By Sebastian Kettley
Nick Pope, who worked for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1985 and 2006, says the world is incredibly underprepared for the eventuality of extraterrestrial contact.
Whether humans discover alien microbes on Mars or detect radio signals from a distant civilisation, Mr Pope said “top-level strategic planning” needs to be readily available.
And exclusively for Express.co.uk, the UFO expert took it upon himself to draft a five-page-long document outlining what he thinks is an adequate response to discovering aliens.
You can read the entire contingency plan written by Mr Pope below.
Mr Pope said he believes people have grown disillusioned with outer space after the Apollo program failed to extend humanity’s reach into the stars.
He thinks this somewhat dampened public excitement around the hunt for alien life, which in turn has left our defences wide open.
Mr Pope said: “It’s an uphill struggle. It’s always tricky to convince people to spend money on what a lot of people might consider white elephant projects, considering a lot of the social problems we have.
“As often as I like to say questions like ‘are we alone or not in the universe’ – that is one of the most profound questions we could ask.
“And if we can get an answer to that, we want that answer and why wouldn’t we really push hard for it?”
According to Mr Pope, one of the biggest threats surrounding Earth’s lack of readiness is the possibility of coming in contact with deadly alien contaminants.
The UFO expert fears outside of NASA, there is no adequate legislation in place, to deal with potentially lethal extraterrestrial microbes and viruses.
In his drafted plan, Mr Pope urged the UK Government to ensure proper biological hazard containment protocols are in place.
He wrote: “In scientific terms, this danger is described as ‘back contamination’ and is part of ‘planetary protection’ policy.
“In NASA, this falls under the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA).
“In the event of any sample-return or discovery-return mission, Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) will wish to seek robust assurances that the lead agency – probably NASA, but maybe the space agency of another nation, or a private company such as SpaceX – has appropriate biological hazard containment protocols in place.”
Earlier in August, Mr Pope told Express.co.uk world governments are making a “big mistake” by not preparing for this eventuality.
He now says he thinks people are simply unaware of the dangers lurking in space.
He added: “I don’t think people understand the issues. I don’t think people understand how close we might be to getting an answer."
According to Mr Pope, there are three ways in which humans might one day find the answer to “are we alone in the universe”.
The most likely of the three is the discovery of alien microbes, dead or alive, on alien worlds such as Mars.
The other two scenarios bank on technologically advanced alien civilisations beaming signals into space or sending spacecraft to Earth.
Mr Pope’s contingency plan outlines a set of guidelines on how to react to each of these scenarios.
These include immediate actions that would need to be taken in situations that directly threaten the safety of the planet.
He wrote: “There are three very different scenarios, which will be dealt with in turn, because each raises separate issues, where very different actions will need to be taken.”
