NEW YORK, September 14. /TASS/. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States has appointed a director for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) research, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told reporters on Thursday.

"The NASA independent study team did not find any evidence that UAP have an extraterrestrial origin. But we don't know what these UAP are. That's why I'm announcing that NASA has appointed a NASA director of UAP research," Nelson said at a news conference, devoted to his agency’s research into documented UFO sightings.

He explained that the newly created UAP board will be "tasked with developing and overseeing the implementation of NASA's vision for UAP research" and will use "AI and machine learning" for this purpose.

Nelson added that NASA will continue its search for signs of extraterrestrial life and "will do this transparently."

He added that he believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life, because the universe has at least a trillion planets where life could flourish.

The US Department of Defense announced in late August that it was creating a website to provide the public with information about its efforts to understand and resolve unidentified anomalous phenomena. This website will provide information, including photos and videos, on resolved UAP cases as they are declassified and approved for public release.