SBIRS UAP detections claim
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 7
| Date | 20 February 2020 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Christopher Mellon |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 196 |
| Year | 2020 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 2020 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
In 2020 former Pentagon intelligence official Christopher Mellon wrote that, according to open-source reports, the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) — the U.S. missile-warning satellite constellation — had recorded unidentified objects that entered the atmosphere and then changed direction, unlike meteors. He said the reports' accuracy was uncertain but that algorithmic searches of SBIRS data could be useful.[1][2]
Mellon's argument
Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and adviser to To The Stars Academy, argued in February 2020 that the Pentagon had been "lethargic and risk averse" in assessing UFOs. He noted that UAP generally lack obvious exhaust plumes or strong heat signatures, and that no one had checked whether sightings over the United States correlated with launches from Chinese or Russian sites or ships. In September 2020 he said declassification of recent sensor data was unlikely, but that a Senate Intelligence Committee report might reflect it.[1][3]
SBIRS
SBIRS uses infrared sensors on satellites in geosynchronous and highly elliptical orbits to detect missile launches, succeeding the older Defense Support Program (DSP). Its origins lie partly in a 1968 Air Force space-surveillance study directed by MITRE scientist F. Robert Naka. Researcher Paul Dean has suggested, on the basis of a 1986 NORAD Alaska unit history listing infrared detections of unidentified tracks, that DSP or SBIRS satellites may have detected unexplained objects, though he acknowledged this was inference.[1][4][5]
Later
No SBIRS UAP data has been released. Congress later required intelligence agencies and the military to share sensor data on UAP with the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.[2][4]
People and topics
- Christopher Mellon — Former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence who helped release the Navy UAP videos.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- AARO — The Pentagon office set up in 2022 to investigate UAP.
On the Timeline
- Doty worked for Puthoff (8 February 2020) — Puthoff says Richard Doty worked for him on a program before AATIP.
- Paul Murad's energy device (29 February 2020) — A retired Pentagon analyst says a company helped him build an electromagnetic energy device.
See every 2020 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Are satellites tracking UFOs?", Silva Record (Sep 2020) · silvarecord.com · archived copy
- Christopher Mellon — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Chris Mellon: government 'lethargic and risk averse' in assessing possible threat of UFOs", Hot Air (Feb 2020) · hotair.com · archived copy
- Space-Based Infrared System — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "F. Robert Naka", Memorial Tributes vol. 21 (2017), National Academy of Engineering · nationalacademies.org · archived copy
- Chris Mellon on UFO investigations — History.com · history.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Christopher Mellon — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
No discussion yet.