US Presidential Candidate Thinks UFOs Probably Exist

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has made exciting statements to the UFO community during a campaign trail interview. Mr Yang said he believes UFOs probably do exist and admitted to being very curious about the phenomenon.

Speaking to New Hampshire newspaper The Conway Daily Sun, Mr Yang said “I’m very curious about UFOs. I have a feeling they probably do exist.”

Mr Yang started to get the attention of the public after he bared a plan to give each over the age of 18 US citizen a universal basic income of $ 1,000 (£773) per month.

It would be given regardless of whether the recipient receives other welfare or is in employment.

Mr Yang came up with the plan to offset the impact of automation, which could result to large scale job losses.

The Conway Daily Sun has a tradition of asking prospective presidential nominees regarding UFOs. Current Democrat frontrunner Bernie Sanders was also asked on his views on UFO’s but refused to talk about it.

The paper is expected to ask the same to former vice-president Joe Biden this week.

During the Democratic presidential primaries in 2016, Mrs Clinton admitted to the paper she thought UFO’s exist. 

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

27-04-2019 om 20:42 geschreven door peter  

Life on Mars: ‘Amazing E-SHAPED’ alien structures spotted on Red Planet

EVIDENCE of alien life on Mars has been spotted in NASA footage of the Red Planet, a conspiracy theorist has claimed.

{ https://www.express.co.uk/ }

27-04-2019 om 01:23 geschreven door peter  

ISS SHOCK: How NASA Spacewalk live stream was INTERRUPTED by anomaly behind astronaut

NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) live stream was interrupted during their Spacewalk mission when an anomaly appeared behind one of the astronauts.

27-04-2019 om 01:10 geschreven door peter  

The day the asteroid might hit

ESA's Flyeye telescope is now being built in Italy

“The first step in protecting our planet is knowing what’s out there,” says Rüdiger Jehn, ESA’s Head of Planetary Defence.

“Only then, with enough warning, can we take the steps needed to prevent an asteroid strike altogether, or to minimise the damage it does on the ground.”

20 000 asteroid milestone

As of April 2019, 20 000 asteroids whose orbit brings them near Earth have been found. At the current rate of roughly 150 new discoveries every month, this number is set to rapidly increase.

Estimated risk corridor for the impact of a hypothetical asteroid

What will they do? What would you do?

On ESA Facebook, join us for two live-stream videos straight from the Planetary Defense Conference. The first will be on Sunday, 28 April, at 14:00 CEST (08:00 EDT) with Rüdiger Jehn, ESA’s Head of Planetary Defence, and the second on Thursday, 2 May, at around mid-afternoon European time.

For daily updates on the asteroid impact scenario, check out “Rolling coverage: Brace for hypothetical asteroid impact”, beginning on the first day of the conference, Monday, 29 April, over on ESA's Rocket Science blog.

Asteroid 2019 PDC hypothetical impact scenario

The scene has been set for this year’s hypothetical impact scenario. Although realistic, it is completely fictional and does not describe an actual asteroid impact.

  

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• An asteroid was discovered on 26 March 2019 and was given the name '2019 PDC' by the Minor Planet Center.
• Very little is known about this newly discovered asteroid’s physical properties. With a magnitude (brightness) of 21.1 – invisible to the naked eye but viewable by professional astronomers – it has been classed as a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’, and experts have determined its average size could be anywhere from 100-300 metres.
• The day after 2019 PDC was discovered, ESA and NASA’s ‘impact monitoring systems’ identified several future dates when the asteroid could hit Earth. At this early stage, with not many observations yet recorded, both systems agreed that the asteroid was most likely to strike on 29 April 2027 – more than eight years away – with a probability of impact of about 1 in 50 000.
• Astronomers continued to monitor the asteroid for a month after its initial detection, which provided them more information about the object’s trajectory, and have now discovered that the chance of impact is rapidly increasing. By 29 April 2019, (the first day of the Planetary Defence Conference), the probability of impact has risen to 1 in 100.

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ESA coordinates European efforts

ESA's planned Hera mission will test asteroid deflection techniques

As in previous years, ESA is sponsoring the event and providing a conference co-chair. A large team of ESA experts will also be present, including members of the Agency’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre and the Hera asteroid deflection mission.

During the hypothetical asteroid impact scenario, ESA experts will participate in discussions on the possible risks posed by asteroid 2019 PDC, and what responses could be considered.

“Fortunately, impacts from medium and large asteroids are not very common,” explains Detlef Koschny, senior asteroid expert at ESA who will be involved in the hypothetical scenario.”

“However, this means we have little opportunity to practise our response to this very real – though unlikely – danger. This year’s impact scenario is a very unique chance to run through, in real-time, an asteroid impact.”

Space Safety at ESA

Space Safety & Security at ESA

Solar activity, asteroids and artificial space debris all pose threats to our planet and our use of space.

ESA's Space Safety activities aim to safeguard society and the critical satellites on which we depend, identifying and mitigating threats from space through projects such as the Flyeye telescopes, the Lagrange space weather mission and the Hera asteroid mission.

As asteroid experts meet for the international Planetary Defense Conference, ESA is focusing on the threat we face from space rocks. How likely is an asteroid impact? What is ESA doing to mitigate impact risks? Follow the hashtag #PlanetaryDefense to find out more.

{  http://www.esa.int/ESA }

27-04-2019 om 00:57 geschreven door peter  

How angry pilots got the Navy to stop dismissing UFO sightings

By WASHINGTON POST 

By Deanna Paul | The Washington Post

A recent uptick in sightings of unidentified flying objects – or as the military calls them, “unexplained aerial phenomena” – prompted the U.S. Navy to draft formal procedures for pilots to document encounters, a corrective measure that former officials say is long overdue.

“Since 2014, these intrusions have been happening on a regular basis,” Joseph Gradisher, spokesman for the deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare, told The Washington Post on Wednesday. Recently, unidentified aircraft entered military-designated airspace as often as multiple times per month. “We want to get to the bottom of this. We need to determine who’s doing it, where it’s coming from and what their intent is. We need to try to find ways to prevent it from happening again.”

Citing safety and security concerns, Gradisher vowed to “investigate each and every report.”

Luis Elizondo, a former senior intelligence officer, told The Post that the new Navy guidelines formalized the reporting process, facilitating data-driven analysis while removing the stigma from talking about UFOs, calling it “the single greatest decision the Navy has made in decades.”

Chris Mellon, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence and a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was less laudatory.

“I don’t believe in safety through ignorance,” he said, scolding the intelligence community for its lack of “curiosity and courage” and “failure to react” to a strong pattern of sightings.

In some cases, pilots – many of whom are engineers and academy graduates – say they observed small spherical objects flying in formation. Others say they’ve seen white, Tic-Tac-shaped vehicles. Aside from drones, all engines rely on burning fuel to generate power, but these vehicles all had no air intake, no wind and no exhaust.

“It’s very mysterious, and they still seem to exceed our aircraft in speed,” he said, calling it a “truly radical technology.”

According to Mellon, awestruck and baffled pilots, concerned that reporting unidentified flying aircraft would adversely affect their careers, tended not to speak up. And when they did, he said there was little interest in investigating their reports.

“Imagine you see highly advanced vehicles, they appear on radar systems, they look bizarre, no one knows where they’re from. This happens on a recurring basis, and no one does anything,” said Mellon, who now works with UFODATA, a private organization. Because agencies don’t share this type of information, it’s difficult to know the full extent of activity. Still, he estimated that dozens of incidents were witnessed by naval officers in a single year, enough to force the service to address the issue.

“Pilots are upset, and they’re trying to help wake up a slumbering system,” he told The Post.

Lawmakers’ growing curiosity and concern also appeared to coax action out of the Navy.

In 2017, the Pentagon first confirmed the existence of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a government operation launched in 2007 to collect and analyze “anomalous aerospace threats.” As The Post’s Joby Warrick reported, the investigation ranged from “advanced aircraft fielded by traditional U.S. adversaries to commercial drones to possible alien encounters.”

According to former Pentagon officials and documents previously seen by The Post, program funding, which totaled at least $22 million, was suspended in 2012.

Gradisher, the Navy spokesman, said that “in response to requests for information from congressional members and staff, officials have provided a series of briefings by senior Naval Intelligence officials as well as aviators who reported hazards to aviation safety.”

Elizondo, who also ran AATIP, said the newly drafted guidelines were a culmination of many things. Most notably: that the Navy had enough credible evidence – including eyewitness accounts and corroborating radar information – to “know this is occurring.”

“If I came to you and said, ‘There are these things that can fly over our country with impunity, defying the laws of physics, and within moments could deploy a nuclear device at will’ – that would be a matter of national security.”

With the number of U.S. military people in the Air Force and Navy who described the same observations, the noise level could not be ignored.

“This type of activity is very alarming,” Elizondo said, “and people are recognizing there are things in our aerospace that lie beyond our understanding.”

{ https://www.mercurynews.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 22:58 geschreven door peter  

Wetenschappers staan voor raadsel: ons universum groeit sneller dan gedacht maar niemand weet waarom - HLN.be

Wetenschappers proberen al lang te achterhalen hoe snel onze ruimte precies uitdijt. Om dat te berekenen heeft onderzoeker Adam Riess de NASA-ruimtetelescoop Hubble ingezet. Hubble heeft 70 pulserende sterren (cepheïden, nvdr.) bestudeerd in het naburige sterrenstelsel de Grote Magelhaense Wolk, dat zo’n 162.000 lichtjaren van ons stelsel verwijderd is. Cepheïden lichten op en dimmen aan een voorspelbaar ritme. Ze worden daarom gebruikt om de afstand te meten tussen verschillende sterrenstelsels. 

Het team van Riess heeft de waarnemingen van Hubble samengelegd met die uit het Araucaria Project - een samenwerking tussen astronomen uit Chili, de VS en Europa - om zo het onderzoek te verfijnen. Daaruit zijn nieuwe berekeningen gekomen over de afstanden in onze ruimte en over de Hubbleconstante (dat is de mate waarin ons universum groeit, nvdr.). 

Tegenstrijdigheid

Uit berekeningen op basis van Hubblemetingen is eerder al gebleken dat het universum ongeveer 9% sneller groeit dan gedacht. Maar wat de wetenschappers al jaren in de haren doet krabben is dat de berekening niet overeenkomt met die over de groei van het universum kort na de big bang. Met andere woorden: onze ruimte breidt sneller uit dan wat voorspeld was op basis van waarnemingen door de Planck-satelliet jaren geleden. Een grote tegenstrijdigheid, aldus de wetenschappers.

De voorbije jaren heeft het team van Adam Riess van de Amerikaanse Johns Hopkins-universiteit de berekeningen verfijnd om te achterhalen of die tegenstrijdigheid komt door een verschil in meettechnieken of door een foute berekening. Wetenschappers beschrijven nu in het gerenommeerde blad The Astrophysical Journal dat ze er zo goed als zeker van zijn dat het niet gaat om een fout of toeval. “Het verschil wordt steeds groter en we zijn nu op een punt gekomen dat we het niet meer kunnen opzijschuiven als toeval”, zegt Riess, die in 2011 de Nobelprijs in de fysica won omdat hij aantoonde dat de uitbreiding van het heelal versnelt. 

Nieuwe theorie

“Dit is niet gewoon twee experimenten die het oneens zijn”, zegt Riess “We meten iets fundamenteel anders. De ene meting gaat over hoe snel de ruimte vandaag de dag groeit. De andere is een voorspelling gebaseerd op de fysica van het vroege universum en op metingen over hoe snel het zou moeten uitdijen. Als deze waarden niet overeenkomen, dan is de kans groot dat we iets missen in het kosmologische model dat die twee periodes (kort na de oerknal en nu) verbindt.”

Onderzoekers hebben verschillende ideeën over de snelle uitbreiding van de ruimte. Maar geen enkele daarvan kan op dit moment bewezen worden. Ze houden er ook rekening mee dat het gewoon (nog) niet kan verklaard worden met de huidige theorieën in de fysica. De wetenschappers zouden dus eigenlijk een nieuwe theorie moeten ‘bedenken’ om het te begrijpen. 

Voorlopig werkt Riess met zijn team verder met Hubble om de berekeningen te verfijnen en de onzekerheid in de Hubbleconstante te verkleinen. Zo hopen ze ooit de reden van de tegenstrijdigheid te kunnen achterhalen.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

26-04-2019 om 22:38 geschreven door peter  

Ontmoet OSCaR, de kleine ruimtestofzuiger die 6 miljoen kilogram afval uit de ruimte moet verwijderen - HLN.be

Bron: Space.com

OSCaR (Obsolete Spacecraft Capture and Removal), genoemd naar het moppermonster in Sesamstraat dat in een vuilnisbak woont, wordt momenteel ontwikkeld door enkele onderzoekers aan het Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York. De kleine rechthoekige satelliet wordt uitgerust met sensoren en een lange grijparm. De sensoren detecteren ruimteafval waarna de grijparm het afval uit de ruimte moet verwijderen.

Idealiter gebeurt dat zonder weinig tot geen begeleiding vanaf de aarde. “We zeggen OSCaR wat hij moet doen, daarna is het een kwestie van vertrouwen”, aldus projectleider Kurt Anderson. Vergelijk OSCaR gerust met een automatische stofzuiger die het huis onder handen neemt als zijn eigenaars werken zijn.

Lees ook

Er zweeft voor 8.000 Fiats Panda aan afval in de ruimte. En dat kan weleens een probleem worden

Veel groter dan zo’n automatische stofzuiger zal OSCaR overigens niet zijn. Alleen moet de nanosatelliet, met een lengte van dertig centimeter, en breedte en diepte van 10 centimeter, heel wat meer werk verrichten dan een simpele stofzuiger. “Dat is de uitdaging: OSCaR moet eigenlijk evenveel kunnen als een grote satelliet.”

Ruimteafval

Veel van de brokstukken in de ruimte, gaan grotendeels terug naar de ruimtewedloop van de Koude Oorlog. Toen brachten zowel de Verenigde Staten als de Sovjet-Unie de ene satelliet na de andere in een baan rond de aarde. Maar op die satellieten stond een houdbaarheidsdatum waardoor vele exemplaren inmiddels doelloos rond de aarde zweven.

De raketten die toen (en nu) gelanceerd werden, zorgen overigens ook voor heel wat ruimteafval. Zowel een bemande als onbemande ruimtevlucht heeft verschillende trappen nodig om een specifieke baan rond de aarde te bereiken. Die rakettrappen worden onderweg afgevuurd en blijven daarna rond de aarde cirkelen.

(Lees verder onder de foto)

Schade 

Naar schatting zweven er inmiddels zo’n 129.000 miljoen stukken rondom de aarde. Daarvan zijn 34.000 stukken zo’n tien centimeter groot volgens cijfers van het Europese Ruimtevaartagentschap (ESA). En ongeveer 8.500 objecten bewegen met een snelheid van 28.200 kilometer per uur in een lage baan om de aarde (LEO). In diezelfde lage baan rond de aarde bevinden zich heel wat satellieten. Het spreekt voor zich dat zelfs een minuscuul stuk ruimteafval heel wat schade kan aanrichten als het met een snelheid van bijna 30.000 kilometer per uur tegen zo’n satelliet botst. 

Zo nam de astronaut Tim Peak in 2016 een foto van een beschadigde ruit in het Internationaal Ruimtestation (ISS). De barst kwam er vermoedelijk nadat een klein stuk ruimteafval zoals een verfschilfer, de ruit raakte. 

Een tweede nadeel van het ruimteafval: het valt uiteindelijk terug neer. En wanneer de brokstukken niet volledig opbranden in de atmosfeer van de aarde, storten ze met een hoge snelheid neer. De kans dat je zo’n brokstuk op je hoofd krijgt, is behoorlijk klein - de aarde bestaat immers voor 70 procent uit water - maar als het gebeurt, is de schade aanzienlijk groot. 

Vele OSCaRs 

OSCaR is trouwens niet alleen, ze zijn met veel. En maar goed ook, want elke nanosatelliet zal slechts vier brokstukken kunnen ruimen. Vervolgens zal het ruimtevaartuig binnen vijf jaar terug naar de aarde keren.

Bekijk ook:

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

26-04-2019 om 22:28 geschreven door peter  

If they exist today, what exactly do sea serpents look like? If your description includes a long neck attached to a large bulky body, that doesn’t really sound like ‘serpent’ – does it? According to a new study, the portrayals of mythical creatures referred to as sea serpents changed during the 18th century as more of the creatures we call dinosaurs were discovered and the news about them spread, and this influenced what people thought they saw bashing boats, scaring swimmers and perhaps even floating around in a certain loch named Ness. Are long-necked sea monsters merely a figment of the imagination spawned by mass dinosaur hysteria?

“The problem is an interesting fusion of history and palaeontology which shows that statistics can be used to rigorously test all sorts of strange hypotheses, if the data is handled in the right way.”

Statistics fused with paleontology when Dr. Charles Paxton, a statistical ecologist at the University of St. Andrews, joined forces with Dr. Darren Naish, a palaeontologist at the University of Southampton, to use statistical analysis to study sea monster reports and compare them to the hypothesis proposed by science fiction writer L. Sprague De Camp that discoveries of Mesozoic reptiles like plesiosaurs and mosasaurs influenced sea monster sightings to change from serpents to long-necked dinosaur-like creatures. That matches the classic image of the Loch Ness monster for one, but how many reports resemble the no-neck mosasaur?

To test the theory, Paxton and Naish scanned newspapers, books and recorded testimonies from 1801 to 2015 and compiled a database of 1,543 non-hoax sea monster sightings. A plot of the events clearly shows a spike between 1930 and 1934 coinciding with the increase in Loch Ness sightings which culminated with the infamous “surgeon’s photo” hoax showing a creature resembling a plesiosaur. Drawings and accounts of other events look similar. What about mosasaur-like monsters?

“Over the last 200 years, there is indeed evidence of a decline in serpentiform sea serpent reports and an increase in the proportion of reports with necks but there is no evidence for an increase in the proportion of mosasaur-like reports. However, witnesses only began to unequivocally compare sea serpents to prehistoric reptiles in the late nineteenth century, some fifty years after the suggestion was first made by naturalists.”

The study, “Did Nineteenth Century Marine Vertebrate Fossil Discoveries Influence Sea Serpent Reports?”, published in the journal Earth Sciences History, concludes that numbers don’t lie, but witnesses might. The discoveries of the more esthetic and unusual long-necked plesiosaurs definitely influenced sea monster reports, but the more fishlike and less monsterish mosasaurs did not.

Scary … but sea monster worthy?

Will this conclusion inspire similar statistical studies of other monster and cryptid sightings? What would such an analysis of Bigfoot sightings point to? Mothman? How about aliens and flying saucers?

On the other hand, do you really want to let facts ruin your fantasies?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

26-04-2019 om 22:08 geschreven door peter  

Certainly, the most macabre story ever told to me on one of my many “Chupacabra treks” around Puerto Rico came from a woman who lived in Ponce, and whose story is one of the most controversial on record. Admittedly, more than a decade after I heard the tale, I still don’t know what to make of it all. Julia claimed to know a great deal about a certain “secret society” on the island that was at the heart of this controversy. There was a very good reason why Julia was so well-informed: her ex-husband was a member of the group. He was also a powerful figure on the island, specifically in the real-estate business. He had been invited into the group in 1999, which was around a year before Julia and he married.  In fact, it was as a result of his connections to the group that led to their divorce, which was less than a year after they married. When Julia’s husband finally confided in her the details of his secret life, Julia was outraged – not just because he had kept his other life from her, but also because of what, exactly, he was involved in.

Julia’s husband told her that it was due to certain, supernatural pacts between the group and the paranormal denizens of realms beyond ours that he now had so much prestige, power and money.  There was, however, a price to pay – as there always is when one does a deal with malignant, supernatural things from other dimensional planes. That price revolved around nothing less than human blood. Julia sat and listened – both horrified and terrified by what she was hearing – as her husband outlined what was going on. It was no coincidence, he said, that his life had massively altered for the better in 1999. It was all down to that invitation and his willingness to do whatever needed to be done to ensure wealth and influence.

Julia’s husband had been present at a particular ritual which was held at the spacious home of a Puerto Rican drug baron, who also put his “success” down to that same secret society. The story got even more controversial. Julia admitted that she couldn’t prove any of what she was telling me, but she claimed to have been told of three people on the island who had been paid – and paid very well – to provide the group with supplies of their very own blood, and to discuss it with no one. So the tale went, the people were taken to the location of the meeting, which was high in the hills of the El Yunque rainforest, and the blood was taken by a local doctor – who was also well paid for his actions and his silence.

The three – two women and one man – were one by one placed on an ornate, large altar, at which the blood was removed. Then, with the doctor and the three “donors” driven back to their respective homes (after being warned to never, ever discuss with anyone what had happened), the blood was used in a complex ritual to conjure up and manifest a Chupacabra. Julia claimed that her husband assured her that the ritual worked all too well: as the group of several dozen – all dressed in cloaks, no less – focused their minds on having the Chupacabra appear before them, which is exactly what is said to have happened.

It was a hellish situation: the lights in the house flickered and the room was filled with a nauseating odor of sulfur. In seconds, the air shimmered – like a heat haze on the road on a hot summer’s day – and the creature slowly came into being, staring at the group malevolently and hunched over. Even long-term members of the group were shocked to their collective core by what they were seeing. It was exactly what the group was counting on, but actually seeing the monster close up and personal was something else entirely. One and all were quietly told to remain as calm as possible, despite the fraught and fantastic nature of the events. There was one thing that none of the members of the group could avoid seeing: the Chupacabra was semi-transparent. It was far more spectral than it was physical. That is, however, until the monster placed its clawed paws into a large bowl, in which substantial amounts of blood had been poured.

Within seconds of the creature doing so, its transparency was no more and it was suddenly a completely physical entity. Julia’s husband was unable to explain the process – mainly because no one seemed to understand the full scope of what it was they were dealing with. He did, however, state that the magical nature of human blood – when ingested in large amounts – not only fed the Chupacabra but also gave it physical substance in our world, which was in marked difference to the ethereal form it had in its own realm. When the creature was apparently sated and fed, it vanished, in a bright blue flash that affected the eyes of one and all present for up to several minutes.

Julia listened further as she was told that several other such rituals had taken place in the 1990s – the first one of which, allegedly, had led to the beginning of the Chupacabra phenomenon in 1995. Julia sat back – appalled and frightened – by what she had heard, not knowing whether to believe it or not. It was, however, the undeniable fear in her husband’s eyes that finally convinced her he was telling the truth – a truth which revolved around how the Chupacabra needs to feast on our blood to maintain a foothold in our world. No wonder that Julia chose to leave her marriage behind her.

As I said, I truly don’t know what to make of the strange saga. Either it’s the literal truth or it’s complete bullshit. Of course, it scarcely needs saying that the latter is certainly the most likely scenario of the two. But, I have to admit that I still find it difficult to understand why Julia would have weaved such a complicated tale, if it was just a fabrication and nothing else. After all, it’s not like she was being paid to tell her story to a TV show. Nor was she looking to write about her experience. And she didn’t ask for money for sharing her story. It was just a tale told to me of “take it or leave it” proportions. That’s where it still remains to this day.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

26-04-2019 om 21:48 geschreven door peter  

Earlier this week, SpaceX lost another spacecraft when a mysterious “anomaly” caused a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule to explode on the launchpad. While many analysts have used the incident to question if Elon Musk’s boastful predictions about SpaceX’s manned spaceflight capabilities might be too good to be true, NASA calmly forged ahead by stating simply “this is why we test.” Can Musk and SpaceX get astronauts safely into space?

You’ve got to break a few rocket eggs to make a SpaceX omelette.

The April 20 static engine test took place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. In the test, a Crew Dragon crew capsule suffered a massive malfunction, causing it to instantly explode just a few seconds into the test. The Dragon Crew capsule was thought to be ready for a July manned flight to the International Space Station, but that timeline is now likely to be modified. A grainy video alleged to show the incident has been circulating the web, but its veracity cannot be confirmed as SpaceX has refused to comment on it or even acknowledge that an explosion even happened.

Following the incident, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that neither SpaceX nor NASA will be deterred from their mutual goal of getting the next generation of manned rockets off the ground:

NASA and SpaceX teams are assessing the anomaly that occurred today during a part of the Dragon Super Draco Static Fire Test at SpaceX Landing Zone 1 in Florida. This is why we test. We will learn, make the necessary adjustments and safely move forward with our Commercial Crew Program.

Spaceflight is a dangerous endeavor. To date, more than 20 astronauts have lost their as a result of spacecraft testing or spaceflight missions. NASA lost two seven-member space crews in the 1986 mid-launch explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger and the atmospheric disintegration of Space Shuttle Columbia.

Debris from the break up of Space Shuttle Columbia.

Anyone who steps aboard a spaceship strapped to an enormous rocket does so with the knowledge that the largest part of them that investigators will find among the burnt, mangled wreckage will likely be a toe, and the soon-to-be crews of the SpaceX Dragon Crew are no different. Can Musk and SpaceX survive their first fatal accident? Will they even make it that far if these test “anomalies” continue?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

26-04-2019 om 21:26 geschreven door peter  

Navy prepares new guidelines for reporting UFO sightings

For many years it was considered a career ender to report these unexplained encounters so many military personnel downplayed them but now the U.S. Navy is updating their reporting protocol for pilots and other witnesses who encounter UFOs.

Politico revealed that the U.S. Navy is drafting new guidelines for pilots and other personnel to report encounters with unidentified aircraft which is a significant new step in creating a formal process to collect and analyze the unexplained sightings.

Right now, we have situation in which UFOs and UAPs are treated as anomalies to be ignored rather than anomalies to be explored the Navy said in a statement in response to questions from Politico.

The Navy isn’t endorsing the idea that its sailors have encountered alien spacecraft. But it is acknowledging there have been enough strange aerial sightings by credible and highly trained military personnel that they need to be recorded in the official record and studied.

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 21:09 geschreven door peter  

UFO Buzzes Past Couple Hiking In Bolivia During Day, April 19, 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 19, 2019

Location of sighting: Santa Cruz, Bolivia

News source: MUFON #99935

 

This UFO was captured by accident when some people went hiking and a few day later looked at the photos noticing a large metallic UFO in the sky. How can a person not notice such a thing? Actually its easy to over look such things unless you are deliberately trying to find one. People get caught up in the moment and only notice each other and what they are doing, never suspecting a UFO is flying over them in the background. Those people who never saw a UFO...its because they don't look at the sky more than a few minutes the whole week. People like me...we watch, we wait patiently, and we know sooner or later...it will happen. 

Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

Eyewitness states: 

UFO was seen in the photo a few days later. 

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 21:03 geschreven door peter  

DISCLOSURE WEER EEN STAP DICHTERBIJ ( VIDEO )

Begin vorig jaar verschenen er talloze mainstream artikelen over een ufo die door Amerikaanse marinevliegtuigen was waargenomen. 

Nu komt daar een vervolg op en wordt op Amerikaanse televisie openlijk gesproken over de mogelijke buitenaardse oorsprong van onbekende vliegende objecten.

Hierna nog eens één van die video’s: 

De beelden zijn honderd procent echt en ze zijn afkomstig van de Amerikaanse overheid. 

Naar aanleiding van deze onthullingen is er veel over gesproken, ook door Amerikaanse politici in het Congres, en is er overleg geweest met de marine. 

Het gevolg van dat alles is dat de Amerikaanse marine nu heeft aangekondigd dat ze nieuwe procedures zullen hanteren, waarbij piloten en ander personeel vreemde dingen kunnen rapporteren. 

Dit gebeurde tot nu toe slechts incidenteel want piloten hielden veelal hun mond dicht omdat het melden van dit soort incidenten vaak niet echt bevorderlijk was voor hun carrière. Net zo goed als dit bij civiele piloten het geval is. 

Hierna volgt een video van Tyler van Secureteam, in het Nederlands ondertiteld door Paul Harmans. 

Paul zegt het volgende over de video: 

De Amerikaanse Navy is niet zeker van wat er gaande is. De Navy bevestigde dat het bezig is met het opstellen van nieuwe richtlijnen voor het personeel voor het melden van ontmoetingen met ongeïdentificeerde luchtvaartuigen. Het doel is het de-stigmatiseren van de waarnemingen van ver ontwikkelde toestellen met zeer hoge snelheden die behoorlijk vaak zijn gezien bij het benaderen van Marineschepen en –bases en waarvoor geen verklaring bestaat.

Wat we zien is dat er een gestage opbouw plaatsvindt van zaken die ongetwijfeld tot Disclosure zullen leiden. 

De Amerikaanse overheid die beelden vrijgeeft van onbekende vliegende objecten, de marine die nieuwe procedures opstelt voor het rapporteren van waarnemingen en programma’s op de mainstream televisie waar openlijk wordt gesproken over een mogelijke buitenaardse oorsprong van deze objecten. 

De enige vraag die dan nog resteert is: met welk doel komt deze Disclosure dan tot stand en betreft het dan ook werkelijk disclosure? 

Is het een aardse “Disclosure”, waar de mensheid wordt misleid met een (niet bestaande) bedreiging vanuit de ruimte en men in feite bezig is met het witwassen van de geheime ruimtevloot zoals wij eerder uitgebreid beschreven? 

Of wordt het toch een echte Disclosure, waarvoor men nu bezig is om de bevolking stap voor stap voor te bereiden op het feit dat er wel degelijk buitenaards leven bestaat en dat ze heel regelmatig bij ons op bezoek komen?

{ http://niburu.co/ }

26-04-2019 om 18:36 geschreven door peter  

Denise Stoner is a UFO researcher and author (see, for example, her 2013 book with Kathleen Marden, The Alien Abduction Files). Over the years, Denise has very generously allowed me to share some of her experiences of the UFO type. One, for me, really stands out when it comes to matters of a high-strangeness nature. With that said, I’ll turn things over to Denise and an experience she had just a few years ago: “I would be glad to describe the situation to you as it has remained clear as crystal in my mind.  As for my Mom, she knows something happened but it has gotten foggy and she doesn’t know why, yet she recalls something happened that made her feel very uncomfortable. My Mom and I had gone to the mall on Christmas Eve for a couple of last minute stocking stuffer type gifts.  We actually knew what we wanted so parked outside J.C. Penney’s on the side where those goods were. We went in and immediately noticed that in late afternoon, there were only a few shoppers. We picked out our gifts and got in line at the cashier in back of two other people. We could easily see the exit door and the sun in the parking lot, we were facing that way.

“The glass doors opened and two very tall, thin women entered. They had long almost waist length blond hair parted in the middle on top and it was thin in texture. Their skin was also pale and I did not notice any make up but each had huge piercing blue eyes. Their gait was odd like they were too tall (approximately 6’1) to walk smoothly. I was already an investigator for MUFON so was aware of oddities in people and had done background searches for the Federal Govt. so was trained to be observant.

“They were pushing one of those umbrella style strollers with no fancy attachments – just the hammock type bed, wheels, and handles. I noticed they had no purses or accessories such as a diaper bag to carry diapers or bottles, etc. The women moved slowly it seemed and drew my attention to the stroller. There was a baby blanket in the bottom portion and on top the head of a baby no bigger than a small grapefruit, pasty colored skin, no noticeable nose, a line for a mouth and huge dark eyes taking up most of the rest of this head.

“I wondered if the baby was deformed but knew this was not the case somehow. The baby appeared alert and was staring up at me. My Mom bumped me with her arm to get my attention and said “what is wrong with that baby.” I felt I needed to tell the person in front of me because we had been talking (with her) about being slow in finishing up our shopping. When I tapped her on the shoulder I then was shocked to see not only her but the lady in front of her and the cashier were kind of frozen in place. Everything seemed to be moving in extremely slow motion around us.

“The blond women seemed to pass the thought to me that I needed to take another good look at the baby and study it. Then as if a film was put back in to normal speed they walked past me and the cash register began to work, people – the only three in the area were moving again as if nothing happened. I told my Mom to hold our places and I ran after the women.  Just next to us was the infants’ clothing department. The women had turned in to that isle. I followed and when I turned in to the isle – they disappeared. Just gone like they had never been there. I ran back the short distance to my Mom and told her they were gone. We checked out and my Mom kept saying “what was going on with that baby?” I told her no one goes shopping with a baby that tiny without taking needed supplies, bottles, diapers, clothes, etc.

“I remember asking her if she thought we had seen something alien such as a hybrid and she just shook her head as if there was no answer. We stepped out the door and that’s when the experience with the men took place.When we exited the mall my Mom had already stepped off the curb to locate my car, I was stopped by three men who were leaning on the brick wall by the door. Wearing black suits, black hats, white shirts, sun glasses. Short in stature. The only difference from your reports was the fact that one had a briefcase – black also. I don’t recall their mouths moving but it could be I was just nervous.

“One of them said, ‘You will not discuss what happened inside that store, do not talk about it to anyone, do you understand?’ I did not answer, stepped off the curb as I felt I was in danger and called after my Mom. Just after I stepped off the curb I turned back to discover these men were gone and there was nowhere for them to go other than in to the parking lot or further down the sidewalk as there was a brick wall where they had been and continued down the length of the building to the only door we had come out. We had been shown something in the store we both feel wasn’t normal and were talking about it as we left to see if we were imagining things when I met these men.  Does this sound typical of these types? I am too old to be abducted and used for breeding and have had a hysterectomy so that could not have been the purpose – to show me a child of mine and I felt nothing like that was going on.”

The mystery continues…

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

26-04-2019 om 17:59 geschreven door peter  

Something Fundamentally Different: The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than Ever Thought

The Universe is expanding faster than anyone ever figured according to new measurements from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The math confirms that the Universe is expanding about 9% faster than expected based on its trajectory seen shortly after the big bang, astronomers say.

The new measurements, published April 25 in Astrophysical Journal, reduce the chances that the disparity is an accident from 1 in 3,000 to only 1 in 100,000 and suggest that new physics may be needed to better understand the cosmos.

This is a ground-based telescope’s view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The inset image, taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, reveals one of many star clusters scattered throughout the dwarf galaxy.

“This mismatch has been growing and has now reached a point that is really impossible to dismiss as a fluke. This is not what we expected,” says Adam Riess, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Physics and Astronomy at The Johns Hopkins University, Nobel Laureate and the project’s leader.

In this study, Riess and his SH0ES (Supernovae, H0, for the Equation of State) Team analyzed light from 70 stars in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, with a new method that allowed for capturing quick images of these stars. The stars, called Cepheid variables, brighten and dim at predictable rates that are used to measure nearby intergalactic distances.

The usual method for measuring the stars is incredibly time-consuming; the Hubble can only observe one star for every 90-minute orbit around Earth. Using their new method called DASH (Drift And Shift), the researchers using Hubble as a “point-and-shoot” camera to look at groups of Cepheids, thereby allowing the team to observe a dozen Cepheids in the same amount of time it would normally take to observe just one.

With this new data, Riess and the team were able to strengthen the foundation of the cosmic distance ladder, which is used to determine distances within the Universe, and calculate the Hubble constant, a value of how fast the cosmos expands over time.

This illustration shows the three basic steps astronomers use to calculate how fast the universe expands over time, a value called the Hubble constant. All the steps involve building a strong “cosmic distance ladder,” by starting with measuring accurate distances to nearby galaxies and then moving to galaxies farther and farther away. This “ladder” is a series of measurements of different kinds of astronomical objects with an intrinsic brightness that researchers can use to calculate distances.

Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Feild (STScI)

The team combined their Hubble measurements with another set of observations, made by the Araucaria Project, a collaboration between astronomers from institutions in Chile, the U.S., and Europe. This group made distance measurements to the Large Magellanic Cloud by observing the dimming of light as one star passes in front of its partner in eclipsing binary-star systems.

The combined measurements helped the SH0ES team refine the Cepheids’ true brightness. With this more accurate result, the team could then “tighten the bolts” of the rest of the distance ladder that uses exploding stars called supernovae to extend deeper into space.

As the team’s measurements have become more precise, their calculation of the Hubble constant has remained at odds with the expected value derived from observations of the early universe’s expansion by the European Space Agency’s Planck satellite based on conditions Planck observed 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

“This is not just two experiments disagreeing,” Riess explained. “We are measuring something fundamentally different. One is a measurement of how fast the universe is expanding today, as we see it. The other is a prediction based on the physics of the early universe and on measurements of how fast it ought to be expanding. If these values don’t agree, there becomes a very strong likelihood that we’re missing something in the cosmological model that connects the two eras.”

While Riess doesn’t have an answer as to exactly why the discrepancy exists, he and the SH0ES team will continue to fine-tune the Hubble constant, with the goal of reducing the uncertainty to 1%. These most recent measurements brought the uncertainty in the rate of expansion down from 10% in 2001 to 5% in 2009 and now to 1.9% in the present study.

Other authors on this paper include Stefano Casertano of the Space Telescope Science Institute; Wenlong Yuan of The Johns Hopkins University; Lucas M. Macri of Texas A&M University, and; Dan Scolnic of Duke University. Adam Riess is also a senior member of the science staff at the Space Telescope Science Institute and an advisory board member for Space@Hopkins.

Funding for this research was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration through programs GO-14648, 15146 from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

 

Contacts and sources:

• Chanapa Tantibanchachai

Johns Hopkins University

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

26-04-2019 om 17:29 geschreven door peter  

Scientists Claim Quantum Theory Proves Consciousness Moves To Another Universe At Death

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.

But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since.  Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe.  It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.

Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter.  He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding.  Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.

The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist.   It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too.  If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies.  But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.

Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously.  In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe.  This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely.  It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.

The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”.  And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.

The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.

In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University.  Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.

The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps. 

Read the full story here:​​​​​​​ 

• https://www.jbbardot.com/scientists-consciousness-universe/ 

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

26-04-2019 om 17:16 geschreven door peter  

Giant Cube Shooting From The Sun With Trail Behind It, In NASA SOHO Image, April 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: April 21, 2019
Location of sighting: Earths sun
Source: SOHO images

I found a cube that had exited our sun during a solar explosion in NASA SOHO images today. The cube is unique in that its not a perfect cube, but has one corner cut off of it. Also the cube ship has a energy trail behind it, maybe from the engines about to go to light speed or maybe from bursts of energy shot out from the engines. It can't be a coincidence that there was a solar explosion the very minute that this ship was seen coming from the sun. 

One youtube subscriber asked me today why I only show gaps of time and not the full live video of it exiting? I said thats a good question, I can only show what NASA gives to the public. NASA never releases full video of solar activity, but prefers to only release glimpses...still shots...taken every few minutes. That sad for us, because we will never be able to see a UFO moving around or passing bye our sun. We will only get these still images put into a gif form. 

Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 16:27 geschreven door peter  

Auroras act like speed bumps for satellites, dragging them down towards Earth

BY TIBI PUIU 

Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Auroras are some of the most dazzling light shows in the world but for the aerospace industry, they can be a real nuisance that could cost billions in damages. According to recent research, northern and southern lights cause satellites to slow down, which brings them closer to Earth. And if the satellites don’t have any more fuel left to boost them back to their intended orbits, they will eventually fall into Earth’s atmosphere.

For decades, scientists have been aware that when the sun’s activity is high, orbiting satellites tend to slow down. Auroras are caused by charged particles like electrons that interact with molecules from a planet’s atmosphere or magnetosphere. Scientists suspected that the charged particles also loft pockets of air high enough for satellites to interact with them. The drag caused by the air molecules would then slow the satellites, pulling them closer to Earth. Now, a recent mission has confirmed that this theory is probably true.

In 2015, scientists launched the Rocket Experiment for Neutral Upwelling 2 (RENU2) straight into the northern lights in order to understand how solar activity alters the atmosphere. The mission focused on Poleward Moving Auroral Forms (PMAFs), a type of fainter auroras which appear as dancing clouds on dark nights in high latitudes. The reason why PMAFs are o particular interest in this kind of research is that they form higher in the atmosphere and are less energetic than the more common and spectacular auroras. PMAFs dance at about 150 to 250 miles above the surface while most auroras typically form at an altitude of only 60 miles.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire who led the project found that although PMAFs are weaker than most forms of auroras, their energy was still high enough to heat air pockets, causing them to drift upwards. As an analogy, the researchers likened the phenomenon to bubbles rising in a lava lamp. The study also found that the PMAF’s activity isn’t uniform but rather acts in narrow wisps that collectively affect areas larger than ten miles across. PMAFs also ebb and flow, changing their structure within minutes.

In the future, this kind of information will help engineers design safer satellites that can remain operational in orbit for longer.

• The results appeared in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. 

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 01:33 geschreven door peter  

Japanese probe blasts the first artificial crater on an asteroid

BY TIBI PUIU 

Illustration showing the moment when the Hayabusa2 space probe makes a crater on the asteroid Ryugu.

Credit: Akihiro Ikeshita.

The Japanese space agency (JAXA) denoted an explosive device on the surface of the Ryugu asteroid earlier this month. Now, Japanese scientists have confirmed that the blast created a crater with a diameter of 10 meters — the first artificial crater on an asteroid.

“Creating an artificial crater with an impactor and observing it in detail afterwards is a world-first attempt,” Yuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager, said in a statement. “This is a big success.”

The crater was created by the Hayabusa 2 spacecraft which fired an explosives-carrying projectile from 500 meters above the asteroid’s surface. The goal was to discharge material from under the asteroid’s surface in order to probe its chemical composition. The idea is that this fresh material could shed light on the formation of the early solar system. The asteroid is believed to be made up of organic compounds and water from 4.6 billion year ago.

Footage taken by a camera detached from the space probe Hayabusa2 showing rocks on the asteroid Ryugu flying up three seconds after an impactor struck the surface.

Credit: JAXA, Kobe University.

Earlier this year, the probe fired a bullet into the surface of Ryugu in order to blast dust off the surface. But as the asteroid is constantly bombarded by solar rays which can alter its properties, samples need to be taken from beneath the surface — hence the need for a crater-creating explosion. This time around, the Japanese mission made quite the mess, generating a ten-meter-wide crater. Initially, scientists predicted that the crater would be 3 meters in diameter if the surface is rocky and 10 meters in diameter if it is sandy.

“We can see such a big hole a lot more clearly than expected,” said Masahiko Arakawa, a Kobe University professor involved in the project. “The surface is filled with boulders but yet we created a crater this big. This could mean there’s a scientific mechanism we don’t know or something special about Ryugu’s materials.”

The $270-million-mission is scheduled to return to Earth with samples taken from the asteroid in 2020. The samples will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the formation of the solar system. They might also inform the space mining industry with regard to the economic potential for similar asteroids

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 01:27 geschreven door peter  

NASA and partners will be holding an asteroid impact exercise at conference next week

BY ALEXANDRU MICU

At next week’s 2019 Planetary Defense Conference, NASA, ESA, and the International Asteroid Warning Network will stage a “tabletop exercise” of an asteroid flying towards Earth.

Asteroid Lutetia seen by Rosetta spacecraft.
Image credits European Space Agency / Flickr.

Media outlets are always abuzz when an asteroid ‘near-misses’ our planet, and it’s easy to see why — there’s just something very exciting about a narrowly evading extinction. However, space agencies and governments around the world take the risk of impact with a near-Earth object (NEO) quite seriously. Given the potential for widespread panic such a scenario poses, any preparations are generally carried out discreetly, out of the public’s view.

The NEO threat

In the spirit of better communication, however, NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), the European Space Agency’s Space Situational Awareness-NEO Segment and the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) want to make the hazards posed by NEOs clearer for us laymen. Towards that end, they will organize — along with other U.S. agencies and space science institutions around the world — a “tabletop exercise” that will play out a fictional-but-realistic scenario for an asteroid on an impact trajectory with Earth at the conference, NASA announced.

NEOs are bodies such as asteroids or comets that come within 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of Earth’s orbit. NASA and its international partners have been monitoring NEOs for over two decades now, keeping an eye out for any that might be gunning for Earth. However, preparations for such an impact have very rarely involved the public at large. The proposed exercise aims to address this shortcoming.

A tabletop exercise is basically a simulated emergency, used to accustom participants to the possible outcomes of such a disaster and help them see what needs to be done to mount a successful response. NASA plans to have attendees at the conference play out a NEO impact scenario developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Center for NEO Studies (CNEOS).

This type of exercise was specifically identified as part of the National Near-Earth Object Preparedness Strategy and Action Plan developed over a two-year period and published by the White House in June 2018. They’re not tightly scripted, aiming to let people ‘run wild’ and observe their response in conditions that mirror real life. This can then help us predict how NEO observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision-makers, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction.

Next week’s exercise events will occur over the five days of the conference. The scenario begins with the premise that on March 26th, a potentially-hazardous NEO dubbed 2019 PDC is discovered. After a ‘few months’ of tracking, observers predict that it has a 1% chance of impacting the earth in 2027. A 1% impact chance has been decided upon by the international space community as the threshold for action.

Exercise leaders will be briefing participants on the status of the scenario at the end of each day and soliciting response ideas and feedback, based on the latest fictional data. They will be asked to discuss potential preparations for reconnaissance and deflection missions, as well as plans to mitigate the effects of a potential impact.

“These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer. “This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments.”

NASA has participated in six NEO impact exercises so far: three at Planetary Defense Conferences (2013, 2015, 2017) and three jointly with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The three NASA-FEMA exercises included representatives of several other federal agencies, including the Departments of Defense and State. Each exercise builds on lessons learned in the previous exercise. These exercises have shown that emergency management officials aren’t focused on the scientific details regarding the asteroid, but on more practical concerns.

“What emergency managers want to know is when, where and how an asteroid would impact, and the type and extent of damage that could occur,” said Leviticus Lewis of the Response Operations Division for FEMA.

However, NASA is a bit concerned with this approach. It’s those ‘scientific details’ that determine the outcome of an impact. So, while they’re working on developing new methods to determine asteroid characteristics, they also want to engage the public in these tabletop exercises to raise awareness of the hazards posed by NEOs.

“NASA and FEMA will continue to conduct periodic exercises with a continually widening community of U.S. government agencies and international partners,” said Johnson. “They are a great way for us to learn how to work together and meet each other’s needs and the objectives laid out in the White House National NEO Preparedness Action Plan.”

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

26-04-2019 om 01:03 geschreven door peter