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DISCUSS THIS TOPIC IN OUR FORUM
"Never quit the search for the truth - Even when you think
you've found it."
I have consulted with an independent source who is very knowledgeable
about these matters.
This source agreed to an interview providing that we keep their name
confidential, to be revealed at a later date. The interview goes as
follows:
Christopher: What is NASA hiding?
PK: At the moment, we can't do much more than try to piece it all together and make guesses.
We'd be insane to try to convince ourselves that NASA isn’t hiding anything. We must remind ourselves that these are the people who put military hardware into orbit and they have many reasons to maintain secrecy. That doesn't automatically mean that there is malicious intent or that they are deceiving us about aspects of their research. Although, of course, people like Richard C. Hoagland would have us think otherwise. It sells books.
Christopher: My question is, what on earth would compel NASA to bring it down to the audible range so that they could listen to it?
PK: It's standard practice. Our ears are better at discerning patterns in waveforms than our eyes.
NASA has listened to the radio emissions from planets for many years. The fact that they did so with Saturn is not extraordinary. Also, we have to remember that these people are essentially scientists. They like to explore. That also means that they like to fiddle with the data in order to discern details that they might otherwise miss. The difference between NASA and pseudo scientists is that NASA takes into account any artifacts that they might introduce through manipulation and they investigate the alternatives until they arrive at the most probable explanation.
"The high-resolution measurements allow scientists to convert the radio waves into audio recordings by shifting the frequencies down into the audio frequency range." - NASA web page
As an example of how we "shift" data into a format, which we can perceive,
IR photography is sensitive to infrared light. Our eyes are not. When taking photography using IR, the results are shifted so that we can see them and make them meaningful.
If, after examining the waveform data NASA saw that there is a series of fluctuations, which happen in excess of 22 thousand times per second, they'd have to slow down the playback in order to be able to hear those fluctuations.
Just because someone is examining patterns in the snow doesn't mean that they are on a yeti-hunt.
Christopher: Perhaps they were hoping on finding an alien communication somewhere in the Saturn transmissions.
PK: Perhaps, but I think that there is very little evidence (if any) to suggest that this is the case. If they were, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were specifically expecting to hear "alien transmissions" only that they remain "eyes-open" to the possibility.
Christopher: Is that a smoking gun?
PK: I doubt it very much. I'm reasonably sure that NASA's explanation – that the tones are created by the breakdown of the crystalline structure of the chunks of ice in the rings of Saturn as pieces collide - is a verifiable hypothesis and it should be possible to demonstrate the veracity of their claims with scientifically conducted experiments.
For example: Subjecting certain crystalline structures to mechanical stress does create an electromagnetic pulse. See Triboluminescence. If we can determine the makeup of the ice in the rings, we can determine whether or not such crystals emit EM pulses in the range detected by Cassini and we can establish how likely NASA's explanation would be.
Personally, I think that NASA may well have been examining the data to determine the makeup of the ice because the characteristics of the EM pulse would be somewhat like a spectral fingerprint although I don't know this to be fact, I am simply surmising.
Christopher: Does the audio transmission in question come from the NASA web page?
PK: I understand that the Cassini data (converted to an audio file) as used by
JostVanDyke did come from the NASA site but the "864.5Mhz" audio did not.
Christopher: What were the odds that the audio files they put on their web page back in 2005 contained alien speech? The possibility would be very remote if you ask me.
PK: I agree. I am under the impression that NASA released the audio file because it was an interesting phenomenon and part of the data collected by Cassini. I seriously doubt that anyone who processed the file at NASA had any suspicions or reason to believe that there is any "intelligent" component to the data.
Christopher: So let's pretend for a moment that this IS an alien voice.
I believe that this is just another way for NASA to leak information to the public so that they can wash their hands of it... you know, deny knowledge.
PK: Aha? I think I see what it is that you are saying, but that is rather dependant upon someone at NASA actually having considered that there is intelligence at work within the vicinity of Saturn.
Christopher: What is the alien trying to say? People of Earth go away?
PK: Well, given that we are pretending that there is an intelligent component to the data, we can pretend that the alien is saying whatever we like, can't we?
Christopher: There is a theory that it is a distress signal coming from a spacecraft that is stranded on their planet.
PK: I'm not sure I see how it is helpful to make a theory about pretence.
I could equally suggest that it's an alien intelligence trying to tell the human-race to stop deluding each other but unless the theory is based on something more solid than my own fancies, it's not a workable theory, is it?
A theory cannot be based on an arbitrary assumption.
I could suggest that we pretend that the transmitter for a radio-controlled model caused the electromagnetic fluctuations and I could then ask, "What was the model? A plane? A boat?" I might even then suggest that my theory is that it was a radio-controlled car. However, theory construction doesn't work that way. One cannot start with a conclusion then work back and declare something to be the case simply because it would have to be in order to fit the theory.
Thus, if it were my theory that there is a radio-controlled car on Saturn, I'd first have to establish exactly why I would arrive at such a theory with evidence.
If one wishes to submit the improbable as a potential answer, first one must eliminate all the other probable solutions. NASA has given a probable solution and I am reasonably sure that they are correct.
I consider most of the staff at NASA to be considerably more credible than the likes of Richard C. Hoagland and JostVanDyke, both of whom are doing the world of science and space exploration a serious disservice,
in my opinion.
Christopher: Thank you for taking the time to write.
PK: You're welcome.
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Christopher Montgomery is an author living in the Pacific Northwest.
Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Christopher Montgomery
via email at webmaster@uforc.com
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