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...
14-11-2023
Starship Could Be Ready to Launch on Friday
SpaceX Starship's Superheavy Booster at Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas (Credit : Mobilus In Mobili)
Space exploration should never be run of the mill nor something that finds itself on the back pages of the newspaper. Captain James T. Kirk was right that space really is the final frontier and making it more accessible is one of the driving forces behind SpaceX. Their mission to seek out new life and new civilisations, wait that’s wrong – that’s Starfleet. The SpaceX mission ‘to revolutionise space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets is at the forefront of the development of the enormous Starship which may make another launch attempt as soon as this Friday 17th November.
SpaceX is a company that shot to fame since it was founded (I really wanted to type ‘launched’ but resisted) back in 2002 by Elon Musk. Musk had a vision to revolutionise space exploration by reducing costs and more excitingly he wanted to colonise Mars. SpaceX operate the Falcon rockets, the Dragon capsule that is often transporting supplies to and from the International Space Station and skywatchers around the globe are familiar with the infamous Starlink project that has launched more than 5,000 small satellites into orbit providing global internet coverage. There is no doubt the SpaceX brand is a well known one.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched from Launch Complex 39A (Credit : NASA/Joel Kowsky)
One of the more recent additions to the SpaceX fleet is the super heavy lift launch vehicle known rather imaginatively as Super Heavy and, when coupled with Starship in its final configuration has the capability of lifting at least 150 tonnes into low earth orbit. It is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever to have flown at an immense 120m tall but the real headline statement for Starship is that it is designed to be fully re-usable with both stages being recovered after launch and used again. If you haven’t yet watched the Starship stages landing then you really should hunt them down, I never tire of watching it.
The plans for Super Heavy and Starship are not just to get objects into low earth orbit though, there are plans to use them to refuel other Starships in orbit, to be a part of the NASA Artemis program to get humans back to the Moon and ultimately the colonisation of Mars. The power behind Super Heavy are the powerful Raptor rocket engines that burn liquid methane and oxygen to get off the launchpad but fire again to slow down the booster during descent to a graceful landing, ready to be used again.
SpaceX sea-level Raptor at the company headquarters at Hawthorne, California (Credit : Brandon De Young)
This all sounds pretty amazing but as we saw on 20 April this year, space flight is anything but routine. Four minutes after launch, at an altitude of 39km above the Gulf of Mexico, Musk’s beloved Starship failed to separate from the booster leading to the whole system exploding in a fireball on its maiden voyage. The FAA grounded the entire fleet but, it looks like we may be set for a fresh attempt this Friday 17th November subject to final approval from the FAA. If or when the launch finally goes ahead, it will be from a new reinforced launch site and will use a new separation technique known as Hot Staging where the second stage engines will fire to put the booster away! Good luck SpaceX.
Old footage shows unknown ancient devices found during Nazi expeditions in Antarctica and Egypt
Old footage shows unknown ancient devices found during Nazi expeditions in Antarctica and Egypt
This is said to be a rare footage from an unknown private film collection archive, that supposedly shows objects and ancient devices that were discovered and then taken away during the Nazi expeditions in Egypt and Antarctica, which are still secret!
I do know for a fact that many artifacts have been looted in previous wars but I have never seen anything like this before.
It would be great if it could be proven that the ancient artifacts shown in the short film were made by ancient civilizations with advanced technology, extraterrestrial intervention, or other supernatural explanations, but... as long as they keep it a secret and withhold the truth about our history, the origin of these objects will remain a mystery.
It will be interesting to learn how they will explain the discovery of these objects.
UFO the size of a football field hovered over Vandenberg Air Force Base
UFO the size of a football field hovered over Vandenberg Air Force Base
In 2003, an unidentified flying object, comparable in size to a football field, reportedly hovered over Vandenberg Air Force Base, as disclosed during a House Oversight Committee's national security subcommittee hearing on UFOs. The hearing, held on Wednesday, delved into UFOs, now termed "unidentified anomalous phenomena" by the U.S. government.
The proceedings included whistleblower accounts that shed light on purported government UFO programs spanning multiple decades, according to retired major David Grusch. Former Navy fighter jet pilot Ryan Graves, founder of the non-profit Americans for Safe Aerospace, presented testimony regarding the alleged UFO sighting at Vandenberg.
During questioning by Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Graves recounted the 2003 incident: "In the 2003 timeframe, a sizable group of Boeing contractors near a launch facility at Vandenberg observed a large, 100-yard-sided red square approaching from the ocean. It hovered at low altitude over the launch facility for about 45 seconds before rapidly darting off over the mountains around 8:45 a.m."
Graves further described a subsequent event 24 hours later, involving additional sightings on the base, with some objects displaying aggressive behavior toward security guards. The information, according to Graves, came from a witness who approached him at Americans for Safe Aerospace, and this witness possessed documented police blotter and records from the 2003 incidents.
Testimonies from former Major Grusch and ex-U.S. intelligence officer David Fravor were also part of the hearing, although they refrained from answering certain questions. Representative Tim Burchett emphasized the importance of government transparency in addressing the issue, clarifying that the aim was to uncover facts without sensationalizing the subject.
Shocking Encounter: 6 British Soldiers Face Triangular UFO & Missing Time Near Salisbury Plain!
Shocking Encounter: 6 British Soldiers Face Triangular UFO & Missing Time Near Salisbury Plain!
Unveiling the Mystery: The Enigmatic UFO Sightings Over Salisbury Plain
In the realms of the unexplained and the unknown, few phenomena capture the imagination quite like UFO sightings. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a particularly fertile period for such sightings, with numerous reports of mysterious crafts filling the skies worldwide. Among these, the Salisbury Plain incident in the UK stands out for its complexity and intrigue.
The Encounter: A Triangular Enigma
It was a cold winter night in 1989-1990 when a group of six British soldiers, engaged in night maneuvers near Salisbury Plain, witnessed something extraordinary. Their encounter with a colossal, black, triangular craft, reportedly the size of a football pitch, marked a chilling chapter in UFO sightings history.
Renowned UFO researchers Jon King and Timothy Good have scrutinized this incident, adding credibility to the soldiers’ accounts. King, the editor of “UFO Reality,” and Good, a respected figure in the field, bring a critical eye to these unexplained events, which often go dismissed as mere fantasy or misidentified military exercises.
Advanced Technology: Beyond Human Capabilities
What sets the Salisbury Plain sighting apart is not just the size of the craft but its purported advanced technology. Comparable sightings in Belgium, where UFOs executed maneuvers impossible by today’s aviation standards, echo this narrative of technological marvels. These crafts’ abilities to move thousands of meters in a blink have fueled theories ranging from extraterrestrial visitations to top-secret military projects.
The Human Experience: A Soldier’s Tale
Central to the Salisbury Plain story is Mark, a former British soldier whose identity remains concealed for fear of repercussions. His experience, and that of his fellow soldiers, encapsulates the human element in UFO encounters. The group’s collective memory lapse, the strange sensations of being controlled, and the appearance of a mysterious figure dressed in black, wielding a rod-like object, all contribute to a deeply unsettling experience.
The Aftermath: Questions and Theories
The soldiers found themselves disoriented and off-course, grappling with missing time and lingering emotional distress. Such experiences raise profound questions about the nature of these sightings. Are they evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence, or do they hint at something else entirely?
VIDEO:
The Salisbury Plain UFO encounter remains an enigmatic piece in the vast puzzle of UFO sightings. It challenges our understanding of technology, physics, and perhaps the very notion of life beyond our planet. As we continue to seek answers, stories like these keep the flame of curiosity alive, urging us to look skyward and question what lies beyond.
Mysterious Night Skies: Dual UFOs Captured Over Alicante, Spain
Mysterious Night Skies: Dual UFOs Captured Over Alicante, Spain
In the serene night skies of the Province of Alicante, Spain, a remarkable event unfolded on the 12th of November, 2023, reigniting the ever-fascinating discussion of UFO sightings. This time, the awe-inspiring moment was captured through a night vision camera, NVG10, presenting a crystal-clear and intriguing view of what appears to be two interconnected UFOs.
The footage, filmed with the cutting-edge NVG10 night vision camera (Amazon link), known for its high-resolution imaging and advanced low-light capabilities, showcases a pair of luminous, unidentified flying objects. These UFOs, linked together by an unexplained force, glide seamlessly across the nocturnal backdrop, leaving viewers mesmerized and curious about their origin.
This sighting in Alicante, a region known for its picturesque landscapes and tranquil nights, adds a new chapter to the ever-growing anthology of UFO encounters. The two linked objects, with their synchronized movement and radiant appearance, challenge our understanding of the skies above and beckon us to question what lies beyond our terrestrial realm.
What makes this footage particularly compelling is the clarity provided by the NVG10 camera. Its ability to capture detailed images in low-light conditions has not only provided UFO enthusiasts with captivating visual evidence but also has sparked interest among skeptics and scientists alike.
As the debate around the existence of extraterrestrial life continues, this latest sighting in Alicante offers a fresh perspective and a tantalizing glimpse into the unknown. Whether these UFOs are a testament to otherworldly visitors, a natural phenomenon, or something else entirely, remains a topic of intrigue and wonder.
For those keen on exploring the mysteries of the night sky, the NVG10 night vision camera emerges as a tool of choice, bridging the gap between the seen and the unseen, and potentially unlocking new secrets of our universe.
As we delve into this extraordinary encounter, we invite you to watch the video and join the conversation. What are these mysterious objects? Are we alone in this vast cosmos, or is this sighting in Alicante a beacon of otherworldly presence? The skies above continue to hold their secrets, but with each new sighting, we inch closer to unraveling the mysteries of the universe.
NASA has temporarily lost the ability to communicate with its Mars fleet, according to a statement issued by the space agency citing a phenomenon that occurs every two years that blocks commands from being sent to its robotic explorers.
The phenomenon, known as Mars solar conjunction, occurs when the Sun moves between Earth and Mars every other year.
“Like dancers on either side of a huge bonfire, the two planets are temporarily invisible to each other,” reads a NASA FAQ page describing the biennial celestial event.
The Sun photographed by Perseverance on Nov. 7, 2023 (Sol 965), just prior to the onset of the 2023 Mars solar conjunction
(NASA/Caltech).
NASA says its rovers and orbital craft currently engaged in science missions on Mars will not discontinue operations, although data collection will remain limited for two weeks while Earth and Mars remain on either side of the Sun.
This year’s solar moratorium officially began on November 11 and will last until the 25th.
During the period of interrupted communication, some of the instruments are temporarily taken offline by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and no new instructions are dispatched to the robotic scientists on the Red Planet due to the likelihood that they will be lost once they encounter the interference caused by the Sun and the highly charged particles it emits.
However, in preparation for the communication breakdown, NASA sends two weeks’ worth of commands to its Mars fleet so that limited operations can continue.
Perseverance captured a selfie from the location where it will remain parked during the 2023 Mars solar conjunction
(NASA/Caltech).
Currently, NASA says its Perseverance and Curiosity rovers are being tasked with ongoing monitoring of surface conditions on Mars, as well as observations of weather conditions, radiation levels, and other information their onboard sensors can continue to monitor.
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has also been tasked with observing the motion of sand on the Red Planet throughout the course of the solar conjunction, while the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Odyssey orbiter will keep their camera eyes trained on the Martian surface from their positions in orbit, along with the MAVEN spacecraft’s collection of data about the Martian atmosphere.
Limited information about the status of the Mars fleet will continue to be dispatched back to NASA, all except for a period of two days at the height of the conjunction where Mars and Earth are on the exact opposite ends of the Sun from each other.
“We’ll still be able to hear from them and check their states of health over the next few weeks,” said Roy Gladden, manager of the Mars Relay Network at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in a NASA statement.
After November 25, full communication is expected to be restored, and science data that has remained in limbo for the previous two weeks will be sent back to Earth, while new instructions will also be sent to the Mars fleet.
NASA Wants to Learn to Live Off the Land on the Moon
Artist rendition of an In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technology demonstration on the lunar surface. NASA is working with industry and academia to develop technologies for future production of fuel, water, or oxygen from local resources, thus advancing space exploration capabilities. (Credit: NASA)
NASA Wants to Learn to Live Off the Land on the Moon
In preparation for the upcoming Artemis missions to the lunar south pole, NASA recently solicited a Request for Information (RFI) from the lunar community to map out its future Lunar Infrastructure Foundational Technologies (LIFT-1) demonstration for developing In-situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) technologies as part of the agency’s ambitious Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative (LSII). The primary goal of LIFT-1, which is being driven by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), is to advance ISRU technologies for extracting oxygen from the lunar regolith, including manufacturing, harnessing, and storing the extracted oxygen for use by future astronauts on the lunar surface. Proposals for LIFT-1 became available to be submitted via NSPIRES on November 6, 2023, with a deadline of December 18, 2023.
Artist rendition of future Artemis astronauts on the lunar surface using available resources for production of fuel, water, and oxygen. (Credit: NASA)
“The LIFT-1 demonstration creates a viable path to launch, land, and conduct operations on the lunar surface. This is the infusion path we need for ongoing industry and NASA center-led technology development activities,” said Dr. Prasun Desai, who is the acting associate administrator of STMD at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. “Using in-situ resources is essential to making a sustained presence farther from Earth possible. Just as we need consumables and infrastructure to live and work on our home planet, we’ll need similar support systems on the Moon for crew and robots to operate safely and productively.”
NASA is heavily invested in developing ISRU technologies and is in collaboration with industry and academia in a wide range of studies involving lunar regolith, including construction, oxygen extraction, and growing plants. In addition to using lunar regolith to extract oxygen, efforts are being made to extract oxygen from lunar water ice, which is the primary reason Artemis is targeting the lunar south pole due to its proximity to the permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) of the Moon.
Lunar regolith being used to grow plants at the University of Florida, which is an example of NASA collaborating with academia in developing ISRU technologies for future human missions to the Moon. (Credit: UF/IFAS photo by Tyler Jones)
The purpose of ISRU is to “live off the land” through the resources that are available on-hand without the need for constant resupply from Earth. Future astronauts on both the Moon and Mars will need both food and water to survive for long-term missions, and supply missions from Earth can be both costly and risky, especially as humans venture farther out into the cosmos. Therefore, steps are being taken to learn how future astronauts can use available resources to their benefit, specifically for food, water, and oxygen.
An example of the most recent off-Earth ISRU technology demonstration is the toaster-sized Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) onboard NASA’s Perseverance rover with the goal of extracting oxygen from the carbon dioxide-heavy Martian atmosphere, which was accomplished in April 2021, only a few months after Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater. After just over an hour of the test, MOXIE produced 5.37 grams (0.01 pounds) of breathable oxygen, which is enough breathable oxygen for an astronaut to use for approximately 10 minutes. After this successful test, NASA now aspires to use develop similar technologies on the Moon using lunar resources, specifically lunar regolith and water ice found at the poles.
“An ISRU technology demonstration approach has been a topic of discussion within the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative and Consortium communities for several years,” said Niki Werkheiser, who is the director of Technology Maturation in STMD at NASA. “This RFI is the next phase to make it a reality.”
As noted, LIFT-1 is part of NASA’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative, but developing ISRU technologies is just one of six areas the Initiative is targeting, with the other areas of interest being surface power, excavation and construction, extreme environment, dust mitigation, and extreme access. The development of these various technologies is a massive collaborative effort between various industries and academia, and will involve both human and robotic exploration efforts, as well. But development of these various technologies will not be limited to just the Moon, as NASA is hoping to use the lessons learned from Artemis to establish the necessary technologies for future human missions to Mars and beyond.
Artist illustration showing the construction of a landing pad at a future lunar base. (Credit: European Space Agency)
How will ISRU help improve the upcoming Artemis missions and what new discoveries with ISRU technologies will be made in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
If You Account for the Laniakea Supercluster, The Hubble Tension Might Be Even Larger
One of the great unsolved mysteries of cosmology is known as the Hubble tension. It stems from our inability to pin down the precise rate of cosmic expansion. There are several ways to calculate this expansion, from observing distant supernovae to measuring the Doppler shift of maser light near supermassive black holes, and they all give slightly different results. Maybe we don’t fully understand the structure of the Universe, or maybe our view of the heavens is biased given that we are located deep within a galactic supercluster. As a new study shows, the bias problem is even worse than we thought.
If we were floating deep in space, far away from any galaxies, then our view of cosmic expansion would be free of gravitational influences and we could better see how distant galaxies move away from us. Since we are part of a local cluster of galaxies, we have a bit of bias in our data. This is why many local galaxies are blue-shifted. The Universe isn’t contracting near us, we’re just in a galactic gravitational well. We can easily account for this bias, so it isn’t a problem. However, given the Hubble tension, a team recently looked for gravitational biases beyond the local group, hoping it would solve the issue.
They looked at the largest gravitational structure we’re a part of, known as the Laniakea Supercluster. It is a massive cluster of galaxies more than 520 million light-years across, containing more than 100,000 galaxies, including the Milky Way. Our local group is being pulled toward the heart of Laniakea, and thus our motion through the Universe could skew our observations of cosmic expansion.
Observations show a statistical bias in the data. Credit: Giani, et al
When the team measured the gravitational influence of the supercluster as a whole, they found it does bias our observations by about 2% – 3%. But it’s biased in the wrong direction. In other words, by not taking the effect of Laniakea into account, the Hubble tension seemed smaller than it actually is. These new results show that the tension is 2% – 3% greater than we thought. Even some of the more recent Hubble constant measurements that seemed encouraging aren’t enough to account for the Laniakea bias.
Removing subtle biases from our cosmological data is challenging, so it is possible that further observations may swing the results back in the right direction. But we can’t rely on bias alone to solve this mystery. Clearly, something subtle and strange is going on, and the solution isn’t obvious. It will take a great deal more study to understand Hubble’s tension.
This image was taken by a small camera that was jettisoned from China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft to photograph the spacecraft in orbit above the Martian north pole. Credit: CNSA/PEC
China continues to take great strides as part of its goal to become a superpower in space and a direct competitor with NASA. In addition to its proposed expansion of the Tiangong space station and the creation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), China is also planning on sending crewed missions to Mars in the coming decade. In preparation for the arrival of taikonauts on the Red Planet, China is gearing up to return samples of Martian soil and rock to Earth roughly two years ahead of the proposed NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return (MSR).
This mission will be the third in the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) Tianwen program (Tianwen-3) and will consist of a pair of launches in 2028 that will return samples to Earth in July 2031. According to a new study recently published in the journal Chinese Science Bulletin, Chinese scientists announced that they have developed a new numerical model to simulate the atmospheric environment of Mars. Known as the Global Open Planetary atmospheric model for Mars (aka. GoPlanet-Mars, or GoMars), this model offers research support in preparation for the Tianwen-3 mission.
A wireless camera took this ‘group photo’ of China’s Tianwen-1 lander and rover on Mars’ surface. Credit: Chinese Space Agency
In the past two decades, the number of missions and space agencies engaged in the exploration of Mars has increased considerably. At present, ten robotic missions are exploring its surface and atmosphere, including seven orbiters, two rovers, and one helicopter. And with many more destined for Mars in the next decade (as well as crewed missions), the demand for Martian weather forecasts is growing. As they indicate in their paper, “The world’s aerospace powers have developed Mars atmosphere models to provide meteorological environment protection for landing exploration.”
To provide information on the meteorological conditions around the Tianwen-3 mission’s potential landing sites, the research team built a global open planetary atmospheric model for Mars. They then used this model to replicate the three critical cycles of the Martian atmosphere: dust, water, and carbon dioxide. They then tested the model using the Open access to Mars Assimilated Remote Soundings (OpenMARS) dataset, a global record of Martian weather from 1999 to 2015, as well as observations made by China’s Zhurongrover (part of China’s Tianwen-1 mission) and NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 landers.
Their results showed that the GoMars model successfully reproduced the unique characteristics of surface pressure on Mars and provided good simulation performance for the surface temperature, zonal wind, polar ice, and dust. According to Wang, the Tianwen-3 mission will expand upon Tianwen-1 by adding the additional tasks of landing, sampling, and returning, which requires detailed information about Mars’ atmospheric conditions. This is crucial given how sandstorms caused multiple missions to be lost, such as Opportunity, Insight, and Zhurong – all due to the buildup of dust on their solar panels.
In addition, the Perseverance rover suffered damage to one of its wind sensors during a sandstorm due to airborne pebbles colliding with it. Since observation data is in short supply for Mars, the model also has applications for virtual reality simulations. This is necessary when prepping missions to remote planets, which helps them design vehicles and select appropriate landing sites. In this respect, a “virtual Mars” program that incorporates GoMars and future observations could take a lot of the guesswork out of future mission planning.
Since the 1960s, when the Soviet and American space programs began sending probes to Mars, scientists have been developing Martian atmospheric models in the hopes of overcoming the “Mars Curse.” With a growing number of nations sending missions to Mars, the need for climate modeling has become all the more crucial. In the end, dust and weather can have a significant impact on the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) phase. They can also affect surface operations, particularly where solar panels, communications, and sensitive instruments are concerned.
They can also be a problem during the ascent phase, where missions attempt to reach orbit and return to Earth – for example, as part of a sample return mission. As Wang commented in an interview with the Xinhua News Agency:
“The dust cycle on Mars is as important as the water cycle on Earth. GoMars can be used to simulate the dust activity before and after the rover’s dormancy, which can provide atmospheric environment data to analyze the possible causes of the dormancy. For example, GoMars can simulate the temperatures of the landing zone, and scientists can use these data to design materials that are suitable for building Mars rovers to cope with extreme cold.”
Early in the next decade, NASA and the ESA also intend to send the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission to retrieve samples obtained by the Perseverance rover. This will consist of a NASA Sample Retrieval Lander, two Sample Recovery Helicopters, a Mars Ascent Vehicle, and an ESA Earth Return Orbiter. NASA and the ESA currently expect this mission to launch no sooner than 2033, coinciding with NASA’s first crewed mission to Mars leaving Earth. Clearly, the new Space Race extends beyond the Moon and now includes reaching Mars!
The Oort Cloud Might be More Active Than We Thought
Every now and then a comet or asteroid comes to our solar system from interstellar space. We have observed two interstellar objects in recent years, Oumuamua in 2017, and Borisov in 2019. One would assume then that in the past at least some interstellar objects have struck Earth. But we’ve never found an interstellar meteorite. A new study argues that this is because the Oort cloud is much more active than we thought.
The Oort cloud is a halo of icy material on the outermost edge of the solar system, where the Sun’s gravity is barely strong enough to hold them in a stellar orbit. When another star passes somewhat near the Sun, members of the Oort cloud can be nudged toward the inner solar system, where they can become long-period comets. We have never observed the Oort cloud, but we know it’s there because comets can approach the Sun from every direction, not just the orbital plane of the planets.
Astronomers can distinguish between Oort cloud objects and interstellar objects by their orbits. Interstellar objects have a hyperbolic orbit, meaning that if you traced their path purely under the gravitational influence of the Sun, it would continue on to interstellar space, never to return. Oort cloud objects, on the other hand, have an orbital path that is closed. They may travel to the most distant region of space, but they are gravitationally bound to the Sun.
Of course, some interstellar objects could make a close approach to Jupiter or another planet, where the gravitational tug of that world shifts it into a bound orbit. So some interstellar objects could appear similar to Oort cloud objects. The opposite chance encounter, where an Oort cloud object is nudged into a hyperbolic orbit, was thought to be much more rare.
The path of a meteor as calculated from observations. Credit: Peña-Asensio, et al
We have observed some meteors with hyperbolic paths. By combining multiple images of a meteor path, we can calculate the path of entry into Earth’s atmosphere. In this study, the team looked at a meteor seen in Finland in 2022, which appeared to have a hyperbolic path. They found that based on the uncertainties of the observations, the meteor is statistically more likely to be a perturbed Oort cloud object rather than a true interstellar object. Applying the same statistics to six other hyperbolic meteors, they found four of them showed a similar statistical leaning toward being Oort objects. This would imply that most hyperbolic meteors are not interstellar.
Interstellar objects have still likely struck Earth, but more rarely than the initial data suggested. So our search for interstellar meteorites is going to be a challenge.
David Grusch Claims UFO Secrecy Orchestrated by Manhattan Project’s Key Figures and Corporations
David Grusch Claims UFO Secrecy Orchestrated by Manhattan Project’s Key Figures and Corporations
Unraveling the Shadows: The Link Between UFO Secrecy and the Manhattan Project
In a riveting disclosure, UFO whistleblower David Grusch has brought to light a startling connection between the Manhattan Project’s veil of secrecy and the ongoing UFO coverup. His revelations, based on intimate knowledge and extensive research, suggest a deep-rooted conspiracy involving government and corporate entities, intricately woven into the fabric of American history.
David Grusch says the UFO coverup was initiated by the same personnel and corporate elements that oversaw the Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project, a clandestine operation that birthed the atomic bomb, was marked by an unprecedented level of secrecy. Grusch asserts that this very framework of concealment was later adapted to mask the truth about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). He points out the involvement of both federally funded research centers and private corporations, intricately linked to the US government, in this elaborate coverup.
Grusch’s insights are particularly relevant in the context of the Schumer Amendment, a legislative proposal that seeks to shed light on government secrets. This amendment, citing the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, hints at the intricate relationship between nuclear secrets and UFO information. Grusch suggests that the amendment’s reference to ‘transclassified’ nuclear information (TFNI) is no coincidence. This process, wherein a foreign nuclear secret is appropriated and reclassified as a US asset, mirrors the alleged tactics used to conceal UFO information.
Moreover, Grusch’s testimony is not solitary. He has provided detailed evidence to congressional committees and the Inspector General, including specific facilities and addresses. This information is further bolstered by accounts from individuals who have firsthand experience with these covert programs.
As we delve deeper into Grusch’s revelations, we confront a perplexing narrative that blurs the lines between national security and the public’s right to know. His narrative not only raises questions about the extent of governmental secrecy but also underscores the role of private corporations in shaping the narrative on UFOs.
Full interview:
In essence, David Grusch’s exposé opens a window into a shadowy world where the legacy of the Manhattan Project extends far beyond nuclear weapons, casting a long shadow over one of the most enigmatic and debated topics of our time – UFOs.
The Pentagon's outgoing UFO chief has said he does believe extraterrestrial life exists - but that you'd have to go to Mars or beyond to find it.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the longtime laser and materials physicist and head of the Pentagon's UFO-chasing All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, delivered his assessment following news of his retirement from government service.
Kirkpatrick's 18-month tenure as the office's first-ever director has been laced with controversy, as expected for an area once relegated to the scientific fringe.
In the summer, there was a Congress hearing into claims the American government is covering up its knowledge of alien craft - which included the resurfacing of the 'Tic Tac' shaped UFO saga from 15 years ago.
Kirkpatrick's office was established in July 2022. He said his mission is to 'is raise the level of the conversation' around aliens and their potential existence.
Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, the longtime laser and materials physicist and head of the Pentagon 's UFO-chasing All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office delivered his assessment following news of his retirement from government service
The description 'Tic Tac' was used for the 'perfectly white' wingless oblong that was captured from a cockpit's in-flight video (pictured)
When asked by Politico if aliens are real, he said: 'That is a great question. I love that question.
'Number one, the best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens, right? Because if we don’t prove there are aliens, then what we’re finding is evidence of other people doing stuff in our backyard. And that’s not good.
'Two, from a scientific perspective: The scientific community will agree that it is statistically invalid to believe that there is not life out in the universe, as vast as the universe is and the number of galaxies and solar systems and planets.
'That is what part of NASA’s mission is to look for that life. The probability, however, that that life is intelligent and that it has found Earth and that it has come to Earth and that it has repeatedly crashed in the United States is not very probable.
'So part of what we’ve been trying to do, and part of what I will continue to do until I’m done, is raise the level of the conversation.
'If you are talking with NASA or the European Space Agency, and you’re talking about looking for life out in the universe, it is a very objective, very scientifically sound discussion and discourse.
Kirkpatrick's 18-month tenure as the office's first-ever director has been laced with controversy, as expected for a mandate once relegated to the scientific fringe
'As that discussion gets closer to the solar system, somewhere around Mars, it turns into science fiction. And then as you get even closer to Earth, and you cross into Earth’s atmosphere, it becomes conspiracy theory.
'We need to change the level of the [public] conversation. It’s one of the reasons why we’ve engaged academia to work on a number of scientific papers that look at the probabilities of these things, and what are the signatures associated with that?
'So that we can benchmark what we’re doing in scientific proofs and in scientific fact and not hearsay and pointing fingers and government cover ups and conspiracies with no evidence of any of them.'
Kirkpatrick also revealed he's had over 30 whistleblowers 'come in to talk,' adding: 'We have investigated every single one of them, every single story, every lead that provided any substantive evidence for us to go after.'
According to the director of the Pentagon's UFO investigation office, 'the best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens.'
The alternative to what would be a literally Earth-changing discovery of extraterrestrial life exploring our own planet would be that a rival foreign power could be 'doing stuff in our backyard,' he said.
Kirkpatrick added: 'And that's not good.'
While some UFO whistleblowers now accuse Kirkpatrick of fostering an 'atmosphere of disinterest,' others have suggested his superiors are holding AARO's efforts back even though a few have described 'really positive' experiences with the office.
'I'm ready to move on,' Kirkpatrick told Politico, upon official confirmation of his retirement. 'I have accomplished everything I said I was going to do.'
Whistleblowers with knowledge of a classified UFO 'reverse engineering' program have opted to testify to the Senate intelligence committee, in part over their reported mistrust of Kirkpatrick and his Pentagon UFO office. Above, a page from Project 1794 declassified in 2012
Kirkpatrick added there remains lingering tasks he hopes to have finished — including the office's congressionally directed 'Historical Record Report' on UFOs, which is due to Congress in June 2024, over six months after Kirkpatrick's departure.
At a press conference this past Halloween, Kirkpatrick announced a new secure reporting mechanism designed to help the office investigate claims of alleged highly secretive and potentially illegal US government UFO programs.
'The reporting mechanism is for current or former US government employees, service members, or contractors with direct knowledge of alleged US government programs or activities related to UAP [UFOs] dating back to 1945,' he said.
Ever since UFOs exploded back into public consciousness with a series of New York Times exposes in December 2017, government officials, scientists and devotees have reframed the mysteries as unidentified aerial, or anomalous, phenomena: 'UAP.'
The new name hopes to add caution and reduce preconceived notions as to the true nature these airborne mysteries.
When asked at the Halloween press conference whether AARO has reached out to officials from adversarial foreign nations in an effort to pool UAP data, Dr. Kirkpatrick replied that the concept was a non-starter from a national security standpoint.
'We certainly have not reached out to any adversaries, for a variety of reasons, not the least of which they're adversaries,' Kirkpatrick said.
While the office's annual UAP report released this October found that 'none' of its hundreds of military UFO cases 'have been positively attributed to foreign activities,' Kirkpatrick expressed concern over telling, but less concrete, evidence.
'I am worried from a national security perspective,' Kirkpatrick told CNN in advance of the report's release.
'There are some indicators that may be attributed to foreign activity, and we are investigating those very hard,' he said.
This time last year, a classified 22-page report, compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, described hundreds of unresolved cases, some involving 'orbs' caught on drone cameras that were then seen 'suddenly bolting off the screen.'
Some non-government groups, including specialists Bellingcat, have offered prosaic explanations for one of these 'orbs' — but Kirkpatrick has openly speculated in a paper with Harvard physicist Dr. Avi Loeb that these UAP could be alien probes.
Despite serious concerns from AARO's soon-to-be-departing director that the solution the UAP mystery might prove to be advanced tech flown by a foreign power, evidence exists that these 'metallic orbs' predate even the Cold War era.
One 1944 Newsweek article, titled 'The Silver Sphere Puzzle,' explored similar cases of flying orbs during WWII, as did a report from the Associated Press headlined 'Balls of Silver Seen Over Reich Intrigue Science.'
Then too, journalists and investigators suspected it was a wartime anti-radar device from one of America's then-adversarial nations, Nazi Germany.
'It could be that those floating silver balls encountered by American airmen over the Reich are another German attempt to create interference for radio communications,' the AP's wartime radio editor wrote.
'The most common misconception is that [the possible phenomena] are all the same thing and they're all extraterrestrial,' as Kirkpatrick told ABC News last July, 'and neither of those are true.'
EXCLUSIVE: Woman spots two 'UFOs' from her garden in Stockport including one resembling the white 'Tic-Tac' spotted by the US Navy in 2004 - and experts are baffled
EXCLUSIVE: Woman spots two 'UFOs' from her garden in Stockport including one resembling the white 'Tic-Tac' spotted by the US Navy in 2004 - and experts are baffled
The two objects were seen over separate nights in the first week of October
Bizarre aerial objects are usually considered an American phenomena, but new imagery shows two over the north of England.
A 'concerned citizen', who wishes not to be named, has described sightings of the unidentified flying objects (UFOs) from her back garden in Stockport.
The first, described as looking like a square or triangle, had a hazy appearance and was changing shape and 'darting around the sky'.
Meanwhile, the second object – a much brighter white in colour and 'shaped like a Tic Tac' – kept vanishing and reappearing.
One of the most famous and unusual UFOs to date, spotted by the US Navy in 2004, was the floaty white oblong similar to the breath mint.
The 'concerned citizen' shared her encounter with two unidentified flying objects (UFOs) from her back garden in Stockport
A Department of Defense document reveals characteristics of the typical UFO
'The triangular one was so strange, it looked like it was made of metal with a dark hole in the centre,' the citizen told MailOnline.
'The Tic Tac one was cool too, it kept getting brighter then disappearing and coming back.'
The two 'questionable' objects, which were sighted by the resident over separate nights in the first week of October, left her feeling 'concerned'.
Nick Pope, a UFO expert formerly with the UK's Ministry of Defence, said the images and the story behind them are 'fascinating' but couldn't identify the aerial entities.
'It's not possible to discern much about this sighting from the photos alone,' Pope told MailOnline.
'Any mention of a Tic Tac-shaped object performing unusual manoeuvres is particularly intriguing given the US Navy sightings of such objects.'
Another British UFO researcher, Philip Mantle, said they could be 'conventional' objects such as drones or something else fairly explainable.
Bizarre aerial objects are usually considered an American phenomena, but new imagery shows two over the north of England
Composite of the bizarre objects which were seen on separate nights in the first week of October
'One thing that is cropping up a lot of late are lights from the ground, usually an outdoor attraction of some kind,' he told MailOnline.
'These huge spot lights reflect off the low cloud.
'They look different when viewed from different angles and can look very spectacular.
'I've looked at lots of alleged UFO photos down the years and most turn out to be something conventional.
'I see no reason why these photos should not be something conventional but they are such poor quality.'
According to the Defence and Security Media Advisory (DSMA) Committee, the matter falls under the remit of UK Space Command, who MailOnline has contacted for comment.
UFO stands for 'unidentified flying object' and so the term doesn't necessarily describe an object with an extraterrestrial origin.
One of the most famous and unusual UFOs to date, spotted by the US Navy in 2004, was compared with the Tic Tac breath mint due to its white, oblong appearance (pictured)
A recent Pentagon document revealed the typical UFO has a round shape, usually described as spherical or an orb, with a white or silver colour, often translucent.
Based on what we know from reported sightings between 1996 and 2023, other UFO shapes include rectangle, oval, triangle, disk, cylinder, square and even polygon.
Meanwhile, 16 per cent have been described as having lights, although in many cases this may have been due to their reflective qualities.
Former intelligence official said the DoD is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrials
The US government has been forced to take the presence of unidentified flying objects more seriously in recent months.
Former intelligence official David Grusch testified under oath in July that the Pentagon had first-hand encounters or knowledge of secret government programmes involving technology that is 'non-human'.
'My testimony is based on information I've been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy... whom have shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation and classified oral testimony to myself and many various colleagues,' Grusch said, adding that he was driven to share by a 'commitment to truth and transparency.'
Its release comes come roughly a month after David Grusch claimed the Pentagon is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrials in a bombshell testimony before Congress
'I am asking Congress to hold our government to this standard and thoroughly investigate these claims,' he told lawmakers at the time. 'But as I stand here under oath now, I am speaking to the facts as I have been told them.'
He told the committee that he and more than 30 aircrew members and veterans had experience of UAPs, unidentified anomalous phenomena, along with members of Congress who have confided in him.
He also claimed the government has 'intact and partially intact' extraterrestrial vehicles, although he provided no evidence to support that or any of his other assertions.
Suggesting the American people had been left in the dark for nearly a century, he claimed the first recovery of a UFO was in Magenta, Italy, in 1933 - 14 years before the Roswell incident (generally accepted as the first UFO sighting).
An artist's impression of the alleged 1933 UFO crash outside Magenta in northern Italy shows a craft shaped like a saucer
He said Mussolini's Italian government held it until 1944 through 1945 when Pope Pius XII tipped America off about it.
When asked if he firmly believes the government had UAPs, Grusch responded: 'Absolutely.'
He said his view was based on interviews with at least 40 witnesses.
Asked where the craft are, he said: 'I know the exact locations and those locations were provided to the inspector general ... I actually had the people with the first-hand knowledge provide a protected disclosure to the Inspector General.'
He further claimed he has faced brutal retaliation after coming forward about his firsthand accounts of UFOs.
'I do have knowledge of active planned reprisal activity against myself and other colleagues,' Grusch said.
'There were certain colleagues of mine that were brutally administratively attacked. It makes me very upset as a leader to see that happen to other co-workers and superiors of mine in the last three years.'
Guys, check this out! I found a UFO or I should say the cloaked outline of a UFO on Earths Sun. It's also in a ESA video released that has an earth size comparison below the UFO, which means the UFO is as big or bigger than our moon! Now the ESA announced that this video is the highest detail ever released on video of the sun by the solar orbiter recording the suns south pole region. The UFO is cloaked but the suns energy is reflecting off its edges revealing the location, size, and shape of the craft, not to mention its speed. The UFO is holding position, not moving and its size of the moon, its shape, like four cakes piled one on the other. I drew the shape I believe it to be and put it into the lower left corner of part of the video for you to compare. I have reported UFOs on and near the sun for over 15 years and this one is the best ever proof that UFOs do go to our sun, most likely to harvest some rare energy particles they need to power their advanced technology. This is 100% undeniable proof that UFOs exist and they are on our sun right now!
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Ruins, strange artifacts on other planets, moons, ed ( Fr, EN, NL )
LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 12/11/2023
LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS - 12/11/2023
20 Unexplained Mysteries In The Sky Caught On Camera
Gazing up at the sky is one of the first things that humans ever did. I mean, what is up there? We still don’t really know! But there are plenty of things we can spot that might give us some clues, and the skies seem to be especially busy these days! From the strange phenomenon known as a Red Sprite to the heavenly light pillars, let’s jump on our magic carpet and fly through 20 Unexplained Mysteries In The Sky Caught On Camera
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More than 270 UFO sightings reported over 8 months, Pentagon says
More than 270 reports of unidentified anomalous phenomena, known as UAPs or UFOs, were made to the U.S. government in a recent eight-month period, the Department of Defense said in a Tuesday report to Congress. Chris Impey, astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, joins CBS News to unpack the findings.
NASA report into hundreds of UFO sightings released | 7NEWS
What NASA Really Saw! | Secret Space UFOs: Apollo 1-11 | 2023 Documentary
The UFO phenomenon has been recorded far beyond the boundaries of Earth with hundreds of sightings during the Apollo missions 1-11. James Fox, Darcy Weir, Mike Bara and Richard Dolan discuss this hidden history of UFOs in space and structures on the Moon. A history of NASA's early Apollo missions as astronauts endeavor to set foot on the moon and go further in space than any man has before. 2023. Stars: Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Mike Bara
Mysterious UFO Sighting at Mori Point, Pacifica Captivates Observers
Mysterious UFO Sighting at Mori Point, Pacifica Captivates Observers
Pacifica, California – In an awe-inspiring display that has both enthusiasts and skeptics buzzing, a UFO was captured on a webcam at Mori Point, Pacifica, California. This remarkable event occurred on 9th June 2022 but it was just recently released.
The footage shows an enigmatic object performing intelligent movements, displaying an agility that defies conventional explanations. As it maneuvers through the sky, the UAP leaves behind a unique trail, only to disappear and then astonishingly re-emerge, further adding to the mystery surrounding its origins and intent.
What Sets This Sighting Apart?
Intelligent Movement:The UAP exhibited movement patterns that suggest a level of control and purpose, differentiating it from natural phenomena or identifiable man-made objects.
Disappearance and Reappearance:The object’s ability to vanish and then reappear is not only baffling but also challenges our understanding of known aircraft capabilities.
Captured on Webcam: The availability of clear webcam footage offers a rare and valuable opportunity for analysis and interpretation by both experts and the public.
A Hub for UFO Sightings
Mori Point, a scenic coastal bluff in Pacifica, is no stranger to UFO sightings, making this recent event part of a larger pattern that continues to intrigue and perplex observers. This latest sighting adds to the growing archive of UAP encounters along the California coast.
Implications and Ongoing Debate
This sighting at Mori Point ignites further debate about the nature of UFOs and their frequent appearances in our skies. Are they extraterrestrial visitors, secret military technology, or something else entirely? As the discussion continues, one thing is certain: the interest in and significance of UFO sightings remain as high as ever.
Diep onder het Afrikaanse continent en de Stille Oceaan, nabij het centrum van de aarde, bevinden zich vreemde en flinke ‘klonters’ (twee keer groter dan de maan). Decennialang was onduidelijk waar ze vandaan komen, maar Amerikaanse onderzoekers denken er nu uit te zijn: het zijn brokstukken van een andere planeet.
Dat schrijven onderzoekers in het blad Nature. Hun studie handelt over twee mysterieuze ‘blobs’ of ‘klonters’ die in de jaren tachtig van de vorige eeuw al zijn ontdekt (zie kader). Deze klonters – formeel aangeduid als Large Low-Velocity Provinces (LLVPs) zijn ongeveer twee keer groter dan de maan en bevinden zich nabij het centrum van de aarde. De ene LLVP bevindt zich diep onder het Afrikaanse continent. En de andere onder de Stille Oceaan. Onderzoek heeft reeds uitgewezen dat de LLVPs waarschijnlijk een andere samenstelling hebben dan de omringende aardmantel. Maar decennialang bleef onduidelijk waar het materiaal nu precies vandaan kwam.
LLVPs LLVPs bevinden zich diep in het binnenste van de aarde. Ze zijn niet te zien, maar toch weten onderzoekers vrij zeker dat ze er zijn. Hoe kan dat? Het is te danken aan seismische golven. Deze golven – die bijvoorbeeld ontstaan tijdens aardbevingen – kunnen door het binnenste van de aarde heen reizen. De snelheid waarmee ze dat doen, wordt bepaald door de samenstelling van dat binnenste. En tijdens metingen aan seismische golven ontdekten onderzoekers in de jaren tachtig dat die golven afgeremd werden. Het hintte op de aanwezigheid van twee grote klonters materiaal die een hoog ijzergehalte hebben en de seismische golven met hun hoge dichtheid en temperatuur vertragen. Onderzoekers besloten ze daarom aan te duiden als Large Low-Velocity Provinces, wat zoveel betekent als grote gebieden waarin de snelheid laag ligt.
Theia In een nieuwe studie denken Amerikaanse onderzoekers nu meer duidelijkheid te kunnen geven over de herkomst van de LLVPs. Hun onderzoek suggereert namelijk dat het om brokstukken gaat van Theia: een planeet die miljarden jaren geleden op de aarde klapte. Bij de zware botsing ontstonden grote brokstukken – zowel afkomstig van de aarde als van Theia – die uiteindelijk in een baan rond de aarde samenklonterden en zo de ons allemaal welbekende maan vormden.
Eureka! Die conclusie volgt uit een heus ‘eureka-moment’ dat zich voor onderzoeker Qian Yuan aandiende toen deze een seminar over planeetvorming bijwoonde. Eén van de sprekers presenteerde het verhaal over het ontstaan van de maan en het viel Yuan tijdens deze presentatie op dat de maan relatief rijk aan ijzer is. Het eureka-moment diende zich kort daarna aan, toen de spreker vertelde dat er op aarde – in tegenstelling tot de maan – geen spoor van Theia te vinden is. “Nadat hij gezegd had dat niemand wist waar de ingeslagen planeet nu is, had ik een ‘eureka-moment’,” vertelt Yuan. “Ik realiseerde me dat het ijzerrijke ingeslagen object getransformeerd zou kunnen zijn tot ‘mantelklonters’.”
Simulaties Samen met collega’s besloot Yuan dat scenario verder te onderzoeken. Ze gebruikten daarvoor onder meer modellen waarmee ze de botsing tussen de aarde en Theia simuleerden. En die bevestigden dat de botsing zowel de maan als klonters in het binnenste van de aarde kan hebben voortgebracht. “Middels simulaties van mantelconvectie ontdekten we dat de dichte, ijzerrijke materialen van Theia naar de onderkant van de aardmantel konden zinken en zich aldaar konden ophopen,” vertelt onderzoeker Mingming Li. “Het lijkt erop dat de klonters het resultaat zijn van een planetaire botsing die onze maan vormde,” concludeert collega Ed Garnero. “In andere woorden: de gigantische klonters die momenteel diep in de aarde, diep onder onze voeten, te vinden zijn, zijn buitenaards. De aarde bezit niet alleen klonters, de aarde heeft buitenaardse klonters!”
Het nieuwe onderzoek wijst erop dat de twee klonters in het binnenste van de aarde bestaan uit materiaal afkomstig van Theia. De klonters zijn flink; als je ze over het aardoppervlak zou uitsmeren, zouden ze een 100 kilometer dikke laag rond de volledige planeet vormen. Afbeelding: Hernan Canellas / Image courtesy of ASU.
Twee mysteries Met hun onderzoek lossen de wetenschappers mogelijk twee mysteries in één klap op. Allereerst natuurlijk het mysterie van de klonters: het nieuwe onderzoek verklaart – eindelijk – waar ze vandaan komen. Daarnaast lost het onderzoek ook een ander raadsel op, namelijk waarom er gek genoeg buiten de maan nooit materiaal van Theia is teruggevonden. Het onderzoek suggereert namelijk dat het leeuwendeel van de onfortuinlijke planeet door de jonge aarde is geabsorbeerd (en de resterende stukken zijn opgegaan in de maan).
“Dit onderzoek laat zien dat de enorme klonters (de LLVPs) diep in de aardmantel kunnen bestaan uit materialen van de planeet die op de proto-aarde insloeg en de maan vormde,” vertelt onderzoeker Mingming Li. “En dat de maan en de klonters dus dezelfde oorsprong kennen.” “Door naar binnen te kijken – naar het binnenste van de aarde – in plaats van naar buiten – naar de maan – hebben we nog een bewijsstuk gevonden voor de kosmische catastrofe die de gigantische inslag waarbij de maan ontstond, is,” concludeert onderzoeker Travis Gabriel.
Legislator Sergio Gutiérrez chairs a second UFO hearing in the Chamber of Deputies. I am again joined by Jimmy Church of Fade to Black Radio for LIVE coverage, and post-discussion of this second Mexican Chamber of Deputies landmark Public Hearing on UFOs. Mexico UFO Hearing
"That type of faulting can facilitate the exchange of surface and subsurface materials through shear heating processes, potentially creating environments conducive for the emergence of life."
(Left) a view of Titan around Saturn and (right) the Jovian moon of Jupiter.
(Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/ MSSS/ Kalleheikki Kannisto/ Space Science Institute)
Scientists are investigating specific geological features on the largest moons of both Jupiter and Saturn that could be ideal spots for the emergence of life elsewhere in the solar system.
The team, led by researchers from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, looked at what are called "strike-slip faults" on the Jovian moon, Ganymede — the solar system’s largest moon, bigger even than the planet Mercury — and Saturn's moon, Titan. Faults like these happen when fault walls move past each other horizontally, either to the left or the right, with a famous example here on Earth being the San Andreas fault. It's sort of like a giant crack, rift, or certain type of crevice in the ground.
Such seismic features are generated on these icy moons, scientists believe, when these bodies orbit their parent gas-giant planets. The planets' immense gravitational influences generate tidal forces that squash and squeeze the moons, inevitably flexing the natural satellites' surfaces. Plus, these tidal forces aren’t very consistent because the orbits of both moons are elliptical, meaning they are sometimes closer to Saturn or Jupiter. Other times, they're much farther away. That, in turn, leads to even stronger tidal forces.
"We are interested in studying shear deformation on icy moons because that type of faulting can facilitate the exchange of surface and subsurface materials through shear heating processes, potentially creating environments conducive for the emergence of life," Liliane Burkhard, lead author of the research and a scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, said in a statement.
Saturn’s moon, Titan, has surface temperatures of around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 179 degrees Celsius). This is incredibly cold — cold enough that the water of this moon actually plays the role of rock. It can crack, deform and, ultimately, form faults.
During its flybys of Titan, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft was able to determine that this moon of Saturn may have liquid water oceans tens of miles beneath its thick shell of ice. Additionally, Titan is the only solar system moon with a dense, Earth-like atmosphere, meaning it has a similar hydrological cycle with methane clouds, rain and liquid flowing across the surface to fill lakes and seas. For this reason, Titan is already considered one of just a few bodies in our solar system that could support life — as we know it, at least.
When the NASA Dragonfly mission (which launches in 2027) arrives at Titan in 2034, it will send a rotorcraft lander to fly across the frigid surface of this moon in an effort to hunt for those potential biological signs. That doesn't exactly mean it'll search for bug-eyed aliens, however. At the very least, the team hopes the lander will detect the chemical building blocks of life we're familiar with.
The Dragonfly mission is initially set to land at the Selk crater area on Titan, a region that is also of interest to Burkhard and the team. This is because when calculating the stress exerted on Titan’s surface as a result of tidal forces, the researchers weren't only focused on whether there might be signs of extraterrestrial life on the ground. They also explored the chance that the Selk crater region could be subjected to shear deformation to figure out whether it's a safe landing site option for Dragonfly in the first place.
"While our prior research indicated that certain areas on Titan might currently undergo deformation due to tidal stresses, the Selk crater area would need to host very high pore fluid pressures and a low crustal coefficient of friction for shear failure, which seems improbable," said Burkhard. "Consequently, it’s safe to infer that Dragonfly won’t be landing in a strike-slip ditch!"
Strike-slip faults at the San Andreas Fault (a) on Ganymede (b) and on Titan (Image credit: University of Hawaii)
Burkhard and colleagues also looked at the geology of the Jovian moon, Ganymede, to investigate the icy body’s history of tidal stress. In particular, the team looked at a bright region in the northwest of Ganymede called Philus Sulcus, which is composed of parallel sets of fractures.
The researchers basically looked at available high-resolution observations of the area to find that there were different degrees of tectonic deformation in bands of light terrain that cross over each other. The cross-cutting nature of these bands indicated to Burkhard and colleagues the existence of three distinct eras of geological activity — ancient, intermediate, and young.
"I investigated strike-slip faulting features in intermediate-aged terrain, and they correspond in slip direction to the predictions from modeling stresses of a higher past eccentricity," said Burkhard. "Ganymede could have undergone a period where its orbit was much more elliptical than it is today."
When investigating other parts of Philus Sulcus, the team found the direction of slip features to have different alignments. This implies these features may have been generated by processes other than high tidal stress. "So, Ganymede has had a tidal 'midlife crisis,' but its youngest 'crisis' remains enigmatic," Burkhard added.
The geologic investigations undertaken by this team and others are vital for informing the missions of spacecraft that aim to explore solar system moons like Titan and Ganymede. said Burkhard.
“Missions such as Dragonfly, Europa Clipper, and ESA’s JUICE will further constrain our modeling approach and can help pinpoint the most interesting locations for lander exploration and possibly for gaining access to the interior ocean of icy moons,” Burkhard concluded.
The team’s research is published across two papers in the journal Icarus.
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Op 13 juli 2023 scheerde planetoïde 2023 NT1 op een afstand van 100.000 km langs de aarde, en dat zonder dat wetenschappers ook maar ergens vanaf wisten. Dit roept de vraag op: in hoeverre kunnen we als mensheid de aarde beschermen tegen kleine(re) planetoïden zoals 2023 NT1? Wetenschappers uit Amerika hebben hiervoor mogelijk een oplossing bedacht.
In het onderzoek schrijven de onderzoekers dat kleine planetoïden, zoals 2023 NT1, ook wanneer ze op het moment van ontdekking al heel dicht bij de aarde in de buurt komen, nog kunnen worden vernietigd middels een methode die bekend staat als PI, oftewel ‘Pulverize it’. In het Nederlands betekent dit ‘verpulver het’. Bij deze methode wordt er gebruik gemaakt van een raket die een aantal doorborende staven als lading heeft. Sommige van deze staven zijn compleet van één materiaal gemaakt, anderen zijn gevuld met traditionele explosieven. Zodra de raket in de buurt komt van de planetoïde worden de staven afgeschoten en doorboren ze het vliegende gevaar. Dit zorgt er uiteindelijk voor dat de planetoïde in kleinere stukken breekt met een diameter van maximaal 15 meter.
Snelle reactie Het grote voordeel van PI is dat er erg snel gereageerd kan worden. Zo schrijven de wetenschappers dat zelfs op het moment dat een inslag enkele uren verwijderd is, de planetoïde nog steeds onschadelijk kan worden gemaakt. Zelfs in dat geval zullen de overgebleven brokstukken grotendeels verbranden in de atmosfeer. De schokgolf van de brokstukken die eventueel zouden landen hebben dan niet genoeg energie om significante schade toe te brengen aan natuurgebieden en steden. Op aarde zullen omstanders op het moment van doorboring dan vooral een grote lichtshow zien, welke bestaat uit een reeks (ongevaarlijke) knallen en flitsen.
Onzichtbaar PI is niet de enige manier waarop planetoïden vernietigd kunnen worden; wetenschappers hebben eerder al een andere verdedigingstechniek ontwikkeld. Hierbij wordt er gebruik gemaakt van deflectie. Een goed voorbeeld hiervan is het experiment dat ongeveer een jaar geleden werd uitgevoerd met de ruimtesteen Dimorphos. Bij deze test werd er een DART-ruimtesonde met een snelheid van 6 km/s tegen de ruimtesteen aan geknald. Het resultaat was een succesvolle koerswijziging van de ruimtesteen.
Het nadeel van deflectie is dat het plannen, bouwen en afschieten van de ruimtesonde al snel enkele jaren, zo niet decennia kan duren. Daarnaast kost het ook veel geld en materieel om zo’n ruimtesonde te bouwen. Het probleem met kleinere planetoïden is dat deze niet altijd enkele jaren, maar soms pas enkele weken of enkele dagen voor inslag pas waargenomen kunnen worden. Of, zoals bij 2023 NT1 het geval was, soms zelfs helemaal niet (zie kader).
Over 2023 NT1 2023 NT1 scheerde in juli op een afstand van zo’n 100.000 kilometer langs de aarde. Daarmee kwam de ruimtesteen ongeveer drie keer dichter bij dan de maan! Maar wetenschappers hebben dat gemist; ze ontdekten de ruimtesteen pas twee dagen later. In deze studie leggen de onderzoekers ook uit hoe dat komt: de ruimtesteen kwam vanuit de richting van de zon en ging dan ook als het ware schuil in het felle zonlicht.
Catastrofe voorkomen In het beste geval wordt een planetoïde al decennia of eeuwen van tevoren waargenomen voordat deze inslaat. In dat geval zou deflectie wel eens beter kunnen werken, omdat er dan een kleinere koerswijziging nodig is. In het onderzoek wordt dan ook meermaals benadrukt dat PI vooral bedoeld is als een toevoeging aan de beschikbare mogelijkheden, in plaats van een vervanging van de deflectiemethode.
Echter wordt er ook gewezen op het feit dat om iets op te kunnen blazen, je het wel eerst moet kunnen observeren. De onderzoekers benadrukken dan ook meermaals het belang van goede detectiemethoden. Hierbij wordt vooral hoopvol uitgekeken naar toekomstige observatoria zoals het Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) en NASA’s aankomende Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor. Het is dus erg mooi dát er nu een manier is bedacht om kleinere planetoïden zoals 2023 NT1 onschadelijk te kunnen maken, maar tegelijkertijd voelt het vooralsnog ook een beetje als jagen in het donker zonder zaklamp.
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Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
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