Mike Wendling
BBC News
U.S. agencies have investigated about 800 mysterious reports of unidentified flying objects collected over the decades, but only a small portion are truly unexplained, according to a group of investigators.
NASA formed this committee last year to explain its work on unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).
UAP are defined as observations “that cannot be identified as those of an aircraft or a scientifically known natural phenomenon.”
The first public meeting of the committee was held on Wednesday.
Here are some revealing moments.
“We receive 50 to 100 new reports every month,” said Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the Domain-WideAnomaly Resolution Office (AARO), part of the US Department of Defense.
However, he said that the number of “probably truly anomalous” observations was between 2 and 5 percent of the entire database.
At one point during the hearing, video taken by a Navy aircraft over the western United States showed a series of dots moving in the night sky. The military aircraft was unable to intercept the object; it was a commercial aircraft on its way to a major airport.
Other observations are more mysterious.
A 2021 Pentagon report found that of 144 sightings by military pilots since 2004, all but one remained unexplained. Authorities have not ruled out the possibility that the objects are aliens.
Limitations on Privacy NASA Investigations
Kirkpatrick also noted that privacy concerns limit the agency’s investigations.
“We can control the world’s largest collection device anywhere in the world,” he said.
“Much of what we have is in the continental United States,” he added. “The majority of people….I don’t like it when we send all our harvesting equipment to your garden.
Microwaves and optical illusions
UAP data is often difficult to interpret and can easily be distorted.
David Spergel, president of NASA’s UAP team, discussed the radio wave burst recorded by Australian researchers.
“They had a really strange structure. People couldn’t understand what was happening.
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He and his co-pilot were flying near Virginia Beach and his friend “was convinced we had flown over a UFO.”
“I didn’t see it. We turned around and looked and it turned out to be Bart Simpson, a balloon.
Stigma and harassment hinder research
Commercial pilots are very reluctant to report their sightings, Spergel said, because flying saucers are stigmatized.
“One of our goals is to eliminate stigma,” he said, “because we need high-quality data to answer important questions about UAP.” »
Some scientists have been victims of online harassment because of their work in the field. harassment.
“Harassment only further stigmatizes the field of UAP, significantly hinders the scientific process and discourages others from addressing this important issue,” said Nicola Fox, NASA’s chief science officer.
A new era of transparency
One reason Wednesday’s meeting is so notable is NASA’s changed approach. The space agency has spent decades debunking UFO sightings.
At the end of the hearing, the jury asked questions of the audience. One of them was “What is NASA hiding?” »
NASA’s Dan Evans responded that the agency is committed to transparency.“That’s why we’re here on live television today,” he said.
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