Quote from the website:
“UFODATA – A Way Forward in UFO Science
At UFODATA we seek to create a systematic, rigorous
science of UFO phenomena. Such a science is needed because of misplaced
certainties on both sides of the UFO debate: ‘believers’ convinced that UFOs
are extraterrestrials, and ‘skeptics’ equally convinced that UFOs do not even
exist. Our own view is that humanity knows very little about the true nature of
unexplained UFO reports, and that the only way to resolve this lack of
understanding is through serious scientific study. This is now possible for the
first time in the history of UFO research as a result of an unprecedented
convergence of high resolution digital camera technologies, off-the shelf
scientific instrumentation, powerful low-cost computing platforms, and
ubiquitous high-speed internet access.
The UFODATA Project
Our goal is to exploit this technological convergence
by building a large network of automated surveillance stations with
sophisticated sensors that will monitor the skies 24/7 looking for aerial
anomalies. After over two years of developing our ideas, making plans, and
testing relevant technologies we are now ready to move into the next phase – a
‘proof of concept’ by developing our first working prototype of a fully
functioning monitoring station. This station will have a core optical unit with
cameras capable of detecting and recording both an image and spectra, a
magnetic sensing unit, instrumentation to detect microwave and other radiation,
and other sensors to record atmospheric and local environmental data. Alarm
triggers will initiate recording by all the equipment, permitting capture of a
broad range of physical data that can then be analyzed by experts.
Our Team
UFODATA’s team is currently comprised of over a dozen
volunteers – scientists, engineers, technologists, and UFO researchers with
over 250 combined years of involvement in this area. Some of us already have
extensive experience in fieldwork or automated scientific data collection on
UFO phenomena. We are also joined by several ‘silent partners,’ all scientists
and engineers at academic institutions who are prepared to lend a hand, but
because of the cultural stigma attached to UFOs have chosen to keep their
involvement private. Still, we have need of further forms of expertise and thus
are actively seeking additional volunteers.
Crowd-Funding a UFO Science
To finance potentially large projects like this
scientists usually look to official grants. However, it is impossible for us to
pursue this funding model because both governmental and scientific authorities
observe a ‘taboo’ on the whole subject. So if there is going to be a science of
UFOs it will have to come from the bottom-up rather than the top-down. Thus,
our strategy will be to rely on crowd-funding, small donations from the
thousands – even millions – of you out there who, like us, think that UFOs
deserve serious scientific scrutiny.”
(4.bp.blogspot.com/theufochronicles.com image)
