NASA held its first public meeting on UFOs

For the first time, NASA held a public meeting in Washington, for several hours, Wednesday, May 31, on the question of UFOs. A panel of experts commissioned by NASA to look into the subject has hammered home the need to collect more data to be able to explain these phenomena in the future. The American space agency also stresses the need for “de-stigmatize” the subject of UFOs.

“Existing data, and witness accounts, are insufficient to provide conclusive evidence on the nature and origin of each event”said David Spergel, astrophysicist in charge of presiding over this work. “We need high quality data.” The subject is very serious, underlined the American space agency: it concerns both national security and that of air traffic.

Some 800 unidentified aerial phenomena have been collected, said Sean Kirkpatrick, director of the office dedicated to this question within the Ministry of Defense (AARO). But “maybe between 2% and 5%” only are “really abnormal”he said. “At present, we have no explicit data suggesting that there is a connection between unidentified anomalous phenomena and extraterrestrial life”said David Grinspoon, one of the scientists on the panel.