For NASA too, life is elsewhere! The US space agency announced Thursday the formation of a team to conduct a nine-month study of unidentified aerial phenomena, better known as UFOs (for Unidentified Flying Objects). This study will focus on finding valuable data: identifying relevant publicly available data, determining how best to collect future data, and investigating how NASA can use this data to advance scientific understanding of extraterrestrial life.
“NASA is uniquely positioned to deal with unidentified aerial phenomena,” Daniel Evans, deputy assistant administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, named lead in charge of this study, told reporters on Thursday. “Few other than us can use the power of data and science to examine what is happening in our skies,” he argues. “We plan to bring together some of the nation’s top scientists, aeronautical experts and data practitioners.”
While NASA is not part of the task force already set up by Washington to study unidentified aerial phenomena, the agency has already worked with other government agencies on how best to scientifically study UFOs. The study of these aerial phenomena is important for ensuring aviation safety and national security, which corresponds to one of NASA’s objectives, namely to ensure the safety of aircraft.
NASA DNA
Even more broadly, “the establishment of events, whether natural or having to be explained otherwise, is very much aligned with NASA’s goals,” associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen told reporters. for Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Part of our job at NASA, he continued, is not just to do basic research, but as part of it, to find life elsewhere.” NASA already runs an astrobiology program that focuses on the origins, evolution and distribution of life beyond Earth.
The US space agency studies topics like water on Mars and “ocean worlds” such as Titan and Europa. It also uses missions like the Hubble Space Telescope to search for habitable exoplanets. NASA also funds space research focused on technosignatures — signatures of advanced technologies in space — from other planets. “We have demonstrated in recent years our interest in the general question of the discovery of life elsewhere and the discovery of intelligent life elsewhere using the tools of science”, notes Thomas Zurbuchen.
The latter recognizes, however, that there is a certain “reputational risk” in studying unidentified aerial phenomena. “It’s clear that in a traditional science environment, talking about some of these issues can be seen as selling or talking about things that aren’t actually science,” he said. “I vehemently oppose that. I really believe that the quality of science is measured by the results that come out of it, but also by the questions that we are willing to address.”
Demine the subject
For NASA, nothing indicates for the moment that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin. David Spergel, the Princeton University astrophysicist who will lead the study, explains that “the only preconceived idea” he has is that “we have to be open to the idea that we are looking at several different phenomena”. “We may find that one explanation explains a series of events and another explanation explains others,” he said.
NASA will work with governments, NGOs, businesses and civilians to collect relevant data. Once the study is completed, all of its findings and related data will be publicly available. “That’s just the first step,” argues the NASA side, “figuring out what data can be used… One of the things we’re trying to do here is turn a data-poor domain into a data-rich domain.”
The agency could then move forward in determining which tools, such as AI and machine learning, could be used to collect even more and better data and analyze it all. Beyond that, one of the aims of the study is to make scientific discussions of UFOs more socially acceptable, says David Spergel – especially among Navy aviators who may have witnessed these phenomena.
“Just talking about it openly should take away some of the stigma,” he added. “This will allow access to more data and more sighting reports.”
Source: ZDNet.com