NASA released a report Thursday that said there is no conclusive evidence to suggest an extraterrestrial origin for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), commonly known as UFOs.
The report, prepared by an independent study team, highlighted challenges in explaining anomalous sightings, citing a lack of essential data, including witness reports.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson reaffirmed the report's findings and emphasized the study team did not uncover evidence that indicated UFOs have an extraterrestrial origin.
"But we don't know what UAP are," he said, underscoring NASA's commitment to exploring the unknown. "The mission of NASA is to find out the unknown. I've said several times ... that we deal openly, and we will be transparent on this."
The NASA chief also announced that the agency is appointing a NASA director of UAP research but he did not disclose a name.
"They are being tasked with developing and overseeing the implementation of NASA's vision for UAP research," said Nelson.
He said NASA would leverage its expertise to collaborate with other agencies in the analysis of UFOs.
"We will use AI and machine learning to search the skies for anomalies as we have been searching the heavens and will continue to search the heavens for habitability and NASA will do this transparently," he said.
Shifting to the universe at large, he expressed the belief in the existence of life beyond Earth, given the vastness of the universe, which contains billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars.
"If you ask me if there is life in a universe that is so vast it is hard to comprehend -- my personal answer is yes," he said.
