NASA Studying Unidentified Aerial Phenomena aka UFOs

Space.com

NASA conducts studies of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). 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 / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona / LPG / CNRS /University of Nantes / Space Science Institute | edited by Steve Spaleta

Transcript

00:00 I'll first say that of course part of our task at NASA is given to us by the Congress is not only

00:09 to do fundamental research in the skies and so forth,

00:12 but as part of that also to find life elsewhere.

00:14 That's why we've built astrobiology programs in many disciplines across the summery field

00:20 that looks at both extinct life on Mars, for example, but also looks at patterns

00:27 of life elsewhere perhaps in Europe, perhaps in Enceladus as we go forward,

00:34 but also as we look at exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system looking

00:38 for the question whether certain environments are in fact part of kind of the,

00:45 if you want, the ladder of life that got us to where we are.

00:49 So the tools that we're using, whether it's in this field, are also kind of in fields

00:54 that then go towards kind of intelligent life such as techno signatures,

00:58 which we have programs for already, are the same tools that we use everywhere,

01:02 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

01:09 to examine unidentified aerial phenomena.

01:12 The study will focus on identifying available data, how to best collect future data,

01:18 and how NASA can use these data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward.

01:24 A short way I would talk about that is take a field that is relatively data poor and to make it

01:30 into a field that is much more data rich and therefore worthy

01:34 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.

01:42 And we have access, frankly, as part of that to a broad range of observations of Earth and space.

01:49 And finally, that's the lifeblood of our scientific inquiry.

01:53 We have the tools and teams who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown.

01:58 And we are prepared to use these powerful tools of scientific discovery, in this case,

02:03 as much as anything else, using exactly the same kind of approach that we always use.

02:10 Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere of interest for both, for many reasons, frankly,

02:17 I think there's new science to be discovered.

02:21 There's many times where something that looked almost magical turned

02:24 out to be a new scientific effect.

02:26 But there's also national security and air safety issues that have been discussed elsewhere

02:32 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,

02:42 kind of need to be explained otherwise, is very much aligned with NASA's goals that ensure,

02:48 of course, you know, that we discover the unknown, but also ensures the safety of aircraft

02:53 that of course are in that airspace that these phenomena occur.

02:57 This independent study will be led by astrophysicist David Spargel,

03:01 who's the president of the Simons Foundation in New York City,

03:06 and has previously been the chair of astrophysics in the Department of Princeton

03:10 and the University of Princeton, New Jersey.

03:12 Dan Evans, the assistant deputy associate administrator for research,

03:16 is kind of, is the, really kind of the wheels on the bus, kind of really making sure

03:20 that we're interfacing with this.

03:22 Some people may ask why David, why Dan.

03:25 So first of all, Dan, with his tremendous experience, both as a researcher,

03:30 but also as an able for research, his work that he did in the White House previously,

03:33 I think has tremendous insight into kind of the cross-interagency aspect that relates

03:39 to some of these discussions.

03:41 And David Spargel, I think, to all of us in astrophysics really understand that he's one

03:46 of the most trusted voices in so many questions.

03:48 Also a person who understands really the power of science and is willing and able to use

03:53 that power of science kind of in areas where I would say, kind of fall under that,

03:58 what we would refer to as high risk, high impact kind of research, kind of areas that many

04:03 of the scientists may be a little bit more timid to work in.

04:07 [ Music ]

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