Venus had oorspronkelijk hetzelfde water als de aarde: eindelijk is ontdekt waarom het zo droog werd

Door Janine

Venus, onze dorre buur, was ooit rijk aan water. Maar waar is al het water gebleven? Een nieuwe studie heeft het antwoord gevonden.

Waarom is Venus een warme, droge planeet als er water is?

Waarom Venus van een planeet met water, zo warm en droog is geworden, is voor wetenschappers een mysterie. De oeroude aanwezigheid van water zou de planeet heet en vochtig moeten maken, maar toch is er geen spoor van waterdamp te vinden. Dit werd ontdekt door planeetwetenschappers van de University of Colorado Boulder en werpt een licht op waarom deze hete en onbewoonbare planeet is geworden wat hij nu is.

Men denkt dat Venus oorspronkelijk een vergelijkbare hoeveelheid water had als de aarde. Er is echter nog maar een honderdduizendste van over, volledig ingesloten in de atmosfeer, in plaats van verspreid in de oceanen, zeeën, ijs en lucht zoals op onze planeet. Dus waar is al het water gebleven? Een echt mysterie dat eindelijk ontrafeld lijkt te zijn.

De verantwoordelijke voor de dorre toestand van Venus

NASA/JPL/Wikimedia commons - Public domain

Eryn Cangi, co-hoofdauteur van het onderzoek en onderzoeker aan het Space and Atmospheric Physics Laboratory, legt uit: "Water is echt belangrijk voor leven. We moeten de omstandigheden begrijpen die vloeibaar water in het heelal ondersteunen en die mogelijk de huidige droge staat van Venus hebben veroorzaakt." Als we al het water op aarde op het oppervlak van onze planeet zouden gieten, zouden we een vloeibare laag hebben van ongeveer 3 kilometer. Als we hetzelfde zouden doen op Venus, zou de diepte slechts 3 centimeter zijn. Dat komt omdat de droge planeet 100.000 keer minder water heeft dan de aarde, ook al is hij even groot.

In wezen heeft het turbulente broeikaseffect van Venus het water letterlijk gekookt, waardoor stoom ontsnapte. Door middel van computersimulaties ontdekten de onderzoekers dat de waterstofatomen in de atmosfeer van Venus de ruimte in vliegen door “associatieve recombinatie”, een proces dat ervoor zorgt dat de planeet twee keer zoveel water verliest als eerder werd voorspeld. Met behulp van computermodellen stelden wetenschappers zich Venus voor als een enorm scheikundelaboratorium, waar ze reacties in de atmosfeer observeerden. Een molecuul genaamd HCO+, een ion dat bestaat uit een waterstof-, koolstof- en zuurstofatoom en dat wordt aangetroffen in de bovenste atmosfeer van de planeet, zou verantwoordelijk kunnen zijn voor het ontsnappen van water van Venus.

Dit is hoe Venus zo anders werd dan de aarde

NASA

Daarom kan deze ontdekking volgens Cangi onthullen waarom Venus zo anders werd dan de aarde, ook al waren de twee planeten oorspronkelijk bijna identiek: "We proberen te begrijpen welke kleine veranderingen zich op elke planeet voordeden om ze in deze zeer verschillende toestand te brengen." Volgens de wetenschappers veroorzaakten de machtige wolken koolstofdioxide in de atmosfeer een ongekend broeikaseffect in het hele zonnestelsel, waardoor de temperatuur steeg tot ongeveer 480°. Water werd stoom en het meeste daarvan kwam in de ruimte terecht. De rest verdween door HCO+, gevormd door de interactie tussen water en koolstofdioxide in de bovenste atmosferen van de planeet.

Dezelfde molecule kan ook een belangrijke rol hebben gespeeld bij het verdwijnen van water van Mars. Op Venus wordt de molecule continu geproduceerd, maar de ionen leven niet lang: de elektronen splitsen ze in twee delen, waarvan er één door de ruimte raast. Waarschijnlijk is de hoeveelheid van de molecule nooit gedetecteerd bij gebrek aan geschikte apparatuur.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

03-06-2024 om 22:28 geschreven door peter  

The China National Space Administration said the lander used its onboard camera during its powered descent to detect obstacles autonomously and select a safe landing site. Chang’e-6 captured video imagery during the final phase of the lander’s descent and transmitted the views back to Earth. One video frame shows the shadow of the lander itself moments before touchdown.

Chang’e-6 is built to collect samples using a drill and a robotic arm. It’s also expected to gather scientific data about its surroundings using a radon detector, a negative-ion detector and a mini-rover. During surface operations, data and telemetry are being relayed between Chang’e-6 and Earth via China’s Queqiao-2 satellite.

Up to 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of lunar samples will be stowed inside the lander’s “ascender” stage. The rocket-powered ascender will then lift off from the surface and transfer the samples to the Chang’e-6 orbiter, which is currently in lunar orbit. Following the model set by Chang’e-5, the orbiter will head back toward Earth and release the sample capsule for atmospheric re-entry and touchdown in Inner Mongolia.

The moon’s south polar region is of particular interest because it’s thought to harbor reserves of water ice that could support lunar settlement. Studying fresh samples from the South Pole-Aitken Basin could help scientists and mission planners learn more about the region’s resources.

Chang’e-6 is the latest spacecraft in an international armada of moon landers — including Russia’s Luna 25, iSpace’s Hakuto-R and Astrobotic’s Peregrine, which were unsuccessful, plus more fruitful missions such as India’s Chandrayaan-3, Japan’s SLIM and Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus.

Coming attractions include NASA’s VIPER rover, which is currently due to be delivered to the moon late this year; and China’s Chang’e-7 mission, which features a hopping probe and is set for launch in 2026. Looking further ahead, China aims to send astronauts to the lunar surface by 2030 — not long after NASA’s Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, currently scheduled for 2026.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

03-06-2024 om 20:47 geschreven door peter  

Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a retired Navy Admiral and oceanographer, has an extensive and distinguished career in both military and civilian sectors. His expertise spans across oceanographic research, national security, and, more recently, unidentified submerged objects (USOs) and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). This article delves into Gallaudet’s insights on underwater alien bases, UFO psyops, and the potential for weather manipulation weapons.

Career Background

Gallaudet’s military career included pivotal roles aboard several naval vessels, such as the USNS Harkness, USS Peleliu, and USS Kitty Hawk. He participated in numerous operations, including Operations Southern Watch, Provide Promise, Sharp Guard, Deny Flight, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. Beyond his naval service, Gallaudet contributed significantly to environmental research and management as the Deputy Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Today, he is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, a firm specializing in ocean exploration, including the study of USOs.

Underwater Alien Bases and USOs

Gallaudet’s exploration into USOs has revealed intriguing possibilities about underwater alien bases. He recounts an incident involving the USS Omaha, which captured video evidence of a UAP entering the water. This, coupled with classified information and various anecdotal reports, suggests that underwater phenomena may be more common than previously acknowledged.

One particularly fascinating case involves a feature off the Southern California coast. This area, often referred to as an undersea mesa, has been speculated to be an alien base due to its unnatural appearance in Google Earth imagery. However, Gallaudet clarifies that such features often appear man-made due to data processing and resolution discrepancies in mapping technologies.

UFO Psyops and Government Disinformation

Gallaudet discusses the complex issue of government disinformation related to UAPs and USOs. He references historical cases such as the Project Beta, where the Air Force allegedly deceived a civilian researcher into believing in an imminent alien invasion, leading to his mental breakdown. This case exemplifies the lengths to which government entities might go to obscure the truth about UAPs.

Moreover, Gallaudet criticizes the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) for its inadequate report on UAPs, which he believes deliberately omits significant information. He argues that the government’s reluctance to disclose the full extent of UAP activities is partly due to national security concerns and the potential public panic it might cause.

Weather Weapons and Geoengineering

The concept of weather manipulation as a weapon has also been explored within military circles. Gallaudet touches upon the history and potential of geoengineering to influence weather patterns. Although the technology to create typhoons or manipulate weather on a large scale remains underdeveloped, research in this field continues, driven by both defense and climate change mitigation interests.

For instance, Gallaudet mentions a theory about using space weather monitoring to predict earthquakes, a concept that has faced resistance from traditional geological institutions. He advocates for a multidisciplinary approach to studying such phenomena, similar to how weather forecasting has evolved to include oceanographic data for better accuracy.

VIDEO:

• Admiral Tim Gallaudet – Underwater Alien Base, UFO Psyops and Weather Weapons | SRS #113

• https://youtu.be/2NVDCtSxIac

Admiral Tim Gallaudet’s contributions to oceanographic research, national security, and the study of UAPs provide a comprehensive view of the unexplored frontiers beneath our oceans and in our skies. His advocacy for transparency and scientific inquiry into USOs, UAPs, and potential weather manipulation technologies underscores the need for an open-minded and multidisciplinary approach to these enigmatic subjects. As Gallaudet continues to push for more rigorous exploration and understanding, his work reminds us of the vast unknowns that still lie within our reach, waiting to be discovered.

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

03-06-2024 om 20:37 geschreven door peter  

China lands Chang'e 6 sample-return probe on far side of the moon, a lunar success (video)

China has landed on the moon's mysterious far side — again.

The robotic Chang'e 6 mission touched down inside Apollo Crater, within the giant South Pole-Aitken basin, at 6:23 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday (June 2) , according to Chinese space officials. It was 6:23 p.m. EDT (2223 GMT) on June 1 at the time of the landing. The probe "successfully landed in the pre-selected area," China's space agency said.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) now has two far-side landings under its belt — this one and Chang'e 4, which dropped a lander-rover combo onto the gray dirt in January 2019. No other country has done it once.

newspress collage ovcjawo88 1717320280587

© Provided by The UBJ

• Read more:
  The space race for the moon's water
  What you need to know about NASA and China's space race

And Chang'e 6 will make further history for China, if all goes according to plan: The mission aims to scoop up samples and send them back to Earth, giving researchers their first-ever up-close looks at material from this part of the moon.

"The Chang'e-6 mission is the first human sampling and return mission from the far side of the moon," CNSA officials said in a translated statement. (To be clear: Chang'e 6 is a robotic, not crewed, mission.) "It involves many engineering innovations, high risks and great difficulty." 

• Related: China's Chang'e 6 mission has a big lunar mystery to solve

Sampling a new environment

Chang'e 6 launched on May 3 with a bold and unprecedented task: haul home samples from the moon's far side, which always faces away from us. (The moon is tidally locked to Earth, completing one rotation on its axis in roughly the same amount of time it takes to orbit our planet. So observers here on Earth always see the same side of our natural satellite.)

Every lunar surface mission before Chang'e 4 targeted the near side, largely because that area is easier to explore. It's harder to communicate with robots operating on the far side, for example; doing so generally requires special relay orbiters, which China launched ahead of both Chang'e 4 and Chang'e 6. China's newest moon relay satellite, called Queqiao-2, aided the Chang'e 6 landing, CNSA officials said.

Chang'e 6 arrived in lunar orbit about four days after liftoff. It spent the next few weeks scrutinizing its planned landing site and gearing up for today's big event, which went according to plan: Chang'e 6's lander came down softly in Apollo Crater, leaving the mission's orbiter, with its attached Earth-reentry module, circling the moon.

The lander will spend the next few days studying its surroundings and collecting about 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of lunar dirt and rock. Some of these samples will be scooped from the surface and some will be dug from up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) underground, using Chang'e 6's onboard drill.

This material will then be launched into lunar orbit by a rocket that rode down with the lander. The sample container will rendezvous with the Chang'e 6 orbiter, then make the long trek back to Earth, eventually touching down here under parachutes on June 25.

Chang'e 6 is also carrying a tiny moon rover and has a variety of scientific experiments onboard the lander.

Scientists will study the returned material in detail, seeking insights about the moon's history and evolution and clues about why the lunar far side is so different than the near. The dark volcanic seas known as maria are common on the near side, for example, but are rare on the far side, for reasons that remain mysterious.

Researchers will doubtless compare the Chang'e 6 material to the samples collected on the moon's near side by Chang'e 5, which came down to Earth in December 2020. (Chang'e 5 and Chang'e 6 are sister missions, with virtually identical architectures.)

• Related: The moon: Everything you need to know

Big lunar dreams

{ https://www.space.com/ }

03-06-2024 om 01:41 geschreven door peter  

the Monthly MUFON UFO Sighting Statistics

COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD UNITED STATES 407 FRANCE 25 UNITED KINGDOM 20 CANADA 18 ITALY 7 AUSTRALIA 5 GERMANY 5 COLOMBIA 5 BRAZIL 4 SPAIN 3 SOUTH AFRICA 3 POLAND 2 SWEDEN 2 IRELAND 2 INDONESIA 2 INDIA 2 BELGIUM 1 NETHERLANDS 1 NORWAY 1 COSTA RICA 1 SAUDI ARABIA 1 SLOVAKIA 1 SWITZERLAND 1 BAHAMAS 1 ALBANIA 1    TOTAL: 521 SHAPE Sphere 88 Circle 85 Other 47 Unknown 36 Oval 33 Triangle 33 Star-like 27 Disc 27 Cigar 19 Square/Rectangular 14 Diamond 12 Tic Tac 11 Fireball 8 Bullet/Missile 8 Cylinder 7 Boomerang 6 N/A 4 Egg 3 Saturn-like 3 Teardrop 2 Blimp 1 Cross 1 Cone 1 Flash 1 Chevron 1 STATES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA California 49 Arizona 30 Florida 24 Michigan 19 Texas 18 Washington 15 Colorado 13 Maryland 13 Pennsylvania 13 Ohio 13 North Carolina 13 Illinois 12 Oregon 12 New York 11 Missouri 10 Georgia 10 Tennessee 9 Kentucky 8 Indiana 8 New Jersey 8 Wisconsin 8 New Mexico 7 Virginia 7 Alabama 6 Idaho 6 Connecticut 6 Nevada 5 Oklahoma 5 South Carolina 5 Vermont 4 Massachusetts 4 Maine 4 Arkansas 4 Nebraska 3 Louisiana 3 Kansas 3 Iowa 3 Utah 3 Montana 2 South Dakota 2 Minnesota 2 Rhode Island 1 New Hampshire 1 Mississippi 1 West Virginia 1 District of Columbia 1 Wyoming 1 DISTANCE < 100 ft 60 1 01-500 ft 55 501 ft - 1 Mile 87 Over 1 Mile 102 Unknown 60 NO VALUE 12 Most impressively there were 8 Landings, Hovering, or Takeoffs reported and 20 Entities observed.

{ https://mufon.com/ }

03-06-2024 om 01:19 geschreven door peter  

There was a time when maps of the Moon were created from telescopic observations and drawings. Indeed Sir Patrick Moore created maps of the Moon that were used during the historic Apollo landings. Now researchers have enhanced a technique to create accurate maps from existing satellite images. Their approach uses a technique called ‘shape-from-shading’ and involves analyzing shadows to estimate the features and shape of the terrain. Future lunar missions will be able to use the maps to identify hazards on the surface making them far safer. 

Researchers at the Brown University in Rhode Island have helped refine a process used to map the surface of the Moon making it more accurate than ever before. In their paper, published in the Planetary Science Journal and authored by Benjamin Boatwright and team details the enhancements to the mapping technique. It can generate detailed models of the Moon’s surface to highlight craters, ridges and slopes from composites of 2D images. 

Highly detailed maps are of crucial importance to lunar missions and help the planners to identify the safest place to land. They can also use them to identify areas of particular interest that require further study enabling the whole mission to be far more efficient. Missions such as the Artemis project will benefit when it heads for the south pole of the Moon, an area which is not well mapped. High resolution maps of the area will aid the autonomous landing systems to avoid hazards. 

Creating the maps is a time consuming job and is difficult to be accurate when lighting levels on target area are poor. The interpretation of shadows has been less than effective until now with the team addressing the issues. In their paper, the team explain how advanced computer algorithms can automate a lot of the process and improve the resolution of the generated models. Their new software gives lunar astronomers the necessary tools and information to create larger more detailed maps of the surface. 

To allow lunar scientists to create a map from images requires at least two images of the same area. Each image must be perfectly aligned with its counterpart so that features in one are in exactly the same place in the other. Until now, the technology has not been able to take multiple images of an area and create a perfect map. Boatwright said ‘We implemented an image alignment algorithm where it picks out features in one image and tries to find those same features in the other and then line them up, so that you’re not having to sit there manually tracing interest points across multiple images, which takes a lot of hours and brain power.’

Along with the image alignment algorithm, the researchers created quality control algorithms and filters to remove poor quality images from the alignment process. By only inputing good quality images to the process means the output will be of far higher quality. It is a similar model that astronomical imaging employs when processing multiple images through stacking and alignment techniques. 

To evaluate the accuracy of their work, the team compared the output from existing maps of the Moon to look for errors. To their delight, they found that maps created using their enhanced ‘shape-from-shading’ technique was more precise compared to those acquired during traditional techniques. 

Source : 

• New technique from Brown University researchers offers more precise maps of the Moon’s surface

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

03-06-2024 om 01:01 geschreven door peter  

EXCLUSIVE - Have people really been 'killed by aliens?' Expert weighs in on fatalities linked to UFOs

• READ MORE Book explores strange SEXUAL encounters with UFOs 

By ROB WAUGH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Many reports of untimely deaths in the US have been linked to aliens, sparking theories that these individuals may have been murdered by the third kind.

They include a US Air Force pilot who died shortly after claims he witnessed a flying object and a Brazilian man who was 'zapped in the head by an extraterrestrial.'

Nigel Watson has written about the cases in a new bookazine, the UFO Files, which includes a chapter Death By UFO dealing with these mysterious deaths.

UFO believers are on a missions to prove that aliens were behind many high-profile murders in the past few decades

Watson has spent years researching UFO reports worldwide and published several books and reports about his findings.

Fatal encounter in the skies

One of the cases explored in the book is the death of U.S. Air Force Captain Thomas Mantell who was asked to investigate a silvery, conical flying object in 1948.

Reports have claimed that Mantell, who was a 25-year-old Second World War hero, and three other pilots were conducting training exercise when the request came in to investigate a high-flying silvery object tipped with red. 

'It appears to be a metallic object or possibly the reflection of the sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size,' Mantell reported as he flew in the skies above Fort Knox in Kentucky.

The three planes soared 22,000ft into the air to intercept the object. 

Captain Thomas Mantell died after he followed a mysterious metallic object in his jet

At 2.45pm, Mantell radioed the tower that he had spotted the object.

'The object is directly ahead of me and above me now, moving at about half my speed,' he said. 

He provided another update 30 minutes later: 'It appears to be a metallic object or possible reflections of sun from a metallic object, and it is of tremendous size. I’m still climbing. The object is above and ahead of me moving at my speed or faster. I’m trying to close in for a better look.'

Shortly after, the two other planes had to aborted the mission due to a lack of oxygen supplies.

Mantell, however, continued soaring higher and higher - reaching around 25,000ft.

But at 5pm, debris from his plane was discovered in Shelby County, south-east of Louisville.

The U.S. Air Force first claimed he was chasing the planet Venus, but then said the object was a secret CIA-sponsored Skyhook balloon launched in Southern Ohio.

UFO believers still maintain that Mantell met his demise at the hands of a murderous UFO, Watson said - with the Skyhook explanation not being revealed until the late 1960s.

Zapped by 'death ray'

Brazilian man Inacio de Souza and his wife were returning to their home in August 1967 when they saw an object shaped like an inverted wash basin - and three men wearing skin-tight clothes.

Souza reflexively shot one of the men with his rifle It seemed to have no effect, but a green ray of light shot out at Souza's head from the UFO.

De Souza fell unconscious and suffered numbness and tremors in his head and hands.

A doctor suggested that Souza had merely suffered hallucinations - and a few days later was diagnosed as having leukemia. The illness progressed quickly and he died on 11 October 1967.

Watson wrote: 'While some ufologists think the encounter and de Souza's illness are simply a tragic coincidence, others prefer to believe that the green light from the UFO was an intense beam of deadly radiation.'

'Heavy rain' from a UFO

In 1947, Harold A Dahl along with his son Charles and two crewmen were in a tugboat off Maury Island in Puget Sound between Seattle and Tacoma.

The men said they saw six golden and silver doughnut-shaped objects above them - with one 'wobbling' before releasing a rain of thin metallic strips and black lumps.

Harold Dahl was in a tugboat with his sons when he saw mysterious golden and silver objects above them

One struck the boy's arm, burning it, and their dog died.

Dahl's boss Fred Lee Crisman visited the site and claimed some of the debris.

Dahl was then confronted by a dark-suited man driving a black sedan who drove him to a diner in Tacoma and warned him to keep silent.

Kenneth Arnold - who had spotted 'flying saucers' just days earlier - asked for help from Air Force Intelligence.

On 31 July 1947, Captain William Davidson and Lieutenant Frank M Brown were dispatched to Tacoma, but found no evidence of a rain of molten lead, and thought the sample fragments were slag from a smelting plant.

Davidson and Brown died when their B-25 crashed on their way back to base - and many of the samples and photographs associated with the case vanished.

Watson writes: 'To many, this all smacked of a military-intelligence cover-up. When, in October 1968, District Attorney Jim Garrison brought Clay Shaw to trial for his suspected involvement in the assassination of John F Kennedy, a Fred Lee Crisman was subpoenaed to attend.

Kenneth Arnold, who saw the first 'flying saucers'

A B-25 bomber aircraft similar to the one the men rode in

'Garrison believed Shaw and Crisman were long-standing CIA employees involved in a range of dubious activities including the JFK killing.

'As they were returning to their base at Hamilton Field, California, the port engine of their B-25 aircraft caught fire and they were killed when he crashed near Kelso, Washington State. An anonymous caller to the local newspaper, named the victims before the crash was made public and claimed the aircraft was shot down by a 20mm cannon because it was carrying fragments of a flying saucer.'

'When Kenneth Arnold took off from Tacoma, his engine failed and he had to make a crash landing. On checking his aircraft, he found that his fuel valve had been switched off. Paul Lance, a reporter for the Tacoma Times, who covered this story, died suddenly two weeks later of meningitis.'

'Many of these stories sound outlandish and many of these deaths do have credible explanations. So they don't go much beyond the UFO community. Government agencies or the notorious Men in Black, could be at work but it seems very extreme to murder people, especially over decades, when there are easier ways to discredit UFO researchers..'

'Frozen' near a UFO

New York UFO researcher Jennifer Stevens was contacted by two boys in February 1968 who claimed to have seen a 'glowing fireball' over the Mohawk River.

The boy's friend thought he saw a white-suited humanoid in bushes.

Another 16-year-old boy's body was found nearby after leaving a note with his grandparents to say he was going for a walk.

Watson writes: 'The coroner's verdict was death from exposure, but Stevens was convinced that his death was connected to UFO activity in the area. She noted that the boy's tracks in the snow indicated he had been running at first, then it seemed as if something had dragged him from above.'

After the sighting, Stevens husband was accosted by a man who said, 'People who look for UFOs should be very careful.'

When her husband died suddenly, Stevens gave up her UFO investigations.

• The UFO Files bookazine by Fortean Times is available here.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

02-06-2024 om 23:48 geschreven door peter  

Experts say they've identified 'hairy UFO' that crash landed in North Carolina

• READ MORE: Nine never-before-seen UFOs over California, Utah and Nevada

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Space experts believe they have identified the bizarre 'UFO' debris discovered by a North Carolina groundskeeper and his coworker at a luxury campsite.

Justin Clontz found the three-foot-wide panel, fuzzed with burnt and frayed carbon fibers, in the middle of a trail in the town of Canton last week.

And now an astronomer has told DailyMail.com that the mangled metal is likely pieces of a storage trunk from one of Elon Musk's SpaceX spacecraft.

'The debris matches the expected location of these reentries,' Smithsonian astrophysicist Dr Jonathan McDowell told DailyMail.com, adding that he was 'very confident' in this assessment. 

Astronomer Dr Jonathan McDowell has told DailyMail.com that the bizarre 'UFO' crash debris discovered by a North Carolina groundskeeper at a luxury campsite has been determined to be pieces of a storage trunk from one of SpaceX 's reusable Cargo Dragon spacecraft (above)

Justin Clontz (above) was working grounds maintenance at Glamping Collective, a luxury campsite in Haywood County, North Carolina when he made the bewildering discovery. he had to tow the 'UFO' out of the area with a riding lawnmower because it was so massive and heavy

The charred black, metal object also resembles two pieces of debris found in Canada and Australia, which are now known to be from SpaceX Dragons. 

'We have coincidence in time and place. They look similar to each other and to the Australia debris which is confirmed to come from a Dragon trunk,' Dr McDowell said. 

Clontz was working on grounds maintenance at Glamping Collective, a luxury campsite in Haywood County, when he made the eerie discovery. 

The career groundskeeper and landscaper told local news he was 'just shocked as to what it was,' adding: 'It's once in a lifetime, you know, it don't happen every day.' 

The UFO-like debris' carbon fiber looked almost like some kind of weird fur, as initial reports described the now very likely identified mystery object. 

'We don't know what it is,' Clontz told local news earlier this month. 'We just know that it's not from up here.'

Although this piece of SpaceX debris fell safely about a half-mile down a remote trail on Glamping's property, Dr McDowell noted that both governmental and private space programs have become dangerously lax with their space junk in recent years.

Although this piece of SpaceX debris fell safely about a half-mile down a remote forest trail, Dr McDowell noted that both governmental and private space programs have become notably lax with their space junk in recent years. Above, the open trunk of a SpaceX Cargo Dragon craft

SpaceX's Dragon 'trunk' has storage space of over 350 cubic-feet internally, with an extender option that expands its capacity to over 1200 cubic-feet of storage space. This cargo container comes with mounted radiators that help it regulate the temperature of sensitive items

'The risk to life and property is fairly small — because the Earth is a big target and is mostly not covered with people — but it's not tiny,' Dr McDowell wrote via email. 

'We have seen some close shaves,' he said. 

Dr McDowell's work, which involves collecting and analyzing data from NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope observatory and other space-based astronomy platforms, often includes paying some attention to space traffic in Earth's orbit.

'The government is also taking unwarranted risks,' noted Dr McDowell, who publishes a monthly newsletter on space launches, 'as shown by the incident in Florida earlier this year when a bit of ISS came through the roof of someone's house.'

That incident, this March, involved a 5,800-pound battery pallet plunging into a Florida home. The heavy metal object was later confirmed to have been discarded by the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021.

'The risk to life and property is fairly small - because the Earth is a big target and is mostly not covered with people - but it's not tiny,' Dr McDowell wrote via email about the SpaceX crash

Dr McDowell's work, which has involved NASA's Chandra X-ray telescope observatory and other space-based astronomy platforms, often includes paying some attention to the space traffic in Earth's orbit. Above, another close-up of the SpaceX debris in North Carolina

Naples homeowner Alejandro Otero was on vacation when he received a call from his son, saying he heard a 'tremendous sound' and there were gaping holes in the ceiling and floor. Otero's son reportedly told him that whatever fell almost hit him.

SpaceX has not yet confirmed whether the object found in Canada earlier this year, or the object found in North Carolina, were debris from their spacecraft.

But, ground tracking of the SpaceX Dragon 'trunk' that made its re-entry this February would indicate that both of these crash debris objects came from the trunk as it burned up in the hot friction of its descent back towards Earth.

Dr McDowell told Space.com that the most likely sites for debris from this descent could include US states from Tennessee through Virginia and West Virginia, but North Carolina was certainly within the realm of possibility.

Clontz had to improvise to tow this apparent hull panel from the SpaceX Dragon's trunk out of off the trail because it was so massive: 'I just tied a rope to it and drug it out with a lawn mower'

Above, more detail from the futuristic SpaceX trunk panel, fuzzed with burnt and frayed carbon fibers, bolted between heavy metal plates

SpaceX's Dragon 'trunk' has storage space of over 350 cubic-feet internally, with an extender option that expands its capacity to over 1200 cubic-feet. 

This cargo container comes with mounted radiators — electrical and fluid connections that allow it to regulate its storage space's internal temperature to accommodate a variety of sensitive payloads, including small satellites that can be released in orbit.

Clontz had to improvise to tow this apparent cargo hull panel from the SpaceX Dragon's trunk out of his trail area, just because it was so massive. 

'I just tied a rope to it and drug it out with a lawn mower,' as Clontz explained to WLOS. 

He added that the 'UFO' had landed perfectly in the middle of the trail and that none of the trees or leaves looked like they had caught fire in the crash.

Nobody had even heard the object land, he told reporters, which surprised him, given its size and weight.

'It's a one in a million chance that it lands, especially if it landed somewhere off the trail in the woods you'd have never found it,' he told the local news team, 'but it just happened to land on the trail.' 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

02-06-2024 om 23:30 geschreven door peter  

Top Secret UFO Files to be Released by October 2024: Daniel Sheehan Reveals Groundbreaking Details

In an enlightening discussion on the Freedom Pact Podcast, esteemed attorney Daniel Sheehan unveiled critical information regarding the U.S. government’s clandestine UFO programs. Known for his notable legal career involving high-profile cases like the Pentagon Papers and Iran-Contra, Sheehan provides a unique and credible perspective on the impending release of classified UFO documents.

The Testimony of Colonel David Grusch

Central to the revelations is the testimony of Colonel David Grusch before the House Oversight Committee. Grusch, a former senior official in the National Reconnaissance Office and the Global Intelligence Center, declared under oath that the U.S. is in possession of an extraterrestrial spacecraft and non-human biologics. His credentials, including his access to top-secret satellite data and involvement in the Pentagon’s special UFO task force, lend significant weight to his claims.

Grusch’s testimony highlighted two critical programs: a UFO crash retrieval program and a back-engineering initiative aimed at developing weapon and propulsion systems from recovered extraterrestrial technology. His disclosures, approved by the Department of Defense Office of Pre-publication Security Review, underscore the authenticity and seriousness of these programs.

Government Actions and Legislative Developments

Following Grusch’s eye-opening testimony, the Senate Intelligence Committee took decisive action by unanimously approving a 64-page bill. This bill acknowledges the U.S. government’s extensive knowledge of UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) and non-human intelligence. Although the bill was later condensed to 24 pages, it retained crucial provisions and was signed into law by President Biden.

The enacted law mandates that all U.S. military services, intelligence agencies, and defense department entities compile and digitize every piece of information they possess regarding UAPs. This comprehensive collection process must be completed by October 18, 2024. The law also stipulates that all information older than 25 years must be made publicly accessible. This encompasses historical incidents such as Roswell, Aztec, and Project Blue Book, marking a significant shift towards transparency.

Implications of the Upcoming Disclosure

The October 2024 deadline for the release of classified UFO files represents a monumental moment in the pursuit of transparency regarding extraterrestrial phenomena. For decades, UFO enthusiasts and researchers have speculated about government cover-ups and hidden evidence. This mandated disclosure is poised to provide unprecedented access to information that could reshape public understanding of extraterrestrial life and the government’s involvement in studying and managing UAPs.

Sheehan emphasized the importance of this legislative milestone, noting that despite the initial disappointment over the reduction of the bill’s length, the remaining provisions are extraordinary in their scope and impact. The law requires all relevant agencies to report their UAP-related documents, ensuring that oversight is maintained and that the public gains access to critical information.

VIDEO:

• Top Secret UFO Files to be Released by October 2024 | Sheehan Explains

• https://youtu.be/4wOOI2Hzgbk

As the October 18, 2024, deadline approaches, anticipation builds around the potential release of top-secret UFO files. Daniel Sheehan’s insights and the legislative actions taken by the Senate and House underscore a significant move towards greater transparency and public awareness. The forthcoming disclosure promises to shed light on long-standing mysteries and provide a clearer picture of the U.S. government’s knowledge and handling of extraterrestrial phenomena. This historic event is set to redefine our understanding of UAPs and potentially unveil truths that have been hidden for decades.

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

02-06-2024 om 21:14 geschreven door peter  

The Sun's Magnetic Field Starts Just Beneath the Surface, New Study Reveals

The Sun's magnetic field, which drives solar storms and solar wind, doesn't originate deep within the Sun after all.

BY KIONA SMITH

Handout/Getty Images News

University of Edinburgh mathematician Geoffrey Vasil and his colleagues published their work in the journal Nature.

SHALLOW, NO DIVING

Vasil and his colleagues used a computer simulation to model how plasma flows in the outer layers of the Sun, called the convective zone: a 124,000-mile-deep sea of roiling plasma, heated from below by the Sun’s thermonuclear core. Specifically, they were interested in what happened in the top 20,000 miles or so of the plasma.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology mathematician Keaton Burns, a coauthor on the study, designed the program, called the Dedalus Project, to be very good at simulating how fluids flow, from the movements of liquid inside a cell to the circulation of Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. And the Sun, although we tend to picture it as a big ball of fire, is actually a big ball of super-hot gas.

Physicists know that the magnetic field is driven by an enormous dynamo: physical mass in motion, whose mechanical energy becomes electrical energy.

“One of the basic ideas for how to start a dynamo is that you need a region where there’s a lot of plasma moving past other plasma, and that shearing motion converts kinetic energy into magnetic energy,” explains Burns in a recent statement.

Most astrophysicists are convinced that process happens more than 125,000 miles deep inside the Sun, at the very bottom of the convection layer. That explanation makes sense in a lot of ways, but simulations based on it don’t actually produce results that look much like the churning, roiling plumes of plasma in the Sun’s outer layers — or the pattern of sunspots (dark, relatively cool patches of the Sun’s surface, where magnetic field lines meet and tangle) that astronomers actually see on the Sun’s surface. The real Sun is much more turbulent than most simulations suggest. And in simulations of a magnetic field coming from deep within the Sun, sunspots tend to gather near the Sun’s poles; on the real Sun, most sunspots form near the equator.

Knowing more about how the Sun’s magnetic field works could help scientists make predictions about the kinds of solar activity that produced stunning auroras — and briefly stalled spring planting on some farms by disrupting navigation systems on tractors and other equipment — earlier in May.

JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE SUN

Vasil and his colleagues’ simulations showed that the Sun’s outermost reaches are made of layers of plasma, which normally rotate past each other (picture an onion; now picture an onion 865,000 miles wide and made of super-hot gas with a giant thermonuclear reactor running at its center). But tiny changes in how one layer flowed past the next — like a little plume or a slight eddy — could create an instability that fed on itself and rapidly grew into major turbulence.

“It doesn’t take much to trigger an instability! If a system is unstable, it is like a pencil balanced on its point — any slight breeze is enough to knock it over,” co-author Daniel Lecoanet, an assistant professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, tells Inverse. “The outer part of the Sun is convective, which is kind of like it is boiling. These roiling motions are definitely enough to seed the instability.”

Most of the instabilities that eventually formed got their start thanks to powerful winds in the interior of the Sun, which move at different speeds depending on how deep into the Sun you go. As you sink deeper into the Sun, the winds get stronger — until about 21,000 miles below the outer edge, when they suddenly slow down.

“The difference in wind speed at the surface vs. deeper into the Sun is a source of energy that can drive instability,” says Lecoanet. That energy is eventually converted into the Sun’s magnetic field.

And in Vasil and his colleagues’ simulations, those instabilities in the outer layers of the simulated Sun eventually produced a pattern of magnetic field lines and sunspots that looked remarkably like the real thing.

“Our work provides strong evidence that the solar cycle starts near the surface of the Sun in the equatorial region,” says Lecoanet.

PREDICTING SOLAR STORM SEASONS

Eventually, Vasil and his colleagues hope their work will help astrophysicists forecast how active the next solar cycle will be, similar to the way that meteorologists predict how active the coming hurricane season will be.

“This work is not trying to make predictions about individual solar storms,” says Lecoanet.

At the moment, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center can predict the severity of a solar storm a few days in advance, around the time a huge belch of plasma called a coronal mass ejection leaves the Sun’s surface. But we don’t have a good way to predict what the next few years hold; some solar cycles are more active than others, and knowing what’s coming could help us prepare.

“We want to forecast if the next solar cycle will be particularly strong, or maybe weaker than normal,” says Lecoanet. “The previous models (assuming the solar magnetic field is generated deep within the Sun) have not been able to make accurate forecasts of if the next solar cycle will be strong or weak. We are hoping to make predictions of if a cycle will have a lot of solar storms or not a lot.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

02-06-2024 om 01:14 geschreven door peter  

Under the SPRINT program, Aurora has been tasked with delivering DARPA an aircraft capable of demonstrating a range of key technological capabilities. The agency says this will “enable a transformational combination of aircraft speed and runway independence.”

Aurora’s demonstrator will be a fan-in-wing design, which achieves low-drag flight thanks to an innovative wing body platform that blends the best capabilities in current vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) technology with high speed.

Aurora’s aircraft will help advance the SPRINT program’s objectives of attaining “game-changing capability for air mobility and Special Operations Forces (SOF) missions,” the company said in a recent statement on its website.

WHAT THE NEW IMAGES REVEAL

In Aurora’s latest artist concept images, the experimental aircraft’s fan-in-wing (FIW) design is revealed. It features a trio of lift fans and a more streamlined composite exterior.

“The choice of three lift fans reflects the team’s strategy to simplify the demonstrator and streamline its path to flight test,” the company says, with the fans designed to be scaled to provide additional fans as may be needed for future aircraft based on the new design.

Above: Fan configuration shown in recent artist’s concept images of the X-plane, currently under development by Aurora for DARPA’s SPRINT program

(Credit: Aurora Flight Sciences/Boeing).

Previously, Aurora has already demonstrated the use of fan systems in the development of its Excalibur Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), which employs jet power to drive three electric “louvered lift” fans for vertical takeoff and landing. On the new X-plane, the fan configurations will be retractable within the wings during primary flight mode operations.

Although the current X-plane design is an uncrewed demonstrator, Aurora says this offers advantages during the testing phase by reducing risks while allowing the FIW technologies it demonstrates to be carried over and scaled to aircraft designs featuring traditional crewed configurations.

SETTING THE PACE FOR ‘SPRINT’

Additionally, the new images reveal elements of the aircraft that will serve as crucial components for meeting the SPRINT program’s objectives. These include a body capable of 450-knot cruise speeds, short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) capabilities, and seamless transitions between vertical and horizontal flight modes.

Above: Updated artist’s concept imagery of the Aurora X-plane, currently in development for DARPA’s SPRINT program

(Credit: Aurora Flight Sciences/Boeing).

Larry Wirsing, vice president of aircraft development at Aurora Flight Sciences, said that the company’s work with DARPA on its SPRINT program offers “an exciting opportunity to continue our history of advancing technology demonstrator programs that enable new capabilities for the U.S. military.”

According to current timelines, Aurora and Boeing anticipate their primary design review will likely conclude within the next 12 months, after which the X-plane’s first official flight will take place in approximately 36 months.

• 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/ }

02-06-2024 om 00:56 geschreven door peter  

Egyptian Gods, Tall Grays, Reptilians and Space Pirates

Written by Dr Michael Salla 

{ https://exopolitics.org/ }

02-06-2024 om 00:22 geschreven door peter  

De grootste astronomische ontdekkingen aller tijden

©Getty Images

De grootste astronomische ontdekkingen aller tijden
Het heelal heeft ons mensen al sinds we op planeet aarde rondlopen, gefascineerd. Er wordt dan ook al duizenden jaren studie gedaan naar dat donkere gat met al die lichtpuntjes. Van de oude Assyriërs, Grieken en de grootste geesten van de Renaissance tot de miljardair ruimteverkenners van de 21e eeuw. Er is ongelooflijk veel tijd, moeite en geld gestoken in het beter begrijpen van onze hemelse omgeving. En toch, ondanks alle grote stappen die zijn gezet om het universum te begrijpen, wordt geschat dat 95% daarvan nog steeds onontdekt is.

Desalniettemin weten we al aardig wat over het heelal. Benieuwd naar de grootste ontdekkingen? LEES dan verder!

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Wat is dat toch?
Het heelal is voor ons nog altijd een behoorlijk mysterie. Moet je nagaan wat onze voorvaderen daarover moeten hebben gedacht.

©Getty Images

Wat is dat toch?
De sterren waren direct verbonden met de religies van de prehistorie. Oude volkeren begonnen hemellichamen al snel te zien als wezens die verantwoordelijk waren voor aardse gebeurtenissen zoals regen, wind en stormen. Sommige van 's werelds vroegste bouwwerken en monumenten werden waarschijnlijk gebouwd als centra van aanbidding in overeenstemming met hemelse gebeurtenissen zoals de zonsverduistering en lente-equinox.

©Getty Images

Babylonische astronomie
De eerste schriftelijke astronomische waarnemingen verschijnen in Babylonische spijkerschriftteksten die rond 1500 voor Christus zijn geschreven. De vroegste planetaire waarneming werd vastgelegd in de 'Enuma Anu Enlil'. Daarin werd de beweging van Venus in de loop van 21 jaar gevolgd.

©Public Domain

De eerste sterrencatalogus
Gan De, een vroege voorvechter van Chinese astrologie, wordt gecrediteerd met het produceren van de eerste uitgebreide sterrencatalogus ter wereld, ergens in de 4e eeuw v.Chr., eeuwen voordat de Griekse astronomie Hipparchus zijn eigen atlas samenstelde.

©Getty Images

Eerste waargenomen komeet
Een van de meest bekende hemelse gebeurtenissen over de hele wereld, het passeren van de komeet van Halley werd voor het eerst vastgelegd in een Chinese tekst die teruggaat tot 240 v.Chr., en vervolgens opnieuw door de Babyloniërs in 164 v.Chr.. De komeet van Halley passeert de aarde op zo'n afstand dat hij elke 75 jaar met het blote oog zichtbaar is.

©Public Domain

De eerste heliocentrische theorie
Meer dan een millennium voordat Nicolaus Copernicus zijn heliocentrische theorie aan de wereld introduceerde, veronderstelde de oude Griekse astronoom Aristarchus, ergens tussen de 3e en 4e eeuw v.Chr., dat de zon en niet de aarde het centrum van het universum was.

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Ptolemaeus' Almagest
In de 2e eeuw n.Chr. introduceerde de Griekse astronoom Ptolemaeus de 'Almagest'. Die beschreef een enorm invloedrijke, zij het onnauwkeurige, geocentrische theorie van het universum. Dit idee dat de aarde het centrum van het universum was, zou meer dan duizend jaar heersen, tot de Italiaanse Renaissance.

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Astronomy through the Dark Ages
Terwijl de westerse vooruitgang in de astronomie tijdens de donkere Middeleeuwen bijna tot stilstand kwam, bleven astronomen in de Aziatische en Arabische wereld het veld verder pushen, nieuwe meetinstrumenten creëren en verbeteren en enorme, prachtige observatoria bouwen.

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De heliocentrische theorie van Copernicus
In 1543 publiceerde Copernicus zijn heliocentrische theorie, die de Copernicaanse revolutie ontketende. Het was de eerste keer in meer dan duizend jaar dat een heliocentrische theorie werd geponeerd, en hoewel het niet onmiddellijk werd aanvaard, onderschreven veel astronomen na Copernicus zijn theorieën en verbeterden ze totdat ze als feit werden geaccepteerd.

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Uraniborg
Een tijdgenoot en tegenstander van Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, die de heliocentrische theorie verwierp, boekte wel onschatbare vooruitgang met betrekking tot de posities van sterren met behulp van zijn enorme observatorium, Uraniborg. Uraniborg, gebouwd op het toenmalige Deense eiland Hven, was een van de grootste en belangrijkste observatoria die in gebruik was vóór de uitvinding van de telescoop.

©Getty Images

De sterrencatalogus van Tycho Brahe
In Uraniborg werkte Brahe aan zijn sterrencatalogus, waarvan de definitieve versie uit meer dan 1.000 sterren bestond. De catalogus van Brahe, die aan het einde van de 16e eeuw werd voltooid, maar pas in 1627 werd gepubliceerd, bevatte gegevens die tot 10 keer nauwkeuriger waren dan voorheen.

©Getty Images

De manen van Galileo
Een van Galileo's grootste prestaties, bereikt met de hulp van zijn telescoop in 1610, was de eerste waarneming van de vier grootste manen van Jupiter, gezamenlijk bekend als de Galileïsche manen. Dit was de eerste keer dat satellieten van een andere planeet werden waargenomen.

©Public Domain

De afstand tussen de aarde en Mars
In 1672 berekende de Italiaanse astronoom Giovanni Cassini, met de hulp van zijn assistent Jean Richer, de afstand van de aarde tot Mars. Dit was de eerste bewezen afstand van de aarde naar een andere planeet, en speelde een belangrijke rol bij het bepalen van de ware grootte van ons zonnestelsel.

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De sterren zijn niet vast op hun plaats
Edmond Halley, een Engelse wetenschapper en astronoom, was de eerste die zich realiseerde dat de verre sterren aan de hemel bewegende en dynamische objecten waren, terwijl hij hedendaagse kaarten en sterposities vergeleek met de posities die waren opgenomen in de 'Almagest' van Ptolemaeus. Daarin werd nog aangenomen dat sterren niet bewegende, statische objecten waren. Er werd een komeet naar Halley vernoemd.

©Getty Images

De ontdekking van Uranus
De Engelse astronoom William Herschel ontdekte de eerste 'nieuwe' planeet, Uranus, in 1781. Er waren al eerder waarnemingen van Uranus gedaan, maar tot de 18e eeuw werd ten onrechte aangenomen dat Uranus een verre ster was en geen planeet in ons eigen zonnestelsel.

©Public Domain

Het bestaan ​​van andere sterrenstelsels

Het twistpunt van het Grote Debat van 1920 tussen de Amerikaanse astronomen Harlow Shapley en Heber Curtis was hoe groot het universum eigenlijk was. Centraal in dit argument stond de Grote Spiraalnevel. Shapley betoogde dat deze nevel een kleine, relatief dichtbij gelegen wolk van gas en stof was.

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Het bestaan ​​van andere sterrenstelsels
Curtis beweerde echter correct dat de Grote Spiraalnevel, nu bekend als de Andromedanevel, in feite een massief en onafhankelijk sterrenstelsel was, vele lichtjaren verwijderd van ons eigen Melkwegstelsel.

©Getty Images

Het heelal breidt zich uit
In de jaren twintig werd een van de meest schokkende en revolutionaire ontdekkingen over de aard van de ruimte gedaan. De wet van Hubble-Lemaître, eerst verondersteld door de Belgische priester en astronoom Georges Lemaître en later bevestigd door Edwin Hubble, had bewezen dat het universum zelf in een constante staat van verandering en uitbreiding verkeert. De wet van Hubble-Lemaître vertelt ons dat de snelheid waarmee een hemellichaam van ons af beweegt recht evenredig is met zijn afstand tot de aarde.

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De ontdekking van donkere energie
Wat deze expansie voortstuwde, was echter nog onbekend in de tijd van Lemaître en Hubble. Pas in 1998 ontdekten wetenschappers donkere energie. Het universum bestaat voor 69% uit donkere energie. In tegenstelling tot materie en donkere materie, lijkt donkere energie gelijkmatig over het universum te zijn verspreid, en is zwaartekracht afstotend. Dat betekent dat de energie naar buiten duwt, waardoor alles in het universum verder uit elkaar wordt geduwd. Tot op de dag van vandaag blijft donkere energie een van de grootste mysteries van het universum.

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Kosmische magnetron achtergrond
Een van de belangrijkste vorderingen bij het in kaart brengen van de geschiedenis van het universum was de ontdekking van de kosmische microgolfachtergrond van het universum. In 1963 ontdekten natuurkundigen Arno Penzias en Robert Wilson de achtergrondstraling die in alle uithoeken van het universum aanwezig is en fungeert als een voetafdruk voor de kosmische gebeurtenissen die eraan voorafgingen. Deze ontdekking was instrumenteel in de brede acceptatie van de oerknaltheorie.

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De ontdekking van het eerste zwarte gat
Astronomen ontdekten het eerste zwarte gat in 1964 in een diep deel van het sterrenbeeld Zwaan, na onderzoek naar onverwachte röntgenstraling in de ruimte. Het zwarte gat kreeg de naam Cygnus-X en bewees voor het eerst de theorie van Albert Einstein over zwarte gaten van bijna 50 jaar eerder.

©Getty Images

Verkenning van Mars
De Sovjet Mars 3 rover, gelanceerd in 1971, was de eerste sonde die met succes op Mars landde, hoewel de verbinding minder dan een minuut daarna verbrak. Vijf jaar later, in 1976, landde NASA met succes de Viking I en Viking II rovers op de rode planeet. Deze twee rovers stuurden in de loop van vier jaar meer dan 52.000 beelden van het oppervlak van Mars naar de aarde.

©Getty Images

Ondergang van de dinosaurussen uitgelegd
In 1980 was de Amerikaanse Nobelprijswinnaar Luis Alvarez, met de hulp van zijn zoon, geoloog Walter Alvarez, en een team van nucleaire chemici, de eerste die stelde dat een enorme asteroïde die in botsing kwam met de aarde leidde tot het uitsterven van de dinosauriërs en een einde maakte aan het Krijt. Enkele jaren later, in de jaren negentig, werd de Chicxulub-krater, met een diameter van 180 kilometer, ontdekt in Mexico. Tegenwoordig wordt algemeen aangenomen dat de Chicxulub-krater de plek is waar de legendarische asteroïde was ingeslagen.

©Getty Images

Eerste planeet gevonden buiten ons zonnestelsel
In 1992 ontdekte een team van astronomen dat werkte vanuit het beroemde Arecibo-observatorium, twee exoplaneten buiten ons melkwegstelsel. Dit waren de eerste planeten buiten ons eigen zonnestelsel die ooit werden waargenomen, maar zeker niet de laatste. Er zijn inmiddels meer dan 4.000 exoplaneten ontdekt.

©Getty Images

Water op Mars
Er werd lang gedacht dat Mars een ongelooflijk droge planeet was, verstoken van water. Echter veranderde de perceptie in 2012 toen NASA's Curiosity-rover bewijs vond van een enorm waterbed dat bevroren was onder het oppervlak van Mars. Sindsdien zijn er talloze andere ontdekkingen van water gedaan en wetenschappers zijn het er nu over eens dat minstens een derde van Mars bedekt is met bevroren water.

©Getty Images

Een tweede aarde
Een van de meest prikkelende vragen van ruimteverkenning is of er planeten zijn die zo op de aarde lijken dat ze leven zouden kunnen ondersteunen. In 2015 kondigde NASA aan dat ze een zeer aardachtige planeet hadden gevonden, bekend als Kepler-452b, in een baan rond een ster die veel op onze zon lijkt. Hoewel de samenstelling van de atmosfeer van de exoplaneet onbekend is, is het wel bekend dat hij op een bewoonbare afstand van zijn thuisster ligt en een rotsachtig oppervlak heeft.

©Getty Images

Een oceaan op Europa
Een internationaal gezamenlijk onderzoeksteam onder leiding van NASA kondigde in 2019 aan dat er waterdamp was gedetecteerd in de atmosfeer van de maan Europa, een van de 79 manen van Jupiter. Deze ontdekking ondersteunde de lang gekoesterde theorie dat er zich een enorme oceaan verbergt onder het oppervlak van deze maan, waarvan veel wetenschappers denken dat het een 24 kilometer diepe ijslaag is.

Zie ook:

• Duizelingwekkend mooie ruimtefoto's van NASA

Bronnen:

• (European Space Agency)
• (NASA)
• (Futurism)

{ https://www.msn.com/nl-be/feed?ocid=msedgntp&pc=acts }

01-06-2024 om 23:13 geschreven door peter  

Yet what is perhaps the most intriguing about the thylacine is that, for many decades, alleged sightings of the creatures have continued, causing even some of the most skeptical wildlife experts to wonder whether the beloved Tasmanian tiger might have survived extinction, remaining alive but critically endangered in some of Tasmania’s most remote forests.

Last year, a comprehensive analysis of 1,237 thylacine sightings reported since 1910 indicated the possibility that the creatures might have indeed persisted until as recently as the 1980s, if not more recently. The study, led by Professor Barry Brook from the University of Tasmania and published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, based its evaluations on the quality of observations by assigning them a credibility rating, providing a fresh perspective on the timing and location of the thylacine’s potential last days.

According to the study’s findings, contrary to the widely accepted death of the last known thylacine in 1936, which marked its extinction, the species likely survived until sometime between the 1940s and 1970s, with the northwest of Tasmania near Waratah serving as its likely final stronghold.

Following the death of the last officially recognized thylacine in the 1930s, hopes remained that confirmation of the species’ existence would be obtained, but after several decades of intriguing sightings, the International Union for Conservation of Nature officially declared the thylacine extinct in 1982. However, Brook’s study also examined sightings of slightly lower reliability that were logged in later decades, which indicated an intriguing possibility: that at least a few representatives of Australia’s most iconic marsupial species may have lived long enough to have seen the arrival of the new millennium.

CREDIBLE SIGHTINGS

Among the most credible sightings of thylacines that occurred after their accepted extinction was a report by Hans Naarding, a park ranger who said he observed one of the creatures for several minutes while illuminated by torchlight in 1982. The sighting was deemed so credible that it resulted in a search for the species by Tas Parks, in cooperation with Dr. Eric Guiler, which lasted more than two years.

Peter Murrell, then Director of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, cited the Naarding sighting as the best “in the history of the service,” which he called “irrefutable and conclusive” evidence of the creature’s survival.

Such sightings prompted numerous additional searches. Between 1982 and 1983, Parks and Wildlife Officer Nick Mooney attempted to confirm Naarding’s sighting during searches conducted near the Arthur River in northwestern Tasmania, which failed to find any conclusive evidence of the creatures. The following year, in 1984, Tasmanian Wildlife Park owner Peter Wright conducted similar unsuccessful searches. Then, in 1988, photographers Dave Watts and Ned Terry spent several years seeking evidence of Thylacines but eventually gave up their search in 1993.

Despite the failed searches, a few intriguing reports continued. In one instance, a thylacine was reportedly shot near Adamsfield, Tasmania, in the early 1990s, after which a photograph of one of the creature’s feet was compared with a specimen kept at Museum Victoria. Chris Rehberg, who manages the website Where Light Meets Dark, which collects information on sightings of rare fauna like the thylacine, wrote, “It is my opinion that the features shown in the photograph categorically demonstrate the animal to be Thylacine, to the exclusion of all other candidate species in Tasmania.”

COULD THE THYLACINE STILL EXIST?

Brook believes that while the 2023 study’s findings are compelling, there is a less than 1% chance that the creatures are still alive today. Still, some compelling—though unconfirmed—accounts and photographs could point to this intriguing possibility, which served as the basis for a 60 Minutes segment that aired in April 2024.

In May 2024, new photos allegedly depicting a Tasmanian tiger in the wild were publicized by wildlife biologist Forrest Galante on his YouTube channel. During an interview with the alleged photographer, identified only as “Zack,” Galante expressed the view that some of the images looked legitimate, but that he remained skeptical about at least one of the photos and planned to have them examined by an expert.

In 2022, The Debrief spoke with Professor Andrew Pask from the University of Melbourne, who, along with the U.S.-based company Colossal Biosciences, announced a cooperative effort with hopes of reviving the thylacine with help from modern genetic technologies.

Pask told The Debrief that he remains skeptical about the thylacine’s possible survival and that the creatures would likely have only lasted a few generations beyond the death of the last known thylacine in captivity in 1936.

Pask also emphasized that the loss of the thylacine played a significant role in destabilizing the environment in which the creatures once thrived.

“That role as an apex predator was incredibly important in the ecosystem in which it sits,” Pask told The Debrief. “There are no other marsupial apex predators at all.”

“When that animal was lost, it really affects that entire ecosystem. It really has massive effects on multiple other species,” Pask said.

While questions remain about how long thylacines may have persisted, as well as the seemingly very slim possibility that a few of the creatures may remain alive today, Australia’s most enigmatic marsupial lives on through stories, art, scientific endeavors, and even recent studies like those conducted by Brook, reminding modern generations of the fragile balance between humanity and nature, and helping to inspire interest in conservation that may help other species that are currently designated as critically endangered.

• 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/science/ }

01-06-2024 om 18:03 geschreven door peter  

James Fox On Brazil 1996 UFO Crash: Creature Contacted Telepathically & Left Message

Filmmaker James Fox has attended back-to-back two podcasts with Julian Dorey, where he discussed the history of UFOs and made a surprising claim about the Varginha UFO incident. He revealed a claim about the incident that he could not include in his documentary “Moment of Contact,” where an alien entity telepathically contacted one of the witnesses.

In January 1996, Brazil experienced the most controversial Varginha UFO incident, which involved numerous eyewitness testimonies of peculiar beings in Varginha, in addition to reports of a crashed UFO and the retrieval of extraterrestrial remains by the Brazilian military.

The first person to disclose the strange details of the incident was Roger Leir, a ufologist who visited Varginha shortly after the event in 2003 and later wrote the book “UFO Crash in Brazil.” Upon the police arrival, they immediately fired shots at the aliens, resulting in one of them being wounded. The injured extraterrestrial was then transported to a nearby hospital approximately 1.5 kilometers away from Varginha.

According to hospital staff, an entire wing of the facility was shut down, and the hospital was swarmed with military personnel fully armed. Despite the doctors’ attempts to save the creature, it ultimately perished and was pronounced dead on January 22, 1996.

A team of over a dozen specialists, including geneticists, conducted an autopsy, which revealed that the alien had a black tongue, no genitals, and a navel. After the autopsy, the deceased alien was placed in a wooden coffin with screws securing the lid.

Retired Brazilian Air Force General Jose Carlos Pereira told Fox in the documentary that “Governments tend to cover up everything they can’t explain to their population.” Whereas a university professor and amateur ultralight pilot Carlos de Sousa claimed to have seen the crash on January 13, 1996, in Varginha, Brazil.

Mr. de Sousa described the UFO in the film as the size of a school bus, a submarine-like shape, leaving the white smoke behind. He spoke to researcher Claudeir Covo on camera in 1996 and said: “It was floating and slowly losing altitude. It looked like a washing machine struggling, fighting to keep its altitude… The side of it was completely torn and it had white smoke coming out. It wasn’t black smoke like from a fire. At the time I thought it was like an aircraft in trouble, an airplane, so I decided to follow it.”

Whether the account is fictional or not, it remains one of the most discussed UFO incidents that happened outside the United States. Even twenty-five years later, the witnesses’ testimony is highly convincing to most who hear it. For 27 years, James Fox traveled across the world in pursuit of the truth regarding UFOs.

His latest UFO documentary “Moment of Contact” presents the most compelling evidence to date that extraterrestrial life exists, has visited our planet, and has even perished here.

On Julian Dorey’s podcast, Mr. Fox disclosed that the creature recovered from a 1996 incident had supposedly established telepathic contact with two doctors who treated its injuries at Humanitas hospital in Brazil. He could not include this in his documentary because he needed testimony on it. But he referred to Dr. Roger K. Leir’s book “UFO Crash in Brazil: A Genuine UFO Crash with Surviving ETs” to know more about it.

In Chapter 6, “The Medical Testimony,” Lier mentioned his conversation with a doctor who had treated one of the recovered alien entities. The being, which did not appear to have a gender, telepathically communicated to him that humans were “totally detached” from their spiritual selves and it felt sorry for them.

Read also:

• Man Who Ran Area 51 Claimed They Had Alien Crafts & Non-Human Beings: So Bob Lazar Is telling Truth
• Footage Of UFO Landing At Holloman AFB With Aliens Walking Out Exists, Producer Told James Fox

• Italy Had UFO Crash & Recovered Alien Bodies Prior To Roswell: Is USA Holding Them?
• Ex-Apollo Astronaut Claimed Humans Are Ancient Aliens, Visited Earth From Space

The doctor said the alien was transferred to another hospital in “satisfactory condition,” but was apparently dead within 24 hours. Leir speculated that the being may have left its body on its accord. The alien’s craft, he was told, was taken to a military installation in the US, where it currently remains.

Dr. L (Lier): Please go ahead. I trust what you are saying is the truth.

MP (Medical Personnel): When we had finished the surgery for repair of the fracture, we were still highly tense. We did not know how the patient was going to respond to what we had done to it. We were also afraid if something untoward happened to the creature, we would get the blame from the military and the punishment might be severe. Those thoughts were going through my head. Suddenly, out of nowhere the room began to fill with a greenish mist. We all stepped back from the operating table. We did not immediately know the origin of this mist and feared it might be toxic. One of the operating room nurses began frantically banging on the operating room door. A voice on the other side inquired if we were finished with the surgery. We told them we were essentially finished but there seemed to be greenish gas collecting in the room and we did not know the origin. With that, there was some heated conversation outside of the operating room and we were told to find the origin of the greenish substance and let them know. We did not know at this point whether it was a gas, vapor or mist but finally realized it seemed to be emanating from the creature lying on the table. In deep fear, I walked slowly closer to it and approached the head of the table. Without consciously realizing it, my gaze caught the eyes of the being. His eyes were glowing red and appeared as two swirling pools of liquid. They were pulling, pulling me in, deeper and deeper. All at once giant portions of information came pounding into my head. These were like thought grams, large blocks of information. Over and over and over, like someone hitting me in the head with a hammer. I was also becoming dizzy and slightly nauseated.

Dr. L: Undoubtedly you survived this ordeal. Can you tell us what was in these thought messages?

MP: All that I am willing to tell you at this time is what the creature told me about human beings. I also want to tell you he downloaded a tremendous amount of knowledge into my head. It caused me to have headaches lasting for over two weeks following the event.

Dr. L: Please go ahead and tell us what he told you.

MP: Yes. Essentially he told me his race felt very sorry for human beings for basically two reasons. The first is that all humans have the same potential and abilities to perform the very same things his race could do. Those things we find so marvelous and magical but humans did not know how to do them. For example, he told me in cases where there is injury or disease of the body, it would not be necessary to confine one of his species to a special treatment facility such as the one he was confined in at the moment. He told me they either individually or joined together could produce all the healing necessary to repair their bodies. The second reason they felt sorry for us was we did not seem to realize we were spiritual beings only living in a temporary shell and we were totally disconnected from our spiritual self.

Dr. L: That is a fascinating piece of information. Can you tell us anything further that you learned?

MP: No, that is all we are willing to share at this time.

In an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit, Fox stated that even bigger updates were coming in the future. When asked about rumors of an alleged 35-second video of the creature, Fox said: “I have personally spoken to three witnesses in Brazil. [They] claim to have seen photographic evidence — both video and stills.” “There will be details coming soon… very soon,” he wrote.

In this YouTube video, Vitorio Pacaccini, a prominent UFOlogist who had been missing from the community for a while, claims to have watched a highly compelling and detailed video proof of the Varginha alien in 2012.

LINKS VIDEOS

• https://youtu.be/gI7EO7VQJow

• https://youtu.be/KMyiH-dFqfs

• https://youtu.be/d4Pa8WBjew0

According to Pacaccini, the being was very weak and not communicating, they were trying to help it stand and actually tried to feed it with an apple and water but the being did not respond to it. He describes the audio and video quality as excellent and asserts that the being matches the descriptions provided by the witnesses and military whistleblowers. It is possible that James Fox intends to share this footage in collaboration with Pacaccini.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

01-06-2024 om 17:45 geschreven door peter  

China's secret space plane has released another unknown object over Earth

Related stories: 

• China has launched a secret robot to the far side of the moon, new Chang'e 6 photos reveal

Meanwhile, the U.S. military's X-37B space plane is also in Earth's orbit. The craft launched on Dec. 28 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The fact that the two missions are operating simultaneously is "probably no coincidence," Space Force Chief of Space Operations B. Chance Saltzman told Air & Space Forces magazine. 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, China's state-run media outlets have not indicated any military applications for the space plane. "After operating in orbit for a period of time, the experimental spacecraft will return to the designated landing site in China," Xinhua reported, according to Gizmodo. "During this period, it will carry out reusable technology verification and space science experiments as planned, providing technical support of the peaceful use of space."

Reusable space planes have many potential commercial and scientific applications, including carrying passengers and launching satellites more efficiently. Nevertheless, the Space Force will continue to monitor the Shenlong mission until it returns to Earth.

{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

01-06-2024 om 15:52 geschreven door peter  

Een nepafbeelding herkennen is eenvoudig, als je weet hoe: hier lees je waar je op moet letten

Door Janine

Valse afbeeldingen en desinformatie op internet

Unsplash

Het is inmiddels voor iedereen duidelijk dat het internet niet meer de vrije en verantwoordelijke plek is die het aan het begin van zijn geschiedenis leek te zijn. Vandaag de dag zijn sociale media zowel een informatiemiddel geworden als kanalen waar desinformatie zich snel verspreidt. Een groot deel van het nepnieuws wordt publieke kennis, mede dankzij valse of gemanipuleerde beelden die onware verhalen ondersteunen. Het probleem is dat deze beelden vaak niet van echt te onderscheiden zijn: in combinatie met de onmiddellijke verspreiding van een inhoud op sociale media, wordt het onmogelijk om nepnieuws van echt nieuws te onderscheiden.

Zoals we in de inleiding al zeiden, heeft Google een aantal gratis tools beschikbaar gesteld waarmee het mogelijk is om een nepafbeelding te herkennen. Natuurlijk is het niet zo direct als doemscrollen op een social, maar het is wel een mogelijkheid om te voorkomen dat je nepnieuws gelooft. Misschien is een afbeelding bewerkt, misschien is deze helemaal gecreëerd: is het, met de mogelijkheid het nooit te weten, dan niet beter om te begrijpen hoe je het kunt herkennen?

Google en factchecking van nepnieuws, ook voor afbeeldingen

Unsplash

Het eerste hulpmiddel dat Google ter beschikking stelt, is de Fact Check Explorer, essentieel voor het verifiëren van valse beweringen over foto's en video's die op internet circuleren. Dit is een bijzonder nuttig hulpmiddel voor journalisten en nieuwsmedia, maar de toegang hiertoe is gratis. Al vanaf de startpagina is het mogelijk om te zien welke foto's en video's onlangs door de tool zijn geverifieerd, maar dat is nog niet alles.

Door een eenvoudige zoekopdracht op een trefwoord uit te voeren, geeft de Fact Checker een lijst met foto's die geverifieerd moeten worden. Sommige zullen waar zijn, sommige zullen zonder context zijn, sommige zullen gemarkeerd zijn als nep, enzovoort. Daarnaast is het ook mogelijk om op afbeeldingen te zoeken: deze mogelijkheid is al aanwezig in de klassieke Google zoekmachine, maar is vooral handig in de Fact Check Explorer. Door een afbeelding te uploaden, kan de tool deze vergelijken met bronnen op het web en begrijpen of het een echte of nepafbeelding is.

Soms hoef je alleen maar de informatie bij de afbeelding te lezen

Pexels

Google's Fact Checker Explorer is een krachtig en eenvoudig te gebruiken hulpmiddel, maar er is een nog eenvoudigere functie die ons op zichzelf in staat zou kunnen stellen om een nepafbeelding te herkennen. Om het te gebruiken en het potentieel ervan te realiseren, hoef je alleen maar:

• te zoeken naar een trefwoord op Google;
• “afbeeldingen” te selecteren en vervolgens de afbeelding die we willen controleren;
• op de drie puntjes naast het resultaat klikken;
• “over deze afbeelding” selecteren.

De zoekmachine opent dan een tabblad met de belangrijkste exemplaren van die afbeelding op internet en de eerste datum van online publicatie. Misschien is dat beeld bij een recente gebeurtenis onlangs verschenen en kan het daarom ook waarheidsgetrouw blijken te zijn. Misschien is het een afbeelding dat al enkele jaren oud is, maar gebruikt werd om verontwaardiging op te wekken over een recente gebeurtenis: ook in dit geval is het beter om het te weten, toch?

Zoals we kunnen zien, is de verspreiding van valse afbeeldingen een steeds ernstiger probleem. Tegelijkertijd zijn er hulpmiddelen om te begrijpen of we met een valse afbeelding worden geconfronteerd. Het is gemakkelijk om niet in nepnieuws te trappen: je hoeft alleen maar te weten hoe je deze tools moet gebruiken, of de tijd vinden om dit te doen tussen het ene sociale netwerk en het andere.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

01-06-2024 om 15:30 geschreven door peter  

The notion that giants once roamed the earth has been widely discussed and supported by photographs of their skulls and skeletons found worldwide. 

Ancient megalithic structures, enormous and enigmatic, prompt us to question their builders. It seems impossible that human beings could have constructed such structures. 

Take, for instance, the colossal stones of Sacsayhuamán in Peru. When The conquistadors asked theInca about the walls at Sacsayjuaman, the Inca told them the Giants had built it. 

Similarly, Malta, an island steeped in history and legend, houses mysterious megalithic structures that have baffled archaeologists for centuries. These massive stone temples, among the oldest globally, appear beyond the capabilities of prehistoric farmers. 

However, the intrigue doesn't stop there.

Legends speak of the Nephilim, giant beings believed to have built these monumental structures. Some theories even suggest their descendants might still reside underground today. 

We investigate the possibility of these giants, examining bones, elongated skulls, and mysterious hidden subterranean chambers called The Hypogeum.

  

{ https://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

01-06-2024 om 15:12 geschreven door peter  

The team’s discovery seems to be linked to the concept of disappearing stars. Over the last few years, it has become evident that some stars seem to just vanish from view, neither passing through the planetary nebula phase nor going supernova. The discovery of supermassive stars undergoing complete collapse without supernova now provides a good explanation for the phenomenon. 

The team reached their conclusion when they explored an object known as VFTS 243; a binary system which includes a star thought to be 25 times more massive than the Sun and a blackhole 10 times more massive than the Sun. Both objects orbit a common centre of gravity over a period of 10.4 days and lie in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud – 160,000 light years away. The binary system is not the first of its kind to be discovered, such systems have been known about for decades. 

Studying the system revealed the orbit was almost circular. Given that one of the stars had collapsed into a black hole, the nearly circular orbit and the lack of any evidence of an explosion all point to a star that collapsed completely. The complete collapse meant that all matter from the star collapsed into the blackhole and no material escaped out as a supernova. Could it be then that the team have finally revealed the mechanism by which massive stars have been vanishing? It certainly looks like it but further observations of binary systems with stars and black holes is required to confirm. 

Source : 

• Constraints on Neutrino Natal Kicks from Black-Hole Binary VFTS 243

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

01-06-2024 om 15:02 geschreven door peter  

Dr. Swindle follows this with, “There are two basic types of motivation. One is that we’re planning on bringing all these rock samples, and we’re going to be interested in knowing how they’ve interacted with the atmosphere, but we can’t figure that out without knowing the composition of the atmosphere in detail. So, we need an atmospheric sample to know what the rocks might have been exchanging elements and isotopes with. But we’d also like to have a sample of the Martian atmosphere to answer some basic questions about processes that have occurred, or are occurring, on Mars. For example, Martian meteorites contain trapped atmospheric noble gases, like krypton and xenon. But it appears that there are at least two different “atmospheric” components in those meteorites.”

For the study, the researchers proposed several benefits of returning a Mars atmospheric sample to Earth, including atmospheric samples being among the NASA Perseverance (Percy) rover sample tubes, gaining insight into potential solar gar within the Martian interior, evolutionary trends in atmospheric compositions, nitrogen cycling, and sources of methane on Mars. For the Percy atmospheric sample, also known as Sample No.1 “Roubion”, the study notes how this sample was obtained after Percy tried to collect a rock core sample but ended up collecting atmospheric gases instead. Additionally, the study proposes the lack of leakage the sample tube will experience while awaiting its return to Earth and the gases present within the sample are ideal for analysis once returned to Earth, as well. But aside from the Percy rover sample, how else could a Martian atmosphere sample be obtained?

“At least two other ideas for collecting a sample of Martian atmosphere have been suggested,” Dr. Swindle tells Universe Today. “One is to fly a spacecraft through the Martian atmosphere, collect a sample as it goes through, then return it to Earth. The other is to have a sample return “cannister” (it doesn’t have to be any bigger than a Perseverance tube) that has valves and a (Martian) air compressor. You could land it on the surface of Mars, open the valve to the atmosphere, turn on the compressor, and get a sample that has hundreds or thousands of times as much Martian atmosphere as a volume that is just sealed without compression, as Perseverance has done, and hopefully will do again.”

Dr. Swindle and Dr. Young both mention the Sample Collection for Investigation of Mars (SCIM) mission, which was proposed in 2002 by a team of NASA and academic researchers with the goal of collecting atmospheric samples at an altitude of 40 kilometers (25 miles) above the Martian surface and return them to Earth for further analysis. While SCIM was selected as a semi-finalist for the 2007 Mars Scout Program, it was unfortunately not selected for further development, and both Dr. Young and Dr. Swindle tell Universe Today there are currently no atmospheric sample missions being planned aside from the Percy rover sample. Therefore, what follow-up studies from this research are currently underway or being planned?

Dr. Swindle and Dr. Young both mention how efforts are being made to collect small quantities of atmospheric gas due to the small size of the sample tubes, with Dr. Swindle telling Universe Today, “A big set of questions right now is how good a sealed Perseverance tube would be at containing an atmospheric sample. How good is the seal? Might the tube spring a leak on a hard landing? Would some molecules in the Martian atmosphere stick to the coatings of the tubes? There’s been some activity on all of these questions, and so far, the answers have all been good – it looks like those Perseverance tubes may do well, even though they weren’t really designed with atmospheric sampling in mind.”

As noted, the purpose of obtaining and returning an atmospheric sample from Mars could help scientists better understand the formation and evolution of the Red Planet. While present-day Mars is a very cold and dry world with an atmosphere that is a fraction of the Earth’s atmosphere, with liquid water being unable to exist on the surface, along with no active volcanism, as well. However, significant evidence obtained from landers, rovers, and orbiters over the last several decades point to a much different Mars billions of years ago after it first formed. This included an active interior that produced a magnetic field that shielded the surface from harmful solar and cosmic radiation, a much thicker atmosphere being replenished from active volcanism, and flowing liquid water, all of which potentially led to the existence of some forms of life on the surface.

However, given Mars’ small size (half of Earth), this means its internal heat cooled off much faster (possibly over millions of years), resulting in volcanism becoming inactive and the dissipation of the magnetic field the interior activity was driving, the latter of which led to harmful solar and cosmic radiation stripping the atmosphere, with the surface liquid water evaporating to space along with it. Therefore, do Dr. Young and Dr. Swindle believe life ever existed on Mars, and will we ever find it?

Dr. Young tells Universe Today, “I really don’t know.  I think microbial life sometime in the past, or even now, is a reasonable hypothesis but we don’t have enough information.”

Dr. Swindle also echoes his uncertainty whether life ever existed on Mars, but elaborates by telling Universe Today, “If there hasn’t, why did life start so early on Earth, but didn’t start on Mars, which had a similar climate at the time. If there has been, how similar is it to life on Earth? Since Earth and Mars are always exchanging rocks because of impacts, is life on Earth related to life on Mars? If it has existed, it will be tough to find. But an atmospheric sample could help. For instance, there seems to be methane in the Martian atmosphere. Most, but not all, of the methane in Earth’s atmosphere is biological, and analyzing the relative ratios of the isotopes of carbon or hydrogen is one of the best ways to figure that out.”

When will we obtain an atmospheric sample of Mars and what will it teach us about the formation and evolution of the Red Planet 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/ }

01-06-2024 om 14:42 geschreven door peter