known. Both, in turn, allow for systematic analyses of UAP events, and critically will enable the elimination of false positives due to sensor artifacts. Making a concerted effort to improve both aspects will be vital when gathering future data, and here NASA's expertise should be comprehensively leveraged as part of a robust and systematic data strategy within the whole-of-government framework.
FINDING
NASA's expertise should be comprehensively leveraged as part of a robust and systematic data strategy within the whole-of-government framework.
The panel also sees several advantages to augmenting potential data collection efforts using modern crowdsourcing techniques, including open-source smartphone-based apps that simultaneously gather imaging data and other smartphone sensor data from multiple citizen observers. NASA should therefore explore the viability of developing or acquiring such a crowdsourcing system as part of a future data strategy.
As stated above, NASA's fleet of Earth-observing satellites must also play a key role in collecting future data on environmental conditions coinciding with UAP sightings. Despite the mismatch in spatial resolution between the present generation of satellites and typical UAP events, by gathering and analyzing future satellite data, we will undoubtedly gain insights into the typical environmental factors associated with UAP. Future missions, such as the NOAA/NASA Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) satellite system, will provide even more robust data that will prove important in UAP analysis. NASA should also leverage sensors that expand its observational reach, such as penetrating deeper into the ocean or at the air/sea interfaces.
Next, collection efforts from radio and optical astronomy that are designed for technosignature searches should be expanded from the Earth's atmosphere to the whole solar system. Additionally, near-Earth objects (NEO) programs also have significant data collections about phenomena close to Earth's atmosphere, which constitutes an untapped repository of data both for characterizing natural phenomena and anomalies. NASA should consider integrating these elements as part of a robust future-data strategy.
Finally, NASA's very involvement in gathering future data will play an important role in reducing stigma associated with UAP reporting, which very likely leads to data attrition at present. NASA's long-standing public trust, which is essential for communicating findings about these phenomena to citizens, is crucial for destigmatizing UAP reporting and scientific research. The scientific processes used by NASA encourage critical thinking; NASA can model for the public how to approach a topic, such as UAP, by applying transparent reporting and rigorous analyses when acquiring future data.
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