Space and Physics
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NASA is about to unveil the findings of a major report on UFOs, or “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) as they are officially known today.
The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.The briefing will take place at 10:00 EDT (14:00 UTC) on Thursday, September 14, at the agency’s headquarters in Washington DC. You’ll be able to watch a live stream of the discussion in the video player below.
The findings will come from an independent study group that was commissioned by NASA in 2022, comprised of 16 scientific, aeronautical, and data experts led by astrophysicist David Spergel.
In the words of NASA, the study group aims to “examine UAP from a scientific perspective and create a roadmap for how to use data and the tools of science to move our understanding of UAP forward.”
Around 30 minutes before the briefing, NASA will publish the team’s full report online for the public to read.
“Consistent with NASA’s principles of openness, transparency, and scientific integrity, this report will be shared publicly. All of NASA’s data is available to the public – we take that obligation seriously – and we make it easily accessible for anyone to see or study,” Daniel Evans, the assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement last year when the study was announced.
UAP sightings were once the domain of conspiracy theorists and sci-fi, but they have been reignited with a renewed sense of legitimacy following a number of high-profile sightings by the US military that have been made public.
National security threats are a prime reason why US authorities are starting to take UAPs seriously as it’s possible some sightings are experimental aircraft being tested by a foreign rival like Russia or China.
Extraterrestrial life is also another possibility. However, while NASA is keeping an open mind on all eventualities, we shouldn’t be expecting any bombshell evidence of alien lifeforms visiting Earth from this week’s announcement.
Instead, the report is likely to outline some new protocols that will help the agency gather data on UAP observations in the future.
“[The report] aims to inform NASA on what possible data could be collected in the future to shed light on the nature and origin of UAP. The report is not a review or assessment of previous unidentifiable observations,” NASA said in a brief statement about the announcement.
“There are currently a limited number of high-quality observations of UAP, which make it impossible to draw firm scientific conclusions about their nature,” the agency added.
