This giant storm has remained a nearly constant feature of Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere for at least 300 years. How can a storm persist for so long?

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Seán Doran.

By Donna Pierce, Mississippi State University

The Great Red Spot, a storm larger than the Earth and powerful enough to tear apart smaller storms that get drawn into it, is one of the most recognizable features in Jupiter’s atmosphere and the entire solar system. The counterclockwise-moving storm, an anticyclone, boasts wind speeds as high as 300 miles (483 km) per hour. This prominent feature, observed since 1830, and possibly as far back as the 1660s, has long been a source of great fascination and scientific study.

Much about the Great Red Spot is still unknown, including exactly when and how it formed, what gives it its striking red color and why it has persisted for so much longer than other storms that have been observed in the atmosphere of Jupiter. However, astronomers think that its position in latitude, consistently observed to be 22 degrees south of Jupiter’s equator, is connected to the prominent cloud bands in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

As a planetary astronomer who studies the atmospheres of comets, I’m normally not investigating massive storms. But I still want to know about the features seen in the atmosphere of other bodies in the solar system, including Jupiter. Studying atmospheres of all kinds deepens our understanding of how they form and work.

Unlike Jupiter, the Earth has land masses that cause major storms to lose energy due to friction with a solid surface. Without this feature, Jupiter’s storms are more long-lasting. However, the Great Red Spot is long-lived, even by Jupiter standards. Researchers don’t quite understand why, but we do know that Jupiter’s storms that are located in cloud bands with the same direction of rotation tend to be longer lasting.

The planets of the solar system to size scale. Jupiter is 5 times further from the sun than the Earth.

These colorful alternating bands, called belts (dark bands) and zones (light bands), run parallel to Jupiter’s equator. Researchers aren’t sure what causes the coloration of the bands and zones, but differences in their chemical composition, temperature and transparency of the atmosphere to light have all been suggested as contributing factors. These bands are also counter-rotating, meaning that they move in opposite directions with respect to their neighbors. The boundaries between the bands and zones are marked by strong winds called zonal jets.

The Great Red Spot is confined by an eastward jet to its north and a westward jet to its south, confining the storm to a constant latitude. However, the Great Red Spot has undergone considerable changes in longitudeover time, and recent evidence suggests that its rate of westward longitudinal motion is increasing.

Like the Great Red Spot, the bands have undergone little change in latitude over the time during which they have been observed. Researchers don’t entirely understand the banded structure, but we do have evidence suggesting that the light colored zones are regions of rising material, and the dark belts are regions of material sinking into the atmosphere.

On Earth, there is a well-defined boundary between the atmosphere and the surface of the planet, which is largely covered by liquid water. However, there are no known large oceans of water under Jupiter’s clouds. Based on what researchers do know, the atmosphere smoothly transitions to a liquid hydrogen interior within the planet. There may be a solid core to Jupiter, but it is most likely buried very deep under a thick layer of liquid metallic hydrogen, a form of hydrogen that acts as an electrical conductor.

What else do we know about the Great Red Spot that is changing dramatically? Its size, shape and color. An analysis of historical and recently obtained data on the Great Red Spot has shown that it is shrinking and becoming both rounder and taller, and its color has also varied over time. What is driving these changes, and what do they mean for the future of the Great Red Spot? Researchers aren’t sure.

However, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, currently orbiting Jupiter, is gathering more data on the cloud bands and the Great Red Spot. These new data will likely provide insights into many of the features in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Donna Pierce, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Mississippi State University

• This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
• Bottom line: Why is Jupiter’s Great Red Spot so long-lived?

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

26-03-2019 om 00:42 geschreven door peter  

Insights about secret scientific research in the US

Come Carpentier de Gourdon

Screenshot of Bob Lazar’s website.

It shows the existence of a two-tier scientific culture, of which the upper tier would be a domain for clandestine R&D, unknown to democratically elected authorities.

Many investigators and whistleblowers in the United States have, over the last 40 years, called attention upon unacknowledged scientific and technical programmes being carried out in various publicly and privately funded laboratories and research centres, affiliated to military and intelligence agencies, in “exotic” areas that are officially not regarded as deserving of serious attention in civilian institutions such as universities. The existence of such programmes, now being proven, would demonstrate the existence of a two-tier scientific culture in the US at least, if not in the rest of the world, of which the upper tier would be a domain for clandestine R&D, unsupervised by, and unknown to, democratically elected authorities. If only for this reason, finding out the truth about the situation is of great value to society.

What do we know about the long suspected “special access” programmes hiding within the American military-industrial-intelligence complex and what is backed by material evidence?

Among the first whistleblowers, who emerged in the 1980s (1989 in his case), Bob Lazar is noteworthy because of the extensive information he provided in videotaped talks about research he had carried out in Area S-4 close to the since notorious Area 51 in the Nevada desert’s atomic testing range, around the dry Groom lake riverbed.

Lazar claimed to have being recruited by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), through defence contractor EG&G, to work as part of a team on a highly classified project which involved examining and reverse engineering a 52 feet wide saucer-shaped craft that he quickly realised was not built by humans. He further explained that it was made of some unknown ceramic-like material, could sit three small sized (3 feet tall) crew members and was powered by a hitherto undiscovered super-heavy element, eventually identified as number 115 on the periodic table, which generated its own gravitational field and enabled the craft to reach fantastic speeds. Lazar further explained that the retrieved space vehicle was being test flown in Area 51/S-4 although neither its materials nor its propulsion systems could be figured out or reproduced. However, he warned that the US military had somehow gotten hold of a substantial quantity of Element 115, stored at Los Alamos and intended for weaponisation. His report was supported by well connected investigators, including John Lear, son of the Learjet inventor and a veteran CIA operative who testified that he was also exposed to covert research into “alien” technologies.

Lazar’s testimony (retraced and updated in a recent documentary by Jeremy Corbell entitled Bob Lazar, Area 51 and Flying Saucers) was one of many that were more or less publicised in the following decades despite stubborn denials from official quarters. In 1997, former Pentagon intelligence officer (foreign technology desk) and White House staffer Colonel Philip Corso’s bestselling book, The Day After Roswell, purported to lift the veil on much of the clandestine research pursued since 1947 by various branches of the federal government and compartmentally outsourced to defence contractors such as Lockheed, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Martin Marietta, Northrop, Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics and others. However, the results of those advanced investigations remained largely undisclosed, although Corso alleged that major technical breakthroughs such as microtransistors, superconductors, fibre optics, Kevlar and night vision goggles had been developed through reverse engineering of alien materials. Since then aeronautics engineer Edgar Fouché, who reports having worked for the Aurora Project at Area 51 which built the secret Tr3-B triangular mercury plasma fuelled spacecraft, Dr Robert Wood from McDonnell Douglas, Corey Goode, Wlliam Tompkins also formerly at McDonnell Douglas and the more controversial Dan Burisch, are among the alleged “insiders” who have blown the whistle on various “black” programmes. Some like Goode claim to have served on an SSF (Secret Space Fleet), a branch of the US Navy which began operating in the 1960s or 1970s under the Solar Warden code name. Their accounts have been extensively reported and analysed by veteran researchers such as Linda Moulton Howe as part of her Earthfiles series, Paola Harris, Dr Steven Greer (in his widely publicized Disclosure Project) and Dr Michael Salla, co-founder of the Exopolitics Institute.

Additionally, in June 2017, a 47-page top secret briefing document was leaked and analysed by various experts. It appears to be a briefing dictated by a member of the clandestine MJ-12 agency (set up to deal with UFO related issues in 1954) for Dr Philip Morrison, an eminent MIT physicist. It contains detailed descriptions of alien craft and their recovery, transcripts of communications with alien beings and spells out the measures taken by concerned agencies to keep the entire subject secret, even to the highest elected authorities.

Back in 2007, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, in which Area 51 is located, and who then chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, set up a new study group with the support of fellow Senators, Inouye and Stevens, under the name of AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) at the suggestion of his friend, billionaire Robert Bigelow, chairman of Bigelow Aerospace, a contractor to NASA which conducted research on UFOs and collected substantial evidence of the extraterrestrial presence.

Senator Reid wished to gather information on the secret work being carried out outside the purview of Congressional authorities and got an appropriation of $22 million for a five-year budget. The investigations were entrusted to Bigelow’s aerospace research division and coordinated by Earthtech of Austin, Texas, an R&D centre in frontier areas of science headed by Dr Harold Puthoff, formerly at Stanford Research Institute. AATIP under the stewardship of high-ranking intelligence officer Luis Elizondo, commissioned a still unissued 490-page report and collected 38 classified papers from a number of universities and research centres reflecting some of the goals pursued at the behest of the DIA (as Defense Intelligence Research Documents or DIRD) and other military intelligence bodies.

AATIP remained unknown to the public until both the New York Times and the Washington Post on 16 December 2017 published articles about it with the mandatory sceptical rumblings. They both, however, provided online links to a film taken in 2004 by Super Hornet jet pilots from the USS Nimitz, off the coast of Southern California, of a fleet of extremely fast flying objects, exhibiting performances far beyond the abilities of the most advanced aircraft, whose shapes suggested “tictacs” which became their moniker.

Physicist Jack Sarfatti, formerly at San Diego State University, has gone on record to say he is doing research on the propulsion system of the “tictac” by studying “alien” recovered metamaterials in the custody of Dr Puthoff’s Earthtech. The existence of those materials of non-earthly origin has been officially confirmed.

In January of this year a Freedom Of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists against Government Secrecy, led to the release by the DIA of the list of titles of above mentioned 38 government-funded research reports gathered by AATIP as part of the process to “read in” on a need-to-know basis, officials in the military and civilian administrations. They include two papers leaked earlier by Corey Goode, respectively entitled Traversable Wormholes, Stargates and Negative Energy (number 8 in the list) and Warp Drive, Dark Energy and the Manipulation of Extra-Dimensions (number 19). Others are dedicated to invisibility cloaking technologies, propulsion systems from space vacuum, anti-gravity, space communication based on Quantum Entanglement and Non-Locality, programmable matter, negative mass propulsion and other such topics not publicly recognised as being within the realm of realistic possibilities.

Cynics who alleged that all this is speculative mumbo-jumbo amounting to a waste of public money did not consider that the disclosure from AATIP seems to be what the CIA calls a “limited hangout”: i.e. a superficial glimpse of a much larger secret cloaked in “plausible deniability”.

Since the alleged closure of AATIP in 2012, a private initiative called TTSA (To the Stars Academy) has been set up with the participation of some of the staffers of AATIP, including its former director Luis Elizondo. TTSA is working with retired military and civilian officials to further disclose the extensive and long-standing secret military R&D pursued between government agencies and private contractors involved in what is commonly called the Deep State. Its executive director Tom DeLonge has produced a new documentary series for the History Channel relying on military insider testimonies and entitled Unidentified.

How much more time and effort will it take for certain agencies in the US government to confess to the many ominous or mind-boggling secrets they have kept from the public, often in violation of constitutional principles and legal norms and procedures?

{ https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/ }

26-03-2019 om 00:19 geschreven door peter  

A Physicist Says He's Found the Solution to the Fermi Paradox—And It's Terrifying

The idea is that the first civilization to attain interstellar travel would start gobbling up as many resources as it could to drive its own expansion and ensure a future for itself. This would eventually cause it to start stripping worlds that already have life on them, leading it to destroy alien civilizations as it went.

This wouldn't be out of malice, Berezin argues:

"I am not suggesting that a highly developed civilization would consciously wipe out other lifeforms," Berezin says.

"Most likely, they simply won't notice, the same way a construction crew demolishes an anthill to build real estate because they lack incentive to protect it. ...This problem is similar to the infamous 'Tragedy of the commons'. The incentive to grab all available resources is strong, and it only takes one bad actor to ruin the equilibrium, with no possibility to prevent them from appearing at interstellar scale.

All right, so this is pretty much the 'Big Bad Alien Civilization' hypothesis, but with some economic reasoning behind it, right?

No, actually—it's the Big Bad Human Civilization hypothesis. 

Berezin believes the answer to the Fermi Paradox, the reason we haven't picked up on alien signals or observed evidence of this steamroller alien civilization, is because we're the first ones to have made it this far.

With Berezin's logic in mind, we're also going to be the first civilization to attain interstellar space travel, and our expansion beyond the solar system is going to inevitably wipe out alien life on other plants.

And this, Berezin admits, "would be hard to accept, as it predicts a future for our own civilization that is even worse than extinction."

That future, it appears, is utter loneliness.

{ https://www.outerplaces.com/ }

25-03-2019 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

The Universe's Dark Secret: Where Did All the Antimatter Go?

By Paul Sutter

It's a cosmic whodunit.

Electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, interact around a neutron star in this visualization. Why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the universe we can see?

(Image: © NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

• Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of Your Place in the Universe. Sutter contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

So there's this stuff called "antimatter." You may have heard of it. It's just like normal matter, with all the same properties and all the same abilities to make up atoms and molecules, except for one crucial difference: It has an opposite charge. Take the humble electron, for example. Mass of 9.11 x 10^-31 kg. Quantum spin of 1/2. Charge of 1.6 x 10^-9 coulombs.

It has an antimatter evil twin, the positron. The positron has a mass of 9.11 x 10^-31 kg. Quantum spin of 1/2. Charge of … -1.6 x 10^-9 coulombs.

• Related: Will Antimatter Engines Power the First Starships? (Video)

It's the same for every other particle out there. There's a dark-side twin for the top quark, the neutrino, the muon and on and on and on. All the fundamental particles that make up our daily lives have a partner, living just on the other side of the charge fence.

That's all well and dandy and no big deal at all, except for one thing, which is a tiny bit of a big deal. As far as we can understand the theory and see in the observations, not only are matter and antimatter paired up like this, they're symmetric. Every particle of normal matter produced in a reaction comes paired with its antimatter sibling. 

The only conclusion: Our universe ought to be swimming with antimatter, existing in equal parts with normal matter. Whole planets, stars and galaxies made of antimatter! Or at the very least, loads of antimatter particles just floating around in space, minding their own business.

But when matter and antimatter meet, it's bad news. Just as the pairs are produced in perfect symmetry in fundamental interactions, they are destroyed in symmetry as well. When a particle finally gets to meet and shake hands with its antiparticle best friend, they end up like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: going down in a blaze of glory.

All their combined matter is converted into energy, usually in the form of high-energy gamma-ray radiation. 

A disturbance in the force

We don't see signs of abundant free-floating carefree antimatter, because we don't see the aftermath of its inevitable destruction upon meeting regular matter. The universe is filled with constantly-interacting stuff. High-energy particles zipping across light-years. Fountains of material escaping from galaxies and new junk drifting in. Stars colliding. In our universe, stuff mixes with stuff all the time. If some decent proportion of that was antimatter, the universe ought to be a lot more … energetic … than it is.

So if the antimatter isn't here anymore, where the heck did it go? 

One possibility is that our universe was simply born this way, with an abundance of matter and a severe lack of antimatter. While that's certainly an excuse, it isn't much of an explanation. "That's just the way it is, folks" isn't the most compelling argument in scientific circles. So while you could always say that, let's move on to other, more productive lines of inquiry.

Perhaps something in the early universe caused an imbalance between matter and antimatter. 

It's not that crazy of an idea. The early, early, early days of the universe were pretty funky times, with all sorts of crazy physics and exotic interactions at play that are now, thankfully, merely a cosmic memory. So maybe something happened. Maybe the universe was rolling along just fine, with each particle met with an equal and opposite antiparticle. 

And then … a shift. An imbalance. A strange process that produced more matter than antimatter. Most of the pairs would be annihilated, but a few normal particles would remain. It wouldn't have to be much: Just one particle in a billion would be enough to lay the foundations for all the stars and galaxies that we see today.

• Related: The Universe: Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps

Strength through weakness

It would indeed have to be a very peculiar set of conditions to cause such an imbalance. Our universe is governed by rules of how particles and forces should interact and behave. It's these rules that lay the framework for all the wonderful interactions that make up the richness of everyday life.

But sometimes rules need to be broken, as in the case of the early universe. After all, it's those same rules that say that the divergence between matter and antimatter ought not to be in the first place.

Whatever interaction, whatever process, led to matter's ultimate victory had to be strange indeed. It had to start with producing not just an excess quantity of regular matter, but also an excess quantity of charge to counterbalance it. Otherwise, because total charges must stay the same throughout a process, that matter-loving route would've been perfectly balanced by a twin antimatter-loving road.

Plus, this process had to happen during a sharp boundary, when the infant cosmos was transforming rapidly from one state to another. It's only there that the physics would permit such a rule-breaking violation to take place; otherwise a universe in equilibrium would just end up balancing all interactions out anyway.

Is there anything in all of known physics that could make the antimatter go away? Well, maybe. There are some hints and suggestions buried in rare particle interactions involving the weak nuclear force. We understand these interactions only dimly, especially the way they would occur in the early universe, but even there our best guess for its matter-favoring ability put it far, far below the minimum needed to explain our present situation.

The origins of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter is an outstanding problem in physics. A problem that pushes the boundaries of current knowledge and pushes our understanding of the universe into some of its earliest moments. A problem that, you could say, really matters.

• Why Physicists Are Planning to Drive Antimatter Around in a Moving Van
• Laser Experiment Helps Unravel Mystery of Antimatter 
• First Solid Sign that Matter Doesn't Behave Like Antimatter

Learn more by listening to the episode "Hey, who took all the antimatter?" on the Ask A Spaceman podcast, available on iTunes and on the Web at http://www.askaspaceman.com. Thanks to 185transformer, William G., Matthew A., Bogdan V., dave B., Eric D., Kent B., and Kahandran for the questions that led to this piece! Ask your own question on Twitter using #AskASpaceman or by following Paul @PaulMattSutter and facebook.com/PaulMattSutter. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

25-03-2019 om 23:40 geschreven door peter  

How 3-D Printing Could Break into the Building Industry

Imagine a single trained operator making a bridge, home or barracks

25-03-2019 om 23:04 geschreven door peter  

Grootste tyrannosaurus rex ter wereld ontdekt - HLN.be

Bron: afp

Paleontologen ontdekten resten van de grootste tyrannosaurus rex ooit in de Canadese provincie Saskatchewan. Dinosaurus Scotty, die ongeveer 66 miljoen jaar geleden leefde, was ongeveer 13 meter lang en woog maar liefst 8.800 kilogram. 

Lees ook

Perfect bewaarde sporen van dinosaurussen ontdekt in Amerikaans natuurpark

“Dit is de rex der rexen,” aldus de Canadese onderzoeker Scott Persons. “Er zijn aanzienlijke verschillen tussen tyrannosaurussen. Sommige individuen waren forser dan anderen. Scotty is een voorbeeld van zo’n fors exemplaar. Zorgvuldige metingen van de benen, heupen en zelfs schouders wijzen uit dat Scotty langer was dan elke andere tyrannosaurus rex (die tot op heden is teruggevonden, red.).” 

De vorige recordhouder was Sue, een tyrannosaurus rex met een lengte van 12,3 meter. Deze dino woog zo’n 5.654 kilogram. 

Scotty is niet alleen de grootste tyrannosaurus rex ter wereld. “Hij is ook de oudst bekende”, aldus de Canadese wetenschapper. “Je kunt een idee krijgen van hoe oud een dinosaurus is door in de beenderen te zagen en de groeipatronen te bestuderen”. Uit de onderzoeksresultaten bleek dat Scotty ongeveer dertig jaar oud was toen hij 66 miljoen jaar geleden stierf. “Dat is uitzonderlijk lang”, aldus Persons. 

De grootste dino ter wereld wordt bewaard in het Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

25-03-2019 om 22:15 geschreven door peter  

Archeologen stoten op schat in Mexico en denken dat ze allereerste graftombe Azteekse keizer op spoor zijn - HLN.be

De ontdekking gebeurde niet in een afgelegen of onontgonnen gebied, maar midden in het centrum van het drukke Mexico-Stad. Meer bepaald aan de voet van de bekende Templo Mayor. Dat was 500 jaar geleden de belangrijkste tempel van de Azteekse hoofdstad Tenochtitlan, in de periode dat de machtigste heerser van het rijk aan de macht was.

Lees ook

Aardbeving in Mexico leidt tot ontdekking van 900 jaar oude tempel

Heiligdommen

De tempel was een gigantisch complex van 60 meter hoog, dat beschouwd werd als het middelpunt van de aarde. Bovenaan stonden twee heiligdommen: een voor de oorlogsgod Huitzilopochtli en een voor de regengod Tlaloc. Bij een van de vele uitbreidingen van de tempel - in 1487 - zou een van de grootste massaoffers plaatsgevonden hebben uit de geschiedenis van de beschaving, waarbij naar schatting 4.000 mensen het leven lieten. De tempel werd uiteindelijk verwoest tijdens de verovering van Mexico door Hernán Cortés in 1521.

De resten kwamen in 1978 tevoorschijn tijdens een verbouwing op het centrale plein van Mexico-Stad. En het is aan de voet van de tempel dat archeologen nu hun ongeziene vondst hebben gedaan: rijkelijke offergaven die zouden kunnen wijzen op een koninklijke begraafplaats. (lees hieronder verder)

Het gaat onder meer om de resten van een luxueus versierde jaguar, verkleed als krijger, een kleine jongen van een jaar of negen die gekleed is als Azteekse oorlogs- en zonnegod - met een jaden ketting en vleugels van havikbeenderen - en een set vuursteenmessen die versierd zijn met parelmoer en edelstenen. De offergaven werden vijf eeuwen geleden neergelegd door Azteekse priesters op een cirkelvormig platform voor de tempel, een plek waar zich volgens de vroegste overleveringen de rustplaats zou bevinden van Azteekse keizers.

“We hebben nu enorme verwachtingen”, zegt het hoofd van de groep archeologen die er aan het werk is - Leonardo Lopez Lujan - aan persbureau Reuters. “Naarmate we dieper graven, zullen we vermoedelijk nog veel meer rijkelijke objecten vinden.” (lees hieronder verder)

REUTERS 

Op dit beeld is de jaguar te zien, met het cirkelvormige embleem van oorlogsgod Huitzilopochtli. Er zijn ook resten van koraal en zeesterren achtergebleven.

 REUTERS 

Leonardo Lopez Lujan.

Vooral de vondst van de jaguar blijkt opwindend. Die zat in een grote stenen doos, waarvan nog maar een tiende is opgegraven en die nu al een ware schatkist blijkt te zijn. Het dier draagt een houten gravure op de rug met het embleem van de god Huitzilopochtli. Bovenop liggen offergaven uit de zee, zoals schelpen, zeesterren en koraal. Die kunnen verwijzen naar de onderwaterwereld waar de zon volgende de Azteken ’s nachts doorheen reisde. De rode lepelaar – een vogel uit de familie van de flamingo’s – die gevonden is, wordt dan weer geassocieerd met heersers en krijgers en zou hun geest voorstellen in hun tocht naar de onderwereld.

Broers

Tientallen jaren na de verovering van Mexico, brachten enkele geschiedschrijvers verslag uit van de begrafenisrites van drie Azteekse heersers: drie broers die heersten van 1469 tot 1502. Volgens die verslagen werden hun gecremeerde resten neergelegd op of vlakbij het cirkelvormige platform aan de tempel, voorzien van rijkelijke offergaven en de harten van geofferde slaven.

13 jaar geleden werd vlakbij het platform een gigantische monoliet gevonden van een aardgodin. Daarop stond een inscriptie die overeenkwam met het jaar 1502, het jaar waarin de jongste broer en machtigste heerser die de Azteken ooit kenden – Ahuitzotl – stierf. (lees hieronder verder)

 REUTERS 

De kleine jongen die aangekleed werd als Azteekse oorlogs- en zonnegod, met een jaden ketting en vleugels van havikbeenderen.

 REUTERS 

De schedel van de geofferde jongen.

Volgens Elizabeth Boone – een expert in het oude Mexico aan Tulane University in New Orleans – zou de dood van Ahuitzotl gepaard gegaan zijn met een grootse begrafenis en zou de jaguar de koning kunnen voorstellen als onbevreesd krijger. “Hij kan goed in die stenen kist begraven liggen”, klinkt het.

De offergaven werpen ook een blik op hoe mobiel de Azteken waren. Ze zouden een beschaving van krijgers geweest zijn die naburige koninkrijken binnenvielen en onderwierpen, een beetje zoals de Spartanen in het oude Griekenland. Zo kwamen de zeesterren bijvoorbeeld uit de Stille Oceaan, terwijl het jade van Centraal-Amerika afkomstig was, ter hoogte van het huidige Honduras.

Budget

Verwacht wordt dat de opgravingen nog zeker enkele maanden zullen duren. De wetenschappers zullen het daarbij niet makkelijk krijgen, want de nieuwe regering van Mexico heeft het budget van het project met 20 procent verminderd voor dit jaar, dixit de archeologen. Bijna iedereen van het 25-koppige team is al niet meer betaald sinds december.

 REUTERS

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

25-03-2019 om 22:07 geschreven door peter  

DE LIJST MET BUITENAARDSE OFFICIEREN ( VIDEO )

Hoeveel bewijs is er nog nodig, voordat men in mainstream land gaat toegeven dat er buitenaards leven is (geweest) op Mars en andere locaties. 

De lijst met buitenaardse officieren van NASA met bijbehorende ruimteschepen bewijst dat wij maar met een fractie  bekend zijn met wat er werkelijk in de ruimte gebeurt.

Het beste bewijsmateriaal voor leven op Mars is nog altijd afkomstig van NASA. 

Soms is het even gemakkelijk te ontdekken, omdat een gecrasht ruimteschip meestal niet altijd mooi aan de oppervlakte ligt, maar gedeeltelijk begraven. 

Maar, voor ervaren ufologen zoals Scott Waring, is het mogelijk om deze objecten op te sporen op de foto’s van NASA en het object op de foto voor een deel scherper zichtbaar te maken. 

Het begint met een foto van één van de Rovers die er als volgt uit ziet. 

Het bekende Mars landschap, met in de verte iets dat uitsteekt boven de heuvelrand.

Wanneer we dat object wat dichterbij halen, dan krijgt het een bekende vorm.

En als Scott klaar is met het verbeteren van de foto, dan ziet het er uiteindelijk als volgt uit en zien we dat we hier te maken hebben met een klassieke of retro ufo.

En als dit nu het enige gecrashte ruimteschip op Mars zou zijn, dan zou je misschien nog kunnen twijfelen, maar er zijn in de loop der jaren meer objecten waargenomen op de rode planeet die niet anders uitgelegd kunnen worden dan als gecrashte ruimteschepen. 

In 2016 publiceerden wij de volgende opnames van een gecrasht ruimteschip op Mars.

Beelden die later viraal gingen en werden opgepikt door de wereldpers.

Een jaar later, in 2017, duikt er weer een NASA foto op waarop duidelijk een soort gecrasht ruimteschip op Mars is te zien.

Het wordt zo langzamerhand een onhoudbare zaak voor NASA om nog langer te ontkennen dat er geen tekenen van leven worden gevonden op Mars. Zoals wij eerder deze week een artikel publiceerden met daarop een object, gevonden op Mars, dat onmogelijk natuurlijk kan zijn waarmee door NASA eigenlijk al is toegegeven dat buitenaards leven bestaat. 

Bij dat alles komt natuurlijk ook ander soort bewijs zoals dat geleverd is door de Engelse hacker Gary McKinnon. We hebben eerder al uitgebreid geschreven over deze man en de zaken die  hij ontdekte.

Eén van de meest opmerkelijke dingen die Gary ontdekte was een lijst met buitenaardse officieren en schepen met namen die nergens op aarde zijn te traceren. En dat ze onvindbaar zijn is omdat het namen zijn van ruimteschepen van degeheime ruimtevloot.

Naast bovengenoemde lijsten kwam Gary ook afbeeldingen tegen. Echter, omdat dit alles plaatsvond een kleine 20 jaar geleden toen wij nog geen snel internet hadden en Gary verbinding had via een 56k modem, was het niet mogelijk om afbeeldingen van 2 mb of groter te downloaden.

De oplossing die Gary toen bedacht is om controle te nemen over een computer in de NASA gebouwen en daar op een scherm een afbeelding te downoaden. Hij was een heel eind op weg en zag wat er op stond toen iemand bij NASA in de gaten kreeg dat er iets vreemds met die computer aan de hand was omdat de muis vanzelf over het scherm bewoog en werd de verbinding verbroken.

Maar, wat Gary zag was een groot cilinder-/sigaarvormig schip dat er ongeveer uit zag als op de volgende afbeelding die is gemaakt op basis van de beschrijvingen van Gary. Deze vorm ruimteschepen komen we ook vaak tegen op aarde.

Tegenwoordig hoor je weinig meer van Gary McKinnon en daarom is het volgende interview wat Gary enkele dagen geleden deed met Richard Dolan heel bijzonder en hier is precies te horen hoe Gary te werk ging om de lijst met buitenaardse officieren te bemachtigen. 

{ http://niburu.co/ )

25-03-2019 om 18:27 geschreven door peter  

The recent spate of anomalous noises heard worldwide continues this month as residents of a small town in Michigan report hearing and even feeling a strange, unexplained hum. The hum or vibration is reportedly strong enough to rattle homes, cause glasses of water to ripple Jurassic Park-style, and even crumble the foundations of homes. What could be causing such a powerful vibration throughout Michigan?

Hopefully not a wayward Tyrannosaur.

For now, there are very few theories as to what could be causing the mysterious vibration which seems to be centered around the township of Canton, just west of the former post-apocalyptic dystopia and current mid-gentrification dystopia of Detroit. The U.S. Geological Survey has verified that there has been no seismic activity in the area which could explain the vibration or hum, leaving city officials in Canton to guess the mysterious tremor and noises could be related to either utilities, a nearby landfill, or even traffic on local highway I-275. However, Canton residents don’t buy any of those explanations and say the mysterious vibration sounds different from usual industrial noises and has been increasing in frequency and prevalence lately.

The Canton township municipal complex which includes town hall.

Longtime Canton resident Mackey Howell says in his twenty years in the township, he’s heard and felt the vibrations from local transportation arteries for years but this latest hum somehow seems different:

I’m familiar with all those sounds – the airport, the train, and (the sound) I-275 makes – this is something is very different. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced it during the daytime. Its disturbing. We’ve had pictures actually fall off the wall.

The hum has been reported since the 1970s, but many Canton residents agree with Howell that this latest iteration is anomalous and seems to be getting louder in recent weeks. Some people have even reported feeling pressure changes in their inner ears at the same time they hear and feel the mysterious vibration. Oddly enough, some North Carolina residents reported the same sensation in conjunction with good ol’ fashioned mystery booms in the area just a few weeks prior. 

I’ve been tracking and researching these anomalous, Earth-rattling noises for over two years now, and like city officials and public safety agencies everywhere, I’m at a complete loss to explain what forces or phenomena may be behind these events. Are these unknown natural occurrences, or are they caused by some man made activity? Reports of anomalous noises and mysterious booms date back centuries, but the unbelievably high number of reports lately suggests either that the phenomenon is increasing or intensity or that a new cause is afoot. What’s behind all of these anomalous noises? Is the Canton hum related in any way to more well-known hums like the Taos hum or Windsor hum?

Stay tuned.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

25-03-2019 om 18:12 geschreven door peter  

'Project Blue Book' Season 2 Possible Air Date, Plot, Other Story Details Unveiled

25-03-2019 om 14:46 geschreven door peter  

Is science fiction the cause of mysterious lights seen at night in Delamere Forest?

Is science fiction is the cause of mysterious lights seen at night in Delamere Forest?

PEOPLE living in and around Delamere Forest have been puzzled by the appearance of strange, eerie lights among the trees.

They could be forgiven for think that the forest was the sight of a UFO encounter - and they would not be far wrong.

The forest is increasingly being used as a location for films and television - including a BBC adaptation of War of the Worlds and a new Netflix series called The Stranger.

Photo: Lee Cartwright

The dense forest has recently been used as a backdrop for dramatic scenes of an alien invasion for the latest adaptation of H G Wells classic War of the Worlds.

The Peter Harness' three-part adaptation the sci-fi classic will be screened on BBC One later this year.

And more recently, a car chase was filmed for The Stranger, a series due to be shown on Netflix later this year starring Hannibal and The Hobbit actor Richard Armitage.

Few details are available about the eight-episode series, based on Harlan Coben’s novel, but the synopsis from Netflix reads: “ A secret destroys a man’s perfect life and sends him on a collision course with a deadly conspiracy in this shocking thriller.

“Adam Price has a good life, two wonderful sons, and a watertight marriage - until one night a stranger sits next to him in a bar and tells him a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne.

“Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realises that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives — it will end them.”

One resident of Station Road said weird sightings were becoming more common in the forest.

He said: There's a weird chunky looking prop with bright lights attached to it, suspended from a really high crane arm, above white gate car park and its mega bright. It lit up my house through the windows yesterday. I've not heard any noises or anything though."

The lights certainly piqued residents' curiosity.

Posting in the Delamere and Oakmere Facebook group, Jacqui Brooks asked: "What are the giant lights on the skyline over far side of the forest for?"

Sarah Evans said: "We have wondered every morning/evening...query aliens abduction of locals, building, concerts..can tell kids the truth now?"

Ellen Piercy replied: "Nah, stick with the aliens story, MUCH more exciting."

Others described the filming as "exciting" and "very, very bright".

The forest has become popular with television and film producers, with episodes of ITV drama Cold Feet filmed there recently.

Residents have been told filming is permitted until 1am.

{ https://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/ }

25-03-2019 om 14:32 geschreven door peter  

UFO Over Berlin Airport Moves Out Of Way Of Jet, March 6, 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 6, 2019

Location of sighting: Berlin, Germany

Source: MUFON #99333

 

Here is an interesting report from MUFON today. A person took some photos and noticed a UFO two of the photos. What looks like a ring UFO may be one solid craft with the top center having a dark tinted dome window area on it. The UFO moves it position when it notices the passenger jet approaching it. This makes me think there is a possibility of the UFO having shown up on airport radar. The UFO itself was probably hovering over Berlin Brandenburg Airport for a few minutes before it was forced to move out of the path of a jet. 

 

When you compare the size of the jet, lets say for comparisons sake its a 747 which is 76.3 meters long. Then this UFO is 30% the diameter of the jet, making the UFO 22.89 meters across. Notice how the UFO takes on the color of the sky behind it? Its tying to go unnoticed. The ships outer hull reflects the colors around it.

 

A lot of UFOs have been recorded over Airports over the years. I guess anything that flies has the newest and highest tech for safety reasons and that makes it worth investigating by aliens. 

Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

 

Eyewitness states: 

Round object found in the sky after taking photo from the TV tower in Berlin.

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

25-03-2019 om 13:54 geschreven door peter  

Mind Blowing Structures On Earths Moon In NASA Photo, March 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: March 25, 2019
Location of discovery: Earths Moon
Source NASA photo: 

• https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS15-P-9583
  
  

Sure some of you have heard about my discovery of the Yoda face on Earths moon a few years ago, (Click here to see Yoda post) but did you know there is so much more there? Its true, but to see the structures there, you must follow my instructions below. 

1. Go to URL and lift photo from site to desktop. 
2. Open photo on desktop. 
3. Goto tools bar at top (IOS mac). Then hit size. 
4. Change size, enlarge until photo is 10MB. Then close photo. 
5. Now Open photo in any photo program and add contrast like its going out of style...that means a lot. 
6. Now save photo and start searching it for structures, you will have to use zoom and have to look carefully. 

You need to do this because NASA added too much light to the photo on purpose in order to cause many of the ares of the photo to appear as white/grey and unclear. Thus bring it back into the proper light and focus creates the original photo as it was first taken. 

You will notice that the aliens built the structures square partitions. Much like remaking a house and moving the parts to the location to create it. This may be proof that the structures were created somewhere else, then brought to the moon to put together. 

Do not do this if you are sensitive. It might be overwhelming to suddenly go from believing to knowing. I do not mean to frighten anyone, but only to bring the truth to light. I actually found this several weeks ago, but hesitated till now to publish it. I was worried some people may panic. The biggest fear is not aliens attacking earth, its that they exist when science says they should not. It causes the person to call into question everything they ever learned in school, church, TV, from friends...and how aliens must have already influenced the direction humanity is currently traveling without anyone ever knowing. Its a bit deep of a plunge, but it must be taken. I did, I remember that day well. Thats why I never say I believe in aliens...it sounds like I have doubt, but I don't. I know they exist. 
Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

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

25-03-2019 om 13:50 geschreven door peter  

The Navy Plans to Put HELIOS Laser Weapon on Destroyer by 2021

HELIOS will be capable of downing drones and “burning boats”.

By Kyle Mizokami

LOCKHEED MARTIN

Pew-pew-pew is coming soon-soon-soon.

The U.S. Navy plans to put a laser weapon on a warship by 2021. The High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, or HELIOS, is a defensive weapon system designed to burn boats and shoot down unmanned drones. The weapon will go to sea with a guided missile destroyer assigned to the Pacific Fleet in two years' time, the Navy says.

The service placed an order for HELIOS in January 2019. The $150 million contract, awarded to Lockheed Martin, calls for the company to deliver two systems. According to a company press release, one will go to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for testing. USNI News says the Navy will install the other on a Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

HELIOS is a 60-kilowatt laser system, meaning it has twice the power of the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, or LaWS installed on the USS Ponce in 2014. HELIOS is billed as a weapon that can burn small speed boats of the type Iran deploys in armed swarms, and can torch unmanned aerial vehicles out of the sky. Alternately—and perhaps to avoid an international incident—HELIOS can simply “dazzle” a UAV’s electro-optical sensors, damaging them and preventing them from performing their mission.

Here’s a simple example of this theory, in which a laser used during tattoo removal damages a digital camera sensor:

HELIOS has a long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability. While LockMart doesn’t spell out the details, we can surmise that the aiming system for the laser weapon/dazzle is probably capable of high-definition, high-powered digital magnification, allowing a ship fitted with it to closely watch nearby threats.

Many weapons already deployed on U.S. Navy warships, including the Phalanx close-in weapon system and the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), have a similar capability against small boats and drones as HELIOS while also being capable of taking on larger, faster aircraft and missiles. Range is also comparable.

Where a laser weapon like HELIOS shines, literally, is its ability to fire a theoretically unlimited number of shots using the destroyer’s onboard electrical generation systems. Phalanx, on the other hand, is limited to 20 to 30 seconds of continuous firing, while RAM is limited to 21 missiles aboard the Mk. 49 Guided Missile Launching System.

HELIOS is not a quantum leap above existing systems, but then again, early guns like the matchlock were in some ways inferior to the bow and arrow. Eventually, as firearms technology progressed, the gunpowder gun progressed to the point where it was clearly superior. As laser weapons become more powerful, they could quickly become much more effective than conventional gun and missile weapons.

Read more at USNI News

{ https://www.popularmechanics.com/ }

25-03-2019 om 01:07 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologist debunks alien influence, other conspiracy theories in archaeology

Have you heard the one about the aliens and the pyramids? Or what about the technologically advanced but tragically lost city of Atlantis?

Chances are that most of us have encountered at least one such story—a tale that tries to explain the past in a way that can sound scientific, but in doing so ignores the evidence and methods of science.

Why is this alternative archaeology so popular? And how do we tell fact from fiction?

Assistant Professor Matthew Peeples, co-director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change's Center for Archaeology and Society and an archaeologist of the Southwest U.S., is no stranger to the weirder side of his field. He has investigated false claims and has even been accused of covering up the truth.

For Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month, he sat down to discuss the background on these conspiracy theories, including one surrounding a petroglyph at the nearby Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Question: What are some examples of outrageous archaeological narratives in pop culture?

Answer: Probably the biggest out there involves the notion that intelligent alien life visited human populations in the ancient past and either influenced or directed the development of human cultures. This idea is pervasive in science fiction going back to early 20th-century authors like H.P. Lovecraft, but has gained popularity in more recent years through a deluge of books and TV shows like "Ancient Aliens."

These ideas are not supported by scientific evidence, but they've become so prevalent that many people believe there must be something to them. To use the Great Pyramids in Egypt as an example, archeologists have clearly shown how these structures fit in a broader tradition of smaller stone structures and earlier attempts at pyramid construction. The building technology is impressive, but we don't need to invoke aliens to explain it.

Another popular notion is that professional archaeologists themselves are actively hiding the truth about the past. I've personally had people accuse me of being part of a widespread cover-up or conspiracy. This trope shows up again and again in pop culture through shows like "The X-Files" or "Stargate." In reality, archaeologists love to test and retest each others' ideas about the past using new data and discoveries, which is what pushes the science forward.

Q: What are the myths surrounding the Deer Valley petroglyphs?

A: I wasn't aware of this until visitors at the preserve asked about it, but there was a mention of Deer Valley in a book published in the 1970s claiming to show evidence of Europeans visiting North America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus or the Viking colonization of Newfoundland.

The book featured drawings of rock art from throughout North America supposedly depicting boats from various places in ancient Europe and the Near East. One, from the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve, was said to depict a Punic sailing vessel along with the words "the ship" in Iberian Punic.

I worked with a group of honors students in my "Frauds, Myths and Mysteries" class to track down this claim and assess it. It took us quite a while to locate the petroglyph in question, largely because the drawing bore little resemblance to the actual petroglyph. We took high-resolution photos and made a 3-D model of the petroglyph, and we were able to show that the features that made both the supposed inscription and ship "convincing" were either exaggerated or were absent in the actual petroglyph (which archaeologists had previously suggested may have been a butterfly).

Q: When did conspiracy theories like these first come about? And why are they still popular today?

A: False archaeological claims like these have a really long history. There are accounts of a supposed discovery of the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere by monks at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191, shortly after the abbey was burned in a massive fire. The story attracted a lot of pilgrims who funded the reconstruction of the church, but more recent archaeological work has shown that the pre-Christian cemetery dated many centuries later than would be expected were there truth to this story. Most historians now chalk this up to a publicity stunt by the abbey. There are even similar references to such claims going back to at least the second century A.D.

I think these claims are still popular today for a number of reasons. First, there is a lot of money to be made from selling pseudoscientific ideas to the public, as is evidenced by the numerous books and TV shows that keep popping up. A lot of these ideas are also tied to nationalism and various other kinds of group identities. People have a desire to claim that their ancestors were the first to arrive in a new land or develop some advanced technology, claims that have even been used to justify war and invasion.

Q: How do archaeologists separate plausible arguments from pseudoscience? What are the challenges in that?

A: Archaeology is all about the systematic and scientific study of human societies based on the stuff they leave behind in context. A lot of pseudoscientific ideas attempt to put on the trappings of science by using the jargon but completely ignore the scientific process of formal observation and evaluation. Plausible arguments need to be supported by evidence rather than simply asserted, and the methods and data used should be made available for scrutiny.

Be suspicious if someone is making conspiratorial claims that scientists' lack of acceptance for their ideas is about suppression of the truth. Relying on high-quality, peer-reviewed sources will also ensure that people with the relevant expertise have had a chance to vet the work. I'm a fan of a set of tools Carl Sagan published as a "baloney detection kit," which are a series of questions you can ask yourself about a given claim to help you fortify yourself against falling for pseudoscientific claims.

Q: Where can the public look for accurate archaeological information?

A: If you're interested in archaeology here in Arizona, there are a lot of excellent groups and organizations you could get involved with. The Arizona Archaeological Society has chapters throughout the state that offer talks, tours and even opportunities to work on archaeological projects. There are also nonprofits like Archaeology Southwest in Tucson that provide high-quality information for non-specialists on the archaeology of the region.

 Explore further: Archaeologists must avoid prehistoric Brexit parallels – they encourage twisted readings of the past

{ https://phys.org/ }

25-03-2019 om 00:57 geschreven door peter  

2020 Mars Helicopter Could Open Alien Skies to Exploration

By Mike Wall 

The little craft's demonstration mission could lead to big things.

The 4-lb. Mars Helicopter will travel to the Red Planet with NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020.

(Image: © NASA/JPL)

A few brief hops in the Martian air two years from now could help open alien worlds to an entirely new kind of exploration.

An autonomous mini-helicopter will fly with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, which is scheduled to launch in July of that year and land on the Red Planet in February 2021. 

The bantam chopper is a stripped-down technology demonstration, and it will make a maximum of five short sorties in the Martian atmosphere. Success in this pioneering work would be a big deal, extending the reach of humanity's robotic explorers, which are currently restricted to the surfaces of alien worlds or the dark realms far above them.

• Related: NASA's Mars Rover 2020 Mission in Pictures (Gallery)

"We envision helicopters opening doors to new types of exploration on Mars," Håvard Grip, flight-control and aerodynamics lead for the Mars Helicopter, said Wednesday (March 20) during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group.

One day, more-advanced versions could serve as scouts for rovers or explore the Red Planet on their own, added Grip, who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, which are both in Pasadena. 

"In the future, we could imagine doing things like [engaging in] regional exploration using multiple helicopters or going to inaccessible areas or biologically sensitive areas using small helicopters," he said.

The Mars Helicopter weighs 4 lbs. (1.8 kilograms) and has a body about the size of a softball. It carries a range of avionics and communications gear, a small solar panel, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, "survival heaters" to keep its electronics warm through the frigid Martian night, and a navigation camera.

The helicopter doesn't have any science instruments, but it is outfitted with a high-resolution color imager.

"That's, so to speak, the payload," Grip said. "That's what we [use to] take pretty pictures and send them back to Earth."

The helicopter will travel to Mars attached to the belly of the car-size 2020 rover, which will hunt for signs of ancient Red Planet life and collect and store samples to return to Earth in the future, among other tasks. 

• Related: The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline

A month or two after the rover lands on the Red Planet, the chopper will drop down and hit the dirt itself. The little vehicle will then make a series of short flights, each of which will last about 90 seconds and reach a maximum altitude of 16.5 feet (5 meters) or so, Grip said.

These sorties will be made between 330 feet and 3,300 feet (100 to 1,000 m) away from the rover — far enough away to pose no collision danger, but close enough to be in communications range. (The helicopter will talk to its handlers on Earth via the rover.)

Success would be quite an achievement, considering that the Martian atmosphere is just 1 percent as dense as that of Earth at sea level. Cruising just above the Martian surface is equivalent to flying at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 m) here on Earth, more than twice as high as any helicopter has ever gotten. (The handicap imposed by the thin air is only partially offset by the Red Planet's lower gravity, which is 38 percent that of Earth, Grip said.)

To generate enough lift, the Mars Helicopter sports two stiff rotors that measure 3.9 feet (1.2 m) long — pretty much as big as the team could make them, Grip said. And the rotors will spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute, about 10 times faster than the blades of a chopper on Earth, mission team members have said.

The team has put this design through its paces many times in Mars-like conditions here on Earth, Grip said. Indeed, the little craft is pretty much ready to go.

"The flight model is built and more or less tested," Grip said.

The ultimate test, of course, will come on Mars.

"The Mars Helicopter's initial flight will represent that planet's version of the Wright brothers' achievement at Kitty Hawk and the opening of a new era," Susan Gorton, manager of NASA's Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project, which has been working with the Mars Helicopter team, said in a statement last week. 

"For those of us whose research revolves around all things related to flight, that would be a remarkable, historic moment," Gorton added.

Such historic moments may not be limited to Mars' skies. NASA is considering launching a quadcopter lander to Titan, Saturn's huge, haze-enshrouded moon. This mission, called Dragonfly, would fly from spot to spot on Titan, investigating the complex chemistry occurring on the potentially life-supporting moon.

Dragonfly is one of two finalists for a mid-2020s launch slot under NASA's New Frontiers program of medium-cost missions. The other contender is a comet sample-return mission called CAESAR. NASA is expected to announce its selection later this year.

The Mars Helicopter and Dragonfly teams have not collaborated to date, Grip said.

• Mars 2020: The Red Planet's Next Rover
• How NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Will Work (Infographic)
• NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Is Unique. And So Is Its Paint Job.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

25-03-2019 om 00:42 geschreven door peter  

UFO Community Versus Science – When Science Meets Faith In The UFO

24-03-2019 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

24-03-2019 om 23:43 geschreven door peter  

IT’S OFFICIAL. HUMANS ARE GOING TO MARS. NASA HAS UNVEILED THEIR MISSION.

Humanity has been fascinated by Mars since long before we stepped foot on the Moon. Our planetary neighbor has been the subject of innumerable works of sci-fi and inspired countless dreams of adventure and exploration. Now, after decades of determination, research, and scientific breakthroughs, we’re finally ready to do it: humans are going to Mars. Really.

Last year President Trump issued a mandate for NASA: get people to Mars by 2033. One week later, NASA responded with its most detailed plan to date for reaching the Red Planet, and it details five phases along the road to Mars.

We’re in Phase 0 now, conducting tests at the International Space Station (ISS) and developing partnerships with private space companies. Phase I will span 2018 to 2025 and will include the launch and testing of six SLS rockets. Those rockets will deliver components of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), a new space station to be built near the Moon to serve astronauts en route to Mars.
After that, Phase II will launch the Deep Space Transport (DST) tube toward the lunar station in 2027, and in 2028 or 2029, astronauts will inhabit the tube for more than 400 days. 

In 2030, Phase III will see the DST restocked with supplies and the Mars crew via SLS rocket. Phase IV, of course, will be the trip itself in 2033. That means we’re just a scant 16 years away from reaching a goal that has eluded every generation that came before us.

Completing the mission within their budget will be a challenge for NASA. That budget is currently about .5 percent of the total U.S. budget. For comparison, it was more than four percent during the Apollo Moon missions.

The mission to Mars includes obstacles beyond budget — keeping astronauts healthy and reasonably happy on the journey is chief among them. Without stopovers between Earth and Mars, astronauts will need to port everything they need with them, including air, food, and water, for a round-trip duration of two or three years.

Mental health is likely to be a concern for Mars astronauts, too, as they will essentially be sealed into the space tube for years at a time, with no ability for an emergency return once they leave Cislunar space. NASA’s HI-SEAS isolation experiment has shown promising results, but it is likely that the journey won’t be possible for everyone.

NASA also has competition in the race to get to Mars. Both Boeing and SpaceX hope to get there first, with SpaceX setting the lofty goal of arriving in 2022.

Ultimately, though, we all benefit from the friendly competition in the race toward Mars and the creative solutions it will almost certainly generate. If private companies work out some of these human challenges before NASA can, the agency can build on their experiences and spend its budget and efforts on other problems. In the end, the goal of putting humans on Mars will have been reached, irrespective of which organization crosses the finish line first.

{ http://www.physics-astronomy.com/ }

24-03-2019 om 23:17 geschreven door peter  

NASA may send smallsat mission to giant asteroid Pallas

Pallas, third largest asteroid in the asteroid belt and the second such object to be discovered, by the German astronomer and physician Wilhelm Olbers on March 28, 1802. The asteroid was named after Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

Pallas is 512 kilometers (318 miles) in diameter, somewhat smaller than 4 Vesta. It is likely a remnant protoplanet. The asteroid's orbit is unusually high in inclination to the plane of the asteroid belt, and its eccentric orbit is nearly as large as that of Pluto, making Pallas almost inaccessible to spacecraft.

NASA won't make the final decision on funding this mission until mid-April. The so-called Athena mission will be competing with 11 other SmallSat and CubeSat mission proposals, according to Arizona State University planetary scientist Joseph O’Rourke, Athena’s principal investigator, reports Forbes.

If the mission is approved, it will follow in the path of the Dawn Mission that explored two other giant objects in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. The Dawn Mission ended last year.

"Pallas is really the only other object in the main asteroid belt that's like Vesta and Ceres … not just an asteroid, but a protoplanet, a real world," said O'Rourke, reports Space.com. "I see this as a way to go do a lot of the same science that Dawn did, but at a dramatically cheaper price, and Pallas is the sort of place that might be worth sending a much bigger mission to someday."

Athena would hitch a ride with Psyche Mission

If selected, Athena would launch in August 2022, riding piggyback along with the NASA Psyche Mission. Psyche is a very interesting mission in its own right. It will explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid,16 Psyche. 16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid and is thought to be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet.

"We would race Psyche to Mars, use Mars as a gravity assist, and then catch Pallas," O'Rourke said. The Pallas flyby would come about a year after the launch.

Psyche is one of the ten most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt. It is over 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and contains a little less than 1 percent of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.

A protoplanet is a large planetary embryo that originated within a protoplanetary disc and has undergone internal melting to produce a differentiated interior. Vesta is also a protoplanet. On January 4, 2017, the Psyche mission was chosen along with the Lucy mission as NASA's next Discovery-class missions.

{ http://www.digitaljournal.com/ }

24-03-2019 om 22:34 geschreven door peter