NASA will host a media briefing this morning to discuss findings from an unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) independent study team. The space agency commissioned the team last year to secure a community of experts across diverse areas on matters pertinent to identifying potential methods of studying UAP.
The term UAP, which replaced the long-held acronym of Unidentified Flying Object (
UFO), is defined as "observations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective," according to NASA.
The space agency stated that since there are a limited number of high-quality observations of UAP, it is "currently impossible to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events." For this reason, NASA put together an Independent Study Team to examine
UAP from a scientific perspective, focusing primarily on how NASA can utilize data and the tools science provides to advance the understanding of such events moving forward.
It is important to note that the team did not look at past observations. The report scheduled to be shared today is meant to inform NASA on what possible data could be collected in future observations, and how it needs to be managed to shed more light on UAP. Team members comprised 16 people, said to be some of the world's leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners, and aerospace safety experts, who are all active in the UAP community.
The team was not privy to any classified documents during their study. The group was reliant on only unclassified data to come to their conclusions.
A full report of the
year-long study will be released 30 minutes before the scheduled live event, which will be held on NASA's website beginning at 10:00am EDT on Thursday, September 14, 2023. NASA has indicated that it commissioned the independent study for the agency's own science and air safety purposes and that the cost of the study was under $100,000.
**Update 9/14/2023 9:50am EDT: NASA has shared the findings of the UAP study report on its website. The information can be viewed on the
space agency's website.