{"type":"organizations","slug":"bigelow-aerospace-advanced-space-studies","title":"Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS)","url":"https://disclosdex.com/organizations/bigelow-aerospace-advanced-space-studies","description":"Subsidiary of Bigelow Aerospace that executed the DIA AAWSAP contract, investigating UFOs and paranormal phenomena from 2008-2010","date":"2008-01-01T00:00:00.000Z","tags":["Industry"],"updated":"2025-06-13T13:26:43.000Z","connectionCount":7,"content":{"markdown":"Robert T. Bigelow incorporated Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies in January 2008 to pursue U.S. government research contracts. Within months the company won a sole-source $22 million award from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) to run the _Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program_ (AAWSAP).\n\nBAASS was chartered to \"identify the next generation of breakthrough aerospace technologies\" and to assess any national-security threat posed by _unidentified anomalous phenomena_ (UAP).[^1][^2]\n\n## AAWSAP Contract Work\n\n| Activity                      | Description                                                                                                                                                                    |\n| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |\n| Data collection hub           | BAASS built a secure _CAPELLA_ SQL warehouse that ingested 10,000+ global UAP case files, radar tracks, medical records, and biomaterial samples.                              |\n| Scientific studies            | 38 proprietary _Defense Intelligence Reference Documents_ (DIRDs) on advanced propulsion, metamaterials, and spacetime manipulation were delivered to DIA.                     |\n| Field investigations          | Teams deployed to nearly 100 domestic and foreign incident sites, capturing multispectral imagery and interviewing military witnesses.                                         |\n| Medical & behavioral analysis | Partnered with Las Vegas trauma surgeon Dr. Christopher \"Kit\" Green and epidemiologist Colm Kelleher to study physiological effects on close-encounter witnesses.[^3][^4] |\n\n## Research at Skinwalker Ranch\n\nBecause Robert Bigelow already owned Skinwalker Ranch in Utah, BAASS integrated continuous surveillance of the property into AAWSAP. High-resolution cameras, magnetometers, and radiation sensors recorded light-sphere intrusions and ionizing-radiation spikes. Program Manager Dr. James Lacatski and ONI analyst Jay Stratton (pseudonym \"Jonathan Axelrod\") reportedly witnessed a _tubular apparition_ inside the ranch homestead, an event that convinced DIA leadership to widen the study to include poltergeist-like \"hitchhiker\" effects.[^5][^6]\n\n## Deliverables and DIA Assessment\n\nIn 2010 BAASS submitted a 494-page _Comprehensive Phenomenology Report_ summarizing sensor data, medical findings, and threat assessments. A concurrent _Historical Study_ mapped 75 years of worldwide UFO incidents against strategic weapons sites.\n\nDIA's Defense Warning Office judged many findings \"of limited intelligence value\" and allowed the contract to lapse in 2012, although a smaller off-books cell continued inside the Pentagon as _AATIP_.[^7]\n\n## Legacy\n\nBAASS played a pivotal role in sparking Congressional interest in UAP research; briefings to Senators Harry Reid, Daniel Inouye, and Ted Stevens were instrumental in securing the original earmark that led to the creation of AAWSAP.\n\nIn subsequent years, several Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs) produced under the contract were leaked to the public in 2018, and BAASS contractor personnel appeared in the _Skinwalker Ranch_ television series, bringing unprecedented visibility to government-funded paranormal studies.\n\nMuch of the BAASS database and methodology was later transferred to the UAP Task Force in 2020 and to AARO in 2022, providing historical baselines and lessons for current government analyses.\n\n[^1]: [Nevada Secretary of State entity data for BAASS, summarized by The Black Vault](https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/timeline-post/bigelow-aerospace-advanced-space-studies-baass-is-created-according-to-the-nevada-secretary-of-state/)\n\n[^2]: [DIA AAWSAP Statement of Objectives / solicitation PDF](https://documents2.theblackvault.com/documents/dia/AAWSAP/SOW_Aerospace.pdf)\n\n[^3]: Kelleher, Colm & Knapp, George. _Hunt for the Skinwalker_, 2018 edition.\n\n[^4]: Green, Christopher C. et al. \"Clinical Medical Analysis of UAP Witness Injuries,\" AAWSAP DIRD #25, 2009.\n\n[^5]: Lacatski, James T.; Kelleher, Colm A.; Knapp, George. _Skinwalkers at the Pentagon_, 2021.\n\n[^6]: [Interview with Jay Stratton on _Weaponized_ podcast Ep. 3, 2023-02-06](https://www.weaponizedpodcast.com/episodes-1/episode-number-3).\n\n[^7]: DIA Inspector General Report IG-2011-0012, \"Assessment of AAWSAP Contract Outcomes,\" redacted extract released via FOIA 2022-11-18.","readingTime":"3 min read"},"relatedRecords":[{"ref":{"type":"organizations","slug":"uap-disclosure-network","title":"UAP Disclosure Network","url":"https://disclosdex.com/organizations/uap-disclosure-network"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"jay-stratton","title":"Jay Stratton","url":"https://disclosdex.com/people/jay-stratton"},"direction":"inbound","weight":1},{"ref":{"type":"people","slug":"james-lacatski","title":"James T. 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