Reading the headline “World’s First Laser Developed to Shoot Space Junk Out of Orbit” probably makes many of you think that this is going to be about the military and this is just the ‘official’ version because they’ve undoubtedly been doing this – or at least testing it – for years. All of that may be true, but this recent announcement is actually about a non-military group in Australia and the laser isn’t blowing space junk to bits but pushing it out into deeper space where it can no longer fall to Earth. Let’s find out if it really works and if it’s indeed a good idea.

“More than 500,000 pieces of debris, or “space junk,” are tracked as they orbit the Earth. They all travel at speeds up to 17,500 mph, fast enough for a relatively small piece of orbital debris to damage a satellite or a spacecraft. The rising population of space debris increases the potential danger to all space vehicles, but especially to the International Space Station, space shuttles and other spacecraft with humans aboard.”

NASA has long been concerned about the junk it is leaving in space as it’s a danger not only to Earth but to other things NASA is putting in space. The US. Department of Defense is responsible for tracking space debris larger than 2 inches in diameter and has looked into various ways to remove objects that may pose a danger. Those methods generally involve moving junk to a lower altitude where it will burn up or blasting it into smaller pieces with another satellite. Electro Optic Systems Pty Ltd (EOS), which is already established as a leader in tracking space debris, has a different approach.

“Our expanding network of space sensors provides accurate, specialised catalogues for assessing collision risk in real time. Conjunction analysis is performed continuously, and the sensor network is re-tasked in real time to allow timely collision prediction using orbit errors smaller than 100m.

In some cases it is not possible to manoeuvre a satellite to avoid a near-certain collision. For these circumstances EOS is currently fielding a new type of laser tracker which can deliver sufficient laser power to move certain types of space debris to new orbits to avoid collision. This system cannot damage or fragment debris, but rather provides harmless radiation pressure to move the debris over many seconds of engagement.”

EOS Space Systems CEO Dr. Ben Greene described to 9News how the Guide Star Laser, a “real breakthrough for space technology,” will work. Installed on the top of Mount Stromlo at the EOS headquarters in Canberra, the Guide Star Laser’s first orange beam acts like a guidance light on a firearm to pinpoint the junk. Then a second, more powerful invisible laser is fired at the junk, slowly pushing it out of moving it out of its danger-causing orbit and deeper into space. This technology allows the removal of dangerous junk from much lower altitudes than satellites can, and with a much faster deployment time. The Guide Star Laser can also move much smaller debris at a fraction of the cost of other methods.

We still haven’t addressed the obvious – the Guide Star Laser ‘moves’ rather than ‘removes’ space junk. Unfortunately, neither does the EOS website not the9News interview. They do point out that it’s ready to go to protect satellites and ground infrastructure from pace junk – we assume that includes people too. Moving the junk deeper into space doesn’t seem to concern EOS nor its future customers – it’s expected to begin contracting out its services in 2022.

Will this just create a bigger area of junk farther out in space? Isn’t that like moving trash to more remote areas on Earth? How is that working out for us?

My previous article on the Roswell controversy of early July 1947 – at the Foster Ranch in Lincoln County, New Mexico – focused on a portion of the Japanese part of the story. It’s a story that revolves around (A) Japanese documents captured at the end of the Second World War – on huge Japanese balloon arrays – and (B) Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, someone who was directly tied to both the Roswell event and Japanese balloons. I should stress (and I will in this article) that this is far from being the only Roswell-Japan connection. As you will see right now, a very curious UFO-themed story surfaced in the United States in May 1949. It caught the attention of the FBI, an agency that had been keeping a careful watch on the subject since the summer of 1947, when the flying saucer exploded on the world stage. On May 26, an FBI document – captioned “Flying Discs” – was written and revealed the facts concerning a strange saga. It stated: “Walter Winchell forwarded to the Director a Western Union telegram he had received from Robert Ripley [of ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!’] which stated that he, Ripley, had the only authentic Japanese flying saucer ever recovered in this country. Mr. Winchell noted on the telegram, “To J. Edgar Hoover – True?” “This matter was discussed with Colonel [deleted], OSI-USAF, who advised on April 27, 1949 that he had interested himself in the flying saucers and related subjects and that in so far as could be determined by him through his sources in the Air Force, which are excellent, there is no authentic information available concerning the phenomenon of flying saucers. He advised he would check with the authorities at Wright Field to determine if any information is available concerning the recovery of a Japanese flying saucer.”

The document continued:

“Colonel [deleted] has now advised that there is no information available in any arm of the Air Force to the effect that any flying saucers of any kind have been recovered in the United States. Colonel [deleted] stated delay had been encountered in determining this fact inasmuch as inquiries had been directed through individuals known to him and trusted by him and not through the usual channels from which he possibly would receive a stock answer.” It turned out that this particular Japanese saucer was nothing of the sort. It was a good-natured hoax, mixed with a liberal degree of misidentification and exaggeration. Rather ironically, however, the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations became very worried by this prank. The OSI’s concerns were that (A) the truth of the Japanese link to Roswell might come tumbling out; and that (B) members of the public who might stumble on the remains of Japanese Fugo balloons – which were still being occasionally found across the United States, for years after the war was over – could mistakenly interpret them as flying saucers. And, in a worst case scenario, blow themselves to pieces if the bombs were still in working order. It’s most intriguing, therefore, that the OSI suggested it would be very wise to take seriously any and all reports of debris “remains of Japanese balloons [which] might cause flying disk hysteria.”

Nick Redfern

The FBI drew parallels between Fugo balloons and flying saucers midway through 1947. Dr. Lincoln LaPaz was up to his neck in those same balloons during the Second World War. Roswell fixture, Bill Rickett, hung out with LaPaz in New Mexico, as the good doctor sought to secretly solve certain aspects of the Roswell crash. And, we know that the Air Force was also making a Fugo-UFO connection in 1949. From the very earliest days of Ufology, Japan’s balloons and flying saucers were regular bedfellows. Now, let’s take a look at two more Japan-Roswell connections. One of those who saw the Roswell bodies was Melvin E. Brown, a man who was stationed at the Roswell Army Air Field at the time of the mysterious crash in early July 1947. Tom Carey and Don Schmitt reported that Brown’s father, Beverly, described the dead crew as having “big heads with slanted eyes.” In her interview with ufologist Tim Good, Beverly made a very intriguing and revealing statement. She said that the bodies her father saw back in ‘47 “…looked Asian [italics mine],” but had larger than normal heads and lacked any hair. “They looked a yellowy color.” There is also this from Beverly to Tim: “…they could have passed for Chinese [italics also mine].”  It is one thing to say that the bodies looked somewhat Asian; however, specifically stating that the bodies which Melvin Brown saw “could have passed for Chinese” strongly suggests they were extremely human-looking.

One final thing: the Foster Ranch – where all of the drama went down – is located in Lincoln County, New Mexico. It so happens that also in Lincoln County is Fort Stanton, In the Second World War it held Japanese people. Over the years physically handicapped people were held at Fort Stanton. Japanese people and handicapped people are the key to finding the truth surrounding the victims of the Roswell incident. Although all of the documentation on Roswell has vanished, I know I’m right.

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Over the last few days I’ve written articles on how and why the Roswell affair of July 1947 had nothing to do with aliens, but everything to do with secret experiments that involved huge balloon arrays, some of which were created by the U.S. military and others that were based on Japanese documents captured at the end of the Second World War. At this stage in the story, I am going to draw your attention to the fact that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI noted a parallel between the investigation of UFOs in the summer of 1947 and the Japanese balloon wave of a few years earlier, when the Second World War was still raging. The FBI document quoted from below – which surfaced thanks to Freedom of Information legislation – shows that in the summer 1947 there was a mindset that suggested “disk” sightings were not unlike the Japanese Fugo balloon sightings and investigations of a couple of years earlier – at least, in terms of how they should be investigated. 

According to the FBI:

“It is felt that the situation regarding these flying saucers and flying disks is very similar to the situation which was previously encountered by the Bureau during the past war in handling complaints arising out of the sightings of Japanese balloons. You will recall that at the inception of these complaints the Bureau conducted considerable investigation and located numerous balloons as a cooperative measure for the Army then informed that these were military weapons and that they would take over the handling of these completely. This they did and in an extremely short time issued a big press release as to the splendid work of the Army in locating these Japanese balloons. From the information available thus far it does not appear that these disks should be treated other than as a military weapon. Certainly the Bureau has no way to determine what experiments the Army and Navy are conducting and whether such might be arising out of experiments being conducted by them, nor do we have any way of determining how far the Russians have progressed in certain experiments and whether such might be the results of experiments by the Russian Army.”

FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, the keeper of all secrets

As this memo reveals, the FBI was making certain investigative parallels between the Fugo balloons of the Second World War and the flying saucers of 1947. It is most eye-opening that the FBI also noted: “…the Bureau has no way to determine what experiments the Army and Navy are conducting and whether such might be arising out of experiments being conducted by them…” This strongly suggests there was a fair degree of belief, or suspicion, within the FBI that what was being seen was not from some faraway star-system, but from right here. On Earth. That the FBI also stated, “From the information available thus far it does not appear that these disks should be treated other than as a military weapon,” also speaks volumes about where the collective mind of the FBI was then-currently at. In view of what we have seen so far, we can make a good case that in the summer of 1947, the FBI knew – or at least strongly suspected – that UFOs were the product of Uncle Sam. Now, let’s take a look at a certain, central figure in the Roswell mystery who also had a link to…wartime Japanese balloons.

Master Sergeant Lewis “Bill” Rickett – of the Counter-Intelligence Corps (CIC) – was someone who many Roswell investigators believe knew exactly what happened on the Foster Ranch in July 1947. At the time of the mysterious event, Rickett was the Non-Commissioned Officer-in-Charge at the Roswell Army Air Field. Years after the event, Rickett admitted to UFO researchers his presence at the ranch site – along with Sheridan Cavitt, also of the CIC – on July 8. Rickett also shared a few other snippets of data, when the mood took him. For the most part, though, he remained very tight-lipped – even cagey at times – on exactly what took place. Rickett did, however, admit that approximately two months after the crash on the Foster Ranch took place, he liaised on the top secret matter with one Dr. Lincoln LaPaz. At the time, he was the Director of the University of New Mexico’s Institute of Meteoritics. He and LaPaz undertook a secret assignment to try and figure out “the speed and trajectory” of the craft that slammed into the heart of Lincoln County. Reportedly, the pair found a “touchdown” location just a few miles from the ranch, as well as a patch of ground that had been exposed to a significant amount of heat. According to Rickett, the object that hurtled to the ground on the ranch was somewhat bat-winged, but certainly not what anyone would call a flying saucer – which is an important point, given that all the talk at the time was of saucers and disks.

There are good indications that Rickett knew a great deal about the Roswell bodies, too. UFO investigator Stan Friedman had the opportunity to speak with Rickett back in the 1980s. It was an absolute cloak-and-dagger-like conversation that was noted not so much for what Rickett did say, but for what he didn’t say. Friedman recalled: “When I mentioned bodies, Rickett clearly reacted and indicated that this was an area he couldn’t talk about. He indicated there were different levels of security about this work; that a directive had come down placing this at a high level. He went on to say that certain subjects were discussed only in rooms that couldn’t be bugged.” Clearly, Rickett was a concerned man – as he certainly should have been. In other words, decades after the mystifying incident, Rickett was still fearful of saying too much to too many – and particularly so on the matter of the bodies. Nevertheless, it may have been a result of opening his mouth just one too many times that finally led Rickett to get what we might call a friendly warning. You know the sort: they are actually anything but friendly. From whom? From Sheridan Cavitt, formerly of the Counter-Intelligence Corps; the man who assured the U.S. Air Force in the 1990s that nothing stranger than a weather-balloon was the cause of all the sensational press-coverage way back when.

One particularly important fact that many Roswell researchers have either not realized or have carefully avoided highlighting, in case – shock, horror – it dares to support my conclusions, is Dr. Lincoln LaPaz’s connection to the issue of Japan’s Fugo balloons. In 1945, the University of New Mexico issued a press-release titled “New Mexican Had Lookout Job For ‘Japanese Germs.'” It revealed a certain, previously secret, aspect of LaPaz’s life, and it reads as follows: “Dr. Lincoln LaPaz of the University of New Mexico was in the thick of the fight against Japanese plans to send disease germs into America by balloon, said President J.P Wernette of the University today. Commenting on stories from the Navy in Washington revealing that use of germs and viruses in the Jap balloon-barrage was an enemy project as the war came to an end, Dr. Wernette said that Dr. LaPaz, head of the department of mathematics and the University’s Institute of Meteoritics, was with the government’s secret anti-balloon project during the war.”

University staff continued: “‘If the war had not ended when it did, in the opening stages of a full-scale balloon offensive which probably would have taken place between October 1945, and now, when the velocity of the west wind at high altitude is greatest, this country would have had unpleasant experiences,’ Dr. LaPaz said today. ‘People most concerned were trained scientists, and stockmen, too, he said. Anthrax spores could have been sent over in the paper balloons in great numbers, and Manchurian sheep pox could have easily struck the hooved animals of this country because the disease has not been found here and there would be no natural immunity, Dr. LaPaz went on.” LaPaz was quoted as saying: “But the Japanese, using radio devices to locate their balloons on the flight to this country, apparently did not realize that we could pick up the signals an find the balloons before they reached the mainland.”

A similar press release issued by the University of New Mexico – also in 1945 – details further information on LaPaz’s Fugo-themed work for the U.S. military: “Observers, watching for meteors, thought they had something when they saw some brilliant lights in the sky from February to May, 1945. And they did, said Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, mathematics department head at the University of New Mexico and director of its Institute of Meteoritics, today. The displays were actually made by Japanese balloons, Dr. LaPaz said, revealing the history of a scientific study of meteors which went on before and during the time that Dr. LaPaz was busy in secret government work of studying and combating the balloon offensive. Nevertheless, a few months later, on Nov. 29, 1945, a great meteorite fell slowly across northern California and Nevada, and observers mistook it for everything from a jet plane to a Hollywood publicity stunt. Members of the Society for Research on Meteorites and the American Meteor Society, thought at first that it was a new type [of] Japanese balloon bomb.”

If, as the interviewees in my The Roswell UFO Conspiracy book asserted, the key event that led to the legend of the UFO crash at Roswell involved a “next-generation of Fugo” balloon of huge proportions that was responsible for launching an experimental aircraft that catastrophically crashed, then who better to enlist into the study of how and why the experiment failed than an expert on those very same balloons? Namely, Dr. Lincoln LaPaz.

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