NASA to form scientific team to study UFOs, spend up to $100,000

A team of scientists is due to be convened by the fall, then will spend roughly nine months developing a public report on its findings

NASA said on Thursday it plans to assemble a team of scientists to examine “unidentified aerial phenomena” — commonly termed UFOs — in the latest sign of the seriousness with which the US government is taking the issue.

The US space agency said the focus will be on identifying available data, the best ways to gather future data and how it can use that information to advance scientific understanding of the issue. NASA tapped David Spergel, who formerly headed Princeton University’s astrophysics department, to lead the scientific team and Daniel Evans, a senior researcher in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, to