The “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” independent research team set up by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) started work on October 24. The team has 16 members and has assembled experts in many fields such as physics and astrobiology.
“Unidentified aerial phenomena”, commonly known as UFOs, have long been associated with concepts such as flying saucers and alien spaceships. NASA classifies sightings that cannot be identified as known objects or natural phenomena as “unidentified aerial phenomena.”
NASA announced in June that it would form an independent research team to study “unidentified aerial phenomena.” The agency said at the time that there was no evidence that the “unidentified aerial phenomenon” had an extraterrestrial origin.
The 16-person team was led by astrophysicist David Spergel. The research will focus solely on unclassified sightings, determining how to analyze data from government agencies, commercial agencies and other sources, laying the groundwork for future research on “unidentified aerial phenomena” by NASA and other organizations. The research team intends to spend nine months developing a research strategy, followed by a roadmap for how the analysis and research will be carried out in the future, with the first report expected to be released in the middle of next year.
The study is independent of a similar study launched earlier by the U.S. Department of Defense, in which defense and intelligence officials analyzed reports from pilots.
The Pentagon said in a report a year ago that there was insufficient evidence to determine the nature of more than 140 “unidentified aerial phenomena” recorded by the military since 2004. Defense and intelligence officials told Congress five months ago that “unidentified aerial phenomena” recorded by the military had grown to 400, but many remained unexplained.