By Tim Binnall
Indicative of how the perception of UFOs has dramatically changed in recent years, NASA has announced plans to create an independent study group to conduct a scientific examination of the phenomenon. The space agency detailed the formation of the panel in a press release on Thursday wherein they indicated that the team will "examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs)," which they defined as "observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena." NASA indicated that the group will focus on collecting currently available data while determining how to improve future collection methods and ultimately figuring out how this information can be used to "move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward."
To that end, although the space agency stressed that the group's work is not affiliated with the Department of Defense's efforts to investigate UFOs, NASA noted a similar problem which has plagued the Pentagon in that "the limited number of observations of UAPs currently makes it difficult to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events." Astrophysicist David Spergel, who is spearheading the study, said that the team intends to tackle this issue by collecting "the most robust set of data that we can" from an array of sources including civilian groups and government agencies. They will also consult with "experts in the scientific, aeronautics, and data analytics communities" to refine the ways in which UAP information is collected going forward.
The newly formed UAP study group is set to begin their work this coming fall and the space agency expects the project to take about nine months to complete. While the announcement is undoubtedly exciting news to UFO aficionados, those who believe that the phenomenon is related to aliens visiting the planet may wish to temper their expectations as NASA made their feelings on the matter rather clear in the press release by declaring that "there is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin." That said, the very creation of the study group is something of a concession from the space agency that UFOs exist, which is rather refreshing after they had largely dismissed the phenomenon for decades.