The American space agency NASA will start a major study into UFOs in the fall. The organization announced Thursday that knowledge of “unidentified aerial phenomena”, as it officially calls UFOs, is important for aviation safety and national security.
According to NASA, there is no evidence that these phenomena have an extraterrestrial origin.
The investigation, which will last nine months, will focus on “airborne events that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena,” the organization said in a statement. A team of scientists from different backgrounds will make an inventory of as many observations as possible and then try to explain them. The results of the investigation will be made public.
The U.S. House of Representatives held its first public hearing on UFOs in more than half a century in May. The reason for this was an investigation by the US Department of Defense into 144 unexplained sightings made by pilots in the past twenty years.