(ORDO NEWS) — “We have the tools and specialists to help sort out the unknown,” the head of the scientific mission commented on the new initiative.
NASA has announced its intention to start studying unidentified aerial phenomena (UAFs), as UFOs are now commonly called. On the one hand, the new term should help to get rid of the prejudices associated with the “little green men”. On the other hand, such a name actually describes the observed phenomena more accurately.
The agency plans to collect and identify available data, develop methods for further work with such cases and use new knowledge for the benefit of the safety of aircraft and the United States itself.
“There are very few recorded observations of IAF, so our first task will be to collect the most complete and accurate data [on these observations],” explains David Spergel (David Spergel) , head of a new independent research team, and a former head of the astrophysics department at Princeton University.
“We will look at existing data from citizens, the government, nonprofits, and companies determine what other data we should try to collect and how best to analyze it.”
The study is to last nine months. As part of the work, a council of experts from the fields of science, aeronautics and data analysis will be created. The report on the results of the work will be made publicly available.
The agency is not a member of the Committee on Unidentified Airborne Phenomena of the US Department of Defense, but NASA is actively interacting with US government agencies on the issue of illegal armed formations.
And it is impossible not to notice that the news about the start of a new project appeared just three weeks after the first public discussion of these objects in Congress since 1969, which took place on May 17th.
At the hearing, two Pentagon officials spoke about their program to collect data and analyze unexplained phenomena described by pilots and other military personnel. Scott Bray, Deputy Director of Intelligence for the US Navy, acknowledged that they already have more than 400 such reports from 2004-2021 in their photo and video database. Some of the phenomena could be explained by interference from sensors, flights of weather balloons and other everyday objects, but not all.
Last year’s report mentioned only 144 sightings of illegal armed groups, of which 18 objects – seemingly physical – showed unusual behavior in the air: “remaining still in the wind, moving against the wind, sharply maneuvering or moving at great speed with no signs of engine operation.” The same report denied any connection of these phenomena with secret US military tests.
NASA representatives have repeatedly stressed that they do not see any evidence of an extraterrestrial origin of these unidentified aerial phenomena. Now they will come to grips with the collection and analysis of such data. And, perhaps, the organization of further observations, as some scientists advise.
Astrobiologist Jacob Haqq Misra of the Blue Marble Space Institute in Seattle sees government holding data as a major barrier to fully understanding IAFs: “Really, if you want to understand a particular set of data, you have to know something about tool that collected them. Military tools are classified for our security.
So I do not think that we will be able to get from the state the information necessary to obtain a scientific answer to the questions asked.
Therefore, according to Hakk-Misra, it is necessary to organize a network of sensors around the world – both terrestrial and satellite. “It is not enough just to see. It is necessary to measure [the phenomenon] using a set of sensors at different wavelengths,” the scientist said.
He was supported by astrobiologist Ravi Kumar Kopparapu (Ravi Kumar Kopparapu) from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center: “Some of [the phenomena] are temporary events.
To gather more data and find patterns, we need high-speed cameras, for example, as well as optical, infrared, and radar data. And it is necessary to share this data between scientists so that independent groups can reach a consensus. That’s how science develops.”
NASA obviously supports this approach. “NASA believes that the methods of scientific knowledge are powerful and applicable in this matter,” commented Thomas Zurbuchen , head of NASA’s science mission, on the new project.
We have access to a wide range of observations of the Earth from space, and this is the basis of scientific research. We have the tools and experts to help sort out the unknown. This is the very essence of science. This is what we do.”
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