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- Abstract
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- For the past fifty years, civilian UFO organizations
have been collecting, categorizing and archiving UFO reports. By using
proper investigative techniques they have amassed an incredible amount
of information. A major portion of this database is drawn from eyewitness
testimony, supplemented by films, videotapes, and electronic signal detection.
The various U.S. Government projects (Grudge, Blue Book, et al) used the
same techniques. As a result, political and scientific entities have casually
dismissed the evidence as inconsequential. All the while, various agencies
of the United States government and the governments of other countries
were using all sorts of advanced technologies for Cold War purposes. For
the most part, few of these advanced technologies were used to address
the UFO issue. The purpose of this paper is to urge responsible governmental
organizations to reassess their position and to allow all available technologies
to be used to eliminate the UFO mystery.
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- Background
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- For three and one half decades I worked in the U.S. human
space flight program and was exposed to a forward march of classified and
non-classified technological developments. Many of those developments
could have been applied to solving the UFO mystery, but as far as I can
tell, it never happened. For the past five years I have made presentations
to various technical and civic groups describing how these new technologies
could be applied to the UFO problem and found the audiences to be quite
receptive to the idea. Still nothing of significance has resulted from
my efforts.
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- This paper summarizes a number of the technological options
available to apply to solving the UFO mystery. Everything that follows
was taken from open sources and to the best of my knowledge is non-classified
and/or is sufficiently vague so as not to be a threat to national security.
I expect that a number of readers will be aware that new extrapolations
of the technologies listed below are now in daily use by various agencies.
Of course, greater success could be assured by using the latest technologies,
but it isn,t necessary. Any one of these technologies, applied to UFO
research and investigations, could add significantly to the quality of
the database and bring us closer to the day when the mystery is solved.
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- Partnering With Government Agencies
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- The UFO mystery has been with us for more than fifty
years. During this time thousands of individuals and non-governmental
groups have spent hundreds of thousands of hours amassing the evidence
about the UFO mystery. As several points during this period the United
States, France, Russia and several other governments have commissioned
investigations and studies, but apparently they enjoyed no more success
in eliminating the mystery than the private groups.
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- According to public opinion polls, the public abhors
this lack of progress and sees it as an attempt by governments to cover-up
what is really going on. All sorts of conspiracy theories have grown out
of this high level of distrust and the public has a low opinion of the
government in general, the intelligence agencies and military. This is
all coming at a time when our very survival may depend on these agencies.
This high level of distrust could be eased if agencies would work with
private UFO research groups for an era of openness and cooperation.
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- Government agencies regularly partner with industry,
academia and private research organizations. For example, in 1999, the
National Security Agency was selected to spearhead a U.S. Defense Department
effort to develop, with commercial assistance, joint tactical signals intelligence
systems. Similar efforts have been conducted with private think tanks,
universities (such as the University of Texas and Texas A&M University)
and aerospace corporations. Such joint ventures almost always enjoy a
high level of success.
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- Similar governmental agency partnering ventures with
organizations such as the National Institute for Discovery Science, the
Mutual UFO Network, and others could result in the resolution of the UFO
mystery on the near term and restore a high level of trust in the government
in general. All of the partnering could be done in the open, without need
to expose any classified information to these groups. However, due to
the backgrounds of the various members of these organizations, there could
exist both classified and unclassified groups within each of them if necessary.
The goal in every case is the elimination of the UFO mystery.
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- Available Technologies
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- Any solution to the UFO mystery requires more than rhetoric.
The journalistic approach to the problem has failed miserably. It is
time to collect hard data and subject it to open scrutiny so we may bring
this mystery to a close early in the new century. This can be done through
the utilization of technologies and systems already available and being
operated by a number of government agencies. In most cases, no new systems
would be required. For the most part, all these technologies already have
the capability to amass data on UFOs. Protocols could easily be developed
to allow certain data streams to flow to the selected groups for evaluation
and analysis.
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- These existing technologies include radar, infrared imaging,
optical holographic filtering, image-recognition, sensors, remotely piloted
vehicles and more. The following description of technologies that could
be applied to the elimination of the UFO mystery is not intended to be
an exhaustive list. Rather, it is given as a starting place for a dialog
between governmental agencies and private groups. Partnering discussions
are the natural place to expand on the list and come to some agreements
how the technologies could be used to accomplish the goal. The important
thing to remember is that there are hundreds of existing tools that can
be applied to the solution of the problem.
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- LASER RADAR IMAGER
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- Engineers at Sandia National Labs, Albuquerque, N.M.,
developed a field-ready scanner-less laser radar system that can resolve
differences in range accurately enough to use the data to image the size,
shape, and contours of the objects it sees, thus providing image and range
information. The system was developed as part of a program to enable smart
conventional weapons to actively seek and identify their targets while
discriminating between targets and decoys. From: R&D Magazine, November
1994
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- OPTICAL HOLOGRAPHIC FILTER
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- Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have defined
an advanced technique for optical pattern recognition that provides the
capability to detect and identify images of target objects and despite
distortions in image scale, rotation, or angle of view.
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- Older holographic pattern-recognition systems could identify
a target rapidly by matching it to information stored in a holographic
template. Those systems suffered a basic drawback in that the target images
must match the template exactly.
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- The newer technique, developed primarily for military-target
recognition, does not suffer this limitation. It produces a generalized
holographic template that includes all information about a prospective
target.
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- A special filter is employed to create a "lock-and-tumbler
hologram. This will identify a target image regardless of the target,s
position, brightness, or rotation, even if the target is partially obscured
by other objects, altered in appearance by reflections or glint, or buried
in visual "noise. These features make the lock-and-tumbler hologram
particularly attractive for real-world optical pattern recognition under
conditions of less than ideal visibility. It can recognize the shape of
a particular aircraft, the plumes of enemy rockets, or other flying objects.
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- The hologram is generated from detailed information about
a prospective target, which is stored in computer memory. A series of
calculations is required to produce a lock-and-tumbler hologram. A spinning
optical-correlation filter is employed. The angular harmonics of this
device closely approximate those of the target image, which is dissected
into a number of fundamental components and recombined in a way determined
by a computer algorithm called spectral iteration. This produces the hologram
that serves as a unique "key, for the target - a Harrier Jump-jet,
for example. The computer-generated key fits no other image, therefore
recognizes only the target it has been "programmed to recognize.
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- From: MACHINE DESIGN, September 25, 1986
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- Computer Reconstruction of a Delta-wing Aircraft Made
From an Incomplete Set of Image Components
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- THERMAL INFRARED IMAGING
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- In the spring of 1993, Dr. Richard J. Pollack, Harvard
School of Public Health and Mitsubishi Electronics America, Inc., teamed
to utilize thermal imagery to assess the abundance and distribution of
deer on Block Island and Prudence Island off the coast of Rhode Island.
Mitsubishi provided a high quality thermal imager capable of detecting
temperature differences of 0.1 degrees C. This was installed in a Cessna
206 airplane modified for aerial surveillance and photography.
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- A penned herd of 35 white-tailed deer was imaged at various
altitudes, speeds and light conditions. The researchers were able to identify
and discriminate among deer, horses, cows and people. They found the view
from 1,000 feet above the ground to be acceptable, permitting recognition
of nearly 100 percent of the deer in open areas, more than 87 percent of
the deer in brush-covered sites and more than 63 percent of the deer in
moderately wooded sites without leafy vegetation. From: Photonics Spectra,
July 1994
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- POLE-MOUNTED IR IMAGING
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- Amber of Goleta, CA., has developed a new infrared imaging
system called Radiance 1 that combines advanced infrared camera performance
with the operational ease of video cameras. The camera,s electronics are
centered around a 32-bit digital signal processor and Flash memory, so
that tasks that were once complex, manual IR camera tasks, such as calibration,
brightness-setting, and contrast enhancement, are now automatic functions.
The camera also has additional memory for performing image processing
and analysis on its own, so that tasks such as motion detection, autotracking
and object recognition can be performed at the camera level. From: Photonics
Spectra, January 1993
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- ACOUSTIC DETECTION SYSTEM
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- An acoustic sensing system can track incoming rifle and
artillery fire to provide real-time information on the projectiles, source
and trajectory. Known as the projectile detection and cueing system, the
small portable unit discerns a projectile,s shock wave to extrapolate its
path back to the originating weapon.
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- The system can provide operators with the direction and
elevation of the incoming munitions. Military applications use vehicle-mounted
or hand-held devices for sniper detection or for locating tanks.
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- The device seizes upon projectile shock waves instead
of on the muzzle blast to determine point of origin. The projectile need
only pass by the sensor suite from any direction to be detected and tracked.
The projectile size offers no limitation to the system,s ability for detection.
The projectile must be supersonic for the detection system to function
in its primary mode. From: Signal, November 1994
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- HELICOPTER AND AIRPLANE RADAR DETECTION
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- The countries of Sweden and Germany are using the Swedish-built
helicopter and airplane radar detection (HARD) system. The HARD radar
is a track-while-scan radar that operates in the X band. The system can
automatically monitor 20 targets at up to 20 kilometers. From: Signal,
March 1999
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- HARD Radar Mounted on German MaK Wiesel 2 Surveillance
Vehicle
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- ALL WEATHER SENSOR
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- A fine resolution, real-time synthetic-aperture radar
(SAR) system, developed by the Department of Energy,s Sandia National Laboratory
and General Atomics, takes photograph-like images in rain or fog, through
clouds, and in day or night conditions. Lynx, the 115-pound all-weather
sensor, can be mounted on both manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles
and operate at a range of 85 km. Flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet,
the Lynx SAR produces one-foot resolution imagery at standoff distances
of up to 55 km. At a resolution of four inches, the radar can make images
of scenes 25 km. away. The radar forms an image that is larger than that
displayed, storing it in cache memory. This allows the operator to pan
around within the total scene in order to concentrate on a particular area
of interest. The sensor can detect small surface penetrations such as
footprints in soft terrain. The sensor picks up the slightest change in
a scene using a technique called coherent change detection. Not only can
the Lynx detect moving targets, but future versions will be able to image
seaborne targets, cue other sensors, and take 3D images. From: Design News,
October 18, 1999
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- BALLISTIC MISSILE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
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- To protect North American continent, the USA and Canada
cooperate in maintaining a radar shield over their combined land mass which
can detect incoming missiles or craft from any direction. This system
is operated by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), located
near Colorado Springs, Colorado. BMEWS is especially strong to the north
because of the risk of ballistic missiles coming over the North Pole.
To complete the radar shield, there are also radar beams facing West, South
and East from the North American coast, so that nothing that is detectable
by radar can fly into Canada or the USA from any direction without tripping
the system. From: Tracking UFOs By Satellites, Simon Harvey-Wilson
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- SPACETRACK
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- The U.S. Air Force Space Command runes SPACETRACK that
provides data on satellites and missiles from its network of sensors around
the world, including NASA,s tracking system. SPACETRACK gets its information
from the U.S. Navy Space Surveillance System (NAVSPASUR) which operates
a line of radar stations running from Georgia to California that transmit
a fan-shaped radar beam into space to a height of about 15,000 kilometers.
The system can detect and calculate the orbital characteristics of any
satellite or other object breaking the beam. From: Tracking UFOs By Satellite,
Simon Harvey-Wilson
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- GROUND-BASED ELECTRO-OPTICAL DEEP SPACE SURVEILLANCE
SYSTEM (GEODSS)
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- The Ground-based Electro-optical Deep Space Surveillance
System consists of a worldwide network of nine systems, which are located
at White Sands Missile Range, on the island of Maui in Hawaii, Portugal
and the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia. These systems, which include
telescope-mounted low-light-television cameras and infrared sensors, can
detect an object as small as a football in geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers
above the ground. This system was used in the 1970s to determine the extent
of the damage sustained by the Skylab space station during launch, before
the launch of the Skylab astronauts was allowed. From: Aviation Week &
Space Technology, March 15, 1999
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- NUCLEAR DETONATION DETECTION SATELLITES
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- U.S. Department of Defense satellites, monitoring for
nuclear explosions have the capability to detect bright flashes caused
by meteoroids disintegrating in the atmosphere. Sensors provide the exact
location by latitude and longitude, peak flash intensity, total radiated
energy, number of pieces, and earth impact site. The DSP satellites are
equipped with Schmidt infrared telescopes, nuclear detection detonation
sensors, ultraviolet sensors and visible light sensors. From: U.S. Air
Force web site: http://phobos.astro.uwo.ca/~pbrown/usaf.html
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- COBRA DANE RADAR SYSTEM
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- The Cobra Dane Radar System, located on the Aleutian
Islands near Alaska can detect a grapefruit-sized metallic object at more
than 2,000 miles. In its tracking mode it can simultaneously handle up
to 200 objects at ranges of up to 1,250 miles. From: Signal, September
1990
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- SPACE-BASED REMOTE SENSING IMAGERY
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- High-resolution remote sensing imagery allows commercial
viewers to discern objects smaller than an automobile. An industry-owned
system duplicates some of the capabilities of Department of Defense satellites.
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- The Ikonos satellite, owned and operated by Space Imaging
Incorporated, Thornton, Colorado, revolves around the Earth 14 times a
day in a sun-synchronous orbit 423 miles high. In addition to 1-meter
panchromatic, the satellite,s Kodak optical imaging device can generate
4-meter multispectral imagery operating in the same bands 1 to 4 as Landsats
4 and 5. From: Signal, December 1999
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- MULTISPECTRAL IMAGING
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- The Pentagon is offering its combat leaders an additional
source of intelligence that springs from its new found ability to quickly
collect, analyze and identify non-photographic clues from a target. The
data includes unique heat patterns, electronic emissions and previously
unused dimensions of radar reflections.
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- Data can be collected by sensors on aircraft, ships,
satellites and the ground. New technology allows specialists to combine
the products of several sensors and closely examine thin slices of the
electro-magnetic spectrum - a process called multi- or hyperspectral sensing
- to produce distinct signatures of almost anything of military importance.
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- There are sensors available that can look through clouds,
camouflage and foliage. The technology also examines less obvious products
given off by a target such as reflective color, chemical discharges or
radar polarization. From: Aviation Week & Space Technology, August
2, 1999
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- Pentagon-issued Multispectral Users Guide Shows Intelligence
Officers how to Combine Data From Different Frequencies, to Find Targets
of Interest
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- COBRA BALL AIRCRAFT
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- The U.S. Air Force,s 55th Wing operates RC-135S Cobra
Balls missile surveillance aircraft, containing long-range optical telescopes,
infrared sensors and laser range finders. Rectangular windows house the
medium-wave-infrared arrays, six cameras to each side of the aircraft.
From: Aviation Week & Space Technology, December 6, 1999
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- KEYHOLE SATELLITES
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- The early generation Keyhole satellites, KH-1 through
KH-9, returned canisters filled with film of targets and encompassed 144
satellite launches between 1960 and 1972. The satellites produced over
800,000 images that were recently declassified. Cameras on the KH-1 satellites
permitted resolution of objects about 12 meters (40 ft.) apart. That resolution
was improved to about 1.5 meters for the KH-4s.
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- The more advanced, higher-resolution KH-7, KH-8 and KH-9
contributed several million images in the 1970s and early 1980s. The unique
KH-9 was capable of imaging tens of thousands of square kilometers in a
single frame with a resolution of about two thirds of a meter. The KH-8
and KH-9 programs concluded in 1984. From: Scientific American, February
1998
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- GLOBAL HAWK SURVEILLANCE AIRCRAFT
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- The Global Hawk unmanned, high-altitude surveillance
and reconnaissance aircraft can fly for 38 hours and at altitudes of 12.5
miles. Global Hawk is the size of a large business jet and carries high-resolution
radar, optical and infrared sensors and a satellite communications and
navigation system. Future enhancements will allow the detection of moving
targets. From: Foxmarketwire.com, March 2, 1999
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- VERTICAL-POINTING RADAR
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- A ground-based vertically-pointing frequency-modulated
continuous-wave radar with a range resolution of one meter can see a common
house fly at altitudes to 10,000 feet. It has an output of 200 W at 2.8
- 3.0 GHz. The beam angle is 4.5 degrees. During tests in the California
desert, the radar pinpointed swarms of crickets and cabbage hoppers as
they flew overhead. The radar has an extremely high range resolution and
close minimum range. From: Microwaves, February 1973
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- HOLOGRAPHIC RADAR
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- France announced a ground-based military holographic
radar system designed to provide broad, precise coverage of airborne targets.
The VHF radar network gives continuous coverage from horizon to horizon
and out into space. The installation routinely tracks meteorite trails
in the Earth,s upper atmosphere.
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- The radar,s holographic technique reconstructs amplitude
and phase distributions of wave disturbances caused by targets moving through
its coverage zone. The radar network uses a number of omnidirectional
transmitters and receivers distributed over a wide area. Each transmitter
operates continuously to illuminate the coverage zone. From: Aviation Week
& Space Technology, August 8, 1983
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- LASER RADAR
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- Laser radars combine some of the advantages of conventional
radar and video imaging. Video provides finer resolution but no range
information; conventional radar provides distance but no shape information.
Laser radars produce real-time images of a craft and it provides the distance
it. From: Machine Design, November 9, 1989
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- ADDITIONAL SYSTEMS
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- An exhaustive listing of existing systems of possible
use in detecting UFOs could number in the hundreds. Some of the more obvious
ones include weather radars, military tactical portable radar units, fire-sensing
systems, aircraft gun camera films/videos, NORAD,s uncorrelated targets,
air traffic radar control systems, and more.
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- Summary
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- Sufficient systems and equipment exist to positively
identify every UFO sighted anywhere in the world if a way could be found
to apply available technology. Two categories of technology exist - Current
and obsolete. The use of current technology is preferable, but most of
it is classified, making access more difficult. Even obsolete technology
is still better than nothing.
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- Existing technology can detect anything that enters U.S.
air space or flies anywhere in the world, gives off electronic signals,
or is measurable by a variety of techniques. Historically, data has been
recorded that could be beneficial gaining new insights into the UFO mystery.
In real-time, the systems exist to positively identify characteristics
of UFOs that would lead to resolution of the mystery.
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- Private organizations stand ready to partner with governmental
agencies to collect, analyze and archive UFO-related information. The
goal is to serve science and humanity.
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