When I was a kid, UFOs seemed like a big deal. Everyone seemed to have a UFO sighting, or at least knew someone who did, and you would think that those of us who were shouting loudly about aliens in the 1980s would be more likely to look up at a flying saucer than an airliner.

In the decades since then, such phenomena have been rarely seen. Perhaps this is because precious few pictures of UFOs are taken anymore, despite the fact that most people around the world now carry cameras in their pockets. I see. Recently, however, with the Pentagon hearings and military footage of strange objects in the sky, UFOs seem to be becoming mainstream again. Recently, UFOs even have a new name: UAP, or unidentified aerial phenomenon.

Now NASA is getting serious about the saucer by forming a real-life XCOM unit to deal with this potential alien invasion, to show force to the asteroid E.T. is watching (officially, the collision was to alter the asteroid's course) by knocking it down Just one month after the NASA announced that it had formed an elite team to kill any alien that dared to set foot (or extend its tentacles) on our planet.

They didn't actually say so (open in new tab), but they should have. [NASA has selected 16 people to join the Independent Study Team on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). Over the course of nine months, the Independent Study Team will lay the groundwork for future research on the nature of UAPs for NASA and other organizations."

We all know what "future research" means, yes, it's code for "finding the best way to kill the gray-skinned invaders from beyond the moon."

NASA also released the names of 16 members, presumably randomly generated like XCOM 2. Let's take a look at the list. David Grinspoon, Matt Mountain, Carlin Toner I've never heard of random NPC names.

The team will "identify how data collected by civilian government agencies, commercial data, and data from other sources can be analyzed to potentially unravel the UAP," NASA said, and a report on their findings will be available to the public in mid-2023. Hopefully, it is not too late to save the planet.

What is unclear is what will happen after the report is completed. Presumably, once the UAP is sighted, squads will be formed from available team members and orders will be given. They then pull the trigger on the mag cannon, and despite a 97% chance of success, they fail. Good luck to them. For our sake.