# What Are The Chances A UFO Lands In The USA? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 28, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056 "2011-04-28T17:22:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/1 "2011-04-28T17:22:30Z")
Assuming there are aliens in this “UFO” and the aliens are coming from outer space and want to land on LAND and not water. Let’s say the aliens have a spacecraft the size of the space shuttle, what are the odds that the aliens land in the good old USA, as opposed to Canada, USSR, China, or the tiny Island of Nauru? This would also assume the aliens just want to land on solid ground and they won’t care which country they land in. Any way to reasonably calculate the odds they land in the USA? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/2 "2011-04-28T17:30:03Z")
Surface area of the US: 9,158,960 km2 Surface area of the planet Earth: 510,072,000 km2 Probability of landing in the US: 1.79% ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/3 "2011-04-28T17:32:25Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Surface area of the US: 9,158,960 km2 > Surface area of the planet Earth: 510,072,000 km2 > Probability of landing in the US: 1.79% When you exclude water I think that the US is something like 9% of the land surface area. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/4 "2011-04-28T17:33:09Z")
Are they landing at night? Will they be attracted to the lights or repelled by them? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/5 "2011-04-28T17:33:52Z")
Upon rereading. Land area of the planet: 148,940,000 km2 Probability of landing on land that is part of the US: 6.14% Time to Google those numbers: \< minute ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/6 "2011-04-28T17:35:46Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Surface area of the US: 9,158,960 km2 > Surface area of the planet Earth: 510,072,000 km2 > Probability of landing in the US: 1.79% He did say land, so: Land mass (world): 148,939,063 km2 Land mass (US): 9,158,960 km2 Probability: just over 6% ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/7 "2011-04-28T17:37:49Z")
Except that surface area includes water. Do the aliens care if they land on, well, land? The land surface area is 148,940,000 km2. If they pick a random spot of land, the probability of landing within the United States is 9,158,960/148,940,000, or 6.15%. Do the aliens care if they land on a continental glacier? If so, we could exclude Antarctica and Greenland. Do they care if they land in a desert, or a mountaintop, or a jungle, or a cornfield, or the tundra? ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/8 "2011-04-28T17:40:14Z")
hi. We’re here for your yummy yummy penguins. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/9 "2011-04-28T17:58:35Z")
If they land, isn’t it just a “UO”? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/10 "2011-04-28T18:15:31Z")
I’ve checked on the [appropriate reference source](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse), and that tells me that the UFO is much more likely to land in Tokyo, probably in the immediate vicinity of the Tokyo Tower. It’s not a question of land area, it’s a question of the attractiveness of the place. Large towers are more interesting to the aliens than corn fields and prairies. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/11 "2011-04-28T18:24:31Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Large towers are more interesting to the aliens than corn fields and prairies. Not the ones who are particularly interested in collecting cattle anuses.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/12 "2011-04-28T18:27:19Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Not the ones who are particularly interested in collecting cattle anuses.😉 Have you seen the shit the Japanese will eat? I bet the amount of cattle anus per square mile over there is the highest in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/13 "2011-04-28T18:29:19Z")
Individual aliens: Tokyo Hordes of aliens: U.S., usually near a population center. Aliens that steal your identity: US or Antarctica Aliens that don’t want to enslave or eat us? I dunno, Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/14 "2011-04-28T19:13:00Z")
Yes, the aliens have to land on land, but let’s assume they have to land like the Space Shuttle does. You would have to get rid of mountain areas, and dense cities, like NYC and Chicago. I just can’t figure out any reasonable way to figure this, without getting too complex. Obviously the aliens wouldn’t be able to land on Mount Everest or in Manhattan, well you get the idea 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/15 "2011-04-28T20:25:11Z")
I think the chances of them landing in the USSR are just about zero. (Unless they have a time machine. But nobody has a spaceship _and_ a time machine.) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/16 "2011-04-28T20:30:11Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Yes, the aliens have to land on land, but let’s assume they have to land like the Space Shuttle does. How about you just require that they land on the Nazca Lines then? ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/17 "2011-04-28T20:48:57Z")
I think you’d have to consider what their requirements are. Will they need our resources to refuel? Do they need a stealthy landing? Do they need to land in a politically stable region? Do their universal translators only recognize Brooklyn accents? ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/18 "2011-04-28T21:13:45Z")
And do they find our women sexually attractive, or do they prefer sheep or cockroaches? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/19 "2011-04-28T21:28:00Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > If they land, isn’t it just a “UO”? Presumably, once we see them, it will just be an “O.” ---
**Author:** ![RedSwinglineOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a9adbd/32.png) [@RedSwinglineOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedSwinglineOne)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056/20 "2011-04-28T21:51:29Z")
I thing the chances of them landing in the US is pretty good. No matter what their mission statement is, we’ve got them covered. Probe the local yokels, check. Meet the leader of the free world, check. Destroy some world famous landmarks, check. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-chances-a-ufo-lands-in-the-usa/580056.md?page=2)