NASA is denying any connection to the mysterious drone sightings in New Jersey that have gripped social media and sparked a range of speculation amid assurances from government officials that there's no cause for concern.
NASA's denial followed a viral TikTok theory that posited that NASA and industry partners were secretly behind the sightings.
"[The] culprit seems to be NASA—or rather, a long list of organizations and corporations partnered with NASA on what they call the Advanced Air Mobility Mission," former U.S. Marine-turned-editor Alex Hollings said on TikTok.
Hollings pointed to a June 2023 press release from the National Aerospace Research & Technology Park outlining the establishment of a drone "testing corridor" between Delaware and New Jersey, along with a range of partners.
That TikTok took off, reaching nearly two million views but leaving many viewers in the comments unsatisfied with the explanation.
"So why wasn't the state government informed about this to avoid paranoia?" questioned one commenter.
Several other TikTokers drew a similar conclusion that "it's just NASA" and pointed to the same press release.
But as the theory took off online, NASA stepped in to clarify that it is not behind the sightings.
"@NASA has confirmed with me that they were not involved in the establishment of the drone testing corridor between New Jersey and Delaware," Hollings said on Wednesday.
"Their program and the drone testing corridor both use the same name 'Advanced Air Mobility,' but are not otherwise related. Quote: 'The testing corridor activities use the term AAM in the general, industry sense. NASA AAM is not a part of the work in this corridor.'"
In a follow-up video, Hollings added that not only is NASA not involved in the testing corridor announced last year, but that the U.S. Transportation Command—which is—said that there have been no drone flights associated with the program.
"To be clear, neither have drones flying over New Jersey," he said.
"This mystery is still a mystery," Hollings stated.
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