Germany has no protocol to follow in the event of contact with life from outer space. Research has shown that if aliens did show up on Earth, humans would actually be happy to meet them.
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The German government has "no plans or protocol" should first contact with aliens occur, according to a report by German daily Bild.
The government considers such an event "extremely unlikely according to current scientific knowledge," the Ministry of Economics said when responding to a question from Green MP Dieter Janecek.
"Concrete cases that could have been the subject of bilateral or multilateral talks with other states are not known," the ministry's statement continued.
Do you think they are out there?
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United States has a plan
While Germany might not have a plan for extraterrestrial visitors, the US is more prepared. Even before the establishment of a Space Force that US President Donald Trump has recently said he plans to created as a new branch of the military, the 527th Space Aggressors Squadron is already a part of the United States Air Force. It aims to train US, joint and allied military forces for combat with "space-capable adversaries."
The Air Force squadron regularly conducts drills designed to simulate what a space attack might look like if an otherworldly adversary attempted one.
From 2007-2012, the US also ran a task force that investigated sightings of unidentified flying objects with an annual budget of $22 million (€19.2 million). The UK has also run UFO sighting projects in the past.
How would humans react?
If humans were to cross paths with aliens we'd actually be fairly happy, according to research presented early this year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"If we came face-to-face with life outside of Earth, we would actually be pretty upbeat about it," study author Michael Varnum of Arizona State University said in a statement.
After analyzing past media coverage about possible findings of extraterrestrial microbial life, Varnum found most people's reactions were positive.
In two following studies asking respondents what their hypothetical reaction would be if researchers did discover signs of life beyond Earth, or if researchers created a new life form in the lab, participants were still more positive than negative and were more excited about finding alien life than synthetically-created life.
The research found that about half of Americans and Western Europeans surveyed elsewhere said they believe aliens have already visited Earth, Varnum said, and there does not seem to be any "chaos or disorder in the world" as a result.
Six key moments from NASA's 60-year history
For the 60th anniversary of the creation of NASA, DW brings you a selection of moments that left their mark on the famed space agency.
Image: AP/DW
Explorer 1 — older than NASA
The Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite in 1957, beating US to the punch and prompting fears of Soviet dominance in space. In January of the next year, the US army responded by sending up the Explorer 1 satellite (pictured above). And on July 29, 1958, the US Congress approved the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, or NASA. The agency opened its doors on October 1.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Men on the moon
NASA managed to land humans on the surface of the moon on July 20, 1969, just 11 years after the association's foundation. The feat was accomplished using less computing power than that possessed by the modern-day smartphone. The photo shows Neil Armstrong and Erwin Aldrin planting the US flag on the lunar surface.
On April 14, 1970, an oxygen tank on the Apollo 13 spacecraft exploded, prompting astronaut James Lovell (center) to report back to NASA base in Texas: "Houston, we've had a problem." The crew made it back to Earth after a risky repair operation. Lovell's phrase, slightly misquoted, was made famous by a 1995 movie, Apollo 13.
The Challenger Space Shuttle was not as fortunate as Apollo 13. It exploded, killing all seven people on board, just minutes after takeoff on January 28, 1986. Famed physicist Richard Feynman eventually determined that the crash was caused by a rubber seal ring that failed in unusually cold temperatures.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/B. Weaver
Burying the hatchet
The Cold War rivalries between Russian and American scientists were finally buried on December 14, 1998, when the US-built Unity module and the Russian-made Zarya module docked in space. The two modules form the basis of what we now know as the International Space Station (ISS).
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/NASA
NASA's Curiosity is scouting ahead for us
On August 6, 2012, NASA landed the Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars. The mobile laboratory is still sending scientific findings, selfies and even tweets from Mars, albeit with a little help from its Earth-based handlers. Curiosity's data is crucial for NASA's next mission: landing humans on Mars some time in the 2030s.
