Chapter 137: Shrouded in Mystery

To establish contact with extraterrestrial life, scientists have engineered vast and complex apparatuses in an attempt to both transmit messages into space and receive signals from beyond. Yet, despite these extensive efforts, humanity has yet to discover extraterrestrial beings. Accounts of sightings remain mere folklore, lacking robust verification.

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) also warrant mention. Many have witnessed them and speculated that they are spacecraft piloted by aliens, though this remains strictly conjecture. Does extraterrestrial life truly exist? Scientists analyze that there must be many planets in the universe similar to Earth, and it is highly probable that life exists on some of them. However, our aerospace and communication technologies are not yet sufficiently advanced; we must redouble our efforts if we are to find them.

In the pursuit of extraterrestrial life, on May 24, 1999, a company dubbed "Encounter 2001" utilized a 70-meter diameter radio telescope in Yevpatoria, Crimea, Ukraine, to transmit a series of radio signals toward four sun-like stars located 50 to 70 light-years away. This marked humanity’s first intentional interstellar broadcast in 25 years.

As early as November 16, 1974, American radio astronomer Frank Drake used the 305-meter Arecibo radio telescope to send a signal to the globular cluster M13, 24,000 light-years away. That message lasted only three minutes and consisted of 1,679 bytes, including Earth's position in the solar system, human anatomy and DNA information, the atomic composition of five chemical elements, and a graphic of a radio telescope.

By comparison, the signals sent by "Encounter 2001" were far more detailed and carried a higher probability of being intercepted by extraterrestrial life. Transmitted at a frequency of 5,010 kHz—100,000 times more powerful than television broadcasts—the 400,000-bit message included a series of pages detailing Earth and humanity, fundamental symbols, logic-based numbers and geometry, atomic and planetary information, and DNA data, with the transmission repeated three times over three hours.

Both sets of messages utilized the same binary mathematical language, as this is the only medium through which we might communicate with hypothetical extraterrestrial life. Scientists believe that any civilization possessing basic mathematical knowledge would have the capacity to decipher these binary codes. If they were to intercept and record these signals, they would gain a general understanding of Earth, the solar system, human biology, and our cultural and technological standing.

Furthermore, due to a lack of sufficiently powerful computing resources, scientists established the SETI@home system, enlisting the help of global computer users to process signals collected by radio telescopes to ensure no potential data is missed.

Beyond this, the "Encounter 2001" company—a consortium of renowned enterprises in the aerospace, information, and biochemical industries—undertook another mission: to launch a small spacecraft by the end of 2001. This vessel is intended to drift through space until intercepted by extraterrestrial life. It carries a wealth of information about humanity and the photos, handwritten messages, and hair samples of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. The hair samples were specially treated to preserve the integrity of the human DNA contained within.

Meanwhile, the countdown has begun for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world's largest radio telescope array, planned by scientists from 20 countries including China, Australia, France, Germany, and Italy. The project consists of 3,000 small antennas, each about 15 meters in diameter. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2016, with the first phase completed by the end of 2020 and the entire project finished by 2024. Once operational, the SKA’s sensitivity will be 50 times higher, its resolution 100 times sharper, and its search speed 10,000 times faster than existing equipment, promising exciting new discoveries in our exploration of the universe.

To this end, specialized training is being systematically developed. In September 1998, the University of Washington announced a graduate program funded by the National Science Foundation, the first of its kind in astrobiology, aimed at training doctoral students to study extraterrestrial life. While the field may sound fascinating, the studies are rigorous. Students must first understand the origins of life on Earth, involving astronomy, atmospheric science, oceanography, and microbiology.

Microbiologist James Staley, who leads the project, remarked, "We want to study life within Earth’s environment, so we must investigate processes like those in volcanic vents, sea ice, and subterranean basalt, as these are excellent environments for microbial growth and likely mirror conditions on other planets." Students also research a vast array of organisms that remain poorly understood on Earth. The University of Washington is not alone; NASA’s newly established Astrobiology Institute offers similar opportunities, with scientists currently discussing collaborative projects with professors from five universities.

In the field of UFO research, there is a widely accepted classification system for the interaction between UFOs and humanity, consisting of four types of encounters:

Type I: The witness sees a UFO within a certain distance but no further interaction occurs. This is the most common encounter, frequently appearing in media reports of UFO sightings, photographs, or footage.

Type II: The UFO produces environmental effects, such as disabling vehicles, leaving burn marks or imprints on the ground, or causing physical and physiological effects on plants and humans. The 1994 incident at the Duxi Forest Farm in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, is classified as such.

Type III: The presence of humanoid beings near a UFO, involving face-to-face contact with humans, including handshakes, conversation, sexual contact, or abduction. This type faces the most skepticism, as such experiences are rare and usually recorded only through post-event accounts, lacking concrete evidence. However, those involved often require hypnosis to recount the experience. For those who accept the scientific validity of hypnosis, this evidence is considered credible rather than mere fabrication.

Type IV: Psychic contact. Humans do not see the UFO or beings directly but receive special information through human mediums. This is a form of secondhand information that is generally considered less convincing than Type III encounters.

Some have suggested that UFOs may be linked to a natural phenomenon known as "sprite flashes." Geophysical scientist Colin Price of Tel Aviv University notes that lightning during thunderstorms stimulates the upper atmosphere’s electric field, triggering light phenomena known as sprites. We now know that only specific types of lightning can trigger these flashes in the upper atmosphere. Researchers have observed them at altitudes of 35 to 80 miles, far above the typical 7 to 10-mile range for standard lightning. While previous studies described them as rapidly moving or rotating, they can also manifest as fast-rolling balls of electricity. Israeli scientists suggest some mysterious UFO phenomena may be these high-altitude light displays.

Notable events often cited in this context include Area 51, the Great Pyramids, and various UFO crash stories. Area 51 is alleged to be the site where the U.S. stores and studies extraterrestrial bodies and aircraft, including the wreckage and remains from the Roswell crash. Some even claim it is an officially sanctioned landing base for alien craft.

Science has yet to explain how the Great Pyramids of Egypt were constructed or how they were designed with such perfect precision. Some believe extraterrestrials played a crucial role in the creation of these monumental structures.

On July 8, 1947, the *Roswell Daily Record* in New Mexico published a sensational headline: "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region." The news was immediately picked up by major papers like the *New York Times*, spreading across the globe via radio waves and causing a massive stir among the American public. People flocked to southern New Mexico, only to be met by iron fences and armed soldiers blocking access to the ranch, which was littered with metallic debris. Corresponding with the Roswell crash, it was reported that on the same day, a civil engineer named Grady L. from Socorro discovered the wreckage of a nine-meter-diameter metallic disc five kilometers west of the Brazel ranch. The craft had split open, with several small corpses—100 to 130 centimeters tall, weighing 18 kilograms, with hairless heads, large eyes, small mouths, and tight-fitting grey uniforms—scattered inside and around the site.

Contemplating these mysterious events, Hua Feng could not help but wonder if they were a dark omen of a potential interstellar war in the future.