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A moody science fiction concept, of a figure standing in a field with UFO lights glowing in the sky. On a foggy spooky night. With a vintage, grunge edit

NASA Cuts Out the Yuk Yuks, Gets Serious About UFO Research

This fall the space agency is hiring top scientists to tackle “some of the most perplexing mysteries”
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An image obtained April 28, 2020 from the US Department of Defense
showing interactions with “unidentified aerial phenomena.”

A leading science news release site tells us that NASA is officially joining the hunt for UFOs. The nine-month project, which will see leading scientists examine the most puzzling images, is expected to begin in the fall and last nine months:

“Over the decades, NASA has answered the call to tackle some of the most perplexing mysteries we know of, and this is no different,” Daniel Evans, the NASA scientist responsible for coordinating the study, told reporters on a call.

News, “NASA gets serious about UFOs” at Phys.Org (June 9, 2022)

Phys.org comments, “The announcement comes as the field of UFO study, once a poorly-regarded research backwater, is gaining more mainstream traction,” adding “Another overarching goal of NASA is to deepen credibility in this field of study:”

“One of the things we tangentially hope to do as part of this study, simply by talking about it in the open, is to help to remove some of the stigma associated with it, and that will yield obviously, increased access to data, more reports, more sightings.”

News, “NASA gets serious about UFOs” at Phys.Org (June 9, 2022)

Last month, the U.S. House held the first Select Committee hearings on the question in half a century but underlying their interest is a down-to-earth practical concern:

Lawmakers from both parties say UFOs are a national security concern. Sightings of what appear to be aircraft flying without discernible means of propulsion have been reported near military bases and coastlines, raising the prospect that witnesses have spotted undiscovered or secret Chinese or Russian technology.

Nomaan Merchant, “Congress dives into UFOs, but no signs of extraterrestrials” at Phys.org (May 17, 2022)

Of course, analysts are considering these possibilities:

  • aerial clutter from humanity’s (now) many adventures at high altitudes
  • unusual but natural atmospheric phenomena that we would never have seen until a lot of people started orbiting Earth or stargazing
  • U.S. government or industrial development programs whose signals are not read properly
  • malfunctions in the sensing equipment
  • unknown factors

Presumably, ET would fit into that last category.

Last November, the Pentagon created a new office to probe the reports:

The order came five months after a classified US intelligence report on possible alien UFOs came up inconclusive: it could explain some reported incidents but was unable to account for other phenomena, some filmed by pilots near military testing areas.

The new office will focus on incidents in, or near, designated “special use airspace” (SUA) areas strictly controlled and blocked from general aviation due to security sensitivities.

The US military is worried some of the unidentified aerial phenomena spotted by military pilots in the past may represent technologies of strategic rivals unknown to US scientists.

News, “Pentagon creates new office to probe UFO reports” at Phys.org (November 21, 2022)

In some ways, the Pentagon might be better off if the unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs (as the Pentagon prefers to call them) are extraterrestrials rather than a known hostile power with technology the U.S. brass has never heard of.

In any event, one of the overall goals is to reduce the stigma around reporting the sighting of currently unidentifiable phenomena. Why report a baffling image if the only outcome is ridicule for sighting “little green men”?

A bigger database will probably start to provide informative patterns. NASA sharing information will doubtless help. It will be interesting to see whether Russia and China wish to open their files…


You may also wish to read:

Pentagon aims to reduce “stigma” around reporting UAPs. The UAPs (formerly UFOs) could be undocumented weather phenomena, returned space junk, or advanced surveillance craft that hostile powers are not telling the United States about. Or… The Pentagon is not claiming “They’re OUT There!” It is adopting a “Let’s calmly investigate” approach. That’s a better way to learn something than ridicule is.

and

The Pentagon’s UAP (UFO) report signals a sharp attitude change. The brass have committed themselves to going “wherever the data takes us.” No, they didn’t report UFOs. But they reported enough mysteries to stop merely debunking and discrediting… and follow the evidence.


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NASA Cuts Out the Yuk Yuks, Gets Serious About UFO Research