This consisted of the Nova-C spacecraft making its inaugural soft landing on the Moon, the first time an American spacecraft has done so in over 50 years. The IM-1 mission was also the first time a spacecraft used methalox – the combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen (LOX) – to navigate between the Earth and the Moon. While the IM-1 was not expected (or intended) to survive the lunar night, the data acquired by this mission could prove useful as the company continues to improve the lunar landing systems to deliver payloads to the Moon.

One of the company’s main objectives is to develop heat and power sources that can “keep systems from freezing during the lunar night.” This technology will greatly extend the life of lunar surface missions and facilitate the buildup of infrastructure on the Moon’s surface. A second Nova-C lander with the IM-2 mission will launch aboard a Falcon 9 no earlier than December 2024. This mission will land a drill and the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) mass spectrometer near the south pole of the Moon.

This NASA payload will demonstrate the feasibility of In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and measure the volatile content of subsurface samples. ISRU and the presence of water are vital to the creation of a lunar base and the ability to send crews to the lunar surface well into the foreseeable future. A third mission (IM-3) is scheduled for early 2025, which will carry four NASA payloads to the Reiner Gamma region of the Moon, a rover, a data relay satellite, and secondary payloads to be determined. All three launches were contracted as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

In addition, the IM-1 mission controllers and company managed to have a final farewell with the Odysseus mission before nightfall and the depletion of its battery power. On February 22nd, the lander transmitted a final image (shown below), which mission controllers in Houston received by February 29th. The image, Intuitive Machines said in a statement, “showcases the lunar vista with the crescent Earth in the backdrop, a subtle reminder of humanity’s presence in the universe. Goodnight, Odie. We hope to hear from you again.”

Further Reading: 

• Intuitive Machines

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

29-03-2024 om 23:12 geschreven door peter  

A team of European scientists has created the most detailed geological map of Oxia Planum ever. It took four years to complete and leans heavily on data from orbiters. The detailed map shows 15 units with characteristic geological features that can help decide how the rover explores the area. The map will also help the rover interpret its surroundings and collect evidence of primitive life.

Oxia Planum preserves a record of the forces that shaped the region and that shaped Mars. It’s a transitional region between Chryse Planitia, which contains lower elevation plains from the Amazonian/Hesperian, and Arabia Terra, the heavily cratered Noachian-aged region.

The sediments at Oxia Planum are nearly four billion years old. This will be the oldest site ever visited by a rover.

The new map has its roots in the COVID lockdowns. During that time, the Rosalind Franklin science team trained 80 volunteers to help them map Oxia Planum. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter supplied the data.

The result is a map that shows Oxia Planum’s geology in high detail. It shows types of bedrock and features like ridges and craters. It also shows crater ejecta and windborne dust. The map will not only help the rover navigate through difficult terrain; it’ll inform the choices of where to drill for samples.

“The map represents our current understanding of bedrock units and their relationships prior to Rosalind Franklin’s exploration of this location,” the map creators write in the paper presenting the map.

“The objectives of this map are (i) to identify where the most astrobiologically relevant rocks are likely to be found, (ii) to show where hypotheses about their geological context (within Oxia Planum and in the wider geological history of Mars) can be tested, (iii) to inform both the long-term (hundreds of metres to ~1 km) and the short-term (tens of metres) activity planning for rover exploration, and (iv) to allow the samples analyzed by the rover to be interpreted within their regional geological context,” the authors explain.

You can download the map and explore it here.

“The wider region was extensively modified during the late Noachian and Hesperian periods, as shown by evidence of fluvial and paleo-lake activity, possible shoreline formation, volcanism, and aqueous alteration,” the authors write. The Hesperian is when Mars lost its water and transitioned from a warm, wet environment to a dry, cold environment. Understanding how that happened is a primary goal in Mars science.

The map shows mound materials, different types of bedrock, features like Mensas and crater materials of different ages.

This is the highest-resolution map of the region ever made. With a scale of 1:25,000, each centimetre on the map equals 250 meters on Mars. Since Rosalind Franklin will travel an average of 25 to 50 meters each day, a day’s journey is one or two millimetres on the map.

The making of the map has already provided some benefits to the Rosalind Franklin mission. “The mapping exercise has provided the wider <ExoMars> rover team with a sound knowledge of the landing site and has also helped us to develop new geological hypotheses for the region,” the authors write.

The map is more than just a driving guide. It’s essentially a summary of our hypotheses about Mars. When the rover begins its mission, its initial exploration and drilling will test some of these existing hypotheses for Martian geology and history. Those results will inform the rover team, leading to better decisions about where to drill and explore. That will “… improve the chances of the mission meeting its search for life goals,” the authors explain.

“This map is exciting because it is a guide that shows us where to find the answers. It serves as a visual hypothesis of what we currently know about the different rocks in the landing site. The instruments on Rosalind Franklin will allow us to test our knowledge on the spot when the time comes,” explained Peter Fawdon, one of the lead authors from the Open University.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

29-03-2024 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Blue Cigar-Shaped UFO Captured Over Scottsdale, AZ: A Night to Remember

In the serene night sky of Scottsdale, Arizona, a remarkable event unfolded on March 28, 2024, that has since sparked the curiosity and excitement of UFO enthusiasts and skeptics alike. Amidst the familiar paths of airplanes from the nearby airport, a mysterious blue, cigar-shaped object made an appearance, distinguishing itself with its peculiar movements and sustained presence. This extraordinary sighting, captured on an iPhone 13 Pro, has become the latest sensation in the realm of UFO sightings, adding to the growing archive of unexplained aerial phenomena.

A Witness’s Account: A String in the Sky

The sighting was reported by a local resident of Scottsdale who was out for a routine evening walk with their dog. What was expected to be a typical stroll turned into a captivating encounter with the unknown. The witness described seeing “a strange blue light that looked like a string hanging in the sky.” This luminous entity was observed to move in a manner unlike any aircraft commonly seen in the area—ascending and descending gracefully, yet with an intent that defied simple explanation. For over 30 minutes, this blue, cigar-shaped UFO hovered in the night sky, performing a mesmerizing dance that was both enigmatic and awe-inspiring.

Despite the proximity to an airport, where the sight of planes is an everyday occurrence, the behavior and appearance of this object were distinctly out of the ordinary. It maneuvered at altitudes higher than those of passing aircraft, capturing the witness’s full attention until it eventually descended and vanished from sight.

The Implications of the Sighting

This incident in Scottsdale is not an isolated event but rather a part of a larger pattern of UFO sightings that continue to intrigue and puzzle observers around the world. Each account, including this latest one from Arizona, adds valuable data to the ongoing investigation into UFO phenomena. With every report, the call for a deeper understanding and more thorough exploration of these sightings grows louder, urging both scientific and public communities to ponder the possibilities that lie beyond our current comprehension.

Join the Quest for Answers

For those fascinated by the unknown, this sighting serves as an invitation to join the quest for answers. It encourages us to look up at the sky with curiosity and wonder, to question the nature of the unexplained, and to engage in the broader conversation about what lies beyond the visible spectrum of our everyday lives.

• https://youtu.be/z9c6rYI2foE

As the search for understanding continues, the importance of documenting and sharing observations becomes ever more evident. Whether you’re a seasoned UFO researcher or simply someone who marvels at the mysteries of the universe, your perspective is valuable. The Scottsdale sighting reminds us all of the infinite wonders that await discovery, urging us to keep our minds open and our eyes skyward.

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

29-03-2024 om 22:21 geschreven door peter  

• DailyMail.com has obtained two UFO videos recorded by an Indian police official
• The videos both depict an apparent craft near India's Kudankulam nuclear plant
• Protestors fought the Kudankulam nuclear plant for decades, citing safety issues
• READ MORE: Ukrainian drone films UFO in warzone, soldier asks 'Maybe ram it?'

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

India's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant has become a UFO hotspot after a police officer reported seeing odd aerial lights above it more than 10 times last summer.

Indian Police Service investigator Syed Abdul Kader shared two videos exclusively with DailyMail.com, which track the bright lights making 'zigzags' above the facility.

Fearing the craft was not manmade, Kader turned to his nation's leading UFO expert, who in 2019 filed a petition to the Supreme Court of India with the backing of former Pentagon officials and US Air Force vets — urging the south Asian nation to take all the unexplained sightings near its nuclear facilities more seriously. 

Kader's UFO encounters add international heft to domestic national security concerns within the US, following detailed Pentagon and civilian research into an eerie correlation between UFO sightings and America's tightly held nuclear arsenal.

While the shape, size and speed of Kader's mystery objects are difficult to discern, his footage shows them making unusual movements at the altitude of an airplane.

'It's shaking when it's moving! It's going up and down,' the confused cop narrates in one video, watching the UFO's bizarre and apparently non-aerodynamic maneuvers.

'The way it's moving,' he opines in the video, 'this could never be an airplane.'

India's Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant has become a UFO hotspot after a police officer reported seeing odd aerial lights above it more than 10 times last summer 

Roughly a dozen or so incidents last summer all involved apparent airborne craft loitering near the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (pictured above) at the southern tip of the subcontinent - as well as the Madras Atomic Power Station near Kalpakkam, along the country's east coast

'It's in a southern direction,' Kader told his wife during the August 8th sighting.

'It's standing [or hovering] in the direction of the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant.'

'It is always coming in at this time, when it is not too dark, nor too bright,' Kader's wife can be heard saying. 'I've seen this many times.'

While it is difficult for an outside observer to discern if the UFO is moving, or if Kader's camera is unsteady, DailyMail.com can report that some common prosaic explanations can likely be ruled out.

Such sightings have turned out to be distant planets, like Venus that is the third brightest object in the sky, after the sun and moon.

And the bright 'dog star,' Sirius, as well as the planets Jupiter and Mercury have also been occasionally misreported as UFOs.

However, in Kader's August 8 video, filmed at dusk (7:30PM local time), the eastern direction of the UFO at sunset refutes the notion that a common bright planet or star could explain the mystery's eerie aerial glow.

While the shape, size and speed of Kader's mystery objects are difficult to discern, his footage shows them making unusual movements at the altitude of an airplane 

Syed Abdul Kader shared two of the videos exclusively with DailyMail.com, which show bright lights whizzing up and down above the facility

Police sub-inspector Syed Abdul Kader (right), assigned to the technical wing of the Tirunelveli office - one hour's drive north of the Kudankulam nuclear plant - told UFO expert Sabir Hussain (left) that he filmed two videos of these unusual aerial phenomena or UAP

A sky map for that night and time, geolocated to the Kaders' hometown of Tirunelveli via TheSkyLive.com shows that Venus was completely obscured, below the western horizon and below the sunset. 

Most other bright stars and planets were also not in the eastern sky at that moment. 

At another point in the video, Kader's wife exclaims, 'It's so close. How come no one else is seeing this?'

To which Kader replies, 'No, that's why the DGP [Director General of Police] he, himself, has seen it [the UFOs]. And that's why everybody's talking about this.'

In fact, the Kaders' sightings to the south overlapped with weeks of others in July and August up India's east coast along the Neelankarai-Mahabalipuram shoreline.

That region, near the bustling city of Chennai, is home to the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam.

READ MORE: 

• Watch the incredible moment India made history, as its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft landed on the lunar South Pole for first time [Video]
• 

  India made history by becoming the first nation to land a spacecraft on the moon's south pole August 23, 2023

Kader's mysterious UFO videos were first secured by one of India's foremost UFO investigators, Sabir Hussain, director of the Indian Society for UFO Studies (INSUFOS) based in Chennai.

It was Hussain who petitioned the Supreme Court of India in 2019 warning that casually dismissing reports of UFO activity near the nation's sensitive atomic power sites could risks an unintentional nuclear war between India and its uneasy neighbor Pakistan.

His efforts came with letters endorsing his petition, by former US counterintelligence official and Pentagon UFO investigator Lue Elizondo, US Air Force veteran Robert Salas, and other UFO experts from America and Europe. 

'Syed came to my house,' Hussain told DailyMail.com. 'I debriefed him.'

'He told me that most of the time, [the UFO] was either coming from the direction of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, going towards it, or stationary in that direction.'

Officer Kader, Hussain told DailyMail.com, also stated that the UFOs were sometimes spotted hovering above the nearby Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Propulsion Complex.

Nestled alongside the mountainous Mahendragiri hill in the state of Tamil Nadu, the ISRO Propulsion Complex tests cryogenically stored rocket fuel among its other space program duties.

The ISRO facility is also approximately one hour's drive south of the Kaders' home, which is in the city of Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.  

A vocal advocate on the UFO issue, Hussain once voiced his suspicion that alleged alien occupants of such craft cut communications between ISRO and its Chandrayaan-2's Vikram lander in 2019 — for the south Asian nation's own good. 

'The extra-terrestrials have sent a message to the Indian government to get rid of your nukes before you explore other worlds,' Hussain told the Deccan Chronicle.

'You will not be allowed to land on the moon unless "they" decide to allow you.'

The fate of ISRO's Vikram lander aside, Hussain's new UFO witnesses, sub-inspector Kader and his wife, can at least be heard in their videos discussing the mysterious aerial phenomena's consistent apparent interest in the Kudankulam nuclear plant.

Kader's video-taped sightings, as Hussain told DT Next, 'happened just 10 days after former DGP [Director General of Police] Prateep V. Philip took pictures of a UFO on [the] Muttukadu sea shore near Chennai.'

Philip's rank of DGP is the highest position attainable in the Indian Police Service.

A sky map for that night and time (above), geolocated to the Kaders' hometown of Tirunelveli via TheSkyLive.com, shows Venus was completely obscured, below the western horizon and sunset. Most other bright stars and planets were also not in the eastern sky at that moment 

The Kaders' sightings to the south overlapped with weeks of sightings in July and August up the eastern coast, along the Neelankarai-Mahabalipuram shoreline. That region, near the city of Chennai, is home to the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam (above)

Hypothetical extraterrestrial interest in the Kudankulam nuclear plant, if correct, would join decades of active protests against the plant by concerned local civilians.

Thousands of local residents faced teargas shelling, imprisonment and prosecution under both terrorism and sedition charges by local police for speaking out against the nuclear energy plant. Even children with the protestors faced sedition charges.

In September of 2019 the Kudankulam nuclear plant was discovered to be infected with malware, which one cyber security analyst with CSO attributed to 'a false flag operation using stolen North Korean code to muddle attribution.' 

Hussain told DailyMail.com that the plant has faced corruption charges and safety concerns since before it first became operational a decade ago.

'Kudankulam, which is a focus of our attention,' Hussain said, 'came online only in 2013 after Fukushima disaster happened.'

'Ever since it came online, it has been shutting down once every two months,' he added. 'They are working only to 30 percent of their capacity. So you do the math.'

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Indian government's Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Ltd., which runs the plant, for comment. 

US Air Force ICBM launch officer Robert Salas (pictured left, and as a young man, right) told of his encounter with an orange flying disc that turned off 10 warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana in 1967  

An email shows AARO staff contacted former US Air Force ICBM launch officer Robert Salas to gather information about his encounter. He tweeted his thank you email from AARO 

This time last year, two Air Force veterans revealed to DailyMail.com's Josh Boswell that they had just testified to the Pentagon's UFO-hunting All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) about their experiences witnessing UFOs interfere with US nuclear missiles.

One email showed AARO staff contacting former US Air Force ICBM launch officer Robert Salas to gather information about his chilling encounter with an orange flying disc that inexplicably turned off 10 warheads at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana in 1967.

Another former officer, Dr. Robert Jacobs, also briefed AARO, testifying to a 35mm film he shot for the Air Force in 1964, which allegedly caught a flying saucer shooting a test missile out of the sky.

Although Salas described those early interactions with AARO officials as 'very magnanimous,' this month the disappointed Air Force veteran described the Pentagon office's most recent UFO report as 'a 'Steaming pile of ...' 

'I gave AARO a two hour PowerPoint presentation on the Malmstrom AFB incidents where twenty ICBMs were disabled during UFO encounters,' Salas said on the social media site X, speaking to incidents at the base beyond 1967. 

'The USGOV owes us, the informed public, much more respect on this subject,' he concluded, 'than offered by AARO's steaming pile of insults.' 

Read more:

• INDIA-PAKISTAN AND UFO IGNORANCE – HOW A NEGLECTED FACTOR CAN UNDERMINE U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY — Liberation Times | Reimagining Old News
• UFOs Responsible Behind ISRO Losing Communication With Chandrayaan-2's Vikram Lander? Find Out Here - News Nation English
• Identifying UFOs and UAPs | Night Sky Network
• Star Maps of Venus | TheSkyLive
• ‘UFO visits’ near key nuclear installations in Tamil Nadu baffle experts
• www.jstor.org/st...
• Protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project reach a climax – Digital for Good | RESET.ORG
• Kudankulam protests: Am I a terrorist, asks anti-nuclear activist Udhayakumar
• How a nuclear plant got hacked | CSO Online
• archive.is/chclS
• archive.is/1xRaA
• archive.is/uKnt0
• August 23, 2019 Before the Supreme Court of India - Sabir Hussain - YouTube

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

29-03-2024 om 01:40 geschreven door peter  

Astronauts Have Surprising Ability to Orient Themselves and Gauge Distance Traveled in Space: Study

New research has implications for crew safety in space and could potentially give clues to how aging affects people’s balance systems here on Earth.

Jörges et al. tackled the question of whether body posture influences human perception of self-motion and distance; they found some evidence that the same amount of optic flow can elicit the sensation of having traveled further when supine versus when sitting upright, that is, optic flow is more effective at eliciting a sense of self-motion when supine; this constitutes evidence that visual and non-visual cues are at least partially integrated even when self-motion is presented only visually; however, they did not find any significant differences between performance on Earth and in the microgravity of the ISS, suggesting that vestibular cues play a minor role, if any, in the estimation of visually presented self-motion.

“It has been repeatedly shown that the perception of gravity influences perceptual skill,” said York University’s Professor Laurence Harris, senior author of the study.

“The most profound way of looking at the influence of gravity is to take it away, which is why we took our research into space.”

“We’ve had a steady presence for close to a quarter century in space and with space efforts only increasing as we plan to go back to the moon and beyond, answering health-and-safety questions only becomes more important.”

“Based on our findings it seems as though humans are surprisingly able to compensate adequately for the lack of an Earth-normal environment using vision.

In the research, Professor Harris and colleagues studied a dozen astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which orbits about 400 km from the Earth’s surface.

“Here, Earth’s gravity is approximately cancelled out by centrifugal force generated by the orbiting of the station. In the resulting microgravity, the way people move is more like flying,” Professor Harris said.

“People have previously anecdotally reported that they felt they were moving faster or further than they really were in space, so this provided some motivation to actually record this.”

The authors compared the performance of a dozen astronauts — six men and six women — before, during, and after their year-long missions to the space station and found that their sense of how far they traveled remained largely intact.

Space missions are busy endeavors and it took the researchers several days to connect with the astronauts once they arrived at the space station.

“It’s possible our research was unable to capture early adaptation that may have occurred in those first few days. It’s still a good news message because it says that whatever adaptation happens, happens very quickly,” Professor Harris said.

{ https://www.sci.news/}

29-03-2024 om 00:40 geschreven door peter  

Study: Introduced Tardigrade Proteins Slow Metabolism in Human Cells

New research led by the the University of Wyoming, Laramie, provides additional evidence that tardigrade proteins eventually could be used to make life-saving treatments available to people where refrigeration is not possible and enhance storage of cell-based therapies.

Sanchez-Martinez et al. provide insights into how tardigrades induce reversible biostasis through the self-assembly of labile CAHS gels.

First discovered in 1773, tardigrades are a diverse group of microscopic invertebrates that are best known for their ability to survive extreme conditions.

Also known as water bears or moss piglets, these creatures can live for up to 60 years, and grow to a maximum size of 0.5 mm, best seen under a microscope.

They are able to survive for up to 30 years without food or water, for a few minutes at temperatures as low as minus 272 degrees Celsius (minus 457 degrees Fahrenheit) or as high as 150 degrees Celsius (302 degrees Fahrenheit), and minus 20 degrees Celsius (minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) for decades.

Tardigrades withstand pressures from virtually 0 atm in space up to 1,200 atm at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, and are also resistant to radiation levels up to 5,000-6,200 Gy.

They survive by entering a state of suspended animation called biostasis, using proteins that form gels inside of cells and slow down life processes.

“Amazingly, when we introduce these proteins into cells, they gel and slow down metabolism, just like in tardigrades,” said Dr. Silvia Sanchez-Martinez, a researcher at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

“Furthermore, just like tardigrades, when you put human cells that have these proteins into biostasis, they become more resistant to stresses, conferring some of the tardigrades’ abilities to the human cells.”

“Importantly, our research shows that the whole process is reversible,” said Dr. Thomas Boothby, a researcher at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

“When the stress is relieved, the tardigrade gels dissolve, and the human cells return to their normal metabolism.”

“Our findings provide an avenue for pursuing technologies centered on the induction of biostasis in cells and even whole organisms to slow aging and enhance storage and stability.”

• S. Sanchez-Martinez et al. 2024. Labile assembly of a tardigrade protein induces biostasis. Protein Science 33 (4): e4941; doi: 10.1002/pro.4941

{ https://www.sci.news/}

29-03-2024 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

UAP Up Close Shoots Past Passenger Jet Windows! March 2024, UFO Sighting News Video.

Date of sighting: March 2024
Location of sighting: New York, New York, USA

 

Watch as a UFO shoots past a passenger jet over New York and gets caught on video. The object is long, dark and has a bright white window area which is the alien pilots cockpit location. It's obvious this UAP shoot past to scan the technology of the plane as well as record the thoughts of its passengers. This is 100% proof that UFOs frequent heavily populated areas. 

Scott C. Waring 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

29-03-2024 om 00:22 geschreven door peter  

UFO Caught On Photo Redondo Beach, California, USA March 10, 2024, UAP Sighting News.

Water UFOs otherwise known as USO are much more common than the US Gov would like you to believe. This UFO is diving so fast it was caught in many locations of the photo as it was diving into the water. The Earth is covered by 75% water, which makes it the ideal location to place an alien base since humans don't frequent the bottom of the ocean floor. This UFO was observing the sailboat and then dived into the water before it was seen. However the camera has a more perfect eye and caught this little fella as it was observing and trying to leave. USO are serious and real craft that even the US Navy talks about under the table. 

Scott C. Waring

 

Source: NUFORC https://nuforc.org 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

A talk with ChatGPT about a cloud orb I summoned years ago, UFO Sighting News. Taiwan, Sept 17, 2011 - sighting discussed.

Above gif is the closest I can find to what the orb looked like, this is about 70% what I saw, still missing the white clouds within about 10%, the black clouds about 15% and the silver metallic paint moving within which covered 65-75% of the sphere. My sighting took place in Taiwan, on an 8 floor rooftop of my apartment building, on Sept 17, 2011. 

 All the statements by me are 100% true, and I do have a video of it after it shot 50 meters from me...at which time it looked white in the distance. I was curious what AI GPT Chat would say about the sighting and what insights it may have. And I did not expect such fantastic comprehension and advice from GPT Chat. It was both helpful and eye opening. Something that is rare in this field. 

Scott C. Waring

Below is the video...where I grabbed the tripod and flipped it around only to see the orb shot 50 meters away and sat there, watching me. I could not coax it to come back. 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 23:49 geschreven door peter  

POSTED BY MATT WILLIAMS

DART Changed the Shape of Asteroid Dimorphos, not Just its Orbit

On September 26th, 2022, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) collided with the asteroid Dimorphos, a moonlet that orbits the larger asteroid Didymos. The purpose of this test was to evaluate a potential strategy for planetary defense. The demonstration showed that a kinetic impactor could alter the orbit of an asteroid that could potentially impact Earth someday – aka. Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA). According to a new NASA-led study, the DART mission’s impact not only altered the orbit of the asteroid but also its shape!

The study was led by Shantanu P. Naidu, a navigation engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at Caltech. He was joined by researchers from the Lowell Observatory, Northern Arizona University (NAU), the University of Colorado Boulder (UCB), the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and Johns Hopkins University (JHU). Their paper, “Orbital and Physical Characterization of Asteroid Dimorphos Following the DART Impact,” appeared on March 19th in the Planetary Science Journal.

The Didymos double asteroid system consists of an 851-meter-wide (2792 ft) primary orbited by the comparatively small Dimorphos. The latter was selected as the target for DART because any changes in its orbit caused by the impact would be comparatively easy to measure using ground-based telescopes. Before DART impacted with the moonlet, it was an oblate spheroid measuring 170 meters (560 feet) in diameter with virtually no craters. Before impact, the moonlet orbited Didymos with a period of 11 hours and 55 minutes.

Before the encounter, NASA indicated that a 73-second change in Dimorphos’ orbital period was the minimum requirement for success. Early data showed DART surpassed this minimum benchmark by more than 25 times. As Naidu said in a NASA press release, the impact also altered the moonlet’s shape:

“When DART made impact, things got very interesting. Dimorphos’ orbit is no longer circular: Its orbital period is now 33 minutes and 15 seconds shorter. And the entire shape of the asteroid has changed, from a relatively symmetrical object to a ‘triaxial ellipsoid’ – something more like an oblong watermelon.”

Naidu and his team combined three data sources with their computer models to determine what happened to the asteroid after impact. The first was the images DART took of Dimorphos right before impact, which were sent back to Earth via NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN). These images allowed the team to gauge the dimensions of Didymos and Dimorphos and measure the distance between them. The second source was the Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR), part of the DNS network located in California responsible for investigating Solar System objects.

The GSSR was one of several ground-based instruments that precisely measured the position and velocity of Dimorphos relative to Didymos after impact – which indicated how the mission greatly exceeded expectations. The third source was provided by ground-based telescopes worldwide that measured changes in the amount of life reflected (aka. light curves) of both asteroids. Much like how astronomers monitor stars for periodic dips (which could indicate a transiting planet), dips in Didymos’ luminosity are attributable to Dimorphos passing in front of it.

By comparing these light curves from before and after impact, the team learned how DART altered Dimorphos’ motion. Based on these data sources and their models, the team calculated how its orbital period evolved and found that it was now slightly eccentric. Said Steve Chesley, a senior research scientist at JPL and a co-author on the study:

“We used the timing of this precise series of light-curve dips to deduce the shape of the orbit, and because our models were so sensitive, we could also figure out the shape of the asteroid. Before impact, the times of the events occurred regularly, showing a circular orbit. After impact, there were very slight timing differences, showing something was askew. We never expected to get this kind of accuracy.”

According to their results, DART’s impact reduced the average distance between the two asteroids to roughly 1,152 meters (3,780 feet) – closer by about 37 meters (120 feet). It also shortened Dimorphos’ orbital period to 11 hours, 22 minutes, and 3 seconds – a change of 33 minutes and 15 seconds. These results are consistent with other independent studies based on the same data. They will be further tested by the ESA’s Hera mission, scheduled to launch in October 2024, when it makes a flyby of the double-asteroid and conducts a detailed survey.

Further Reading: 

• NASA

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 21:13 geschreven door peter  

Like all scientific fields, cosmochemistry incorporates a myriad of methods and strategies with the goal of answering some of the universe’s most difficult questions, specifically pertaining to how the countless stellar and planetary objects throughout the universe came to be. These methods and strategies primarily include laboratory analyses of meteorites and other physical samples brought back from space, including from the Moon, asteroids, and comets. But what are some of the benefits and challenges of studying cosmochemistry?

“One of the primary benefits of cosmochemistry is the ability to reproduce measurements,” Dr. Ogliore tells Universe Today. “I can measure something in my lab, and somebody else can measure either the same object, or a very similar object, in another lab to confirm my measurements. Only after repeated measurements, by different labs and different techniques, will a given claim be universally accepted by the community. This is difficult to do in astronomy, and also difficult using remote-sensing measurements on spacecraft studying other bodies in the Solar System.”

Apart from the crewed Apollo missions to the Moon, all other samples from space have been returned via robotic spacecraft. While this might seem like an easy process from an outside perspective, collecting samples from space and returning them to Earth is a very daunting and time-consuming series of countless tests, procedures, precise calculations, and hundreds to thousands of scientists and engineers ensuring every little detail is covered to ensure complete mission success, often to only collect a few ounces of material. This massive effort is tasked with not only ensuring successful sample collection, but also ensuring successful storage of the samples to avoid contamination during their journey home, and then retrieving the samples once they land in a capsule back on Earth, where they are properly unpacked, cataloged, and stored for laboratory anal

To demonstrate the difficulty in conducting a sample return mission, only four nations have successfully used robotic explorers to collect samples from another planetary body and returned them to Earth: the former Soviet Union, United States, Japan, and China. The former Soviet Union successfully returned lunar samples to Earth throughout the 1970s; the United States has returned samples from a comet, asteroid, and even solar particles; Japan has successfully returned samples from two asteroids; and most recently, China succeeded in returning 61.1 ounces from the Moon, which is the current record for robotic sample return missions. But even with the difficulty of conducting a successful sample return mission, what can cosmochemistry teach us about finding life beyond Earth?

“Cosmochemistry can tell us about the delivery of the ingredients necessary for life to planets or moons via asteroids or comets,” Dr. Ogliore tells Universe Today. “Since we have both asteroid and comet material in the lab, we can tell if primitive pre-biotic organic compounds may have been delivered by these bodies. Of course, this doesn’t mean life on Earth (or elsewhere) started this way, only that it is one pathway. Detection of life on another world would be one of the biggest discoveries in the history of science. So of course we’d want to be absolutely sure! This requires repeated measurements by different labs using different techniques, which requires a sample on Earth. I think the only way we’d know for sure if there was life on Europa, Enceladus, or Mars is if we bring a sample back to Earth from these places.”

As it turns out, NASA is actively working on the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, for which Dr. Ogliore is a member of the MSR Measurement Definition Team. The goal of MSR will be to travel to the Red Planet to collect and return samples of Martian regolith to Earth for the first time in history. The first step of this mission is currently being accomplished by NASA’s Perseverance rover in Jezero Crater, as it is slowly collecting samples and dropping them in tubes across the Martian surface for future retrieval by MSR.

For Europa, while there have been several discussions regarding a sample return mission, including a 2002 study discussing a sample return mission from Europa’s ocean and a 2015 study discussing a potential plume sample return mission, no definitive sample return missions from Europa are currently in the works, possibly due to the enormous distance. Despite this, and while not a life-finding mission, Dr. Ogliore has been tasked to lead a robotic mission to Jupiter’s volcanic moon, Io, to explore its plethora of volcanoes. For Enceladus, the Life Investigation for Enceladus (LIFE) mission has had a number of mission proposals submitted to return samples from Enceladus’ plumes, though it has yet to be accepted. But what is the most exciting aspect about cosmochemistry that Dr. Ogliore has studied during his career?

“In my opinion the most important single measurement in the history of cosmochemistry was the measurements of the oxygen isotopic composition of the Sun,” Dr. Ogliore tells Universe Today. “To do this, we needed to return samples of the solar wind to Earth, which we did with NASA’s Genesis mission. However, the sample return capsule crashed on Earth. But did that stop the cosmochemists?! Hell no! Kevin McKeegan and colleagues at UCLA had built a specialized, enormous, complicated instrument to study these samples. Despite the crash, McKeegan and colleagues analyzed oxygen in the solar wind and found that it was 6% lighter than oxygen found on Earth, and it matched the composition of the oldest known objects in the Solar System: millimeter-sized calcium-aluminum inclusions (CAIs) found in meteorites.”

Dr. Ogliore continues by telling Universe Today about how this result was predicted by Bob Clayton at the University of Chicago, along with crediting his own postdoc, Lionel Vacher, for conducting a research project that built off the Genesis results, noting, “This was a really fun project because it was technically very challenging, and the results put the Solar System in its astrophysical context.”

Like the myriad of scientific disciplines that Universe Today has examined during this series, cosmochemistry is successful due to its multidisciplinary nature that contributes to the goal of answering some of the universe’s most difficult questions. Dr. Ogliore emphasizes that analysis of laboratory samples involves a multitude of scientific backgrounds to understand what the researchers are observing within each sample and the processes responsible for creating them. Additionally, this also includes the aforementioned sample return missions and hundreds to thousands of scientists and engineers who partake in each mission. Therefore, what advice can Dr. Ogliore offer to upcoming students who wish to pursue cosmochemistry?

“Biology, chemistry, geology, physics, math, electronics — you need it all!” Dr. Ogliore tells Universe Today. “If you like learning new things constantly, then planetary science is for you. It is good to get a very broad education. This will serve you well in a number of careers, but it is especially true for planetary science and cosmochemistry. I get to work with people who study volcanoes, and mathematicians working on chaotic motion. How cool is that?!”

All things considered, cosmochemistry is both an enormously challenging and rewarding field of study to try and answer some of the most difficult and longstanding questions regarding the processes responsible for the existence of celestial bodies in the Solar System and beyond, including stars, planets, moons, meteorites, and comets, along with how life emerged on our small, blue world. As noted, cosmochemistry perfectly sums up Carl Sagan’s famous quote, “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.” It is through cosmochemistry and the analysis of meteorites and other returned samples that enable researchers to slowly inch our way to answering what makes life and where we can find it.

“Meteorites are the most spectacular record of nature known to mankind,” Dr. Ogliore tells Universe Today. “We have rocks from Mars, the Moon, volcanic worlds, asteroid Vesta, and dozens of other worlds. Iron meteorites are the cores of broken apart planets. These rocks record processes that occurred four and a half billion years ago and fall to Earth in a blazing fireball traveling at miles per second. You can follow various blogs that track fireballs, and even calculate areas where meteorites might have fallen. If you ever have the opportunity, go try to find one of these freshly fallen meteorites. The odds are long, but it is worth a try. I have not found a meteorite myself yet, but it is a life goal of mine.”

How will cosmochemistry help us better understand our place in the universe in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!

• As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 20:59 geschreven door peter  

The Enigma of Nazi UFOs: Unveiling the Third Reich’s Secret Projects

In the annals of World War II’s history, the technological prowess of Nazi Germany has been well-documented, from the V2 rocket to the infamous Enigma machine. However, nestled within these tales of engineering marvels lies a lesser-known, yet equally fascinating narrative: the story of the Nazi UFO projects. This exploration takes us beyond conventional warfare technologies into the realm of science fiction turned purported reality under the aegis of the Third Reic

The Origins of the Nazi UFO Legend

The legend of Nazi UFOs originates from post-war claims and scattered evidence suggesting that the Third Reich embarked on ambitious projects to develop advanced aircraft, often described as “flying saucers” or “foo fighters.” These projects were said to leverage unconventional propulsion systems, potentially including anti-gravity, a concept that was light years ahead of its time.

Historians and enthusiasts have traced the roots of these alleged programs back to pre-war German engineering prowess, coupled with an interest in esoteric and occult knowledge. Figures such as Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian inventor, are often mentioned as being central to these efforts, with his work on vortex propulsion cited as a possible basis for the UFO projects.

Between Fact and Fiction: The Development of Flying Discs

While concrete evidence remains elusive, various accounts suggest that the Nazis did indeed experiment with disc-shaped aircraft. Projects such as the “Die Glocke” (The Bell) have entered the lore, described as an anti-gravity device capable of generating an immense power field. Despite the lack of physical proof, the narrative is bolstered by reports of high-ranking Nazis, including SS officers, taking an intense interest in these technologies.

The involvement of Nazi Germany in researching and potentially attempting to harness energy fields or otherworldly propulsion methods has been a topic of speculation. This interest aligns with the era’s broader fascination with breaking the boundaries of known science, driven by the war’s demands and Hitler’s obsession with achieving technological supremacy.

Post-War Legacy and Allied Interest

The end of World War II did not bury the stories of Nazi UFOs; instead, it marked the beginning of a new chapter. Operation Paperclip, a secret program by the United States, brought over German scientists, engineers, and technicians. Among them were individuals purportedly involved in the Reich’s most secretive projects, including those rumored to be associated with UFO research.

This transfer of knowledge and personnel fed into Cold War era projects and contributed to advancements in aerospace technologies. The specter of Nazi UFOs lingered, morphing into part of the broader UFO phenomenon and conspiracy theories concerning hidden government projects and extraterrestrial contacts.

The Verdict: Myth or Lost Technology?

Deciphering the truth behind Nazi UFOs is challenging, with the line between historical fact and speculative fiction often blurred. While there’s no definitive proof that the Third Reich succeeded in developing operational flying saucers, the numerous accounts and circumstantial evidence suggest a keen interest in transcending conventional aerospace technologies.

Nazi UFOs | Full Documentary

• https://youtu.be/lqPiI4ieqRQ

The legacy of the Nazi UFO projects, whether real or imagined, has significantly impacted popular culture and the UFO community. It represents a fascinating intersection of history, science fiction, and the enduring human desire to push the boundaries of the possible.

In conclusion, the story of Nazi UFOs occupies a unique niche within the tapestry of World War II history. It serves as a testament to the era’s technological ambitions and the lengths to which the Nazi regime would go in its quest for domination. As with many aspects of that tumultuous period, the truth may be stranger than fiction, obscured by the fog of war and the passage of time.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGs9VxqGbkE

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

28-03-2024 om 20:38 geschreven door peter  

Hidden in plain sight now for decades, the giant volcano, which has undergone extensive erosion over time, somehow remained unnoticed.

The feature has been given the temporary name “Noctis volcano” due to its proximity to the Noctis Labyrinthus, a region noted for its steep valleys that possess a maze-like appearance.

The 29,600-foot-tall volcano covers an area spanning approximately 280 miles and is believed to have remained active for an extended period. However, it is the giant volcano’s proximity to a region where glacier ice is believed to exist that makes the discovery so promising for researchers, who say it offers a location ripe for studies of the Red Planet’s geology and evolution over tim

The location could also be a promising area for future studies involving potential life that may have once existed—or could still exist—on Mars, with its promising combination of warmth from volcanic activity and water made present by the ancient glacier.

Additionally, past studies have revealed the presence of hydrated minerals, which were long believed to point to volcanic activity in the area.

“A volcanic setting for these minerals had long been suspected. So, it may not be too surprising to find a volcano here,” said Sourabh Shubham, one of the study’s co-authors.

“In some sense, this large volcano is a long-sought ‘smoking gun’,” Shubham said.

In addition to the newly discovered volcano, blister-like areas, believed to have been produced by the explosive escape of steam, point to the existence of a “relict glacier” further evidenced by deposits of light-colored sulfates like jarosite, which may represent the most recent past glaciation that affected the giant volcano.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

28-03-2024 om 01:12 geschreven door peter  

This Could Be the Hot New Place to Look for Life on Mars

Noctis Mons has hidden in plain sight for decades, and it may be the perfect home for alien life.

BY KIONA SMITH

 

LEE AT AL. 2024

The newest spot to search for life on Mars could be a collapsed volcano whose layers are sandwiched with the icy remains of ancient glaciers.

Noctis Mons (AKA the Night Mountain, which is an extremely cool name) has been hidden for a long time. Researchers just now recognized the jumbled terrain, in old images from decades of Martian satellites, as the remains of a collapsed volcano. It looks like Noctis Mons was active fairly recently (and it may still erupt again), and its slopes are layered with glacial ice and snow. That may make it the perfect place to search for alien life.

SETI Institute astrobiologist Pascal Lee and his colleagues presented their findings at the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.

FIRE, ICE, AND ALIEN LIFE?

Lee and his colleagues recently realized that the strangle jumble of canyons and gently-sloping mesas in images of the Martian equator were actually the remains of a collapsed volcano, eroded and reshaped by glaciers. Looking closer, they spotted old lava flows, fields of pumice and ash, and minerals left by hydrothermal activity. And beneath the uppermost layer of volcanic debris lies a sheet of ice, which gleams here and there through an eroded hole in the thin blanket of volcanic ash that covers it.

Beneath the crumbling slopes of Noctis Mons, fire and ice may have created the perfect environment for life: warm, with plenty of liquid water and chemical nutrients. And since the volcano appears to have been active for a very long time, life has had plenty of opportunity to evolve from the complex chemistry that happens when water and volcanic rock meet.

All around the slopes of Noctis Mons lies a blanket of pumice and volcanic ash. Based on images from a whole series of Martian satellites, from Mariner 9 to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, it’s between 3 and 9 feet thick, and it looks strangely blistered. Here on Earth, when hot volcanic ash lands atop ice, it cools quickly, but hot steam bubbled up beneath the surface, creating blister-like mounds. Where some of these mounds have eroded over time, satellite images reveal the telltale gleam of ice beneath a thin layer of minerals. Lee and his colleagues say the whole 1,900 square mile area of Noctis Mons could lie atop a huge ice sheet left over from one of the last glaciers to pass through the area.

That’s 1,900 square miles of ice interacting with the heat of a volcano, creating pockets and streams of liquid water underground, possibly for billions of years. In other words, it’s a huge Martian oasis that’s potentially perfect for life.

Noctis Mons is also an ideal place for rovers or — someday — astronauts to explore. Because it’s collapsed, what was once a tall, forbidding mountain is now “so deeply eroded that you could hike, drive, or fly through it,” says Lee in a recent statement. And all that glacial ice could support future exploration crews or provide the raw material for rocket fuel (assuming it’s not actually a sensitive alien habitat, that is).

In other words, the place is basically a theme park for astrobiologists.

A VOLCANO WITH A MESSY BACKSTORY

We don’t know how long ago Noctis Mons formed, but [authors] say it looks like the volcano has been active for a huge stretch of Martian history, and it’s been active fairly recently. It may even still be active today. Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in our Solar System, formed about 3.5 billion years ago and stayed active for millions of years, longer than any volcano here on Earth, but Noctis Mons may turn out to beat its neighbor’s impressive streak.

Noctis Mons was once a wide, gently-sloping mountain, built up over time from layers of lava and pyroclastic debris (small grains of volcanic ash and larger chunks of pumice). Between those layers of volcanic rock lay sheets of ice: some compacted snow that fell on the volcano’s slopes and some thick glaciers, all buried beneath the next eruption.

At some point, the magma welling up through cracks and fissures in the mountain melted all of that ice, causing the slopes of the volcano to collapse. Today, the summit is now just a partial ring of mesas, which slope gently downward. From above, it looks like a wide ring of broken rock, crossed by lava flows and cut by deep, glacier-carved canyons.

And someday it just might be the place where we discover we’re not alone in the Solar System.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 01:00 geschreven door peter  

The Woodlands, Texas

A sensational claim made last year that an ‘alien’ meteorite hit Earth near Papua New Guinea in 2014 got its first in-person airing with the broader scientific community on 12 March. At the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas, scientists clashed over whether a research team has indeed found fragments of a space rock that came from outside the Solar System.

• 

  An ‘alien meteorite’ probably didn’t slam into Earth — how will we know if one does?

The debate occurred at a packed session featuring Hairuo Fu, a graduate student at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who is a member of the team that found the fragments. Team leader Avi Loeb, an astrophysicist at Harvard who did not attend the conference, has made other controversial claims about extraterrestrial discoveries. Many scientists have said that they don’t want to spend much of their time analysing and refuting these claims.

During his presentation, Fu described tiny metallic blobs that Loeb’s expedition dredged from the sea floor near Papua New Guinea last year, and said that the spherules have a chemical composition of unknown origin¹. He then faced questions from a long line of scientists sceptical of the implication that the material is extraterrestrial. “At the very least, it is something different from what we know,” Fu responded.

New work questions the team’s findings. In a manuscript posted on the arXiv preprint server on 8 March², ahead of peer review, a researcher argues that the debris collected by Loeb and his co-workers is actually molten blobs generated when an asteroid hit Earth 788,000 years ago.

“What they found has all the characteristics of microtektites — little pieces of melted Earth that came from this impact,” says preprint author Steve Desch, an astrophysicist at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Meanwhile, other studies are challenging different aspects of Loeb’s claim, such as whether the meteor that reportedly produced the fragments was on the trajectory Loeb says it was. Together, the findings show how the broader scientific community is engaging with Loeb’s extraterrestrial claims, in spite of reluctance to do so.

A unique find?

‘Interstellar’ objects remained in the realm of theory until 2017, when astronomers spotted the first known celestial object to be on a trajectory that meant it could only have come from outside the Solar System. Loeb made headlines when he speculated that the object, a comet-like body named ‘Oumuamua, was an artefact sent by an extraterrestrial civilization.

‘Oumuamua passed through the Solar System far from Earth, but Loeb hoped to find another interstellar object that had hit the planet. He later proposed that a bright meteor that appeared in the sky north of Papua New Guinea in January 2014 had an interstellar trajectory and could have scattered debris in the ocean.

In June 2023, Loeb led a privately funded expedition to the site that used magnetic sledges to recover more than 800 metallic spherules from the sea floor. Almost one-quarter of the spherules had chemical compositions indicating that they came from igneous, or once-molten, rocks. Of those, a handful were unusually enriched in the elements beryllium, lanthanum and uranium. The researchers concluded that those spherules are unlike any known materials in the Solar System¹.

However, Desch counters that the spherules could have come from an asteroid impact in southeast Asia. Key to his proposal² is a kind of soil called laterite, which forms in tropical regions when heavy rainfall carries some chemical elements from the topmost layers of soil into deeper ones. This leaves the upper soil enriched in other elements, including beryllium, lanthanum and uranium — similar to the composition of the spherules collected by Loeb and his colleagues. Desch says that an asteroid known to have struck the region around 788,000 years ago³ probably hit lateritic rock and created the molten blobs found by Loeb’s team.

In an e-mail to Nature, Loeb argues that spherules from an impact 788,000 years ago should have been buried by ocean sediments. Desch counters that sedimentation rates are relatively low in the offshore area where the spherules were collected.

But others are sceptical of Desch’s proposal, too. Scientists have yet to find any confirmed tektites from lateritic rock, notes Pierre Rochette, a geoscientist at Aix-Marseille University in Aix-en-Provence, France, who is not affiliated with either team. And very few tektites are magnetic, he says, so it would be difficult for Loeb and his colleagues to have pulled up hundreds from the sea floor.

Fiery critiques

Desch was not the only scientist to challenge Loeb’s work this week.

• 

  How two intruders from interstellar space are upending astronomy

After Fu’s conference presentation, Ben Fernando, a seismologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, spoke and took aim at claims concerning the 2014 meteor. Fernando and his colleagues, including Desch, analysed seismic and acoustic data gathered by ground-based sensors at the time the meteor hit the atmosphere⁴. Data from a seismometer on nearby Manus Island, which Loeb and his team studied as they were deciding where to dredge, show no characteristics of a high-altitude fireball — but do indicate a vehicle driving past, Fernando said. “This is almost certainly a truck,” he told the meeting. A second set of observations, made using infrasound sensors that listen for clandestine nuclear tests, seems to have detected the meteor hitting the atmosphere, but suggests it happened around 170 kilometres away from where Loeb’s team calculates.

Loeb told Nature that such critiques do not take into account US Department of Defense data that he says confirm the exact trajectory of that fireball. But because those data are held by the government, they have not been independently cross-checked by other scientists.

As conference-goers poured out of the room after his talk, Fu told Nature that Loeb’s team is working on further analyses, such as isotopic studies, that could shed more light on what the spherules are. After that, Fu said, he is looking forward to graduating and working on a new project — on how the Moon was formed.

• Nature 627, 472-473 (2024)
• doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00774-6

{ https://www.nature.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

CIA Doc Reveals E.T. Destroyed Russian Troops Using ‘Sodom & Gomorrah’ Weapon In 1990s

The document stated that after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, many KGB files ended up in the CIA. The report said the fight between Russian troops and the alien creatures began when a low-flying UFO buzzed a routine Russian military training exercise. This apparent unexpected surveillance by a UFO caused one of the soldiers to unwisely launch a surface-to-air missile that hit the UFO — bringing it down not far from where the troops were assembled.

The report said that five humanoids of short stature with large heads and large black eyes emerged from the wreckage of the fallen vehicle. They fired a brilliant white spherical ball of light toward the Soviet military, buzzing and hissing. The strange object exploded, turning 23 soldiers to stone. Two survivors of this battle with aliens told others what had happened

Read also:

• Actual 8-Second Film Of UFO Landing At Holloman AFB Used In 1974 Documentary
• Ex-Pentagon Officer Discusses Shape-Shifting UFOs/Aliens Using Cloaking & Camouflage
• Nick Pope Said US Govt. Trying To Prepare World For Soon-To-Come Alien Disclosure
• Ret. NASA Astronaut Witnessed Fleet Of 100 UFOs, Saw UFO Landing & UN Letter On E.T.

The transcript of the document is as follows: (Source)

“One of the CIA representatives referred to this case as a “Horrific picture of revenge on the part of extraterrestrial creatures, a picture that makes one’s blood freeze.”

According to the KGB materials, a quite low-flying spaceship in the shape of a saucer appeared above a military unit that was conducting routine training maneuvers. For unknown reasons, somebody unexpectedly launched a surface-to-air missile and hit the ufo. It fell to earth not far away, and five short humanoids with “Large heads and large black eyes” emerged from it.

In a few seconds, the spheres grew much bigger and exploded by flaring up with an extremely bright light. At that very instant, 23 soldiers who had watched the phenomenon turned into… Stone poles. Only two soldiers who stood in the shade and were less exposed to the luminous explosion survived.

The kgb report goes on to say that the remains of the ufo and the “Petrified soldiers” were transferred to a secret scientific research institution near Moscow. Specialists assume that source of energy that is still unknown to earthlings instantly changed the structure of the soldiers’ living organisms, having transformed it into a substance whose molecular composition is no different from that of limestone.

A CIA representative stated: “If the KGB file corresponds to reality, this is an extremely menacing case. The aliens possess such weapons and technology that go beyond all our assumptions, they can stand. Up for themselves if attacked.”

It cannot be denied that what has been reported so far sounds like the plot of a science fiction series or movie. However, it is important enough to be included in an official CIA document, which concludes that if this case is real, it is something really “threatening,” since “aliens have weapons and technology that go beyond our assumptions with which they can defend themselves if attacked.”

Besides, UFOs with the ability to change shape have often been spoken of by eyewitnesses, and the sequence of transformation of the aliens into a single entity is something sometimes described in legitimate ufological cases – the latter seems to be an otherworldly method used by these alien creatures to protect themselves or destroy others.

On the other hand, the unusual death of the Russian soldiers turned to stone is reminiscent of God’s so-called “angels” who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in the Bible and turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt.

“As the cities were being demolished, Lot’s wife “looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” (Genesis 19:26). It appears to be the same molecular shift technology, which is more advanced than anything developed here on Earth so far.

And it is that if in the Holy Scriptures we replace the word “angels” with “aliens,” many events acquire a technological nuance, where these beings from heaven and under the command of a vengeful god called Yahweh, used their advanced weapons to assassinate peoples and destroy entire cities.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

28-03-2024 om 00:28 geschreven door peter  

When this occurs, extreme wind conditions can lead to dangerous seas as convective boundary layers create small, localized regions of intense Arctic cold known as “polar lows.”

These abrupt spikes in cold temperatures not only create potentially dangerous conditions for sailing vessels that include military operations conducted by the U.S. Navy and other world militaries but also significantly impact ocean circulation and weather conditions throughout the Arctic.

To aid in CAESER’s research effort, the NRL has assigned James Doyle, Ph.D., an NRL research meteorologist, to participate in the campaign.

“Despite the profound impact that CAOs have on atmospheric and oceanic circulations in the Arctic, as well as the important implications for Navy operations, surprisingly little is known about the nature of intense surface flux impacts on the atmosphere and ocean boundary-layer structure,” Doyle in a recent statement.

A HAZARD TO NAVAL OPERATIONS

Understanding what causes CAOs to occur is particularly important for Navy operations, not only for safety reasons but also because of the way these sudden, often unexpected changes in atmospheric and ocean conditions can greatly impact the behavior of acoustic and electromagnetic propagation, thereby creating difficulties for Naval officers who rely on instrumentation that monitor these frequencies.

However, gaining a deeper understanding of CAOs has been hindered both by the challenging conditions they induce, as well as how suddenly and unexpectedly they can occur.

“The nature of the air-sea-ice interaction and cloud processes in CAOs are rapid with abrupt transitions,” Doyle says, “which have been a roadblock to process understanding and model predictions.”

A specialized C-130 aircraft provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) will assist in the CAESAR campaign’s investigations

(Credit: Dan Zietlow/NSF/NCAR).

To successfully investigate CAOs, part of the CAESAR campaign’s strategy involves focusing on atmospheric boundary layer properties, as well as clouds that are known to develop coinciding with CAOs. Additionally, storm conditions that have been identified with CAOs are also being investigated.

UNEXPLAINED ARCTIC PHENOMENA

Based on current data, Doyle says that hazardous conditions normally develop when interactions between air pockets and the ocean begin to intensify, which leads to the production of convective cells, and in some cases, the extremely intense, yet very small polar lows.

“Conventional theories and model parameterizations in Arctic CAOs have been lacking this vital data,” Doyle says, adding that “CAESAR will provide a detailed characterization that will form the basis for NRL boundary layer and coupled modeling studies.”

Although CAESAR will conclude in April, its current efforts to resolve these unexplained arctic phenomena include the use of a specialized C-130 Hercules aircraft provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) center that is equipped with remote sensing capabilities and deployment of dropsondes that will collect information on the Arctic air mass.

The C-130 also showcases airborne radar, LiDAR, and aerosol and cloud precipitation probes which can be activated when conditions matching CAO events are identified.

Additional information about the CAESAR campaign can be found courtesy of NCAR’s Earth Observing Laboratory page, and the NRL’s website.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/uap/ }

27-03-2024 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

Founded by Colin Orion Chandler, Ph.D., a University of Washington and DiRAC Institute scientist, the Active Asteroids project continues to leverage the work of volunteers in its ongoing search for asteroids possessing these unusual properties.

What makes these “active” objects so rare is that they possess traits that blur the lines between asteroids and other kinds of celestial objects, as some of them possess tails like comets, while others are enveloped in pockets of dust or gas.

Since their first discovery in 1949, only a few dozen of the rare asteroids have ever been discovered.

According to NASA, the properties these objects display challenge our conventional ideas about objects in the solar system, and present opportunities for new insights about the behavior and origins of these rare “active” asteroids.

Among the things astronomers hope to learn from studying these objects are insights into solar system evolution and the formation of planets, as well as clues to the origins of water on Earth.

Active asteroids may also help provide valuable resources for future space missions, since the ice within their tails could be used for a range of applications in deep space that include providing breathable air, to help power spacecraft on long missions.

The fifteen newest additions to the growing number of active asteroids currently known to exist are described in a new paper in the Astronomical Journal.

For many of the Active Asteroid project’s participants, helping to spot these odd space objects has been a life-changing experience. Virgilio Gonano, an Italian amateur astronomer and one of the volunteers who helped make the discoveries, said it was a “dream come true” to be able to be part of such an effort.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/space/ }

27-03-2024 om 23:41 geschreven door peter  

{ https://wibnet.nl/heelal }

27-03-2024 om 22:24 geschreven door peter  

US government wanted to reverse-engineer alien ships — but never found any, Pentagon UFO report reveals

Related: 

• How wealthy UFO fans helped fuel fringe beliefs

There is "no verifiable evidence for claims that the U.S. government and private companies have access to or have been reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology," Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement after the report's release. The report also found "no evidence that any U.S. government investigation, academic-sponsored research, or official review panel has confirmed that any sighting of a UAP [unidentified aerial phenomenon] represented extraterrestrial technology."

"All investigative efforts, at all levels of classification, concluded that most sightings were ordinary objects and phenomena and the result of misidentification," Ryder added.

The 63-page review was made by the Pentagon's All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), which was established in 2022 to investigate and manage reports of UFO sightings from the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. The review included classified and unclassified archical evidence, full access to all secretive government programs related to UFOs, and 30 interviews with intelligence personnel.

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27-03-2024 om 21:34 geschreven door peter