Established in 2017, To The Stars Academy is a shareholder-based organization focused on the research and technological exploitation of unidentified aerial phenomena (a.k.a. UFOs). But where some see a cutting-edge team pushing the frontiers of scientific knowledge, others see a hare-brained investment scheme of uncertain form. What's the truth?

The group is closest to being described as a cutting-edge team, but there are a couple of concerns that show critiques of it being hare-brained are reasonable.

One issue on the problematic front is that TTSA's founder, former Blink-182 star Tom DeLonge, is less bound to the data than his colleagues. This undercuts DeLonge's better work and that of TTSA's impressive leadership team. That team includes Steve Justice, a 31-year veteran of Lockheed Martin's elite "Skunk Works," Luis Elizondo, who headed up the Pentagon's research effort into unidentified aerial phenomena, and Hal Puthoff, long a key figure in experimental science. Those individuals enable TTSA to research the UFO issue in a scientific manner and with utility for technological advancement.

Consider TTSA's studies into hypersonic travel through multiple domains of air, space, and water. Whether you are interested in UFOs or not, that research matters in the context of Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapon capabilities.

Moreover, the now-established data on unexplained aerial phenomena is undeniable. Since at least 2004, numerous U.S. Navy aircrews have seen hypersonic- and anti-gravity-capable unidentified aerial phenomena with their eyes and on their gun cameras. This phenomena evidences technical performance capabilities far in advance of any national military. In some cases, that data is matched by satellite tracking, sonar, and radar data sets. This issue is real and significant. TTSA deserves credit for investigating it with seriousness.

But TTSA still has some issues.

While DeLonge deserves praise for getting his team together and for bringing the issue into the public space, he sometimes loses focus on TTSA's mission. When, for example, DeLonge connects the mythological city of Atlantis to UFOs, he casts into doubt everything else he says. That's a problem for DeLonge as much as his organization.

After all, DeLonge actually has much to offer on this issue. In the same interview where he mentioned Atlantis, for example, DeLonge offered a simple but accurate explanation of space-time manipulation as a theoretical means of travel. What DeLonge said comports with a study contracted by the Defense Intelligence Agency's former UFO research arm. But DeLonge explains it in a way that makes the listener get to the crux of the issue, quickly.

Another problem is TTSA's transparency. Apart from a select few journalists, TTSA does not make it easy for the media to talk to its officers. While TTSA has suffered some unfair reporting, this reflex towards secrecy is inconsistent with the group's stated mission to pursue visible research. The lack of transparency also matters in that TTSA's model is built around attracting private investment (see DeLonge's tweet last week).

Where does this leave us?

TTSA is doing important work. But when you're trying to persuade people that UFOs are a real issue, public credibility is crucial. TTSA should be more open and DeLonge more careful with what he says.