NASA on Thursday said it has named a new director of research into what the government calls “unidentified anomalous phenomenon,” or UAP, while the US space agency’s chief said an expert panel that urged more fact-finding on the matter found no evidence of an extraterrestrial origin for these objects.
Administrator Bill Nelson made the announcement of the new research chief – though he did not disclose the person’s identity – after the independent panel of experts recommended that NASA increase its efforts to gather information on UAP and play a larger role in helping the Pentagon detect them. UAP are better known to the public as unidentified flying objects or UFOs.
Nelson during a news conference also gave his personal opinion that life exists beyond Earth.
“There’s a global fascination with UAP. On my travels, one of the first questions I often get is about these sightings. And much of that fascination is due to the unknown nature of it,” Nelson said.
“If you ask me, do I believe there’s life in a universe that’s so vast that it’s hard for me to comprehend how big it is, my personal answer is, ‘Yes,'” Nelson added.
The US government in the past few years has made several disclosures of information it has gathered regarding a subject that once was met by virtual official silence. The government issued a watershed report in 2021 compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a Navy-led task force encompassing numerous observations – mostly from military personnel – of UAP.
“The mission of NASA is to find out the unknown,” Nelson said.
“Whatever we find, we’re going to tell you,” Nelson added, promising transparency on any discoveries.
