Mike Wehner @MikeWehner

As far as we know, there’s no life that currently exists on Mars. Missions to the Red Planet have yielded tantalizing clues that life may have existed at some point in the past, but no living organisms have ever been spotted by any rover or other hardware humans have sent to Mars.

But Mars is a big place. Despite several rover missions and other trips to the planet we’ve still only barely scratched the surface of the secrets Mars may hold, and there’s still the possibility that life in some form persists there. At least that’s what Michael Finney, a researcher and co-found of The Genome Partnership, believes, and he said as much during a recent conference at UC Berkeley.

As Space.com reports, Finney spoke about the possibility of Martian life still existing on the Red Planet today. Mars, which at one point in its history had huge bodies of water across its surface, could have been teeming with various forms of life that have since been wiped out as the planet lost much of its atmosphere and surface water. If that was indeed the case, Finney believes something likely stuck around for the long haul.

“If Mars had life 4 billion years ago, Mars still has life,” Finney explained. “Nothing has happened on Mars that would’ve wiped out life. So, if there were life on Mars, it may have moved around, it may have gone into hiding a bit, but it’s probably still there,”

It might sound like a stretch, but it’s actually not that hard to believe when you look at some of the more Earth-like regions of Mars. Researchers studying the planet know that it still has quite a bit of ice in its polar areas, and liquid water might not be hard to find during certain times of the Martian year.

On Earth, life can be found in some of the most hostile environments imaginable. Microorganisms, in particular, have a habit of withstanding extreme temperatures and lack of water for long periods of time, and it’s entirely possible that life in some form has adapted to exist beneath the surface of Mars.

Future missions to the planet would be our best chance of proving or disproving that notion, but unfortunately, that means we’ll have to wait a while before we know for sure.

{ https://bgr.com/ }

13-05-2019 om 15:14 geschreven door peter  

It seems like play, but they’re serious. Every year, at the Planetary Defense Conference, asteroid experts from around the globe run days-long simulations of asteroids headed for major cities. In 2019, it was New York City’s turn.

Artist’s concept of a large asteroid hitting Earth. In a new simulation conducted during the Planetary Defense Conference in early May, New York City was wiped out by just such a cataclysmic event.

Image via solarseven/Shutterstock.com.

We’ve all seen movies about what might happen if an asteroid were to hit the Earth. While these thrilling, apocalyptic dramas are not real, asteroid experts do consider the question of what it might really be like if an asteroid used Earth for target practice. For example, what if a large asteroid were heading toward New York City specifically? If we knew far enough in advance that the asteroid were coming, could the Big Apple be saved?

That was the question posed in a new simulation, called the Planetary Defense Conference Exercise 2019, presented during the International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference (PDC) held April 29 to May 3, 2019 in Washington, D.C. The annual conference brings together asteroid experts from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and other organizations to try to understand and plan how humanity would respond if an asteroid threat were to occur. How could Earth be saved?

This article describes a simulation, an exercise, and there is no real asteroid posing a threat to Earth at this time.

Astronomers hold a new simulation every year, in which they practice using their expertise and knowledge to spare various cities from ensuing calamity. In last year’s simulation, Tokyo was successfully saved after a nuclear bomb was used to destroy the asteroid. In previous simulations, however, other places such as the French Riviera and Dhaka (largest city of Bangladesh) were not so lucky. This year’s simulation got more publicity, in part because it was highlighted on social media. Day by day on Twitter, for example, the public was able to follow along, as experts participating in the simulation were giving new parameters to consider. Rüdiger Jehn, ESA’s head of Planetary Defence, explained in a statement why experts run simulations like these. He said:

The first step in protecting our planet is knowing what’s out there. Only then, with enough warning, can we take the steps needed to prevent an asteroid strike altogether, or to minimize the damage it does on the ground.

The imaginary orbit of asteroid 2019 PDC – an imaginary asteroid used in the recent Planetary Defense Conference simulation – compared to Earth’s orbit, from March 26, 2019, until the time of the simulated impact on April 29, 2027.

Image via PDC/CNEOS/JPL.

So what about New York? Was the catastrophe averted?

Unfortunately, no.

The simulation began on Day 1 of the conference. In this scenario, a large imaginary asteroid that the conference named after itself as 2019 PDC – said to be between 330 and 1,000 feet (100 and 300 meters) in diameter – was imagined to be on a near-Earth collision course. At first, according to the simulation, the asteroid had only about a 1 percent chance of hitting the Earth, so there was not too much reason to worry. Yet. A fake press release was issued, even though the chance of impact was still very small:

College Park, Maryland, USA, April 29, 2019. The International Asteroid Warning Network has announced that a recently discovered near-Earth asteroid could pass very close to the Earth 8 years from now, on April 29, 2027, and there is a small chance – 1 in 100 – that it could impact our planet.

Day 2 of the conference was in the simulation year 2021. NASA had launched a probe to look at the asteroid more closely. At that point in the simulation, the space rock was on a collision course with Earth, and the impact site had been narrowed down to Denver, Colorado.

The risk corridor for imaginary asteroid 2019 PDC during the recent simulation. The simulated impact was pictured as happening directly over New York City.

Image via PDC/CNEOS/JPL.

On Day 3 – the year 2024 in the simulation – the world’s space power nations had decided to build a fleet of six “kinetic impactors,” spacecraft designed to ram into the asteroid, slowing it down and hopefully deflecting it off course. The impactors were launched in 2024, still three years from impact, and three of them were imagined to hit the asteroid successfully. This was enough to fragment the asteroid, but there was still a problem. Although the biggest piece of the asteroid would no longer hit the Earth, a smaller fragment was imagined to be still on a collision trajectory, headed for the eastern United States.

At this point in the simulation, there wasn’t too much else that could be done. It was too late to try to nuke the incoming asteroid fragment, due to politics (as usual).

Now, analysis of the asteroid’s imaginary trajectory showed it would hit New York City. The only thing that could be done at this point was mass evacuation.

Toward the end of the simulation, the asteroid was imagined as striking Earth’s atmosphere at 43,000 mph (69,000 kmh) and exploding right over New York in a blast that was 1,000 times more powerful than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. New York City, the largest city in North America, was no more.

All of this is, of course, just an exercise. But simulations like these help experts figure just what actions might be taken, if an asteroid were discovered to be on a collision course with Earth. At this point in Earth’s history, there are no large asteroids known to be headed our way. And the odds of a large asteroid hitting Earth at any given time are statistically exceedingly low. However, as astronomers have come to recognize more profoundly in recent decades, asteroid strikes do happen. They’ve happened before and could happen again.

A massive asteroid impact in what’s now the Yucatán Peninsula is thought to have wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Could it happen again?

Image via Science Photo Library/Alamy Stock Photo.

The dinosaurs unfortunately experienced this firsthand, 65 million years ago. And if it happened before, it can happen again, at some point. We don’t know exactly when, though, so it is prudent to be ready at all times, even if the chance of the unthinkable happening is small.

About 20,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered so far, with another 150 or so new ones found every month, according to the Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

NASA and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) also released an 18-page document in June 2018 explaining what steps the agencies would take over the next 10 years to prevent actual potential asteroid strikes and to prepare the country for the worst if one did hit us. That plan is two-fold, increasing ground-based surveillance of near-Earth asteroids and having a protocol in place for mass evacuations. This would require other nations to work with the U.S., a worthy goal since we don’t know just when or where an asteroid will hit, the next time one does.

In all probability, another asteroid will strike Earth, eventually, even if it’s tens of thousands of years from now. Let’s hope a future human civilization will fare better than the dinosaurs did 65 million years ago.

• Bottom line: In 2019’s Planetary Defense Conference simulation, New York City was obliterated by an asteroid fragment that hit Earth in 2027. Although not based on reality, simulations such as these are designed to help NASA, ESA, FEMA and other agencies prepare for a time if – or when – just such a catastrophe really doeshappen again.
• Via Live Science

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

13-05-2019 om 14:40 geschreven door peter  

Increase In UFO Sightings Prompts Military Action

Remember the Twilight Zone on television? Well, play that theme song in your head while you read this post…

The US Navy is drafting new guidelines for reporting Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) after a significant uptick in the number of sightings on (above?) American soil.

No, it doesn’t mean we’re being invaded by aliens (at least not yet). Nor does it mean that the US is about to live out the storyline from Colony, Netflix’s all-too-soon ended show about an Earth under alien control.

So what DOES it mean?

Key Points:

• First, “UFO” does not equal alien. A UFO is anything in the sky that cannot be accurately identified — an animal, a device, an aircraft, or even some kind of natural phenomenon. UFOs are a significant concern, but not because they spell doom for humans due to an oncoming onslaught of alien warriors.
• Instead, the risks are much more mundane. Flying devices can be used in attacks by foreign enemies, to import drugs across the border, and even to gather intel at America’s military bases.
• Studying UFOs is extremely important. Regardless of what the object is, or what discoveries are made along the way, the information gathered is almost always useful. In some cases, that info is even critically important to national security, as it can reveal an impending threat, such as an aircraft flying in to attack.
• UFOs may also indicate that a foreign entity or enemy has achieved a technological breakthrough, making them much more powerful, and thus, much more dangerous. In a world where tech is advancing more and more rapidly all across the world, this must be considered.
• Even when the phenomenon turns out to be natural, studying it can be remarkably insightful. In 2009, researchers received reports of an “alien spaceship” that turned out to be a strange type of lighting filled with “blue jets,” later theorizing that the phenomenon may impact ozone and the weather.
• The Navy’s statement announcing significant changes for reporting UFOs clarifies the issue further. “There have been a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated airspace in recent years,” it reads. “For safety and security concerns, the Navy and the [U.S. Air Force] takes these reports very seriously and investigates each and every report.”
• One such report includes a release from To the Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences that showcases a declassified video of two Navy pilots coming into close contact with a UFO. “GO FAST,” which has been certified authentic by the DoD, is a remarkable watch:

• The UFO in the GoFast video was never identified, but that doesn’t mean studying it isn’t useful. The information within it can help our military better protect the country and improve tech equipment — far from a simple spooky alien story on television.
• In fact, former Pentagon intelligence official Chris Mellon believes we should retire the term UFO altogether. Instead, he proposes “unexplained aerial phenomena,” which demystifies the subject and encourages a more scientific and analytical approach.
• “Right now, we have a situation in which UFOs and UAPs are treated as anomalies to be ignored rather than anomalies to be explored,” he explains. “We have systems that exclude that information and dump it.”
• Mellon also cautions against the assumptive mindset that most UFOs should be ignored. “…in a lot of cases [military personnel] don’t know what to do with that information, like satellite data or a radar that sees something going Mach 3. They will dump [the data] because that is not a traditional aircraft or missile.”

The new Navy guidelines will encourage and require sightings to be reported “to cognizant authorities” depending on the specifics of the incident. This could very well lead to technological advancement, improved national defense — and yes, maybe the discovery of new life, too.

You just never know.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

13-05-2019 om 12:31 geschreven door peter  

You’d think at this point in humanity’s development, with our big ridiculous particle smashing machines, our spaceships, our plans to colonize other planets, we’d have a pretty solid understanding of something so basic as the sun. You’d be wrong. For starters, the sun is hardly basic, despite its constant presence, hanging in the sky every day since before there even were days. We often take the sun for granted and forget that it’s a giant ball of condensed nuclear fire, so heavy that it warps spacetime enough to keep a series of giant balls of rock spinning around it. Far from being basic, its mind-boggling.  In fact, because of our advancements in knowledge and understanding of the cosmos, scientists have recently realized that the sun is much more mysterious and strange than they’ve ever imagined.

Compiling over a decade’s worth of data from telescopes pointed at the sun, NASA scientists found that their predictions of the glow from gamma rays —the highest frequency band of light—were wrong. Not just a little bit wrong, but completely, utterly, and inexplicably wrong in a way that disrupts the entire understanding of the sun, and perhaps even our understanding of physics. According to particle physicist Brian Fields:

“It’s amazing that we were so spectacularly wrong about something we should understand really well: the sun.”

Hubris: looking at this thing and thinking you’ve got it all figured out.

Scientists had previously theorized that although the sun’s core would produce gamma rays, none would escape due to degradation as they try to escape the burning ball of nuclear fire. Despite that, scientists believed that the sun would still emit a gamma ray glow because of something called cosmic rays: protons that have been blasted into our solar system by supernovas or other violent cosmic events. When these cosmic rays hit the sun, scientists postulated, they would be reflected back by the suns magnetic field and burn up into gamma radiation.  Johnathan Beacom, one of the scientists who worked on the project explains it, in a way we can all understand, with cartoons:

“Remember the Road Runner cartoon? Imagine the proton runs straight toward that sphere, and at the last second it changes its direction and comes back at you.”

Except then the Road Runner burns up as a burst of radiation.

Scientists figured out that, based on the rate of cosmic rays hitting the sun and an expected one percent efficiency in bouncing them back, the sun would emit a faint glow of gamma rays. When they looked at the data they found that the gamma ray glow of the sun was seven times brighter than they had predicted. This suggests that if the cosmic ray theory is correct, the sun is bouncing cosmic rays back with 100% efficiency, which should be impossible. Even weirder, at the highest frequency of gamma rays the sun glows 20 times brighter than scientists had predicted. Weirder still, while most of the frequency bands of gamma rays are far brighter than scientists predicted, there is a conspicuous and unexplained dip in one band of frequencies that, according to astrophysicist Tim Linden, “defies all logic.” He says:

“It’s much easier to get bumps than dips. If I have something that comes out of the sun, OK, that’s an extra channel. How do I make a negative channel out of that?”

The explanations for this unexpected weirdness in the sun all fall short in some way. Scientists have hypothesized that the sun’s core might be partially composed of dark matter, which, trapped and compressed by gravity could be annihilated and turned into gamma radiation, but that leaves the problem of how that gamma radiation could escape the sun. The other explanation is that something we don’t understand is happening with the sun’s magnetic field. According to astrophysicist John Giacalone the gamma ray signal “is probably telling us something very fundamental about the magnetic structure of the sun.”

However, no explanation accounts for the mysterious dip in the gamma ray frequency band. In fact, such a dip is so outside expectations that some experts think it’s a mistake in the data. According to Tim Linden, it’s no mistake:

“I think there are 15 pages in the appendix of different tests we ran to see whether we were miscalculating. Statistically, the dip appears very prominent.”

So rather than explaining and putting to rest the unsolved mysteries of the cosmos, science has once again shown us that the more layers you peel back, the more mysteries present themselves like a cosmic game of whack-a-mole. It is exciting though, and such a mystery will inevitably lead to a deeper understanding of our little slice of the the universe, and perhaps a deeper understanding of the fundamental substrate of reality as well. John Beacom sums it up nicely:

“The worst that can happen here is that we find out that the sun is stranger and more beautiful than we ever imagined. And the best that could happen is we discover some kind of new physics.”

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

13-05-2019 om 12:19 geschreven door peter  

Could Quantum Mechanics Explain the Existence of Spacetime?

By Tom Siegfried 

• This article originally appeared in Knowable Magazine, an independent journalistic endeavor from Annual Reviews. Sign up for the newsletter.

{ http://discovermagazine.com/ }

13-05-2019 om 01:19 geschreven door peter  

Before we send people to Mars, we need to understand more about how Martian dust could affect astronauts and their equipment. Here are 3 things we’ve learned from the planet’s 2018 global dust storm.

This animated image blinks two versions of a May 11, 2016, selfie of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at a drilled sample site called “Okoruso.” In one version, cameras atop the rover’s mast face the arm-mounted camera taking the portrait. In the other, they face away.

Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

By Lonnie Shekhtman, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The global Martian dust storm of summer 2018 — the one that blotted out sunlight for weeks and put NASA’s beloved Opportunity rover out of business — offered an unprecedented learning opportunity. For the first time, humans had eight spacecraft orbiting Mars or roving its surface — the largest cadre of robotic explorers ever to watch a global dust storm unfold.

Scientists around the globe are still analyzing reams of data, but preliminary reports include insights on how massive dust storms could have affected ancient Martian water, winds, and climate, and how they could affect future weather and solar power.

Images showing the advancing, global dust storm, taken by Curiosity’s Mast Camera between Sol 2075 and Sol 2170 on Mars, which would’ve fallen between June 8, 2018, and September 13, 2018, on Earth.

Images via NASA/JPL-Caltech/York University.

Martian dust storms are common, especially during southern hemisphere spring and summer. They tend to last a couple of days and can cover regions of the planet the size of the United States. But planet-encircling ones are unpredictable, sometimes lingering for months. Why? Scott Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a lead researcher in NASA’s dust storm investigation. He said:

We still don’t know what drives the variability, but the 2018 storm gives another data point.

NASA first saw a global dust storm up close in 1971 when our Mariner 9 spacecraft — the first to orbit another planet — arrived at a dust-engulfed red planet. Since then, we’ve seen global storms in 1977 (twice), 1982, 1994, 2001, 2007 and 2018.

Here are three things we saw from space and from the ground during the recent global dust storm that helped address some open questions and exposed new ones:

Hydrogen atoms escape from Mars’ upper atmosphere, while water containing heavy hydrogen (deuterium) remains trapped on the planet. The escape of hydrogen helped to turn Mars from a wet planet 4.5 billion years ago into a dry world today.

Video via NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

1. Could global dust storms have blown away the planet’s water?

Scientists have found loads of evidence that Mars had rivers, lakes and maybe even oceans of water billions of years ago. Dry riverbeds, ancient shorelines, and salty surface chemistry are all clues. But why did much of the water disappear? And how? Geronimo Villanueva, a Martian water expert at NASA Goddard, said:

The global dust storm may give us an explanation.

Villanueva worked with colleagues at the ESA (European Space Agency) and Russia’s Roscosmos space agency to confirm that powerful, global dust storms appear to loft water vapor from its typical altitude of 12 miles (20 km) above the Martian surface to much higher elevations of at least 50 miles (80 km). NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter observed a similar phenomenon in 2007.

By thrusting water into the upper atmosphere, global dust storms may interfere with the planet’s water cycle, preventing H2O from condensing and falling back down to the surface. On Earth, H2O falls back down as rain or snow. The same process could have existed on Mars billions of years ago.

At higher altitudes, where the Martian atmosphere is especially tenuous, Villanueva and his colleagues speculate, solar radiation can easily penetrate to break up the water molecules and blow their component elements into space. Villanueva, who has spent his career piecing together the history of water on Mars, said:

When you bring water to higher parts of the atmosphere, it gets blown away so much easier.

Villanueva and his colleagues reported on April 10, 2019, in the peer-reviewed journal Nature that they found evidence of receding water vapor by using the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter at Mars, a spacecraft managed by ESA and Roscosmos. The orbiter measured water molecules at different altitudes before and after the 2018 storm. Scientists saw for the first time that all types of water molecules (there are lighter and heavier ones) reached the “escape region” of the upper atmosphere, which was an important insight into how water may be disappearing from Mars. Now, says Villanueva, scientists will have to take this new information into account in their predictions about how much water flowed on ancient Mars and how long it took for it to disappear.

The surface of Mars is covered by constantly shifting sand blown by the planet’s winds. This creates an ever-evolving desert landscape with diverse and striking dunes. Loose mounds of sand are found all over Mars, ranging in height from a few dozen feet to higher than some of Earth’s tallest skyscrapers. Images taken by the HiRISE instrument aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft have allowed scientists to study Mars’ dunes in unprecedented detail. The enhanced-color views captured from orbit reveal characteristics of their shape, composition, and movements over time, giving clues about the planet’s dynamic atmosphere and current climate.

Image via NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

2. Global dust storms don’t seem to significantly reshape Martian sand dunes

For scientists who track sand dunes shifting inches across the surface, the global dust storm offered critical evidence in their investigation of wind patterns on the red planet. Only the forceful winds during a global dust storm would be able to move the planet’s extensive dunes, scientists once thought, given that Mars’ super thin atmosphere makes 100-mile-per-hour (160 kph) wind feel like a breeze. Yet images from orbiters and landers throughout the decades have revealed that Martian sand moves all the time, implying that it doesn’t need strong gusts to do so. This was a surprise to researchers.

Now that scientists finally got to watch a global dust storm from the ground through the eyes of NASA’s Curiosity rover, they noticed another surprising characteristic of Martian wind: strong gusts don’t appear to move sand more than normal. Mariah Baker is a Ph.D. student at Johns Hopkins University who helps track changes in Martian sand ripples. She said:

This has added to the overall mystery of how wind behaves on Mars.

Ongoing analysis of the entire Martian globe will reveal whether Gale Crater, where Curiosity is roving, was unique. The heart of the storm was over Opportunity, after all, which was roving on the other side of the globe from Curiosity. Plus, wind may behave differently inside Gale Crater, scientists note. Guzewich said:

Were we being sheltered? That’s possible.

If it turns out sand dunes didn’t shift much anywhere on Mars during the storm, there could be a good reason, Baker said:

Winds swirling dust around in the atmosphere might not be the same thing as winds on the surface.

Some scientists think that when dust gets lifted into the atmosphere during a global storm, blocking sunlight from reaching the surface, it shuts down the wind-generating process close to the ground that, under normal conditions, is induced by temperature fluctuations between the air and surface.

Whatever the reason turns out to be, understanding the behavior of sand dunes today helps us reveal Mars’s ancient climate, says Baker.

We can look at wind-shaped sandstones on the surface and look at dunes that are moving now, and say, ‘OK, what does that say about the conditions that were here billions of years ago when these dunes were moving and now are cemented into the rock record?’

Navigation cameras aboard NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover observed several whirlwinds carrying Martian dust across Gale Crater in 2017. Dust devils result from sunshine warming the ground, prompting convective rising of air. All the dust devils were seen in a southward direction from the rover. Timing is accelerated and contrast has been modified to make frame-to-frame changes easier to see.

Video via NASA/JPL-Caltech/TAMU.

3. Dust storms make rover-cleansing dust devils disappear

Dust devils, which are rotating columns of air and dust, are common on Mars. They form when hot air from the surface rises, creating a current of air that forms a whirlwind. These devils are useful for cleaning off dust from the panels of solar-powered spacecraft, like InSight, as they pass over them. Thus, it’s important to understand how often they occur.

The Curiosity rover is powered by a nuclear battery, which allowed it to collect data while Opportunity hibernated, with minimal sunlight reaching its solar panels. Through Curiosity, we learned that dust devils disappear during a dust storm, right when we need them most, and for months afterwards. This happens because of an interruption in the same wind-generating process that might affect the movement of sand dunes.

Guzewich says that understanding a global storm’s impact on dust devils is important in planning how to power equipment during future Mars missions. He said:

You need to be prepared to go a while before your next dust devil passes over and cleans you off.

• Bottom line: Three things scientists have learned from the 2018 global dust storm on Mars.
• Source: Mars Science Laboratory Observations of the 2018/Mars Year 34 Global Dust Storm
• Source: Martian dust storm impact on atmospheric H2O and D/H observed by ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
• Via NASA

13-05-2019 om 00:32 geschreven door peter  

Arsenic is a deadly poison for most living things, but new research shows that microorganisms are breathing arsenic in a large area of the Pacific Ocean.

Researchers fix the line on an instrument that pumps large volumes of seawater in order to extract DNA. The instrument on the left measures properties such as temperature, salinity and depth and collects smaller samples of seawater.

Image via Noelle Held/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Arsenic is a deadly poison for most living things, but new research has found microorganisms in a low-oxygen area of the Pacific Ocean that breathe arsenic.

University of Washington professor of oceanography Gabrielle Rocap is a co-author of the study, published April 29, 2019, in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Rocap said in a statement:

We’ve known for a long time that there are very low levels of arsenic in the ocean. But the idea that organisms could be using arsenic to make a living – it’s a whole new metabolism for the open ocean.

The team analyzed samples collected during a 2012 research cruise to the tropical Pacific, off the coast of Mexico. The seawater samples came from a region below the surface, where oxygen is almost absent. Rocap said:

In some parts of the ocean there’s a sandwich of water where there’s no measurable oxygen. The microbes in these regions have to use other elements that act as an electron acceptor to extract energy from food.

A purple arsenic atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms is arsenate (left). An arsenic atom surrounded by three oxygen atoms is arsenite (right). The study found evidence of marine organisms that can convert one to the other to get energy in oxygen-deficient environments.

Image via Wikimedia.

Genetic analyses on DNA extracted from the seawater found two genetic pathways that are known to convert arsenic-based molecules as a way to gain energy.

According to the researchers, the microbes discovered in the water are probably distantly related to the arsenic-breathing microbes found in hot springs or contaminated sites on land.

California’s Mono Lake is naturally high in arsenic and is known to host microbes that survive by breathing arsenic. The organisms that live in the marine environment are likely related to the ones on land.

Image via Pixabay.

Biologists believe the strategy of using arsenic for respiration is a holdover from Earth’s early history. During the period when life arose on Earth, oxygen was scarce in both the air and in the ocean. Oxygen became abundant in Earth’s atmosphere only after photosynthesis became widespread and converted carbon dioxide gas into oxygen. Early lifeforms had to gain energy using other elements, such as arsenic, which was likely more common in the oceans at that time.

Jaclyn Saunders, a postdoctoral fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, is the study first author. She said:

We found the genetic signatures of pathways that are still there, remnants of the past ocean that have been maintained until today.

Arsenic-breathing populations may grow again under climate change. Low-oxygen regions are projected to expand, and dissolved oxygen is predicted to drop throughout the marine environment. Rocap said:

For me, it just shows how much is still out there in the ocean that we don’t know.

• Bottom line: Researchers have discovered microorganisms that breathe arsenic.
• Source: Complete arsenic-based respiratory cycle in the marine microbial communities of pelagic oxygen-deficient zones
• Via University of Washington

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

12-05-2019 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

Mariella Moon, @mariella_moon

Virgin Galactic's deal with New Mexico entails moving its commercial spaceflight activities to Spaceport America when its vehicles and operations are ready for primetime. Looks like the company is nearly there, because, Sir Richard Branson and company have decided that it's time. Virgin Galactic has announced that its "program had advanced sufficiently to move the spaceline staff and space vehicles from Mojave, California to [its] commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America, New Mexico."

The corporation conducted VSS Unity's first test flight with a passenger onboard back in February, two months after its first ever flight to space. It will now complete the vehicle's final tests from New Mexico after the company relocates it and its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, over the summer. One of the flights could have Branson himself as a passenger, seeing as he intends to fly to the edge of space on July 16th, 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.

Virgin Galactic is also moving 100 staff members to its new HQ, since that's where it'll run things from now on. As the company said, the move "signals the final countdown" to the beginning of its commercial spaceflight service.

Sir Richard Branson said in a statement:

"Our Virgin Galactic adventure has been intertwined with New Mexico and Spaceport America right from the start and our stories have unfolded together. New Mexico delivered on its promise to build a world-first and world-class spaceport. Today, I could not be more excited to announce, that in return, we are now ready to bring New Mexico a world-first, world-class spaceline. Virgin Galactic is coming home to New Mexico where together we will open space to change the world for good."

View image on Twitter

Richard Branson

✔@richardbranson

It’s going to be special to see the world’s most beautiful spaceship fly from one of the world’s most wonderfully designed buildings, Spaceport America https://virg.in/UEw  @virgingalactic

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✔@virgingalactic

New Mexico will be one of the very few places on the planet which will be hosting human spaceflight launches. We are initiating the move of our spaceship and operations team to New Mexico’s @Spaceport_NM. https://virg.in/UEi 

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12-05-2019 om 23:47 geschreven door peter  

Are octopuses alien? New theory argues Earth was ‘seeded’ by interstellar genetic code

OCTOPUSES are weird. This is not just because they look odd. It’s not because they’re disturbingly smart. And that could mean they’re alien.

Jamie Seidel

OCTOPUSES are weird. This is not just because they look odd. It’s not because they’re disturbingly smart. It’s because they have a strange power.

The ability to edit their own bodies.

This has biologists scratching their heads.

Evolution doesn’t work that way. It’s supposed to be spurred by genetic mutations — a change in DNA — that proves to be beneficial to the host.

So how could a creature evolve in such a way as to allow them to rebuild themselves?

Now a new train of thought has emerged.

They didn’t.

At least, not here.

Instead — it’s an advanced biological ability that came from outer space.

An ethereal octopus emerges from the depths.

Picture: iStockSource:istock

THE KRAKEN WAKES

In April last year, researchers found octopuses — and some of their cuttlefish and squid cousins — regularly edit their RNA.

This sets them apart from the rest of the animal world.

RNA, like DNA, records genetic code. But where DNA is a double-stranded molecule, RNA consists of just one strand. Its role within our body is to transmit genetic information to trigger the production of proteins.

But some scientists feel RNA may have been the original DNA, acting as the permanent storehouse of genetic code among Earth’s earliest organisms.

• RELATED: Alien life ... it’s not a matter of ‘if’, but ‘what’

When it comes to cephalopods like the common squid, researchers have found that up to 60 per cent of the RNA in its nervous system had been edited after it was programmed by DNA. These changes adapted its brain to shifting temperatures in it ocean habitat.

Last year, it was discovered two species of octopus and one of cuttlefish does the same thing — routinely.

“This shows that high levels of RNA editing ... (is) an invention of the coleoid cephalopods,” US Marine Biological Laboratory researcher Joshua Rosenthal said.

How this ability is triggered, or controlled, is not yet known.

• RELATED: Alien life? Don’t expect it to be all that strange

“It could be something as simple as temperature changes or as complicated as experience, a form of memory,” Rosenthal says.

But the ability to reshape physiologies on the fly has come at a price.

Coleoids aren’t evolving much.

This could be because the drive isn’t there: They’ve found editing RNA is way to adapt to — and survive — change. So their DNA doesn’t need to change.

“The conclusion here is that in order to maintain this flexibility to edit RNA, the coleoids have had to give up the ability to evolve in the surrounding regions — a lot,” Rosenthal wrote.

Nasa astronaut Ron Garan took this photo of a meteor through a window in the International Space Station.

Picture: TwitterSource:Supplied

PANSPERMIA THEORY

The origin of life on Earth is one of the toughest nuts for science to crack. We know much of the chemistry involved. But not the circumstances that brings it all together into a living being.

There’s still a gap in our understanding large enough for gods and other extraordinary ideas to fit within.

Such as panspermia.

It’s the idea that life here began out there — with scatterings of organic molecules carrying their pre-programmed codes for life across the gulf of time and space.

Evidence is lacking.

But the idea is being examined.

Now a peer-reviewed article published in the science journal Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology is stirring the origins-of-life pot.

• RELATED: A new planet hunter has joined the search for alien life

The recent Rosetta mission to Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko confirmed organic molecules that form the basis of sugars and amino acids were dusted among its mounds and valleys of frozen ice.

It’s not life.

But these materials are the building blocks of DNA.

The new report, Cause of Cambrian Explosion — Terrestrial or Cosmic?, argues that our existence isn’t based on these interplanetary building blocks alone.

Instead, it builds up the idea that our biochemistry has been contaminated by influences from beyond our own planet.

The authors argue that a cloud of organic material likely rained down upon the Earth about 500 million years ago. And that changed everything.

Could the code of life be carried across the cosmos in space dust? One group of researchers believes so.

Picture: HubbleSource:Supplied

ALIEN IMPACT

The Cambrian Explosion is certainly mysterious. It was a period of time where life on Earth diversified dramatically, and rapidly.

It’s an event which took place shortly after the emergence of retroviruses in our environment.

It was especially dramatic for a type of mollusc called a cephalopod. Tentacles reached out from their shells and wove their way into enormous variety of creatures which eventually became the octopus, cuttlefish and squid we know today.

“We believe this coincidence is not fortuitous but is consistent with a key prediction ... whereby major extinction-diversification evolutionary boundaries coincide with virus-bearing cometary-bolide bombardment events,” the study’s abstract reads.

This idea is that space-borne retroviruses eventually found their way to the Earth’s surface before attaching themselves to living organisms. Once there, they reprogrammed the creatures’ evolution.

• RELATED: The most common life in the universe will evolve differently to us

“A second focus is the remarkable evolution of intelligent complexity (Cephalopods) culminating in the emergence of the Octopus,” the study reads.

“A third focus concerns the microorganism fossil evidence contained within meteorites as well as the detection in the upper atmosphere of apparent incoming life-bearing particles from space.”

The paper argues the space-based transfer of life was likely on a larger scale than just retroviruses. Whole sets of frozen genetic material were cast about on the stellar winds before splashing down in our oceans.

Here, they thawed.

• RELATED: The closest thing on Earth to an intelligent alien

“Thus the possibility that cryopreserved squid and/or octopus eggs, arrived in icy bolides several hundred million years ago should not be discounted,” the study reads.

Therefore, octopuses are aliens.

It’s interesting conjecture. It’s an idea that fits the circumstances. But concrete evidence is yet to be produced. The idea is yet to be tested.

But it’s tantalising.

“Life may have been seeded here on Earth by life-bearing comets as soon as conditions on Earth allowed it to flourish (about or just before 4.1 Billion years ago); and living organisms such as space-resistant and space-hardy bacteria, viruses, more complex eukaryotic cells, fertilised ova and seeds have been continuously delivered ever since to Earth so being one important driver of further terrestrial evolution which has resulted in considerable genetic diversity and which has led to the emergence of mankind.”

{ https://www.news.com.au/ }

12-05-2019 om 23:35 geschreven door peter  

12-05-2019 om 23:07 geschreven door peter  

"I Had A Near Death Experience, and It Was Beautiful!" (True Story!)

A near-death experience is a personal experience associated with death or impending death. Such experiences may encompass a variety of sensations including detachment from the body, feelings of levitation, total serenity, security, warmth, the experience of absolute dissolution, and the presence of a light. NDEs are a recognized part of some transcendental and religious beliefs in an afterlife.

These are a collection of 100% TRUE paranormal Stories. Here at “Strange But True Stories”, we vow to bring you 100% True cases of: Paranormal Stories, Bigfoot stories, Time Glitches & the Mandela Effect, and so much more! You can submit your TRUE story to us at: strangebuttruestories2@gmail.com

What do you think about this video? Let us know in the comments section and thanks for stopping by Beforeitsnews!

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

12-05-2019 om 23:00 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Tools Reveal 500,000-Year-Old Migration Routes of Human Ancestors in ‘Cradle of Humanity’

by N.Morgan

During excavations in Eastern Sudan, the scientists from the Wrocław University’s Institute of Archeology found remnants of the humanoids’ presence which tell the untold story of the different phases of human species migration from half a million years ago.  

Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego/Facebook

A group of Polish archeologists have uncovered sensational proof that Homo Erectus, the ancestor of today’s humans, spread around the globe using previously undiscovered migration routes.

During excavations in Eastern Sudan, the scientists from the Wrocław University’s Institute of Archeology found remnants of the humanoids’ presence which tell the untold story of the different phases of human species migration from half a million years ago.

Discoveries in the Eastern Desert also confirm the long coexistence of Homo erectus with Homo sapiens in Africa: it is a period of at least 100,000 years, falling between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. Both species lived there simultaneously. 

Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego/Facebook

The Polish archeologists, together with colleagues from Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and the United States decided to conduct their research north of the area, which is usually perceived as the cradle of humanity (along the Great Rift Valley, from Mozambique to the Red Sea) – the Eastern Desert in Sudan.

Enticed by the news, that gold miners in the area were uncovering prehistoric tools, the scientist not only confirmed this information but came across a lot more.

Enticed by the news, that gold miners in the area were uncovering prehistoric tools, the scientist not only confirmed this information but came across a lot more. 

Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego/Facebook

On March 6th, the archeologists summarized their project on the Institute of Archeology’s Facebook: 

“We just finished the last season of excavations in Sudan, which are carried out by our Institute in collaboration with Museum of Archaeology in Gdansk and Neelian University in Khartoum.

“This international project entitled ‘Homo erectus on the path to Eurasia…’ is focused on remains of Pleistocene settlement in the Eastern Desert. During this season we excavated four sites which yielded many finds.

“The oldest artifacts, which we found at archaeological site EDAR 7, are dated to 0,5 Ma [500 thousand years ago] and related to early middle Pleistocene Acheulean culture. This is the oldest known archaeological site in NE Africa.”

Homo Erectus migrations from Africa. 

PAP Infographics/PAP

What they found was that Homo Erectus traveled outside of Africa not only along the Nile river but also through what is now a desert which used to be a humid area with plants and rivers leading to the Red Sea.

Discoveries in the Eastern Desert also confirm the long coexistence of Homo erectus with Homo sapiens in Africa: it is a period of at least 100,000 years, falling between 300,000 and 200,000 years ago. Both species lived there simultaneously, although one gave birth to the other.

The archeologists, led by Wrocław University’s Prof. Mirosław Masojć (pictured), discovered “… an assemblage of artifacts containing, among others, choppers and chopping tools, bifacial tools (hand axes and cleavers) and big flake tools. ”

Instytut Archeologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego

The archeologists, led by Wrocław University’s Prof. Mirosław Masojć reveal they discovered “… an assemblage of artifacts containing, among others, choppers and chopping tools, bifacial tools (hand axes and cleavers) and big flake tools.

“Younger finds from the Middle Stone Age, which were manufactured using the Levallois method, can be linked to the settlement of this region by anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens).

“Every day, we covered 90 kilometers in the desert from our base in Atbara to the sites. In the afternoons, after finishing field work, we devoted ourselves to analyses and recording of our artifacts. Some of the tools were chosen to be transported to Poland, which will allow us to conduct microscopic use-wear analyses.”

Reference:

• https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/yabba-dabba-dudes-ancient-tools-reveal-500000-year-old-migration-routes-of-human-ancestors-in-cradle-of-humanity-5849

Stories Contributed by N. Morgan

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

12-05-2019 om 22:50 geschreven door peter  

Secrets of the Solar System Documentary - Formation of Earth and Solar System

Our Solar System, and all other star systems, form from a collapsing nebula. Often called stellar nurseries, nebulae are the birthplace of stars.

 

They are made up of mostly hydrogen but also contain other matter like gases, dust, ice and rock. The gravity of the nebula pulls this matter into the centre, and the nebula experiences a gravitational collapse.

 

If the compression raises the core temperature enough to reach thermonuclear fusion, the centre mass generates a protostar. This process takes about 10 million years.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

12-05-2019 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

Electrical Grid Down: Crazy! Ball of Fire Moving Down Electric Lines

{https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

12-05-2019 om 22:21 geschreven door peter  

Ten Year Search Ends In Victory, Found Face On Moon Near Aollo Astronaut, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: May 11, 2019
Location of discovery: Earths moon
Mission: Apollo 14, Jan 31-Feb 6, 1971
Source photo 1:

•  https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS14-68-9453

Source photo 2:

• https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS14-68-9449
  
  

Ever forget where something was? The car keys, a hat, your parked car? Well, I saw this photo with something in the background in the news over ten years ago. Just the photo and I knew I had to find it no matter what it takes. I have been on the lookout for it for a long time and had almost forgotten about it until I accidentally came across it today in the Apollo 14 image index. 

Why was I searching for this boring photo of rocks on the moon with a hammer and cup on a rock near an astronaut shadow? It couldn't possibly be that important right? Maybe it could be. You see, there was a face on the edge of the rock and I think that astronaut shadow is of him taking photos of his hammer and the rock with the face in the background, so that there would be a size comparison in the photo of the face. Yes, I believe he saw the face too. Its so old and covered in lunar dust, he may have wondered if it was just coincidence or an actual alien artefact. 

Parodolia you say?

Seeing faces where they don't exist? I have a masters in counselling,  I know psychology. I have also learned about a lot of secret psychological studies that the CIA conducted for decades. For instance, during the cold war the CIA manual for training agents had a cover entitled, "CIA Manual of Trickery And Deception." (see photo above). Did you know that the CIA only started spreading the word of parodolia because of me reporting faces on alien planets in 2010-11 when I was getting noticed by news agencies...and the CIA response was to get one word (parodolia) on TV news and newspapers through their agents working in areas of NASA,  US government, SETI, astronomy, oh and hired astronomers and astrophysicists like Phil Plait, Bill Nye and Degrasse Tyson. I have confronted Phil who attacked many UFO eyewitnesses on his blog about this on his own website. Just mention my name to him and he cringes in fear. Yes, they still do work to spread disinformation for the CIA...in turn, they get more public opportunities to speak provided by the CIA. So lets stop wasting our time being mentally programmed by the CIA, shall we?

I have accomplished a goal I set out to do over ten years ago. I am proud that I stuck to my guns until I found this important alien evidence. You see, the faces of aliens in rocks or hills and on the ground are the most important astronomy, astrophysics and astrobiology discoveries in the entire history of humanity. The faces teach us something that the CIA dreads the public knowing. The faces teach us what the species of aliens out there look like. And if you know what they look like...you realise they don't look so scary after all. Look closely at this face in the photo. The face is that of a human like alien with pointy long ears. This species looks a little like us! We...are not alone in our solar system...and we never have been. 

Victory is sweet! 
Scott C. Waring - Self-Proclaimed Astrobiologist

{ https://www.etdatabase.com/ }

12-05-2019 om 22:08 geschreven door peter  

Why This Martian Full Moon Looks Like Candy

12-05-2019 om 12:53 geschreven door peter  

If aliens can watch us how can they be less advanced?

While theories come and go, facts don't, and the fact is, aliens, as they are called these days, are not really aliens. They have been and are very much an integral part of human civilization that we live in today.  

12-05-2019 om 12:37 geschreven door peter  

UNPRECEDENTED HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

GIMBAL is the first of three US military videos of unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP) that has been through the official declassification review process of the United States government and has been approved for public release. This footage, and all official USG footage you will see on TTS Academy’s Community of Interest (COI), comes with essential chain-of-custody documentation validating that it is received in its original and unaltered form and is authentic. The US Department of Defense uses this process in order to meticulously ensure that information and material retain their integrity without revealing sources and methods.

This documentation is what sets this footage apart from anything else that has previously made its way to the public domain, by establishing its authenticity and thereby giving it enormous historical significance.

While that fact alone is of historical significance, what this 34 seconds of video provides is remarkable. Several key observations are contained in this one video that may help us collectively better understand the physics and technology being employed. In addition, we hear US fighter pilots struggling to determine the nature of object. Key findings include:

• Low observability in both electro-optical and electromagnetic spectrums.
• No distinguishable flight surfaces.
• Lack of obvious propulsion system.
• Never-before-seen flight capabilities.
• Possible energy or resonance field of unknown nature.

The filename “GIMBAL” seems to be traceable to the unusual maneuvering of the UAP.

BACKGROUND

GIMBAL is a product of one of the most sophisticated tracking systems on US military aircraft. It was captured by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet using the Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod. The ATFLIR contains the most advanced sensors and powerful tracking lasers on the market and must be operated by a weapons sensor operator who the military trains at a cost of millions. The ATFLIR has high resolution and can locate and designate targets at distances exceeding 40 nautical miles.

The date, location, and other information have been removed by the originating authority as part of the release approval process.

The GIMBAL footage shows what was on display in the cockpit for the pilots of the Super Hornet. Here are the major features and what they mean:

Description of HUD (Heads Up Display) seen in the GIMBAL video as filmed by a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet using the Raytheon AN/ASQ-228 Advanced Targeting Forward-Looking Infrared (ATFLIR) pod.

ANALYZING THE VIDEO

As the video starts, this is what the pilots observe from inside their cockpit:

• The sensor is in “white-hot” mode—white elements in the display are warmer than the dark, or cooler, areas. The UAP appears as a white shape in the middle of the screen.
• The chasing aircraft is in a left-hand turn flying Mach 0.58 at an altitude of 25,010 feet.
• The UAP is flying slightly below 2 degrees and 54 degrees to the left of the Super Hornet, traveling right to left.
• Looking closely, we can see a dark, or opaque field that appears to surround or encapsulate the object.

The pilots aboard the Super Hornet are not only highly capable fighter pilots, but they are trained observers skilled at scrutinizing their observations and targets in order to ascertain “friend or foe.” They are specifically trained to look for discreet changes in shape, size position, flight attitude (angles), and speed in order to determine the nature of the threat. They are able to discern nuanced details that few people would normally recognize. Paramount to their training is their ability to handle stress and maintain radio discipline. In the footage audio, they are clearly struggling to understand what they are witnessing.

At 0:03, in the first radio transmission, we hear one of the pilots state that it is “a [expletive] drone” aircraft.

At 0:06, upon further observation, a different observer calmly states, “There is a whole fleet of them. Look on the ASA (radar display).” The first observer responds with “My gosh!” It is important to note that the ATFLIR has only a single object in its display. The radar is simultaneously providing the pilots a picture of the larger air space, where they are tracking multiple targets.

At 0:11, it is noted that “They are all going against the wind. The wind is 120 knots (138 mph) out of the west.” We can see that the speed and altitude of the object is unusual for any drone-type aircraft. On that information alone, the likelihood of an entire fleet of drones capable of operating under this scenario is highly improbable and would require resources only few nations could afford.

In the midst of this exchange, the sensor is switched from “white-hot” to “black-hot.” The imaging of the object is now much clearer. It has a distinct shape: a distorted oval with small protrusions from the top and bottom. The object’s opaque aura is now also very distinct: a “cool” glow that extends about a body thickness around the entire object. There appears to be no observable flight surfaces or exhaust plume, nor any typical components usually associated with conventional aircraft.

“Look at that thing, dude.” The observer is clearly surprised at what is being seen.

At 0:24, the object makes a small, but very sharp, altitude change, possibly indicating it may be operating in a vacuum environment. Its direction and speed remain unchanged despite the continuous 120-knot headwind it is encountering.

“That’s not [unintelligible] is it?”

At 0:27, the object begins a series of distinct rotations and changes orientation by almost 100 degrees. Its orientation is now perpendicular to the horizontal plane despite the headwinds. This maneuver is executed in a manner that is inconsistent with current principles of aerodynamics, and possibly indicative of a vacuum environment. As the video concludes, the object's orientation and performance seem to defy current principals of physics to include atmospheric resistance and normal aerodynamic forces. During the orientation change, it also slows to a near stop, but does not change altitude.

One observer states, “Look at that thing!”

Another observer says, “It’s rotating.”

IMPLICATIONS

With the chain-of-custody documentation, GIMBAL can officially be designated as credible, authentic “evidence” of a UAP. Evidence of a flying vehicle with a shape normally associated with something out of science fiction. Currently there are no other known technologies that we can compare to what is being observed in both performance and design, which means there’s a craft that demonstrates flight characteristics unlike anything we know, understand, or can duplicate. Because we cannot duplicate these flight characteristics, we can conclude that the object is employing technologies that are more advanced than our own.

GIMBAL is just one of several official videos obtained by TTS Academy that can be interpreted as credible proof that the physics of advanced flight exists. We are also in the process of collecting additional data from both military and civilian personnel and sensors. The question now changes from “Can it be done?” to “How is it done?” 

{ https://coi.tothestarsacademy.com/ }

12-05-2019 om 12:25 geschreven door peter  

Blue Origin is 'going to the MOON': Jeff Bezos unveils lunar lander at mysterious invite-only event in Washington D.C. and suggests his firm will hit VP Pence's 2024 deadline for putting humans back on the surface

• Jeff Bezos revealed Blue Origin's lunar lander, Blue Moon on Thursday afternoon during a secretive event
• The lander has been in development for three years, putting it on track for a 2024 landing, Bezos said 
• Company also developing a new rocket engine for the system, which could be stepping stone for colonization 
• Blue Origin teased an image of Ernest Shackleton's exploration ship Endurance, suggesting their moon plans
• Shackleton is the name of a crater in the moon's famed South Pole-Aitken Basin, many noted ahead of event

By CHEYENNE MACDONALD  and ANNIE PALMER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Blue Origin is now in the running to put Americans back on the moon by 2024. 

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has revealed the ambitious next steps for his aerospace company at a highly-secretive media event in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

During the event, which kicked off at 4 p.m., the billionaire and Blue Origin founder started off by sharing elaborate concept images of self-sustaining space habitats reminiscent of the film Interstellar, with lush greenery and futuristic homes within its walls.

But, the real star of the talk turned out to be something much closer to home – the moon. On stage, Bezos took the wraps off a massive model of what will be the firm’s first lunar lander, dubbed Blue Moon.

‘This is an incredible vehicle, and it’s going to the moon,’ Bezos said, according to CNN, which live-blogged the event.

According to the CEO, the lander has been in development for the last three years and is on track for a 2024 crewed moon landing – falling in line with the five-year deadline revealed earlier this year by Vice President Mike Pence. 

The plan could ultimately serve as a stepping stone for colonization of the moon and deeper space targets, Bezos suggested.

Scroll down for video 

Blue Origin is now in the running to put Americans back on the moon by 2024. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has revealed the ambitious next steps for his aerospace company at a highly-secretive media event in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. On stage, Bezos took the wraps off a massive model of what will be the firm’s first lunar lander, dubbed Blue Moon

'It's time to go back to the moon, this time to stay,' Bezos said during the event, according to CNN, mirroring a statement made repeatedly over the past few months by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.

Blue Origin says its lunar lander will be able to carry all sorts of payloads to the surface and can hold ‘multiple metric tons.’

The craft will ’enable a sustained human presence on the moon,’ the company said. And, according to the CEO, the company already has about six customers.  

The lander builds upon technology the firm has been testing over the past few years in its New Shepard rocket, including propulsion and precision guidance, as well as the vertical landing system. The firm has quietly been developing Blue Moon for years.

According to CNN, Blue Origin is also developing a new rocket engine specifically for its planned moon landings. The system, called BE-7, has been in the works for three years.

Blue Origin says it could conduct the first test fire as soon as this summer.  

Bezos also delved into his visions for human colonization of the moon and eventually, deep space, touching on the concept of self-sustaining ‘O’Neill colonies’ exponentially larger than the International Space Station where humans and animals could live.

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Blue Origin says its lunar lander will be able to carry all sorts of payloads to the surface and can hold ‘multiple metric tons.’ According to the CEO, the lander has been in development for the last three years and is on track for a 2024 crewed moon landing – falling in line with the five-year deadline revealed earlier this year by Vice President Mike Pence

Jeff Bezos announces Blue Moon, a lunar landing vehicle for the Moon, during a Blue Origin event in Washington, DC, May 9, 2019

Earth’s resources alone won’t be able to sustain humanity forever even with energy conservation, the mogul noted during the event, according to CNN.

Considering the possibility of a future that relies on strict rationing, Bezos suggests we must look toward space in order to continue thriving.

‘That’s the path that we would be on,' he said,’ according to CNN.

‘It would lead for the first time to where your children and grandchildren have worse lives than you. That's a bad path.

The event was first teased last month in a cryptic tweet from the Blue Origin Twitter account, where it shared an image of explorer Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, a polar exploration ship lost to the ice in in 1915.  

Additionally, in a notice sent to the reporters, the company said it 'will give an update on [Blue Origin's] progress and share our vision of going to space to benefit Earth.' 

Jeff Bezos, owner of Blue Origin, unveils a rocket engine that will be used on a new lunar landing module called Blue Moon

During the event, which kicked off at 4 p.m on Thursday, the billionaire and Blue Origin founder started off by sharing elaborate concept images of self-sustaining space habitats reminiscent of the film Interstellar, with lush greenery and futuristic homes within its walls

Bezos also delved into his visions for human colonization of the moon and eventually, deep space, touching on the concept of self-sustaining ‘O’Neill colonies’ exponentially larger than the International Space Station where humans and animals could live. The moon landing plan could ultimately serve as a stepping stone for colonization of the moon and deeper space targets

WHAT IS THE BLUE MOON LANDER?

Blue Origin unveiled its lunar lander during a secretive event in May

Jeff Bezos has revealed his space exploration company's new lunar lander, dubbed Blue Moon. 

The spacecraft is capable of carrying and delivering payloads to the moon's surface. 

'This is an incredible vehicle and it's going to the moon,' Bezos said. 

Blue Origin has long called out a mission to the moon as one of its foremost priorities and spent the past three years working to develop the craft. 

It harnesses many of the same 'propulsion, precision guidance, vertical landing and landing gear systems' utilized by New Shepard, Blue Origin's rocket meant to ferry humans to the moon.

The craft is equipped with fuel cells to provide 'kilowatts of power' that are capable of lasting for long-distance missions. 

Once Blue Moon arrives at its destination, it uses machine learning algorithms to land with precision on the lunar surface.  

Blue Moon can deliver several metric tons of payload to the moon, thanks to its top deck and lower bays, the latter of which will allow for 'closer access to the lunar surface and off-loading,' the firm said.

With this technology, Blue Origin hopes it will prepare us to be able to send humans back to the moon as soon as 2024.  

The spacecraft is capable of carrying and delivering payloads to the moon's surface. 'This is an incredible vehicle and it's going to the moon,' Bezos said

Blue Origin also shared a copy of the 'Earthrise' photo taken by NASA astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission, in addition to the image of Endurance it tweeted out.

Several Blue Origin fans were quick to point out that the image of Endurance may be an obscure reference to a future lunar mission. As it turns out, they were correct.

A crater located on the south pole of the moon, called Shackleton, was named after the famed explorer, suggesting that Bezos may have some lunar-related announcements up his sleeve. 

The Shackleton crater is located in the expansive South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, that spans 1,600 miles and is approximately eight miles deep. 

Scientists have long had their eye on the Aitken Basin, as they believe it could hold a bounty of life-sustaining resources.  

NASA hopes to conduct a mission to the moon's south pole as soon as 2024, while China's Chang'e 6 lander aims to explore the lunar south pole.

Many scientists are eyeing this area of the moon as they believe it could be host to huge sheets of ice that could be mined for drinking water or converted into hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel or oxygen to breathe. 

+17

Many were quick to point out that Blue Moon is already used by the popular brewing company. Blue Moon Brewing Co quickly jumped into the conversation on Twitter

The craft will ’enable a sustained human presence on the moon,’ the company said. And, according to the CEO, the company already has about six customers

The event was teased in a cryptic tweet from Blue Origin's Twitter account, where it shared an image of explorer Ernest Shackleton's Endurance, an exploration ship lost to the ice in in 1915

IN Blue Origin has also discussed its plans to build and launch a lunar lander, revealing concept images of the spacecraft in 2018.

'The future will be better for our children - and our children's children - if we use space to benefit life on Earth and enable millions of people to live and work in space,' the company said. 

'The next logical step in this path is a return to the Moon. To do this we need reusable access to the lunar surface and its resources.' 

As part of the mission, referred to as Blue Moon, the company hopes to deliver cargo to the moon's surface, as well as scout for sources of water. 

Blue Origin is also part of The Moon Race, a non-profit that aims to establish a new competition, enlisting teams to develop ways to produce energy, grow food and establish infrastructure on the moon in exchange for cash prizes. 

The Moon Race has also attracted support from Airbus and the European Space Agency.

Today's announcement could eventually tie into an expected update on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. 

New Glenn is the company's orbital rocket that it hopes to launch into space in 2021, though Blue Origin has released few details about the vehicle. 

It's thought that the heavy-lift launch rocket could help Blue Origin complete a mission to the moon.

Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket lands on May 2nd after its 11th successful test flight into space. The rocket has been eyed as a vehicle to deliver humans to the edge of space

The company has yet to conduct test flights of New Glenn and it has not been seen publicly.  

Meanwhile, a smaller rocket named New Shepard is envisioned to deliver humans to the edge of space later this year.    

Blue Origin conducted its 11th successful launch and landing of the New Shepard rocket earlier this month. 

The company faces stiff competition from a range of players, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which some have coined the 'billionaire space race.'  

THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE

Jeff Bezos in front of Blue Origin's space capsule

Jeff Bezos' space tourism project with Blue Origin is competing with a similar programme in development by Space X, the rocket firm founded and run by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and Virgin Galactic, backed by Richard Branson.

Bezos revealed in April 2017 that he finances Blue Origin with around $1 billion (£720 million) of Amazon stock each year.

The system consists of a pressurised crew capsule atop a reusable 'New Shepard' booster rocket. 

The richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos is pursuing Blue Origin with vigour as he tries to launch his 'New Glenn' rocket into low-Earth orbit by 2020.  

Whilst Bezos is yet to leave the atmosphere of Earth, despite several successful launches, Elon Musk's SpaceX programme has already sent the Falcon Heavy rocket into space.

On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent the rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away. 

On board was a red Tesla roadster that belonged to Musk himself.

Elon Musk with his Dragon Crew capsule

SpaceX have won several multi-million dollar contracts from Nasa as the space agency hopes to use the rockets as a fast-track for its colonisation of the red planet. 

It has successfully sent a Dragon capsule to the ISS and undocked without a hitch.

NASA has already selected two astronauts who will be on-board the first manned Dragon mission.  

Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic successfully conducted two test flight of the Virgin Galactic’s Unity spaceplane. 

The first took place in December 2018 and the latest took place on February 22nd.

The flight accelerated to over 2,000 miles per hour (Mach 2.7). 

More than 600 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (£200,000) seat on one of Virgin's space trips, 

The billionaire mogul also said he expects Elon Musk to win the race to Mars with his private rocket firm SpaceX. 

Richard Branson with the Virgin Galactic craft

SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots. Each passenger gets the same seating position with two large windows - one to the side and one overhead.

The space ship is 60ft long with a 90inch diameter cabin allowing maximum room for the astronauts to float in zero gravity.

It climbs to 50,000ft before the rocket engine ignites. SpaceShipTwo separates from its carrier craft, White Knight II, once it's passed the 50-mile mark.

Passengers become 'astronauts' when they reach the Karman line, the boundary of Earth's atmosphere.

The spaceship will then make a sub-orbital journey with approximately six minutes of weightlessness, with the entire flight lasting approximately 1.5 hours.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

12-05-2019 om 12:14 geschreven door peter  

NASA Will Aim a DART at Target Asteroid in Upcoming Deflection Test

By Doris Elin Salazar / Science & Astronomy 

Nudging this asteroid will give valuable clues for surviving a prospective hit.

Fourteen Arecibo radar images of the near-Earth asteroid 65803 Didymos and its moonlet, taken on Nov. 23, 24 and 26, 2003.

(Image: © Arecibo Observatory/NSF)

Telescopes and spacecraft are already watching the skies for potentially hazardous asteroids, but what could be done to actually deflect a dangerous object heading toward Earth? 

On May 1, the audience at the 6th International Academy of Astronautics Planetary Defense Conference heard more than a dozen presentations related to an upcoming test to nudge an asteroid, and the potential follow-up mission that would view the results up close.

The upcoming mission, called the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), will send a spacecraft to crash into an object typical of the size of those asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. According to NASA, almost one-sixth of the known near-Earth asteroids (NEA) are multiple-body or binary systems, and DART will travel to one such system to perform its mission. 

• Related: Images: Potentially Dangerous Asteroids

The overall goal of the mission — which will conduct its crash test in about two years — is to gauge what future tools can successfully deflect the orbit of a potentially hazardous asteroid. The mission is led by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) and is managed by the Planetary Missions Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center for NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

DART will travel to the binary asteroid system 65803 Didymos and will slam into the smaller of the two objects, also known as "Didymoon'' or Didymos B. The two rocks may receive another earthly visitor after DART, too. The European Space Agency is proposing a mission called Hera, which would explore Didymos and, alongside the first two European cubesats to travel into deep space, learn about the aftermath of the DART impact.

Didymos is about 2,540 feet (775 meters) wide, and Didymoon measures 540 feet (165 m) across.

The mission's launch window is now slated to open in July 2021, according to DART Project Manager Cheryl Reed. She also said on May 1 that current estimates suggest the spacecraft will carry a mass of 1,224 lbs. (555 kilograms) and will achieve a closing speed of 14,900 mph (24,000 km/h) before smashing into Didymoon in 2022. 

The spacecraft will use the "kinetic impactor" technique to strike Didymoon and change the asteroid's motion. (The probe will not employ any explosives.) 

(Image: © Naidu et al., AIDA Workshop, 2016 via NASA)

An element to this collision that several researchers touched on at the conference was how much material ejected from the asteroid after the spacecraft hit would help boost deflection — the momentum enhancement factor, which is known as beta. Research teams are working on 2D and 3Dmodels to better understand how Didymoon's composition, surface material or DART's angle of impact, for example, would affect deflection.

The Hera mission will receive a final full funding decision in November 2019. If it does get the green light, Hera and its two cubesats, APEX and Juventas, will make a series of measurements, observing the shape of DART's impact crater, Didymoon's mass, the asteroid's density and porosity, and more. 

• Even If We Can Stop a Dangerous Asteroid, Being Human May Mean We Don't Succeed
• InSight Mars Lander Snaps Dusty Selfie on Red Planet (Photo)
• NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office: How They Detect Asteroids Early
• Follow Doris Elin Salazar on Twitter @salazar_elin.
• Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.  

{ https://www.space.com/ }

12-05-2019 om 00:16 geschreven door peter