Friday, May 27, 2011

Argentina: Official Commission To Study UFOs is Presented

Source: Clarin.com.ar
Date: 05.27.2011


Argentina: Official Commission To Study UFOs is Presented

Consisting of experts in various fields, it came about due to the number of sightings in the country.

As Clarín informed readers a few weeks ago, the official Comisión de Investigación de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales (Aerospatial Phenomena Research Commission) was presented yesterday at noon, consisting of both civilian experts and Argentinean Air Force (FAA) personnel.

Operating out of the Condor Building, the FAA’s current headquarters, it will start to receive reports in coming days – through the www.fuerzaaerea.mil.ar website – on sightings, and begin work on the most representative cases of recent times.

It is a dependency of the General Major Secretariat of the Argentinean Armed Forces and will consist of technicians attached to the National Meteorological Service, engineers, pilots from the National Administration of Civil Aviation, radar and satellite positioning technicians, computer experts and geologists.

The inaugural ceremony was presided by Capt. Mariano Mohaupt, the FAA’s spokesman. Also present was Brig. Gen. Ernesto Omar París, Secretary General, who remarked: “This commission will conduct a scientific study of aerospatial phenomena. With this we have achieved an important goal for our institution.”

From its origins, the FAA was strengthened by the collaboration of civil aeronautics experts. “Today it seeks to attract members of society who may provide their experience in the study of these events, which require a higher degree of certainty,” stated Mohaupt.

Mostly, these will be experts who have been working for several years in the field of ufology. Among them are Alberto Brunetti of the Grupo Investigador de Fenomenos Aeroespaciales Desconocidos (GIFAD); Carlos Alberto Iurchuk, systems analyst and independent researcher of sidereal phenomena, and Carlos Fergusson, coordinator of the Red Argentina de Ovnilogia (Argentinean UFO Nework – RAO). There will also be collaboration from Andrea Simondini of the CEFORA group, which also studies these cases. One of the reasons that led to the creation of this new agency is “the increase in sightings by people. However, the goal is not to prove the existence of life on other planets, but rather, to approach unknown phenomena from a scientific perspective and reach the truth. Because these are ultimately the goal of our study,” according to Mohaupt. The team also includes Marcelo Módica of Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), specializing in satellite information. It will be in charge of “examining the terrain and analyzing images received.”

Among the benefits to be gained from the amalgamation of civilians and military men, Fergusson notes that “there will be great progress in means and methodology. It is crucial to reach the scene of the events and have scientific assistance. There will also be a system of witness interviews that will prove very useful.”

And while technology assists these anomalies hunters, something more is always needed. “It is true that the Internet made us independent, because if you approach any observatory and ask for a sky chart, they’ll turn you away. Astronomy, except back in the 1950s, is very reluctant to approach this subject,” adds Brunetti. The reason for this mistrust is that “they look at the skies all the time, but do it through a telescope, which looks beyond the atmosphere. In other words, a UFO could fly in front of them and it’s likely they won’t see it.”

Among the procedures to be undertaken, the first thing is to dismiss the possibility of movements in the sky. “There is no need to create false expectations among the people. For this reason we have a decision-making body that will evaluate items and dismiss those that are speculation,” explains Simondini.

Astrologers often pick up objects that they cannot explain. “The first thing is to eliminate the passing of a satellite, space junk, balloons or weather capsules, rockets, meteorites ...even the International Space Station (ISS) can lead one to confusion,” says Iurchuk.

(Translation (c) 2011, S. Corrales, special thanks to Guillermo Gimenez)