A scientist wearing thick-lensed glasses and
a black t-shirt with a UFO and the words “I Want to Believe” on it puts both hands over
the headphones he’s wearing. His eyes open wide. He can’t believe what’s being picked up
by the array of radio telescopes outside the window. He rips his headphones off and runs to the
lab where the rest of his colleagues are gathered. “You guys really need to hear this,” he
pants as he bursts into the room. The scientist turns on the speakers; they
all listen. The sound is not natural. Alien contact has been made. The scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence, also known as SETI, scramble to follow protocol. Now that they’ve identified an alien signal,
what they do next will determine the fate of the planet. There are procedures in place to ensure contact
has actually been made, and the signal is not just a fluke. But the steps that follow are only known to
people who have the highest-level security clearance in the country. 1 minute after first contact: The signal is
double-checked by everyone at the observatory to make sure it is not coming from a human-made
object or the result of a natural phenomenon. The scientists try to disprove that the signal
is alien in origin but can’t. 2 minutes after first contact: The scientists
at SETI reach out to their colleagues around the world by phone and over the internet. They tell them exactly what frequency to listen
in on and where to point their telescopes at the sky. Everyone holds their breath as scientists
across the planet try and corroborate the results. 3 minutes after first contact: Time slowly
goes by as the SETI scientists who first found the signal try pointing other devices at the
sky and get further readings. They can’t believe the data that’s coming
in. There is something there, something really,
really big. They’ve ruled out that it’s an asteroid
or comet as the object is not giving off enough light, and the signal keeps repeating itself. 4 minutes after first contact: Results start
coming in from around the world. Europe confirms that there is something anomalous
in that part of the sky. Stations in South America, Africa, and Russia
also confirm that the signal is coming from something very large, headed directly towards
Earth. The rest of the planet is facing away from
this part of the sky, but as the Earth rotates, they will be able to confirm the alien presence
as well. 5 minutes after first contact: The signal
has been confirmed independently from multiple sources. Luckily for the scientists at SETI, they have
friends at NASA who are able to turn the Hubble telescope directly at the unidentified approaching
object. The thrusters on the side of Hubble fire,
repositioning the satellite. The scientists at NASA and SETI look at their
monitors as the blurry image comes into focus. What they see shocks them. Everyone stops what they’re doing and stares
silently at the monitor. For the first time in history, humans are
seeing an alien spacecraft heading towards Earth. 6 minutes after first contact: No one can
move. No one can think. The ramifications of the discovery of extraterrestrial
life are overwhelming. Suddenly there is a loud POP! One of the scientists stands in the doorway;
she has a bottle of champagne in her hand. Bubbles run down the side. “Congratulations, everyone, we did it!” she says. The scientists look at each other and let
out a cheer. 7 minutes after first contact: Scientists
at SETI and NASA spring into action. “We need to alert the president!” someone yells. “And the Secretary of Defense!” shouts another. They pick up the red phone sitting on a desk
and dial a number that is only supposed to be used in emergency situations—the phone
rings. 8 minutes after first contact: The Secretary
of Defense picks up the phone. “I’m busy right now; what is it?” a gruff voice says on the other line. “Sir,” one of the scientists stammers. “We found something.” “What are you talking about?” the Secretary of Defense asks, sounding a
little annoyed. “Aliens, sir, there are aliens headed towards
Earth.” replies the scientists. “Whoever gave you this number is going to
be arrested and put in jail for a very long time. You do not prank call the Secretary of Defense! The FBI will be at your door within the hour. Goodbye!” He slams down the phone. The line goes dead. 9 minutes after first contact: The scientist
stands motionless with the phone to his ear. There is nothing coming through but the sound
of the dial tone. As he puts the phone back in its cradle, he
whispers: “the Secretary of Defense didn’t believe me.” Everyone at SETI looks at him in disbelief. A few seconds go by. The light on the emergency phone begins to
blink. The scientist slowly reaches out his hand
and picks up the phone. He places it next to his ear. “Why didn’t you tell me there was an alien
invasion knocking on our door?” the Secretary of Defense screams. “Get your team to D.C. immediately. We are putting the First Contact protocol
into place. Do not tell anyone else about what you’ve
found.” The line goes dead once again. 10 minutes after first contact: Protocol dictates
that no response to the signal should be sent back to the aliens before further information
can be gathered. It is clear that the alien ship is headed
straight towards Earth, but we still don’t know if the aliens are peaceful or come with
hostile intentions. The Secretary of Defense informs NASA to keep
an eye on the ship and keep him updated if anything changes. He is about to meet with the President and
other military officials. 15 minutes after first contact: The chiefs
of staff and the President of the United States sit around a table deep in an underground
bunker. The alien ship will reach our atmosphere in
a matter of minutes. At this point, the only people who know about
the aliens are the scientists at SETI, the colleagues they reached out to, and the U.S.
government. But this won’t be the case for long. The U.S. needs to figure out a game plan before
reaching out to its allies. Luckily, there is a top-secret contingency
plan in place for first contact with aliens. The President and the cabinet conclude that
they will try reaching out to the aliens before alerting the world of their presence. The only problem is the government has no
idea how to make contact with a highly advanced alien race. It does not seem that the alien ship is hostile,
but they need to be sure. The government knows chaos will break out
as soon as word gets out about the aliens. Before that happens, they need to know as
much about our visitors as possible. The president orders NASA to start transmitting
to the alien craft. Most of the transmissions are number-based
as math is considered the language of the universe. Binary code seems like a good place to start,
so NASA sends a signal containing a repeating series of pulses towards the alien ship. There is no response. The vessel just keeps flying towards Earth. 20 minutes after first contact: There has
been no response from the alien ship. It is likely that almost every government
around the world now knows the aliens exist, as anyone SETI reached out to earlier when
they first discovered the signal has now contacted their respective officials. The United States reaches out to its NATO
allies and informs them of their decision. It is time to start mobilizing defense forces
just in case the aliens attack the planet. We don’t want to provoke the aliens or inadvertently
threaten them, so all military branches are kept on standby once they are in position. However, at a moment's notice, every NATO
military force can be launched at the incoming alien ship with swift speed and deadly force. But it is made absolutely clear to everyone
that the last thing the human species wants is to provoke a technologically advanced alien
species that may be coming in peace. 25 minutes after first contact: All NATO forces
have been briefed, and troops are deployed to New Mexico as the alien ship seems to be
headed for the array that first picked up the mysterious signal. The United States reaches out to the other
powers around the world. China and Russia are brought up to speed. It is not that the United States is allying
with these countries, but they want to make sure everyone knows that the unidentified
object entering Earth’s atmosphere is alien in nature and not a new technology created
by the United States or their allies. The last thing humans need is an accidental
war breaking out because someone thinks they’re being spied on by a high-tech vessel and opens
fire on the alien craft. To prevent this scenario from unfolding, the
United States shares their data on the alien ship but keeps their tactical plan a secret. Unfortunately, what is about to happen next
will cause people around the world to start panicking. 30 minutes after first contact: The alien
ship is about to enter Earth’s atmosphere. The government can no longer keep this secret
from the people. In preparation for what is to come, the Secretary
of Defense informs police departments across the country to put every officer they have
on duty. They must be prepared to stop the looting,
the rioting, and the chaos that is about to break out. Unfortunately, this contingency plan needs
to be in place because analysts have concluded that alien contact will lead to mass hysteria
among the populace. Every law enforcement officer, military personnel,
and everyone in the reserves are briefed by their commander before the President addresses
the nation and informs them of what is happening. The public should hear it from him before
the media starts inflating the situation to boost their viewership. The president broadcasts on every radio and
television station, the video is live-streamed on internet websites. He reads from a prewritten script. Although he tries to remain calm, there is
a sense of urgency in his voice. Everything is about to change forever. Other leaders from around the world also address
their citizens. Many people can’t believe an alien ship
is about to enter Earth’s orbit, but others begin to panic and take drastic actions. Even with law enforcement out on the streets,
there is just too much confusion and panic. 45 minutes after first contact: A lockdown
is put into place. Everyone is asked to remain calm and stay
in their homes. Many people listen to the president, lock
their doors, and board up their windows. This isn’t necessarily to protect themselves
from the aliens but from others of their own species. Those who don’t adhere to the lockdown are
rounded up by law enforcement or left to their own devices. Either way, the next phase of the first contract
protocol is about to begin. The aliens are here. It is time to figure out exactly who they
are and what they want. 60 minutes after first contact: There has
been no response yet from the alien ship. This is not surprising since we’ve only
tried a few types of communication. However, now that they are almost to Earth
there are some other options. The alien vessel passes past the International
Space Station. The astronauts onboard relay whatever information
they can gather about the spaceship back to Earth. However, since they are in orbit they only
get a passing glance as the alien craft enters the atmosphere. A fireball forms around the ship as the friction
between the atmosphere and the high-tech alloy begins to heat up. The vessel stops ten thousand feet above the
surface of the Earth. The United States sends reconnaissance planes
to gather information about the vessel. The aircraft is not armed because we definitely
don’t want to make the advanced alien ship think it’s under attack. Troops are deployed underneath where the UFO
is floating. They gather any debris that may have come
off upon entry through our atmosphere and bring it back to research facilities for analysis. The first contact plan hinges on humans gathering
as much data as possible about our visitors to best be ready for whatever is to come next. 90 minutes after first contact: It is now
clear that all nations around the world need to work together to uncover the intentions
of the aliens. Information flows freely between countries
regardless of prior political differences. The United Nations serves as a hub for the
exchange and sharing of data. New ways to make contact are implemented. Using equipment such as bright lights, radio
antennas, and devices that can transmit signals at different frequencies, scientists, linguists,
and mathematicians try to figure out some way to communicate with the aliens. Large screens project images that convey peace
and universal symbols like the shape of an atom in hopes we will get a response. There is no guarantee that any of these things
will work, but we have to keep trying; otherwise, humanity’s first contact with aliens will
fail. There are two scenarios that could unfold
with the aliens at this point. So far, the protocol for first contact has
been carried out as planned. When contact was initially made, multiple
independent scientists were informed and confirmed that the signal was in fact alien in origin. Then the government was contacted, and they
took action around keeping the public calm while gathering as much information as possible
on the aliens. Now, based on the response of the extraterrestrials,
the final part of the plan can be implemented. 24 hours after a peaceful first contact: Even
though the aliens have not responded, this is a win for humans. It means that they likely don’t have any
hostile intentions, and we haven’t done anything to provoke them into violence. It is also possible the extraterrestrials
have been sending a return message, but we just haven’t discovered or deciphered its
meaning yet. We probably won’t understand their response
right away, but given time, our scientists will figure out its meaning, and a dialogue
can begin. The most likely scenario in this situation
would be that the aliens would figure out a way to communicate with us long before we
figure out a way to communicate with them, so they would end up solving the problem for
us. The fact that they have traveled lightyears
to get to our planet means they are vastly more advanced than we are. They will likely have technologies we can’t
even dream of. One of which might be a universal translator
or a way to dumb down their communication methods to our levels. 48 hours after a peaceful first contact: Scientists
begin to get results from the initial alien signal that they fed into computers. The patterns in the signal sent by the aliens
are quantified and laid out in a way to find repetitions and meaning. The data deciphered by our computers is shared
with other scientists worldwide as we look for a way to make sense of the codes hidden
within the alien signals. Now that the alien ship has stopped moving,
the military has set up a full perimeter around it. The streets are empty. Shattered glass from storefronts line sidewalks,
abandoned cars sit lifelessly on the roads. People everywhere are glued to their screens
as they watch the events of history unfold between humanity and the first intelligent
life we have come in contact with. As time goes on, the only thing anyone is
talking about is the aliens and their ship. Doomsday preppers assume the end has come
and hunker down in their bunkers; many people have locked their doors and await further
instructions from world leaders. Others are making their way to the location
of the alien craft so they can see it with their own eyes. They are stopped miles from its location by
military personnel blocking all routes that lead under the ship. The first contact protocol in place restricts
civilian access to the aliens; only government agencies, scientists, and military personnel
are allowed to try and make contact with the aliens. They are trying to minimize the number of
variables that might lead to confusion or hostilities with the aliens. 72 hours after a peaceful first contact: The
protocol remains the same. The government works with scientists and other
nations to try and talk to the aliens. We still need to know why they are here and
what they want. Since there has been no conflict, it does
not seem like our new visitors want to wipe us off the face of the Earth. We have now advanced past the first contact
protocols and are just trying to make sense of the situation. Under ideal circumstances, we would eventually
find a way to communicate with the aliens. They would share their knowledge and technology. We would join a federation of galactic civilizations
and explore the final frontiers of space. Humanity would spread across the stars in
peaceful exploration and missions to bring other species into a thriving galactic community. Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the way
things would go if aliens ever did come to Earth. In a more likely scenario, things would go
very differently and very badly for the human species during our first contact protocol. 24 hours after a hostile first contact: As
we signal the alien ship to try and communicate with them, they vaporize our scientists and
destroy all reconnaissance planes. Massive doors on the alien craft open, and
an invasion fleet swarms down to Earth. It is now time to put the second part of the
first contact contingency plan into place. We hoped we would never have to do this during
our first contact with aliens, but it has now become inevitable. Throughout human history, whenever a more
advanced civilization came into contact with a less advanced one, there tended to be exploitation
and war. The civilization with more state-of-the-art
weapons and technology typically took whatever they wanted and conquered the lands of their
adversaries. There is no reason to think that an advanced
alien civilization would not do the same to Earth. The United States launches its full military
strength at the alien ship, but it’s not enough. They plead with their allies for help. The British Royal Air Force and the combined
strength of all the nations in the European Union attack the alien ship. Unfortunately, humanity's aircrafts are no
match for the alien’s superior weapons and shielding. We launch ballistic missiles from naval vessels
and silos at the UFO. However, nuclear weapons are kept off the
table for the time being. We don’t want to destroy ourselves in the
process of fighting off the alien threat. This has been the plan from the beginning
if the aliens became hostile. Nuclear weapons are to be used as a last resort
only. 48 hours after a hostile first contact: Unfortunately,
not everyone on the planet can be counted on. There are certain countries that see the conflict
between the United States, its allies, and the aliens as an opportunity. They launch invasion forces to conquer lands
that they’ve had their eye on for some time. They are not allying with the aliens, and
the aliens are not allying with the rogue humans, but each of them wants something,
and they are taking it. It may seem unbelievable that we would need
to consider the actions of other countries while the planet is being invaded by aliens,
but it is something that must be considered even in this scenario. Humans are now fighting the aliens and each
other. But the threat from space is the main focus
for the United States and its allies. The hostile alien protocol dictates that the
extraterrestrials must be stopped at all costs. Military officials look to scientists to help
determine their next course of action. If the aliens seem to be using biotechnology
or have minimal armor, a biological weapon might be effective against them. The U.S. launches a nonexplosive missile loaded
with viruses, bacteria, and other deadly pathogens through the hull of the alien ship. The hope is that when the pathogens are released,
they’ll kill off any alien lifeforms that are trying to invade Earth. If the extraterrestrials seem to be heavily
reliant on technology, humans could drop EMP bombs onto the alien vessel. This would cause all electronic functions
to cease and the ship to fall out of the sky. 72 hours after a hostile first contact: It
becomes clear that even our most deadly weapons aren’t strong enough to stop the alien threat. There is only one thing left to do. If the human species can’t have the planet,
no one can. We launch a nuclear missile at the alien ship. It detonates. Everyone looking towards the sky is temporarily
blinded. A cheer goes out across the country as we
think we’ve defeated the alien threat. But as the smoke and fire begins to subside,
we see that the alien vessel is still there. The extraterrestrial technology is far more
advanced than we could have possibly imagined. The final order is given. All nuclear missiles from around the world
are launched at the UFO in hopes that we can destroy it. Our planet will become irradiated and will
plunge into a nuclear winter, but it is better than giving up our home to an alien species
that wants to strip it of its resources and enslave humanity. It is important to note that there is no way
to know exactly how well prepared we are for first contact with aliens until it happens. SETI and other science organizations have
protocols in place for when they find an alien signal. We know the United States and other governments
such as the United Kingdom and Japan have a first contact protocol, but these documents
are classified, and we can only extrapolate bits and pieces of what they would look like
from what has been leaked. The scary part is that according to some of
the greatest minds of science, making contact with an alien species is likely to be the
end of humanity. We know that any extraterrestrial that can
make it from their homeworld to Earth will be light years beyond us technologically. We also know that since the universe is a
vast place, an alien craft that comes directly to Earth likely did so with a purpose. If they just wanted resources or to explore,
there are plenty of resource-rich uninhabited worlds throughout the galaxy. If the aliens are aiming for Earth, it probably
means that they want something from our planet, and they don’t care whether humans are living
on it or not. Stephen Hawking, one of the most brilliant
minds that ever lived, strongly believed that humankind would likely be wiped out by any
alien civilization that comes to Earth. Hawkins predicted that “Such advanced aliens
would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonize whatever planets they could reach,
so who knows what the limits would be?” But not all scientists are as pessimistic
as Stephen Hawking. Seth Shostak, a senior astronomer at the SETI
Institute, believes that any hostile alien civilization that is cruising around the galaxy
would likely have already picked up radio signals from Earth and come to conquer us. The fact that we have been left alone to develop
on our own might indicate that any alien species exploring the galaxy right now just doesn’t
find us interesting enough to bother with. Or, in an even more optimistic scenario, they
are waiting until we are more technologically advanced before welcoming us into their space
federation. The truth of the matter is we are not prepared
for first contact with aliens. Since going to the moon, humanity has greatly
reduced the amount of time and money we invest in space exploration. This means that we were probably better prepared
back in the late 1960s and 1970s for alien contact than we are today. Our first contact protocols are likely outdated,
and any aliens we come into contact with will either not bother with such a technologically
inferior species as humans, or they will make us their pets. Now watch “Space Chief Makes a Shocking
Alien Confession.” Or check out “US Military Plan to Defeat
an Alien Invasion.”
