If the truth is out there it’s time to find it, Nasa tells its scientists

NASA has announced it plans to assemble a team of scientists to examine UFOS, in the latest sign of how seriously Washington is taking the issue.

The space agency said the focus would be on identifying available data, the best ways to gather future data and how it can use that information to advance scientific understanding of the phenomena. Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of Nasa’s science unit, said: “We’re looking at the Earth in new ways, and we’re also looking the other way, at the sky, in new ways.”

Dr Zurbuchen added that examining UFO reports could be “high-risk, highimpact kind of research”.

“What we’re really trying to do here is start an investigation without an outcome in mind,” he said.

A team of scientists led by David Spergel, who headed Princeton University’s astrophysics department, will spend about nine months developing a public report on its findings, at a cost of less than $100,000 (£80,000).

The announcement comes a year after the US government issued a report detailing observations mostly by navy personnel of “unidentified aerial phenomenon”, or UAPS.

The Pentagon has made public some video of enigmatic objects exhibiting speed and manoeuvrability exceeding known aviation technology and lacking any visible means of propulsion.

Two Pentagon officials last month testified at the first congressional hearing on UFOS in a half century, that many observations remain beyond the government’s ability to explain.

Nasa officials said they agreed with the Pentagon in considering UAPS to be a national security issue.

“Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere are of interest for both national security and air safety.

“Establishing which events are natural provides a first step to identifying or mitigating such phenomena, which aligns with one of Nasa’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft,” the agency said.

“There is no evidence UAPS are extraterrestrial in origin.”

While many scientists might consider UFO research as “not actual science”, tackling controversial questions is important, Dr Zurbuchen said.