As part of a new drive toward high-risk, high-impact research, NASA is officially launching a UFO investigation.

The space agency announced the establishment of an independent committee to determine how much information is publicly accessible on the subject and how much more is required to explain the mysterious sightings.

The specialists will also explore how to use all of this data in the future.

Thomas Zurbuchen, the head of NASA’s research mission, recognized that the established scientific community may see Nasa’s venture into the sensitive issue as “kind of selling out,” but he strongly disagrees.

Astrophysicist David Spergel said ‘we don’t know what makes up 95% of the universe’ 

“We are not shying away from reputational risk,” Mr. Zurbuchen said during a National Academy of Sciences webcast.

Our firm belief is that the most difficult aspect of these events is the lack of available data.

NASA considers this a first step in attempting to explain UAPs, or unexplained aerial phenomena, which are unusual occurrences in the sky.

The study will begin later this year, run nine months, and cost no more than one hundred thousand dollars. There will be no usage of secret military information.

NASA said that astrophysicist David Spergel, head of the Simons Foundation for furthering scientific research, would lead the team.

Mr. Spergel said during a press conference that the sole preconceived concept entering the investigation is that the UAPs are likely to have many interpretations.

“We have to approach all these questions with a sense of humility,” Mr. Spergel said.

“I spent most of my career as a cosmologist. I can tell you we don’t know what makes up 95% of the universe. So there are things we don’t understand.”

Reference(s): NASA