NASA selects members for independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs/UFOs)

NASA is all set to begin an independent study on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) on Monday, October 24. The agency has selected 16 individuals to participate in its study team, which will lay the groundwork for future study on the nature of UAPs for it and other organizations.

Over the course of nine months, the team will identify how data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources can potentially be analyzed to shed light on UAPs and then recommend a roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward.

David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation, will chair NASA's independent study on unidentified aerial phenomena. The team's findings will be released to the public in mid-2023.

"Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA. Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or as known natural phenomena are categorized as UAPs. At present, there is no evidence supporting the idea that UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin.

"Without access to an extensive set of data, it is nearly impossible to verify or explain any observation, thus the focus of the study is to inform NASA what possible data could be collected in the future to scientifically discern the nature of UAP," the agency said in a statement.

We've selected 16 individuals to participate in an independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), or observations in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena. The nine-month study will begin on Oct. 24: https://t.co/RsVP4kggwd pic.twitter.com/OQ5XecW0Ai

— NASA (@NASA) October 21, 2022