Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS NEARLY 13 YEARS AND 4 MONTH.
ON /30/09/2024 MORE THAN 2.230.520
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
13-11-2017
Giant Object Named OGLE is Neither a Planet Nor a Star
Giant Object Named OGLE is Neither a Planet Nor a Star
Let’s get a couple of things out of the way right up front. First, NASA needs help coming up with names for new space objects. The subject of this article is named OGLE, which is bad enough, but its full name is OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb, a string of letters and numbers that would be better in a password (secretly level: medium – needs some special characters). Have they run out of Greek and Roman gods? How about hiring the guy at a record company who names new bands? Second, although the subject of this article may be some new kind of mysterious planet, it’s probably not Planet X nor Nine nor Nibiru.
The object was first discovered in June 2016 by astronomers from the University of Warsaw working on the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment, which means they used gravitational microlensing to detect its presence as its gravity bent the light of its star (and used the discovering telescope to come up with the odd ogling name). Its presence 22.000 light years away was confirmed a few days later by scientists using NASA’s orbiting Spitzer telescope.
Spitzer space telescope
At this point, the discovery gets exciting enough to publish a paper about it. In the study submitted to the Astronomical Journal, lead author Y-H Ryu of the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute reveals that OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb is something to ogle at – its mass is 13 times that of Jupiter or 4,000 times Earth’s mass, making it one of the largest planets ever discovered … IF it’s a planet. That sort of mass usually indicates an object is a brown dwarf – a non-functioning star that is not performing hydrogen thermonuclear fusion. However, Ogle’s orbit is at a fairly close distance from its star where astronomers have long assumed that gravity would not allow it to exist – they even describe this area as a “brown dwarf desert.”
So what exactly is Ogle? Astronomers can’t decide (there’s nothing more exciting than a competition among astronomers – kind of a Dancing With The Stargazers) so they have to make do with the 2016 pictures and computer models until its three-year orbit puts it in front of its start to cause another microlensing event.
Artist’s interpretation of the Milky Way’s galactic bulge
If it’s indeed a giant exoplanet, it “is likely to be the first Spitzer microlensing planet in the Galactic bulge/bar.” ‘Galactic bulge’ – now there’s a good name for the space phenomenon that is the middle of the Milky Way (not to mention a great name for a band or a malady that affects aliens on long space flights with little opportunity for exercising. At the local astronomers betting parlor, the odds favor some sort of failed brown dwarf over giant exoplanet or some new form of orbiting space object. The bookie tells those wanting to place bets on Planet X to go for something with better odds, like the lottery.
Astronomical event called “The Star of Bethlehem” graces the predawn sky on November 13, 2017
Astronomical event called “The Star of Bethlehem” graces the predawn sky on November 13, 2017
Get ready for the most exciting sky event of 2017! A truly fascinating event occurs on November 13th. "The Star of Bethlehem" graces the predawn sky.
They are the brightest celestial objects after the Sun and Moon. Venus and Jupiter are going to converge for a close jaw-dropping encounter. Astronomers refer to a close celestial pair-up like this as a conjunction.
What Was The Star of Bethlehem? Many Christians see the star as a miraculous sign to mark the birth of the Christ (or messiah). Some theologians claimed that the star fulfilled a prophecy, known as the Star Prophecy.
Astronomers have made several attempts to link the star to unusual astronomical events, such as a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, a comet or a supernova.
The truth is, we don't know the answer, and in fact, no one else does either, in spite of what you might hear. If there was a clear-cut answer to this question, everyone would already know the answer and wouldn't have to ask.
Some scholars say that the Star of Bethlehem must have been a supernatural event, not a natural occurrence of astronomy. Indeed, perhaps this is a mystery that modern science can never truly unravel.
Doughnut-Shaped UFO Floats Over A Famous Lake In Southwest China
Doughnut-Shaped UFO Floats Over A Famous Lake In Southwest China
Taiwanese salesman John Chen claimed he had captured a UFO in a doughnut shape on camera in southwest China.
The businessman said he snapped some scenic shots of the favourite tourist spot Lake Dian on November 1 after attending a trade show held in Yunnan Province.
Together with his sister-in-law, he was shocked to see a strange ring-shaped aerial thing when they were reviewing at one picture at home in Taipei.
The object appears to have a hole in the middle and ridged sides, similar to the shape of a classic doughnut.
In hope to find what the object could be, Mr Chen decided to look for a UFO expert.
Mr Chen happened to consult the leading British UFO researcher Philip Mantle about the strange thing in the photo. However, Mr Mantle could not explain it and called the incident an open verdict.
Mr Chen said that he did not see the strange thing the time as it was his wife’s sister who noticed it. He tried to share the photos with his colleagues, but they did not capture the same thing in the sky.
Mr Mantle said that he could not see any evidence that the pictures were tampered in any way, but admitted that the object could also be some airborne debris.
Watch Alleged U.S. Navy Footage Seemingly Shows A UFO That Defies Physics
Watch Alleged U.S. Navy Footage Seemingly Shows A UFO That Defies Physics
An unidentified flying object that defied physics is claimed to be in a leaked U.S. Navy video footage, which has emerged after a former Area 51 insider shared about the encounter.
Several F-18 pilots are said to have outmaneuvered by extraordinary UFO during the terrifying encounter. Former U.S. national security chief Chris Mellon, who claimed to have spent time at Area 51 military base, said that U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Nimitz recorded the UFO on video during the seven-hour encounter.
Mr. Mellon claimed that he served for nearly 20 years in the U.S. federal government in several national security roles under the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
The former national security chief was reportedly on a committee with oversight of all special access programs in Department of Defense. He also said to have spent ten years on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Mr. Mellon is one of the ex-senior government insiders who has gone forward after joining former Blink 182 frontman Tom DeLonge’s alien truth-seeking organization To The Stars Academy.
Mr. Mellon, who also had accessed on classified projects at the highly-secretive military facility in Nevada, detailed the bizarre incident that said to take place off the San Diego coast in broad daylight.
Now, a video has surfaced, claiming to be the footage recorded in 2004. It has been released anonymously and recently doing the rounds on social media.
The clip shows a mysterious object hovering in the skies.
It seems to show one of the F-18’s crosshairs lining the UFO up, but the bizarre thing speeds out of sight.
Many UFO experts believe that the craft disappeared with supersonic speed.
UFOlogist Tyler said that it looks like legit F-18 footage, which has been corroborated by men that were in the incident.
Called the "flagship case" of alien abduction. A husband and wife (Betty and Barney Hill) taking a short vacation see a bright object in the evening. They are stopped on the road by aliens and become part of an abduction case for the ages. Regressive hypnosis plays a major role in unveiling a dark secret... a secret of alien abduction, and medical experimentation.
In South Ashburnham, Massachusetts on the night of January 25, 1967, one of the most celebrated cases of UFO abduction began. Betty Andreasson was working in her kitchen while her seven children, mother, and father were in the living room... suddenly a bright light invades the house. From the yard, alien creatures are seen hopping toward the house! One of the strangest abduction cases.
1967 ABDUCTION OF HERBERT SCHIRMER
As Patrolman Schirmer passed through the intersection of Highway 6 with Highway 63 on the outskirts of Ashland, he saw what appeared to be red lights on a large truck stopped a short way down Highway 63. He decided to turn around and check it out. He drove the short distance down 63 and stopped with his headlights shining on the object. According to Schirmer, the object was definitely not a truck. The red lights that he had seen were blinking through the oval portholes of a metallic, oval-shaped object.
1969 THE BUFF LEDGE CAMP ABDUCTION
Only seven and a half years after the Betty and Barney Hill story, the New England states would again host an alien abduction. Buff Ledge in Vermont would be the site of a visitation by four UFOs which would make revolutionary aerial maneuvers, Two counselors would suffer missing time, and seek professional help.
Fifteen different people see a large, silver UFO fly over a housing project in St. Tammany Parish, New Orleans, Louisiana. Only a scant 24 hours later, Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson would unwillingly take a journey into the unknown... strange creatures with claw-like hands abduct them. J. Allen Hynek investigates.
1975 THE ABDUCTION OF SERGEANT CHARLES L. MOODY
Alamogordo, New Mexico would be the location of a UFO encounter involving Air Force Sergeant Charles L. Moody on August 13, 1975. Moody was in the desert observing a meteor shower at ab 1:15 A.M. when he saw a glowing, metallic, disk-shaped object falling toward the ground about 300 feet away.
As seven bloggers began their journey home, they see a "luminous object, shaped like a flattened disc." All of the men agreed that Travis Walton, captivated by the sight, left the truck to get a closer look. A blue beam hits him, throwing him to the ground. He would vanish for five days, and soon begin telling his story of the inside of an extraterrestrial spacecraft.
1976 The Stanford, Kentucky Abductions
While America was still buzzing over the Travis Walton abduction, three women are abducted near Stanford, Kentucky. Heading for Hustonville on Highway 78, they suddenly see a "bright, red" object in the clear, night sky, turning a nice evening into a night of terror. Read about this in depth investigation here.
The Allagash Waterway incident would involve multiple witnesses.
Four artists were enjoying a canoeing trip on the Allagash Waterway when their pleasant evening was turned into a nightmare... A nightmare of missing time and alien abduction. At first only missing time, and then forgetfulness. Finally a connection is made, and little by the details become known in this compelling case of alien abduction.
1976 The Dechmont Forest Abduction
Robert Taylor was sixty-one-years-old at the time that he had the most unusual encounter of his life. He had worked as a forester all of his adult life in the Dechmont woods located in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. On the morning of Friday, November 9, 1979, he and his red setter rounded a corner on a forest trail and saw an unbelievable sight, a UFO! The object appeared to be hovering just above the forest floor. It made no sound, and seemed to be motionless.
A policeman named Philip Spencer claims to have taken a picture of an alien being. If this is true, it is one of only a few in existence. The scary Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire, England would hold the secret of the strange creature encountered one early morning.
Godfrey was frightened, but ran after the creature, taking one photograph. See it here. Through hypnosis, he would recall an odd flying object, and an alien abduction.
1988 Father & Son Abducted
John Salter Jr. and his son are abducted by benevolent aliens. One of the few cases in which alien abduction turned out to be a good thing. Medical experimentation has a happy ending, with improved health for both abductees.
An extremely compelling case of alien abduction is that of Linda Napolitano. Napolitano has claimed that she was abducted by the so-called "greys," who floated her from a closed bedroom window into a hovering UFO. As time went by, several different eye witnesses came forward to substantiate her claims... Several bystanders, including a well known politician, actually see the incident.
1993 The Kelly Cahill Abduction
In August 1993, 27-year-old Kelly Cahill, her husband, and three children were driving home after a visit to a friend's house. Their routine journey would soon become a harrowing trip into an unknown world of strange beings that occupied space but were void of color as we know it. The Dandenong foothills, near Victoria, Australia would be forever linked to one of the strangest creatures in Ufological archives.
1997 Abduction in Wales
One of the weirdest cases reported to the Welsh Federation of Independent Ufologists is the multiple sighting of UFOs on the same night - except one family got too close for comfort and were apparently abducted. The strange and disturbing events began to unfold when for several nights an elderly man living in Little Orme, Conwy, was troubled by what he called "frightening" beams of light over the Great Orme.
For many years now, UFOs have more than not been identified as "flying saucers," or disc-shaped objects. Of course, there were other unknown flying object reports of odd-shaped vehicles of many different descriptions, but these were the exception and not the rule.
In the last 30 years or so, the triangle shape has become a topic of much discussion. Often reported as flying low and running silent, with several lights on the bottom, these strange objects have become an enigma in UFO circles.
Sightings of these objects often come in waves, and they are reported as being able to go from a crawl to a high-speed departure in a matter of seconds.
A GOVERNMENT PROJECT?
Many feel that the triangle UFO may be a top-secret government craft, still in the experimental stage, and more than likely designed with military implications. Some researchers feel that they are the next step in the Stealth series of craft, capable of flying low and making their exit without being detected by enemy radar. This type of craft would be indispensable for enemy surveillance, especially with weapon capabilities.
I will agree that a good portion of triangle UFO sightings may be attributed to a government manufactured craft, but this cannot account for all of them. The man on the street cannot know just how advanced governmental or military technological prowess may be, but reports of the flight characteristics of the triangles seem to surpass even our most liberal estimates of what modern technology is capable of.
REPORTS INCREASING
Although the triangle craft seem to be a dark, mysterious entity, according to researcher and author, Clyde Lewis, triangle sightings in the United Kingdom are almost an everyday occurrence. He states in his article, "Mystery of the Black Triangles," there have been approximately 4,000 reports of the triangles since 1990 in the UK alone.
There have also been waves of triangle sightings in Belgium, France, Holland and Germany, beginning with the most celebrated wave of all, the 1989-1990 triangle wave over Belgium.
In this particular case, in addition to triangle sightings, other anomalous events took place. As some of the triangles were picked up by military radar, jets would be scrambled to get a close look at exactly what was invading Belgian airspace. However, although the jet fighters could briefly lock in on the mysterious UFOs, when their weapons were set to fire, their electrical systems would malfunction, and soon the triangles were out of range.
One of the most famous UFO pictures ever taken. The photographer, to my knowledge, still remains unnamed. Taken on an April night during a well known "wave ...
ANOMALOUS EFFECT
A second unusual fact during the Belgian wave was the inability of eyewitnesses to capture the objects on film. There are a couple of fairly decent, distant videos of them, and finally, one good photograph was taken in April 1990 in the city of Petit-Rechain.
This photograph clearly shows a triangle-shaped object with red lights on the belly.
There were approximately 1,000 sightings of the Belgian triangle, and many of these were reported by ground observers who could clearly see the craft and took what they felt would be a good, clear picture. However, when their film was developed, the image was blurry and had no probative value.
This fact came to the attention of August Meessen, a physics professor, who was employed by the Catholic University at Louvin.
He developed a theory that the photographic failures were caused by infrared light. He proved his theory through scientific experiments. What this actually means is open to debate, but it appears from witness statements, that the farther away the triangle was from the photographer, the better chance to get a good image.
The sightings over Belgium were investigated, and there was no doubt that unknown, triangular-shaped objects moved over the country for about two years. They were caught on radar, seen by pilots, and witnessed by a general cross-section of the public, including policemen.
No explanation could be given, except to say that something very unusual occurred in the Belgian skies.
This is one of the best examples of the triangle UFOs, but in future articles, I will detail other special cases of these strange, low-flying craft.
1. Los Angeles, California; February 25, 1942, 02:25 p.m.
1942-Los Angeles, California.
The legend: Alarm sirens installed in the event of a Japanese air raid are started as flying objects are seen and announced in the sky. A blackout is declared and anxious and terrified citizens follow the instructions by turning all the lights off. 03:16 p.m. Anti-aircraft guns open fire on the unidentified flying objects coming from the ocean, and projector beams are searching the sky. Witnesses observe small objects flying at high altitude, of red or silver plated color, moving in formation at high speed, and untouched by the AAA salvos. This large object was unhurt by many AAA projectiles, according to the reports.
2. McMinnville, Oregon; May 8, 1950
1950-McMinnville, Oregon. Paul Trent
Photographed by Paul Trent after his wife spotted a strange object in the sky, these images were published in a local newspaper in McMinnville, Oregon. Soon after, the Trent photos were published in Life magazine edition of June 26, 1950. The rest is history.
3. Washington, D. C., 1952
1952-Washington, D. C. 1952-Washington, D. C. United States Air Force
The legend: Early in the history of Ufology in the United States, unidentified flying objects made themselves known to the leaders of the free world, buzzing over the White House, the Capitol building, and the Pentagon. Seemingly the unknown objects were defying the very governmental agencies sworn to protect the United States from foreign powers. Washington National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base picked up a number of UFOs on their radar screens on July 19, 1952, beginning a wave of sightings still unexplained to this day.
4. Rosetta/Natal, South Africa; July 17, 1956
1956-South Africa 1956-South Africa. South African Air Force
This famous photograph, part of a series of seven similar images, was taken by a well-respected member of South African society in the Drakensberg Mountains. The photographer maintained her story until she died in 1994.
5. Santa Ana, California; August 3, 1965
1965-Santa Ana, California 1965-Santa Ana, California. Rex Heflin
This photograph was taken by highway traffic engineer Rex Heflin, while driving near the Santa Ana freeway. Heflin did not report his sighting, but the photographs were published by the Santa Ana Register on August 20, 1965. The photos were reportedly confiscated, and disagreements arose between Ufologists regarding their authenticity.
6. Tulsa, Oklahoma; 1965
1965-Tulsa, Oklahoma 1965-Tulsa, Oklahoma. Life Magazine
The legend: In 1965, a series of strange low flying objects were reported almost nightly by people of all ages and walks of life across the United States. As the year progressed, the number of reports rose dramatically. On the night of August 2, 1965 thousands of people in four midwestern states witnessed spectacular aerial displays by large formations of UFOs. That same night a multi-colored disc was photographed in Tulsa, Oklahoma while several people watched it perform low altitude maneuvers. This picture was extensively analyzed, pronounced authentic, and later published by Life magazine.
7. Provo, Utah; July 1966; 11 a.m.
1966-Provo, Utah 1966-Provo, Utah. United States Air Force
The pilot of a twin engine C-47 "Skytrain" transport aircraft of the USAF took this photograph on a July morning in 1966. The aircraft was flying over the Rocky Mountains, at about 40 kilometers southwest of Provo, Utah. The Condon commission, which concluded that UFOs are unworthy of scientific investigations, analyzed the negative at the time and concluded that the photograph shows an ordinary object thrown in the air. Many Ufologists disagree with their conclusion.
8. Woonsocket, Rhode Island; 1967
1967-Woonsocket, Rhode Island 1967-Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Harold Trudel
The legend: This daytime photograph of a disk-shaped object was taken in East Woonsocket, Rhode Island by UFO contactee Harold Trudel. The photograph shows a slightly asymmetric hubcap shaped object with a small dome and aerial extending from the bottom. Trudel believed he was in mental contact with space people, who sent him telepathic messages as to where and when they would appear.
9. Costa Rica; September 4, 1971
1971-Costa Rica 1971-Costa Rica. Costa Rican Government
An official mapping aircraft of the Costa Rican government took this photograph in 1971. The aircraft was flying at 10,000 feet over Lago de Cote. An investigation could not identify the object as a "known" aircraft. Debunkers took some stabs at it, but the photograph is still recognized as authentic by most investigators. No "earthly" explanation has ever been given to explain the object.
10. Apollo 16 / Moon; April 16-27, 1967
1972-Apollo 16 1972-Apollo 16. NASA
The UFO is seen at just right of top center. No explanation has been given for the object.
11. Tavernes, France; 1974
1974-Tavernes, France 1974-Tavernes, France. Anonymous French Medical Doctor
This classic French UFO image was taken by an anonymous French medical doctor in Var, during a major UFO flap over France. Skeptics doubted the picture on the grounds that "luminous rays cannot end like this." Of course they do not, normally. But the skeptics simply forgot to consider other explanations—that these are not luminous rays but light emission by ionized air, for example. The object in the photograph is still considered a UFO.
12. Waterbury, Connecticut; 1987
1987-Waterbury, Connecticut 1987-Waterbury, Connecticut. Randy Etting
The lengend: Randy Etting was taking a walk outside his home. A commercial airline pilot with over 30 years experience, he spent a lot of time looking at the sky. On the night he took the photograph, he saw a number of orange and red lights approaching from the west. He got his binoculars and called his neighbors to come outside. By this time, the object was a great deal closer and seemed to be over I-84, just east of Etting's home. The lights were shimmering like distortion from engine heat, but he could hear no sound. Etting stated: "As the UFO passed over I-84, cars in both the east and west bound lanes began pulling over and stopping. The UFO displayed a semi-circular pattern of very bright multicolored lights. Five motorists reported that, as the object became visible, a number of cars lost power and had to pull off the highway."
13. Gulf Breeze, Florida; 1987
1987-Gulf Breeze, Florida 1987-Gulf Breeze, Florida. Ed Walters
When the news of the flurry of sightings spread beyond the close knit community of Gulf Breeze, soon UFO enthusiasts across the world were involved. Shortly after Walters' photos hit the local newspaper, more UFO photographers came forward with their stories or sightings; more images, both still and moving.
The photographer of this famous Belgian UFO photograph still remains unnamed. Taken on an April night during a well known "wave," the photo shows a triangle-shaped object with lights. The photo was edited slightly as the original photo was too dark to show the object's outline.
15. Puebla, Mexico; December 21, 1944
1994-Puebla, Mexico 1994-Puebla, Mexico. Carlos Diaz
While taking photos of the eruption of Mt. Popocatepetl in Puebla, Mexico, Carlos Diaz, a photographer with an extensive collection of UFO images, shot this photo. It has since been authenticated by many photographic experts and published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and books. This picture shows a glowing, yellowish, disc shaped object with a red hue toward the top and windows or portholes.
This photograph is one of many depicting one of the most publicized UFO events in history. First observed in a hexagram pattern at about 7:30 p.m. over the Superstition Mountains area east of Phoenix, the characteristic 8+1 formation of amber orbs was next seen in two separate arc patterns with "trailing lights" over the Gila River area at about 9:50 and again at 10:00 at the southern edge of Phoenix. Thousands reported seeing these objects and a handful videotaped them on camcorders.
17. Taipei, China; 2004
2004-Taipei, China 2004-Taipei, China. Lin Qingjiang
Lin Qingjiang, a worker in Hualian County of Taipei, discovered a suspected UFO, shaped like a large bamboo hat, at about 10:00 p.m. when he was resting outside the house. Lin was quoted as saying that the suspected UFO flew towards east and west five times within 10 minutes, during which time Qingjiang captured this photograph on his cell phone.
18. Kaufman, Texas; 2005
2005-Kaufman, Texas 2005-Kaufman, Texas. lawwalk
The photographer states: "I was out today taking pictures of the chemtrails 01-21-2005, and at 11:35 a.m. I was aiming my camera at a scrawny little cloud. As I was snapping the picture, I noticed a flash in the sky through the viewfinder. When the picture came on the screen, I noticed a gold-colored object at the top of the cloud I had captured also. I looked back where it was and of course it was gone. I really couldn't tell much of what it may be until I downloaded it to my computer. I zoomed in on it and nearly fell out of my chair. It appears to be a craft of some kind with maybe windows or ports on the right side, in the middle. It also appears to be emanating a gas or some type of energy field around it, mainly at the top."
This photograph was taken by Valpara newspaper reporter Manuel Aguirre when he noticed.a band of glowing lights in the distance over the city skyline. This photograph has not been debunked, and to date is considered legitimate. The unknown object appears to be circular or spherical in shape.
20. Modesto, California; 2005
2005-Modesto, California 2005-Modesto, California. R. David Anderson
The photographer states: "I noticed some kind of craft toward my left that appeared from behind a tree that is in our front yard. I rapidly rotated my camera on its mount and took one picture. There were several brilliant lights that surrounded this craft. It was impossible to make out the shape of the craft because the lights were so brilliant. The lights did not strobe or flash like a normal aircraft array would. Each light glowed with the same intensity and color as a sodium-vapor type street lamp."
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
NASA'S $1 BILLION JUPITER PROBE JUST SENT BACK STUNNING NEW PHOTOS OF JUPITER
NASA'S $1 BILLION JUPITER PROBE JUST SENT BACK STUNNING NEW PHOTOS OF JUPITER
Traveling above Jupiter at more than 130,000 miles per hour, NASA's $1 billion Juno probe took its ninth set of stunning flyby images on October 24. But the sun slipped between the giant planet and Earth for more than a week, blocking the spacecraft from beaming home its precious bounty of data. Now that the conjunction is over, however, new raw image data from Juno's ninth perijove — as the spacecraft's high-speed flybys are called — has poured in. Researchers posted it all online on Tuesday, and a community of amateurs and professionals has been busily processing the data to yield colorful and stunning new pictures of Jupiter.
“Brand new Jupiter pics from @NASAJuno Perijove 09! What a blimmin' gorgeous/diabolical planet,” Seán Doran, a UK-based graphic artist who regularly processes NASA images, tweeted on Tuesday. Below are some fresh, close-up images of Jupiter, along with other unbelievable views captured from earlier perijoves.
In the most recent flyby, as with the previous eight, Juno's flyby started over Jupiter's north pole.
At its closest approach to Jupiter during each flyby, the robot briefly becomes the fastest human-made object in the solar system, reaching speeds of around 130,000 miles per hour.
Then Juno flew back out into deep space, passing over Jupiter's south pole on its exit. Churning storms at the poles constantly change their appearance.
Many cloud bands have features called chevrons. These atmospheric disturbances blow at several hundreds of miles per hour and sometimes zig-zag through a band, or punch through into others.
In this older view of Jupiter, from Juno's eighth perijove, two cloud bands battle for dominance — one of which contains a swirling storm many times larger than a hurricane on Earth.
The history of art has been rewritten after archeologists unearthed an astonishing 3,500 year old carving of an ancient Greek battle, depicting human bodies in anatomical detail which was thought way beyond the skill of Bronze Age artisans.
In 2015, the tomb of the so-called 'Griffin Warrior' was discovered near the ancient city of Pylos, southwest Greece, containing the remains of a powerful Myceneaen warrior and a treasure trove of burial riches.
Dating from around 1,500BC the grave also held a intricately carved gem, or sealstone, which was covered in limestone.
Now after a year of careful restoration the scene beneath has finally been uncovered.It depicts an ancient battle in which a bare-chested warrior plunges a blade into the neck of an assailant, while a second enemy corpse lays at his feet.
The seal, named the 'Pylos Combat Agate' has been hailed as one of the finest works of prehistoric Greek art ever discovered and may depict the mythological war between the Trojans and Mycenaeans, which was told in Homer's Iliad hundreds of years later.
"What is fascinating is that the representation of the human body is at a level of detail and musculature that one doesn't find again until the classical period of Greek art 1,000 years later. It's a spectacular find.," said Jack Davis, Professor of Archaeology of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Classics.
"It's a spectacular find."
The find is all the more remarkable because of its tiny size. The tiny piece of agate measures just 1.4 inches in length (3.6cm) and many of the details such as the ornamentation on the shields and jewellery are too small to be viewed with the naked eye.
Researchers are baffled as to how ancient craftsmen were able to create the minute scene without microscopes.
"Some of the details on this are only a half-millimeter big," added Prof Davis. "They're incomprehensibly small.
"It seems that they were producing art of the sort that no one ever imagined they were capable of producing.
"It shows that their ability and interest in representational art, particularly movement and human anatomy, is beyond what it was imagined to be. Combined with the stylized features, that itself is just extraordinary."
Dig leader Shari Stocker, of the University of Cincinnati's Department of Classics, said: "Looking at the image for the first time was a very moving experience, and it still is.
"It's brought some people to tears. It would have been a valuable and prized possession, which certainly is representative of the Griffin Warrior's role in Mycenaean society.
"This seal should be included in all forthcoming art history texts, and will change the way that prehistoric art is viewed."
The tomb contained more than 3,000 objects arrayed on and around the warrior's body, including four solid gold rings, silver cups, precious stone beads, fine-toothed ivory combs and an intricately built sword, among other weapons.
An ivory plaque adorned with a griffin was also buried with the warrior, leading archaeologists to dub him The Griffin Warrior.
The grave-good are helping archaeologists piece together greater detail about the interactions between the Mycenaens and Minoans at the time.
The seal, and other artefacts suggest that the Griffin Warrior was a Mycenaen nobleman but many of grave-goods are Minoan, including four gold signet rings. Around the time of his death, approximately 1500BC, the Mycenaeans conquered the Minoans meaning the tomb riches could be the spoils of conquest.
The new findings are published in the journal Hesperia.
Comment:
This exquisite find is just one of many examples that should have us questioning the much touted myth of human progress. The evidence suggests that some ancient peoples possessed knowledge superior to our own.
NASA Wants To Probe Deeper Into Uranus Than Ever Before
NASA Wants To Probe Deeper Into Uranus Than Ever Before
Scientists from the Paris Observatory used the Hubble Space Telescope to take a look at the auroras on Uranus
(Picture: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy / Observatoire de Paris)
Up until now, NASA has never paid too much attention to Uranus – but now the space agency wants to take a good, long look. And one of the things it might be investigating is all that gas. A NASA group outlined four possible missions to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune.
These missions include three orbiters and a possible fly-by of Uranus. The planned probes would take off in the 2030s, New Scientist reports.
‘The preferred mission is an orbiter with an atmospheric probe to either Uranus or Neptune – this provides the highest science value, and allows in depth study of all aspects of either planet’s system: rings, satellites, atmosphere, magnetosphere,’ says Amy Simon, co-chair of the Ice Giants Pre-Decadal Study group.
MORE: Sorry, you’ve probably been saying the word Uranus wrong your whole life MORE: Hubble just spotted something massive coming out of Uranus One of the proposed missions includes a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow-angle camera – and a probe which would drop into Uranus’s atmosphere to measure gas and heavy elements. There are four proposed missions.
Three orbiters and a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow angle camera to draw out details, especially of the ice giant’s moons. It would also drop an atmospheric probe to take a dive into Uranus’s atmosphere to measure the levels of gas and heavy elements there. Three orbiters and a fly-by of Uranus, which would include a narrow angle camera to draw out details, especially of the ice giant’s moons. It would also drop an atmospheric probe to take a dive into Uranus’s atmosphere to measure the levels of gas and heavy elements there. Has Uranus been probed?
NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew closely past distant Uranus, the seventh planet from the Sun, in January 1986.
A map of the outer solar system
(Picture: AFP/Getty)
At its closest, the spacecraft came within 81,500 kilometres (50,600 miles) of Uranus’s cloudtops on January 24, 1986. Voyager 2 radioed thousands of images and voluminous amounts of other scientific data on the planet, its moons, rings, atmosphere, interior and the magnetic environment surrounding Uranus.
Since launch on August 20, 1977, Voyager 2’s itinerary has taken the spacecraft to Jupiter in July 1979, Saturn in August 1981, and then Uranus. Voyager 2’s next encounter was with Neptune in August 1989. Both Voyager 2 and its twin, Voyager 1, will eventually leave our solar system and enter interstellar space.
MORE: Sorry, you’ve probably been saying the word Uranus wrong your whole life Voyager 2’s images of the five largest moons around Uranus revealed complex surfaces indicative of varying geologic pasts. The cameras also detected 10 previously unseen moons.
Several instruments studied the ring system, uncovering the fine detail of the previously known rings and two newly detected rings. Voyager data showed that the planet’s rate of rotation is 17 hours, 14 minutes. The spacecraft also found a Uranian magnetic field that is both large and unusual. In addition, the temperature of the equatorial region, which receives less sunlight over a Uranian year, is nevertheless about the same as that at the poles.
Juno maakt foto van het overweldigende zuidelijk halfrond van Jupiter
Juno maakt foto van het overweldigende zuidelijk halfrond van Jupiter
Vivian Lammerse
Op dit prachtig gedetailleerde plaatje is zelfs een van Jupiter’s stormen goed zichtbaar.
Ruimtesonde Juno maakte deze foto terwijl hij bezig was met zijn negende vlucht rond de grootste planeet van ons zonnestelsel. Juno was slechts 33.115 kilometer van de wolkentoppen van Jupiter verwijderd.
De foto van ruimtesonde Juno van het zuiderlijk halfrond van Jupiter. De foto is gemaakt op 24 oktober 2017.
Storm Op de foto is het zuidelijkhalfrond van de enorme gasreus te aanschouwen in opmerkelijk veel detail. Zo vangt Juno een geweldig beeld van één van Jupiter’s stormen. Deze storm maakt deel uit van een hele reeks aan stormen – in totaal acht – die in een massief draaiende beweging op zo’n 40 graden zuiderbreedte over de planeet woedt.
Omlooptijd De sonde doet er op dit moment zo’n 53 dagen over om een rondje rond de gasreus te voltooien. Wetenschappers wilde Juno van baan doen veranderen waardoor de omlooptijd teruggeschroefd zou worden naar 14 dagen. Echter werd deze manoeuvre om technische mankementen uitgesteld. Op 11 december is er een tweede mogelijkheid om de baanwisseling te laten plaatsvinden.
NASA hoopt monsterraket en Orion op het randje van volgend jaar te lanceren
NASA hoopt monsterraket en Orion op het randje van volgend jaar te lanceren
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Maar het wordt waarschijnlijk krap.
Dat is tenminste de conclusie uit een nieuw rapport waarin de voortgang van de missie EM-1 en de uitdagingen waar men nog voor kan komen te staan, aan bod komen.
Mijlpaal Tijdens EM-1 zal NASA’s gloednieuwe Space Launch System (SLS) voor het eerst samen met het nieuwe ruimtevaartuig Orion gelanceerd worden. Het is een mijlpaal: na jarenlang werk zal dan moeten blijken dat de monsterraket en het ruimtevaartuig waarmee NASA naar de maan, Mars en nog verder weg wil, doen wat ze op papier beloven.
Het nieuwe rapport is opgesteld nadat duidelijk werd dat er nog wel enige hindernissen moesten worden genomen alvorens EM-1 werkelijkheid kon worden. Zo is het bijvoorbeeld nog even spannend of alle onderaannemers op tijd hun onderdelen voor Orion aan kunnen leveren. Ook zijn er nog wel wat uitdagingen omtrent de bouw van het Space Launch System (niet zo gek als je bedenkt dat er nog nooit zo’n krachtige raket in elkaar is gezet).
2019 Met het oog op al die uitdagingen concludeert men in het rapport dat de lanceerdatum ergens in juin 2020 zal liggen. Maar NASA-directeur Robert Lightfoot wil daar niks van weten en gaat er nog steeds vanuit dat er in december 2019 gelanceerd gaat worden. Volgens hem zijn alle risico’s wel zo’n’ beetje ingecalculeerd en wordt er alles aan gedaan om de lanceerdatum in 2019 te houden.
WIST JE DAT…
…er serieus overwogen is om de eerste vlucht van SLS en Orion bemand te maken? Uiteindelijk bleken de risico’s toch te groot en werd het idee echter afgewimpeld.
Bemand De eerste bemande missie van SLS en Orion blijft gepland staan voor 2023. Om te voorkomen dat die missie in de nabije toekomst moet worden uitgesteld, doet NASA er nu alvast een stapje bij. Zo zal nog voor EM-1 – in april 2019 – het launch abort system van Orion getest worden. Tijdens deze test wordt het systeem dat astronauten kunnen gebruiken om zich in veiligheid te brengen als er tijdens de lancering iets misgaat, getest.
Terwijl nog volop aan de monsterraket en Orion geknutseld wordt, fantaseert NASA alvast druk over wat deze twee allemaal moeten gaan doen. Zo wordt er nagedacht over een missie naar Mars en een planetoïde en liggen er serieuze plannen voor een Deep Space Gateway.
Enorm hemellichaam ontdekt in de bulge van ons sterrenstelsel
Enorm hemellichaam ontdekt in de bulge van ons sterrenstelsel
Caroline Kraaijvanger
Onderzoekers staan voor een raadsel, want: wat is het?
Astronomen ontdekten het extreem zware hemellichaam met behulp van NASA’s ruimtetelescoop Spitzer. Het object heeft de naam OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb gekregen en is aangetroffen in de ‘bulge’ van ons sterrenstelsel. Dit is een gebied in het centrale deel van ons sterrenstelsel dat gekenmerkt wordt door een grote dichtheid aan sterren.
Zwaar object De massa van het hemellichaam in indrukwekkend, zo schrijven de onderzoekers in hun paper. Naar schatting is de massa van het object 13,4 keer groter dan de massa van Jupiter! En daarmee balanceert het object op de grens tussen planeet en bruine dwerg (zie kader). En dat maakt het dus lastig om vast te stellen wat OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb nu precies is: een planeet of een bruine dwerg.
Bruine dwergen worden ook wel mislukte sterren genoemd. Ze zijn veel zwaarder dan de zwaarste planeten, maar aanzienlijk lichter dan de lichtste sterren. In andere woorden: ze zitten qua massa tussen planeten en sterren in. Het bestaan van OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb roept volgens onderzoekers dan ook de vraag op “of zulke objecten echt ‘planeten’ zijn (gevormd in de schijf rond hun moederster) of ‘mislukte sterren’ (objecten met een lage massa ontstaan uit een gaswolk)”.
22.000 lichtjaar weg OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb doet er ongeveer drie jaar over om een rondje rond de moederster te voltooien en de afstand tussen de twee is zo’n twee keer groter dan de gemiddelde afstand tussen de aarde en de zon. Het mysterieuze object en zijn moederster zijn zo’n 22.000 lichtjaar van ons verwijderd.
Mocht het object een planeet zijn, dan is het een gigantisch exemplaar. Mocht het een bruine dwerg zijn, dan is het ook een bijzonder verhaal. Want in dat geval bevindt de bruine dwerg zich aan het randje van wat onderzoekers de bruine dwergen-woestijn noemen. Onderzoek wijst namelijk uit dat bruine dwergen zelden zo dicht bij een andere ster in de buurt staan als OGLE-2016-BLG-1190Lb.
A group of Russian travelers explored one of the most spectacular yet least visited natural landmarks in the world - the Son Doong Cave located in the jungles of inland Vietnam.
The world’s biggest known cave, formed as a result of a cave in caused by a mountain river at least two million years ago, was stumbled upon by a local man in 1991. At at its widest, it measures 150 by 200 meters, stretches for over 5 kilometers, and has a volume of 38,5 million cubic meters, about twice the size of the next largest underground hollow.
Their journey through the cave took four days of arduous climbs interspersed with spectacular sights, such as some of the world’s most imposing stalagmites, fast-running streams, and an underground forest.
“It’s peaceful here, you feel completely detached and free. This is what you call a reset,” said one of the travelers, Ernest Rudyak, in a video diary of the journey. “It is a sanctuary, a lost world below the surface - a unique ecosystem.”
Only about 2,000 outsiders are thought to have traveled to the remote location, and fewer than a dozen have filmed inside with a drone. Only limited tours costing several thousand dollars are made available each year, and those sell out in hours.
But the government wants to capitalize on what has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2003, and has proposed a cable car route through the cave. A spate of protests delayed construction in 2014, but the $200 million plan that would allow hundreds to visit the cave each day, remains on the table.
An American aerospace firm is aiming to create 200 megabits per second (Mbps) connections in space using satellites equipped with lasers. The new satellites were launched on Sunday from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
If successful, this new tech could pave the way for networks of satellite-connected devices to send data, which will be useful for military, tech, and meteorological agencies, to and from space via laser connections.
The company, Orbital ATK, is sending its Cygnus spacecraft, complete with NanoRacks CubeSats satellites, to the International Space Station. NASA is hoping that the mission will highlight the importance of small sensor spacecraft to the future of space exploration.
The twin satellites will propel themselves using water, while using cameras, beacons, and laser rangefinders to adjust the relative position measurements between the two devices.
NASA believes that the satellites could lead to “significantly enhanced communication speeds between space and Earth and a better understanding of laser communication between small satellites in low-Earth orbit.”
“Capabilities in proximity operations enable multiple small spacecraft to operate cooperatively during science or exploration missions, approach another spacecraft or object for in-space observation or servicing, or connect small spacecraft together to form larger systems or networks in space,” the space agency also said.
The launch was initially scheduled to take place on Saturday but was “scrubbed” after an aircraft was detected in the vicinity of the launch pad.
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Space Plane Aces Free-Flight Drop Test
Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Space Plane Aces Free-Flight Drop Test
By Tariq Malik, Space.com Managing Editor
Sierra Nevada Corporation's uncrewed Dream Chaser space plane lands at Edwards Air Force Base in California after a successful free-flight drop test on Nov. 11, 2017.
Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas
Sierra Nevada Corporation's privately built Dream Chaser space plane aced a critical test Saturday (Nov. 11) during a successful free-flight over California's Mojave Desert.
The uncrewed Dream Chaser made a smooth landing at Edwards Air Force Base during the free-flight test at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, NASA officials said in a statement. Earlier this year, officials at the Armstrong center, where Dream Chaser is being tested, said the space plane would to be dropped from an altitude of 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) by a Columbia 234-UT helicopter for this test. [Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Space Plane in Pictures]
"The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and landing!" Sierra Nevada representatives announced on Twitter Saturday. The company promised to release more test flight details, images and video on Monday (Nov. 13).
SNC is proud to announce the Dream Chaser® spacecraft had a successful free-flight test today @EdwardsAFB, with support of @NASAArmstrong. The Dream Chaser had a beautiful flight and landing!
Dream Chaser looks much like a miniature version of a NASA space shuttle. It is about 30 feet long (9 meters) and capable of hauling up to 12,125 lbs. (5,500 kilograms) of cargo to the International Space Station. The spacecraft will launch on Atlas V rockets built by the United Launch Alliance and make runway landings.
Sierra Nevada is developing Dream Chaser to deliver supplies to the space station for NASA under the agency's Commercial Resupply Services 2 (CRS-2) program. Under that agreement, Sierra Nevada will fly at least six cargo delivery missions for NASA by 2024, agency officials said in the Nov. 11 statement.
Two other companies, SpaceX and Orbital ATK, will use their own spacecraft to fly delivery missions for NASA as part of the CRS-2 program.
Saturday's free-flight test "verified and validated the performance of the Dream Chaser in the critical final approach and landing phase of flight, meeting expected models for a future return from the International Space Station," Armstrong officials said, adding that more tests will likely follow. "The testing will validate the aerodynamic properties, flight software and control system performance of the Dream Chaser."
Dream Chaser: Sierra Nevada's Design for Spaceflight
Dream Chaser: Sierra Nevada's Design for Spaceflight
By Elizabeth Howell, Space.com Contributor
Dream Chaser, a private spacecraft that looks like a stubby version of the space shuttle, is a concept being tested by Sierra Nevada Corp. based on NASA designs of a 1980s spacecraft prototype.
The spacecraft, which originally was developed by a company called SpaceDev, is among a group of ships that vied for private flights to the International Space Station. NASA funded SpaceX's and Boeing's concepts in 2014 for the last round of Commercial Crew Program development, sparking a formal protest from Sierra Nevada. In 2016, however, NASA selected Sierra Nevada, SpaceX and Orbital ATK for anticipated cargo missions to fly between 2019 and 2024. Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser will fly six cargo missions to the space station under that agreement.
Once ready, Dream Chaser will carry up to seven people to the orbiting complex. It will launch vertically upon an Atlas 5 rocket and then, like the shuttle, land on a runway horizontally.
Based on secret Soviet design
Sierra Nevada, founded in 1963, describes itself as having expertise in electronics, avionics and communications systems. The Colorado-based firm has a space systems division that works on areas such as propulsion, small satellites and components for customers.
An artist's depiction of the Dream Chaser vehicle landing on a conventional runway at the end of its mission.
Credit: Sierra Nevada
The spacecraft has a bit of a tangled history. Its design is based mainly on the HL-20 — a NASA spacecraft design from the 1980s that was itself based on a Soviet spacecraft called the BOR-4. But the HL-20 design was never used for space.
SpaceDev resurrected the design. According to Ars Technica, in 2006 the firm signed a licensing agreement with NASA to reuse HL-20 for the Dream Chaser concept.
"We have tried to make it clear that SpaceDev does have plans of our own in terms of human spaceflight, both orbital and suborbital," said Jim Benson, the firm's founding chairman and CEO, in a Space.com 2004 interview.
Despite the agency heritage, SpaceDev failed to get funding under the initial NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program to fund commercial spacecraft. Benson left SpaceDev in 2006 to found a new space tourism company, but died in 2008 of a brain tumor.
That same year, it signed a memorandum of understanding with United Launch Alliance to put Dream Chaser on an Atlas 5 rocket. This entailed some design changes, but the companies were optimistic from the early days that this arrangement would work.
Sierra Nevada purchased SpaceDev in 2008, which added a new space systems business area to Sierra Nevada's divisions.
"The acquisition of SpaceDev ... represents a dynamic expansion of [Sierra Nevada]'s space technology capabilities," stated Fatih Ozmen, Sierra Nevada's chief executive, after the acquisition was finalized in December 2008.
"We believe that combining SpaceDev's unique technological offerings, manufacturing capabilities and talented team with our existing space business and technology base will allow us to significantly increase our capacity and scalability while better serving our customers and making us a leader in space technology with access to a much wider customer and technology base."
NASA money for development
In August 2012, Sierra Nevada was one of three companies that received money under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) award. CCiCap was the third phase of commercial crew development, and was supposed to help companies in the latter stages of spacecraft work to get their ships ready for flight. Sierra Nevada's contract, which was worth up to $212.5 million, paid out money as the company progressed through certain milestones.
"We're very pleased today to receive the award from NASA as a recognition of our work. We think the whole program is a very successful public-private partnership," Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of Sierra Nevada's space systems division, said Aug. 3, 2012, following the CCiCap announcement.
The company also passed several major tests in 2012, most notably a "captive carry" flight test where it rode below a helicopter. The spacecraft did a single glide test in 2013 where it was released from a helicopter and arrived at the runway, only to skid off and cause damage to the vehicle.
"We had a successful approach to the runway. The vehicle flared on cue and the speeds were perfect," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems based in Louisville, Colo., in a Space.com interview in October 2013.
"We hit the centerline exactly where we needed to be. On approach and landing, the left main gear did not deploy satisfactorily," he added.
In September 2014, NASA announced the next and final phase of the commercial spaceflight program would see SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100spacecraft funded for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap). The goal is to have the spacecraft ready to fly the International Space Station by 2017.
Sierra Nevada filed a protest Sept. 26, 2014, that temporarily halted work on commercial crew endeavors. The company said that Dream Chaser's technical concept was equally as mature as at least one of the rival companies, and that there were "serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process."
While the U.S. government allowed work to continue on commercial crew, the protest was reviewed by its General Accountability Office. In January 2015, the office said it would rule against Sierra Nevada.
"GAO disagreed with Sierra Nevada's arguments about NASA's evaluation, and found no undue emphasis on NASA's consideration of each offeror's proposed schedule, and likelihood to achieve crew transportation system certification not later than 2017," part of the statement read.
Sierra Nevada's response said, in part, that the company would continue to look for other customers for its contract.
"While the outcome was not what [Sierra Nevada] expected, we maintain our belief that the Dream Chaser spacecraft is technically very capable, reliable and was qualified to win based on NASA's high ratings of the space system," the company said in its statement.
In early 2016, NASA announced that Sierra Nevada (along with SpaceX and Orbital ATK) would all be listed as possible providers for cargo missions to ISS between 2019 and 2024. Specific flight awards haven't been made yet.
"NASA has not yet ordered any missions, but will make a total of six selections from each menu of mission options at fixed prices, as needed," NASA wrote in a statement at the time. "Each task order has milestones with specified amounts and performance dates. Each mission requires complex preparation and several years of lead time."
The company is now working toward doing a second glide test in early 2016, but a firm date has not been released.
"SNC has made significant structural and systems improvements to the ETA including the composite wings and aeroshells," Sierra Nevada wrote in October 2015. "SNC also invested heavily in maturing the spacecraft orbital avionics, guidance navigation and control, the flight software, and employed a number of new processes, all of which will be used on the orbital vehicle as well."
The NASA contract also triggered a $36 million investment by the 22-nation European Space Agency. Once the agreement is signed, ESA will begin work building the first flight model of the International Berthing and Docking Mechanism (IBDM), which Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Cargo System will use to attach itself to the space station.
China Landed On The Moon And Snapped The Best-Ever Images Of The Lunar Surface
China Landed On The Moon And Snapped The Best-Ever Images Of The Lunar Surface
China is really serious when it comes to space exploration. In fact, in the last couple of years, China has made a very massive leap forward towards space exploration. Just check out these jaw-dropping images of the lunar surface at the end of the article, and you’ll definitely see why.
One of the best examples of China’s space program development is their Lunar Exploration Program—also known as the Chang’e program— an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The program incorporates lunar orbiters, landers, rovers and sample return spacecraft, launched using Long March rockets.
The Change’3 specifically was launched in December 2013 as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. According to reports, the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program has been categorized into three main operational phases:
Named after the Goddess of the Moon in Chinese Mythology, the spacecraft incorporated a rover dubbed Yutu which successfully made its way to the lunar surface snapping the most amazing images of the lunar surface you’ve ever seen.
Chang’e 3 arrived into lunar orbit on December 6, 2013, and landed 8 days later on December 14, 2013, making history as the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976.
The images snapped by the Chinese lunar exploration vehicles are more than just beautiful. They are a set of never-before-seen images that show the lunar surface in great detail.
As noted by the GBTimes, China’s Chang’3 has demonstrated the techniques and capabilities for soft-landing and long-term operation on the Moon, extreme environmental adaptability with lunar nights and days seeing temperatures ranging from -180 to +100 degrees Celsius).
China it seems went all in when it comes to space exploration. In fact, they are currently developing a 10-year strategy which encompasses both lunar and planetary exploration. China wants to send landers to the Moon’s poles and even potential human landings on the lunar surface.
Their next big step is the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission due to launch in 2017 and a never-before-seen landing on the far side of the moon in late 2018.
The far side of the Moon—commonly and erroneously called the ‘Dark side of the Moon’—is not visible from Earth because of gravitational locking. The far side of the moon had never been observed until the Soviet Luna 3 probe sent the first images ever in 1959.
The Chang’e-5 mission will be the first lunar sample return ever in over 40 years, since Luna 24 by the USSR in 1976, and will make China only the third country to return samples from the lunar surface.
Here be bring you some of the most fascinating, breathtaking, stunning, incredible, awesome images snapped by the Chang’e-3 mission.
Image Credit: Chinese Academy of Sciences / China National Space Administration / The Science and Application Center for Moon and Deepspace Exploration
An Irish witness at Galway recalled a UFO incident from 1986 now referred to as the Salthill UFO Sighting, according to testimony in Case 82139 from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
Witness illustration.
(Credit: MUFON)
The events occurred on March 1, 1986.
“One early spring day I walked up a hill on my way to Salthill beach,” the witness stated.“It looked liked it could rain, even though there were patches of blue in the sky. As I examined the clouds, to judge if it would rain soon, a cigar-shaped object appeared in the sky between the roofs of a row of houses. As I continued walking the object moved in the sky relative to the position of the houses on the ground, due to the perspective.”
Witness illustration.
(Credit: MUFON)
Witness illustration.
(Credit: MUFON)
The witness attempted to estimate the object’s distance.
“It hovered above the roof tops about one or two miles away, not moving. It’s appearance and color made me think of a Zeppelin. Then I continued walking and the object disappeared behind the roof of a house and some trees, because I moved and the perspective changed. I expected to see it again where it should have reappeared, but it remained disappeared.”
Witness illustration.
(Credit: MUFON)
The witness then walked back to where the object was last seen.
“A slow-moving blimp should still have been in about the same position in the sky. But the object was no longer there. All this happened within a few seconds. After I reached the top of the hill I walked down to the beach promenade, I could see that there was a lot of activity in Claude Toft Park, next to the beach. It looked like a festival was going on. At the seafront, I had a clear view of the whole sky, and I asked people about having seen a blimp or if balloons had been launched for the festivities, but no one had seen anything.”
Witness-submitted image.
(Credit: MUFON)
Galway is a city in the West of Ireland in the province of Connacht, population 79,504. 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.
A new study shed light on what powers Enceladus’ extraordinary geologic activity, while – at a conference in Seattle last week – space visionaries discussed a return to Saturn’s geyser moon.
Mosaic image of Saturn’s moon Enceladus – a moon with active geysers – via the Cassini spacecraft in 2009. Enceladus is only about 300 miles (500 km) across. It has an icy crust. Cassini data has suggest a saltwater lake or ocean beneath Enceladus’ ice. Could there be organisms living in that water?
There was exciting news last week about Saturn’s fascinating moon Enceladus, a geologically active world that sprays water-ice particles, water vapor and organic compounds from fissures on its surface. On November 6, 2017, European and U.S. researchers announced results from a new modeling study, which might solve a decade-old puzzle about what keeps this little outer solar system moon active, as opposed to just freezing solid. The study showed that – if this moon has a highly porous core – heat from friction could power its hydrothermal activity for billions of years. Then on November 9 – during the New Space Age conference at Seattle’s Museum of Flight – Russian billionaire Yuri Milner described a vision to send the first privately funded interplanetary space mission to look for life at Enceladus.
Enceladus. For decades prior to the Cassini mission, scientists wondered why this was the brightest world in our solar system. Cassini found that the fresh coating on this moon’s surface originates from its geysers, which are connected to subsurface saltwater liquid.
Image via NASA.
Russian billionaire Yuri Milner asked at the New Space Age conference on November 9: “Can we design a low-cost, privately funded mission to Enceladus which can be launched relatively soon?”
New mission? Yuri Milner is known for his financial support of the search for life beyond Earth, via Breakthrough Listen (a search using radio telescopes) and Breakthrough Starshot (a plan to send swarms of nano-spacecraft through the star system next door, Alpha Centauri).
…is a plan to bring the search for life beyond Earth closer to home. In the past, astrobiologists have speculated that microbial life could lurk far below the surface of Mars, or beneath a miles-thick layer of ice on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.
But, Milner said at the conference:
…the most promising recent candidate is Enceladus, one of the moons of Saturn.
As reported by Boyle, Milner said at the conference that he and others – including Carolyn Porco (on Twitter @CarolynPorco), who headed NASA’s imaging team for Cassini mission – formed “a little workshop” around the idea of a private space mission to Enceladus. Milner asked:
Can we design a low-cost, privately funded mission to Enceladus which can be launched relatively soon, and that can look more thoroughly at [the plumes of water-ice particles, water vapor and organic compounds spewing from Enceladus], to try to see what’s going on there?
Milner told GeekWire that he’s unsure of a timeframe for a private mission, but hopefully it could happen sooner than missions being considered by NASA or ESA, including ELF, ELSAH and E2T.
He indicated to Geekwire he is considering funding a feasibility study for a private mission to Enceladus.
Cassini spacecraft image from 2010 of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The moon is backlit, with its dark outline crowned by glowing jets, or geysers, from the south polar region. The jets emanate from the fissures known to scientists as tiger stripes.
Image via NASA/JPL/SSI.
This graphic illustrates how water might be heated via friction inside Saturn’s moon Enceladus, to sustain the moon’s geologic activity.
Read a description of what’s happening in this image, via ESA.
New insights. The new study about Enceladus’ interior uses data from the Cassini spacecraft – whose mission to Saturn lasted from 2004 to September, 2017 – and is based on computer modeling. The study was published a couple of days before the New Space Age conference, on November 6, in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy. The researchers said in a statement that their study helps resolve a question they’ve grappled with for a decade, since Cassini discovered active geysers on Enceladus.
That is, where does the energy to power the extraordinary geologic activity on Enceladus come from?
Researchers believe that the temperature inside Enceladus – a tiny world, only 300 miles (500 km) across, in the cold outer solar system – must be at least 194 degrees Fahrenheit (90 degrees Celsius). But what keeps the interior of the moon so warm?
The amount of energy required to produce these temperatures is more than scientists think could be provided by decay of radioactive elements in the interior. Gaël Choblet of the University of Nantes in France, who led the new study, said:
Where Enceladus gets the sustained power to remain active has always been a bit of a mystery, but we’ve now considered in greater detail how the structure and composition of the moon’s rocky core could play a key role in generating the necessary energy.
Choblet and co-authors found that a loose, rocky core with 20 to 30 percent empty space would do the trick. Their simulations show that as Enceladus orbits Saturn, rocks in the porous core flex and rub together, generating heat. The loose interior also allows water from the ocean to percolate deep down, where it heats up, then rises, interacting chemically with the rocks. The models show this activity should be at a maximum at the moon’s poles. Plumes of the warm, mineral-laden water gush from the seafloor and travel upward, thinning the moon’s ice shell from beneath to only half a mile to 3 miles (1 to 5 km) at the south pole. (The average global thickness of the ice is thought to be about 12 to 16 miles, or 20 to 25 km.) And this same water is then expelled into space through fractures in the ice.
NASA’s Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California commented:
This powerful research makes use of newer details — namely that the ocean is global and has hydrothermal activity — that we just didn’t have until the past couple of years. It’s an insight that the mission needed time to build, one discovery upon another.
Cassini ended its journey with a dramatic plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere this past September 15. Although space researchers will be analyzing its data for years to come, it’s clear they’re already itching to go back to Saturn!
The video below provides a brief overview of Enceladus and includes information from Cassini’s final flyby of the moon:
Bottom line: A study suggests Enceladus’ geologic activity can be maintained over billions of years if the moon’s interior is porous. In Seattle, space visionaries including Yuri Milner discussed a return to Saturn and its moon Enceladus via a private space mission.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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