Project Capella

Project Capella was the data warehouse at the heart of the Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) contract with the Defense Intelligence Agency. It was proposed in December 2008 in a 42-page design paper that was released in PURSUE Release 07 as DOW-UAP-D167, and it is described again in later BAASS monthly reports and the November 2010 self-assessment.^[1]

Design

The paper surveys earlier catalogues, including Project Blue Book data, UFOCAT, the NIDS catalogue and the French GEIPAN file, and argues they cannot simply be merged because of inconsistent coding and bias. It proposes instead a “data warehouse” built in ordinary spreadsheet software with a standard record layout. Cases are classified by reported behavior rather than by what the witness believed the object was, using a coded scheme with five levels, and weighted by a three-digit reliability code covering source, site visit and the probability of a natural explanation. A six-layer data model records physical, psychological, physiological and cultural information, and includes a “psychic” layer.^[1]

Use and growth

By March 2009 BAASS reported 234,364 reports (dated from 593 BC) in six databases. By November 2010 its self-assessment listed 11 databases, including Project Colares, Canadian and U.K. government release databases and a “Utah Ranch Database.” The proposal estimated only about 100,000 sighting reports exist worldwide and priced the work at $610,000 for the first year and $830,000 for the second.^[1]

See also

• BAASS program records (2008–2010)
• BAASS
• MUFON
• AAWSAP contract records and DIRDs
• PURSUE Release 07 overview

References

1. ^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 07 (Oct. 23, 2026): DOW-UAP-D167 (Project Capella, Report No. 001); DOW-UAP-D169; DOW-UAP-D175. war.gov/ufo.