The much-anticipated report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence on UFOs was released to Congress on June 25, 2021. To avoid the stigma associated with claims that aliens visited Earth after the Roswell incident in 1947, the military has renamed unidentified flying objects UAPs. Although there is no evidence to suggest that alien spacecraft were spotted, some data are difficult to interpret.Professor of Astronomy, I have written extensively about the search for life in our universe. I also offer an online course on astrobiology for free. I don't believe the UFO sightings or the government report are evidence of aliens visiting Earth. The report is important because it allows for serious examination of UFOs. It encourages the U.S. government collect more data about UFOs. I believe the report will increase the likelihood that scientists will attempt to interpret this data. UFOs were once considered to be beyond the reach of mainstream science. But that may not be true anymore.What is the UFO Report?The No. The report's No. 1 focus is on the dearth of high-quality data. These are the highlights of the nine-page report. It covers 144 UAP sightings sourced from U.S. government sources between 2004-2021.UAP evaluation is difficult because of limited data and inconsistent reporting.Some observations may be due to sensor errors, spoofing or misperception by the observer.UAP pose clearly a safety-of-flight issue and could pose a threat to U.S. security.The task force was able identify with high confidence one UAP out of 144 sightings. We identified the object in that case as a large, inflatable balloon. Other objects remain unsolved.UAP may be technology deployed by China, Russia or another country.The report's front page features a U.S. Government logo and the 'unclassified" listed at the top.Scientists consider UFOs tabooContinue the storyUFO is an unidentified flying object. There is nothing more. Scientists would love the challenge of solving this puzzle. UFOs are not something academic scientists have ever been able to study, so unexplained reports have not received the attention they deserve.Scientists believe there is more to most reports than meets your eye. Those who dig deep have most often disproved the phenomenon. More than half of all sightings can also be attributed meteors, fireballs, and Venus.Another reason for scientific hesitance may be that UFOs are being co-opted into popular culture. They are part of a broader set of conspiracy theories, which also includes reports of alien abductions and crop circles. Scientists are concerned about their professional reputations and UFOs are often associated with supernatural stories. Most researchers avoid this topic.However, some scientists have done their research. The first major academic study of UFO sightings was published by Edward U. Condon, University of Colorado in 1968. The Condon Report halted further research after it concluded that there has been no scientific advancement in UFO studies over the past 21 years.A 1998 review by a Stanford University professor of applied Physics, Peter Sturrock concluded that not all sightings can be accompanied by scientific evidence. Sturrock also conducted a survey of professional astronomers. He found that almost half believed UFOs are worthy of scientific investigation, with a higher percentage among the more educated.Astronomers may be fascinated by UFOs, and feel that some cases should be studied with academic rigor. It is not helped by the history of mistrust between scientists and ufologists. UFO research has used some tools of science, but it lacks the foundation of evidence-based, skeptical reasoning that distinguishes science from pseudoscience.The National Science Foundation has awarded 90,000 grants in the past and present. None of these grants addressed UFOs or other related phenomena. I've been on review panels for over 35 years and I can see the reaction to a proposal if it came up for peer review. There would be raised eyebrows, and then a quick vote to not fund.Satellite dishes that point in different directions.The search for aliens has been ongoing for over a decadeAlthough the scientific community has avoided UFOs almost entirely, there has been a decades-long mainstream search for intelligent aliens.Astronomers have discovered more than 4,400 planets around other stars, which is motivating the search. Some are called exoplanets and they orbit stars at just the right distance to have water on their surface. This makes them potentially habitable.Astronomers believe that there are 300,000,000 habitable worlds within the Milky Way galaxy. Each one offers a chance for life to develop, as well as for technology and intelligence to emerge. Astronomers believe it unlikely that humans will be the first or only advanced civilization.This has encouraged an active search for extraterrestrial intelligent, also known as SETI. This has not been successful so far. Researchers have changed the question from Are we alone? to Where is the alien? This paradox, which lacks evidence of intelligent aliens, has been called the Fermi paradox. It was first articulated by Enrico Fermi, a physicist. This paradox is because advanced civilizations ought to be spread across the galaxy and yet, we don't see any evidence of them.Scientists have criticised SETI. The SETI program was cut off from federal funding for many decades, and has recently received most of its support through private sources. NASA has resumed funding SETI in 2020 and the new NASA administrator is encouraging researchers to explore the topic of UFOs.The intelligence report is therefore welcome. Although the report does not make any specific conclusions regarding UFOs, it avoids any mention of extraterrestrial spacecraft or aliens. It does note the importance of de-stigmatizing UFOs to encourage more pilots to report what they see. The report also sets out a goal to move from anecdotal observations towards standardized and scientific data collection. It will be interesting to see if scientists are attracted to the effort. However, the transparency required to publish the report reverses decades of secrecy around UFO reports by the U.S. government.Although I don't see any evidence of alien spacecraft, as a scientist I want to study the subsets of UFO sightings which are truly unexplained. Scientists will not weigh in if their skeptical beliefs are ridiculed by true believers or they are marginalized by colleagues. The truth is out there.This article has been updated in order to clarify that the report was prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.[Get to know the latest developments in science, technology, and health each week. Subscribe to The Conversations science email newsletter.This article was republished by The Conversation, a non-profit news site that shares ideas from academic experts. This article was written by Chris Impey from the University of Arizona.Continue reading:Chris Impey is awarded funding from the National Science Foundation.
