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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-us-canada-65769172

'Concerns about the safety of our skies'

Dan Evans from Nasa’s Science Mission Directorate is explaining why the space agency is looking at the presence of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs).

One reason, he says, is that they “raise concerns about the safety of our skies”.

"We have to determine if they pose any risks to air safety, to ensure our skies remain safe."

'The demand for answers is strong'

Speaking at the beginning of the event, Evans noted that the agency is aware of widespread public interest in UAPs.

Publicly available and transparent research, he added, aims for "open and honest" dialogue with the public.

"The demand for answers is strong," he said, adding that scientific data is key to "separate fact from fiction."

Harassment of scientists studying UAPs'

Scientists working on the study of UAPs have faced harassment online because they are studying this topic.

Dr Nicola Fox from Nasa says this is "disheartening" and that it stigmatises the UAP field of study.

The public have a right to know what is happening, she says, and the harassment of these scientists hinders that.

Classified vs unclassified data

Nasa's research into UAPs relies on unclassified data that can be released to the public.

Classified data, according to Nasa associate administrator Nicola Fox, is often kept secret because of the "sensor platforms" involved on the side of the US military.

"If a fighter jet took a picture of the Statue of Liberty, than that would be classified," she said. "Not because of the picture, but because of the sensors on the plane."

Unclassified data also allows NASA to "communicate openly" within the organisation, across the scientific community and with the public.

'Stigma among people reporting UAP sightings'

Commercial pilots are very reluctant to report anomalies, says David Spergel, chair of the Nasa team looking into UAPs.

Overall these cases are underreported, he says, because "there is a stigma among people reporting UAP sightings."

“One of our goals is to remove the stigma,” he adds, “because there is a need for high quality data to address important questions about UAPs.”

Observatory confused microwave with radio bursts

UAP-related data is often difficult to interpret and decipher - and in some cases can be easily skewed.

Spergel says that's what happened in Australia, where researchers mistook a microwave for radio bursts.

"They had really strange structure. People couldn't figure out what was going on. Then they start to notice a lot of them bunched together around lunch time," he says.

"What had happened was that the people in the observatory would heat up their lunch in the microwave," Spergel adds. "It produced a burst of radio signals that was picked up by sensitive detectors."

Where have UAPs been spotted ?

This is a Nasa graphic which shows trends in sightings of UAPs.

https://preview.redd.it/l2as2zmyc83b1.jpg?width=624&format=pjpg&auto=…

New 'UAP' video released - or not?

The panel has just been 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".

The objects, it turned out, where much further away than the aircraft thought.

Later on, it was discovered the lights belonged to commercial aircraft going to a major airport.

The incident, Kirkpatrick said, shows that even highly trained-personnel can misperceive UAP.

'Most people don't like when we point at their backyards'

Nasa's research into UAPs is limited by the number of sensors it has available.

This is partly the result of the fact that there are privacy concerns on the part of the US public.

"We can point the largest collection apparatus in the entire globe at any point we want," says Sean Kirkpatrick.

"A lot of what we have is around the continental United States," he adds.

"Most people...don't like it when we point our entire collection apparatus at your backyard.

“It's not allowed."

How many sightings have there been?

Kirkpatrick says there have been more than 800 cases of UAP sightings.

"We have 50 to 100-ish new reports each month."

But the number of those sightings which are "possibly really anomalous" are 2 to 5% of the total database.

What does Nasa say about aliens?

While aliens have not really been discussed so far, on its website Nasa goes to great pains to tell the public that it has found no evidence of alien life.

But it does say one of its key priorities is “the search for life elsewhere in the universe”.

“Nasa is exploring the solar system and beyond to help us answer fundamental questions, including whether we are alone in the universe,” reads a statement.

The agency has also said is has funded “uncountable” research programmes, including several that have specifically looked for evidence of extra-terrestrial life.