NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has revealed that the space agency has captured imagery of unknown objects that could be classified as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.
Speaking in a recent podcast interview, Isaacman stated that the agency's images cannot be explained, and he is confident that humans will eventually conclude that life exists beyond Earth.
Isaacman stopped short of saying the images were proof of extraterrestrial life but expressed a strong possibility that life could exist elsewhere in the universe, saying "I think there's a very real possibility we're going to arrive at a conclusion in our lifetime that perhaps there's life everywhere out there and that it isn't as infrequent as it could possibly be."
NASA has previously denied having any evidence to suggest that UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin.
A recent report by an independent group of scientists and experts convened by NASA stated that more data was needed to better understand certain encounters that defied explanation.
The Pentagon has released batches of data, images, and other files related to unidentified anomalous phenomena, and a government-wide effort to declassify files is underway.
Isaacman expressed his enthusiasm for the subject, saying "I can't hate the subject. In fact, I'm incredibly fascinated by it because that is at the heart of what we're trying to do at NASA — answer the question, 'Are we alone?'"
Although nothing has pointed to definitive proof of extraterrestrial life, Isaacman teased that NASA may already have evidence of life on Mars, citing the agency's current samples from the planet.
"We got samples on Mars right now," he said. "If we bring them back, there is a very high probability that they will point to, at some point, microbial life at least on Mars."
