NASA UAP Independent Study Team
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🏢 Organization
Contents 5
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| Type | Organization |
|---|---|
| Also known as | NASA UAP study, NASA independent study team |
The NASA UAP Independent Study Team was a panel of 16 experts that NASA assembled in 2022, chaired by astrophysicist David Spergel, to advise how the agency could use unclassified data to study unidentified anomalous phenomena. Its final report, released on 14 September 2023, found no evidence that UAP were extraterrestrial and recommended a rigorous, data-driven approach.[1][2]
Formation
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NASA announced the study in June 2022. It was set up as a subcommittee of the Earth Science Advisory Committee, with Daniel Evans of the Science Mission Directorate responsible for running it. NASA stressed that the study was separate from the Defense Department's UAP work and from its astrobiology programme. Members were announced on 21 October 2022 and work began on 24 October.[1][3]
Members
The panel included astronaut Scott Kelly, planetary scientist David Grinspoon, science journalist Nadia Drake, aviation officials from the Federal Aviation Administration, and specialists in data science, physics, astronomy and satellite imaging from universities and industry.[1][3]
Public meeting
At a public meeting on 31 May 2023, opened by AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick, Spergel said many UAP reports could be explained by aircraft, drones, balloons, weather and ionospheric effects, but that some events remained unexplained, usually because the data were poor.[1][4]
Report and aftermath
The report said the lack of reproducible data made it difficult to draw conclusions, and recommended better data collection, including through artificial intelligence and crowd-sourced reports from citizens, saying NASA was well placed to help. On the same day NASA announced the appointment of a director of UAP research. The team was dissolved once the report was delivered.[1][2]
References
- NASA Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Team — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "Unidentified anomalous phenomena", NASA Science · science.nasa.gov · archived copy
- "NASA announces unidentified aerial phenomena study team members", NASA (Oct 2022), archived · web.archive.org · archived copy
- "Bad data, not aliens, may be behind UFO surge, NASA team says", Scientific American (June 2023), archived · web.archive.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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