NASA Responds to Anonymous' Claim Regarding Upcoming UFO Disclosure

A still from the video released to YouTube.

A video published last week purportedly from the hacker group Anonymous claimed that NASA is on the verge of disclosing information regarding the existence of alien life.  The video cited NASA's recent Cassini probe mission and the space agency's overall interest in discovering extraterrestrial life as evidence of the upcoming disclosure.

NASA senior scientist Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, about whom much of the video is based, denied the claims this week on Twitter.

"Contrary to some reports, there’s no pending announcement from NASA regarding extraterrestrial life," wrote Dr. Zurbuchen.

"Are we alone in the universe? While we do not know yet, we have missions moving forward that may help answer that fundamental question."

The video used Dr. Zurbuchen's public testimony to a congressional committee earlier this year as proof that NASA has an impending announcement on alien life, but quoted his speech out of context.

"We are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented discoveries in history," the video quoted Zurbuchen.  

In his testimony, in fact, Dr. Zurbuchen explicitly states that "we haven’t found definitive signs of life elsewhere just yet."

Once the quote from the video is put into the context of his testimony it is clear that he was not referring to a current discovery, but rather one that may be years or decades away.

"And as we know from experience, NASA’s scientific discoveries of today continually drive impactful research for tomorrow that goes far beyond the initial observations," said Dr. Zurbuchen to Congress.  

"For astrobiology, the key thing to remember is that answering the fundamental question of 'is there life out there?' will require scientific breakthroughs from many different science fields, including ones that are not currently engaged in this exciting endeavor. This, however, demonstrates the nature of great research: it’s not just about answering questions that have been asked in the past, it is about finding entirely new questions that will have impact for a long time to come."