Washington. NASA announced yesterday that it intends to scientifically address the issue of UFOs, unidentified aerial phenomena that arouse fascination, but for which there is no evidence that they are of extraterrestrial origin, according to a new expert report published by the US space agency.
The product of months of work, the document, written by a group of scientists and aeronautics experts, recommends that NASA play in the future “a leading role” in the study of UFOs, renamed unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP, for its acronym in English).
At the same time, NASA announced the creation of a director position responsible for research into these phenomena. It has not yet been revealed who will occupy this new position for fear of harassment, as was the case of the 16 authors of the report.
That report, commissioned in June by the agency from an independent panel, represents “NASA’s first concrete step to seriously investigate these inexplicable events,” Bill Nelson, director of the space agency, declared at a press conference.
The objective is for the debate to move “from the terrain of sensationalism to that of science,” he insisted.
NASA defines these phenomena as “events in the sky that cannot be scientifically identified as an airplane or a known natural phenomenon.”
Most of the observations of strange objects, reported in particular by pilots, “are explainable,” declared yesterday David Spergel, an astrophysicist who chaired the work of the group of experts.
They often turn out to be “planes, balloons, drones, weather phenomena,” or even turn out to be linked to observation instruments, he said.
Some remain unexplained, largely due to a lack of precise data about each event, according to the document.
Data collection
Experts call for a “rigorous data collection campaign. The importance of detecting” these phenomena with “multiple well-calibrated sensors is fundamental,” and NASA has great “experience” in this area, he emphasizes.
The report also recommends that the general public become more involved in the issue; for example, with the development of an application to collect recordings made with mobile phones.
NASA will work to collect more data, including through citizen and pilot observations, said Nicola Fox, NASA associate administrator for science. “We want private, commercial and military pilots to know that if they see something, they should say it,” she added.
The objective of the report, however, was not to review one by one the events already observed, but to make recommendations on how to study them rigorously in the future.
The experts, who advocate the use of artificial intelligence in data analysis, worked from public (unclassified) information, to discuss it freely.
NASA insists on the need for transparency, in order to combat preconceived ideas linked to the word UFO (for unidentified flying objects).
According to the current state of knowledge, “there is no evidence available to suggest” that the observed phenomena “are of extraterrestrial origin,” Spergel recalled. “Whatever we find, we will tell,” he promised.
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