Bill Nelson Talks About The SETI Program That NASA Does Not Have
Keith’s note: Bill Nelson was on CNN just before 8:00 pm EDT Sunday night to talk about the UAP/UFO report released by the Pentagon Friday evening. Nelson said “I have seen the unclassified and classified version of the report. It says what we thought. We do not know what the answer is to what those navy pilots saw. I have asked our scientists if there is any kind of explanation. I am awaiting their report. My feeling is that there is clearly something there. It may not be extraterrestrial. But if it is our adversaries’ technology then we should be concerned.” Nelson then said “we have a program at NASA called the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence” and concluded by saying “When we launch James Webb Space Telescope it will peer back in time and we will learn more.”
Newsflash: NASA does not fund SETI – nor does NASA have a program by the name “Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence”. Someone needs to brief Nelson a little more efficiently the next time he discusses this topic on TV. Just sayin’.
– That UAP/UFO Report Is Out. No Aliens. Yawn., earlier post
– NASA Has No Idea What To Do About The UAP/UFO Report, earlier post
Keith’s update: Bill Nelson makes gaffs. And he will make more. Other than irksome Keith, no one else probably cares about this one. It was aired on a Sunday night, so no one saw it – and everyone is now focused on Bill Barr’s comments about the 2020 election in a new book. But Nelson has said that his ‘scientists’ are working on this so some people are going to start asking when that report is due, what the scientists found, can we see the report, etc.
So … is that upcoming NASA UAP report going to be another nothing burger like DoD’s, or, if I had a say, a report that tackles the big questions directly regarding life in the universe using existing NASA efforts, and uses some judo to justify a more robust Astrobiology program – with some SETI and Technosignatures research. But that the focus, as Seth Shostak says, should be mostly outward where more life is to be found – more than downward. The current NASA Astrobiology program arose in a similar fashion in 1996/1997 on the heels of the ALH84001 “Mars Meteorite” putative Mars fossils announcement. I was there in all of the organizing meetings. People in attendance saw a chance to seize the moment and utilize the energy that surrounded the ongoing discussion – and they did so successfully. Alas, NASA’s current Astrobiology program and its larger advisory structure is not up to a focused, strategic effort such as the one that built NASA’s Astrobiology program in the first place. So … never mind.
Newsflash: NASA does not fund SETI – nor does NASA have a program by that name. Someone needs to brief Nelson a little more efficiently next time. Just sayin’.
“Ballast”.
Who are these NASA scientists that know about these things?
There actually aren’t nearly as many NASA scientists as most people think. That is, scientists working directly for NASA and still working in their fields (as opposed to working for NASA but doing things like managing contracts and grants related to their fields.) But there are very large number of NASA-funded scientists, at universities, places like the SETI institute, etc. That includes astronomers and astrobiologists who do know as much about extraterrestrial life as anyone. I’m going to guess that those were the scientists Mr. Nelson was talking about, and he was just a bit clueless about the fact that they aren’t actually NASA employees.
I am more interested in the names of these NASA scientists. The problem is that is is hard to find any scientists willing to be openminded about the topic and apply “science” to it and put their name on it.
Did you see how many government organizations had an input? “USD(I&S), DIA, FBI, NRO, NGA, NSA, Air Force, Army, Navy, Navy/ONI, DARPA, FAA, NOAA, NGA, ODNI/NIM-Emerging and Disruptive Technology, ODNI/National Counterintelligence and Security Center, and ODNI/National Intelligence Council”
Notably, not NASA. I mean we have the FBI and NOAA for goodness sake.
Sigh.
The content of Sen. Nelson’s comments are problematic, at least amongst those in the small NASA Watching community. Still, having media turning to NASA on any similar subject — in essence, capitalizing on the Agency’s reputation as one of our premier scientific encampments — is beneficial to NASA.
This is why we have Pam.
“Irksome Keith” … that’s probably the nicest nickname
I gave it to myself 😉
Did Bill push some scientist out of way to answer that question? Some scientist that works in the field?