By Tim Binnall
A panel of experts enlisted by NASA to examine the UFO phenomenon issued a report which details the findings and recommendations from their year-long investigation. Commissioned by the space agency last summer, the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Independent Study Team was comprised of 16 specialists from the worlds of "science, technology, data, artificial intelligence, space exploration, aerospace safety, media and commercial innovation." Unlike the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which attempts to solve individual UFO cases, the NASA group was specifically tasked with examining currently available UAP data and, in turn, suggest ways to better collect as well as analyze such information.
In what will undoubtedly be a disappointment to UFO enthusiasts, at a press event held in conjunction with the release of the report (seen above), NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stressed from the very start that the panel "did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin." That said, he also conceded that "we don't know what these UAP are" and ultimately mused that "the top takeaway from the study is that there is a lot more to learn." To that end, the report noted that it is particularly difficult to analyze UFO incidents due to "poor sensor calibration, the lack of multiple measurements, the lack of sensor metadata, and the lack of baseline data."
As such, the panel recommended developing "a robust and systematic data acquisition strategy within the whole-of-government framework." As for how NASA could play a role in this process, the report noted that the space agency possesses "a variety of existing and planned Earth-and space-observing assets" which could be used to collect insights on UAP incidents. The panel also argued that artificial intelligence and machine learning should be utilized to analyze the vast amount of UFO data which could be collected and that these technologies would be adept at identifying anomalous events deserving of greater scientific scrutiny.
Perhaps the most promising aspect of the report saw the panel observe that "that there is currently no standardized system for making civilian UAP reports, resulting in sparse and incomplete data devoid of curation or vetting protocols." As such, they recommended that NASA "explore the viability of developing or acquiring" a system, possibly in the form of a smartphone app, which would collect usable UFO reports from the general public. The report also expressed optimism that the space agency's continued involvement in studying the UFO phenomenon would help remove the stigma surrounding the subject and, in turn, lead to an improvement in the data that can be collected.
With that in mind, while the independent study team's work has concluded, this is not the end of the space agency's exploration of the UFO phenomenon. The group's report indicated that NASA planned to appoint a "Director of UAP Research to centralize communications and leverage NASA’s extensive resources and expertise to actively engage in the whole-of-government UAP initiative." Intriguingly, it was revealed at Thursday's press event that this position has already been filled, but the person's identity is actually being withheld from the public due to the unfortunate harassment which befell some study panel members by way of overzealous UFO enthusiasts convinced that they were part of an overarching conspiracy to cover-up the truth about the phenomenon.