NASA’s UFO Report: What We Learned From UAP Studies

A NASA investigation of hundreds of UFO sightings found that there was no evidence that aliens were behind the unexplained phenomenon, but even the space agency could not rule out the possibility.

If the truth is out there, this long-awaited report provides no conclusive evidence.

But it outlines what NASA will look for UAPs (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) with improved technology and artificial intelligence.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the US space agency would not only take the lead in researching potential UAP incidents, but also share data with greater transparency.

The report is 36 pages long with technical and scientific observations, so here are some key points.

The very last page of the report states that there is “no reason to conclude” that extraterrestrial sources are behind the hundreds of UAP sightings that NASA has investigated.

“However… those objects must have traveled through our solar system to get here,” the report said.

Although the report did not conclude that extraterrestrial life exists, NASA did not rule out the possibility of “potentially unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere.”

Nicola Fox, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said: “UAPs are the biggest mystery of our planet” and that is largely due to the lack of high-quality data.

Despite numerous UAP sightings being reported, Ms Fox said there was generally not enough data that “can be used to draw definitive scientific conclusions about the nature and origin of UAPs”.

Ms Fox announced that NASA had appointed a new director of UAP research to “establish a robust database to evaluate future data”.

The director will use AI and machine learning in the data collection and analysis process.

BBC journalist Sam Cabral asked a NASA panel about a series of photographs of alleged extraterrestrials presented to Mexican authorities earlier this week.

Self-proclaimed UFO expert, Jaime Mauson, brought what he presented as two ancient “non-human” alien corpses to a congressional hearing. The remains were discovered in Cusco, Peru in 2017, and radiocarbon testing suggested the objects were up to 1,800 years old.

The authenticity of the samples has been greeted with great skepticism in scientific circles, and Mr Mawson has previously made claims of extraterrestrial life that have been debunked.

NASA scientist Dr David Spergel told the BBC: “Make the samples available to the global scientific community and we’ll see what’s there.”

There will be a new NASA director of UAP research – but his identity remains a mystery.

Details of the role and how much they will be paid remained curiously vague during Thursday’s briefing, noting that NASA has pledged to be more transparent about its UAP research.

One reason for this may be to protect the new director from any potential public harassment.

Dr Daniel Evans, NASA’s assistant deputy associate administrator, said members of the UAP research panel had received “real threats”.

He said NASA takes the safety and security of the team “extremely seriously” and that threats played a role in the decision not to publish the name of the UAP research director.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are “essential tools” to identify UAPs, the report said.

The public is also considered “a critical aspect of understanding UAP”.

NASA, which has said that one of the biggest challenges to better understanding and identifying UAPs is the lack of data, aims to fill that gap through crowdsourcing techniques.

It includes “open source smartphone-based apps” and other smartphone metadata from “many citizen observers around the world”.

There is currently no standardized system for collating and managing civilian UAP reports, the report said, “resulting in sparse and incomplete data”.