Unidentified anomalous phenomena – Independent study team report [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Unidentified anomalous phenomena – Independent study team report [pdf]

science.nasa.gov

44 pointsmdhb24 comments

"Our report indicates that we don't have resources to provide definitive answers and we need more resources" - The report

With political acumen like that they will quickly have the best run UAP program in the world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-5zEb1oS9A

To be fair, with all the money the government wastes this taxpayer would be quite happy to have more resources devoted to this mixed probability/extremely high impact issue.

How much will you be funding my leprechaun hunting program? It is also extremely high impact and 'mixed probability'

Show me the supporting Fermi math and I will.

If you want me to make a long fancy looking series of terms with arbitrary coefficients I can certainly do that too.

Rather disappointing, but not at all surprising. However you come down on UAP/UFO/etc the fact that there's no definitive answer from the governments, intelligence communities, authorities, etc. is mildly perplexing.

Not really - strange things that are poorly documented are often hard to explain. The things that are well recorded and documented all get explained rather quickly.

Not at all true.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hessdalen_lights

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

Hessdalen lights yes but they, like UAPs, have flaps. Now they are very rare so it's hard to study when they are seen so rarely but there has been a team doing it for many decades now.

Ball lightning is also very rare. So I think the commenter was talking about everyday things that happen with fair regularity, but not to put words in their mouth.

Edit: However, I will say that "explained" in the commenters case does not necessarily mean "explained correctly." Mick West with his Seagull theory for example -- he had the singular video and "explained" the video with an example that fits into our worldview, while the military still has the RADAR, multiple sources of video, and unedited (downconverted) HQ footage and sensor data which would likely monkey wrench his seagull theory very badly.

"The analysis identified hydrogen, oxygen and other elements including titanium.[9] It was thought this occurs in Hessdalen because of the large deposits of scandium there. The publication of this research led to the Norwegian press proclaiming that "The Mystery in Hessdalen is Solved"."

I guess it depends who you ask. Anyone can choose to ignore solid evidence supporting a hypothesis. Just ask a 'flat-earther' if the Earth is spherical.

> The publication of this research led to the Norwegian press proclaiming that "The Mystery in Hessdalen is Solved"

{wiki page continues with another 9 theories}

The analysis identified hydrogen, oxygen and other elements including titanium.[9] It was thought this occurs in Hessdalen because of the large deposits of scandium there. The publication of this research led to the Norwegian press proclaiming that "The Mystery in Hessdalen is Solved".

I guess it depends on who you ask. Anyone can choose to ignore solid evidence supporting a hypothesis. Just ask a 'flat-earther' if the earther is a sphere.

My hypothesis is that "the government" doesn't have the information the public is looking for. It is locked away in SAPs at defense contractors, which are essentially just a private extension of the government but out of reach of public scrutiny (e.g. FOIA requests).

it reads more like a request for more budget to study UAPs, or at least to better formalise the process.

nothing really insightful as far as the UAPs thesmselves as far as i can tell.

Absolutely. Rereading it sounds exactly like that; budgetary request.

"To whom it may concern:

Aliens? Maybe...

Plz fund global surveillance and AI?

Thx"

It is NASA though. So, more like “Plz ask the defense budget guys if they have any money between their couch cushions.”

Exactly, and I think it’s a very good use of public funds.

The media briefing just happened live, mostly saying that NASA is focussing on transparency and removing the stigma around UAP reporting so that more evidence can be acquired:

Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Independent Study Report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwU6V5GFaQA

Edit: shorter summary by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idJKLP5hcuQ

Maybe it was too dense for me. But I don't see anything new in there.

It was a waste of time to read this. The most important words:

"likely a sensor artifact resulting from video compression"

If you go back and look this report was specifically intended to be about determining methods for identifying and cataloging UAP. It is a widespread misunderstanding that it was intended to be a report about UAP. This is incorrect.

i wouldn't call it dense. perhaps disorganized and verbose

Basically, the evidence for something anomalous is weak at best, more probably a Nothingburger (imho).

Mick West in his channel[1], plus friends at Metabunk have made fantastic research on UAPs, and they have really mundane explanations:

I think the level of expertise of some pilots has been overblown. They are human after all and not necessarily can come up for explanations for everything, especially if they are not on top of every new spaceflight development, which might be a lot to ask considering other obligations that they might have, at least in the case of commercial airline pilots.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@MickWest

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