At
NASA, we use data and the tools of science to explore the unknown in the
atmosphere and space. In June 2022, NASA established an external
independent study team
to find a way we can use our open-source data and resources to help shed
light on the nature of future UAP.
In response to a recommendation by an independent
study team for NASA to play a more prominent role in understanding
Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the agency announced Thursday it
is appointing a director of UAP research.
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The study team’s full report, which includes a foreword from NASA noting the new
role, is available
here on the agency’s website.
NASA commissioned the independent study to better understand how the agency
can contribute to ongoing government efforts to further the study observations
of events in the sky that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft, or as
known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.
“At NASA, it's in our DNA to explore – and to ask why things are the way they
are. I want to thank the Independent Study Team for providing insight on how
NASA can better study and analyze UAP in the future,” said NASA Administrator
Bill Nelson. “NASA’s new Director of UAP Research will develop and oversee the
implementation of NASA’s scientific vision for UAP research, including using
NASA’s expertise to work with other agencies to analyze UAP and applying
artificial intelligence and machine learning to search the skies for
anomalies. NASA will do this work transparently for the benefit of humanity.”
The report contains the external study team’s findings and recommendations
which aim to inform NASA on what possible data is available to be collected
and how the agency can help shed light on the origin and nature of future UAP.
The report is not a review or assessment of previous UAP incidents.
While NASA is still evaluating the report and assessing the independent study
team’s findings and recommendations, the agency is committed to contributing
to the federal government’s unified UAP effort by appointing a director of UAP
research.
A NASA liaison to the Department of Defense previously covered limited UAP
activities for the agency, and the director role will centralize
communications, resources, and data analytical capabilities to establish a
robust database for the evaluation of future UAP. The director also will
leverage NASA’s expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and
space-based observation tools to support and enhance the broader government
initiative on UAP.
The independent study team’s overall recommendation for NASA from its report
is that the agency can play a prominent role in the government’s effort to
understand UAP by furthering the study and data collection of UAP. The
external study recommends that NASA use its open-source resources, extensive
technological expertise, data analysis techniques, federal and commercial
partnerships, and Earth-observing assets to curate a better and robust dataset
for understanding future UAP.
NASA also will advance citizen reporting by engaging with the public and
commercial pilots to build a broader, more reliable UAP dataset to use to
identify future UAP incidents as well as destigmatize the study of UAP.
“Data is the critical lifeblood needed to advance scientific exploration, and
we thank the independent study team members for lending NASA their expertise
towards identifying what available data is possible to understand the nature
and origin of future UAP,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science
Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The director of UAP
Research is a pivotal addition to NASA’s team and will provide leadership,
guidance and operational coordination for the agency and the federal
government to use as a pipeline to help identify the seemingly
unidentifiable.”
The independent study team, set up outside of NASA, used unclassified data
from civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other
sources to inform their findings and recommendations in the report. There are
currently a limited number of high-quality observations of UAP, which
currently make it impossible to draw firm scientific conclusions about their
nature.
“Using unclassified data was essential for our team’s fact-finding,
open-communication collaboration, and for upholding scientific rigor to
produce this report for NASA,” said David Spergel, president of the Simons
Foundation and chair of the UAP independent study team. “The team wrote the
report in conjunction with NASA’s pillars of transparency, openness and
scientific integrity to help the agency shed light on the nature of future UAP
incidents. We found that NASA can help the whole-of-government UAP effort
through systematic data calibration, multiple measurements and ensuring
thorough sensor metadata to create a data set that is both reliable and
extensive for future UAP study.”
The UAP independent study team
is a counsel of 16 community experts across diverse areas on matters relevant
to potential methods of study for unidentified anomalous phenomena. NASA
commissioned the study to examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create
a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our
understanding of UAP forward.
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