NASA panel says data problems make explaining UFOs difficult

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Members of a NASA task force that studies unidentified anomalous phenomena said Wednesday they are pressing the government to collect better data to find answers to unexplained events that have captured the public’s imagination.

A Pentagon official speaking at the meeting said the Defense Department is investigating more than 800 cases over the past 27 years, but only 2 to 5 percent of those incidents are considered truly unexplained. The numbers are an increase from 2022 and represent new information the Federal Aviation Administration gave to the Pentagon, as well as an increase in reports after a Chinese spy balloon passed through the United States.

Why it matters: These phenomena have captivated the public.

Humans have always been and always will be interested in aliens, but these unexplained incidents aren’t alien visits — they’re usually drones, balloons, and garbage blowing in the wind.

“There is no conclusive evidence of an alien origin for UAPs,” said Nadia Drake, a panelist and science journalist who has written for The New York Times in the past. “Gathering more good data from the scientific community to review in a peer-reviewed context will be important to moving forward here.”

One of the reasons data on UAPs is so poor is that the military cameras, radar and other sensors that collected videos are typically tuned for other purposes, such as targeting bombs, rather than being designed to collect data needed to identify non-hostile objects.

Many in the public are interested in the idea that some of the anomalous phenomena may be otherworldly. NASA officials said many panelists were victims of online harassment. During the meeting, many commentators on NASA’s YouTube feed accused panelists of lying or hiding evidence of aliens.

Despite this animosity, the panel attempted to explain some of the material that has fascinated audiences. It used some (a bit difficult) high school geometry to explain how the object appeared in a video captured by a Navy aircraft in 2015 known as “GO FAST“moved not fast but only 40 mph by illustrating how the vantage point on an object can be a visual trick.

Scott J. Kelly, a former astronaut, said that when flying, whether in the air or in space, there are many optical illusions. When he was an F-14 Tomcat pilot, he said, the flight officer in the back seat thought he saw a UFO

“I didn’t see it,” Mr. Kelly said. “We turned around. We went to look at it. It turned out to be Bart Simpson, a balloon.”