An important thought exercise regarding the UFO phenomenon is to think to ourselves, what sorts of technology would the human race require if we were to find ourselves embarking on a long-term clandestine mission to an alien planet. And how would these technologies be utilized to ensure we would never be detected in any provable way while on the planet’s surface. With this, it’s clear that with only a few fairly simple (and scientifically possible) technologies we could ensure never being discovered.
It seems to be the general consensus that alien races are practically omnipotent with their technological prowess, and would be capable of taking over the planet entirely with the level of technology they have demonstrated. But looking into the predictions of futurists as well as technologies that are recently being announced and researched, we can actually ascertain that several of these technologies are feasible to a sufficiently advanced alien race and that it by no means makes it particularly powerful or omnipotent.
First, in order to have a sustained presence above the planet’s surface, a limitless or self renewing power source would be required for a central ship or power hub. While it is not used as widely as once predicted, a nuclear power source would provide ship fuel that would allow a large craft to recharge several smaller craft onboard, or allow them independent power sources with miniature nuclear engines using either Fission (the more primitive form of nuclear power) or Fusion (which is considered possible, but has eluded scientists thus far.)
A “mother ship” could easily park itself beyond the Earth’s range of viewing or utilize some form of cloaking technology quite similar to the current invisibility technology recently researched by German scientists at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. This same basic principle, if applied to an aircraft could render the craft invisible to the naked eye without anything too far in advance of what we have now.
But in order to interact with the beings on Earth, a further technology may be required that does not allow the human mind to form new memories. This device would be key in removing all evidence of alien interaction on a small scale. A comprehensive understanding of human psychology may be the only thing required to suppress a major suspicion that an alien race was visiting the planet on a massive scale. And this would certainly be easier to study if the aliens had their own history to compare it with.
Social memes could be utilized and spread throughout the planet’s culture to ensure each person thought of an alien presence as both impossible and impossible to prove or disprove even while sowing distrust among skeptics. By moving the debate into a loyalist and almost religious arena, emotions would soon ensure researchers could be easily manipulated. Objective analysis would be virtually impossible with even a trickle of falsified or misleading information. And with the human race’s entire scientific method based in empirical study, this would make the manipulation even easier.
And the vast distances they would inevitably have to travel to get to Earth? Ships working with thrusters utilizing principles fairly similar to today’s particle accelerators could be used to propel small craft to near light speeds with technology expected to be available in our lifetimes. Given another generation and the proper interest and funding, is it possible that this once thought impossible feat could be performed? Even without breaking the speed of light, Alpha Centauri is the nearest star to the Earth and could be reached with constant acceleration in a period of less than six years using a massive rocket. If the craft were not carrying inefficient combustible fuel, it would reduce its mass and require far less energy. And for the crew members on-board, the trip would take far less time than for the civilization it left behind thanks to relativity. Similarly, the distant star Sirius may take only 13 years to reach given constant acceleration, but the crew would not age 13 years as the acceleration slowed time down for them according to Einstein’s theory of relativity. A single generation of alien beings could reach several distant stars while living aboard a massive ship.
So with only a few technological advantages, many of which are becoming a reality today, alien races could actually not only reach Earth from a relatively distant planet but could actually remain above Earth for several years without proof of their existence ever being truly gathered and brought to the mainstream.