NASA's Independent Team Will Study the Science Behind Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

 

NASA to Set Up Independent Study on Unidentified Aerial Phenomena

NASA is commissioning a study team to start early in the fall to examine the nature and origin of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – that is, observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. There is no evidence UAPs are extra-terrestrial in origin. Since the limited number of observations of UAPs currently makes it difficult to draw scientific conclusions, this study will focus on applying the tools of scientific investigation to identify, collect, and analyze available data, and then establishing how NASA can use that data to move our understanding of UAPs forward. Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere are of interest for both national security and air safety. Establishing whether these events are part of the natural world provides a key first step to identifying or mitigating such phenomena, which aligns with one of NASA’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft. The independent study will gather input from experts in the scientific, aeronautics, and data analytics communities, and is expected to take about nine months to complete. NASA’s study team will be led by astrophysicist David Spergel.

Learn More About the Study

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People Profile

Meet Lori Levine, environmental protection specialist at our Goddard Space Flight Center. “Every day is different, and I experience so many facets of [work]…There is always an opportunity to learn and problem-solve, and it feels good to protect the environment while enabling [NASA’s] mission.”

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Image Spotlight

This image shows Dickinson Crater, an impact crater approximately 115 miles (185 kilometers) wide at the base and 43 miles (69 kilometers) in diameter, in the northeastern Atalanta region of Venus. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech