DOW-UAP-D167, Project Capella, December 2008
WAR.gov / Department of War PURSUE Release 07
Report no. 001 from Documatica Research, LLC to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), dated December 10, 2008, proposing “Project CAPELLA”: a data warehouse for research on unusual aerial phenomena and related anomalies.
Document Highlights
Note: Highlights are derived from OCR-recognized document passages and file metadata. Please verify important claims against the original scan.
Short overview
Report no. 001 from Documatica Research, LLC to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), dated December 10, 2008, proposing “Project CAPELLA”: a data warehouse for research on unusual aerial phenomena and related anomalies. It consists of an overview proposal and three appendices on classification, a layered information model and data structures.
Why this is interesting
The report reviews earlier catalogues, from Battelle’s punched-card analysis of Project Blue Book reports to UFOCAT, GEIPAN and NARCAP, and argues that missing validation, incompatible coding and selection bias have stalled the field; it estimates the total number of cases at only about 100,000. Instead of merging databases it proposes a standard structure over separate files, built in plain EXCEL, seeded with the NIDS catalogue and with all cases reaching BAASS from January 1, 2009. Appendix A sets out a behaviour-based scheme of 20 codes (AN, CE, MA and FB, each in five variants) and a three-digit “SVP” rating for source, site visit and probability of a natural explanation. Appendix B describes a six-layer model ranging from physical manifestations to cultural effects, and Appendix C specifies ten Excel screens with sample catalogue entries. The budget estimate is $610,000 for the first year and $830,000 for the second, including staff roles from database administrator to statistician.
Selected passages
- “Lack of data validation and lack of standards has impeded progress among the researchers responsible for these databases.”
- “It should be noted that the total number of available cases that have given rise to sighting reports is estimated to number only about 100,000.”
- “In the view of the authors, current hypotheses are not strange enough to explain the facts of the phenomenon, and the debate suffers from a lack of scientific information.”
Background
This document is an administrative, programmatic, or contractor-produced record related to the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP), a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)-administered program active from 2008 to 2012. AAWSAP’s official scope of work identified 12 technical research areas relating to potential aerospace threats over a time horizon of more than 40 years. As part of the broader program record, the file documents how AAWSAP was scoped, organized, tasked, funded, executed, or described at a particular point in time. This December 2008 report developed for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) outlines Project Capella, a proposed data warehouse framework for the capture, processing, classification, and retrieval of information relating to “unusual” aerial phenomena and related anomalies. The report describes a methodology for integrating existing catalogues, standardizing classification and reliability measures, reviewing foreign and private databases, and building personnel and software capacity to support analysis, literature review, and potential future field investigations. It presents the project as a means of consolidating disparate historical and contemporary case materials into a structured research system capable of supporting multiple BAASS initiatives. By proposing a data architecture centered on unusual aerial phenomena and related anomalies, the document helped lay the groundwork for later BAASS efforts, seeking to formalize UAP-oriented data collection and analysis within BAASS’s execution of AAWSAP.