Nasa ufos: Nasa team holds first public meeting about UFO sightings ahead of releasing full report

A team at Nasa set up to study “unidentified anomalous phenomena’ is set to host its first public meeting
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Nasa has held its first public meeting to discuss sightings of unexplained phenomena in the sky. The space agency set up the panel last year to examine sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) which are more commonly known as UFOs.

The panel gave its first public discussion ahead of releasing their report which is expected to be published later this year. Nasa said that the panel’s work was aimed at making sightings of UAPs easier to report for people. As well examine what they may be.

However, during the panel a speaker said the scientists working on the study have faced harassment online due to the subject of their study. Dr Nicola Fox from Nasa said this is "disheartening" and it stigmatises the UAP field of study. Fox added that the public have a right to know what is happening and said that the harassment hinders the work.

Daniel Evans, Nasa’s assistant deputy associate administrator for research, said: “The presence of UAPs raises concerns about the safety of our skies, and it’s this nation’s obligation to determine if these phenomena pose any potential risks to airspace safety”.

During the meeting, the panel was shown a newly-released video showing a series of dots moving across the night sky. The video was taken by a P-3 naval aircraft in the Western US, which was unable to intercept the objects.

Sean Kirkpatrick, the director of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) said there was no "oddity" about them, "except that they weren’t able to catch them". It was later discovered the lights belonged to commercial aircraft going to a major airport. Kirkpatrick said that the incident shows that even highly trained-personnel can misperceive UAP.

The term UFOs, long associated with notions of flying saucers and aliens and has since been replaced in government parlance by “UAP.” When announcing the panel, Nasa said: “There is no evidence UAPs are extraterrestrial in origin”.

The head of the Pentagon’s newly formed All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has said the existence of intelligent alien life has not been ruled out but that no sighting had produced evidence of extraterrestrial origins.

Related topics: