• NASA has now selected the panel of experts who will examine swathes of data related to Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
• The study will take place over the next nine months with a report expected to be published in 2023.
• NASA has reiterated that there is no evidence that UAP events are caused by extraterrestrial life.

Back in June NASA announced it was setting up a team to study so-called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

The reasoning for setting up this team was simple. For all the talk of extra-terrestrials visiting our blue/green marble, there isn’t enough evidence to use to make a determination if those reports are accurate.

Now, to get a better understanding of UAPs NASA has selected 16 individuals who will conduct a study into the phenomena.

“Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA,” associate administrator for science at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, Thomas Zurbuchen explained in a press release. “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.”

The team of 16 experts start their study today and over the next nine months they will lay the groundwork for the study of UAPs into the future. This will see the team will identify how data gather by civilians, government entities, commercial entities and other data sources can be used to shed more light on UAPs.

The hope is that with access to a trove of data, NASA and other bodies can more easily determine what an aerial phenomenon may be caused by.

The hope with this study is that by bringing in a variety of experts, the data that is gathered can be analysed in a multitude of ways. Indeed, the full team a hodge-podge of experts including:

• David Spergel – President of the Simons Foundation and founding director of its Flatiron Institute for Computational Astrophysics,
• Anamarie Berea –  Associate professor of Computational and Data Science at George Mason University and research affiliate at SETI Institute,
• Federica Bianco – Joint professor at the University of Delaware in the Department of Physics and Astrophysics, the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and a Senior Scientist at the Multi-city Urban Observatory,
• Paula Bontempi – Biological oceanographer,
• Reggie Brothers – Operating partner at AE Industrial Partners,
• Jen Buss – CEO of the Potomac Institute of Policy Studies,
• Nadia Drake – Freelance science journalist and contributing writer at National Geographic,
• Mike Gold – Executive vice president of Civil Space and External Affairs at Redwire,
• David Grinspoon – Senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute,
• Scott Kelly – Former NASA astronaut,
• Matt Mountain – President of The Association of Universities for Research and Astronomy,
• Warren Randolph – Deputy executive director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Accident Investigation and Prevention for Aviation Safety department,
• Walter Scott – Executive vice president and chief technology officer of Maxar,
• Joshua Semeter – Director of the Center for Space Physics at Boston University,
• Karlin Toner – Acting executive director at the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Aviation Policy and Plans,
• Shelley Wright – Associate professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego’s Center for Astrophysics and Space Studies.

This team of heavyweights will spend the next nine months conducting its study and NASA will release a full report once it is complete.

“NASA is going in with an open mind and we expect to find that explanations will apply to some events and different explanations will apply to others. We will not underestimate what the natural world contains, and we believe there is a lot to learn. Data is the language of scientists, so we are excited to see what the independent study team discovers,” the spacefaring agency wrote in an FAQ section regarding this study.

The report from this study should be released in 2023, but if you’re expecting UAPs to be explained as aliens, NASA dashed those hope on the rocks.

“NASA has not found any credible evidence of extraterrestrial life and there is no evidence that UAPs are extraterrestrial,” said NASA.

Of course, that could change once this study is done, but given how vast our universe is, the chances that alien life has visited and not made contact with humanity is highly implausible.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]