NASA’s UFO panel holds first public meeting to discuss unexplained sightings

News, US June 2, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

Members of NASA’s independent panel for Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP) met in a first public meeting after studying more than 800 cases of unexplained sightings over two decades.

The four-hour-long hearing was televised by NASA on its webcast as well as other public social media platforms. Members of the UAP panel discussed their findings briefly ahead of issuing the full report, which is expected to be released this summer.

The panel chair and astrophysicist David Spergel said that the public meeting is a “final deliberation” before the team publishes its final report. “If I were to summarize in one line what I feel we’ve learned, it’s we need high-quality data,” Spergel said during opening remarks.

“The current data collection efforts about UAPs are unsystematic and fragmented across various agencies, often using instruments uncalibrated for scientific data collection,” Spergel added. A panel member and NASA’s senior research official Dan Evens said that “I want to emphasize this loud and proud: there is absolutely no convincing evidence for extraterrestrial life associated with.”

The independent panel consists of 16 scientists and experts from different fields, ranging from physics to astrobiology. Former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent nearly one year in space, is also part of the team.

The 16-member UAP panel was formed by NASA nearly one year ago, as an independent research body to work on unexplained sightings. The panel has studied more than 800 different cases recorded over 27 years to determine its results.

*^{An unidentified flying object, as seen by a U.S. Navy jet. (Image Credit: U.S. Navy)}*

For a long time the term UFO has been associated with notions of flying saucers and aliens, NASA has replaced the term with UAP, which is defined as a sighting “that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective”.

Pentagon-based investigation

NASA’s UAP panel is separate from Pentagon’s newly formed investigation unit that also studies unidentified aerial phenomena documented by the U.S. military aviators.

Pentagon’s investigation unit is studying more than 144 different cases of UFO sightings documented by the U.S. military. Pentagon’s Office of the Director of National Intelligence reported that between 2004 and 2021, there were 144 encounters with UFOs, 80 of which were captured on multiple sensors.

Stigma related to UFO research

The creation of an independent panel was seen as a promising and open-minded approach to tackling the controversial topic, however, the panel members complained that they had been subjected to online abuse and harassment since they began their work. NASA’s Evans pointed out that even the live stream of the meeting led to considerable trolling.

*^{NASA’s spacecraft tracking antenna DSS36 at Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex. (Image Credit: CSIRO/NASA)}*

“One of our goals is to remove the stigma,” Spergel said during his remarks, “because there is a need for high-quality data to address important questions about UAPs.” He added that many commercial pilots, who are more prone to experience UAP, are very reluctant to report sightings, because of the stigma surrounding flying saucers and UFO sightings.

“Harassment only leads to further stigmatization of the UAP field, significantly hindering the scientific process and discouraging others to study this important subject matter,” said Nasa science chief Nicola Fox.