Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 13 YEARS AND 2 MONTH.
ON 06/08/2024 MORE THAN 2.161.100
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
17-02-2020
Orange Glowing UFO Moving Fast Over Charles Town, West Virginia, 6-15-2019, UFO Sighting News.
Orange Glowing UFO Moving Fast Over Charles Town, West Virginia, 6-15-2019, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: 6-15-2019 Location of sighting: Charles Town, West Virginia, USA
This was just reported today, but is from 6-15-2019, cool footage of a glowing red UFO. He said there was four in total and this is the only one he caught. I know this can't be a balloon or chinese lantern because they travel slowly. This object is glowing greatly, white, and moving much too fast. It moves and looks like a lot of UFOs from past sightings. Its a UFO. Scott Waring Eyewitness states:
i saw 4 flying orange fireballs disks flying in a loose 2x2 formation right outside my house. About 30 seconds behind them was the fifth flying orange disk which i got on video.
Glowing UFO Fleet Over Scottsdale, Arizona On 8-4-2016, VIDEO. UFO Sighting News.
Glowing UFO Fleet Over Scottsdale, Arizona On 8-4-2016, VIDEO, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: 8-4-20016
Location of sighting: Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Source: MUFON
Now this is a cool sighting. A fleet of UFOs appears in the sky one by one and probably came from an underground alien base. They rotate in a triangle formation which shows that they are military...because even US military requires a squadron formation and even a wingman so they don't fly alone but with another jet. Here we see one of the UFOs begin to glow powerfully and then suddenly burst away. At this point the woman holding the camera gasps in fear. This was just reported to MUFON today, and I have never before seen it. This is 100% real, and it shows the UFOs flying in triangle formation, and shooting off in two different ways...one instant in a burst, the other slowly moving to the right.
Awesome and important footage because it shows so much in just two minutes.
Scott C. Waring
Eyewitness states:
Three bright lights moving in formation, then one flashed and disappeared, the blue one zoomed down fast then out of site. Crazy, our jets don’t move like these.
Nimitz technician breaks confidentiality agreement to report his close encounter with Tic Tac UFO
Nimitz technician breaks confidentiality agreement to report his close encounter with Tic Tac UFO
Davy Beaty is the director of the Nimitz Encounter. He shares details of a meeting he had with a Navy technician who was aboard the E-2 Hawkeye plane supporting the F-18 jets sent out to intercept the Tic Tac UFOs seen on the Princeton radar system.
The technician stated that he could see a Tic Tac from the window of his plane which appeared to be flying at about the same altitude.
He also told Beaty about the non-disclosure agreement he and the others on the plane were required to sign after the incident. "It wasn't really a volunteer process, it was more a 'sign this and don't ever talk about what you saw'," he explained.
Beaty also reveals he has spoken to a second witness who saw men come aboard the Princeton to take all evidence of the encounter.
Mars took 20 million years to become the big rusty globe that it is today, according to a new study – almost 15 million years longer than previously suggested.
US scientists think up to three large asteroids around 620 to 1,240 miles (1,000 to 2,000km) in diameter may have hit the planet relatively early in its development.
They think the planet then formed gradually, accumulating mass by pulling particles into its gravitational field that bulked it up to reach its current 4,200-mile diameter.
The study contradicts previous theories that the Red Planet grew rapidly in the space of just 2 billion to 4 billion years after the Solar System started to form.
A Southwest Research Institute team performed high-resolution, smoothed-particle simulations of a large, differentiated projectile hitting early Mars after its core and mantle had formed. The projectile's core and mantle particles are indicated by brown and green spheres respectively, showing local concentrations of the projectile materials assimilated into the Martian mantle
There are around 200 Martian meteorites on Earth, thought to have been ejected from the Mars during collisions with large asteroids.
In the past, scientists have used these Martian meteorites to construct a timeline of the planet's formation and map its mysterious history.
But due to a limited number of meteorites available for research, the scientists think the 'prevailing view of Mars' formation may be biased'.
The team based their findings on computer modelling simulations of an asteroid hitting Mars that took place after the formation of its core and mantle – the layer surrounding the core.
'We knew Mars received elements such as platinum and gold from early, large collisions,' said lead author of the study Dr. Simone Marchi at Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas.
'To investigate this process, we performed smoothed-particle hydrodynamics impact simulations.
'Based on our model, early collisions produce a heterogeneous, marble-cake-like Martian mantle.
'These results suggest that the prevailing view of Mars formation may be biased by the limited number of meteorites available for study.'
Scientists developed this illustration of how early Mars may have looked, showing signs of liquid water, large-scale volcanic activity and heavy bombardment from planetary projectiles. SwRI is modelling how these impacts may have affected early Mars to help answer questions about the planet's evolutionary history
Of approximately 61,000 meteorites found on Earth, just 200 or so are thought to be of Martian origin.
Samples show variations in elements such as tungsten, platinum and gold, which indicate Mars was bombarded by asteroids some time after its primary core formation ended.
'We knew Mars received elements such as platinum and gold from early, large collisions,' said Dr Marchi, whose study was published in Science Advances.
'To investigate this process, we performed smoothed-particle hydrodynamics impact simulations.
'Based on our model, early collisions produce a heterogeneous, marble-cake-like Martian mantle.
'These results suggest that the prevailing view of Mars' formation may be biased by the limited number of meteorites available for study.'
The previous estimate of rapid growth between two billion to four billion years was based on analysis of tungsten in the Martian meteorites.
Elements such as tungsten tend to migrate from a planet's mantle and into its central iron core during formation.
Evidence of these elements in the Martian mantle, as found in these meteorites, indicate that Mars was bombarded by rocky space debris sometime after its primary core formation ended.
Large, early collisions could have altered the balance of tungsten, which could support a Mars formation timescale of up to 20 million years, as shown by the new model.
'To fully understand Mars, we need to understand the role the earliest and most energetic collisions played in its evolution and composition,' Marchi said.
NASA's Mars 2020 Rover will pick up samples of rock and soil from the red planet, deposit them in tubes and leave them on the ground for a future mission to return them to Earth.
The next generation of Mars missions, including plans to return samples to Earth, could provide new information on the variability of iron-loving elements in Martian rocks and the early evolution of the Red Planet.
This July, NASA's Mars 2020 mission will take off with a touchdown on the Martian surface set for February 2021.
The six-wheeled robotic lander will anal;yse the dusty surface of the planet to seek signs of habitable conditions or microbial life in its past.
The Mars 2020 rover's drill can collect core samples of rocks and soils and set them aside in a 'cache' on the surface of Mars.
A future mission could potentially return these samples to Earth.
The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos will also launch the 'Rosalind Franklin rover' this summer as part of the next stage of their ExoMars project to find signs of past life on Mars.
WHAT EVIDENCE DO SCIENTISTS HAVE FOR LIFE ON MARS?
The search for life on other planets has captivated mankind for decades.
But the reality could be a little less like the Hollywood blockbusters, scientists have revealed.
They say if there was life on the red planet, it probably will present itself as fossilized bacteria - and have proposed a new way to look for it.
Here are the most promising signs of life so far -
Water
When looking for life on Mars, experts agree that water is key.
Although the planet is now rocky and barren with water locked up in polar ice caps there could have been water in the past.
In 2000, scientists first spotted evidence for the existence of water on Mars.
The Nasa Mars Global Surveyor found gullies that could have been created by flowing water.
The debate is ongoing as to whether these recurring slope lineae (RSL) could have been formed from water flow.
Meteorites
Earth has been hit by 34 meteorites from Mars, three of which are believed to have the potential to carry evidence of past life on the planet, writes Space.com.
In 1996, experts found a meteorite in Antarctica known as ALH 84001 that contained fossilised bacteria-like formations.
However, in 2012, experts concluded that this organic material had been formed by volcanic activity without the involvement of life.
Signs of Life
The first close-ups of the planet were taken by the 1964 Mariner 4 mission.
These initial images showed that Mars has landforms that could have been formed when the climate was much wetter and therefore home to life.
In 1975, the first Viking orbiter was launched and although inconclusive it paved the way for other landers.
Many rovers, orbiters and landers have now revealed evidence of water beneath the crust and even occasional precipitation.
Earlier this year, Nasa's Curiosity rover found potential building blocks of life in an ancient Martian lakebed.
The organic molecules preserved in 3.5 billion-year-old bedrock in Gale Crater — believed to have once contained a shallow lake the size of Florida's Lake Okeechobee — suggest conditions back then may have been conducive to life.
Future missions to Mars plan on bringing samples back to Earth to test them more thoroughly.
Methane
In 2018, Curiosity also confirmed sharp seasonal increases of methane in the Martian atmosphere.
Experts said the methane observations provide 'one of the most compelling' cases for present-day life.
Curiosity's methane measurements occurred over four-and-a-half Earth years, covering parts of three Martian years.
Seasonal peaks were detected in late summer in the northern hemisphere and late winter in the southern hemisphere.
The magnitude of these seasonal peaks – by a factor of three – was far more than scientists expected.
Scientists believe early cosmic impacts may have influenced the evolution of Mars, and this suggests that the Red Planet formed much slower than previously thought.
This illustration shows how early Mars may have looked, with signs of liquid water, large-scale volcanic activity and heavy bombardment from planetary projectiles.
The early solar system was a violent, chaotic place, where planetesimals — small protoplanets measuring up to 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) in diameter — asteroids and other debris collided, shaping the planets and celestial bodies we know today.
A new study from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio shows that Mars was likely struck by planetesimals early in its history. These large, long-ago collisions introduced "iron-loving" elements to the Red Planet, and those elements, in turn, influenced how quickly the planet formed, according to a statement from SwRI.
Using Martian meteorite samples found on Earth, the researchers were able to model the mixture of materials that formed the early Martian mantle. The study revealed that Mars received a variety of elements — such as tungsten, platinum and gold — that are attracted to iron as a result of these collisions.
"To investigate this process, we performed smoothed-particle hydrodynamics impact simulation," Simone Marchi, lead author of the study from SwRI, said in the statement. "Based on our model, early collisions produce a heterogeneous, marble-cake-like Martian mantle."
The meteorite samples suggest that planetesimals bombarded the Red Planet sometime after the planet's primary core formed. That's because "iron-loving" elements like tungsten, platinum and gold generally migrate from a planet's mantle to its central iron core during formation, according to the statement. "Evidence of these elements in the Martian mantle as sampled by meteorites are important because they indicate that Mars was bombarded by planetesimals sometime after its primary core formation ended," SwRI said in the statement.
Earlier studies of the ratio of tungsten isotopes in the Martian meteorite samples suggested that Mars grew rapidly, within 2 million to 4 million years after the solar system began forming, about 4.6 billion years ago. Because tungsten isotopes are produced via radioactive decay processes over time, the ratio of these isotopes in the mantle of Mars provides a clue about the timeline of the planet's formation.
However, the new models show that early, large collisions could have altered the ratio of elements in the Martian mantle, meaning the planet may have formed over a period of up to 20 million years.
Researchers at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio performed high-resolution simulations of a large projectile hitting early Mars after the planet's core and mantle formed. The projectile's core and mantle particles are indicated by brown and green spheres, respectively, showing how the projectile's materials assimilated into the Martian mantle. (Image credit: SwRI/Marchi)
"Collisions by projectiles large enough to have their own cores and mantles could result in a heterogeneous mixture of those materials in the early Martian mantle," Robin Canup, co-author and assistant vice president of SwRI's Space Science and Engineering Division, said in the statement. "This can lead to different interpretations on the timing of Mars' formation than those that assume that all projectiles are small and homogenous."
The findings, published Wednesday (Feb. 12) in the journal Science Advances, provide insight on how Mars evolved and how early collisions affected the planet's formation. The Martian meteorites found on Earth are believed to be the result of more recent collisions with the Red Planet. These meteorite samples offer a unique view into Mars' past, as they contain a record of the planet's history, the researchers said.
"To fully understand Mars, we need to understand the role the earliest and most energetic collisions played in its evolution and composition," Marchi said in the statement.
The so-called Tic Tac UFO encounter off the coast of San Diego in November 2004 by two planes from the USS Nimitz that was only revealed in 2017 when visual footage of the incident and two others was released and confirmed by the Pentagon (and later dismissed) continues to raise more questions than answers. One big question revolves around whether any other planes saw the UFO and why haven’t those pilots come forward. An answer of sorts was given recently by a longtime investigator of the incident.
“The gentlemen I spoke to, I checked his history and he flew the Hawkeye. The reason he declined to appear was because he had to sign a document shortly after the incident telling him not to speak. Even exposing himself and talking to me was complicated for him.”
The Tic Tac UFO
In an extensive new interview on “The Hidden Truth with Jimmy Breslo” (watch it here) which was reviewed by The Daily Star, David Beaty, an Emmy-Award winning producer and cinematographer, UFO researcher and producer of the UFO documentary film “The Nimitz Encounters,” reveals details of his conversation with an unnamed Navy technician who was on an E-2 Hawkeye plane that took off to support the F-18 jets from the USS Nimitz which had encountered the Tic Tac UFOs after they were picked up on the radar of the USS Princeton. Beaty states that the technician saw the Tic Tac UFO through the window of the E-2 Hawkeye and related that all five members of the plane’s crew witnessed it.
So, why haven’t we heard about this encounter until now?
“It wasn’t really a volunteer process, it was more a ‘sign this and don’t ever talk about what you saw’.”
The witness told Beaty the crew was taken to a secure briefing room different to the normal one after training exercises forced to sign non-disclosure agreements. While it has long been an unwritten understanding among pilots to keep UFO sightings to themselves or face ridicule, discipline and possible discharge, this is one of the few actual reports of forcing witnesses to sign documents.
USS Nimitz
For those who haven’t heard the details about the Tic Tac UFO encounter and the subsequent controversies and conspiracy theories surrounding it, the interview provides excellent insights as well as this new information, including Beaty’s interview of yet another witness would claimed to see unidentified men board the Princeton and remove all evidence of the incident.
Did the crew member of the E-2 Hawkeye violate the non-disclosure agreement by talking to Beaty, even anonymously? Probably. Will he suffer consequences? Well, there were only five crew members on the plane – it won’t be hard for the Navy or the Pentagon to pressure any or all of them into revealing who it was. Since so much has already been released, will it matter? In these days of revenge and vendettas, what do you think? Will we hear any more about it? It’s a safe wager to say that the Tic Tac UFO isn’t going away.
One of Earth's premier instruments for studying nearby asteroids is back to work after being rattled by earthquakes, and its first new observations show that a newly discovered space rock is actually two separate asteroids.
The instrument is the planetary radar system at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The observatory was closed for most of January, after a series of earthquakes hit the island beginning on Dec. 28, 2019. The observatory reopened on Jan. 29. Meanwhile, on Jan. 27, scientists using a telescope on Mauna Loa in Hawaii spotted an asteroid that astronomers hadn't seen before. The team dubbed the newfound space rock 2020 BX12 based on a formula recognizing its discovery date.
Because of the size of 2020 BX12 and the way its orbit approaches that of Earth, it is designated a potentially hazardous asteroid. However, the space rock has already come as close to Earth as it will during this pass (2.7 million miles or 4.3 million kilometers); astronomers have calculated the asteroid's close approaches with Earth for the next century, and all will be at a greater distance than this one was.
Radar images show the binary asteroid 2020 BX12, which scientists discovered this year. (Image credit: Arecibo Observatory/NASA/NSF)
The asteroid's flyby wasn't a threat to life on Earth, but it was an opportunity for scientists who were hoping to learn more about space rocks. On Feb. 4 and 5, the radar station at Arecibo set its sights on 2020 BX12. Based on the observations, the scientists discovered that 2020 BX12 is a binary asteroid, with a smaller rock orbiting the larger rock. About 15% of larger asteroids turn out, on closer inspection, to be binary, according to NASA.
The larger rock is likely at least 540 feet (165 meters) across, and the smaller one is about 230 feet (70 m) wide, according to the observations gathered by Arecibo. When the instrument observed the two space rocks on Feb. 5, they appeared to be separated by about 1,200 feet (360 m).
Scientists couldn't gather enough data to be sure, but they suspect that the two rocks might complete an orbit of each other in 45 to 50 hours and that the smaller rock may be brighter than, and tidally locked with, its companion, meaning the same side always faces the larger object.
Existential dread is a key motivator for asteroid discoveries, and planetary defense experts hope that, by surveying nearby space rocks, they will identify a threat with enough time for us to protect ourselves. But asteroids are also scientifically interesting, since they represent rubble from the formation of the solar system.
Anonymous - Deep Space Signals! Something Shocking Is Happening
Anonymous - Deep Space Signals! Something Shocking Is Happening
SHOCKING: Something Is Happening In Deep Space.. (2020)
The biggest question of our time. Are we alone? Alien worlds and distant places in time and space, in search of where alien life might be hiding and what our place is within the history of life. After generations of wondering, the truth is finally within our reach. New research and technologies have brought us closer than ever to an answer – only a few decades in the eyes of some NASA scientists. The search has led to new discoveries that will blow your mind wide open and give a profound new perspective on human life.
The deeper we look, the deeper we see into nature’s imagination, and the more we learn about ourselves. I hope stewing on these thoughts tickles your brain as deeply as it does mine. Extraterrestrial life is hypothetical life which may occur outside of Earth and which did not originate on Earth. Such life might range from simple prokaryotes to beings with civilizations far more advanced than humanity.
The Drake equation speculates about the existence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. Unidentified flying object is the popular term for any aerial phenomenon that cannot immediately be identified. Most UFOs are identified on investigation as conventional objects or phenomena. The term is widely used for claimed observations of extraterrestrial spacecraft.
A new study from the Planetary Research Institute suggests that briny water could temporarily form on Mars’ surface in the shadows of boulders for just a few days each Martian year.
Field of large boulders as seen by the Mars Pathfinder lander on Mars in 1997. A new study suggests that small pools of liquid water may be able to briefly form in the shadows of such boulders at mid-latitudes in the springtime.
Mars is a cold, very dry, desert world. Although it has ice caps of water ice (as well as carbon dioxide ice) and vast amounts of ice below its surface, no liquid water has been found on Mars’ surface. But there might be some. We might just need to look behind large boulders, in springtime.
A new study from the Planetary Science Institute (PSI) in Tucson, Arizona – announced on February 12, 2020 – adds to previous evidence that small amounts of briny (salty) water might be able to form on the Martian surface under just the right conditions.
The possibility of liquid water on present-day Mars has been debated for half a century. Melting is physically difficult under Martian environmental conditions, because with the total pressure of the atmosphere near the triple point pressure of water, evaporative cooling of ice is high near the melting point.
According to the study, the briny water might be possible for only a few days of each Martian year. The trick is that this can only happen under just the right circumstances. Schorghofer said:
Mars has plenty of cold ice-rich regions and plenty of warm ice-free regions, but icy regions where the temperature rises above the melting point are a sweet spot that is nearly impossible to find. That sweet spot is where liquid water would form.
Three-dimensional computerized view of the Martian surface temperature around a boulder at latitude 30° south. On the side opposite to the sun, temperatures are around -128 degrees Celsius. As the sun rises, this area heats up rapidly, melting frost on the salty ground. This could briefly create small amounts of briny water that later goes back into the atmosphere, via sublimation.
This sweet spot would involve protruding topography, such as boulders, at mid-latitudes. During the winter, a boulder might cast a continual shadow, where water ice can accumulate as frost. When spring came again, the temperature can increase quite quickly. In the computer models used, temperature would rise from -198° Fahrenheit (-128° Celsius) in the morning to -14° Fahrenheit (-10° Celsius) at noon. That is a short enough time that not all the frost would sublimate – pass directly from the solid to vapor state – as it normally does in the very thin, cold atmosphere. From the paper:
Protruding topography creates locations that experience a rapid transition from conditions where water frost accumulates to high solar energy input. Beyond the pole-facing side of a boulder, carbon dioxide and water frost can accumulate seasonally, and once the sun reemerges and the carbon dioxide frost disappears, the water frost is heated to near melting temperature within one or two sols [days on Mars].
The scientists said it is dust within the carbon dioxide frost that helps keep it from sublimating back into the atmosphere as temperatures rise. From the paper:
Overall, melting of pure water ice is not expected under present-day Mars conditions. However, at temperatures that are readily reached, seasonal water frost can melt on a salt-rich substrate.
The whole cycle would repeat, year after Martian year.
In 2008, what appeared to be small drops of briny liquid water were seen on the legs of the Phoenix Mars Lander. These images show changes in the drops over 36 days.
As mentioned above, carbon dioxide ice can also form behind large boulders on Mars. That ice, too, will sublimate in the spring. Scientists have a name for the first day in spring when the carbon dioxide ice disappears. They call it the crocus date.
Water ice melting also occurs either on or just after that date. Thus it is referred to as crocus melting. According to Schorghofer:
Answering the question whether crocus melting of seasonal water ice actually occurs on Mars required a slew of detailed quantitative calculations, the numbers really matter. It took decades to develop the necessary quantitative models.
Today, Mars’ atmosphere is too cold and too thin for water to last long on the surface, even briny water. But there have been other hints that it may occur when conditions are right.
The famous recurring slope lineae on Mars may be evidence of seasonal briny water on Mars. The slope linae are dark streaks that occur on steep slopes during the warmer months and keep recurring in the same locations each year. It still isn’t known exactly what causes them, but theories have ranged from small amounts of flowing briny water to dust slides. If water is involved – not a certainty yet – it could come from the atmosphere, ice pockets or subsurface aquifers.
Norbert Schorghofer at the Planetary Science Institute.
During the Mars Phoenix Lander mission, which landed near the north pole in 2008, images showed small droplets forming on the legs of the spacecraft. While not proven, they certainly looked like drops of briny water that later sublimated away.
Last year, NASA’s InSight lander found possible evidence of current reservoirs of liquid water below the surface. If confirmed, that would be an exciting discovery, in particular for the potential of subsurface life, which would be protected from the severe conditions on the surface. In 2018, it was announced that the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter had found evidence of a salty subsurface lake beneath the ice at the south pole.
If there really are brief pools of liquid water hiding behind Martian boulders at times, that also would be exciting, as Mars would then be the only place other than Earth in our solar system where water would be known to be able to exist on the surface. This could have significant implications for the possibility of microbial life on an otherwise dry and hostile world.
Bottom line: A new study from the Planetary Research Institute suggests that briny water could temporarily form on Mars’ surface under certain conditions.
Harvard-prof: Dit ruimtesignaal is mogelijk van een buitenaardse beschaving
Eerder deze maand kondigden Canadese onderzoekers aan dat ze een krachtig ruimtesignaal hadden ontdekt dat elke 16 dagen meerdere keren wordt uitgezonden vanuit een ver sterrenstelsel.
Volgens professor Avi Loeb van de Harvard-universiteit is er een mogelijkheid dat het ruimtesignaal afkomstig is van een buitenaardse beschaving.
“We weten op dit moment nog niet precies wat de herkomst is van deze signalen, zogeheten snelle radioflitsen,” aldus Loeb in een e-mail aan Futurism.
Kunstmatige oorsprong
“We moeten dus openstaan voor alle mogelijkheden, ook een kunstmatige oorsprong,” benadrukte hij.
“Eén concrete mogelijkheid is dat een buitenaardse beschaving een energiestraal gebruikt om een lading door de ruimte te vervoeren, en dat de Canadese onderzoekers de straling hiervan hebben opgepikt,” zei Loeb.
Je hebt hiervoor echter hele krachtige energiestralen nodig, voegde hij toe.
Totale hoeveelheid zonlicht
In een paper uit 2017 schrijft de professor dat er voor één zo’n straal net zoveel energie nodig is als de totale hoeveelheid zonlicht die de aarde raakt.
De Canadese onderzoekers reageerden in een persverklaring over hun onderzoek dat ‘niet-professionelen’ hebben gesuggereerd dat het gaat om boodschappen van aliens.
Niet uitsluiten
Professor Loeb vindt echter dat je deze mogelijkheid niet zomaar moet uitsluiten.
In 2018 zei hij dat het interstellaire object Oumuamua mogelijk een buitenaardse ruimtesonde was.
One strange area of the world of the weird is that of actual giants having once existed upon this earth. There are numerous reports of this throughout history, of which I have covered here before, on more than one occasion. Such tales really serve to stir up the imagination, the idea of these enormous beings living amongst us alluring to say the least, and one place that has a surprising number of accounts of evidence of supposed giants lumbering through the wilderness is the South American country of Peru.
Accounts of the giants of Peru date back to at east the 16th century, when Spanish conquistadors were penetrating into this uncharted, unknown land seeking to tame and control it. One such early account was written of by explorer and conquistador Pedro Cieza de Leon, in his tome Royal Commentaries of the Incas, volume I. He wrote that the natives of the region told of a time when massive giants came one day to their shores upon enormous and crude reed rafts to land at the peninsula of Santa Elena, after which they apparently set up a camp and dug extremely deep wells for water. These giants were said to be epically proportioned, and De Leon described them thusly:
Some were so big that an ordinary man of good size scarcely reached up to their knees: their members were in proportion to the size of their bodies, and it a monstrous thing to see their enormous heads and their hair hanging down about their shoulders. Their eyes were as large as small plates. They say they had no beards and that some of them were clad in the skins of animals, and others only in the dress nature gave them. There were no women with them. On reaching this point, they set up their camp like a village (and even in these times there is a memory of the site of their houses). As they found no supply of water they remedied the lack by making some very deep wells, a labor certainly worthy of record, being undertaken by such strong men as these must have been, to judge by their size. They dug these wells in the living rock until they came to the water, and afterwards they built the wells in stone from the water line upwards so that they would last for ages. In these wells the water is excellent and it is always so cold that it is very pleasant to drink.
He goes on to say that according to the natives these giants then went on a bloodthirsty rampage, raiding villages and devouring anything they could get their hands on, including human beings. It would have been a terrifying sight to see, these hulking colossi looming over the trees crashing through the wilderness to grab at the screaming, fleeing villagers, yet there was apparently little they could do in retaliation. And so the giants stayed, building gigantic houses, hunting, fishing, and marauding through villages whenever they liked. The story takes a turn into more mythical sounding weirdness when it was claimed that they were finally driven away by a bright, shining angel in the sky, but De Leon believed that the stories were real, as he saw these wells and houses for himself and could not fathom how any normal sized men could fashion them, and even claimed that remains of the brutes had been found by other conquistadors. He writes:
This is the account they give of the giants, and we believe that it happened, for it is said that very large bones have been found and still are found thereabouts and I have heard Spaniards say they have seen pieces of teeth which they thought must have weighed half a pound when whole, and who had also seen a piece of a shin-bone of wonderful size, all of which bears witness to the truth of the incident. In addition to this one can see the places where the sites of their villages were, and also the wells or cisterns they made. I cannot state whence or how these giants came there.
In the present year of 1550 when in the city of Lima, I heard that when his excellency Don Antonio de Mendoza was viceroy and governor of New Spain, certain bones of men as big as these giants, and even bigger, were found there. I have heard too that in an ancient sepulcher in the city of Mexico or somewhere else in that kingdom certain bones of giants have been found. Since so many people saw them and attest having done so, it can therefore be credited that such giants did exist and indeed they may all have been of the same race.
This fits in with other findings of the era, such as when in 1543 a Captain Juan Olmos supposedly conducted an excavation in the Trujillo valley and supposedly found various bones from extremely large individuals who would have stood 10 feet tall or more. There was also a giant’s skeleton found in the province of Tucumán and Tarija by Agustín de Zárate and his men, and there were frequent reports throughout the 16th century of these explorers coming across the graves of giants. This continued into the 17th century, and an intriguing account comes from Jesuit priest and missionary Pablo José Arriaga, who wrote of a curious finding in his 1620 manuscript The Extirpation of Idolatry in Peru, in which he says:
They took us to the other side of the village, about a quarter of a league, where a very large cave was, and in it many dead gentiles, and among them were three bodies of giants with deformed heads [elongated skulls] dressed in cumbi [ceremonial cloth], but rotted with time. These [giants] are the progenitors of all this people, whom they worshipped and revered; there were many traces of [human] sacrifices; they [the Official Inspectors] burned the bodies in the village.
Such findings are not solely confined to the mists of time and lost history, but have continued up into more modern times. One of most well-known of these is a finding supposedly made in 1928, according to author and researcher Brian Foerster. that in 1928 there were found bizarre elongated “alien” skulls and another mummified humanoid body in the desert of Paracas, on the southern coast of Peru and estimated as being up to 3,000 years old. The specimens were supposedly found by archaeologist Julio Tello, after which they were stored away for years before being coming to the attention of Foerster, who had DNA tests carried out on them and describes the amazing find as follows:
We were recently shown, and examined the above artefact that supposedly was found, along with many others, in a cave in the southern desert of Peru; exact location to be given, hopefully, in the future. The head appears to be made of bone with skin over the top. It has two eyes, but eyes it is nothing like a human, it is more amphibian or reptilian. The mouth seems to be so tiny that it does not even appear to be for feeding. It is a very mysterious thing and I can’t imagine how those two specimens could be fake.
Whatever the sample labeled 3A has came from – it had mtDNA with mutations unknown in any human, primate or animal known so far. The data is very sketchy though and a LOT of sequencing still needs to be done to recover the complete mtDNA sequence. But a few fragments I was able to sequence from this sample 3A indicate that if these mutations will hold we are dealing with a new human-like creature, very distant from Homo sapiens, Neanderthals and Denisovans.
Foerster claimed that these DNA tests on the remains conclusively showed that they are not human, but other than that no evidence of these tests or word on who performed them has been forthcoming. The so-called “Paracas Skulls” have gone on to be debated and held up as real evidence of giants, aliens, or the Biblical Nephilim ever since. In this case, scientists have come to the conclusion that these skulls are the result of intentional cranial deformation or modification carried out by the ancient native peoples of the region, but of course there are those that still believe these are not human and that Foerster’s own DNA tests were real. Much suspicion has been cast on his claims, as most of this information was released on social media, lacked any outside verification, and have been accused of being a way to promote his books, videos, and tours. It is unknown just how much the Paracas skulls constitute evidence of giants, aliens, or both, but they remain much discussed. Author and researcher April Holloway has stood against the idea that this resulted from skull deformation, writing:
The cranial volume is up to 25 percent larger and 60 percent heavier than conventional human skulls, meaning they could not have been intentionally deformed through head binding/flattening. They also contain only one parietal plate, rather than two. The fact that the skulls’ features are not the result of cranial deformation means that the cause of the elongation is a mystery, and has been for decades.
Anomalous skulls on display in Peru
Are the Paracas skulls the real deal? Who knows? Even more recent is a finding apparently made in 2013 in the Amazon region between Ecuador and Peru, and investigated by British anthropologist Russell Dement. It is claimed that they found massive skeletons measuring up to 3 meters (9 feet 10 inches) and thought to date back to between 1400 and 1500 AD. Dement claims that he travelled to the region where the remains were found and recovered a rib cage and skull, which he says he will have analyzed. In the meantime, the publication Cuenca Highlife has said of the remains:
The skeletons show no signs of diseases such as the hormonal growth problems that are common in most cases of gigantism. In all the skeletons, the joints seemed healthy and lung cavity appeared large. One of the skeletons that we have dated was of a female who was about 60 when she died, much older than typical cases of gigantism.
Did Peru ever have such giants inhabiting the wilds here? It is hard to say. All of the supposed evidence is anecdotal and not easily concretely verified, making the answers murky to say the least. If these creatures ever did exist here, then how can we explain them within the framing of our current understanding of evolution and the natural world, and where did they come from? Were these even creatures from this world at all, or perhaps something more alien in nature? There is no way to really know, and cases like this remain mere historical oddities and mysteries that may very well remain evasive for some time to come.
UFOs are often seen above silver, gold or other precious metal mines, leading some to believe they are harvesting the minerals for fuel or parts. UFOs are also seen over nuclear power plants, leading many to the same conclusion. Mexico’s active volcanoes seem to draw an unusual share of UFO sightings, prompting speculation they may somehow be harvesting the power of magma. UFOs weaving their wave through lightning storms suggest they may be run on electricity. UFOs are often seen over water, sometimes mysteriously connected to a waterspout, causing some to ponder whether they’re some kind of environmentally safe water-powered craft. This all leads us to recent sightings in Australia of a UFO hovering over … you’re not going to believe this … a coal mine. Was this some old Model T spacecraft powered by burning coal for steam? The SSS Space Stanley Steamer? Or something else?
“On Sunday July 28th and Monday 29th 2019 at a work site near Middlemount, Queensland, Australia, two workers spotted a strange object in the sky estimated at 500m (1500ft) altitude. The object was seen on two separate days and at one point was said to have a smaller piece break off and descend to the ground (beginning of clip 9).”
For a change, the two unnamed witnesses took long recordings of their UFO sightings on back-to-back days (you can see the original video here), which ended up in the hands of multiple UFO investigators who posted them on the Internet in both unadulterated and stabilized modes (you can see a stabilized and magnified video here). Somewhere in that process, the location of the unnamed mine (Middlemount, Queensland – home of three mines: Foxleigh, German Creek and Grasstree, which is said to be the world’s largest underground coal mine) was changed to Middleton, which is a nearly deserted town also in Queensland. What was said to be a third video was also posted (watch it here). There is also audio of the witnesses commenting on what they’re watching.
Fortunately, one of the UFO investigations groups to get its hands on the video was UFOs – Documenting The Evidence. The team of Brad Morris, Keith Basterfield and Paul Dean interviewed the witnesses extensively – their excellent report and summary can be read on their website. The sightings occurred in the morning at about the same time, and there was only one object in the sky, except for the occasion when a small piece appeared to break off and make a “controlled descent.” The witnesses (there were more who saw the UFO besides the two who took the videos) also saw the main pyramid-shaped UFO descend to the ground – there’s no indication that any of them ventured to the location to find it.
Based on the witness accounts, careful analysis of the videos and investigation of weather patterns and aircraft records, the UFOs – Documenting The Evidence team eliminated aircraft, helicopter and drone as possibilities. While it could have been a large parachute, a balloon seemed to be the best choice for a non-ET cause. While its movement and shape suggests either a hot-air or gas-powered balloon with a gondola, the team ended the report with the possibility of the UFO being a Google ProjectLoon balloon. However, they could not find enough evidence to support either balloon theory.
Which leaves us with an alien spacecraft looking for coal. The Appalachian UFO Research Society says there are many reports of UFOs over coal mines. In 2008, there was a famous UFO sighting (“… a craft as the size of a football field, while others said they were nearly a mile long, similar to the Phoenix lights mass sightings”) over the coal mining town of Stephenville, Texas. With carbon being the fourth most abundant element in the universe by mass (after hydrogen, helium, and oxygen), it’s certainly conceivable that other civilizations would use it as fuel, and those that are more advanced than us would have figured out how to use it efficiently for space travel – despite the efforts of Mad Mike Hughes, steam-powered rockets don’t get very far. One other possibly – like the theory that benevolent aliens hover over nuclear plants to protect humanity or possibly regulate its use of that fuel, this UFO could be dissuading humans from burning coal and destroying the planet.
Environmentally-friendly extra-terrestrials? It’s not the most far-fetched idea out there.
Glowing UFO Fleet Seen Over Pennsylvania On Feb 15, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
Glowing UFO Fleet Seen Over Pennsylvania On Feb 15, 2020, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Feb 15, 2020 Location of sighting: King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA Source: MUFON The eyewitness saw a fleet of glowing UFOs flying over the freeway in the city of King of Prussia yesterday. The UFOs were moving slowly, glowing and following the same path. I do not hear the objects over the sound of the cars on the freeway. This must have been recorded by others. Thousands of people must have seen this so I am expecting a few more videos to come in. Awesome sighting. There is no doubt that this video is real, but what those objects are...remains a mystery. Scott C. Waring Eyewitness states:
Personally observed with my family on the way home from the King of Prussia Mall, heading eastbound multiple bright lights in the sky remaining stationary. Have video taken in car while observing. This is unexplainable unless there is some type of unknown military aircraft I am unaware of.
UFOs Over Staford Upon Avon, Great Britain, Video, Dec 3, 2019, UFO Sighting News.
UFOs Over Staford Upon Avon, Great Britain, Video, Dec 3, 2019, UFO Sighting News.
Date of sighting: Dec 3, 2019 Location of sighting:Staford Upon Avon, Great Britain Source: MUFON The eyewitness and his family were looking out from their back yard and saw two glowing objects over the distant hills. The shimmering glowing objects were large and hovering in place. The eyewitness said one of the glowing objects disappeared before he could record it. Still this is an amazing capture. I believe these UFOs came from an underground base directly below this area. Their technology allows them to transport entire ships from the underground base, directly into the sky. At this point the ships then hover to get their bering and then leave. Also, it looks like there is another third UFO...dark...not glowing at the center of the video. Amazing catch, just amazing! Scott C. Waring - Taiwan
Multiple lights were seen and filmed over Pennsylvania on 15th Februar 2020.
Witness report:
Personally observed with my family on the way home from the King of Prussia Mall, heading eastbound multiple bright lights in the sky remaining stationary. Have video taken in car while observing. This is unexplainable unless there is some type of unknown military aircraft I am unaware of.
Steve Quayle: Vatican UFO Disclosure - Light Orbs Phenomenon
Steve Quayle: Vatican UFO Disclosure - Light Orbs Phenomenon
Steve Quayle Interviews (02/01/2020) — The Responsibility Of The Vatican For The Flow Of Disclosure Information
Steve Quayle is a researcher and author of over a dozen books dealing with advanced ancient technology and civilizations. His documentary film production company Gensix Productions films the “True Legends The Series” all over the world in search of the Lost Cities and the giants of history who were the builders of the great megalithic structures of the ancient world.
Steve is a former talk radio show host who has been warning against genetic armageddon and the end of the human race for decades. He claims transhumanism and the hybrid age is the most dangerous advancement in the technological war against humanity in history.
The government can’t keep its story straight about its involvement with UFO research. After a yearlong investigation, we bust open the files, break through the noise, and reveal the definitive, staggering truth.
As I sit in a small cafe in the shadow of the ancient Roman gates in Trier, Germany, talking to a person whose credibility seems beyond reproach, but who will only agree to talk to me if provide absolute assurances of anonymity, I can’t help but feel like I’m trapped in a Dan Brown novel. The Da Vinci Code, however, never dealt with unidentified flying objects.
“Was it about UFOs? Of course,” this person whispers with a grin of melodrama.
After almost a year of investigating the U.S. government’s interest in UFOs, what they’ve just said should neither be shocking, nor revelatory. Unbeknownst to them, they’ve only further confirmed what over a dozen other people with backgrounds inside the government and the now-defunct Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS) have already admitted to me.
Just like the fictional Robert Langdon, the path to understanding these mysterious government programs has taken me through the catacombs of informal secret societies, whose surprising memberships include accomplished professionals from the military, aerospace, academic, medical, and intelligence communities.
Though diverse or abstinent in how they define exactly what it all means, each of these enigmatic characters shares one common belief: unidentified flying objects are neither myth nor figment of overactive imaginations. With absolute conviction, they’ve all told me that UFOs are real.
Now, after two years of scant details and a myriad of contradictory statements, Popular Mechanics is ripping open the U.S. government’s massive UFO problem. What follows is a deep, unprecedented well of information that’s only been known by a very small select group of insiders—until now.
PART I. THE DISCLOSURE
On December 16, 2017, the New York Times disclosed that the Pentagon had secretly funded research into UFOs through the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP. As if the U.S. government quietly investigating UFOs wasn’t enough, for the first time, the public also got a chance to see three videos captured by the U.S. Navy showing what has been claimed to be “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,” or UAP.
In an instant, UFOs were no longer relegated to society’s nihilistically curious, and for the first time in decades, droves of the mainstream public suddenly found themselves peering skyward with wonder.
But almost as quickly as the excitement of mysterious black budget UFO programs crashed ashore, so, too, came vexing waves of criticism, confusion, and controversy.
From the onset, disarray and debate raged on whether the second “A” in AATIP officially stood for Aerospace or Aviation, with the former “Aerospace” eventually proving to be correct. Adding to the chaos, an entirely different program moniker emerged: the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Applications Program, or AAWSAP. For over two years, no one has been able to adequately explain whether AAWSAP and AATIP were two separate programs, or the same intuitive under two separate names.
To muddle matters more, a revolving door of Pentagon spokespeople have successfully issued waves of contradictory statements about what the Department of Defense (DoD) did or didn’t do when it came to studying UFOs.
Initially, the Pentagon said, AATIP had indeed investigated UFOs under the leadership of Luis Elizondo, a former senior member of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (OUSDI). Eventually, in a complete reversal of official stances, the Pentagon’s newly crowned UFO point person, Senior Strategic Planner and Spokesperson Susan Gough, recently told The Black Vault, “neither AAWSAP nor AATIP were UAP related,” “Elizondo was not the director of AATIP,” and he didn’t have “assigned responsibilities” within the program.
In some consolation to the UFO faithful, the DoD has consistently been willing to say they consider the curious objects shown in the 2017 videos to be unexplained UAP. What exactly that means, however, has been open for interpretation and debate.
After months of conducting interviews and uncovering previously undisclosed materials, Popular Mechanics is revealing here that the U.S. government does indeed have a definite interest in UFOs.
Provided, of course, that nobody says it out loud.
The Bigelow Aerospace headquarters in Las Vegas, Nevada.
PART II. THE SEEDS
The path to truly understanding the Pentagon’s current UFO problems doesn’t begin in 2008 with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and the AAWSAP, but rather, a decade earlier and some 2,000 miles from the nation’s capital at the doorstep of a billionaire Nevada entrepreneur.
Robert T. Bigelow, the owner of Budget Suites of America and founder of the space technology company Bigelow Aerospace, has never shied away from amplifying his interest in UFOs. In a 2017 interview, Bigelow told CBS’s 60 Minutes he was “absolutely convinced” aliens exist, before passionately declaring, “I don’t give a damn!” when asked if it was risky to publicly say he believes in UFOs and aliens.
In 1995, four years before founding his aerospace startup, Bigelow established the National Institute for Discovery Sciences (NIDS). From the company’s cached website, NIDS described itself as “a privately funded science institute engaged in research of aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena.
The cached website of the now-defunct National Institute for Discovery Sciences.
Before ultimately disbanding in 2004, NIDS conducted research into a host of various paranormal topics, such as cryptid encounters, cattle mutilations, and especially UFOs. The group’s most recognized research was the investigation of a purported paranormal Utah homestead owned by Bigelow called Skinwalker Ranch, which would later play a significant role in the DIA’s UFO interest.
Robert Bigelow.
NASA/BILL INGALLS
In a 2018 interview with New York magazine, former Nevada Senator Harry Reid told an interesting tale about a curious letter Bigelow received from a senior official from a federal national-security agency. “I’m interested in talking to you, Mr. Bigelow. I have an interest in what you’ve been working on. I want to go to your ranch in Utah,” Reid recounted.
After vetting the letter’s author, the individual Reid described as a “very low-key scientist” was granted a pass to visit Bigelow’s ranch. In a lecture at “UFO MegaCon” in 2019, KLAS Las Vegas reporter George Knapp told the crowd these events occurred in 2007, and claims the person, described by Knapp as a “DIA scientist,” had an “experience” while visiting the supposed paranormal site.
In an interview with researcher Joe Murgia, former AAWSAP contractor and astrophysicist Eric Davis shared what colleagues had told him of the DIA scientist’s experience:
“In the living room of the former NIDS double wide observation trailer/staff quarters. A 3D object appeared in mid-air in front of him and changed shape like a changing topological figure. It went from pretzel-shaped to Möbius strip shaped. It was 3D and multi-colored. Then it disappeared.”
According to Reid, whatever happened at Skinwalker was enough to convince the DIA to seriously investigate paranormal and UFO phenomena. “‘Something should be done about this. Somebody should study it.’ I was convinced he was right,” Reid told New York.
In an interview with Popular Mechanics, Hal Puthoff, a former subcontractor for the AATIP, confirms the scientist’s visit, but was unsure how significant a role it played in the origins of AAWSAP.
“Reid is correct that early on there was a DIA scientist who expressed interest in hearing of the Skinwalker Ranch and did visit,” Puthoff says. “The degree to which this influenced initiation of the AAWSAP Program, however, or was just a side issue, I don’t know.”
While we don’t know how pivotal the Skinwalker visit was in the formation of the DIA’s UFO studies, we do know AAWSAP and AATIP were already taking shape almost a year before funding was established and the solicitation was issued.
Navy fighter pilot Cdr. David Fravor has arguably become the face of the famous UFO encounters by the Nimitz Strike Carrier Group, it was actually Marine Lt. Col. Douglas “Cheeks” Kurth who was first directed to investigate the strange airborne contacts that radar operators captured in November 2004.
On his LinkedIn profile, Kurth indicates he worked as a program manager for Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, LLC (BAASS) until June 2013. Interestingly, Kurth began working for BAASS in December 2007—a month before Bigelow officially established his LLC in January 2008. That might be because Nevada state records show BAASS was technically a subsidiary of another business owned by Bigelow: International Space Hardware Services (ISHS). According to the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, ISHS was incorporated on October 31, 2007.
Hal Puthoff.
TO THE STARS ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCE
Puthoff, who entered the BAASS fold in 2008, tells Popular Mechanics he was aware that Kurth was involved in the Nimitz events in 2004, but he didn’t believe BAASS specifically recruited Kurth because of it. “I think that it was just because of his experience he reached out to join [BAASS],” says Puthoff, who later founded and now runs the advanced concepts research
Puthoff says he believes the DIA had expressed a need for what would become AAWSAP in 2007, but isn’t sure if the organization ever made a formal request. “I think that anything from 2007 was likely quite informal—discussions, letters, emails—but I’m not certain,” he says.
Regardless, roughly six months after BAASS opened up shop, with the support of late senators Ted Stevens and Daniel Inouye, Reid set up funding for AATIP and the AAWSAP contract in the Supplemental Appropriations Bill of July 2008. “It would be black money, we wouldn’t have a big debate on the Senate floor over it,” Reid told New York. “The purpose of it was to study aerial phenomena. The money was given, a directive was given to the Pentagon, to put this out to bid, which they did.”
On August 18, 2008, the contracting arm of the DIA issued a 32-page solicitation/contract/order for commercial items for the AAWSAP. When bidding closed three weeks later on September 5, as the sole bidder, BAASS was awarded $10 million dollars for the guaranteed first year, of a five-year option, for the contract.
On September 13, 2008, Bigelow Aerospace began listing career opportunities with BAASS in 14 different disciplines related to aerospace and research sciences.
A statement of objectives for AAWSAP.
BIGELOW AEROSPACE
Absent from the AAWSAP solicitation is any language related to UFOs or UAP. Instead, as originally outlined in the July Supplemental Appropriations Bill, the “primary focus is on breakthrough technologies and applications that create discontinuities in currently evolving technology trends. The focus is not on extrapolations of current aerospace technology.”
In past interviews, Reid has indicated the interested parties at the DIA felt it prudent to avoid any language that might cause someone to realize the underlying focus of the AATIP program was UFOs. According to Reid, a representative with the DIA told him, “What I will do is prepare something for you that anyone can look at it that wants to, it’s strictly science.”
On multiple occasions over the past two years, both the government and former contractors have used the terms AATIP and AAWSAP almost interchangeably. This has caused significant confusion of whether AATIP and AAWSAP were two separate programs, or the same activity under differing names. In a recent statement, Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough told longtime researcher John Greenewald, “[AATIP] was the name of the overall program. [AAWSAP] was the name of the contract that DIA awarded for the production of technical reports under AATIP.”
While all sources associated with the programs confirm Gough’s statement with Popular Mechanics—AAWSAP was the contract component of the broader umbrella program dubbed ATTIP—they dismiss the latter sentiment expressed by Gough that “neither AATIP nor AAWSAP were UAP related.”
The evidence collected here overwhelmingly suggests the government was indeed studying UFOs and not, as the Pentagon has said, “investigating foreign advanced aerospace weapons system applications with future technology projections over the next 40 years, and to create a center of expertise on advanced aerospace technologies.”
The cover of BAASS’s Ten Month Report, issued in July 2009.
PART III. THE REPORT
In July 2009, BAASS provided a comprehensive report to the DIA at the conclusion of the first-year option of the AAWSAP contract. The 494-page “Ten Month Report,” as it’s called, is chock full of strategic plans, project summaries, data tables, charts, descriptions of biological field effects, physical characteristics, methods of detection, theoretical capabilities, witness interviews, photographs, and case synopses—each one entirely, explicitly about unexplained aerial phenomena.
Throughout the report, “the sponsor” is mentioned, however, the DIA is never explicitly named.
The first pages list the names of every contractor working for BAASS with appropriate security clearances to have access to the program. Amongst dozens of credentialed names, some of those listed are very familiar to the UFO community, including Puthoff, Davis, Jacques Vallee, and Colm Kelleher. Regardless of one’s existing opinions of the UFO phenomena, the sheer volume of content in the BAASS Ten Month Report is astounding.
Some of the notable content of the 2009 BAASS Ten Month Report includes:
Overview of the BAASS Physics Division’s efforts to conduct research on advanced aerospace vehicles, including the development of standardization for measurement of physical effects and signatures associated with UAP.
Overview of BAASS research for measuring and gleaning the effects on biological organisms from UAP.
Mention of Skinwalker Ranch in Utah as a “possible laboratory for studying other intelligences and possible interdimensional phenomena.”
Strategic plans to organize a series of intellectual debate forums targeted to broad audiences pertaining to the “potential disclosure of an extraterrestrial presence.”
Plans to create a “medical physiological UAP effects program.”
Mention of BAASS program dubbed “Project Northern Tier,” which involved securing documents related to instances where dozens of UFOs flew over restricted airspaces of facilities housing nuclear weapons.
A possible UAP landing reported to BAASS by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and its STAR Team (rapid response field investigators funded by BAASS in March 2009).
Project databases of UAP-related materials compiled through various partnerships, and the intent to expand these databases by coordinating with foreign governments.
Summaries of multiple UAP events both inside the U.S. and in foreign countries.
Photographs of UAPs provided by various sources, including foreign governments.
Photograph of page 317 of the BAASS Ten Month Report.
BIGELOW AEROSPACE
From cover to cover, the BAASS report references the government’s new buzzword for UFOs: UAP. However, nowhere could Popular Mechanics find a single reference to foreign (terrestrial) advanced aerospace weapon systems, or projected technological innovations based on current industry trends.
Sources tell Popular Mechanics the BAASS Ten Month report was only a sample of the materials the organization provided to the DIA. “Monthly reports were being sent to the Pentagon, in addition to annual program updates, that were all about UAP or anomalous phenomena,” says one former BAASS contractor.
Chris Bartel, a security officer and investigator for BAASS (later Bigelow Aerospace) from 2010 to 2018, confirms the accounts of former BAASS and AATIP employees with Popular Mechanics. He says he indeed encountered some fairly dramatic paranormal events while working at the Skinwalker Ranch, and says he’d also heard mumblings of BAASS being interested in studying paranormal activity in hopes it could lead to technology research. However, Bartel says he didn’t know anything about AAWSAP or AATIP until last fall. “I was a bit taken back, to say the least,” he says.
Photograph of page 17 of the BAASS Ten Month Report.
BIGELOW AEROSPACE
Though unaware of any formal contract with the DIA, Bartel confirms that reports generated about paranormal events on the ranch were being faxed to both Bigelow and the Pentagon on a regular basis. (“I would hate to think my experiences up there were somehow manipulated by outside man-made forces,” Bartel says. “I truly believe the ranch to be hallowed Native land.”)
Some have suggested the “paranormal” events associated with Skinwalker Ranch or AAWSAP could be associated with secret and highly advanced weapons testing. While Bartel says it’s possible weapons were being tested, nothing he observed was consistent with his experiences of top secret testing.
Puthoff also says he saw no evidence that BAASS was involved in weapons testing during his tenure with the organization—“a statement I’m certain Mr. Bigelow would support,” he says. (Bigelow could not be reached for comment.)
Jesse Marcel, who initially investigated the Roswell UFO site 1947.
PART IV. THE SECRETS
The revelations in the BAASS report beg the question: Why is the government now insistent it never studied UFOs, and why aren’t these documents being discussed or made available through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests?
Individuals who worked on the AATIP program say the current uncertainty and confusion was by design and involved a dizzying shell game that’s entirely consistent with how black budget intelligence programs are run. “What you’re dealing with is the very core of government secrecy and how things they absolutely don’t ever want to discuss are kept hidden away,” one former AATIP contractor tells Popular Mechanics.
Sources say the key to understanding current denials of UFO studies in AATIP comes from a phrase stamped on each page of the BAASS Ten Month Report obtained by Popular Mechanics:
“The information is proprietary and cannot be disseminated or used without prior written consent from the Operating Manager of BAASS.”
According to several former AATIP contractors, the “product” being produced for the DIA was technical reports on exotic and potential “game-changing” aerospace technologies, and the manner of determining what areas these radical airborne breakthroughs might emerge was through the research of UFOs.
In exchange, not only would the DIA get the agreed-upon technical reports, but it would also gain access to the extensive research BAASS was gathering on UFOs. While the DIA had access to the volumes of UFO data, the materials were actually commercial property of BAASS, as a subsidiary of Bigelow Aerospace.
The idea of using an aerospace research project as a cover for a secret UFO program may seem unscrupulous. “But this all rings very familiar,” Neil Gordon, an investigator with the Project on Government Oversight, tells Popular Mechanics.
“WHAT YOU’RE DEALING WITH IS THE VERY CORE OF GOVERNMENT SECRECY AND HOW THINGS THEY ABSOLUTELY DON’T EVER WANT TO DISCUSS ARE KEPT HIDDEN AWAY.”
Gordon, whose area of expertise is in federal contractor misconduct, contractor accountability, and government privatization, says running the “commercial in confidence” program through AATIP is consistent with how the DoD deals with programs it wants to keep secret. “Whether it’s right or not is another story,” Gordon says, “but everything sounds very common for how black budget programs run.”
The DIA may have had extensive access to the UFO materials, but because all of the data technically belonged to BAASS, under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, disclosing or releasing proprietary materials provided to the government in confidence is a federal crime. Essentially, the DIA’s UFO program was set up to circumvent FOIA requests and avoid having to discuss UFOs publicly.
Out of concern for providing Popular Mechanics access to the 2009 BAASS Ten Month Report, the person who made these materials available did so only under the guarantee of anonymity. It’s worth noting this person is not a current government employee, nor were they involved with BAASS or the AAWSAP contract.
“Unfortunately, the government attempting to evade FOIA by contracting out its responsibilities is nothing new,” Josh Budray, an attorney who specializes in FOIA and First Amendment cases, tells Popular Mechanics. “Both federal and state FOIA statutes strive to eliminate such obvious gamesmanship—avoiding transparency and disclosure obligations by contracting out functions—but whether they are successful in doing so is an entirely different story.”
Davis, the astrophysicist and former AAWSAP contractor, says his work on the AATIP program was entirely consistent with all of the technological intelligence programs he’d previously worked on over the last 30-plus years. “Indeed, science is applied, but right now there’s not enough data on UAP to make examining it a scientific endeavor. It’s an intelligence issue, not a scientific endeavor,” he says.
Puthoff, meanwhile, says BAASS produced “stacks of material to the ceiling,” but because of the way things were done, he was surprised to hear any of it had become public. “To be honest, I didn’t think this stuff would ever see the light of day,” he says.
“TO BE HONEST, I DIDN’T THINK THIS STUFF WOULD EVER SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY.”
When reached for comment, Colm Kelleher, the former Deputy Director of BAASS, said, “I am unable to discuss this topic.” Multiple other requests to Bigelow Aerospace for comment went unanswered.
The entire manner in which the DIA partnership allegedly operated raises an important question: Could the reason for the Pentagon’s recent denials of AATIP or AAWSAP conducting UFO research be the result of the current DoD administration being naive to the program’s underlying and commercially secret hidden purpose? It seems like a plausible theory … if it wasn’t for something else Popular Mechanics uncovered.
PART V. THE ADMISSION
Last year, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists obtained via FOIA request and published a January 2018 letter that the DIA Congressional Relations Division sent to members of Congress. In the letter, the DIA provided “a list of all products produced under the AATIP contract for the DIA to publish.” The referenced list includes 38 technical papers, called Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs), which cover a range of advanced, exotic, and theoretical aerospace topics.
Given what’s been said about the commercially confidential nature of AATIP, the phrase “for the DIA to publish” may be a critical play on words. Nevertheless, a source with access to the materials provided Popular Mechanics with a copy of a previously unreleased technical paper listed as one of AATIP’s products.
While the DIA refers to the paper as “Field Effects on Biological Tissue,” the original title for the submitted paper appears to actually have been “Clinical Medical Acute & Subacute Field Effects on Human Dermal & Neurological Tissues.” According to the study’s introduction, the paper is an examination of “clinical medical signs and symptoms and biophysics of injury known and expected from near-field (mostly ultra-high), NIEMR Microwave, Thermal, from unintended exposure to anomalous systems.”
You can read the entire study below.
In light of the cumbersome clinical language, just a cursory scan reveals the entire focus was on examining injuries that may have occurred after contact with UFOs or UAP. In fact, the very term “UFO” appears 16 times in the report; the word “anomalous” is used 27 times (most often with the word “aircraft,” “aviation,” or “aerospace” immediately following); and the phrase “Advanced Aerospace Systems Applications Program” is mentioned in bold on four occasions.
Popular Mechanics spoke with the study’s author, Christopher “Kit” Green, a forensic clinician and neuroscientist. Green was surprised to learn his research paper had become publicly known, because he was under the impression it was never included in the distributed set, nor was it finally peer-reviewed.
Green confirms his paper wasn’t cited correctly in the letter to Congress, however, he says the 54-page document Popular Mechanics obtained appeared to be the same paper he was requested to provide as a product of AAWSAP.
“This focused on forensically assessing accounts of injuries that could have resulted from claimed encounters with UAP,” says Green. “I didn’t work for BAASS, other than as a contractor for my paper, and I wasn’t a part of AAWSAP. However, it is my understanding this program was a UFO study that outwardly was not supposed to look like it had anything to do with UFOs.”
“THIS PROGRAM WAS A UFO STUDY THAT OUTWARDLY WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO LOOK LIKE IT HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH UFOS.”
Green cautions some past speculations about his paper were inaccurate, including the claims it was an effort to understand or reverse-engineer UAP technology. Green also stresses that while his work focused on encounters with unknown or unidentified aerial objects, all of the injuries he assessed could be accounted for by known terrestrial means, and did not provide any evidence for extraterrestrial or non-human technologies.
Could the 38 technical reports BAASS produced for AATIP represent what it determined accounted for UAP?
“Many of the topics could be called ‘dual-use’ given that, say, papers on advanced plasma propulsion and invisibility cloaking could apply to our own advanced aerospace development as well as possibly some UAPs,” says Puthoff. But his “spacetime metric engineering paper, the warp drive and wormhole papers, and specifically the Statistical Drake Equation paper are essentially applicable only to UAPs.”
Davis, who worked with Puthoff and authored four of the DIRDs, offers a particularly intriguing detail about the DIA’s 38 reference papers.
“This wasn’t focused on whether or not [UAP] are real. It’s already been well established that UAP are real by a preponderance of evidence. Some classified and some proprietary [that] I can’t talk about,” he says.
Instead of investigating if UAP are real, the 38 technical papers for the AAWSAP contract were also an intelligence assessment to measure just how far advanced UAP could be from current and projected scientific understandings. “Me, Hal [Puthoff], and an aerospace executive who had access to materials worked on that assessment for the DIA,” Davis says.
Ultimately, aside from the wealth of BAASS proprietary evidence, Green’s study alone—which the DIA told Congress was a product of AATIP that it would “be happy to provide upon direct request”—seems to completely dispute the Pentagon’s recent claims that neither AATIP or AAWSAP were related to UFOs.
In an exchange of emails between Gough, the Pentagon spokesperson, and Swedish research Roger Glassal, which were provided and published by research analyst Keith Basterfield, Gough said AAWSAP commenced in the fiscal year (FY) 2008 with a designated $10 million dollars of funding. Since the bid solicitation wasn’t issued until August 2008, we now know that Gough was mistaken, and the program actually began in FY2009, which began October 1, 2008.
In the same email exchange, Gough indicated the first 26 technical reports were completed in late 2009 and an additional $12 million dollars was designated in the FY2010 Defense Appropriations Act for 12 additional reports. (Editor’s note: In the original email, Gough indicated “late 2008.” It’s assumed this was also said in error since BAASS didn’t receive the AAWSAP contract until September 2008 and Green’s technical paper is dated May 2009.)
“After an OSD/DIA review in late 2009, it was determined the reports were of limited value to DIA and there was a recommendation that upon completion of the contract the project could be transited to an agency or component better suited to oversee it.
Funding for the program at the DIA ended in 2012 and DoD elected not to continue the program after the work contracted under the FY2010 NDAA was completed.”
Indeed, every source Popular Mechanics spoke to for this story agrees the partnership between BAASS and AAWSAP had concluded by 2012.
But here’s where things get messy: Gough says when DIA funding dried up in 2012, the overarching AATIP program closed up shop as well. Every source we spoke to, however, says not only did AATIP not end in 2012, but the program is still ongoing to this day.
Core to the contention of whether or not the government maintained an interest after 2012 is the man the DoD says “had no responsibilities” with AAWSAP or AATIP: former senior Pentagon intelligence executive Luis Elizondo.
Who, exactly, is Elizondo? A patriotic whistleblower putting his reputation at stake for something he says the American public must know about? Or a huckster using his former position for his own benefit, as the Pentagon seemingly implies?
The government can’t keep its story straight about its involvement with UFO research. After a yearlong investigation, we bust open the files, break through the noise, and reveal the definitive, staggering truth.
Left: Luis Elizondo in South Korea in 1996. Right: Elizondo in Kandhar in late 2001.
PART VI. THE LEADER
After serving a stint as a counterintelligence agent for the U.S. Army, in the late 1990s, Elizondo would be recruited into the ranks of the enigmatic U.S. intelligence community.
Elizondo’s first stop as an intelligence operations specialist was running counterinsurgency and counternarcotics operations in Latin America. “We dealt with a lot of stuff, like coup d’etats, black market terrorism, violent drug cartels, all that kind of stuff,” Elizondo says.
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Elizondo was then redirected toward East Asia, where he served an advisor of a small intelligence unit assigned to support General James Mattis during his command of Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) Task Force 58 (TF-58) in the War on Terrorism. In a case study published by the Naval War College in 2016, Lt. Col. Damian Spooner describes the analysis and products produced by intelligence sections under Gen. Mattis as being “indispensable” in driving TF-58 planning and operations.
Later, while continuing to support the U.S.-led war on terrorism, Elizondo, the son of a Cuban exile, found himself in Cuba dealing with some of the most dangerous terrorists in the world at Guantanamo Bay’s infamous “Camp Seven,” the prison constructed for the sole purpose of housing 14 “high-value detainees.”
In early 2008, James Clapper, then the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, asked Elizondo to come to the Pentagon to help coordinate information sharing and partnership engagement being run by the Secretary of Defense’s Office. Though the promise of cutting his daily commute in half was one of the biggest selling points, Elizondo’s decision to set up shop at the Pentagon would end up putting him directly in the path of recruitment for a special program the DIA had just started running: AAWSAP.
Though the BAASS Ten Month Report includes an abundance of UAP information, nothing within the text contains any data or information provided by the U.S. government. Conversely, there are a number of requests made by BAASS for access to specific UAP information being held within the DoD and other U.S. agencies. Sources say this is key to understanding how Elizondo entered the picture.
“If they [BAASS] wanted access to info that I’m not saying does exist, but it might have been highly classified, you need someone who had the tickets to make sure the contractors weren’t actually looking at Special Access Program (SAP) stuff thinking it was UFOs,” says an intelligence official who is not authorized to speak on the record.
“Plus,” the official tells Popular Mechanics, “I’m not saying it was, but they might have been looking into something that was of significant interest to foreign advisories and a high-value target for espionage. Bottom line, you needed a counterintel guy.”
Elizondo tells Popular Mechanics that he never wanted to be a part of AATIP. However, as a senior official at OUSDI with a background in counterintelligence, he found himself being recruited into the ongoing UFO effort.
“In 2008,” Elizondo says, “two guys came by my office and said, ‘Are you Lue Elizondo?’ The first thing I thought was, ‘Oh no, what did I do?’ They told me, ‘You came highly recommended as a former senior CI guy with some background in advanced avionics.’ Which is true—I worked some on the Open Skies Treaty. I worked with Raytheon, Boeing, and some other stuff. That was my portfolio.”
Elizondo was told AATIP needed a counterintelligence support and security guy for a very special program. Within a month, after a series of meetings, Elizondo finally met with the then-director of AATIP, who asked him what seemed like a strange question at the time:
“What do you think about UFOs?”
Elizondo was flummoxed. “I was like, ‘What the hell?’ I thought it was a test or something. So I told the truth: I don’t. I don’t think about UFOs. I don’t know if they’re real or not. I don’t think about them. I’m too busy trying to catch terrorists and bad guys.”
Elizondo’s ambivalence was evidently exactly what those running the program wanted to hear. Soon enough, Elizondo joined AATIP. “Seriously, for awhile, I still didn’t know if it was a test,” he says. “It wasn’t until I started examining the security posture of the portfolio that I suddenly realized these things are really unidentified.”
One of Elizondo’s performance evaluations.
Not long after Elizondo was on board, in June 2009, Sen. Harry Reid submitted a letter to then-Deputy Secretary of Defense William Lynn III requesting AATIP be granted restricted SAP status. Though ultimately denied, had Reid’s request been granted, it would have further tightened security and secrecy around AATIP.
Last year, KLAS Las Vegas reporter George Knapp published Reid’s letter showing Elizondo’s name on the list of “preliminary government personnel” who would have had access to AATIP. In addition to Elizondo, Reid, and the late Senator Daniel Inouye, seven other names of government employees (which have not been released) would have had access to the proposed AATIP SAP. Notably, only three “contractor personnel” made the cut.
According to a source with knowledge of the letter, the three contractor personnel Reid wanted to grant preliminary access to were Bigelow, Kelleher, and Puthoff. Puthoff confirms with Popular Mechanics that he was one of the three approved contractors on the list. The Pentagon later confirmed the letter published by Knapp was authentic.
Sources say the limited number of contractors listed with access is yet another breadcrumb left on the trail of secrecy showing AATIP was indeed slightly different from the AAWSAP contract.
According to multiple sources, including individuals working within the Pentagon—and confirmed by Elizondo—in 2010, when the DIA cut off funding for AATIP’s contract, a DIA program manager asked Elizondo if he would keep the UFO project running. “I wasn’t a DIA employee,” Elizondo says, “so I’d have to run it wearing my OSD hat at the Pentagon. We all agreed this was the best thing to do, so that’s what we did.”
By all accounts, Elizondo was now “bootstrapping” AATIP from the OUSDI, meaning he added the program to the list of his existing intelligence portfolios.
Popular Mechanics has learned the post-BAASS era of AATIP was an even more closely guarded program and consistent with how highly classified intelligence projects are conducted.
“Ninety percent of people don’t understand how the general government runs, and even less understand the intelligence community,” a former senior Special Operations and Intelligence Officer tells Popular Mechanics. “Because this program would have now been out of the Front Office, your guy [Elizondo] would have had the ability to muster up people from various areas of the Intelligence Community. You would have wanted to include the least possible, but best people for the specific mission. You could have had people from the DIA, ONI [Office of Naval Intelligence], and OSI [Office of Special Investigations] all working separately, but together on the same mission.”
Elizondo says when he took over the AATIP, he ran it like a traditional government effort. “We greatly reduced the number of contractors to just what we might have needed, but this was going to be government to government, looking on government systems at government data,” he says.
According to Elizondo, unlike most of the BAASS personnel, the post-2012 AATIP crew did have access to highly classified government information to adequately assess the situation. While the Pentagon denies that AATIP continued after 2012, Elizondo says the post-BAASS AATIP was not unsanctioned, and not just a group of government UFO enthusiasts. “Very, very few people in the building knew what we were doing, but the Front Office (Office of the Secretary of Defense) was in the loop,” he says.
Popular Mechanics has learned the ONI was one of the major backers that wanted to see AATIP continued, which sources say is why the Navy has been so willing to take the most public lead on the UAP issue today.
Elizondo’s critics have repeatedly asked an important question: If AATIP was such a secret program, why is Elizondo now talking about it publicly?
By denying AATIP SAP status back in 2009 and not ever officially blanketing it under a security classification, Popular Mechanics has learned that the government effectively allowed for the program itself to now be discussed.
“There’s a lot they can’t talk about, like sources, methods, etc., but the program itself is unclassified and fair game for public disclosure,” a source with knowledge of the program tells Popular Mechanics. Elizondo confirms this is correct. “I’ve never once violated, nor am I willing to violate my security oaths, so anything I’ve discussed is indeed unclassified,” he says.
In one of Elizondo’s employee performance evaluations, which Popular Mechanics obtained, it lists his primary “mission goals” as managing and administering information, access controls, and security of national-level SAPs for the Secretary of Defense. Elizondo confirms his position allowed him access to the most highly secretive and reclusive programs being run by the U.S. “The stuff we were seeing was truly unidentified. It wasn’t related to anything we were doing,” he says.
In October 2017, Elizondo resigned from the DoD to join former Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge’s UFO research group To the Stars Academy of Arts & Science, which would soon release the Navy’s “Flir1” video to the world and properly kick off a ufological renaissance. Elizondo now works as the company’s Director of Global Security and Special Programs.
Why did Elizondo leave his government job? Because he realized the Pentagon’s top brass would never treat UAP with the importance they deserved. A senior Pentagon official tells Popular Mechanics they were aware that Elizondo briefed a White House intelligence aide and two senior aides to Mattis, then the Secretary of Defense, in the spring of 2017.
The official, who is not authorized to speak on the record, says the White House aide was uncomfortable with the prospect of UFOs being real. To their knowledge, the White House aide did not pass the information along. The aides to Mattis, meanwhile, acknowledged UFOs were a real issue, but they were concerned with the political optics should it ever come out that the Secretary of Defense had been briefed about them. Elizondo confirms the accuracy of these accounts. “I resigned only after multiple attempts to brief the Secretary [of Defense] failed,” he previously told Popular Mechanics.
Finally, while the Pentagon has denied AATIP’s existence after 2012 and that Elizondo was never involved in looking into UFOs, Popular Mechanics has obtained documentation that seems to unambiguously show AATIP was active after the closing of the BAASS AAWSAP contract, Elizondo was running this extension of AATIP, and the efforts to examine UFOs are still currently underway.
Though the documents were unclassified, they contained sensitive information, and the person sharing them did so only under the guarantee that Popular Mechanics would not make them publicly available. The person said they only were willing to share the materials to support Elizondo’s claims, which they say have been unfairly challenged over the last two years. The individual, who is not a government employee, did approve the release of a small section from one of the documents showing the changing of responsibilities before Elizondo left the DoD.
F-35Bs begin night flights on HMS Queen Elizabeth.
PART VII. THE UNKNOWN
In June 2019, the Office of Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s office, confirmed that closed door meetings on UAP have occured. More recently, last December, when asked by Conway Daily Sun reporter Daymond Steer about the Navy UAP encounters, recent presidential candidate and current member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Sen. Michael Bennet, was cautious in saying he wouldn’t share anything he’d learned on the Intelligence Committee. However, Bennet said, “Our guys are seeing stuff that’s unidentified. They don’t know what it is, I don’t know what it is … We’re trying to learn more about it. The Air Force is trying to learn more about it.”
Popular Mechanics has since learned in October 2019, staffers with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Armed Service Committee were briefed on current UAP issues. According to people with knowledge of these briefings, some former BAASS contractors and current AATIP leadership were in attendance.
Insiders also say this past year, during a closed-door meeting with the Senate Intelligence Committee, Brigadier General Richard Stapp, Director of the DoD Special Access Program Central Office, testified the mysterious objects being encountered by the military were not related to secret U.S. technology. The Pentagon did not respond to requests by Popular Mechanics to confirm Stapp’s testimony before the Intelligence Committee.
In only the second time publicly discussing the event, Popular Mechanics spoke with the Navy fighter pilot who was Cdr. David Fravor’s wingman during the now-famous 2004 Nimitz UFO encounter. Agreeing to talk only under the condition of anonymity, the fighter pilot confirmed they testified in front of congressional leadership about their encounter. “I’ve been requested repeatedly to go to the Pentagon and asked, ‘Is this what you saw?’.”
During a series of email exchanges, Popular Mechanics provided specific information to Gough, the Pentagon spokesperson, in an effort to see if this might influence the DoD’s current position. Initially, Gough said she would examine the information and see if she could provide a statement in response. However, Gough has not responded to repeated follow-up requests from Popular Mechanics.
“IT WOULD BE HARD TO ARGUE THAT EITHER THE MILITARY OR THE PUBLIC GOT THEIR MONEY’S WORTH.”
On its own, the evidence showing the Pentagon is interested in UFOs is unlikely to change the minds of many who are skeptical of the idea that mysterious, apparently intelligent, and possibly otherworldly objects might be buzzing around the skies above Earth.
“The whole contracting process for this program was irregular from start to finish,” Steven Aftergood, Director for the Federation of American Scientists Project on Government Secrecy, tells Popular Mechanics. “[The AAWSAP contract] sounds like it was a good deal for the contractor. But it would be hard to argue that either the military or the public got their money’s worth.”
Meanwhile, William Culbreth, an engineering professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who authored two of the 38 technical papers provided in the AAWSAP contract, offers a different opinion. He says he was unaware of the UFO background of AAWSAP, but very familiar with BAASS’s UFO interest.
“I had some graduate students who worked for BAASS during that time and I know Bigelow has an interest in the topic, but no one mentioned anything about UFOs when they asked me to write the papers,” Culbreth says.
Regardless of where the underlying motivation may have come from, Culbreth says his work on the two papers—“Detection and High Resolution Tracking of Vehicles at Hypersonic Velocities” and “Aneutronic Fusion Propulsion II”—led to his examination of new approaches to nuclear propulsion technology, which might not have been inspired otherwise.
“We’re looking into these propulsion technologies today, and this area alone led to several of my students pursuing PhDs who I don’t think otherwise would have,” Culbreth says.
With the wealth of data collected by BAASS, and almost assuredly more information being gathered by AATIP, it raises the question: Is the UAP issue being closely guarded because we don’t believe it’s real, or because we’re afraid we can’t understand it?
Mick West, the author of Escaping the Rabbit Hole: How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories Using Facts, Logic, and Respect, suggests the public availability and confirmation of rigorous empirical studies by AATIP could change the entire UFO dynamic. “It would be fantastic if there was some good evidence of something new to science. So far there isn’t,” he tells Popular Mechanics.
While he faces considerable angst for trying to debunk UFOs, West says he’d be as thrilled as anyone else if he was able to actually come across something that was truly unexplainable and unknown. “There’s no hard feelings,” he says. “I understand people are passionate—especially experiencers.”
So was this a matter of the government discovering something it didn’t understand, and therefore opting to avoid it altogether? Nick Cook, the former aviation editor of Jane’s Defense Weekly and author of The Grid, tells Popular Mechanics this idea reminds him of a conversation he had with Ben Rich, the former director of Lockheed Skunkworks and the “father of stealth.”
Cook says Rich told him when the ability for stealth aircraft was discovered, but not yet understood, there was considerable debate on what to do next. “Do you put a bunch of money into developing something and end up not being successful because you don’t understand it, or do you table the entire idea until you have more science, which runs the risk of someone else figuring it out first?”
With stealth technology, the U.S. military ultimately made the decision to move forward, which led to the development of the world’s first stealth aircraft, the F-117 Nighthawk. “I guess it would depend on how wide a knowledge gap you thought there was and how high was the risk for success,” Cook says. “Could I see how something could come up, and the decision would be made to tuck something away like the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark? Yes, I could see how it could be possible.”
“Throughout history, many inventions have preceded an understanding of the science that makes them work,” Matthew Hersch, a history of science and technology professor at Harvard University, tells Popular Mechanics. “Engineers often ‘do science’ in the course of their work, just as scientists ‘invent.’ It’s inevitable that we as a species will continue inventing things without a real understanding of how they work, at least until our science catches up.”
Being unable to explain something with current science, Hersch says, is merely an invitation to do more science—not a rejection of the scientific worldview as a whole. “Suppressing good, non-fraudulent science because it challenges our beliefs is extremely dangerous,” he says. “Nobody has a right to do that, and it is contrary to the interests of humanity—that’s what science is for. Fortunately, there is no vast scientific conspiracy to suppress divergent ideas. More often, good science is suppressed by non-scientists for political reasons.”
Any discovery of extraterrestrial science or technology, then, is no reason to flush our political norms down the toilet, says Hersch.
“Human beings have believed in the existence of extraterrestrial life for millennia,” he says. “I suspect that any revelation that [UFOs] exist would be met with something close to a shrug.”
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Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
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