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NASA will today release the findings of its long-awaited investigation into more than 800 sightings of UFOs over the past thirty years.
The US space agency announced last year that it was investigating evidence of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), commonly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs).
These are defined as observations ‘that cannot be identified from a scientific perspective as aircraft or known natural phenomena’.
In May, NASA’s independent research team shared their preliminary observations: that up to 98 percent of reported UAP sightings can be explained away.
Only 2 to 5 percent are considered “possibly very abnormal,” the panel added, but a lack of high-quality data is hampering researchers’ ability to apply “rigorous scientific inquiry” to solving mysteries.
Long-awaited: NASA will today release the findings of its long-awaited investigation into more than 800 UFO sightings over the past thirty years
Feedback: In May, NASA’s independent research team (pictured) revealed their preliminary observations – that up to 98 percent of reported UAP sightings can be explained away
These truly unexplained UAPs are defined as “anything that is not easily understood by the operator or the sensor” or “something that does something strange,” team member Nadia Drake said earlier this year.
Today’s report is unlikely to provide groundbreaking new information that was not revealed at the first public meeting in May. but it could ultimately mark the beginning of a new mission for the US space agency.
While NASA’s probes and rovers are currently scouring the solar system for any sign of extraterrestrial life, its historical stance has been to “debunk” observations on our home planet.
However, the U.S. government has begun to take UAPs more seriously in recent years, partly due to concerns that some of them could be linked to foreign surveillance.
The Pentagon has received 350 reports of UFOs in the past two years, and 171 of them remain unexplained.
NASA’s investigation is separate from the Pentagon’s investigation into UAPs, in which US lawmakers heard firsthand accounts of UFO sightings from former service members earlier this year.
The U.S. Space Agency panel is leading the civilian, unclassified side of the effort, while the U.S. Department of Defense has convened a government body to investigate UAPs in coordination with the intelligence and military communities.
NASA has assembled an independent team of 16 scientific, aeronautical and data analytics experts with the aim of analyzing observations of UAPs from a logical and scientific perspective.
“We have access to a wide range of observations of Earth from space – and that is the lifeblood of scientific research,” the space agency’s Thomas Zurbuchen said last year before the study began.
“We have the tools and team that can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That is exactly the definition of what science is. That is what we do.’
Interesting: Earlier this year, the Ministry of Defense released a document revealing the ‘UFO hotspots in the world’. It includes a map showing where the most sightings of unidentified objects have been recorded, based on reports between 1996 and 2023
Classified report: NASA’s investigation is separate from Pentagon investigation into UAPs (photo)
A flying object near Japan’s Senganmori Mountain, highlighted by the International UFO Lab
The report will be published today at 09:30 ET (14:30 BST).
This will be followed by a media briefing at NASA Headquarters in Washington starting at 10:00 AM ET (3:00 PM), where the panel will discuss its findings.
The press conference will be streamed live on NASA Television, the NASA app and the agency’s website here.
“We recognize that public interest in UAPs is high and demand for answers is high,” Daniel Evans, the NASA official responsible for the study, said in May.
“It is now our collective responsibility to investigate these events with the rigorous scientific investigation they deserve.”
He added: “All of NASA’s data is available to the public – we take that commitment seriously – and we make it easily accessible for anyone to see or study.”