NASA Studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena aka UFOs
NASA will begin a study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in fall 2022. NASA Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, explains.
Credit: Space.com | Animations provided by NASA/ESO/M. Kornmesser/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/
LPG/CNRS/University of Nantes/Space Science Institute | edited by Steve Spaleta
Credit: Space.com | Animations provided by NASA/ESO/M. Kornmesser/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/
LPG/CNRS/University of Nantes/Space Science Institute | edited by Steve Spaleta
Transcript
00:00 I would first say that of course part of our task at NASA is given to us by the Congress is not only to do fundamental research in the skies and so forth, but as part of that also to find life elsewhere.
00:15 That's why we've built astrobiology programs in many disciplines across the solar field that looks at both extinct life on Mars, for example, but also looks at patterns of life elsewhere, perhaps in Europe, perhaps in Enceladus as we go forward, but also as we look at exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system,
00:38 looking for the question whether certain environments are in fact part of, if you want, the ladder of life that got us to where we are.
00:50 So the tools that we're using, whether it's in this field or also in fields that then go towards intelligent life, such as technosignatures, which we have programs for already, are the same tools that we use everywhere, the tools that we're frankly using here.
01:05 And that is that we're commissioning a study to start early in the fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena.
01:12 The study will focus on identifying available data, how to best collect future data, and how NASA can use these data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward.
01:23 A short way I would talk about that is take a field that is relatively data poor and make it into a field that is much more data rich and therefore worthy of scientific investigation and analysis.
01:37 NASA's mission, of course, as I just said, is to explore the unknown in air and space. And we have access, frankly, as part of that, to a broad range of observations of Earth and space.
01:50 And finally, that's the lifeblood of our scientific inquiry. We have the tools and teams who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown.
01:59 And we are prepared to use these powerful tools of scientific discovery in this case as much as anything else, using exactly the same kind of approach that we always use.
02:12 Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere of interest for both, for many reasons, frankly, I think there's new science to be discovered.
02:21 There's many times where something that looked almost magical turned out to be a new scientific effect.
02:27 But there's also national security and air safety issues that have been discussed elsewhere that, of course, relate to these observations.
02:35 And establishing, you know, with events that are, whether they're natural or whether they are, kind of, need to be explained otherwise is very much aligned with NASA's goals that ensure, of course, you know, that we discover the unknown, but also ensures the safety of aircraft that, of course, are in that airspace that these phenomena occur.
02:57 This independent study will be led by astrophysicist David Sporgel, who's the president of the Simons Foundation in New York City and has previously been the chair of astrophysics in the Department of Princeton and University of Princeton, New Jersey.
03:12 Dan Evans, the assistant deputy associate administrator for research, is kind of, is the, really, kind of the wheels on the bus, kind of really making sure that we're interfacing with this.
03:22 Some people may ask why David, why Dan. First of all, Dan, with his tremendous experience, both as a researcher but also as an enabler for research, his work that he did in the White House previously, I think, has tremendous insight into kind of the cross-interagency aspect that relates to some of these discussions.
03:41 And David Sporgel, I think, to all of us in astrophysics, really understand that he's one of the most trusted voices in so many questions, also a person who understands, really, the power of science and is willing and able to use that power of science, kind of, in areas where I would say, kind of, fall under what we would refer to as high-risk, high-impact kind of research, kind of areas that many of the scientists may be a little bit more timid to walk into.
04:07 [ Music ]