SETI Institute launches radio search for alien life amid 20,000 red dwarf stars

BY ALAN BOYLE

The SETI Institute is shifting the focus of its search for extraterrestrial intelligence to places that could harbor life that’s not as we know it: 20,000 red-dwarf star systems.

“Red dwarfs – the dim bulbs of the cosmos – have received scant attention by SETI scientists in the past,” SETI Institute engineer Jon Richard said today in a news release announcing the initiative. “That’s because researchers made the seemingly reasonable assumption that other intelligent species would be on planets orbiting stars similar to the sun.”

Red dwarfs are nothing like the sun: The brightest of the breed are a tenth as luminous as the sun, and some are just 0.01 percent as bright. But astronomers say they account for three-quarters of all stars.

The star that’s closest to our sun, Proxima Centauri, is a red dwarf. A variety of observing efforts, including the Pale Red Dot initiative, are looking for planets around Proxima Centauri.

Astrobiologists had assumed that red dwarfs put out too little light to support life on alien planets, but that was before astronomers started finding Earth-sized worlds in close orbits around distant stars. Now it’s thought that 6 percent or more of all red dwarfs have potentially habitable, Earth-sized planets.

Another plus for the prospects of red-dwarf life is that such stars are amazingly long-lived: Astronomers have already detected a super-Earth known as Kapteyn bthat orbits an 11.5 billion-year-old red dwarf. That makes the star and the planet 2.5 times older than Earth.]

“This may be one instance in which older is better,” SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak said. “Older solar systems have had more time to produce intelligent species.”

The red-dwarf search is being conducted using the institute’s Allen Telescope Array, a network of linked radio telescopes that was built amid the Cascade Mountains of Northern California using seed money from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

The targets are being chosen from a list of about 70,000 red dwarfs compiled byBoston University’s Andrew West. SETI astronomers will check targeted systems over several frequency bands between 1 and 10 GHz.

“Roughly half of those bands will be at so-called ‘magic frequencies’ – places on the radio dial that are directly related to basic mathematical constants,” SETI Institute scientist Gerry Harp said. “It’s reasonable to speculate that extraterrestrials trying to attract attention might generate signals at such special frequencies.”

Past searches by the SETI Institute have targeted about 1,000 nearby sunlike stars – as well as stars where NASA’s Kepler telescope detected planets, and even theoddball “alien megastructure” star known as KIC 8462852.

Although there have been some intriguing false alarms, no signals from extraterrestrial civilizations have yet been detected.

31-03-2016 om 16:16 geschreven door peter  

Cameron Lucadou-Wells taking Channel Ten's The Project back 50 years. 152313

By GEORGIA WESTGARTH

STAR News Group was graced by an old friend on Thursday when Channel Ten’s The Project dropped in for a chat with resident Westall UFO expert and journalist Cameron Lucadou-Wells.
Project producer Tania Palich took the long journey out to Pakenham to chat with Dandenong Journal reporter Cameron Lucadou-Wells who has been covering the developing Westall flying saucer incident for the past 10 years.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Tania said when she found out where she was going.
“It was like going back in time when I drove in,” she said because it was Star News Group that handed Tania her first electrical typewriter.
“My dad was part owner at Barry Bourke Holden Warragul and he advertised with the Pakenham Gazette, so that’s how I go the internship,” Tania said.
Spending two months as an interning journalist, Tania learnt the ropes from Star owner and editor at the time, Dot Thomas.
“I remember going out on jobs in a big Ford sedan, having just got my licence without any P plates on,” she said, laughing.
But with a hard earned regional start in journalism, Tania has forged a successful career working for some of Australia’s top media firms, including Seven News and the Herald Sun.

“I was here at the Pakenham office 23 years ago – I was tossing up whether to become a teacher or a journalist,” Tania said.
And it’s Melbourne’s keen interest in what played out on 6 April 1966 at Westall High School in Dandenong that had Tania back on her old stomping ground.
The exclusive interview with Cameron discussed what he’s learnt about the mysterious flying figure from eyewitnesses and just how vivid their memories are today, 50 years on.
Look out for the Journal’s special report on the Westall UFO incident in the Journal online on Friday 1 April and in the Journal newspaper on Monday 4 April.
The Project special report will go to air at 6.30pm on Tuesday 5 April.

See Cameron Lucadou-Wells being interviewed by The Project

31-03-2016 om 15:41 geschreven door peter  

{ http://www.niburu.nl/categorie/ufo/ }

31-03-2016 om 11:46 geschreven door peter  

Tennessee witness describes UFOs as ‘snake-like’

A Tennessee witness at Knoxville reported watching black, snake-like objects moving slowly across the sky at 100 feet about 7:45 p.m. on March 26, 2016, according to testimony in Case 75447 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

The Knoxville witness described the object as snake-like. Pictured: Knoxville, TN. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The witness was sitting outside on a deck observing the sky.

“I watched four very high planes go by, with no sound, and emitting trails,” the witness stated.“Two of them went from north to southeast. Two went west to east. I thought that was very strange.”

But a few minutes later, the witness reported watching a black, solid, snake-like object move over the trees to the east.

“It was spinning very slowly to make a spiral-like shape. Appeared to be close, maybe 100 feet from me. It was making its way very slowly toward the southeast.”

The object was moving across the sky at 100 feet. Pictured: Knoxville, TN. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The witness then called for his wife to come outside.

“During the couple of seconds that I looked away to get my wife’s attention, the object had gone from maybe 100 feet away to extremely high in the sky, maybe 500 feet. It took my wife and 4-year-old daughter about five seconds to make it to the deck. By the time they made it outside, a second object had appeared near the first object.”

A second object appeared near the first that moved away from the witness slowly without sound. Pictured: Knoxville, TN. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

The second object was exactly like the first object.

“The two objects slowly ascended out of sight toward the southeast. All three of us watched the objects until they were out of sight. During the sighting, a fifth plane went by, from east to west, very high in the sky, with no sound.”

Tennessee MUFON is investigating. Knoxville is the county seat of Knox County, TN, population 183,270. Please remember that most UFO sightings can be explained as something natural or man-made. The above quotes were edited for clarity. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.

{ http://www.niburu.nl/categorie/ufo/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:50 geschreven door peter  

Teens Arrested In Connection To Stolen UFO At Roswell, New Mexico, March 31, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News

Date of event: March 2016
Location of event: Roswell, New Mexico, USA
News source: 

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/arrest-made-in-roswell-ufo-caper

These kids were probably trying to steal it to make a Youtube video of a faked UFO crash. I see they destroyed the disk, which does look like a disk crashed there. Youtube seems to be a big outlet for kids today and peer pressure probably pushed them into it. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

Coast to Coast states:
Police in Roswell have apprehended a teenager that they believe was one of the pranksters behind the theft and destruction of the famed International UFO Museum flying saucer. The audacious crime made headlines last week after authorities released security camera footage showing three men stealing the iconic model UFO. An unfortunate post-script was added to the tale when police subsequently discovered the craft smashed to pieces on the side of a road. But it appears that justice may soon be served with the arrest of the seventeen-year old suspect, who was brought to the attention of authorities via an anonymous tip. As of now, the young man is refusing to divulge the identities of his accomplices in the caper nor what motivated their saucer smashing. Based on the suspect being seventeen years old, we're guessing that it somehow involved impressing a girl. Nonetheless, since he is not providing any answers to investigators, police are hoping that additional insights from the public can help lead to the capture of his co-conspirators. Let's hope they act fast, because with news of their cohort being taken into custody, the remaining members of the coterie of craft smashers may make a run it and the Mexican border is only a mere 160 miles away.

{   http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:39 geschreven door peter  

Had The Jupiter Meteorites Hit Earth, It Would Have Been An Extinction Level Event, March 17, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Above is negative effect to see the meteor or meteors that hit.

Date of sighting: March 17, 2016
Location of sighting: Jupiter

Several large meteorites struck Jupiter last week and the videos were captured by an amateur astronomer. In the negative photos below, you can make out the shape of the object, which is not what you would expect. This looks small, but if you compare it to the earth photo below, you will see this would be considered an ELE, extinction level event had it hit earth. It could happen this afternoon, tomorrow or on your birthday...and NASA would not have even had a glint of info about it before it hits. That is how helpless earth is in this solar system. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:31 geschreven door peter  

UFO Exits Ground Below Chinese Fish Farm, Causing 25 Tonnes of Fish To Disappear! March 2016, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: March 2016
Location of discovery:  Guangxi Zhuang, China
News source: 

http://news.yahoo.com/farmer-loses-25-tonnes-of-fish-after-they-are-124456637.html

The question I present to you is, if this is a sink hole, then why does it have straight, 90 degree angle edges? It should have a slopped angle down. The fish should have filled a small cavern, but for all that water to disappear, there is something very big...very hollow down there with room to spare...like a base. I do believe that this is the entrance or exit of a UFO. UFO often leave their underground bases, and when they do the ground is separated and them pushed back together, however, the water prevented the ground from going back into place, thus creating a hole, probably several km deep to the alien base itself. I would really like to see the look on their faces when a rain of farm fish falls from the base sky onto them. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:28 geschreven door peter  

New Book Claims US Presidents Know The Truth About Extraterrestrials

A new book claims that all presidents since the war, have known about alien visits to Earth. When U.S. President Reagan said he had met extraterrestrials, most Americans assumed he was kidding. President Barack Obama said in March 2012 landing at Roswell, New Mexico that “I come in peace.” The site is famous for the alleged alien spaceship crash landing.

When asked about the recovered extraterrestrial bodies from the wreckage, he said, “If I told you I would have to kill you… we’re going to keep our secrets here.”

A new book “The Presidents and UFOs: A Secret History From FDR to Obama” (Amazon link) claims that US presidents, from Roosevelt to Obama, have known of evidence regarding extraterrestrial visitation on Earth, leaving spaceship debris, alien corpse, and resulting inthousands of UFO sightings.

Recently, a leaked memo written by US Army chief of staff general Gorge C Marshall to President D Roosevelt in March 1942 reveals that “Headquarters has come to the determination that the mystery airplanes are in fact not earthly and according to secret intelligence sources that are in all probability of interplanetary origin.”

In a reply, President Roosevelt urged the “finding of practical uses for the atomic secrets learned from the study of celestial devices.”

In another memo from Roosevelt, he wrote, “coming to grips with the reality that our planet isn’t the only one harboring intelligent life in the universe.” He continued “We’ll take every advantage of such wonders that have come to us.”

The authenticity of the memos has been fiercely debated. These memos are just part of multiple pieces of evidence uncovered by Larry Holcombe in his new book.

Holcombe, 71, stresses that UFOs exist, and alien life has visited Earth. He explained that evidence is enormous that no reasonable person can deny the existence of extraterrestrials.

Actresses Lucille Ball and Shirley MacLaine, who were in a party together with actor Reagan, claimed Reagan told them that a UFO initially blocked his road to the party. An alien eventually came up and told Reagan to leave acting and go into politics.

President Harry S Truman had allegedly formed the Majestic 12 in 1942, a committee of scientists and military who secretly cover up extraterrestrial activities.

Late in the Second World War Dwight D Eisenhower supposedly met with Winston Churchill to discuss a close encounter of RAF reconnaissance aircraft with a UFO near the English coastline.

President John F Kennedy demanded to hand him over the CIA’s secret files. President Bill Clinton has once said that he attempted to get UFO information that was withheld from him. President Richard Nixon reportedly authorized a UFO documentary to use secret video of an alien craft landing but was stopped by intelligence chiefs.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:21 geschreven door peter  

Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist By Aaron John Gulyas

Are you a fan of the UFO and ET phenomena? If your answer is yes then the Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist (Amazon Link)is one of the books that you must check out from the shelves.

Historian-writer and Professor Aaron John Gulyas published the book in the year 2013. Since then, the book has never run-out of credits from the UFO community.

A recent review from Eric Hoffman in openminds.tv pointed out the books jargon-free, scholarly research and insightful-analysis that gives every reader a well-informed and unbiased publication that is worthy of adding into a collection of personal favorites.

The second recent book review came from Robert S. Ellwood of novareligio.com has mentioned how great the influence of the “space brothers” and contactee movement of the 1950’s in sculpting the present political, sociological and cultural conduct of the human race. Overall, the book had a positive response from the satisfied community.

The unbiased scholarly disposition of Gulyas’s in his first book makes the reading experience to be more sensible with a professional point of argument rather than just sighting all the crazy stuffs all at once that oftentimes bring up more questions than answers. The need for clarification of the truth that is sometimes missing in conventional UFO and ET publications was deeply satisfied.

One of the best offers of Gulyas in this book is how he caught America’s beliefs and ideas during the contactee movement which began in the early 1950’s. During these times, there was a string of people who claimed to be visited and communicated by alien beings from different planets. One of the most famous encounters is from George Adamski, who is said to have been friends with a Venusian alien named “Orthon” whose mission is to stop the Earth from destroying itself and send a message of peace, love and interstellar relationship to the Earth. Gulyas presented his facts on how the tale of Adamski became one of the most famous norms in the contactee movement. Gulyas also discussed the encounters by George Van Tassel, George King, Truman Betherum and George Hunt Williamson.

The book also explores the speculation of the “Men in Black” to be a government secret agency that has special connections to the FBI in investigating U.S. citizens and their relationship with UFOs. Later the mind-boggling story captured Hollywood’s creativity and adapted the story to create their box office hit MIB (Men in Black).

The book Extraterrestrials and the American Zeitgeist is perhaps one of the best books that bring both the excitement of the ET phenomenon and the fact finding investigations in a professional taste, which in most cases the way that the extraterrestrial genre must be tackled.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:18 geschreven door peter  

How Ancient Alien Civilizations Almost Destroyed the Earth

Nick Redfern Reveals Evidence of Hostile Alien Events in Centuries Past

Nick Redfern’s vast, world-wide audience is anxiously awaiting the chance to dive into his latest blockbuster, Weapons of the Gods: How Ancient Alien Civilizations Almost Destroyed the Earth (Amazon Link).  Flamboyantly controversial and dependably thought-provoking, Redfern is one of the

foremost experts on government conspiracies, UFOs, aliens and ancient civilizations. In Weapons of the Gods, he studies long-gone civilizations to answer the question: did previous cultures blossom, develop, and thrive, only to destroy themselves, tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago, with the same atomic technology as the bombs that decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

In this startling new book, Redfern reveals evidence of Armageddon-level events in the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah , the ancient Pakistani culture of Mohenjo-daro, Pakistan, and the Lonar Crater in India. In the epic Sanskrit texts of Ramayana and Mahabharata are descriptions of nuclear warfare that took place thousands of years ago.

Redfern argues that many previous civilizations cracked the secrets of the atom, only to become the victims of its terrifying power, while others may have been destroyed by hostile aliens with their own nuclear arsenals.

A reviewer remarked, “You can always count of Nick Redfern for quality conspiracy and UFO literature. His books have run the gamut from alien abduction to exposes on the infamous ‘Men in Black’ to the search for elusive creatures. (He) makes the world of the paranormal so compelling for his readers.”

A popular speaker and media guest, Redfern is the author of dozens of bestsellers on UFOs, cryptozoology, and the world of the paranormal; and, he has appeared on countless TV shows.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

31-03-2016 om 10:15 geschreven door peter  

Achterkleindochter president Eisenhower: “Veganistisch dieet is beste manier om ruimtewezens aan te trekken”

31-03-2016 om 01:38 geschreven door peter  

UFO LANDT BIJNA BIJ AMERIKAAN IN ACHTERTUIN ( VIDEO )

31-03-2016 om 01:35 geschreven door peter  

Three UFOs Flying Over Mudgee, Australia On March 27, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 27, 2016
Location of sighting: Mudgee, Australia

He is using an infrared converted cam to see these UFOs. A normal camera cannot see most of these. Colourufo of Youtube is an expert at it and hunts on almost a daily basis. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com 

Eyewitness states:
The camera was using: CANON. A.X 25. Full H D. camera.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 01:28 geschreven door peter  

Bug or a UFO over Taunton, MA?

Location: Taunton, Massachusetts
Date: March 2016

Witness report: Taking pictures of the lines that plans now leave, I saw this in one of three photos. Please expand pictures. It’s only in one picture. But they were mili seconds apart. Looks like a satellite but we know it can’t be. I live in Taunton Massachusetts, which is located in the center of the Bridgewater triangle. If you have never heard of it Hooke will help.

{ http://www.latest-ufo-sightings.net/ }

31-03-2016 om 01:24 geschreven door peter  

Amazing footage of a UFO over Massachusetts 29-Mar-2016

Check out this interesting video of a strange craft flying at low altitude in the night sky above Massachusetts. This was filmed yesterday, on 30th March 2016.

Witness report: Driving towards the Village Commons in South Hadley, my friend and I could see two bright lights in the sky that kind of looked like head lights. They were just sitting in the same spot for a very long time. We could see them about a half a mile away. As we got towards the center of the village commons, it looked as though the ufo was now over us. The two lights that we had previously seen turned into three very bright lights. As we were freaking out I had climbed into the backseat of the car and stuck my head out the window. I could see the three very bright lights in a triangle shape and as I was looking at them, I could make out the circular shape of the craft. It looked very low and gigantic. Not long after it just sat above us and hovered, it started to move very fast and get far away. At this point, I needed to head home but my friend who witnessed it with me, continued to search for it after I left. She found it again on 202 in South Hadley and followed it all the way to Memorial Drive in Chicopee. She called me freaking out saying how close she was to it and that she was going to pul over to try and capture a picture. As soon as she parked, she said she was underneath it like we were before, and then the phone started to act up. I started to lose her and eventually our call dropped. She called me back freaking out telling me she captured pictures and a video. I strongly believe that I saw a ufo tonight. You can watch the video and decide for yourself whether or not you believe my story. 

Author (source: MUFON)

31-03-2016 om 01:21 geschreven door peter  

Hear Carl Sagan discuss aliens and the Bible in new Blank on Blank

BY CHRISTIAN HOLUB • @CMHOLUB

{ http://www.ew.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 00:34 geschreven door peter  

Rendleshams Moment Of TRUTH – And The 1000’s Of Top Secret UFO Photos To Be Published?

It has recently come to light that a former US Naval officer who claims his secrecy agreement with the American Government has now expired is vowing to lift the lid on thousands of top-secret UFO files he claims to have seen – and there isn’t anything that the US Government can do about it.

The man, who says he was a third-class petty officer at the Naval Telecommunications Centre within NAS Moffett Field from February 1986 to October 1989, also claims he can shed light on the mysterious mass-UFO sighting involving military personal in 1980.

This man has yet to be named, but a former British MoD UFO investigator confirmed recently that this man is complexly genuine source, creating a flurry of excitement throughout the planet.

Nick Pope, who was put in charge by the British MoD with investigating UK UFO cases, including the Rendlesham incident, said:

“I’ve actually had some personal communication with this individual, and have no doubts about his background”.

“It’s clear from the language he uses and the information he has that he’s a genuine insider.”

But Mr Pope then went on and suddenly stopped short of encouraging the whistleblower to come out into the open – as if he felt he had a duty to NOT encourage the matter.  He said:

“While my own secrecy oath means I can’t encourage anyone to divulge classified information without proper authority, I’m obviously very interested in his story.

“As I conducted the MoD’s cold case review of the Rendlesham Forest incident I’m particularly keen to hear about anything that would shed new light on this case.” Nick said.

Former MOD Nick Pope

The now famous Rendlesham legend has been dubbed Britain’s very own Roswell after the mystery UFO crash said to have happened outside the town in New Mexico, USA, in July 1947.

The UK UFO sighting happened in the early hours of December 26 1980, when three US officers based at RAF Bentwaters claimed a “triangular shaped craft” landed in neighbouring woods – This case has led to several reported sightings on the night by the public and several books and conspiracies.

The man, who has not been publicly named, is now claiming that the US National Security Agency (NSA) and the UK Government had a going project looking at UFO sightings, which included the Rendlesham incident back in the 1980s.

The man has filed a report to the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) -, saying that he wants to help reach “disclosure”.

In the report filed recently he said:

“I’m not reporting a UFO sighting rather a UFO related experience. 

“I have copies of my security clearances.

“I personally handled, viewed and delivered thousands of documents involving UFO/ET Projects. 

“My secrecy agreement with the US Government expired in October 2014. 

“At this point in my life I would like to share my knowledge in hopes that someone will be able to use it effectively towards disclosure.” He said.

News of the World reports of Rendlesham at the time

The unknown man then went on to confirm that he was given TS SBI/ESI NATO/SIOP Compartmental Security Clearance, which is Top Secret clearance for working in Special Background Investigation, Single Integrated Operation Plan, Exceptionally Sensitive Information and with NATO.

He then added:

“In addition we had a GS11 employee who was transferred from a Joint US/UK communication station north of London after working at that site for a dozen years. 

“He said it was an National Security Agency (NSA)/UK facility tasked with tracking UFO including Rendalsham Forest Incident. 

“He said that UFO/ET were real and that hopefully disclosure would happen in my lifetime since he was in his early 60s at the time.” 

In the report he went on to say:

“I was required to deliver TS Code word designation COSMIC to SRI, ESL/SYLVANIA, LOCKHEED SKUNKWORKS, TRW, RATHEON, BERKELEY LABS, LAWRENCE LIVERMORE LABS, and other think tanks throughout Silicon valley.”

After some research it appears that at the time in question, Moffett Field was an important naval air base, but is now a MFA as a restricted federal airfield, run by NASA.*  The Lockheed Martin Skunkworks is a global security and aerospace company based in Bethesda, Maryland.

The Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore laboratories and scientific labs which work closely with NASA in California.

Spelt differently, Raytheon Company is a global technology and innovation firm specialising in defence and cybersecurity.

Roger Marsh, who is a MUFON spokesman, said: “This historical case has been assigned to a field investigator within the Californian MUFON group.”  But yet AGAIN they will probably confirm NOTHING and dismiss what appears to be an extremely important piece of disclosure as ‘inconclusive’

Military fencing around the former RAF Bentwaters base still said to be a UFO hotspot

U.I.P SUMMARY – 

Now this is an incredibly IMPORTANT story and one of which us guys at U.I.P will be monitoring VERY closely – it appears that this person is very real and has some very conclusive evidence.

Interestingly this post has been deleted twice after our site had been hacked into a couple of times, so it appears that somebody somewhere does not want this story highlighted in the public eye!?

It was not that long ago that we actually published an article on some strange events that have been witnessed at Rendlesham forest, with some GREAT evidence captured on camera – perhaps there can be no more covering up the events that have happened in the forest and that there is ‘something’ there, perhaps some kind of other worldly gateway which unknown Beings are using to travel through.

We will keep you updated on this story and try to interview the person who is supposedly discloing this information.

Please check out our previous posts before on the Rendlesham event:

Here is a link on some of the strange beings captured on camera at Rendlesham –http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/latest-news/the-interdimensional-beings-at-rendlesham/

http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/latest-news/the-rendlesham-forest-incident-the-truth-is-coming/

Our Q and A interview with Nick Pope last year – http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/latest-news/u-i-p-world-exclusive-nick-pope-answers-your-questions/

MWV

Rendlesham Forest – The TRUTH is coming? (Photo courtesy of Brenda Butler and her team)

{   http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/ }

31-03-2016 om 00:28 geschreven door peter  

A Cyborg Swarm: The Future Of Drone Tech is Remote-Controlled, Living Beetles

 

Researchers have now developed bio-inspired drones with bug eyes, bat ears, bird wings, and even honeybee-like hairs to sense biological, chemical and nuclear weapons

Nanyang Technological University

Over recent years a range of miniature drones, or micro air vehicles (MAVs), based on the same physics used by flying insects, have been presented to the public

31-03-2016 om 00:17 geschreven door peter  

Japanese Astronomy Satellite Hitomi Malfunctions, Generates Debris

WASHINGTON — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is working to restore communications with a new astronomy satellite that malfunctioned March 26, generating debris.

In a March 27 statement, JAXA said it lost communications with the Hitomi satellite at 3:40 a.m. Eastern March 26. "Up to now, JAXA has not been able to figure out the state of health of the satellite," the agency said in the statement.

"We are still trying to recover communication with 'Hitomi', and trying to find out the status and causes of this communication failure," JAXA said in a tweet early March 28, the latest update provided by the agency on the status of recovery efforts. [Japan's Hitomi X-ray Astronomy Satellite Explained (Infographic)]

The Hitomi X-ray astronomy satellite, built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, as it appeared in November 2015. JAXA launched the spacecraft on Feb. 17, 2016, but communication with the craft was lost on March 26.

Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency- 

While JSpOC classified this event as a "breakup," the satellite appears to still be mostly intact, although damaged. JAXA noted that it "received short signals from Hitomi" after the time JSpOC reported for the breakup, but did not indicate exactly when it received the signals or any information they provided about the status of the spacecraft.

Amateur satellite observers, observing Hitomi from the ground, reported on a mailing list late March 27 seeing flashes from the satellite with a period of 5 to 10 seconds. Those flashes suggest that the spacecraft, which is normally three-axis stabilized, is spinning.

Astro-H launch (Hitomi - X-ray Astronomy Satellite)

https://youtu.be/kRyyLscZpdY

Astro-H X-ray Mission

https://youtu.be/WuvUlio2jpQ

Neither JAXA nor JSpOC have speculated on the cause of the malfunction and breakup, which could be due to either a technical problem with the satellite itself or a collision with a micrometeorite or piece of orbital debris. 

JAXA launched Hitomi, originally known as Astro-H, on an H-2A rocket Feb. 17. The 2,700-kilogram satellite carries several instruments to perform x-ray astronomy observations. Some of the spacecraft's instruments were provided by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The spacecraft was in the middle of a three-month checkout and instrument calibration phase when the malfunction took place.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.

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30-03-2016 om 17:39 geschreven door peter  

Viva 'Mars World': Las Vegas May Get Red Planet Experience

An otherworldly tourist attraction could be coming to Sin City a few years from now.

A consortium that includes a renowned space designer wants to build an immersive experience called "Mars World" near the famed Las Vegas Strip by 2021.

The multi-acre simulated city will rise on yet-to-be purchased land somewhere between the I-15 freeway and Las Vegas Boulevard, if all goes according to plan. Visitors will be treated to the music, costumes and culture of a Mars colony. They will take simulated "Marswalks" in one-fourth Earth gravity, ride a tram around the crater in which the city is built and even sleep overnight in rough habitats if they wish. [7 Biggest Mysteries of Mars]

Fundraising for the $2 billion project will take several years. About $500,000 is available now from "key players" in the finance and trademarking/branding world, said chief designer John Spencer, who's also the founder of the Space Tourism Society. A second fundraising round of $17 million has just begun, he added.

"We're really moving forward on this longstanding connection between science fiction and entertainment and real things," Spencer told Space.com. "We developed an approach — we call this a design approach —that what we're doing is not science fiction. It's science future."

Paging Walt Disney

Spencer's space architecture work includes design on the International Space Station and Japan's Space World theme park, as well as early designs for the Science Fiction Museum and Las Vegas' Star Trek: The Experience. He also was the designer for the Aquarius underwater laboratory used by astronauts during NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) missions.

Las Vegas is a natural location for this attraction, Spencer said. About 40 million visitors come every year, with about 8 million of those being first-time visitors. They seek something unique that they can talk to their friends about, Spencer added. He therefore estimates he can pull in about 7 million attendees annually for Mars World.

Doing so will require a lot of work, Spencer acknowledges, but he added he has expertise in raising millions of dollars in space-themed parks. He is studying other "location-based entertainment" master plans, such as that of Disney World in Florida, focusing on elements such as realism.

When the second round of funding is finished, Spencer plans to gather advice on music, interiors, lighting and design from the entertainment world in Los Angeles.

Revenues and audience 

While some elements of Mars World will be for children, such as an animatronic petting zoo, the experience will mostly be targeted to the over-21 crowd. Specifically, Spencer is imagining an audience with a mentality similar to that of "Burning Man" desert festival attendees.

"They're pretty rowdy, independent, artistic. Don't agree with authority too much. At Burning Man, clothing is optional," Spencer said. "If you take that as a foundation and extend that out further in the controlled environment, then we have amazing characters, artwork and costumes."

Attendance to the park will be free, but to generate ongoing revenues for the project, Spencer envisions selling merchandise on-site. He also wants to patent certain aspects of the project such as the architecture. But first, his team will need to purchase the land, which will cost about $200 million. He is looking at two tracts, one about 85 acres, the other 66 acres.

Other members of the Mars World team include CEO Lewis Stanton (with executive experience in the hospitality, casino and capital market industries); Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Leight (who among other things, relaunched the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago) and Vice President Garry Willinge (formerly with IBM China, and a director for several private and public company boards).

You can learn more about Mars World at http://marsworld.com.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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30-03-2016 om 17:23 geschreven door peter