NASA and other administrations have been taking the issue of sightings of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” (UAP) very seriously for some time now. Far from mere credulity, the US authorities analyze these cases in detail. However, he admits that they still need a lot of information to clarify the most enigmatic cases.
Open doors. The panel of experts created last year by NASA for the study of UAP gave its first public conference yesterday. In the talk, some of the key considerations of the experts were discussed, among which the idea that a lot of information is still needed to address the issue stood out.
The conference has been a new example of the new commitment of the authorities for a more open investigation of these phenomena. Much of the data compiled comes, they highlighted, from civil institutions and agents.
Seán Kirkpatrick, director of the AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office), the department opened by the US Ministry of Defense for the investigation of this type of phenomenon, also took part in the conference. From the office, also created last year, a closer collaboration between the space agency and the Pentagon was invited.
From objects to phenomena. The critical analysis of these events has also gone through renaming them. In the past there was talk of unidentified flying objects (UFOs of a lifetime), however the current terminology is that of unidentified aerial phenomena, UAP. The reason is obvious: we do not know what they are, even if they are “objects” to use.
This agrees with another of the ideas raised during the meeting: that we have no indication to think that these events have any relationship with the existence of life on other planets. This hypothesis cannot be ruled out, but the identification of UFOs or UAPs with extraterrestrial life is not the starting point of this analysis.
More and better data. The speakers at the meeting highlighted the scientific approach of the initiative. However, they highlighted the fact that efforts to clarify these anomalous phenomena will require the authorities’ ability to better compile the data.
“If I had to summarize in one line what I feel we have learned is that we need high-quality data,” said David Spergel, a member of the NASA team. “Today’s existing data and witness reports alone are insufficient to provide conclusive evidence about the nature and origin of each UAP event.”
Diversity of sources. The information compiled by the different US agencies comes from a huge number of sources, from mobile cameras to the sophisticated systems of military drones. In fact, an abundance of UAPs in the Middle East can be seen in the data provided by Kirkpatrick, probably due to the US military presence in the area.
This, together with the recent memory of the spy balloon that recently flew over North America, makes us see that the origin of these phenomena can be as mundane as espionage and military activity.
Roadmap. The job of the NASA task force is not the case-by-case resolution of these phenomena, but rather the creation of a “road map” to guide future analyses. This roadmap will be reflected in a report that could be published towards the end of July. In this sense, the conference served as a preview of this future report.
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Image | POT
