There were rumors of the United Nations appointing an alien ambassador spread on the web. Sunday was when all of these started flying. The United Nations Office for Outer space affairs, and also a Malaysian astrophysicist, Mazlan Othman, was expected to be the one to take the job. Othman is on the record saying that, should it happen, humans need a coordinated reaction to alien visitors. Alien contact is not as much of a far-reached idea as it was within the past. There are many discoveries of planets outside of the solar system. The debate about extraterrestrial life even has Stephan Hawking warning Earth to be wary. The British newspaper was the first to receive the news from Othman that there might be no extraterrestrial ambassador to outer space.
The United Nations will be the ones talking to the aliens?
The story that Mazlan Othman would be appointed the U.N. alien ambassador “broke” within the Sunday Times and spread like a super bug all over the world. Othman was quoted by the Sunday Times talking about the search for transmission from aliens. Othman thinks the U.N. should be the ones making the reaction that earth needs to have ready. Othman was said by the Australian to be in Britain next week for a scientific conference sponsored by the Royal Society. It said she might be speaking on contacting the aliens at that time.
Attempting to find any existence out there
An extra-solar planet is also called an exoplanet. In 1992, this was first discovered to really exist. The Kepler Mission, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration outer space observatory launched in 2009, has identified hundreds of possible exoplanets. As the odds seem more likely that intelligent alien life may exist, British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking sounded a warning last spring. Hawking interviewed with the Sunday Times saying humanity should try getting noticed before it tries to watch for more extraterrestrial existence. Aliens would probably be searching for somewhere they can get more resources from. He knows that this is something all of us can imagine. Just looking within the mirror can show us the consequences. “We only have to take a look at ourselves to determine how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet.”
Might there be ambassadors from space on the planet?
Othman was the one who started the U.N. extraterrestrial ambassador story. Rather than jump on the bandwagon, the Guardian decided to really check the facts. Othman’s speech on alien contact was questioned by the British newspaper. It even called the Royal Society to ask about it. Nobody had heard about this. A switchboard in Vienna is where the U.N. referred inquiries about the Office for Outer Space Affairs. Finally, Othman responded to a Guardian e-mail and burst the U.N. alien ambassador bubble. All she had to say was, “It sounds really cool, however I have to deny it.” The Royal Society speech is going to be about how earth may be colliding with objects in its path in the near future which is a real problem.
Additional reading
The Australian
theaustralian.com.au/news/world/the-un-is-to-appoint-an-astrophysicist-to-be-the-first-contact-for-any-aliens/story-e6frg6so-1225929540635
Sunday Times
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece
The Guardian
guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/sep/27/un-alien-ambassador-mazlan-othman
