Former senior NASA official and space policy expert Mike Gold joins Martin Willis and special co-host, astronomer Marc D’Antonio, for a candid discussion about NASA, UAP and the stigma that continues to discourage serious scientific investigation. Gold explains that NASA’s UAP Independent Study Team was never asked to examine historical cases or analyze UAP evidence; instead, it was tasked with determining whether NASA should investigate the subject and which agency resources could be used. He discusses proposals to employ artificial intelligence and machine learning to search NASA’s enormous archives, add UAP to NASA’s confidential Aviation Safety Reporting System, and independently examine unexplained imagery from the Moon, Mars and space—including the unusual triangular formation photographed during Apollo 17. The conversation also examines allegations of altered or withheld NASA imagery, professional threats faced by academics who merely ask questions about UAP, and why Gold believes stigma creates a national security vulnerability by providing potential cover for adversarial drones. Gold says disclosure should be viewed as a continuing process of releasing and objectively examining data, and he believes increasingly significant material may emerge as the government works through declassification. The discussion concludes with commercial spaceflight, SpaceX, America’s competition with China, manufacturing human tissue and pharmaceuticals in microgravity, the future of Mars exploration, and why greater government transparency could help restore public trust. Join us for a thoughtful, science-based conversation that follows the evidence without assuming the answer.

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