- Oh, my gosh, dude. Wow- - What the hell is that, man?
Look at a-
- [Narrator] Government officials
can't answer this Naval pilot's question.
With current data, they can deduce just a few things
about this mystery dot.
Based off of how high it is off the water
and how fast it's likely going,
it's probably drifting on the wind,
and it's brighter than the ocean, it's floating above.
So it's likely colder than the water
and not using a propulsion system.
So it's probably not a spaceship.
But because data is so limited,
it makes this a UAP, an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.
- Identifying UAP is so important
because it's a matter of national security.
It's a matter of aviation safety
and it's incredibly important
that we are curious about our world around us.
- [Narrator] Here's why these objects
are so hard to identify and how a new report from NASA
could help solve some of these mysteries.
Ryan Graves is a former Naval F-18 pilot
who has been an advocate
for researching Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
or UAPs after witnessing one himself.
- And that was very surreal to see that
because that we immediately thought it was a radar error,
but it's almost more unsettling when the thing you thought
was an error turned out to be reality.(laughs)
- [Narrator] A new report
from an Independent Study Team appointed by NASA
is trying to make it easier
to identify some of these objects,
but the current data available makes it a challenge.
Lack of data was a problem in identifying this UAP
in the Middle East.
- While we are still looking at it,
I don't have any more data other than that.
- [Narrator] One problem is the quality of images.
Right now, many are taken from military aircraft.
- It's often, you know,
grainy footage where it's kind of hard to tell
and it's like split-second objects small spherical object
that might go across the video extremely fast.
- [Narrator] For example, look at this one from South Asia.
Officials determined
that this is likely just a commercial aircraft,
but compression on the video creates trails around it
and the quality makes it hard to discern what it is.
But it's difficult to get higher-quality footage.
Advanced radars like those from NOAA
and NASA aren't currently watching for these objects.
- There is not a mission
to go proactively look for these right now.
So what's happening is people that are operating these tools
are seeing things that they can't explain.
They have no way to report it, but they're starting to now,
and we're starting to see that information come in.
- [Narrator] The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office
or AARO heads up most efforts to identify UAPs right now,
but doesn't always have access to the wealth of data
from places like NASA, the FAA, and commercial agencies.
- So this wasn't something
that people were looking to develop these ways
of sharing information because it wasn't on their radar.
But now it is for agencies like NASA and for the DOD
and so now, they're trying to work more together,
so that the government has a way to look at this stuff
in one central place.
- [Narrator] But one of the biggest barriers
isn't a technological problem.
It's a social one.
- Do I believe there's life in a universe that is so vast
that it's hard for me to comprehend
how big it is?
My personal answer is yes.
- [Narrator] Talking openly about UAPs
or other unidentified objects hasn't always been the norm.
- Just because of what the perception
was in pop culture about UFOs.
A lot of people felt like if they were to come forward
and talk about what they would see,
it would hurt them in certain ways.
- [Narrator] Speculation about aliens is often brought up
in conversations about identifying UAPs.
- We need to move into the realm of science on this
and make this a normal everyday mundane scientific topic
that we can engage in outside of controversy.
- [Narrator] The NASA-appointed team,
says that none of the UAPs they've identified so far,
suggests that they have extra terrestrial origins
and that should only be a hypothesis of last resort.
The report also says that stigma around this topic
has prevented a lot of data from being reported.
The team concluded that NASA's involvement
could help lend credibility to the issue and reduce stigma.
The agency appointed a director of UAP research,
a sign of its investment in the issue.
- They're extremely well respected.
They have a great mind trust at NASA
and they can apply a lot of intellectual force
to this problem.
So I think them coming into the game is,
it should be, I'll say, a big win for transparency
and for better understanding this issue.
(gentle music)