As part of a new drive toward high-risk, high-impact science, NASA has announced that it will launch a study of UFOs, a topic that has long piqued the public’s interest.
The space agency on Thursday announced a new study that will enlist the help of leading scientists to investigate unexplained aerial phenomena, a topic that has long piqued the public’s interest and has recently received high-level attention from Congress.
The research will begin early this fall and run about nine months, with the goal of identifying existing data, determining how to collect more data in the future, and analyzing the findings to help NASA advance scientific understanding.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s science mission commander, acknowledged that the traditional scientific community may view NASA’s involvement in the contentious topic as “kind of selling out,” but he strongly disagrees. “We are not shying away from reputational risk,” Zurbuchen said during a National Academy of Sciences webcast. “Our strong belief is that the biggest challenge of these phenomena is that it’s a data-poor field.”
The research will begin this fall and last for nine months, with a budget of $100,000. There will be no classified military data used, and it will be completely transparent.
Nasa announced that astrophysicist David Spergel, head of the Simons Foundation for Advancing Scientific Research, will lead the team. Spergel noted during a press conference that his only preconceived thought going into the investigation was that the UAPs would most likely have several explanations.
NASA is well placed to not just debunk UFOs and enhance scientific understanding, but also to develop measures to reduce the phenomenon, which is a crucial element of the agency’s mandate to protect aviation safety, according to Thomas Zurbuchen.
A public hearing on UFOs was held by the US Congress this month, and a US intelligence assessment published last year included 144 sightings that it stated could not be explained. It didn’t rule out the possibility of an extraterrestrial origin.
