NASA UAP Report

In 2022, NASA assigned a "UAP Independent Study Team" to investigate and develop a report on how "NASA could contribute to understanding the phenomena and how the agency’s approach will complement the whole-of-government effort to understand UAP (NASA, p. 4)." This team consisted of 16 highly qualified scientists, educators, and experts. After a year of analysis, the UAP Study Team released their report to the public.

This report discussed the current challenges related to identifying and collecting UAP reports. To help alleviate some of these issues, the team has suggested that NASA should adjust its technology so that UAPs can be more easily detected and analyzed. In addition, the team has suggested several ways to "reduce [the] stigma associated with reporting" UAP sightings and the introduction of a crowdsourcing platform for reporting sightings (NASA, p. 4). In the end, these changes would hopefully allow NASA to "play a prominent role in the whole-of-government effort to understand UAP by leveraging its extensive expertise to contribute to a comprehensive, evidence-based approach that is rooted in the scientific method (NASA, p. 21)."

After the report was released, NASA held a press conference where a select panel of speakers discussed the study and answered questions from the public. In response to a question from the public, Bill Nelson, a NASA administrator, explained that the team did not find any evidence of extraterrestrial UAPs but conceded that "we don't know what these UAPs are (NASA, 2023, 20:58)" Nevertheless, Nelson stated that NASA "would be transparent on this (NASA, 2023, 21:25)." Hopefully, NASA will apply these changes so we will get a better idea of what UAPs are and where they come from.