What is most likely going on in Area 51? A national security historian explains why you won't find aliens there

Area 51, the yellow rectangle in the center of the map, is tucked in the middle of the much larger Nellis Air Force Range. DEMIS BV via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA^[6][7]

Area 51 is the secret code name for the site. The airfield at Area 51 is called Homey Airport, and the overall facility is often referred to as Groom Lake. Groom Lake is a salt flat, or dried-out lake, adjacent to the airport.

The history

In the early years of the Cold War^[8] between the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations sought new technological developments that might give one country more power than the other. A great amount of information about scientific achievements, such as on rockets or weapons – but also even on ways to grow more food or make fuel more efficient – was kept secret as an issue of national security.

A key part of not fighting another world war was, and still is, developing technologies to see what the other side is doing – that is, surveillance technologies^[9] that can spy on the enemy. The information gathered by new and improved surveillance technologies about new innovations with planes and weapons was very important to governments.

This meant that both the surveillance information and the technology to get it were closely held national security secrets. Very few people in the governments of the U.S. and Soviet Union knew about the secrets from the 1940s all the way up until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

The U-2 spy plane was the first of many secrets kept at Area 51. U.S. Air Force^[10]

Central to all this was the U.S.’s U-2 spy plane^[11]. It could fly higher and faster than other airplanes and was made to travel over targets all around the world to take high-resolution photographs and measurements. Area 51 was selected in 1955 to test the U-2 in part because its remote location could help keep the plane secret.

Area 51 became the test site for other secret new aircraft. This included the A-12^[12], which, like the U-2, was a fast-flying reconnaissance plane. The A-12 was first test flown at Homey Airport in 1962. It had a bulging disc-like center to carry additional fuel. Its shape and shiny titanium body could well have been responsible for some people’s reports about seeing spherical ships, also known as flying saucers.

Another important – and odd-shaped – aircraft first tested at Area 51 was the stealth fighter known as the F-117^[13]. It first flew at Homey Airport in 1981.

The F-117 stealth fighter looks like it could have come from another world but was made right here on Earth. U.S. Air Force^[14]

Secrets and speculation

“More Flying Objects Seen in Clark Sky,” read the June 17, 1959, headline^[15] in the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper. Reports like this of unidentified flying objects in the 1950s and 1960s fueled controversy and attention for Area 51. This was for three main reasons:

1. Area 51 was highly secret and not publicly accessible.
2. The area was home to test flights of secret new airplanes that moved fast and in different ways than expected.
3. The Cold War was an era of political tension, and there were many movies and TV shows about space aliens at the time.

When the government does not tell the public the full truth, no matter the reasons, secrets can lead to wild speculation^[16]. Secrecy can leave room for conspiracy theories to develop.

Area 51 remains off-limits to civilian and regular military air traffic, a decade after the government acknowledged its existence. The 68 years of government secrecy has helped to amplify suspicions, speculation and conspiracy theories^[17]. These conspiracy theories^[18] include crashed alien spaceships, space aliens being experimented on, and even space aliens working at Area 51.

Speculation about space aliens at Area 51 has been part of popular culture for more than half a century. Airwolfhound/Flickr, CC BY-SA^[19][20]

There are much simpler explanations for what witnesses have seen near Area 51. After all, the public now knows about what was being tested at Area 51, and when. For example, as U-2 and A-12 flights increased in the 1950s and 1960s, so did local sightings of UFOs^[21]. As balloons and planes crashed, and secret testing of new technologies as well as captured Soviet equipment continued, so did reports of UFO crashes and landings^[22].

In fact, many UFO sightings match almost exactly^[23] with dates and times of flights of then-classified experimental aircraft. We also know that prototype drones and more recent versions have been tested at the site^[24].

In the end, there is no reason to think that anything other than earthly technologies have been behind the strange sights and sounds at Area 51.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com^[25]. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Authors: Christopher Nichols, Professor of History, The Ohio State University

Read more https://theconversation.com/what-is-most-likely-going-on-in-area-51-a-national-security-historian-explains-why-you-wont-find-aliens-there-203494

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