In April, it was reported that the U.S. Navy was creating guidelines for pilots for how to report sightings of unidentified aircrafts, or UFOs.
In a statement to POLITICO, the Navy said that this effort to formalize this process is a response to a spate of recent sightings.
Despite being synonymous in many people’s minds with extraterrestrial life, a UFO is not necessarily a spaceship. In fact, there are many common explanations for such sightings, such as planes, birds or natural phenomena. But their existence does leave open the possibility of alien life.
We get the latest on the Navy’s draft guidelines, as well as the common explanations for UFOs, the government’s history of dealing with them and the likelihood that they may be alien matter.
Guests:
Mike Wall, senior writer at Space.com; his recent book is "Out There: A Scientific Guide to Alien Life, Antimatter, and Human Space Travel (For the Cosmically Curious)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018)
Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California