00:00I want to first say that, of course, part of our task at NASA is given to us by the
00:07Congress is not only to do fundamental research in the skies and so forth, but as part of that also
00:13to find life elsewhere.
00:14That's why we've built astrobiology programs in many disciplines across the summary field that looks at both extinct life on
00:24Mars, for example, but also looks at the patterns of life elsewhere, perhaps in Europe, perhaps in Enceladus as we
00:33go forward, but also as we look at exoplanets, planets outside of our solar system, looking for the question whether
00:40certain environments are, in fact, part of our solar system.
00:44Kind of the, if you want, the ladder of life that got us to where we are.
00:50So the tools that we're using, whether it's in this field, are also kind of in fields that then go
00:54towards kind of intelligent life, such as techno signatures, which we have programs for already, are the same tools that
01:01we use everywhere, the tools that we're, frankly, using here, and that is that we're commissioning a study to start
01:08early in the fall to examine unidentified aerial phenomena.
01:12This study will focus on identifying available data, how to best collect future data, and how NASA can use these
01:20data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward.
01:24A short way I would talk about that is take a field that is relatively data poor and to make
01:30it into a field that is much more data rich and therefore worthy of scientific investigation and analysis.
01:37NASA's mission, of course, as I just said, is to explore the unknown in air and space, and we have
01:43access, frankly, as part of that, to a broad range of observations of Earth and space, and I think that's
01:50the lifeblood of our scientific inquiry.
01:52We have the tools and teams who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown, and we are prepared
01:59to use these powerful tools of scientific discovery, in this case, as much as anything else, using exactly the same
02:07kind of approach that we always use.
02:11An identified phenomena in the atmosphere of interest for both, for many reasons, frankly, I think there's new science to
02:19be discovered.
02:21There's been many times where something that looked almost magical turned out to be a new scientific effect.
02:27But there's also national security and air safety issues that have been discussed elsewhere that, of course, relate to these
02:34observations.
02:35And establishing, you know, with events that are, whether they're natural or whether they are, kind of, need to be
02:43explained otherwise, is very much aligned with NASA's goals that ensure, of course, you know, that we discover the unknown,
02:51but also ensures the safety of aircraft that, of course, are in that airspace, that these phenomena occur.
02:58This unabandoned study will be led by astrophysicist David Sporgo, who's the president of the Simons Foundation in New York
03:05City,
03:06and has previously been the chair of astrophysics in the Department of Princeton and the University of Princeton, New Jersey.
03:12Dan Evans, the Assistant Deputy Associate Administrator for Research, is kind of, is the, really, kind of, the wheels on
03:19the bus, kind of, really making sure that we're interfacing with this.
03:22Some people may ask why David, why Dan's?
03:25First of all, Dan, with his tremendous experience, both as a researcher, but also as an able for research, his
03:31work that he did in the White House previously,
03:33I think has tremendous insight into, kind of, the cross-interagency aspect that relates to some of these discussions.
03:41And David Sporgo, I think, to all of us in astrophysics, really understand that he's one of the most trusted
03:46voices in so many questions.
03:48Also a person who understands, really, the power of science and is willing and able to use that power of
03:54science, kind of, in areas where, I would say,
03:57fall under what we would refer to as high-risk, high-impact kind of research, kind of areas that many
04:03of the scientists may be a little bit more timid to walk in.
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