Alien life has lately become the center of a more concerted effort of study by several U.S. government agencies.
In the wake of whistleblower complaints over the summer regarding the presence of UFOs in U.S. airspace, both NASA and the Pentagon have released reports detailing the early days of their research into such unidentified objects.
So far, however, no scientific light has been shed on the reports of strange sightings of fast-moving lights and high-tech objects. The Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office found in an October report that the bulk of UFO sightings it is examining are likely due to poor evidence.
NASA's report, likewise, called for collating and collecting better data, as the bulk of UFO sightings rely on inconsistent eyewitness reports. So far, despite the claims made by the whistleblowers, there is no science in alien life on Earth.
Related: Elon Musk Says He Has the Answer About Aliens
Elon Musk, billionaire and CEO of SpaceX, thus far agrees with the science.
"A lot of people have asked me if I've seen any evidence of aliens and I haven't, which is kind of concerning," Musk said on a Nov. 9 episode of Lex Fridman's podcast. "I'd prefer to have at least seen some archeological evidence of aliens. If they're out there, they're very subtle."
To Musk this lack of evidence suggests that humanity might be "the only consciousness at least in the galaxy," something that he said in July indicates just how rare life and consciousness are.
"The light of consciousness seems to me like it could be this tiny candle in a vast darkness, and we should do our absolute best to make sure that candle does not go out," he said in July.
Musk told Fridman that if he sees the "slightest indication" of alien life, the first thing he'll do is drop a post on X detailing everything he knows.
"We have more satellites up there right now than everyone else combined," he said. "We'd know if we've got to maneuver around something."
Related: SpaceX slams report implicating it in a potential threat to 'people on Earth'
SpaceX's Starlink internet constellation currently boasts more than five thousand satellites in orbit around the planet. The company has approval to launch a total of around 12,000 satellites and has plans to boost that number to 40,000.
Pentagon's Anomaly Resolution Office
Musk's concern about the lack of alien evidence thus far is shared by Sean Kirkpatrick, who directs the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office.
Kirkpatrick, who will be retiring from government service next month, has made clear on multiple occasions over the past several months that his office has yet to encounter any evidence of "extraterrestrial activity, off-world technology or objects that defy the known laws of physics."
He has also taken issue with whistleblower claims that the U.S. government is in secret possession of crashed nonhuman spacecraft.
But he said recently that a little alien evidence would be better than the alternative.
"The best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens," Kirkpatrick said. "If we don’t prove it’s aliens, then what we’re finding is evidence of other people doing stuff in our backyard. And that’s not good.”
Related: Why one U.S. official hopes to discover evidence of alien activity
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