenissen geen significante kortetermijnveranderingen veroorzaken in het milieu van de aarde.

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Ufology: From Fringe to Mainstream to Fringe?

Alittle over eight years ago The New York Times published a story that had profound implications for the way in which the UFO topic was perceived.¹ It also began, at least in the U.S., a process by which the subject became increasingly more mainstream. In this article I want to address three questions:

(1) How did ufology get here?

(2) Where does ufology stand now?

(3) What does the future hold for ufology?

1. How did ufology get here? 

On December 16, 2017, The New York Times broke two related stories. The first was the existence of forward-looking infrared videos of UAP (the U.S. government uses the term UAP—Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon—as opposed to UFO) taken from U.S. Navy jets and confirmed by the Department of Defense as being authentic footage.²

The second part of the story was the existence of a shadowy intelligence program known as the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), that supposedly researched and investigated UAP. This was newsworthy in and of itself, because for years the official position of the U.S. government was that there was no longer any interest in UAP, and that no programs had existed to study the phenomenon since the end of the 1960s, when a long running U.S. Air Force program known as Project Blue Book was terminated. Many people in the UFO community believed this was a lie and that covert programs existed, so it seemed like a clear-cut example of a conspiracy theory that turned out to be true. 

The truth was rather more complex, and there’s still no universally accepted narrative here. Some skeptics say AATIP was more of an unofficial effort undertaken by a group of believers in the Intelligence Community. Whatever its true nature, AATIP was clearly a spin-off of an earlier Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) program called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP). AAWSAP was demonstrably a genuine program, and some official documents use the terms AAWSAP and AATIP interchangeably.³ In January 2020, Pentagon public affairs spokesperson Susan Gough issued a statement attempting to clear up the confusion. It stated: 

The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) was the name of the overall program. The Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program (AAWSAP) was the name of the contract that DIA awarded for the production of all technical reports under AATIP. 

I sought further clarification, and on January 13, 2020, Susan Gough followed this up with a statement that: 

DIA managed the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. All of the work performed under AATIP was done via a single contract vehicle called AAWSAP. The total work effort for AATIP consisted of the 38 technical reports produced under the contract vehicle. DIA was the sole lead for management of AATIP via AAWSAP. Congress was briefed on the total work conducted for AATIP—the aforementioned 38 technical reports. 

The authors of these 38 reports include Hal Puthoff, Eric Davis, and Kit Green—names well-known to those who follow government dabbling in fringe science and the paranormal. 

My personal assessment is that all the euphemistic “advanced aerospace” references were a way of disguising a UFO or paranormal research program as being a program looking at next-generation foreign aerospace weapon threats, to try to protect it from skeptical Pentagon financiers and Congressional oversight folks who would have been horrified to learn that taxpayers’ money was being spent on such matters. This attempt was ultimately unsuccessful, because while $10M was appropriated in FY2008 and a further $12M in FY2010, funding ended in FY2012, after an earlier official review concluded that “the reports were of limited value to DIA.” 

The roots of AAWSAP trace back to Intelligence Community personnel Jay Stratton and James Lacatski, as well as to Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, often portrayed as a hotbed of UFO sightings and paranormal phenomena. Following the DIA’s 2008 issue of a contractual solicitation (carefully worded to focus on breakthrough technologies that might underpin future aerospace weapon systems, while avoiding mention of UFOs or the paranormal), the contract was awarded to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS).⁴ Billionaire space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow was, at the time, the owner of Skinwalker Ranch. 

Robert Bigelow had a longstanding interest in UFOs and the paranormal, and had previously funded the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS).⁵ The Chairman of the Board was the aforementioned Hal Puthoff, a parapsychologist who’d previously managed (with Russell Targ) a program at the Stanford Research Institute (not affiliated with Stanford University) to investigate paranormal phenomena. This work likely led to the U.S. government’s dabbling in such areas as remote viewing through Project Stargate, run by the DIA and CIA during the Cold War. 

NIDS looked at a range of fringe science topics, and some have argued that AAWSAP was essentially a way to secure government funding for a continuation of the sort of work that had been done by NIDS. Senator Harry Reid (who knew Robert Bigelow) was instrumental in securing official status and funding for AAWSAP. 

The New York Times story was quickly picked up by other mainstream media outlets around the world, and this caught the attention of numerous Congressional representatives and staffers. A key reason for this interest was the fact that aside from Harry Reid and two Senatorial colleagues, there seemed to have been no Congressional knowledge of AAWSAP or AATIP, and certainly no oversight. 

In terms of UFOs, folks in Congress likely aren’t that different from society as a whole, in that there’s a wide range of opinions across the spectrum from skeptic to believer. Furthermore, irrespective of beliefs, it’s hardly surprising that an unknown but clearly significant number of people in Congress saw The New York Times article and thought to themselves something like, “Wait, the government has a UFO program, but didn’t tell us? It was run by Intelligence Community personnel and there’s no Congressional oversight? What are they doing and what have they found out?” 

What followed was multifaceted Congressional interest in and engagement on the topic of UAP, to the extent that a critical mass built up. I believe a key factor here was that this engagement was bipartisan, covered both the Senate and the House, and involved several committees, mainly the Armed Services committees, the Intelligence committees, and the Oversight committees. This Congressional engagement led to classified briefings and public hearings. Witnesses at the public hearings included whistleblowers like Luis Elizondo (a retired counter-intelligence operative prominently featured in The New York Times article and described therein as being the individual who had run AATIP) and David Grusch, a former Intelligence Community member who had been attached to the UAP Task Force under the directorship of Jay Stratton. 

Perhaps the most important part of Congressional UAP engagement was the insertion of multiple UAP-related provisions into several of the recent, annual National Defense Authorization Acts (NDAA). In part to meet these legislative remits, the DOD set up an office (the aforementioned UAP Task Force) to handle the response and to lead on the topic across government. This task force published a number of official reports and was eventually replaced by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). AARO’s website hosts a wealth of reports, briefings, and other UAP-related materials, sourced both from the DOD and Congress, that perfectly illustrate both the breadth and depth of Congressional engagement and the government response to this Congressional interest.⁶

As an interesting side note, one of the directors of the UAP Task Force was the aforementioned Jay Stratton, who had previously been involved in AAWSAP and who had an anomalous experience at Skinwalker Ranch. Stratton’s upcoming memoir, apparently to be published in 2026 by HarperCollins, may shed some light on unresolved questions concerning the evolutionary process from NIDS to BAASS to AAWSAP to AATIP, as well as other not-yet-resolved questions. 

Every intelligence analyst on the face of the planet knows the importance of differentiating between what they know and what they think, yet these very people often seem to be blurring the line.

It’s certainly interesting to note the connections between the various individuals involved and to see how the same names pop up repeatedly. This gives some potential insights into who the key players are and what the overall agenda is. The New York Times story, for example, had a long gestation period. The story was shopped around for some months prior to publication, not only to The New York Times, but also to The Washington Times and Politico, both of which were thus able to run fairly detailed stories very shortly after The New York Times got the scoop.

 

Further insights can be gained by looking at the three names that appeared on the byline for The New York Times story: Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal, and Leslie Kean. 

Helene Cooper was a Pentagon correspondent with The New York Times, with no previous UAP interest; The New York Times veteran reporter Ralph Blumenthal’s interest predated the December 2017 article and began with his research into Harvard Professor of Psychiatry John Mack, who had conducted research into the alien abduction mystery. This led to the 2021 publication of Blumenthal’s book on Mack, The Believer. Leslie Kean comes from a wealthy political family and had a prior interest in UAP and alien abductions, illustrated by her previous writings and by the fact that she lived for some years with abduction researcher Budd Hopkins, who first introduced John Mack to the topic. 

It was Leslie Kean who was instrumental in bringing the story to The New York Times. Luis Elizondo had resigned from government service in the fall of 2017, but very shortly before leaving had passed the three best-known U.S. Navy UAP videos to Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence. Elizondo believed he had obtained official security clearance for their release, though it seems there was a misunderstanding and that the clearance was not intended to authorize public release. To illustrate this, an April 27, 2020, statement from the DOD referred to “unauthorized releases” of the videos in 2007 and 2017.⁷ In 2007, one of the videos leaked online on the Above Top Secret discussion forum, while 2017 referred to the process that led to The New York Times running the story. 

Mellon and Elizondo then joined an organization called the To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA), ostensibly headed by Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge. TTSA was a sort of collaborative hub for a number of individuals, many with backgrounds in government UAP and fringe science research, including Hal Puthoff and retired CIA officer Jim Semivan. 

It was Christopher Mellon who facilitated a meeting between Kean, Elizondo, and others, which then gave Kean enough to take the story to The New York Times, via Ralph Blumenthal, setting in motion a series of events that was to forever change the field of ufology.⁸

2. Where does ufology stand now? 

This is how ufology in the U.S. went from fringe to mainstream, though it’s a simplified version, and not all the twists and turns of the story are universally agreed upon. If I had to summarize what I think happened and why, my best assessment would be as follows: A loose coalition of believers in UAP and the paranormal, often with backgrounds in government, military, and the Intelligence Community, sought and obtained official funding for their work. When that funding was terminated, they continued the work in a quasi-official capacity. Finally, when they felt they’d taken matters as far as they could without official funding, they decided to go public, successfully gambling that the resultant firestorm would generate other ways to take things forward. The goals may have included funding (TTSA certainly raised some money through a share issue) and Congressional engagement. The latter has clearly been a big success. 

However, eight years into this process, there’s still no smoking gun and we appear to have hit some speed bumps, with several new and parallel events putting things in a rather different light. 

Further ex-government whistleblowers have come forward. This sounds like a good thing, and in one sense, it is, but the unintended consequence has been that this has added to the information overload and created a landscape so complicated that even veteran commentators like myself, who follow the situation very closely, find it difficult to keep up. Furthermore, not all whistleblowers are equal. While one can be reasonably confident that those who have testified to Congress are who they say they are (staffers vet such people fairly thoroughly, not least by quizzing their former employers), others haven’t had their backgrounds investigated in such depth. 

It should also be remembered that even when someone’s government background checks out, their specific role is often harder to pin down and their information can be all but impossible to verify. That’s partly because many of these folks have a background in the military and the Intelligence Community, where issues of classification often arise and where deception was literally in some of these people’s job descriptions. It’s also because much of the information is second hand, but where those concerned don’t make it clear that this is something that somebody else told them. Every intelligence analyst on the face of the planet knows the importance of differentiating between what they know and what they think, yet these very people often seem to be blurring the line. No wonder one occasionally hears some civilian UFO researchers complain that the whole thing is a PSYOP. 

This already murky situation has been further complicated by factional infighting. There’s clearly a struggle for narrative control within the field. Even among the various whistleblowers and other key players, who are ostensibly polite with each other, there are clearly some tensions. By way of a personal anecdote, I’ve had more than one TV producer tell me how Individual A told them he’d appear on a show, provided Individual B wasn’t featured (the requests backfired because producers don’t usually play that game). I’m similarly aware that some of the key players who are ostensibly being polite to me are briefing against me, perhaps seeing my mainstream media platform as a potential threat, especially given that I’m independent in all this and don’t take anybody’s side. Because it so perfectly describes the situation, I can’t resist quoting a lyric from the O’Jays song Back Stabbers: “They smile in your face. All the time they want to take your place.” 

There’s nothing new about infighting in the UFO community. What is new, however, is that folks with a background in military intelligence know a few dirty tricks that their civilian counterparts don’t. Plus, social media has acted as a force multiplier, with 𝕏 in particular having turned into a veritable battlefield between some of the key players, often using proxies and sock puppet accounts. Cliques, harassment, and doxxing seem to be the order of the day. Neither should we sweep under the carpet the uncomfortable truth that some of the people who’ve recently jumped aboard the ufology train clearly have psychological issues, while others sense a money-making opportunity. 

To pick one example of all this infighting, the December 2025 appearance of Jay Anderson on Joe Rogan’s podcast seems to have set off a particularly nasty squabble.⁹ Jay criticized Luis Elizondo (among others), accusing him of orchestrating an aggressive campaign to control the narrative, as well as making reference to what he’s sometimes called a “UFO Hate Group.”¹⁰ In response, a group of Elizondo supporters, sometimes dubbed “the Lue Crew,” hit back against Jay Anderson.¹¹

A related development is that a new generation of influential podcast hosts and YouTube channel owners saw the topic become increasingly mainstream and entered the fray. While many are honest brokers, their podcasts and channels are often the arena in which the struggle for narrative control plays out. Again, despite being a veteran commentator who follows all this closely, I struggle to work out who’s supporting which faction, how many factions there are, and the true nature of their respective agendas. 

Cartoon by Oliver Ottitsch for SKEPTIC

What is the result of all this information overload, confusion, and infighting? Speaking personally, I’m fatigued. Moreover, I see from social media that other people are fatigued too. I’m a free speech absolutist, so I’m certainly not advocating any controls on this. I completely reject the idea (which has been floated several times over the years) that ufology should set up some sort of governing body, or somehow police itself. After all, who gets to decide who’s on the governing body, and quis custodiet ipsos custodes? 

There are other developments that give me cause for concern. One of them relates to a couple of narrative shifts that I’ve noticed creeping into the topic. 

Ufology has always been a big tent. In whistleblower David Grusch’s testimony to Congress, and in some of his media interviews, he used the terms “nonhuman” and “non-human intelligence.”¹² In the Schumer-Rounds Amendment (a legislative proposal intended for insertion into FY2024 NDAA, but which did not find its way into the final bill), the term “non-human intelligence” was used multiple times.¹³ Grusch has said that this leaves the door open for other possibilities aside from the extraterrestrial hypothesis. And this has opened the door to some highly speculative discussions about cryptoterrestrials, ultraterrestrials, extratempestrials, and interdimensionals. It’s also led to something a little more on the dark side, with a theological bent. 

The idea that aliens are fallen angels, or demons, isn’t new. But this once-niche theory has gotten a little more traction lately. Luis Elizondo has previously told the story of how, when he lobbied a senior Pentagon official to take more action over UAP, the official told him he should read his Bible. This appeared to reflect a belief that some aspects of UAP are demonic and that to study it would be to give it energy and feed it. 

Such opinions have gained more mainstream traction with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene expressing the views that aliens could be fallen angels,¹⁴ while high-profile broadcaster Tucker Carlson has also talked about UAP in terms of spiritual forces and entities like angels and demons.¹⁵ All of this plays into a neoreligious interpretation of ufology. Chris Bledsoe—author of UFO of God—talks about how an entity he dubs “The Lady” told him how glowing orbs would intervene to stop the missiles if Israel and Iran go to war. There’s an “end times” theme to a lot of this.¹⁶

Again, as a free speech absolutist, I wouldn’t dream of telling people what they can and can’t say about UAP, let alone what they should believe. Again, I’m merely commenting on the current state of play and expressing a personal opinion that I think some of the current narrative isn’t necessarily healthy or helpful. And I certainly doubt that it holds any validity. 

Another narrative shift is the use of the term “psionics”—the idea that one can use the power of one’s mind to summon UAP. It’s a scientific-sounding term, but is it really that different from Steven Greer’s CE5 (Close Encounter of the Fifth Kind) protocols, whereby one can supposedly use meditation and other techniques to initiate contact with extraterrestrials? The danger, of course, is that certain individuals can then insert themselves as intermediaries; you can access the phenomenon, but only through them, because of their special abilities. Again, there’s a sort of quasi-religious, cultish feel to all this, in which one can only access the divine through the intermediary of the priest. 

3. What does the future hold for ufology? 

Given my assessment that ufology has to some extent moved from fringe to mainstream, but has hit some speed bumps, where do we go from here? I don’t have a crystal ball, but based on statements from a range of people involved in the process, it seems that further Congressional hearings and more whistleblowers would be a fairly good bet. The problem, of course, is that, short of a “smoking gun” (actual evidence and not just more stories), this runs the risk of reinforcing the view that it’s all talk and no action. Where’s the beef? 

The Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets is looking at UAP. There’s considerable overlap between personnel involved with the Task Force and personnel serving on the House Oversight Committee, which has been particularly vociferous on UAP. This brings up a potential problem, because while the Task Force is bipartisan, it skews toward Republicans. Thus, it wouldn’t take much to jeopardize the bipartisan nature of Congressional engagement, which would be a setback. 

If Donald Trump’s presidency ends without disclosure, I’ll be 99.9 percent convinced that there’s nothing to disclose.

The UFO community continues to hope for Disclosure—the official acknowledgement of an extraterrestrial presence. The Age of Disclosure, a documentary produced by Dan Farah and released late in 2025 plays into this.¹⁷ So does Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film Disclosure Day.¹⁸ But it goes further than this, and 2027 is a potential date that’s been frequently mentioned. 

Disclosure in 2027 would mean that Donald Trump would be the Disclosure President. There’s a curious kind of logic in this, because if there truly is a decades-long official cover-up of an extraterrestrial presence, the secret has been scrupulously kept by successive administrations of both political parties. By inference, therefore, the reasons for secrecy must be exceptionally compelling. Perhaps only a populist, maverick, second-term President would disclose in such circumstances—more so, given that Trump will soon be in his 80s and is doubtless mindful of his legacy. I agree that if the U.S. government is aware of an extraterrestrial presence, Trump is more likely than any previous president to spill the beans. President Trump has occasionally hinted that he’s privy to some interesting information about UFOs, but has yet to elaborate on the topic.¹⁹

Some argue that the secret of an extraterrestrial presence is kept even from presidents (perhaps to maintain plausible deniability) and is in the hands of an unelected set of gatekeepers, perhaps in the government, but possibly in the private sector. I find this unconvincing. Most Western governments operate on the basis of what the UK civil service calls the culture of “no surprises,” by which political leaders need to be briefed on all big, impactful issues that might require quick decisions and action. 

If Donald Trump’s presidency ends without Disclosure, I’ll be 99.9 percent convinced that there’s nothing to disclose. I’d have to accept that if extraterrestrials are visiting Earth, nobody in the government is aware of it. The acceptance of such a state of affairs might actually be rather good for ufology. After all, while some conspiracies are real, most conspiracy theories are false, and encourage a negative, accusatory approach. Removing—or at least reducing—this mindset from ufology might lead to a healthier, less aggressive approach. It would also remove a lot of redundant effort, which could be better used elsewhere, such as in encouraging more scientists and academics to engage on the topic. 

As I see it, ufology stands at an interesting crossroads. While some of the details remain disputed, the topic has undoubtedly transitioned from fringe to mainstream in the last few years. However, a mixture of information overload, infighting, and quasi-religious narratives may conspire to undo this progress. Allied to this, mainstream media interest in most topics waxes and wanes. The UFO community can’t expect their current fascination with the subject to last indefinitely. This is particularly true if Congressional engagement falls away, as it may well do if the perception is that the subject is becoming more partisan and more fringe, with the attendant dangers of reputational damage attaching to those Representatives who continue to express an interest. 

Ufology has come out of the fringe and into the mainstream, but I believe there’s a distinct possibility that it will move out of the mainstream and back into the fringe.

UFOs, aliens and ‘little green men’: A primer on everything extraterrestrial

Trump’s announcement of unsealing all files related to possible life beyond Earth has put the spotlight back on one of the most enduring mysteries that has baffled humans for a long time.