Hello everyone and welcome to ZD Tech, ZDNet’s daily editorial podcast. My name is Clarisse Treilles and today I’m talking to you about the NASA mission devoted to the study of UFOs.
They hover, change direction at dizzying speed, and yet they are neither planes nor drones. This aerial phenomenon is always a subject of fascination. Last year alone, 140 unidentified flying objects were observed in American skies.
After American intelligence, it is NASA’s turn to tackle this mystery, using massive data analysis.
A nine-month mission
The American space agency will set up an unprecedented study on UFOs in the fall. It will be piloted by astrophysicist David Spergel, former chairman of the department of astrophysics at Princeton University.
With a rather meager budget of 100,000 dollars, the study will aim to analyze for nine months all the video data available as well as the testimonies collected so far.
NASA will take advantage of its ability to cross-reference existing data with scientific knowledge.
Aviation Security
The study will also focus on how best to collect future data and how to study how NASA can use this data to advance scientific understanding. Some of America’s top scientists, aeronautical experts and data scientists will participate in the study.
Through this study, NASA hopes to examine the impact of UFOs on national security and aviation safety.
Failing to satisfy science fiction fans, NASA does not intend to prove the existence of “little green men”. Because according to the space agency, nothing indicates for the moment that UFOs are of extraterrestrial origin.