“SpaceX, with the Starlink constellation, has roughly 6,000 satellites, and not once have we had to maneuver around a UFO.”

a man in a black suit speaks on a brightly-lit stage

Elon Musk, co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of X Holdings Corp., speaks at the Milken Institute’s Global Conference at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on May 6, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California. (Image credit: Apu Gomes/Getty Images)

Elon Musk isn’t convinced that aliens have ever visited Earth.

The SpaceX CEO and founder sat down for a panel titled “How to save the human race and other light topics” at the 2024 Milken Institute Global Conference held in Los Angeles on Tuesday (May 7).

During the conversation, the institute’s chairman, financier Michael Milken, began by asking Musk how he feels about the well-known opening monologue to many “Star Trek” series, in which it is stated that the starship Enterprise’s mission is to “seek out new life forms and new civilizations.”

Musk replied, “Yeah, that’s the idea.”

Musk elaborated, stating that if we send probes out into the universe, we might find “remains of long-dead alien civilizations.” He then launched into an explanation about why he doesn’t feel aliens have ever visited our planet.

Musk told Milken that he is frequently asked if he believes aliens are among us here on Earth, acknowledging how widespread that belief is.

“And for some reason, a lot of the same people who think there are aliens among us don’t think we went to the moon, which, I’m like: ‘Think about that for a second,'” Musk said to laughter from the audience.

Musk elaborated on why he doesn’t believe aliens have visited our planet, stating that, even with the thousands of broadband spacecraft that SpaceX operates in low Earth orbit, he hasn’t once seen any compelling evidence of either extraterrestrial life or any potential craft operated by non-human intelligence.

“I’ve not seen any evidence of aliens,” Musk said. “And SpaceX, with the Starlink constellation, has roughly 6,000 satellites, and not once have we had to maneuver around a UFO. […] Never. So I’m like, okay, I don’t see any evidence of aliens.”