2023-06-01 17:46:00
After almost a year since the formation of a team specialized in the study of UFOs (now called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, for its acronym in English UAP), the NASA offered some advances in the investigation of strange object sightings in the sky and underwater, during a live public meeting which yielded a first conclusion: more information is needed.
NOW: An audio-only media briefing following today’s public discussion on unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs.
— NASA (@NASA) May 31, 2023
In the last three decades, about 800 UAP, and most of them have been easily identified. However, between the 2% and 3% of the cases are of unknown origin and remain classified as “anomalous”.
What hinders obtaining answers is, according to those involved in the project, the lack of quality data that allow studying the UAP from an angle of scientific rigor. That is why the team has been commissioned to prepare a document, which NASA hopes to publish in the coming months, outlining a roadmap on how to use the tools of science to analyze and categorize the character of the UAP.
NASA creates a UFO investigation group
UFOs remain a mystery
To approach the study objectively, the researchers recommend “break the stigma” that revolves around Unidentified Flying Objects. Cinema and science fiction novels have transformed a scientific term -which in its definition does not refer to the existence of extraterrestrial life- into an element that already belongs to mass culture.
And although it is human to want to give a extraordinary explanation to phenomena that, a priori, have no explanation, the reality is that the vast majority of sightings that have occurred so far have been identified as atmospheric phenomena or components of military technology.
Of course, with respect to that small percentage that remains Out of range Scientific certainty, the first approximation of scientists has to do with the safety of the skies: “It is the obligation of this nation to determine if these phenomena represent some potential security risk of airspace,” Daniel Evans, assistant deputy associate administrator for research within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, explained at the conference.
The lack of data, the great handicap
So far, the main sources of visual information about the sightings have been photographs taken from mobile phones or amateur camerasand images captured by military devices that frequent the airspace regularly. And none of the materials obtained from them contain conclusive data on which to investigate. This is how the scientists point out in the report that they advanced during the conference: “the recordings of mobile phones have a very limited value due to the resolution of the cameras.”
A new method to search for aliens
Thus, one of the main axes of the new roadmap will improve the collection of high-quality images through observation satellites of the earth and of last generation technology. In addition, this NASA team plans to make alliances with the space agencies of other countries to share information and advance in the investigation of the origin of the UAPs.
However, astrophysicist David Spergel, chair of the study group and former member of the NASA Advisory Council, clarified that one of the current obstacles is that the task of data collection it is “fragmented into several agencies” and that some of them do not have “calibrated instruments for data collection”.
This is not only a disappointment – but not a failure – for the researchers, who have been working on the study for almost a year, but also for those science lovers who look forward to the day when the origin of these UFOs is known. In this sense, one of the most frequently asked questions during the conference revolved around the extraterrestrial life: Could these strange flying objects be the creation of an alien?
The answer, far from satisfying the public interest for obtain certainties about the universeis a good starting point for approaching research from a more scientific perspective: “To affirm that we have seen something that is evidence of non-human intelligence, extraordinary evidence would be required. And we haven’t seen that. I think it’s important to make it clear,” Spergel said.
#conclusions #NASA