The US space agency NASA said Thursday it will set up a team to study unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs).

The new independent team will start early in the fall to examine events that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena.

"The study will focus on identifying available data, how best to collect future data, and how NASA can use that data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs forward," the agency said in a statement.

It said unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere are of interest for national security and air safety.

"NASA believes that the tools of scientific discovery are powerful and apply here also," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA headquarters in Washington.

"We have access to a broad range of observations of Earth from space – and that is the lifeblood of scientific inquiry. We have the tools and team who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is. That’s what we do," he added.

The agency said there is no evidence UAPs are extra-terrestrial in origin.

The study team will be led by astrophysicist David Spergel, who is president of the Simons Foundation in New York City and previously chair of the astrophysics department at Princeton University./aa