RESPONSES TO STATEMENT OF TASK
1 What types of scientific data currently collected and archived by NASA or other civilian government entities should be synthesized and analyzed to potentially shed light on the nature and origins of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)?
FINDING
NASA'S fleet of earth-observing satellites should play a powerful supporting role to determine the environmental conditions that coincide with UAP.
NASA has a variety of existing and planned Earth- and space-observing assets, together with an extensive archive of historic and current data sets, which should be used to address the challenges of detecting and/or understanding UAP. NASA's fleet of Earth-observing satellites collect the most data within the Earth system, yet they typically lack the spatial resolution to detect relatively small objects such as UAP. However, they still should play a powerful supporting role to determine the environmental conditions that coincide with UAP. For example, the advanced sensors on the Terra and Aqua missions should be directly utilized to retroactively probe the state of the local earth, ocean, and atmospheric conditions that are spatially and temporally coincident with UAP initially detected via other methods. Thus, NASA can help determine whether specific environmental factors are associated with reported UAP properties or occurrences.
FINDING
It is essential to note the pivotal role that structured data curation plays in a rigorous and evidence-based framework to better understand UAP.
There are other promising civilian capabilities that can be employed to scrutinize UAP. Assets such as the NEXRAD Doppler radar network (160 weather radars jointly operated by the FAA, U.S. Air Force, and National Weather Service) or the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites will be essential for distinguishing interesting objects from airborne clutter. Furthermore, forthcoming large-sky surveys enabled by ground-based telescopes such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will offer powerful complements in the search for anomalous objects beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
NASA also has substantial experience in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), which can provide much higher angular resolution images of Earth, as well as confirm surface motion and change. The panel sees particular promise in future SAR-based Earth-observing satellites such as NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission, a partnership with the Indian Space Research Organization. The excellent resolution of NISAR will provide valuable radar data that will potentially be critical for examining UAP directly, in addition to their environmental context. SAR systems will also provide critical validation of any truly anomalous properties, such as rapid acceleration or high-G maneuvers through the Doppler signatures they produce.
Irrespective of the source of the observation, it is essential to note the pivotal role that structured data curation plays in a rigorous and evidence-based framework to better understand UAP. To date, UAP data often consist of observations initially acquired for other purposes, which often lack adequate
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