The team’s research will lay the groundwork for studies of UAPs in the future, according to NASA. (Illustrative image) (Image credit: Pixabay)NASA announced that it has selected 16 individuals to be part of its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). UAP refers to things in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or natural phenomena, or in common parlance, UFOs.
The independent study began on Monday, October 24 and will last for a period of nine months. The team’s research will lay the groundwork for studies of UAPs in the future, according to NASA. The team seeks to learn how data gathered from various different sources can be analysed to shed light on the mystery of UAPs.
Researching UFOs
A full report of the team’s findings will be released to the public in mid-2023, according to NASA. But don’t go looking for any classified data in there since the study will focus only on unclassified data.
“Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA. Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate, in an agency press statement.
We’ve selected 16 individuals to participate in an independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), or observations in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena. The nine-month study will begin on Oct. 24: https://t.co/RsVP4kggwd pic.twitter.com/OQ5XecW0Ai
— NASA (@NASA) October 21, 2022
Apart from the distant possibility of identifying alien spacecraft, identifying such UAPs has national security and air safety implications. One of NASA’s goals is to ensure the safety of aircraft. Since the study will not have access to an extensive set of data, it would be nearly impossible to very or explain any of the observations. Due to this, the study’s only focus is to inform the space agency about what data could be collected in the future to understand UAPs better.