NASA formed an independent study team to investigate the origins of UFOs or what is now known as the unknown aerial phenomenon (UAP). But don't expect this team to work like Mulder and Scully in the X-Files series, because NASA won't try to prove the existence of aliens.
This research team will identify existing UAP data, determine how best to collect UAP data going forward, and develop methods to study the nature of UAP, whether for scientific or aerospace reasons.
The team will be led by astrophysicist David Spergel and Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Daniel Evans.
This is not the first time US authorities have launched a program to research STEAM. Between 1952 and 1969, the US Air Force researched STEAM under Project Blue Book.
Most recently, in 2017 the New York Times revealed a secret UAP research program run by the Pentagon called the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). The project was closed in 2012 due to funding problems, but thanks to this NYT report the public became more interested in UAP.
Not only that, the US Department of Defense also formed a team of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF) dedicated to investigating UAP. So far, these programs have not been able to explain most of the UFO sightings and prove that UFOs are related to alien life.
This is indeed the first time NASA has officially entered the debate over Steam. But NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has commented several times about the STEAM sightings and even believes an explanation for these sightings is out there.
NASA also suggested that the UAP may not be an alien-made spacecraft. But that does not mean that their existence has nothing to do with aliens at all.
"There is no evidence that UAP comes from outside the Earth," NASA said in an official statement, as quoted from TechCrunch, Friday (10/6/2022).
NASA Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen said NASA was commissioned by the US Congress to look for signs of life out there.
Zurbuchen also acknowledged that NASA is currently researching technosignatures or alien technology signs created by extraterrestrial civilizations.
"That's why we're building astrobiology programs across multiple disciplines that look at lost life on Mars, for example, but also look at patterns of life elsewhere, maybe on Europa, or maybe on Enceladus," Zurbuchen said.