Prepare to be amazed!

The pilots of the USS Nimitz officially tracked the TicToc UFO (or UAP) using the state-of-the-art Spy One Aegis System. Specifically, the phased array (SPY-1(V) [AEGIS]). The radar operator Kevin Day aboard the Nimitz’s consort, USS Princeton, played a pivotal role in this encounter.

This advanced military-grade passive radar system comes at a staggering cost of approximately $20 million! (For more info, check out: SPY-1 Wikipedia.)

But what if I told you that you could build your very own passive radar system at a fraction of that price? Imagine tracking not only commercial aircraft and meteorites entering Earth’s atmosphere. You could potentially track UFOs themselves—if luck is on your side!

A bit of SETI Passive Radar history

A temporarily unverified anecdote: In 2018, Peter Davenport, the Director of the National UFO Reporting Center, revealed to a friend that he had contacted Dr. Jill Tarter on February 3, 2014, about his paper advocating the use of “passive” radar to detect UFOs near Earth.

He emphasized that his goal was to propose a collaborative effort for a thorough investigation. However, Dr. Tarter’s reply was brief and somewhat dismissive; she mentioned that she had retired from SETI and would forward his message to Gerry Harp, the new Director.

Despite Davenport’s follow-up attempts, he received no response from Harp, suggesting a reluctance within SETI to engage with UFO research initiatives. My friend described this reaction as surprising, given SETI’s public perception as pioneers in the search for extraterrestrial life.

SETI’s reaction, however (or lack thereof), is not surprising to me.

What is SDR-based Passive Radar?

Firstly, SDR stands for “Software Defined Radio.” This incredible technology emulates everything you would expect to find in a conventional radio receiver through software. This makes SDR radios much more affordable and loaded with features that traditional counterparts can only dream of!

A depiction of a passive radar experiment from 1935 with two “antennas.” The antennas consist of lengths of cable suspended above the ground. One of the antennas picked up a signal from the BBC directly. Then the second “antenna” picked up the reflection of that same signal from an aircraft, enabling the creation of a radar image. More directional antennas produce better results.

To construct this phenomenal passive radar station, all you need are two SDR radio dongles for your computer. In 2025 these are priced at $35 each (Amazon.com). Yes, you read that right! You will also need two antennas. (A link to the instructions you find at the end of this page.)

The Magic of Passive Radar

Here’s the best part: you don’t need a license to build and operate a passive radar station! As the name suggests, it operates entirely passively, meaning that your setup does not emit any radar beams.

Instead, you harness radio signals from local radio stations as your signal source. These signals naturally bounce off objects like meteorites, aircraft, or even those elusive UFOs!

Building Your Own SDR-based Passive Radar on a Budget!

Let’s kick things off with proof! Below you’ll find an animation showcasing measurements of airplanes and meteors captured by a radar system created with a few easily accessible components. Get ready to be thrilled!

What can you expect from this DIY Passive Radar? Check out this recording:

Of course, you’ll be much more likely to see plane traffic, meteorites, and low-flying objects like the International Space Station. This is more probable than any more exotic objects passing through your field of view.

The worlds first UFO case confirmed by amateur passive radar!

A round of applause to Josef Garcia and GEP for achieving the first amateur verification of a UFO via passive radar! Link (German):

UAP Case Dataset 20240920 B

On September 20, 2024, at 5:34 a.m. CEST, a UAP sighting occurred in Friesenheim-Oberweier, Germany. A federal police officer reported observing a bright apparition in the clear sky, characterized by a wave-like form with colon-like dots to the left. Subsequent confirmation of the sighting was provided by a signal from a passive radar operated by Josef Garcia, a member of GEP.

Take a look at these remarkable amateur passive radar images contributed by Josef Garcia:

This radar track shows an object doing rapid 80° degree turns. Image courtesy of Josef Garcia, 2021

In comparison the smooth flight path of the ISS. Image courtesy of Josef Garcia, 2021

AI-driven filtering and detection of UFO radar tracks

Unlocking the Skies: How AI Is Revolutionizing UFO Detection

Picture this: a radar blip streaks across the screen at 74,000 km/h (46,000 mph), halts mid-air, then pivots instantly—defying gravity, physics, and every known aircraft on Earth. This isn’t science fiction. These are the jaw-dropping maneuvers that set UFOs apart from conventional planes, drones, or even meteorites. But how do we spot these anomalies in a sea of ordinary radar data? The answer lies in the flight patterns no human pilot or machine could survive—and the AI that’s learning to track them.

UFOs don’t follow the rules.

They hover silently, sometimes for hours, accelerate faster than a hypersonic missile, or execute 90-degree turns at speeds that would shred any human-made craft. While not all UFOs pull off these physics-defying stunts, those that do leave a glaring signature: a trail of radar data that screams “this isn’t from our world.”

But here’s the catch: manually scouring radar feeds for these rare, split-second events is like finding a needle in a cosmic haystack. It’s tedious, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Enter AI-powered pattern recognition—a game-changer in the hunt for the unexplained. Imagine training algorithms to flag the impossible.

Machine learning models can digest decades of radar data, learning the difference between a commercial jet, a weather balloon, and an object that stops dead in the sky before vanishing at Mach 60. These systems never sleep, never blink, and process millions of data points in real time, alerting scientists only when they detect the extraordinary: sudden accelerations, inhuman G-force maneuvers, or objects that defy aerodynamic logic.

(Image: Amateur passive radar setup)
Machine learning isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about unlocking mysteries. By automating the detection of UFO signatures, AI turns a once-impossible task into a scalable mission.

Researchers can focus on analysis instead of endless screen-watching, accelerating our understanding of these enigmatic phenomena.

The skies are stranger than we think. And with AI as our co-pilot, we’re finally building the tools to decode their secrets—one anomalous blip at a time. 🛸✨

Ready to rethink what’s possible? The truth isn’t just out there… it’s in the data.

Curious about passive radar technology? (the AI part comes later)

Click below to find out how to built your own Passive-Radar-Station.

Building Your Own SDR-based Passive Radar On A Shoestring

Let’s start off with proof. Below is an animation of a measurement of airplanes and meteors I made using a radar system that I built with a few simple easily available pieces of hardware: two…

hackaday.com

Are UFOs over US airspace allowed to travel at superfast speeds, but it’s not allowed over European airspace? A Ukrainian UFO raises questions.

Update Feb 24, 2024 (Newsweek).

Mystery disk-shaped UFO spotted by recon drone in Ukraine

“I’m telling you, it’s a UFO, for sure. It is staying in place, on the screen,” a Ukrainian soldier can be heard saying in the video.

A groundbreaking UFO study published by Ukrainian astronomers has stirred up speculation with claims of mysterious flying objects captured on radar, leaving both skeptics and believers buzzing.

Half a year after the onset of the Russian invasion, these researchers unveiled striking evidence of unidentified aerial phenomena soaring across the skies, clocked at astonishing speeds of up to 54,000 km/h!

But as renowned astronomer Avi Loeb throws cold water on the findings—asserting they could simply be artillery shells—the debate over what truly lurks above Ukraine intensifies. Is it extraterrestrial life, or are earthly conflicts warping our perceptions? Buckle up as we dive into this cosmic controversy!

SETI pope Avi Loeb claimed that Ukrainian astronomers mistook Russian artillery shells for UFOs. The UFOs were clocked at 54,000 km/h.

But this cannot be artillery shells: the world’s fastest artillery shell travels at 2,977 km/h. The world’s fastest missile (Avangard) reaches 37,044 km/h. That’s well short of the reported 54,000 km/h.

Avi Loeb then asserted that the astronomers had only estimated the distance, resulting in a ten-fold error in both distance and speed. (Even then, the objects photographed would still too fast to be artillery shells.) It’s not true that the astronomers only estimated the distance: they computed the distance by triangulation. That’s a scientific method with very precise results!

Then Avi Loeb claimed that no HUMAN-MADE objects can travel at these speeds in Earth’s atmosphere, as otherwise, there would be a fireball around them due to intense air ionization and friction.

Case In Point: the objects were not HUMAN-MADE.

And why does Avi Loeb initially dismiss the observations of the Ukrainian astronomers as being wrong, but then later argues that if the observations were valid, it wouldn’t be possible due to air friction?

54000 km/h vs. 74000 km/h? Whaaat?

Avi Loeb disregarded the observations of a team of Ukrainian astronomers over Ukraine airspace as unlikely, because the UFOs traveled at 54 000 km/h. His theory being that at these speeds the air molecules surrounding the UFO would ignite by friction (air resistance), creating a huge flaming fireball. This was clearly not the case. Hence, Avi Loeb says, the speed must have been wrongly deduced.

However, the Pentagon TicTac video shows a UFO that traveled at a top speed of 72,000 km/h. How is it possible for UFOs over US airspace to travel at superfast speeds, but it’s not allowed over European airspace?

Here is the in-depth TicTac video analysis by Dr. Kevin Knuth from the Entropy Magazine, estimating the TicToc UFO top speed at 46,000 mph (74,000 km/h):

Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles

Several Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) encountered by military, commercial, and civilian aircraft have been reported to be structured craft that exhibit ‘impossible’ flight characteristics.

And here is the non-scientific version from Meer.com, by Dr. Tim Mounce (though he got the speed wrong: its 46,000 mph and not 45,000 mph).

USS Nimitz Tic Tac UFO: unveiling inexplicable physics

Physics analysis reveals astonishing maneuvers beyond human understanding

And here, now, is the story of Ukraine UFOs:

The Ukraine UFO study

Half a year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in spring 2022, the Ukrainians published a UFO study.

It was claimed that not one but two meteorite-observing stations had discovered something extraordinary at the same time:
flying objects moving faster than the unaided human eye can see.

“The eye does not fix phenomena lasting less than one-tenth of a second,” the paper said. “It takes four-tenths of a second to recognize an event. “ — Ukrainian UAP study

One observing station was based in the capital of Kyiv and the other in the village of Vinarivka, 132 km to the south.

The Ukrainian astronomers detected the UFOs with specialized meteorite detection equipment:

“Ordinary photo and video recordings will () not capture the [unidentified aerial phenomena]. “ — Ukrainian UAP study

Triangulation

The equipment was 132 km apart, meaning that they could triangulate the speed, position, and size of the objects really well.

Triangulation is a technique that astronomers do all the time. For instance, it’s used to determine the distance of stars.

The objects measured between 3 and 12 meters and were clocked at speeds up to 54,000 km per hour (33,554 mph)!

Publication

The Ukrainians first published their findings on a preprint server named Arxiv:

“Unidentified aerial phenomena,
I. Observations of events”

written by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.11215.pdf.

Scientists use Arxiv to receive feedback from peers before publication. Arxiv also provides public access to papers that might otherwise be hidden behind paywalls.

However, the findings of the Ukrainian study were quickly published in mainstream journals, for instance, by the “American Military News”: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2022/09/ufos-spotted-everywhere-over-ukraine-say-scientists/

Everybody assumed (without basis in fact) that the Ukrainian UFO sightings were somehow related to the raging Ukraine—Russia conflict. — Erich Habich-Traut for the Contact Project

Press coverage

At one stage, “The Jerusalem Post” wrote:
“Are there UFOs, UAPs in the skies of Ukraine? Study says yes”:
https://www.jpost.com/science/article-717346

But not everyone agreed.

Criticism

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who had gained worldwide fame in 2018 with his theory that comet Oumuamua was an extraterrestrial probe, was aware of the Ukrainian study.

But he hadn’t looked at it closer until he was asked by the director of the new UAP office in Washington, DC, to write a short paper about it.

The Contact Project first heard of Avi Loeb’s “debunking” of the Ukrainian study from his email:

Quote:
“You might enjoy the essay and related paper below.
I was reluctant to even read the Ukranian paper, but on Monday night I was visited at home by the director of the new UAP office in DC and he asked me to write a short scientific paper on UAP. So yesterday morning at 4.30AM (before my routine morning jog) I had a look at the Ukrainian paper and within an hour figured that they got the distance to their dark objects wrong by a factor of ten (or else there would be a huge fireball around each of them as a result of the friction with the air). After correcting that everything falls into place, with the parameters of artillery shells As Feynman noted, there’s a great pleasure in figuring things out.
There is no way out of this argument because they claim the objects are dark, meaning that they block light. The cross-section with photons implies that the objects must interact with air molecules.” — Avi Loeb

Morning Jog at 4:30 am

According to his email, Avi quickly reviewed the “Ukranian” paper before starting his daily morning jog at 4:30 am. Within one hour he had already concluded that the objects could not move at the speeds claimed by the Ukrainians (because the air would burn around them from friction), and they were, in fact, artillery shells:

“UAPs or Russian shells? Israel-born astronomer, Ukraine nix UAP study” https://www.jpost.com/science/article-719773

Avi Loeb contended that the Ukrainian astronomers had failed to exercise due diligence, resulting in a ten-fold miscalculation of the UFOs’ speed. He said that was because they had not triangulated the distance of the objects and only estimated their distance.

Then Avi Loeb said the UFOs were in reality (Russian) artillery shells.

From that point on, the “debunking train” rapidly gained momentum, leading nearly every publication that had previously supported the story to criticize the Ukrainian astronomers’ findings as inaccurate Russian artillery.

I scratched my head.

When were the observations made?

How did Avi Loeb know that the UFOs were artillery? The Russian bombardment of Ukraine had started after the 24th of February 2022. There was not a single mention in the Ukrainian UAP paper of when the observations were actually made. Only a vague reference in the footnotes to an Astronomical Schools Report from 2021.

Clearly, that was an omission. To find clarity on the matter, I wrote two letters to the Ukrainian astronomers:

Quote
“Dear Mr. Zhilyaev, Avi Loeb has made a comment regarding your paper on Arxiv, that your observations are those of artillery shells. Do you believe this to be a possibility?”
— The Contact Project

That first letter got no reply.
Avi Loeb’s comments about artillery shells became the de facto explanation for UAP in Ukraine.

A few weeks later, I decided to write a second letter to the Ukrainian astronomers, being more precise in my question. I also put Avi Loeb in the BCC, in case he wanted to clarify his argument:

Quote
“Dear Mr. Zhilyaev,
writing on behalf of the Contact Project, (https://contactproject.org) I’m curious about your UAP sightings.

Arxiv: “Unidentified aerial phenomena I. Observations of events,”
by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.11215.pdf

I would like to note that your preprint archive paper does not say precisely WHEN your observations took place, and I am curious about that date.

In your references (2) regarding “phantoms,” you quote a publication from 2021, a date well before the Russian invasion in 2022.

(2) Zhilyaev B.E., Vidmachenko A.P., Petukhov V.N., et al., 2021, Astronomical Schools Report, 17, N 1–2, 1–8

Is it correct then to assume that at least some of the observations that are the basis of your preprint paper are from a time when there were no artillery shells flying through Ukrainian skies?

From my reading of your paper, I understand that you had access to two observation stations. You probably triangulated the object distance from that?

What do you say?” — The Contact Project

This time I did receive a short reply from the lead astronomer of the Ukraine UAP study:

Quote:
“We have been watching UAP since 2018.
We do not associate their activity with the war in Ukraine.
Observations from 2 points are carried out for the purpose of triangulation.” — B.E. Zhilyaev

It was as I thought: the Ukrainians had claimed nowhere to have made their observations in 2022 during the war.

Instead, the UFO/UAP sightings date back to the year 2018. Furthermore, the Ukrainian astronomers had not “estimated” the distance of the objects; instead, they had used two observation posts to triangulate the distance scientifically. This also made it possible to calculate their size.

CONCLUSION

The observations made by the Ukrainian astronomers were from 2018, not during the war. In fact, they had been monitoring UFO sightings since then. Furthermore, the team used two observation posts to triangulate the distance of the objects scientifically, which allowed them to calculate their speed and size.

This information raises questions about Avi Loeb’s conclusions. Given that the observations were made before the war, it becomes unlikely that the objects were artillery shells. The ability to triangulate the objects also contradicts Avi Loeb’s argument.

The truth, in this case, requires persistence and the ability to interpret ambiguity.

#aviloeb #uap #UFO #ukraine #contactproject #SETI #astronomy

Reference: “Unidentified aerial phenomena I. Observations of events,”
by B. Zhilyaev, V. Petukhov, and V. Reshetnyk

Addendum

(the authors published further papers, clarifying and doubling down on their findings):
arXiv:2211.17085 [pdf, ps, other] physics.pop-ph astro-ph.IM
Unidentified aerial phenomena II. Evaluation of UAP properties
Authors: B. E. Zhilyaev, V. N. Petukhov, V. M. Reshetnyk
Abstract: …sky led to the detection of two luminous objects at an altitude of 620 and 1130 km, moving at a speed of 256 and 78 km/s. Colorimetric analysis showed that the objects are dark: B – V = 1.35, V – R = 0.23. The size of objects is estimated to be more than 100 meters. The detection of these objects is an experimental fact.
Submitted 13 November, 2022: 13 pages,34 figures, Kinematics and Physics of Celestial Bodies

arXiv:2306.13664 [pdf, ps, other] physics.pop-ph astro-ph.IM
Unidentified aerial phenomena. Observations of variable objects
Authors: Boris Zhilyaev, David Tcheng, Vladimir Petukhov
Abstract: NASA commissioned a research team to study Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). The Main Astronomical Observatory of NAS of Ukraine conducts an independent study of UAP. A research team from San Diego also decided to conduct a study of UAP. Observations of events that cannot scientifically be identified as known natural phenomena established the existence of the UAP.
Submitted 11 June, 2023: 5 pages, 9 figures, Kinematics and Physics of Celestial Bodies

Category: UFO

DIY Amateur Passive Radar for UFO detection