NASA showed 16 people who will conduct his research with unidentified aerial phenomena.
An independent UFO inquiry is due to begin on October 24 and will take nine months to review “sightings of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena”.
The team will review non-classified data from civil government agencies, commercial organizations and other sources. The findings will be published sometime in mid-2023, NASA said, and the research will focus on how the data can be analyzed to study unidentified airborne phenomena.
“Exploring the unknown in space and the atmosphere is at the core of who we are at NASA,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, deputy administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “Understanding the data we have related to unidentified aerial phenomena is critical to helping us make scientific inferences about what’s going on in our skies.”
According to the space agency, UAP is about both national security and aviation safety.
The people selected for the study are experts in artificial intelligence, aerospace safety, science and data. The team, led by astrophysicist David Spergel as chairman:
- Scott Kelly, former NASA astronaut, test pilot, fighter pilot and retired US Navy captain. He commanded Expeditions 26, 45 and 46 of the International Space Station and piloted the space shuttle Discovery for the third Hubble servicing mission.
- Paula Bontempi, a biological oceanographer, is the second woman to head the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.
- Shelley Wright, Associate Professor of Physics, University of California, San Diego Center for Astrophysics and Space Studies.
- Anamaria Beria is an assistant professor of computing and data science at George Mason University.
- Federico Bianco, associate professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of Delaware.
- Nadia Drake, PhD in genetics, is a freelance science journalist and author for National Geographic.
- David Grinspoon, a senior fellow at the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona; Adjunct Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences at the University of Colorado and Georgetown University.
- Matt Mountain, president of the Association of Universities for Research and Astronomy and Webb Telescope scientist.
- Warren Randolph, deputy executive director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Accident Investigation and Prevention.
- Joshua Semeter, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Center for Space Physics at Boston University.
- Carlin Toner, acting executive director of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Aviation Policy and Plans, is a research fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
- Jen Bass, CEO, Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.
- Walter Scott, executive vice president and CTO of Maxar, a space technology company specializing in Earth exploration and space infrastructure.
- Mike Gold, executive vice president of civic space and external affairs at Redwire.
- Reggie Brothers, operating partner of AE Industrial Partners.