GEPAN / GEIPAN · CNES agency· 1977
In 1977 the French space agency (CNES) created GEPAN (Groupe d'Étude des Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non-identifiés), initially directed by Claude Poher. Renamed SEPRA (1988) and then GEIPAN (2005), it is the only body in the world within a national space agency dedicated publicly and continuously —for nearly half a century— to receiving, investigating and publishing reports of unidentified aerospace phenomena. It classifies each case (A–D) by how much is explained; a small percentage remains 'PAN D', unidentified despite good information. It is the institutional gold standard, and the body that studied the Trans-en-Provence physical trace.