BU Astrophysicist Joins NASA Team to Study UFOs

It’s not a bird or a plane, but there are objects in the sky that we can’t quite explain. One challenge with UFOs— now officially called unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP—is that “the instruments used to record these things were not designed for this purpose whatsoever,” says Professor Joshua Semeter (ECE), director of BU’s Center for Space Physics (CSP). Many UAP sightings come from Navy pilots, who have the technology to shoot objects down, not take a high-resolution picture, he explains.

Semeter has been appointed to a NASA team charged with studying UAPs and creating a road map to better observe, study and ultimately identify the phenomena. Officials say the most likely explanation for UAP sightings is surveillance operations by foreign powers or weather balloons—but most documented accounts remain unexplained.

“It excites the imagination,” says Semeter. His research focuses on the ionosphere—the layer of the atmosphere that interacts with solar wind and the magnetic field of Earth, creating phenomena like the aurora borealis. He also looks at other atmosphere and ionosphere events, such as how the ionosphere interferes with GPS signaling. Semeter’s speciality of using sensors and atmospheric signals to better understand the environment makes him well suited for the job of uncovering UAP mysteries.

“In the spectrum of work from NASA, all the way from cosmology and astrophysics to Earth observing, it’s all sensor-related,” says Semeter. “The types of sensors that are staring down at Earth from orbit may not be optimized to detect and understand small objects that appear in the fields of view, but we will be trying to understand the available data, how it might contribute to the small minority of these phenomena that are not yet explained or accounted for, and make recommendations for observational programs going forward.”

Atmospheric and ionospheric interactions produce phenomena that still aren’t fully understood. Semeter and his CSP colleagues apply radar, radio and optical sensing technologies in efforts to develop theories and models that make sense of the phenomena.

“The atmosphere becomes thinner as you go up in altitude,” says Semeter. “At the same time, the sun is injecting energy in the form of light and heat and ionizing radiation. At some altitude, you have a combination of energy and low density that produces ionization and forms a layer of plasma that’s electrically conducting. As most people see it, plasma is the fourth state of matter.” The ionosphere, Semeter explains, is evidence for a shielding mechanism that protects us from dangerous particles.

Using data and declassified footage from a range of government departments, along with commercial data, Semeter and the fifteen other experts on the NASA team are figuring out a “road map,” he says.

“We want to know what NASA assets can be tuned and turned on to this problem,” says Semeter. “We want to make specific recommendations about what NASA could do to answer specific questions. We’re trying to play a role that’s consistent with NASA’s mission, which is being rigorous about fundamental science and addressing this from a scientific perspective.” —