NASA announced a new UFO team will be dedicated to reviewing the global unidentified aerial phenomena. 16 of the world’s top scientists will dedicate their time and expertise to investigating UFO sightings. 

The nine-month mission will analyze previous observations. And give its conclusions. 

In 2021, the Pentagon started up a task force to investigate reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), now being called Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP). 

NASA will use the Pentagon report and other unclassified data to study and review. And plans to release a comprehensive report in 2023. 

UFO team focuses on data 

The UFO team is made up of NASA professionals, an oceanographer, FAA experts, and top space scientists. 

Any observation in the sky that can’t be identified as aircraft or is not tied to natural phenomena is currently categorized as a UAP also known as a UFO.

This team will be data-focused. And will review extensive information “gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources.”

The team is also tasked with creating “a roadmap for potential UAP data analysis by the agency going forward.” 

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator at NASA, said that "Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the heart of who we are at NASA. Understanding the data, we have surrounding unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us draw scientific conclusions about what is happening in our skies. Data is the language of scientists and makes the unexplainable, explainable."

 The independent study team is being chaired by David Spergel, president of the Simons Foundation.  The NASA project leader is Daniel Evans, assistant deputy associate administrator for research at NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

Evans explained that “NASA has brought together some of the world's leading scientists, data and artificial intelligence practitioners, aerospace safety experts, all with a specific charge, which is to tell us how to apply the full focus of science and data to UAP.”

“The findings will be released to the public in conjunction with NASA’s principles of transparency, openness, and scientific integrity.”