NASA's Independent Study on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena is a scientific study designed to examine what data and tools would help understand these phenomena.
NASA announced the study on June 9, 2022, and established an independent team of 16 experts. The study focused on phenomena observed in the sky that were not identified as aircraft or known natural occurrences, and it relied solely on unclassified data.
The team concentrated on identifying available data, improving future data collection, and utilizing scientific tools to evaluate and categorize such phenomena. According to NASA, its role was not to re-examine previous incidents but to formulate a roadmap for the future use of data and science.
The final report was published on September 14, 2023. NASA presented it as a foundation for defining the data that could be collected in the future to learn about the nature and origin of these phenomena; the report's publication itself does not determine what caused the sightings.
It examined what scientific data and tools are available, and how data collection can be improved to understand and categorize these phenomena in the future.
The final report was published on September 14, 2023.
No. NASA stated that the team was not intended to review past incidents, but rather to formulate a course of action for future research.
The study was designed to help define data that can be collected to investigate their nature and origin, not to determine their origin based solely on the report.