Top 10 Alien Developments That Happened in 2023

Jaime Maussan is a long-time Mexican journalist and T.V. personality. He’s also a ufologist. In September of 2023, he helped foster congressional hearings in Mexico where he presented a pair of mummified ‘alien bodies.’ These diminutive corpses, he claimed, were discovered in Peru in 2017. He also claimed that carbon dating by Mexico’s National Autonomous University proved they were 1000 years old. The hearings were a spectacle in Mexico, garnering national media attention. Scientists from around the world expressed real doubts in the validity of the claims Maussan made. In December, the confusion and mystery around the bodies deepened. He returned to congress, claiming that a DNA analysis proved that 30% of the bodies’ DNA is ‘not from any known species.’

It was a big year for ufologists, an unrecognized pseudoscientific field of amateur research. Astrobiology, on the other hand, is a respected field of scientific research. Space agencies like NASA employ astrobiologists to discover how life may exist beyond the earth. They are more likely to get excited by microbes on the moon than by Navy videos of UFOs. The rash of alien-related news stories in 2023 have astrobiologists and internet researchers worried. The flood of news stories, they say, have led to the spread of rumors and misinformation online. This spreads belief in coverups and undermines trust in institutions. Scientific research is cherry-picked to reinforce online narratives, and fake scientific papers spread misinformation throughout the world.

One of the strangest stories of the year involved spy balloons. Several Chinese balloons were discovered over or near the United States. The military and media scrambled to cover the bizarre story. Between the multiple balloons and UAP stories, it became increasingly clear: the skies are full of stuff we don’t know about. A number of officials began to express concern over the volume of junk in the sky. For the first time, government officials admitted that UAPs "present potential safety of flight concerns.” The maneuverability, unpredictability, and high speeds of UAPs could represent a clear danger to both civilian and military aircraft. While there’s no evidence of UAPs getting too close to our planes, yet, it may just be a matter of time.

The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office has existed within the U.S. Department of Defense since 1945. In August, they launched a website to act as a ‘one-stop shop’ for relating declassified information about UFOs. In October, as part of this effort in transparency, they added a new online UAP reporting tool. In addition to hosting declassified government photos and videos, the website is a tool for whistleblowers. For now, at least, it’s only available to former government employees, members of the military, and government contractors. Any people in those categories can use the tool to report any information about UFOs directly.

NASA was one of several government agencies to release a 2023 report on UAPs. The NASA report came out in September, and presented a dose of skepticism for believers. The agency found no evidence that any UAPs represented proof of extraterrestrial life. An independent panel of 16 scientists and experts reviewed videos, photos, and other UAP evidence. They believe that visual distortions in certain videos are likely digital artifacts of video compression. They also debunked stories about strange changes in UAP acceleration and speed as human error. At the release of the report, NASA’s director announced a new position within the organization: director of UAP research. They hope that taking UAPs seriously will give them the credibility to shift the conversation from ‘sensationalism to science.’

In the wake of bombshell stories about government cover ups, Garrett Graff released his new book, "UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here―and Out There." Graff is a national security writer and former editor at Politico. He previously wrote well-researched and regarded books about Watergate and 9/11. His new book turns that investigative lens upon the U.S. government’s relationship to UFOs. Graff reveals almost 80 years of public and private research into UFOs. He comes to an interesting conclusion: decades of government cover-ups are likely not motivated by desire to hide the truth. In actuality, the government is likely trying to hide from us just how little they actually know.

The modern world is a chaotic place, with a torrent of information pummeling us on a daily basis. In the middle of this anxiety-inducing news stew, the government has been dropping UFO news like it’s no biggie. In a less chaotic world, it would be a much bigger story when a military official and scientist expressed fear of alien technology, if it were to exist. In the summer of 2023, the head of the U.S. Government’s UAP taskforce addressed that: the U.S. military is now on the record with their concerns about the possibility of ‘technical supremacy’ of non-human intelligences. The technological capability observed in some UAPs “remain a top concern” to investigate for the government.

A succession of Pentagon-created panels on UAPs have led to fairly regular reports by the Pentagon to Congress. The latest report, detailing 2022-2023 updates, was released in October. Some of the details of the report are still classified, for governmental eyes only. But, as part of their mandate, the Pentagon has released unredacted and declassified information, too. Most have been officially explained away. Some, however, remain a mystery even to the U.S. Military. The government notes the purported strange and superior capabilities of some UAPs. None of the phenomena described in the report have been publicly attributed to foreign powers. Nor does the government validate any presence of non-human intelligence.

Harvard physicist Avi Loeb made a splash in the believer community this past summer. Loeb is the lead researcher of Harvard’s Galileo Project. Their remit is to search for proof of alien life. Loeb believes that some such evidence may have been discovered off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Research divers discovered 50 strangely-shaped iron chunks from the IM1 interstellar meteor. The controversial professor believes that it’s definitive evidence that IM1 is from another star system. He even thinks that there is a chance the fragments are part of an alien spacecraft. Other scientists disagree.

David Grusch set the internet ablaze with information he discussed in interviews in 2023. The retired Air Force major was a part of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force until he turned whistleblower. Grusch made official complaints to the inspector general, claiming that rogue elements within intelligence and military agencies are hiding information from the Task Force. He brought these claims to the House of Representatives where he testified under oath on national television. Grusch stated that he could provide exact locations of UAPs held by the government. He also claimed that the government had non-human bodies. He detailed a history of investigation and cover-up dating back to World War II.




What do you think was the most important UFO-related development in 2023? Let us know in the comments below!