NASA to Lead US Study on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena

On Thursday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced it has appointed Mark McInerney as NASA director for study on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP).

RELATED:

India's Chandrayaan-3 Spacecraft Lands on Moon

McInerney will centralize communications, resources, and data analytical capabilities to establish a robust database for the evaluation of future UAP.

He also will leverage NASA's expertise in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and space-based observation tools to support and enhance the broader government initiative on UAP.

The move came in response to recommendation by an independent study team for NASA to play a more prominent role in understanding UAP.

The team is a counsel of 16 community experts across diverse areas on matters relevant to potential methods of study for UAP.

NASA commissioned the independent study to better understand how the agency can contribute to ongoing government efforts to further observation of events in the sky that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft, or as known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.

NASA released a report of the independent study team on UAP, containing its findings and recommendations which aim to inform NASA on what possible data is available to be collected and how the agency can help shed light on the origin and nature of future UAP.