NASA picks its UFO-hunting – sorry – unidentified aerial phenomena-hunting team
- Reference: 1666593133
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/10/24/nasa_names_ufo_hunting_team/
- Source link:
The study into UAP, which NASA [1]defines as sky-based events that cannot be attributed to aircraft or natural phenomena, will take around nine months to complete.
While most people would know these entities as UFOs, US government officials have preferred the acronym UAP in recent years.
[2]
Regardless of what they are called, NASA said the team studying them includes "some of the world's leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners," and "aerospace safety experts."
[3]
[4]
These include NASA alums like Mike Gold and former astronaut Scott Kelly; an individual from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA); academics from University of Delaware and George Mason University, the University of Rhode Island (URI), University of California, San Diego, and other institutions; Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) affiliates; an oceanographer; CEOs; and freelance journalist and former ballerina with a doctorate in genetics, Nadia Drake.
[5]How did ESA's gamma ray-spotting 'scope make it to 20? They totally overdid it
[6]Pentagon opens up about its database of 400 smudges that may or may not be UFOs
[7]NASA selects 'full force' for probe into UFOs
[8]China to launch space tourism by 2025, says industry veteran
The aerospace org says the team will lay the groundwork for future studies by identifying how data gathered by civilians, governments, commercial and other entities can shed a light on UAP. The project will culminate in a recommended "roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward." The findings are expected to be made public in mid-2023.
"Understanding the data we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington in a canned statement that categorized UAP as important for national security and air safety.
The data used in the study will be unclassified. Luckily for the researchers, Uncle Sam [9]declassified the CIA's entire collection of UAP-related material. It's been online since 2021.
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In August, the NASA UAP research project was [11]revealed to have a $100,000 budget.
But NASA isn't the only organization putting an effort into understanding what no one is ruling out but also not calling aliens. In July 2021 the Pentagon said it would create an office to track UAP reports, and Congress has [12]considered similar efforts.
Last week, Professor Brian Cox told The Register he thinks there may be, on average, one civilization out there in existence per galaxy. He contrasted this with physicist Sean Carroll's prediction of zero, and unnamed individuals at SETI, whom he says may predict upwards of ten instances of intelligent life in the universe. We want to believe. ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-announces-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-study-team-members/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Y1ZiN2Az8Qt@qa5QwPCqTAAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y1ZiN2Az8Qt@qa5QwPCqTAAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Y1ZiN2Az8Qt@qa5QwPCqTAAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/20/esa_integral_20/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/17/us_house_ufa/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/19/nasa_ufo_investigation/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/20/china_to_shoot_tourists_into/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/13/ufo_records_declassified/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Y1ZiN2Az8Qt@qa5QwPCqTAAAAJY&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/19/nasa_ufo_investigation/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/09/21/us_congress_ufo_uap_bills/
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
"there may be, on average, one civilization out there in existence per galaxy"
Prof. Cox seems a sensible chap - has he given any indication as to where this one civilization might be?
Re: "there may be, on average, one civilization out there in existence per galaxy"
No trace of it on this planet, that's for sure. That's probably also why we haven't made contact with any of those civilizations. I mean, why would you try to communicate with a bunch of monkeys?
"sky-based events that cannot be attributed to aircraft or natural phenomena"
Minor correction that cannot currently be attributed to aircraft or natural phenomena yet
physicist Sean Carroll's prediction of zero
intelligent civilisations in a galaxy...
Well based on observable evidence in this one, that seems reasonable.
I have always found it an interesting phenomenon, that since the advent of pretty much everyone now carrying mobile phone cameras with high resolution, the number of reports of alien visitations, has dropped off a cliff.
Either the Aliens are camera shy or the fact that people can demand proof with a high expectation that said person would have had their phone with them, means that braggards move on to other easier claims to fake ("You should have seen the fish I caught it was this big!!!").
Still it's also a shame that we're past the point that experimental aircraft can look so weird and awesome, and actually need to be built in order to test. All the testing is now done with computers these days... *grumble, grumble, grumble*...
Absolutely agree.
In the 80s, when one person in a million had a camera and was able to take a shot, the UFO phenomenon was enormous.
Now that 99% of the population has the ability to take a pic whenever they feel like it, suddenly UFO pics are no longer a thing.
Wierd, isn't it ?
I'm one
You haven't noticed that most social media posts are made by aliens (*of questionable intelligence)? Why does everyone carry a cell phone with them at all times now, if not to beam up?
The could be thousands or millions of short lived civilizations (like ours?) that are spread out enough in space and time that they can never contact each other.
Yet all powered by DNA.
Just what we need
> unidentified aerial phenomena
Good! We've been looking for someone to fix our TV reception. So far none of the engineers have been able to say what was wrong.
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena
Since there's little evidence that physical objects are involved this is a much better name.