Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed record of a July 29, 1968 symposium on unidentified flying objects held by the Committee on Science and Astronautics of the U.S. House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. J. Edward Roush. The committee heard statements from six scientists: J. Allen Hynek, James E. McDonald, Carl Sagan, Robert L. Hall, James A. Harder and Robert M. L. Baker. It also printed papers from Donald Menzel, Stanton Friedman, Frank Salisbury and others. Hynek argued that puzzling UFO reports from competent witnesses deserve serious scientific study.
“Nevers”43 pages
136 (5) In order to justify such an experiment and associated studies, it is not necessary to presuppose the existence of intelligent extra- terrestrial life operating in the environs of the earth, or to make dubious speculations either concerning "their" advanced scientific and engineering capabilities or "their" psychological motivations and be- havioral patterns. In the light of these conclusions, I will make the following recom- mendations: (1) In order to obtain information -rich hard and soft data on anomalistic phenomena, an interdisciplinary, mobile task force or team of highly qualified scientists should be organized. This team should be established on a long-term basis, well funded, and equipped to swing into action and investigate reports on anomalistic phenomena immediately after such reports are received. Because of the relatively low frequency of substantive reports (see p. 1968) , immediate results should not be anticipated, but in the interim periods between their investigations in the field, their time could be productively spent in making thorough analyses of data collected by them previously, and in "sharpening up" their analysis tools. (2) In concert with the aforementioned task force, a sensor sys- tem should be developed expressly for detecting and recording anom- alistic observational phenomena for hard -data evaluation. The sys- tem might include one or more phased -array radars (certainly not having the cost or capability of the FPS -85, but operating in a limited fashion that would be similar to the FPS -85). A phased -array radar would have the advantage over a conventional "dish" radar in that it could track at high rates and divide its energy in an optimum fash- ion between detection and tracking. The control system would beunique, and would necessitate the development of a sequential data- processing controller that would increase the state variables describing the object's path from a six -dimensional position and velocity estima-tion to a 12 -dimensional acceleration and jerk estimation (Baker (1967) ) in order to follow erratic motion. In addition, the data base would have to be especially designed, to avoid manmade space objects and (if possible) airplanes, birds, com- mon meteors, etc. It should, however, be designed to detect and track nearby cometoids, macrometeorites (fireballs) , ball lightning, and any other erratic or anomalistic object within its range. Optical cameras (including spectrographic equipment) should be slaved to the radar,in order to provide more comprehensive data. Because of the afore- mentioned low frequency of anomalistic data, alarms from the system should not occur very frequently and could be communicated directly to the recommended task force. (3) A proposed new -generation, space-based long-wave -length in- frared surveillance sensor system should be funded and the associated software should be modified to include provisions for the addition of anomalistic objects in its data base. The specific sensor system cannot be identified for reasons of security, but details can probably be ob- tained from the Air Force. This sensor system, in particular, could provide some data (perhaps incomplete) on anomalistic objects which exhibit a slight temperature contrast with the space background, on a basis of noninterference with its military mission. The system rep-resents a promising technological development, and no other novel
Hearing transcript, from the govinfo collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is under it. 256 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.