NASA reveals specialized team for UFO investigations.

The team will consist of specialists from various fields – including astrobiology, data analytics, oceanography, genetics, policy development, and planetary science – along with retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, a former fighter pilot and test pilot, as well as a retired US Navy captain.

The space agency, which first announced plans for this group in June, has indicated that astrophysicist David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation in New York City, will lead the team.

The new team will not necessarily aim to identify precisely what the UAPs are, which have been reported moving through restricted military airspace for decades. Instead, their mission will focus on determining the most effective approach for NASA to conduct further studies on this phenomenon.

The space agency has acknowledged that the limited number of UAP sightings has hindered the ability to draw scientific conclusions regarding these events.

“Without access to a comprehensive dataset, verifying or explaining any observation becomes nearly impossible, thus the objective of the study is to guide NASA on potential data collection in the future to scientifically assess UAPs,” stated a NASA news release.

Multiple investigations into UAPs have been conducted by various sectors of the US government, including a Pentagon report that was declassified in June 2021. However, none have provided a definitive answer about the nature of UAPs. NASA officials have been considering a formal approach to studying UAPs for quite some time, wanting to ensure it is executed appropriately, as mentioned by Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, in June.

This study is projected to last approximately nine months and will be completely unclassified and publicly accessible.

“Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is fundamental to NASA’s mission,” Zurbuchen stated in a recent announcement. “Gaining insight into the data surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is crucial for us to draw scientific conclusions about the events happening in our skies. Data serves as the language of scientists, transforming the unexplainable into something we can understand.”

The team specifically aims to gather data regarding “events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural occurrences – from a scientific standpoint,” the agency noted.

NASA has indicated that unidentified aerial phenomena are significant from both security and safety perspectives. The agency emphasized during the initial announcement in June that there is no evidence suggesting UAPs are of extraterrestrial origin.

NASA has long been dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth, which is why astrobiology programs are a key focus. The Mars Perseverance rover is actively searching for traces of ancient life that may have existed on the red planet, while future missions are in development to explore potential signs of life on ocean worlds within our solar system.

The agency plans to approach the UAP study as it would any other scientific inquiry, working to elevate a data-poor field to a level suitable for scientific evaluation and analysis.

“Many phenomena that once seemed magical have ultimately revealed new scientific principles,” Zurbuchen noted in June.

Considering the national security and air safety implications associated with UAPs, scientists are eager to assess these observations and determine if they are natural or require further explanation.

Discussing UAPs in traditional scientific contexts may sometimes be frowned upon or deemed unrelated to science, but Zurbuchen firmly disagrees with that perspective.

“I strongly believe that the quality of science is measured not only by the outcomes achieved, but also by the challenging questions we are willing to pursue,” he stated earlier this year.

Similar to other NASA standard grant review panels, the budget for this initiative is estimated to range from tens of thousands up to a maximum of $160,000, as noted by Daniel Evans, assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

From the beginning, it’s challenging to predict what insights the study will yield.

“We should remain open to the possibility that we are encountering various distinct phenomena,” Spergel mentioned earlier this year.

“We must tackle all these inquiries with humility,” said Spergel.

“In my experience as a cosmologist, I’ve learned that we lack understanding about 95 percent of the universe. There are forces we have yet to comprehend. I hope this study advances our knowledge of these phenomena, but ultimately we may conclude that we still have many unanswered questions and a framework to progress further.”