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 ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 10 MONTHS.
ON 06/04/2024 MORE THAN 1.951.050
VISITORS FROM 134 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...
17-12-2018
Jellyfish UFO seen in blue sky over Brazil Dec 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Jellyfish UFO seen in blue sky over Brazil Dec 2018, Video, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Dec 2018 Location of sighting: Mairipora, Brazil Source: MUFON This is a jellyfish type UFO seen over Brazil this week. The UFO appears to be like a cloud, but has a definite shape of a jellyfish to it. The UFO trees to move slowly in order to confuse people into having doubt...causing people to ask themselves if its their imagination or is it real? Self doubt is a tool of alien...humans fall into it a lot. So..the UFO just drifts across the sky, no hurry to leave, because doubt often wins. Scott C. Waring
'Area 51 worker’ reveals CODENAME ‘used to describe ALIENS by US government'
'Area 51 worker’ reveals CODENAME ‘used to describe ALIENS by US government'
A MAN who claims to have worked on alien technology at the notorious Area 51 base has revealed a secret codename used by workers to describe extraterrestrial life.
Bob Lazar gained international infamy back in 1989 when he claimed he was working on reverse engineeringalienspacecrafts insideArea 51. In 1989, with the help of journalist George Knapp, Lazar detailed a story claiming he was stationed at a base known as S-4, south of the USAF’s Homey Airport. He speculated the auxiliary facility in the Nevada desert was home to a number ofUFOs that were being tested by the US government to be reverse engineered.
'Third Phase of Moon', a popular conspiracy theory channel run by the Blake and Brett cousins has recently uploaded a strange video that shows a mysteriousUFO near Elon Musk led SpaceX Dragon spacecraft which was en route the International Space Station (ISS).
In the recently released video, a large triangular object was seen flying past the SpaceX spacecraft at a mind-blowing speed. The conspiracy theorists also argued that the live feed was interrupted soon after the object was spotted.
After uploading the video, the Blake and Brett cousins speculated that the object could be TR-3B, an alleged secretive military vessel developed by the US Air Force using anti-gravity technology.
"Could this be the infamous TR-3B up in space visiting up close? This is really a stunning footage. This thing is huge. Please notice the portals of the UFO underneath. It really matches the characteristics of TR-3B," said the conspiracy theorists in the video.
Conspiracy theorists also ruled out the possibility of this object being a reflection from the ISS, as the object even moved behind SpaceX Dragon's solar panel.
As the video went viral, viewers of the Third Phase of Moon alleged that Elon Musk and NASA are intentionally covering up some sinister activities which are happening in space for unknown motives.
Some other viewers argued that these UFO sightings are an irrefutable proof of alien existence. As per these people, friendly aliens used to visit astronauts at the International Space Station, and they even believe that extraterrestrials are now gearing up for a disclosure.
This is not the first time that UFOs similar to the alleged TR-3B in appearance are getting caught in the hawk eyes of conspiracy theorists. A few days ago, Tyler Glockner, a popular UFO researcher who runs the YouTube channel 'Secureteam10' released a footage that shows a black triangle hovering in the skies of Pennsylvania.
This Huge Pyramid emerges in Bermuda Triangle with Glowing UFO
This Huge Pyramid emerges in Bermuda Triangle with Glowing UFO
Bahamas, Bermuda Triangle. Huge Pyramid has emerged in the ocean with glowing UFO seen over the beach / Great Abaco Island.
Recently American and French scientists as well as other countries that are conducting surveys in areas of the seabed of the Bermuda Triangle, claim to have found a pyramid standing upright on the seabed that has never been discovered. The length of the base of this pyramid reached 300 meters, 200 meters height, and distance from base to the tip of the pyramid is about 100 meters above the sea floor.
When talking about size, this newly re-discovered pyramid is larger in scale than the pyramids of ancient Egypt. On top of the pyramid there are two very large holes, sea water at high speed move through the second hole, and therefore the raging waves roll by forming a giant vortex that makes the waters around this cause a massive surge waves and mist on the sea surface. This new discovery makes scientists wonder if this is having an affect on passing boats and planes and could be the reason for all the mystery surrounding the area.
There are several Western scholars who argue that the pyramid on the seabed may have been initially made on the mainland, after which a devastating earthquake struck and changed the landscape completely. Other scientists argue that a few hundred years ago the waters of the Bermuda Triangle area may have as one of the cornerstone activities of the people of Atlantis, and Pyramids on the sea floor may be a supply warehouse for them. Perhaps it is related to the underwater race of humanoids discovered in Washington State in 2004 – the so called “aquatic ape” beings? (See last article titled “Animal Planet: Navy Cover-Up Of Intelligent Beings Found in Ocean”)
A more detailed study over time will give results that are difficult to imagine. Scientists have processed all of the data and concluded that the surface is perfectly smooth for it to look like glass or ice. The size of the pyramids are nearly three times the size of the pyramids of Cheops. This news was sensational, and was discussed at a conference in Florida and even reported to local Florida newspapers.. The journalists present in it, have a lot of pictures and high resolution computerized data, which show three-dimensional pyramids perfectly smooth, without being covered with a surface free of debris or algae or cracks.
There is also a suspicion that the Bermuda triangle and the area where this pyramid was supposedly located may be some sort of “holy grounds” that is being protected by the fabled Atlanteans – that whatever crosses over the location is considered an offering… Others hypothesize that the pyramid can attract and collect cosmic rays, from the so called “energy field” or “quantum vacuum” and that this may have been used as an Atlantean power plant (or whoever was around at the time). With the mystery still surrounding the Egyptian pyramids and the fact that the pyramidal structures seems to be found in almost all ancient cultures – its going to be hard to tell for certain the origin of this structure or if it truly exists.
Calvin Jones of the Florida state Division of Historical Resources said if it is a genuine archaeological find, the pyramid would have to have been built between 10,000 B.C. and 6,000 B.C., when the continental shelf was not covered by water, said Chisholm.
Florida archaeologists agree with him on the time span, but disagree with many other of his group`s claims.
Florida State University anthropologist Glen Doran professor said the earliest Near East pyramids are dated to about 4,000 B.C. and all New World pyramids are dated after 1 A.D. So any such structure off the coast of Florida would be at least 2,000 years older than all other known pyramids.
Other Underwater Pyramids are Found
In 1977, a mysterious discovery was made on the floor of the Atlantic concerning an unknown technology. A 650-foot pyramid was mysteriously lit up, with sparkling white water surrounding it that turned deep green, a shocking contrast to the dark black waters at that depth. The discovery was photographed by Arl Marshall’s expedition off Cay Sal.
Another huge pyramid, in 10,000 feet of Atlantic water, was reported to have been found with a pulsating crystal on top of it, by Tony Benik’s expedition. The group also found an opaque crystal tablet there, and reported that when a light was beamed through it, mysterious inscriptions became visible.
More underwater pyramids were found off Central America, Yucatan, and Louisiana, where domes were found in the Straits of Florida. A marble Greek style building was found between Florida and Cuba. And what about the column that radiated energy Dr. Zink found in the Bahamas and Zink also brought up other artifacts from his dives over Atlantis, and he was interviewed by Mind International agent Steve Forsberg.
Other pyramids have been explored by a Dr. Ray Brown on the sea floor off the Bahamas in 1970. Brown was accompanied by 4 divers who also found roads, domes, rectangular buildings, unidentified metallic instruments, and a statue holding a “mysterious” crystal containing miniature pyramids. The metal devices and crystals were taken to Florida for analysis at a university there. What was discovered was that the crystal amplified energy that passed through it. Perhaps this is the reason for the glass-like pyramid !
THE EARTH SOUNDED LIKE A BELL FOR 20 MINUTES AND SCIENTISTS CAN NOT EXPLAIN IT
THE EARTH SOUNDED LIKE A BELL FOR 20 MINUTES AND SCIENTISTS CAN NOT EXPLAIN IT
On November 11, something really strange happened that he learned from scientists.
The scientific instruments detected unexplained earthquakes that originated about 15 miles off the coasts of a French island between Africa and Madagascar.
The strange thing is that it was not an earthquake.
In fact, scientists have no idea what happened.
Was it a meteorite impact? A submarine volcano? Did a secret nuclear test happen? Was it extraterrestrial?
Nobody seems to have an answer.
Waves collected by seismic instruments rippled far from the banks of Mayotte, the French island where everything began. Soon after, seismic sensors located in Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia detected the same.
The fact that the seismic sensor detected seismic activity in Zambia, Kenya and Ethiopia may not seem strange at first.
However, shortly thereafter, the seismic wave continued to travel until it was finally picked up by researchers as far away as Chile, New Zealand, Canada and even Hawaii, approximately 11,000 miles away.
It becomes even stranger.
The mysterious phenomenon made our planet sound like a massive bell for a period of about twenty minutes, and while all this was going on, not a single human felt anything out of the ordinary.
It is one of the strangest things that happens, so the experts are not fully prepared.
Göran Ekström, a seismologist at the University of Colombia, explained that while our planet sounded like a bell, the waves maintained a monotonous tone of low frequency as it propagated.
Accelerated course on earthquakes
When earthquakes occur, scientists usually detect a short, sharp crack.
Due to the tensions that exist in the terrestrial cortex as it is released, scientists can pick up pulses of identifiable seismic waves that radiate outward from where earthquakes occur.
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Atlantis Discovered in the Bermuda Triangle – The Sunken City Features Giant Pyramids and Sphinxes [Complete]
Atlantis Discovered in the Bermuda Triangle – The Sunken City Features Giant Pyramids and Sphinxes [Complete]
Two scientists, Paul Weinzweig and Pauline Zalitzki, working off the coast of Cuba and using a robot submersible, have confirmed that a gigantic city exists at the bottom of the ocean.
The site of the ancient city — that includes several sphinxes and at least four giant pyramids plus other structures — amazingly sits within the boundries of the fabled Bermuda Triangle.
According to a report by Arclein of Terra Forming Terra, Cuban Subsea Pyramid Complex, the evidence points to the city being simultaneously inundated with rising waters and the land sinking into the sea. This correlates exactly with the Atlantis legend.
Huge UFO Crashed into a remote area of the Zambezi River
Huge UFO Crashed into a remote area of the Zambezi River
Africans were shocked when they noticed a wrecked flying saucer in the waters of the Zambezi river.
The UFO hunters from Africa was informed that recently, near the banks of the Zambezi river struck the giant flying object, fragments of which all went under water. Ufologists suggest that UFOs crashed in the air and unable to land successfully. It is reported that nothing living around a strange metal object was found.
According to socialists, the length of the alien flying machine is about 69 meters, while the width is 23 meters. We will remind that earlier the experts in Antarctica also noticed a broken UFO, which could belong to the aliens.
On May 30, 2018, at 21:00, an automobilist was driving on highway 24 in the evening. Suddenly, he noticed a bright disk-shaped UFO…
Witness report:
“I was driving home one evening heading west on hw 24 near lake george, colorado. the time was approximately 9:00 pm. i noticed a bright, disk-shaped object hovering in the sky above some clouds in the distance. i observed the object for about 10 minutes while driving. the object remained stationary above the clouds and was approximately 1 mile west of my vehicle. i then pulled to the side of the road and got out of my car to observe the craft. as soon as i was outside of my car and observing the craft, it began to flash its lights erratically and seemingly change shape. i observed the craft for about 5 minutes standing on the side of the road by my car. i snapped a few pictures and took a short video. the object continued to hover stationary while flashing its lights rapidly. for some reason, i felt uneasy in the presence of the craft and decided to get back in my car and continue heading west to hartsel (where i lived at the time). as i continued west the object remained stationary (however the lights were constant and not erratically flashing as they were when i was on the side of the road outside of my car)and eventually i lost sight of the craft once i was on the other side of the clouds. the experience was quite remarkable and yet disturbing as well. i am not exactly sure what i saw that evening, but i am convinced that it was something very strange and likely not of this world. earlier that day i had a discussion with my co-worker daniel. he told of some ufo experiences that he had earlier in his life. i told dan that i had never seen a ufo before or experienced a sighting of any kind. interestingly enough, that very evening i encountered a ufo.”
The most mind-blowing, life-altering scientific discoveries of 2018 - PART III
The most mind-blowing, life-altering scientific discoveries of 2018 -PART III
25. This was a banner year for scientists in US politics: Americans elected at least 10 new science pros to Congress.
Foto: Congressional candidate Kim Schrier addresses the crowd at an election night party for Democrats on November 6, 2018, in Bellevue, Washington.sourceElaine Thompson/AP
Researchers hope it’ll give men and their families more male birth control options than the standard condoms and vasectomies.
The year-long trial just got underway, but no pharmaceutical companies have stepped forward yet to fund the drug.
28. A Paris-sized impact crater was discovered under Greenland’s ice. The meteorite responsible may have have weighed 5 billion tons.
Foto: An illustration of asteroids careening toward northern Greenland.sourceNatural History Museum of Denmark/NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
A study published in November described thecrater, which was made by a half-mile-wide iron asteroid that slammed into Greenland between 12,000 and 3 million years ago.
A giant meteor could still slam into us today, which is why one retired astronaut is urging NASA to send a telescope up into space to spot the threats.
“For God’s sake, fund it,” retired NASA astronaut Russell “Rusty” Schweickart told Business Insider.
29. There’s a lot more fascinating science to look forward to in 2019. For one, there’s a new lander on Mars.
Foto: Scientists and engineers inside mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory celebrate the landing of the InSight Mars probe on November 26, 2018.sourceAL Seib/AP
The NASA InSight lander spent more than six months careening through space before it landed safely on Martian soil in November.
The quake-hunting robot could reveal new secrets about why Earth became such a nice place for us to live, while Mars wound up a cold desert planet.
30. People will continue striving to push human limits on Earth, too. At the bottom of the world, two men are attempting to become to travel across Antarctica unaided — which would be a first for humanity.
Foto: sourceCourtesy of Colin O’Brady
“Everyone has reservoirs of untapped potential inside of themselves and can achieve really incredible things,” 33-year-old adventurer Colin O’Brady said in November, before starting his 70-day trek.
The most mind-blowing, life-altering scientific discoveries of 2018 - PART II
The most mind-blowing, life-altering scientific discoveries of 2018 - PART II
12. The FDA also approved a new drug that targets cancers based on DNA instead of tumor location.
Foto: sourcektsdesign/Shutterstock
The drug, called Vitrakvi (larotrectinib), was developed by pharmaceutical company Loxo Oncology and approved by the FDA in November. Vitrakvi has already been tested on patients with lung, colon, breast and thyroid cancers.
Rather than going after certain types of cancer, the drug targets cancers based on genetically similar features (biomarkers).
“This new site-agnostic oncology therapy isn’t specific to a cancer arising in a particular body organ, such as breast or colon cancer,” FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a release. “Its approval reflects advances in the use of biomarkers to guide drug development and the more targeted delivery of medicine.”
According to data released in October, Loxo said that 81% of patients who tried the drug saw their tumors shrink, while 17% of patients had their tumors disappear entirely.
The drug comes with a steep price tag, though: $393,000 a year.
13. Researchers have also been developing medical robots that are 1,000 times smaller than a human hair and can suffocate tumors.
Foto: sourceJason Drees/Arizona State University
This IV-injectable robot has been successfully deployed inside mice and pigs with breast, skin, ovary and lung cancers. After five years of research, the team of scientists behind the nanorobot published their work in February.
The killer robot attacks the tumor by blocking off its supply of fresh blood. Scientists haven’t tested it out in humans yet, though.
14. Cancer researchers also found new evidence that high-fat, low-sugar diets might help kill cancer cells when used in tandem with a certain type of drug.
Foto: sourceAfrica Studio/Shutterstock
Researchers are zeroing in on potential ways to make cancer drugs more effective by changing patients’ diets.
In July, a team of doctors published the results of a study in which they put mice with cancer on low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diets while administering a treatment called a PI3K inhibitor that’s designed to kill tumors. The results showed that the diet-treatment combination improved the medication’s effects.
Scientists are now moving forward with a human trial.
“We hope very much that we would see, in the future, a much more careful assessment of what diet means and how diet can affect chemotherapy,” Siddartha Mukherjee, the study’s lead co-author and an oncologist at Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center, told Business Insider.
15. Scientists figured out a way to grow meat in a lab without relying on any products from slaughtered animals.
Foto: sourceShutterstock
A handful of startups are racing to create real pieces of meat out of animal cells in a lab.
But for the most part, the food that’s used to coax those cells to proliferate is an animal product called fetal bovine serum, which comes from slaughtered cows. That means the lab-grown meat isn’t yet cruelty-free.
However, the Dutch startup Meatable claims to have solved that problem by using only stem cells from animals’ umbilical cords.
“This way, we don’t harm the animals at all, and it’s material that would otherwise get thrown away,” Krijn De Nood, Meatable’s CEO, told Business Insider in September.
The company aims to begin serving its slaughter-free burgers and sausages to restaurants in roughly four years.
16. In Egypt, archaeologists opened a 30-ton black sarcophagus and found three skeletons.
Foto: Archaeologists unearth coffin containing three mummies in Alexandria, Egypt on July 19, 2018.sourceREUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany
The 2,000-year-old sarcophagus was discovered in July by a construction crew working in the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria.
“I was the first to put my whole head inside the sarcophagus,” Waziri said. “Here I stand before you … I am fine.”
The three skeletons found in the sarcophagus were most likely soldiers, according to Egypt’s antiquities ministry, and one skull showed signs of fractures caused by a sharp instrument.
17. Egyptian excavators also found a 3,200-year-old dairy product: the world’s oldest cheese.
Foto: sourceUniversity of Catania and Cairo University
The cheese was found in the tomb of a 13th-century BCE mayor of Memphis, Egypt, excavators announced in August.
Investigators think it’s either cow- or goat-milk cheese.
Cheese-lovers on social media quickly exclaimed that they wanted to eat the ancient curd, even though it might contain deadly bacteria.
18.Chinese scientists announced in January that they’d cloned monkeys, thereby breaking the “technical barrier” for cloning humans.
Foto: Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua, two cloned macaque monkeys at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai.sourceThomson Reuters
The scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience cloned the monkeys using the same technique that produced Dolly the sheep two decades ago. But it’s still very difficult to clone primates: it took 127 eggs to produce two live macaques. (Scientists named the baby monkeys Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua.)
The researchers said they do not intend to clone people any time soon. Instead, they want to use the scientific breakthrough to better study diseases and potential new drugs.
19. Researchers also figured out other advanced new ways to make babies. But a recent announcement about genetically edited babies drew questions and criticism from scientists around the world.
But a more controversial announcement came from Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claims to have successfully edited the genes in a pair of twins born in China in November. By using a cut-and-paste DNA-editing technique called CRISPR, he said, the babies were born immune to HIV.
Jiankui hasn’t produced any evidence to back up his claims, though, and it’s not clear why anyone would need to genetically edit babies to ward off HIV, since life-saving drugs already exist for the auto-immune disease.
Scientists also worry that if Jiankui’s claims are true, the changes he made could have far-reaching consequences, since any genetic mutations the babies may have would get passed on to their offspring.
20. Scientists also learned more about our human ancestors this year. It turns out that early humans didn’t hesitate to get freaky with other species, and interbred with hominins like Denisovans and Neanderthals.
Foto: Neanderthal paintings can be seen in a cave in Pasiega.sourceThomson Reuters
A genetic study published in March revealed that as early Homo Sapiens made their way out of Africa, they had sex and interbred with Denisovans on numerous occasions.
21. A female scientist won the Nobel Prize in physics this year for only the third time ever.
Foto: sourceCole Burston/Getty Images
Donna Strickland, an associate professor of physics at the University of Waterloo in Canada, shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics with a French scientist for her work on lasers.
“All this tremendous beauty and complexity of the biological world all comes about through this one simple, beautiful design algorithm,” Arnold said after she won half of the 2018 prize. “What I do is use that algorithm to build new biological things.”
The Nobel Prize in physics has been awarded to 210 people. Strickland, whose Wikipedia entry had previously been rejected because she wasn’t famous enough, was surprised to learn that out of all those winners, she was only the third woman.
“Is that all, really? I thought there might have been more,” she said.“We need to celebrate women physicists, because we’re out there.”
This year, a female chemist won the Nobel Prize, too. Frances Arnold became the fifth womansince 1901 to get it. The award recognized her work in using directed evolution to produce enzymes for new chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The Nobel Prize in chemistry prize has been awarded to 181 people since 1901.
22. Scientists discovered two new kinds of giant dinosaurs.
Foto: Here’s how the Ingentia Prima dinosaur may have looked.sourceJorge A. Gonzales
A study about one new species, which was discovered in Argentina, was published in July. The creature is called Ingentia Prima, a name derived from the Latin words for “huge” and “first.” The dinosaur weighed as much as three African elephants when it roamed 210 million years ago (that’s 30 million years earlier than scientists previously thought giant dinosaurs existed).
Another dinosaur, called Ledumahadi mafube, was discovered in South Africa, according to research published in September. It’s believed to have lived roughly 200 million years ago. That means both creatures would’ve been around at the time of Pangea, when the world’s land was still one supercontinent.
23. Climate scientists learned more about how our warming planet is hurting us.
Foto: Augustin Dieudomme looks out at the flooded entrance to his apartment complex near the Cape Fear River as it continues to rise in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence in Fayetteville, North Carolina on September 18, 2018.sourceAP Photo/David Goldman
The heat-trapping gas that’s been added to Earth’s atmosphere through the burning of fossil fuels also means that a trillion dollars in coastal real estate could be threatened by the end of this century. That’s according to a recent report released by the Trump administration, which also found that thousands more people will die each year from heat-related conditions if we keep up business-as-usual.
24. Investigators cracked the Golden State Killer case using DNA matching. The implications of that strategy are huge.
Foto: Joseph James DeAngelo, 72, who authorities said was identified by DNA evidence as the serial predator dubbed the Golden State Killer, appears at his arraignment in Sacramento, California on April 27, 2018.sourceFred Greaves/Reuters
A study released in October estimates that 60% of white Americans- who are the biggest consumers of DNA testing services- could now be identified up to a “third cousin or closer” using available DNA data.
Foto: REUTERS/Gregg Newton Spectators at Cocoa Beach watch SpaceX's first Falcon Heavy rocket launch from the Kennedy Space Center on February 6, 2018.
These and other accomplishments were an encouraging reminder that every day, scientists across the globe are learning more about how life and the universe work.
As the new year approaches, take a look back at some of the most marvelous, life-altering, and astonishing scientific discoveries and feats from 2018.
1. In February, SpaceX nailed an impressive feat: the company launched its re-usable, 27-engine Falcon Heavy rocket for the first time. It’s the company’s most powerful yet.
Foto: sourceThom Baur/Reuters
After Falcon Heavy launched on February 6, 2018, two of the rocket’s three reusable boosterslanded safely on the ground in Florida.
The core booster, however, missed its landing pad on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
“Apparently it hit the water at 300 miles an hour and took out two of the engines on the drone ship,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said. That loss was relatively minor in the context of the launch’s overall success, though.
2. The payload on that Falcon Heavy rocket was Musk’s red Tesla Roadster, complete with a dummy driver and a note on the dash: “DON’T PANIC!”
Foto: sourceYouTube / SpaceX
The car is still cruising the solar system today. In November, SpaceX announced it had sailed past Mars.
3. In March, scientists at NASA revealed new findings about how living in space can mess with your eyes and immune system.
Foto: NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly, left, and his identical twin brother Mark Kelly.sourceGetty Images/Bill Ingalls/NASA
When NASA astronaut Scott Kelly left his identical twin brother Mark on Earth and spent a year in space, scientists seized on the opportunity to learn more about out how life away from our home planet can change a person.
Researchers found that up to 7% of Scott’s gene expression hasn’t returned to its Earthly “normal” state since he came back. Those changes may be part of the body’s response to the stress of living in space, and they could lead to lasting consequences for Kelly’s immune system and retinas.
4. Star-gazers spotted a new kind of aurora that travels farther south than most. Its name is STEVE.
Foto: STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) and the Milky Way at Childs Lake, Manitoba, Canada.sourceKrista Trinder/ NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
The strange lights were first reported by citizen scientists in Canada in 2015. The amateurs formed a group and started working with researchers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The result of that collaboration – the discovery of a new kind of aurora – was published in the journal Science Advances on March 14.
STEVE (which stands for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancementcan be tough to see, though, because the display typically lasts for less than an hour.
5. After three years of studying Mars, Italian scientists determined in July that it’s possible the red planet has a 20-kilometer-wide lake of liquid water at its polar ice cap.
Foto: This artist’s impression shows how Mars may have looked about four billion years ago, when it had an ocean of water.sourceESO/M. Kornmesser
“If these researchers are right, this is the first time we’ve found evidence of a large water body on Mars,” Cassie Stuurman, a geophysicist at the University of Texas told the Associated Press.
Other parts of Mars are too cold for water to stay liquid.
6. Astronomers found a ghost particle in Antarctica, revealing a source of some of the most high-energy radiation in the universe.
Foto: An illustration of a blazar, or spinning black hole that gobbles up matter and shoots out jets of high-energy radiation and particles.sourceDESY/Science Communication Lab
Researchers found the particle, a neutrino, in September using IceCube, an array of sensors embedded in Antarctic ice.
“When scientists tracked the particle back to its source they found a galactic monster called a blazar: a rapidly spinning black hole, millions of times the mass of the sun, that’s gobbling up gas and dust,” Business Insider’s Dave Mosher reported.
7. Humans came closer to touching the sun than ever before, after the Parker Solar Probe launched in November.
Foto: The Parker Solar Probe will come closer to the sun than any other probe before it.sourceNASA Goddard / Youtube
Solar experts hope that by traveling through scorching-hot areas of the sun, which can be 3.6 million degrees Fahrenheit, the robot will help unlock mysteries about how our star works.
8. Back on Earth, a bountiful pirate’s booty worth as much as $17 billion was discovered off the coast of Columbia.
Foto: This photo reveals a key distinguishing feature of the San José—its cannons.sourceREMUS image, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The wreck was first found in 2015, and engineers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts sent a submarine drone down to explore it in more detail. In May 2018, they finally revealed the details of their discovery.
The sunken bounty may include gold, silver, and emeralds.
9. A 24-year-old Dutch man invented and launched a plastic-trapping pipe that he hopes will help heal our oceans. (But it’s running into some technical issues.)
Foto: sourceThe Ocean Cleanup
Boyan Slat hopes that his Ocean Cleanup device, which launched in September, will help make a dent in the growing plastic pollution problem. Plastics in the ocean are killing sea turtles and other life in the water at alarming rates.
But as the device combs through plastic stuck in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it’s letting some of that plastic waste escape back out into the ocean, Slat wrote in November.
“We are positive we are close to making it work,” he said.
10. Drugmakers scored some wins this year, too. There’s a new pill for peanut allergies, but it can come with nasty side effects.
Foto: Two new therapies use peanuts to desensitize those with the allergy, in hopes of protecting people from accidental exposure. These products could be the first peanut allergy therapies approved in the US.sourceShayanne Gal/BI Graphics
New allergy drugs like the one from Aimmune aim to re-train people’s immune systems to tolerate allergens like peanuts. Promising data from a trial, which was published in November, showed that after a year on the treatment, 67% of kids with peanut allergies were able to tolerate about two peanuts, compared to only 4% of those who got the placebo.
But the results aren’t always finger-licking good – because the drug includes peanuts, people can have severe reactions. More than 50 people in that trial had to get a shot of epinephrine after they had an allergic reaction.
11. Drugmaker Eli Lilly created a new kind of migraine drug, but it costs $575 a month.
Foto: sourceSamantha Lee/Business Insider
The treatment, which got the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September, is the first drug that’s been approved to treat migraines. Previously, migraine treatment involved tools or medications originally created to serve a different purpose, like Botox and anti-seizure medicines.
How many galaxies are now known to lie within our Local Group of galaxies? How does our Milky Way rank, size-wise? And what about the vast superclusters beyond?
Artist’s concept showing our Milky Way galaxy, its satellite galaxies, and other galaxies in our Local Group. The Milky Way isn’t really the center of anything; that’s just the way the image is drawn. The 3 largest galaxies in the Local Group are, in descending order, the Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way, and M33 also known as the Triangulum Galaxy.
We know where our galaxy is located, but only locally speaking. The Milky Way galaxy is one of more than 54 galaxies known as the Local Group. The three largest members of the group are our Milky Way (second-biggest), the Andromeda galaxy (biggest) and the Triangulum Galaxy. The other galaxies in the Local Group are dwarf galaxies, and they’re mostly clustered around the three larger galaxies.
The illustration above is a bit misleading because it suggests our Milky Way galaxy lies at the center of the Local Group. It doesn’t, of course, but the image is organized that way, presumably to honor our human perspective.
On the other hand, the Local Group does have a gravitational center. It’s somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy.
The Local Group has a diameter of about 10 million light-years.
Astronomers have also discovered that our Local Group is on the outskirts of a giant supercluster of galaxies, known as the Virgo Supercluster.
Distances from the Local Group for selected groups and clusters within our local supercluster, called the Virgo Supercluster.
Another artist’s concept of the Virgo Supercluster, via Wikimedia Commons.
At least 100 galaxy groups and clusters are located within the Virgo Supercluster. Its diameter is thought to be about 110 million light-years.
The Virgo Supercluster may be part of an even-larger structure that astronomers call the Laniakea Supercluster. It consists of perhaps 100,000 galaxies stretched out over some 520 million light-years.
The Laniakea Supercluster is one of many such vast structures in space known to astronomers at this time.
Map of superclusters within the nearby universe, with Laniakea shown in yellow.
Er zijn twee verschillende soorten ruimteprogramma's; de ene is de aan het publiek verkochte programma van NASA en de andere is de geheime ruimtevloot. Normaal gesproken zie je weinig van die geheime ruimtevloot, maar soms maken ze een foutje, zoals enkele dagen geleden gebeurde bij het ISS.
Voor de bevoorrading van het Internationaal Ruimte Station (ISS) wordt gebruikt gebruik gemaakt van de Dragon:
Dragon, ook bekend als Dragon 1 of Cargo Dragon is een herbruikbaar onbemand ruimtevaartuig ontwikkeld door het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX als bevoorradingscapsule. Met zijn eerste onbemande vlucht in december 2010 werd Dragon het eerste commerciële ruimtevaartuig dat succesvol op aarde terugkeerde. Op 25 mei 2012 voltooide een Dragon als eerste commerciële ruimtevaartuig een rendez-vous met het ISS.
Op 8 december 2018 vond er weer een dergelijk rendez-vous plaats. Echter tijdens het streamen van de beelden van deze koppeling, kwam er nog iets in beeld dat eigenlijk verborgen had moeten blijven.
Want achter de Dragon zie je op een gegeven moment een driehoekig ander ruimtevoertuig langs vliegen.
De beelden zijn echt en te zien in de complete live stream die hier staat. De volgende korte video laat zien hoe het driehoekig ruimteschip achter de Dragon langs vliegt.
Het ruimteschip dat achter de Dragon passeert zou natuurlijk heel goed buitenaards kunnen zijn, maar er zijn een aantal argumenten waaruit je zou kunnen afleiden dat je hier te maken hebt met een schip van aardse makelij.
Ten eerste is het belangrijk om te weten dat er naast het ruimtevaartprogramma van NASA een ander programma is. Een programma dat tot op de dag van vandaag geheim is. Voor wat meer achtergrond, hierna een deel uit een eerder artikel:
Aan het eind van de Tweede Wereldoorlog verzamelden zowel de Russen als de Amerikanen niet alleen de wetenschappers die werkten aan conventionele raketten, maar ook de vliegende schotel wetenschappers samen met veel van hun uitrusting, om tegelijkertijd zowel een conventioneel als een niet conventioneel ruimteprogramma te kunnen beginnen.
Het duurde niet zolang voordat de conventionele aandrijving begin jaren '60 overbodig werd. De aanwezige raketprogramma’s waren niets meer dan een dure propaganda-operatie voor publieke consumptie, om een fantasieverhaal levend te houden, een die al heel snel sterk afweek van het werkelijke verhaal.
Het geheime ruimteprogramma kwam onder de toenemende invloed van de wereldelite die georganiseerd was in de Bilderbergconferentie, een groep van machtige industriëlen, bankiers en Europese koninklijke families.
Het legerproject uit 1959, Project Horizon, werd in het geheim ingevoerd om zowel bases op de Maan als op Mars te bouwen. Volgens een aantal betrouwbare klokkenluiders worden deze bases gebruikt en onderhouden door de Bilderbergvloot.
Uit een vrijgegeven document van Wright Patterson kunnen we zien dat men in 1956 al bezig was met het plaatsen van nucleaire aandrijving in schotels. De senior wetenschapper van Lockheed, Boyd Bushman, liet in een interview in 1959 technische tekeningen zien van een operationele vliegende schotel, aangedreven door een nucleaire centrale.
Een technicus uit Area 51, Bill Uhouse, claimde dat hij al vroeg in de jaren '60 samengewerkt heeft met een Grey Alien in vliegende schotel simulators waarin piloten leerden vliegen met deze objecten.
In dezelfde tijdsperiode werkte een luchtmacht technicus, Charles Hall, bij Nellis en had contact met de Tall White Extraterrestrials (Grote Witte Buitenaardsen). Zij lieten hem een TW shuttle schotel van binnen zien waarmee je naar de Maan en naar Mars kon reizen, maar niet dieper de ruimte in. Deze schotel had logo’s van alle grote lucht- en ruimtevaartbedrijven in het interieur van de schotel.
Er was een ongeluk met een door kernenergie aangedreven schotel in 1980 waarbij een lekkage ontstond in een reactorvat. Terwijl de schotel was omringd door drie militaire helikopters kregen drie personen de volle laag straling over zich heen. Deze zaak is uiteindelijk tot in het Congres gekomen, zonder enige vorm van compensatie voor de slachtoffers.
Ongeveer 10 jaar geleden slaagde de Engelsman Gary McKinnon erin om de computers van NASA te hacken en ontdekte de code naam “Solar Warden” en roosters voor alle buitenaardse officieren en lijsten met rompnummers van de grote ruimteschepen, groter dan twee voetbalvelden, en hun kleinere beschermers. Maar, vier jaar voordat McKinnon zijn ontdekking deed werd er op het Open Mind Forum al gesproken over Solar Warden en ook dat de Bilderbergers eigenaar zouden zijn van die bewuste ruimtevloot.
Alle bestaande ruimteprogramma’s dienen om de bevolking zand in de ogen te strooien. De Solar Warden vloot bestond in 2005 uit acht grote ruimteschepen, vergelijkbaar met vliegkampschepen, en 43 “beschermers”, wat natuurlijk ook ruimteschepen zijn.
De driehoekige vorm van een ufo wordt vaak in verband gebracht met het geheime TR-3B project, waarover we in een eerder artikel het volgende schreven:
Officiëel is er uiteraard weinig te weten te komen over dit toestel, maar op de website WijWordenWakker vonden wij de volgende uitleg:
Veel mensen verwarren dit vliegend object met een UFO, terwijl het dat niet is, wel zit er UFO technologie in verwerkt. Van de TR-3B wordt algemeen aangenomen dat het een product is van het "Aurora" zwart-project. Volgens verschillende bronnen is dit de top van de geheime projecten. Dit geheime project van de V.S. kost $ 3 miljard per object en onlangs zijn er 3 TR-3B Astra’s aan Israel verkocht.
De TR-3B is een nucleair aangedreven vliegende driehoek, in staat tot fenomenale snelheden. Het toestel kan door reactieve elektrische stimulatie van kleur en van uiterlijk veranderen en een andere vorm aannemen of onzichtbaar worden voor het menselijk oog. De TR-3B Astra bevat een plasmaveld versneller annex magnetisch veld verstoorder ('disruptor') , waardoor de massa van het toestel incl. inzittenden met 90% verkleind zou kunnen worden, zodat de zwaartekracht nauwelijks invloed heeft op de prestaties van het toestel.
Mede hierdoor zou de snelheid boven Mach 50 uit komen, ter vergelijking: de meeste gevechtsvliegtuigen hebben Mach 2. (Mach 1 is gelijk aan de snelheid van het geluid). Daarnaast zou de Astra uitgerust zijn met een deeltjesversneller/pulselasers, 'scalaire' wapens (waardoor de vijand zo verward wordt, dat men vrijwillig de wapens neerlegt) en tevens 40 neutronenbommen.
Het object bij het ISS vertoont veel overeenkomsten met de TR-3B. Is het dat ook? Of is hier sprake van een totaal ander al dan niet buitenaards ruimteschip?
Het gebeurt niet vaak dat Tyler van Secureteam met zijn mond vol tanden staat, maar dit keer wel. Hij heeft ook geen flauw idee wat het zou kunnen zijn. Hij noemt ook de TR-3B, maar denkt door het vreemde oppervlak en de roodachtige kleur dat we hier misschien toch te maken hebben met een buitenaards schip.
Our relationship with methane is complicated. As natural gas, it’s an efficient fuel that that produces less carbon dioxide than other hydrocarbons. As cow farts, it’s a greenhouse gas often blamed for contributing to climate change. As an abundant substance trapped in permafrost, it gets explosively released when said climate change melts the permafrost in Siberia, creating massive holes. And, as a product of microbial methanogenesis, it’s an important sign that a planet may contain life, or at least have the ingredients to support it. The discovery of methane on Mars in 2004 got the scientific and let’s-move-to-Mars worlds excited. Unfortunately, the party may have been premature – new data shows that all of the Martian methane has disappeared. Who lit a match?
The Trace Gas Orbiter arrived at Mars in 2016. Martian methane—spotted in 2004—has mysteriously vanished
TG MEDIALAB/ESA
“The presence of methane has been confirmed thanks to the observations of the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on board Mars Express during the past few weeks.”
That was the news in 2004 when the European Space Agency’s ESA Mars Express orbiter detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. The next question was, “Where does this methane come from?” One possibility is from above when organic carbon from solar system dust falls to the surface and reacts with solar radiation to form methane. Another is from below, produced by chemical reactions or live or decayed microorganisms. In 2014, NASA’s Curiosity rover detected a seasonal spike in methane – unexplained but still confirming the presence of the gas.
Sniff, sniff.
Then came the spoiler. In 2016, the ESA launched the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) which began scanning the Martian atmosphere this year arrived at Mars in 2016, this year began to scan the atmosphere for methane with Belgium’s Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery (NOMAD) spectrometer and the Atmospheric Chemistry Suite spectrometer developed by Russia. Designed to detect very low levels of atmospheric methane (about 50 particles per trillion), scientists were confident they would finally get solid gas data.
“But we already know we can’t see any methane.”
There’s no methane showing up on Mars. Ann Carine Vandaele, NOMAD’s principal investigator and a planetary scientist at the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy in Brussels, delivered the disappointing news this week at the semiannual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, D.C. Yes, they gave the TGO a software whack upside its head to make sure it was functioning normally and it was. How bad is this news? It could mean that there isn’t and never was any life on Mars, and there’s no methane that could possibly be used as a fuel by settlers from Earth.
No hot coffee on Mars? Why go?
The researchers aren’t giving up, especially since the Trace Gas Orbiter will be operational until at least 2022. They’re hoping there might be a mistake or they may find a sign this is just a temporary aberration and the methane is hiding somewhere. However, they probably already feel the same way Looney Tunes’ star Marvin the Martian often felt:
One of the more compelling reasons to accept the modern theory of the big bang and what came after it is because of how ridiculous it sounds and, as we all can empirically observe, the universe is ridiculous. Diving into the fundamental processes and epic, majestic, and impossibly old and huge events that started the chain reaction we find ourselves currently embroiled in, we start having to describe our reality with words like “gluon,” “quark,” and “hot soup.” Those are silly words for a silly universe. Yet, with the help of 21st century super-technology, researchers are beginning to see that these aren’t abstractions that only live inside equations, they’re tangible things (with the right measuring devices), and researchers with the PHENIX experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory seem to have cooked up a pot of the hot soup that emerged from the big bang and condensed into all the atoms we know and love.
Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
It was a small pot. Subatomic in size, actually, but only slightly less impressive than a fine lobster bisque. The soup in question is called quark-gluon plasma, a “perfect fluid”—meaning that it flows with with essentially zero viscosity, or as opposite from molasses as you can get—that condensates into the protons and neutrons which make up the nuclei of atoms. To do this, researchers smashed different small particles into nuclei of gold atoms at close to the speed of light and a detector recorded what was expelled from the tiny, violent explosions. According to their predictions, a quark-gluon plasma perfect fluid (see? it’s ridiculous) would flow in the exact geometry of the exploded particle, which is precisely what happened. According to PHENIX spokesperson Yasuyuki Akiba:
“If such low viscosity conditions and pressure gradients are created in collisions between small projectiles and gold nuclei, the pattern of particles picked up by the detector should retain some ‘memory’ of each projectile’s initial shape—spherical in the case of protons, elliptical for deuterons, and triangular for helium-3 nuclei.”
This shows the different geometric flows produced by the quark-gluon plasma upon impact.
Credit: Javier Orjuela Koop, University of Colorado, Boulder
Julia Velkovska, deputy spokesperson at PHENIX elaborated on the results:
“The latest data—the triangular flow measurements for proton-gold and deuteron-gold collisions newly presented in this paper—complete the picture. This is a unique combination of observables that allows for decisive model discrimination.”
“In all six cases, the measurements match the predictions based on the initial geometric shape. We are seeing very strong correlations between initial geometry and final flow patterns, and the best way to explain that is that quark-gluon plasma was created in these small collision systems. This is very compelling evidence.”
So what’s the takeaway from all this? Well, it’s another in an increasingly frequent series of steps to the big, previously unassailable questions about the nature of our reality and how it all got here. Also, a step closer to science literally playing God in a way never thought possible when that phrase was coined. Whether you think that’s pretty cool, or pretty scary is another matter entirely. But hey, there have been billions of humans who have lived and died in a time when nobody could even dream of blowing up subatomic particles at the speed of light with huge weird machines, and you’re not one of them. That’s pretty cool.
Mufon submitter 96854 has uploaded a video of a black oval UFO moving through the sky over Utica, New York.
The video was taken in Utica, New York on December 6, 2018. It is a short clip, but worth a look.
We see what appears to be a black object in an oval form moving from right to left. At normal speed it is easy to miss, but the submitter added a slow motion clip which gives us a much better view.
The object moves behind the clouds, but is clearly seen in the cloud breaks. We took the still frame and moved in closer.
Two satellites of the European Galileo network (one illustrated) were launched in incorrect orbits, a mistake that allowed scientists to test Einstein’s theory of gravity.
An orbital oopsie has led to new proof of Albert Einstein’s physics prowess.
In 2014, two satellites intended for Europe’s Galileo network, the equivalent of the United States’ GPS network, were placed into orbit incorrectly, causing them to travel around Earth in ellipses rather than circles. That wasn’t ideal for the satellites’ originally intended navigational use, but scientists realized the wayward satellites were perfect for another purpose: testing Einstein’s theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity.
According to general relativity, gravity affects not just space, but also time. The deeper within a gravitational field you are, the slower time passes (SN: 10/17/15, p. 16). So a clock at a higher altitude will tick faster than one closer to Earth’s surface, where Earth’s gravity is stronger. The satellites’ orbital mishap allowed the most precise test yet of this effect, known as gravitational redshift, two teams of scientists report in a pair of papers in the Dec. 7 Physical Review Letters.
As the two misplaced satellites move in their elliptical orbits, their distance from Earth periodically increases and decreases by about 8,500 kilometers. Using the precise atomic clocks on the satellites, the scientists studied how that altitude change affected the flow of time. The clocks sped up and slowed down by tiny fractions of a second as expected, agreeing with the predictions of general relativity within a few thousandths of a percent, the teams report.
Watch Russian Tu-160s drill with Venezuelan jets from INSIDE strategic bomber’s cockpit (VIDEOS)
Watch Russian Tu-160s drill with Venezuelan jets from INSIDE strategic bomber’s cockpit(VIDEOS)
After Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers performed a rare 10-hour-long practice flight with the Venezuelan Air Force over the Caribbean, the Defense Ministry has released footage showing the drill from a unique perspective.
During the flight mission, which lasted roughly ten hours, two White Swans practiced “interaction” with Venezuela’s Su-30 and F-16 fighter jets which shadowed the nuclear-capable supersonic strategic bombers for part of the exercise, in “full accordance” with international laws, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement accompanying the spectacular footage.
One video shot inside the cockpit shows Tu-160 pilots in orange flight suits and combat helmets taking off from Maiquetia Airport and conducting their drills over the cloudy skies and clear blue waters of the Caribbean.
Other footage released by the MoD features the strategic bombers take-off under the cover of darkness and returning to base hours later in rays of sunlight, accompanied by Venezuelan fighters.
The arrival of two strategic bombers, nicknamed the ‘White Swan’ in Russia and designated as ‘Blackjack’ by NATO, to Venezuela after a 10,000-kilometer flight over the Atlantic, has angered Washington as an apparent ‘projection of power’ in its backyard, even though the Russian military never mentioned anything related to the US.
Caracas in the meantime slammed the US for meddling in its “sovereign right to defense and security cooperation,”especially hypocritical amid Washington’s insinuations about a possible military intervention in Venezuela.
RAKETVLIEGTUIG VOOR TOERISTEN BEREIKT VOOR HET EERST ÉCHT DE RUIMTE
Brecht Herman
EPAHet uitzicht uit SpaceShipTwo, een raketvliegtuig voor ruimtetoerisme.
DE KRANTTwee piloten zijn er gisteren voor het eerst in geslaagd om de ruimte te bereiken met een raketvliegtuig dat bedoeld is voor toeristische ruimtetripjes. Volgens de Britse miljardair Richard Branson is het nog maar een kwestie van maanden voor de eerste toerist de ruimte in vliegt.
Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie en zo’n zeshonderd andere doodgewone - weliswaar behoorlijk rijke - stervelingen staan sinds gisteren een stevige stap dichter bij een reis naar de ruimte. Ze boekten jaren geleden voor 175.000 à 220.000 euro een retourtje bij Virgin Galactic, het commerciële ruimtevaartbedrijf dat deel uitmaakt van de Virgin Group van de flamboyante miljardair Richard Branson. Weinigen die geloofden dat het er ooit echt van zou komen, maar intussen zou het vooral verbazen mocht het niét gebeuren.
REUTERSHet uitzicht uit SpaceShipTwo, een raketvliegtuig voor ruimtetoerisme.
Drie keer zo snel als het geluid
Gisteren voerde Virgin Galactic een succesvolle vierde test uit met SpaceShipTwo. Het vliegtuig bereikte een hoogte van 82,7 kilometer. Volgens CEO George Whitesides is dat de ruimte, hij valt daarvoor terug op de 80-kilometergrens die de Amerikaanse luchtvaart hanteert. Nochtans is 100 kilometer een breder aanvaarde grens. Hoe dan ook: gisteren was een belangrijke dag voor het ruimtetoerisme - “een dag waar we al lang op wachtten”, zei Whitesides. Aan boord van SpaceShipTwo bevonden zich, behalve twee ervaren piloten, nog een dummy en ladingen om het gewicht van zes ruimtetoeristen te simuleren. Bij een vorige test had de raket 41 seconden gebrand, goed voor een maximumhoogte van 50 kilometer. Nu lieten de piloten zich 60 seconden lang omhoogstuwen, tot ze bijna drie keer zo snel als het geluid gingen. Even waren ze gewichtloos, voor ze veilig terugkeerden richting begane grond. De data die op hogere hoogte en aan hogere snelheid verzameld werden, moeten Virgin Galactic in staat stellen om hun commercieel ruimtetuig verder op punt te stellen. “Dit is een onwaarschijnlijk gevoel: vreugde, opluchting en goede hoop voor wat er zit aan te komen”, zegt Branson. “We werken nu het resterende deel van ons testprogramma verder af. We gaan de raketmotor nog langer laten branden om nog sneller en hoger te vliegen, zodat we duizenden private astronauten een nieuw zicht kunnen geven op onze planeet en de kosmos.”
APHet raketvliegtuig bij het opstijgen.
Achttien toeristen per week
Veiligheid heeft de hoogste prioriteit in die plannen. Geen overbodige luxe: in 2007 stierven bij een explosie drie technici van een andere firma toen ze een systeem voor het ruimtetuig aan het testen waren. Bij een testvlucht gelijkaardig aan die van gisteren kwam in 2014 een piloot om het leven toen SpaceShipTwo ontplofte. Whitesides: “We denken veel na over mogelijke risico’s en we beseffen dat alles veilig moet zijn. Maar als we geen enkel risico nemen, kunnen we ook geen vooruitgang boeken.” Wanneer precies de eerste toerist richting ruimte gaat, ligt nog niet vast. Maar recent zei Branson dat hij verwacht dat hijzelf binnen enkele maanden, “niet binnen enkele jaren”, een ruimtetoerist wordt. Het plan is om zijn kinderen Holly en Sam, dertigers, mee te nemen. “Snel daarna zullen de eerste ruimtepassagiers volgen.” Het plan is om één vlucht per week te organiseren. Op termijn moeten extra vliegtuigen het mogelijk maken om drie vluchten per week - goed voor 18 toeristen - te organiseren.
AP
De landing van het raketvliegtuig in de woestijn.
VirginHet uitzicht uit SpaceShipTwo, een raketvliegtuig voor ruimtetoerisme.
A new shape-shifting drone promises to offer rescue teams robotic help even in those hard-to-reach areas.
The drone in it’s T-shape configuration (more on that later). Image credits UZH.
Teams digging through collapsed or damaged buildings are often the only chance of salvation for those trapped after fires, earthquakes, or similar events. It’s obviously dangerous and laborious work. Not only are such structures very unstable, but they’re usually also very hard to navigate (on account of all the fallen rubble).
Needless to say, having drones scour collapsed buildings ahead of human teams would be the safest course of action. However, drones would often have to enter such sites through narrow points — a crack in a wall, a partially open window, through bars — something the typical size of a drone does not allow. A team of researchers from the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich and the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Lausanne Federal Polytechnic School (EPFL) plans to address this issue.
The little drone that folded
“Our solution is quite simple from a mechanical point of view, but it is very versatile and very autonomous, with onboard perception and control systems,” explains Davide Falanga, researcher at the University of Zurich and the paper’s first author.
The drone’s most obvious advantage over counterparts is its ability to morph in shape to tackle cramped environments. and guarantee a stable flight at all times. The team says they’ve drawn inspiration from birds that fold their wings mid-air to navigate narrow passages. In a very similar fashion, the drone can squeeze itself to pass through gaps and then go back to its previous shape while flying. The drone can also transport objects, including during this morphing process.
Both teams collaborated closely to design the drone — a quadrotor with four propellers that rotate independently, each mounted on mobile arms outfitted with servo-motors that can fold around the frame. It also sports a video camera. What really keeps the drone aloft during these foldings is a control system designed and programmed by the team. It keeps tabs on each propeller’s position in real time, adjusting their thrust as the drone weaves and bobs through the air.
The drone’s standard configuration is the traditional quadcopter X-shape (like these drones here), with the four arms stretched out and the propellers at the widest possible distance from each other. When faced with a narrow passage, the drone can morph into an H-shape, with all arms lined up along one axis. It can also take on an O-shape (with all arms folded as close as possible to the body) or a T-shape, which can be used to bring the onboard camera as close as possible to objects that the drone needs to inspect.
“The morphing drone can adopt different configurations according to what is needed in the field,” adds Stefano Mintchev, co-author and researcher at EPFL.
The researchers plan to further improve the structure of their drone so that it can fold in all three dimensions. They also want to develop software that will make the drone truly autonomous, so it can find its own way through rubble and collapsed buildings in real-life scenarios. “The final goal is to give the drone a high-level instruction such as ‘enter that building, inspect every room and come back’ and let it figure out by itself how to do it,” says Falanga.
The paper “The Foldable Drone: A Morphing Quadrotor that can Squeeze and Fly” has been published in the journal IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters.
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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 73 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.
