Workers pressurize NASA logo on vehicle assembly building before SpaceX sends two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station aboard its Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, May 19, 2020 REUTERS / Joe Skipper
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WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) – NASA said Thursday it plans to assemble a team of scientists to study “unidentified aerial phenomena” – commonly called UFOs – as a last sign of the seriousness with which the US government is taking the issue.
The US space agency said the focus will be on identifying available data, the best ways to collect future data and how it can use that information to advance scientific understanding of the problem. NASA has recruited David Spergel, who previously headed the astrophysics department at Princeton University to lead the research team, and Daniel Evans, a senior researcher in NASA’s Scientific Missions Directorate, to organize the study.
A team of scientists is due to be convened by the fall, after which it will spend about nine months developing a public report on its findings, Evans said. NASA will spend “from tens of thousands of dollars” to no more than $ 100,000 on the effort, Evans added.
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The announcement comes a year after the US government released a report compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a Navy-led task force detailing observations by mostly Navy personnel of an “unidentified aerial phenomenon” or UAP. Two Pentagon officials testified on May 17 at the first congressional hearing on UFOs in half a century.
“We are looking at the Earth in new ways, and also from the other side, to the sky, in new ways,” Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science unit, told reporters during a conference call. “What we’re really trying to do here is start an investigation without considering the outcome.”
US officials described UAPs as a national security issue, which NASA repeated.
“Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere are of interest to both national security and air safety. “Identifying which events are natural provides a key first step in identifying or mitigating such phenomena, which is in line with one of NASA’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft,” NASA said in a press release.
Last year’s report said U.S. defense and intelligence analysts lacked enough data to determine the nature of UAPs observed by military pilots, including whether they were advanced ground technology, atmospheric or extraterrestrial. The two Pentagon officials admitted last month that many observations remained beyond the government’s ability to explain.
NASA said in a press release: “There is no evidence that UAPs are aliens.
The agency’s involvement is aimed at providing more data to harness NASA’s scientific talent, satellites and sensors, which are otherwise tasked with monitoring the Earth’s climate or monitoring atmospheric conditions, Zurbuchen said.
“The first step is to find out what data is at hand,” Evans said.
NASA’s involvement in the Pentagon’s efforts to characterize the UAP was previously acknowledged by US officials.
The Pentagon has made public some videos of mysterious objects showing speed and maneuverability, surpassing known aviation technology and without visible means of propulsion or flight control surfaces.
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Report by Joey Roulette; Edited by Will Dunham
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