NASA Sets Up an Independent Study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena – Is It Floating With That?
Sound: Telecommunications on New Aerial Phenomena Research
NASA is sending a team starting in the early fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) — observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or other phenomena. known nature – from a scientific perspective. The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect it in the future, and how NASA can use that data to advance the scientific understanding of UAP.
The limited number of UAP observations currently makes it difficult to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events. Unidentified atmospheric phenomena are of both national security and aviation safety concern. Determining which events are natural provides an important first step toward identifying or mitigating such events, consistent with one of the following: NASA’s goal to ensure the safety of aircraft. There is no evidence that UAPs are of extraterrestrial origin.
“NASA believes the tools of scientific discovery are very powerful, and that applies here too,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate director for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We have access to a wide range of observations of Earth from space – and that is the lifeblood of scientific research. We have tools and teams that can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That is the definition of science. That’s what we do.”
This agency is not part of the Ministry of Defense Unknown Aerial Phenomena Task Force or its successor, Aerial object recognition and management synchronization group. However, NASA has coordinated extensively throughout the government on how to apply the tools of science to shed light on the nature and origin of unidentified aerial phenomena.
The agency’s independent research team will be led by astrophysicist David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation in New York City and formerly chair of the department of astrophysics at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey . Daniel Evans, assistant associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, will be the NASA official responsible for coordinating the research.
“Given the paucity of observations, our first task was simply to gather the most robust data set we could,” says Spergel. “We will determine what data – from civilians, governments, nonprofits, companies – exists, what other data we should try to collect, and how best to analyze it. ”
The study is expected to take about nine months to complete. It will warrant the consultation of experts in the scientific, aeronautical and data analysis communities to focus on the best way to collect new data and improve UAP observations.
“Consistent with NASA’s principles of publicity, transparency, and scientific integrity, this report will be shared publicly,” Evans said. “All NASA data is available to the public – we take that obligation seriously – and we make it easily accessible to anyone to view or study.”
Although unrelated to this new study, NASA has an active astrobiology program that focuses on the origin, evolution, and distribution of life beyond Earth. From studying water on Mars to exploring promising “ocean worlds,” such as Titan and Europa, NASA science missions are working together with the goal of finding signs of extraterrestrial life. The earth.
Furthermore, the agency’s search for life also includes the use of missions such as the Transiting Planetary Survey Satellite and the Hubble Space Telescope, to search for habitable exoplanets. , while the James Webb Space Telescope will attempt to detect biological features in the atmospheres around other planets – detecting oxygen and carbon For example, dioxide in other atmospheres could suggest that a exoplanets support plants and animals like our own. NASA also funds space-based research that focuses on technological structures – that are the hallmarks of advanced technology in space – from other planets.
Learn more about NASA’s astrobiology program online at:
https://www.nasa.gov/astrobiology/
Last Updated: June 9, 2022
Editor: Michael Bock
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