Harvard Physicist Avi Loeb Actually Wants $1.5 Million To Prove UFOs Are Foreign 'Black Projects'

Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb is seeking $1.5million (€1.36million; £1.13million) for a telescope project in Ithaca, New York, to investigate unidentified flying objects, including whether some sightings could involve classified foreign technology.

The planned observatory would use radar and optical measurements to examine objects that conventional reports have not identified.

Loeb, a Harvard professor and chairman of the UAP Science Advisory Council, wants researchers to move beyond eyewitness accounts and gather evidence that can be independently assessed.

The proposal comes amid renewed attention to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), following President Donald Trump's remarks on CBS's 60 Minutes on 8 November 2026.

How Avi Loeb's UFO Telescope Would Work

The planned facility would combine radar monitoring, artificial intelligence and a 0.7-metre PlaneWave CDK700 telescope. Radar would identify objects of interest and help direct the telescope towards them, enabling researchers to try to capture sharper images rather than rely on chance observations.

The system would also allow scientists to compare instrument readings with known flight activity. That could help provide context for observations and reduce reliance on images that lack reliable information about when or where they were taken.

The telescope would analyse light emitted or reflected by a target. Spectral measurements may offer clues about an object's composition, although the results would depend on factors such as distance, visibility and the quality of the data collected.

Loeb believes the combined approach could help distinguish aircraft and other familiar objects from observations that remain unexplained. The system has yet to demonstrate that it can resolve every unusual sighting, and no discovery of foreign or extraterrestrial technology has been announced.

The observatory is backed by entrepreneur and philanthropist Adam Weitsman. It is planned for a property once owned by astronomer Carl Sagan, whose work helped popularise scientific inquiry into the possibility of life beyond Earth.

An announcement dated 5 November said development was expected to begin this month, with completion anticipated within about a year. The schedule would depend on construction, installation and scientific commissioning.

The facility would be the Galileo Project's fourth observatory and its first to combine continuous radar monitoring with a large professional optical telescope.

Could UFOs Be Foreign 'Black Projects'?

Loeb has raised the possibility that some mysterious sightings could involve classified programmes operated by rival countries, sometimes described as 'black projects'. This is a potential explanation to investigate, not a conclusion established by the observatory's findings.

More commonplace explanations also remain possible, including misidentified objects or incomplete measurements. The label 'unidentified' does not establish who built an object, whether it represents advanced technology or whether it poses a threat.

Trump told interviewer Ross Douthat on 60 Minutes that Air Force pilots had described unusual objects to him. He recounted a claim about a round object travelling far faster than an F-22 fighter jet, but provided no independently verifiable evidence during the exchange.

Asked whether he had seen evidence of a secret UFO research programme supposedly hidden even from presidents, Trump said he had not. He said he would look into the suggestion after the interview.

For Loeb, the immediate priority is to build an instrument capable of gathering better information. Any future expansion to sites associated with military sightings would depend on testing and further arrangements. The telescope is intended to collect evidence; its findings, if any, will depend on what its instruments record.