PREMIUM

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05-06-2024 om 18:23 geschreven door peter  

Steve, A Weird Ribbon of Light in the Northern Sky, Has A Twin

"Eh! Steve!"

BY KIONA SMITH

 

A Norwegian photographer, Gabriel Arne Hofstra, spotted the streamer of purple light in 2021 images from an all-sky digital camera at the Ramfjordmoen Research Station in Norway. ESA’s Swarm satellites, which study Earth’s magnetic field and how it interacts with the Sun’s electrically-charged solar wind, confirmed that Hofstra had found what the agency calls “something peculiar, something Steve-like.”

WHAT’S A STEVE?

When skygazers saw a ribbon of pale purple light in the night sky over Alberta, Canada in late 2016, they knew it wasn’t a normal part of the Northern Lights; auroras are normally green and sometimes red. Their ephemeral find was so baffling that it attracted the attention of researchers who study how Earth’s magnetic field interacts with the Sun’s electrically-charged solar wind. They gave the strange light a name fittingly shrouded in mystery and intrigue: Steve.

STEVE has since become an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. And a few months later, Steve turned out to be caused by a stream of extremely hot, electrically charged gas (or plasma) flowing swiftly across the upper reaches of Earth’s magnetic field.

A typical aurora happens when electrons collide with molecules in Earth’s upper atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light. Those electrons usually arrive on the solar wind: streams of charged particles constantly blown outward by our Sun. They get caught in Earth’s magnetic field and ferried toward the poles, which is why you typically only see auroras at high latitudes.

Steve is a little different; it’s caused by a gas made of electrically charged atoms, not just tiny subatomic particles. Because of its different makeup, it gets caught on different magnetic field lines than the electrons that cause normal auroras. That’s why Steve shows up at lower latitudes. And unlike a normal aurora, which can last for several hours, Steve appears and disappears in a matter of movements.

The plasma that causes Steve gets very hot as it speeds along those magnetic field lines, causing a pale purple glow in the sky. Steve flows westward at dusk, and scientists monitoring Earth’s magnetic field quickly discovered another stream of plasma flowing eastward near dawn. But nobody had ever seen that second, eastbound plasma stream glowing the way Steve does — until recently.

Hofstra spotted the visible flow from Steve’s eastbound twin, and Swarm discovered that although the two auroral features are twins, they’re not identical twins: Steve usually appears a little south of the green Northern Lights, while Steve’s twin shows up closer to the North Pole. Both are long and thin: about 600 miles long and 15 miles wide, moving at more than 13,000 miles per hour.

Nobody has suggested a name for Steve’s twin – which is technically also a STEVE, but it’s so important for twins to have their own identities.

 { https://www.inverse.com/ }

05-06-2024 om 17:50 geschreven door peter  

Haperende ruimtetelescoop Hubble werkt weer na aanpassing

De oude ruimtetelescoop Hubble kan weer aan het werk. De metingen van het observatorium waren vorige maand stilgelegd door een storing aan een van de gyroscopen. Die moeten ervoor zorgen dat de Hubble goed van positie verandert om het heelal in beeld te kunnen brengen. De Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA denkt een manier te hebben gevonden om daarmee om te gaan.

De Hubble heeft in totaal zes gyroscopen aan boord. Die wieltjes draaien 19.200 keer per minuut om hun as. In 2009 zijn ze voor het laatst vervangen, bij de laatste onderhoudsbeurt van de ruimtetelescoop. Sindsdien zijn drie gyroscopen al uitgevallen en in de afgelopen maanden kreeg een vierde problemen. Die bleven terugkeren.

NASA heeft nu besloten om nog maar één gyroscoop te gebruiken. De Hubble wordt daardoor minder flexibel, hij heeft meer tijd nodig om te draaien. Maar de vluchtleiding denkt dat het leven van de ruimtetelescoop zo verlengd kan worden en dat hij tot in het volgende decennium nog kan werken.

De Hubble, gelanceerd in april 1990, had een verwachte levensduur van vijftien jaar, maar inmiddels draait hij al zo'n 34 jaar in een baan rond de aarde, op een hoogte van ruim 500 kilometer. Hij onderzocht onder meer afgelegen sterrenstelsels, waardoor wetenschappers een beter beeld hebben gekregen van het ontstaan van het heelal. Ook maakte hij beroemde foto's van verre nevels.

Als NASA de ruimtetelescoop aan zijn lot overlaat, kan hij ergens in de komende tien jaar langzaam uit zijn baan om de aarde zakken en uiteindelijk verbranden in de dampkring.

Omdat het einde van de Hubble nadert, is eind 2021 zijn opvolger gelanceerd, de ruimtetelescoop James Webb.

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05-06-2024 om 17:37 geschreven door peter  

The team behind the tantalizing findings says that more follow-up analysis of the data is planned. However, their initial readings appear to be consistent with the presence of alien technology orbiting at least seven of these stars.

HOW TO SPOT ALIEN TECHNOLOGY LIKE A DYSON SPHERE

Since humanity’s most powerful telescopes cannot image objects orbiting distant stars directly, researchers Matías Suazo at Uppsala University in Sweden and Gaby Contardo at the International School for Advanced Studies in Italy knew they would have to analyze light spectrum data emitted by millions of stars across the galaxy to search for signs of alien technology. In the case of Dyson Spheres, the team would need to look for an ‘unnatural’ imbalance between the visible light and the infrared light emitted by a distant star.

That’s because, as proposed by Dyson, the more technologically advanced a species becomes, the more energy it needs. If they become advanced enough, a species could, in theory, surround an entire star with a “sphere” designed to capture all of its emitted energy. The Debrief previously covered the science fiction origins and viability of Dyson Spheres in 2021.

A fully completed Dyson Sphere would be almost impossible to detect from such a long way away since all of its visible light would be captured by the sphere. However, either an incomplete sphere or a swarm of satellites known as a partial Dyson Sphere or a Dyson Swarm would still allow some of the visible light through for Earth’s telescopes to capture. At the same time, the sphere would radiate an excess of heat energy in the infrared spectrum as it captures the star’s radiated energy and then releases it into space.

Suazo and Contrado proposed that if the ratio between visible light and infrared light coming off of any particular star is just right, it would represent compelling evidence for the presence of a Dyson Sphere.

An artist's rendition of what a Dyson sphere might look like.

(Image credit: dottedhippo/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

ANALYSIS OF EXISTING DATA FINDS SEVEN TANTALIZING CANDIDATES

In their published study, which appears in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers note that previous efforts dating back to the 1980s and as recently as 2021 have looked for this same type of light signatures coming from distant stars. However, they note that “none of these searches have revealed any strong candidates for Dysonian technology.”

Fortunately, the team says that advancements in modern space and ground telescopes may produce positive results; in fact, they believed that the data they were looking for may have already been collected by modern observatories and were just sitting there waiting for someone to go through it.

Specifically, the team hoped to find telltale signs of alien technology hiding in data captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) space telescope, and the ground-based infrared telescope survey MASS2.

“Dyson spheres, megastructures that could be constructed by advanced civilizations to harness the radiation energy of their host stars, represent a potential technosignature that, in principle, may be hiding in public data already collected as part of large astronomical surveys,” they explain.

Dubbed Project Hephaistos (named for the armorer of the Greek Gods), the effort would examine data from over one hundred million stars. Since that is too much data for humans to analyze, the team employed what they described as ‘neural network’ algorithms designed to measure and compare the visible light and infrared signatures emitted by the target stars. Notably, the team stayed away from what are termed “younger stars” since they may still have too much material in their orbits that could artificially skew the readings.

As hoped, the effort was a success. The customized algorithms not only found 60 stars that had the right light ratios, but seven of these were particularly tantalizing, with IR heat signatures that lacked any other good explanation. In fact, the signals were so strong that the team feared they might be young stars with large amounts of debris in their orbits.

To rule this out, the team searched for nearby X-ray sources. X-rays are “a powerful tool for tracing star-forming regions in the sky,” they explain, so if they found sources like this near any of the seven alien technology candidates, they could rule them out.

Luckily, the team says that the analysis came up empty. “After searching the XMM–Newton science archive, we found no evidence of X-ray sources in the neighborhood of our candidates that could be attributed to star formation.”

Tabby’s Star in infrared (left) and ultraviolet (right).

Image Credit: Infrared: IPAC/NASA / Ultraviolet: STScI /NASA via Wikimedia Commons

FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS COULD CONFIRM DYSON SPHERES

In the study’s conclusion, the researchers indicate they have already performed a visual check of their seven Dyson Sphere candidate stars. Those tests seem to support their initial conclusions, with the researchers writing that “our visual inspection indicates that these sources are actual sources of infrared radiation that are not subject to any obvious contamination.”

Of course, Suazo and Contrado concede that much more analysis and follow-up observations are necessary to state with any measure of certainty that they have indeed spotted irrefutable signs of alien technology. They also note that although they tried to eliminate any other explanations, the sheer distance between Earth and the observed stellar candidates combined with our still-limited knowledge of the cosmos may mean there is a simple, natural explanation for the unusual light signatures they have found.

“We would like to stress that although our candidates display properties consistent with partial DSs, it is definitely premature to presume that the MIR presented in these sources originated from them,” the researchers write. “The MIR data quality for these objects is typically quite low, and additional data are required to determine their nature.”

They also concede that there are “several natural explanations for the infrared excess in literature,” However, they note, “none of them clearly explains such a phenomenon in the candidates, especially given that all are M dwarfs.”

Although the team is open to other explanations for their findings, Souza admits that “the most fascinating explanation could be actual Dyson spheres.”

By surrounding their star with swarms of energy-collecting satellites, advanced civilizations could create Dyson spheres.

[Read the Full Dyson Sphere Infographic Here.] 

(Image credit: by Karl Tate, Infographics Artist)

• Christopher Plain is a Science Fiction and Fantasy novelist and Head Science Writer at The Debrief. Follow and connect with him on X, learn about his books at plainfiction.com, or email him directly at christopher@thedebrief.org.

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

04-06-2024 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

Apollo Worker Found Evidence That Ancient Alien Cities Exist On Moon, NASA Fired Him

The mysteries around the Moon have been circulating after the first Apollo mission. Did the first crew really encounter the aliens there? First, many people still believe that NASA has never gone to Moon. But the majority strongly support the six lunar landing missions. In reference to the missions, NASA whistleblowers claimed that the agency is hiding the secret of artificial structures on the Moon. Among them, Dr. Ken Johnston claimed that NASA knows that astronauts discovered ancient alien cities and the remains of incredibly advanced machinery on the Moon. Some of these technologies can manipulate gravity.

Dr. Ralph Kennedy Johnston Sr was born at Fort Sam Houston US Army Air Corps Base in San Antonio, TX. in 1942. He was one of the four Civilian Astronaut Consultant Pilots at NASA who trained Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins for the Apollo 11 Mission.

Additionally, Dr. Ken Johnston is a retired aerospace engineer, former active duty US Marine, and now known as “NASA Whistleblower.” He refuses the term “whistleblower” as he says what he did was providing the public with first-hand information that they deserve to know.

He refused to strictly follow orders and destroy a nearly-complete collection of 8″ x 10″ glossy photo prints from the Apollo program. These photos are not available from NASA at this time and are of a higher resolution than what is found online.

In the last 40 years, other scientists, engineers, and technicians have accused NASA of cover-ups and data withholding. There is a growing number of people who accuse the space agency of withholding information about anomalous space objects and lying about discovering artifacts on the surface of the Moon and Mars, denying evidence of life reported by the Viking probe in the mid-1970s.

According to Dr. Johnston, the Apollo astronauts brought back photographic evidence of the artifacts they found during their extravehicular activities on the moon. Johnston claimed that NASA ordered to destroy the EVA images at the  Jet Propulsion Laboratory ( JPL), but he refused. When he went public, he was fired from the agency.

In the 2007 press release, Kay Ferrari,  JPL’s Director of the SSA program, asked Dr. Johnston to resign. It was Johnston “being quoted [as] criticizing NASA in Hoagland’s new book, ‘Dark Mission,'” that prompted her to ask for Johnston’s resignation from the SSA Program. When Dr. Johnston refused, citing First Amendment protections of free speech afforded all NASA employees, even those at JPL, Ferrari apparently decided to remove him arbitrarily from the SSA Program, as stated in the press release.

After his abrupt departure, he indicated that he was tired of the US government sitting on evidence for more than four decades, evidence that ancient alien cities exist on the Moon. The low-quality pictures included in the book depict ruins of buildings, huge dome-like objects made of glass, stone towers, and castled hanging in the air.

“I have nothing to lose. I have quarreled with NASA and I got fired,” Ken Johnston said.

Read also:

• Ex-CIA Pilot Said 5 To 10 Alien Civilizations Visiting Earth & They Are Hostile
• Aliens From Andromeda Told US Army Personnel That Humans Are Composite Of 22 Different E.T. Races
• Moon Trip Enforced NASA Astronaut Edgar Mitchell To Believe In UFOs & Aliens, Why?
• Area 51 Scientist Before Death Made Shocking Confessions About Aliens, UFOs, & Anti-Gravity Tech

Dr. Ken Johnston’s Credibility

American space journalist James Oberg continued to attack Dr. Johnston despite he provided his credentials, certificates, and awards, including his doctoral certificate from the Reform Baptist Theological Seminary of Denver, granted in 1985.

Dr. Ken Johnston shared a document on his Facebook page where he stated that he was the substitute for the NASA Astronauts during the testing of the Lunar Module, better known as LTA-8 in Vacuum Chamber “B” at the Johnson Space Center. Source

From his ridiculous accusation that Dr. Johnston was not “in charge” of the photographs in his possession at NASA’s Lunar Receiving Laboratory, to attacking the doctorate itself, Oberg has been – inexplicably for a guy who says he wants to “move on to other things” – persistent. By his own account, Oberg had been burning up the phone lines trying to find something to discredit a man he had known for over 30 years while continuing to pretend he had never even met Dr. Johnston.

Otherwise, Dr. Johnston logged about 3,000 hours as a space pilot without ever going into space. As a test conductor, he helped train all of the Lunar Landing Mission astronauts to fly the Lunar Module.

When the first landing on the moon ended, about 30,000 employees were laid off because research and development were no longer needed, he said. After that, he became the Data and Photo Control Department manager at the Lunar Receiving Laboratory where he was responsible for controlling all of the data and photographic information generated from the Lunar missions.

 Dr. Ken Johnston: Here I am wearing a Gemini suit developing the ingress/egress procedures for getting an astronaut (or me) into the giant Vacuum Chambers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. Back then it was called MSC for the Manned Space Center.

 Dr. Ken Johnston: The inside opening page of my LM Pilot Log Book.

Dr. Ken Johnston On Aliens

On his visit to Hindustan International School and University (India) in 2017, he shared a lot about the Apollo Mission and aliens with the New Indian Express. [Source]

 Do you believe that aliens exist?

– Yes. Don’t you? Your ancient history suggests that extraterrestrials came to our planet. Back in 1958, we unearthed proof that Eisenhower did meet with extraterrestrials. There is so much evidence not only to prove that there are aliens, but also that they have an impact on this planet.

– How did you develop an interest in aliens and space?

– Back in those days, I would watch series like Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Flash Gordon. I wanted to go to space. My father was a pilot and I wanted to be one too.

– And then you went on to train Neil Armstrong.

– Not just Neil Armstrong. We were a team of four and our job was to test the lunar mission module in the vacuum chambers to ensure that the systems were safe to be taken to space. In the process, we trained Neil, Buzz and Michael to land it on the moon.

 What is your take on the ‘moon landing – faked’ controversy?

– (Laughs) We still have people who think that Earth is flat. Once a reporter told Buzz Aldrin that he didn’t go to the moon and he punched him. Even the latest satellite pictures show the same lunar footprints.

– How did you manage to get first-hand information about extraterrestrials?

– Once we were done with the first three missions, I was put in charge of photographing and documenting their exact location. One day, my boss ordered me to destroy these images. I reminded him that the government had paid for them and that they should be made public to which he replied, “No. Get rid of it. I don’t care what you think.”

– But why?

– Because there were elements in the pictures that were unexplainable. You can now download them for free from my website. You can see the lunar anomalies too. It looks like something has been smudged out. Way before Photoshop, they would paint things out.
Once, when I walked into the photo lab, I saw a woman painting something out. She called herself a ‘stripper’ and said that she was paid for it. This really upset me as I was in charge of keeping a record of things. I guess that’s why they call me a whistleblower.

– How transparent is NASA?

– People like me, who’ve gotten into trouble with NASA, have a different expansion for the acronym — Never A Straight Answer.

References:

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ } 

04-06-2024 om 23:38 geschreven door peter  

Significantly, the new findings also challenge past assumptions about these formation processes, a trend that has continued since Webb first began operating.

Using the telescope’s NIRSpec instrument during observations of three candidate galaxies at redshifts greater than 14, the research team involved with the study was able to perform deep measurements of the spectra generated from interactions between matter and radiation in these ancient star systems.

Selected from observations in a region of the Fornax constellation identified within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) south field, this grouping of galaxies was initially identified by the Hubble Space Telescope and Cycle 1 JWST/NIRCam data, which at the time pointed to a less than 1% chance that they were low-redshift “interlopers.”

Of the two galaxies, JADES-GS-z14-0 is the brightest and was found near a foreground galaxy, which introduced some initial complications in the team’s assessments. With time, Webb’s NIRCam observations of the region helped to dismiss the possibility of this premise, thanks to “additional deep medium-band NIRCam observations that substantially strengthened the case for the source being at high redshift,” the authors write in a new paper detailing their findings.

Detailed spectroscopy helped the team affirm the presence of a spectral line of hydrogen known as the Lyman-α break, placing the galaxies at redshifts of approximately 14.

After Webb’s NIRSpec camera also revealed that the faintest of the candidate galaxies had not been significantly detected, the team shifted their attention to JADES-GS-z14-0 and JADES-GS-z14-1, galaxies whose spectra showed a clear flux density break. This information also helped the team to confirm the high redshift of these galaxies.

Ultimately, redshifts of 14.32 for JADES-GS-z14-0 and 13.90 for JADES-GS-z14-1 were determined, revealing spectrographic signatures suggestive of very young stars and relatively low dust in these galaxies, which astronomers recognize as being traits associated with the early universe.

Additionally, JADES-GS-z14-0 appears to display a pronounced distribution of ultraviolet (UV) light when compared with other very bright galaxies, likely due to its size. The team says this points to a spatially extended stellar population, as opposed to a dominant active galactic nucleus (AGN), denoting the small region near the heart of many galaxies which is brighter than astronomers would expect to result from the luminosity of stars alone.

In some cases, the high luminosity of this central region can overpower the rest of the light generated by such galaxies. However, in the case of JADES-GS-z14-1’s UV emissions, the team involved with the new study says they appear to point to stellar rather than AGN dominance.

Another significant finding is that the masses of these galaxies appear to have grown rapidly from redshift 20 to 14, which is also suggestive of early star formation activity. This, along with the relatively low dust present in these galaxies, is believed to originate from a few possible factors that may include galactic outflows.

Ultimately, the discovery of these very early galaxies is providing compelling new data that points to the much earlier existence of these massive galaxies than many astronomers previously thought, although that isn’t to say that no one had expected such discoveries.

Still, such ongoing discoveries, made in large part with the help of the JWST, fundamentally support the reality that our existing notions about galaxy formation require a bit more work. With ongoing observations of the most distant and early regions of our universe, astronomers hope to deepen our understanding of the ‘Cosmic Dawn,’ where the first galaxies were born, in the years ahead.

The team’s new paper, “A shining cosmic dawn: spectroscopic confirmation of two luminous galaxies at z ∼14,” was uploaded to the preprint arXive.org server and can be read online.

• 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/ }

04-06-2024 om 23:08 geschreven door peter  

For instance, last year’s workshop (AM IX) addressed the pressing question of whether NASA would be able to mount a crewed mission to Mars by 2033. This has been a key aspect of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars (M2M) mission architecture, detailed in the agency’s annual Architecture Concept Reviews (ACRs). It is also in keeping with Explore Mars’ goal of advancing the “human exploration of Mars and beyond no later than the 2030s.” Alas, in recent years, there has been growing skepticism that several key technologies will be ready to meet this deadline.

As Universe Today reported at the time, these doubts were raised at AM IX, and there was no consensus regarding potential solutions. This included the possibility of a flyby mission by 2033 and whether or not a nuclear-thermal propulsion (NTP) system, which can potentially reduce transit times to Mars (45 to 100 days), would be ready in time. In addition, there were the comments of Deputy Administrator Jim Reuters, who acknowledged that sending astronauts to Mars by 2040 was “an audacious goal for us to meet… It may sound like a lot, but it is [a] very short time to develop technologies we need to develop.”

As with previous AM workshops, cooperation and effective communication were emphasized. This includes coordinating robotic and human spaceflight missions and broader cooperation between space agencies, government, and industry. A key concern that was identified was the process through which NASA’s mission architecture evolves. While participants agreed that the M2M ADD “provides a strong starting point for an iterative architecture process,” they also concluded that the development process was insufficient. As stated in the AM X Report:

“Participants observed that despite recent progress, existing channels were insufficient to adequately integrate human capabilities and limitations as well as science objectives into the architecture development process. Similarly, sustainable human exploration of the Moon and Mars will not occur unless science and human exploration objectives are infused early and continuously into the systems engineering processes.”

To address these concerns, the workshop participants came up with four recommendations for improving existing channels and the architecture development process. They include:

Public Outreach & Involvement

First, the AM X Workshop Report recommended that public interactive forums be more frequent to develop inputs to NASA’s Architecture Definition Documents. The communities emphasized for engagement include operations, human research, science, international organizations, and others “that empower cross-disciplinary teaming, welcome broad participation from external experts, and provide a pathway to incorporate community recommendations and findings into Mars mission planning.”

The need to coordinate with diverse science communities to prioritize and narrow science objectives was also noted, as was the possible need for certification paths for external groups “to provide input in
smaller settings and more frequently than once a year at the ACR.”

The Report also emphasizes the need for initiatives and workshops that focus on the development and integration of “intelligent systems” and “data analytics” that will be critical for missions operating farther from Earth for extended periods. According to NASA’s mission architecture, this applies to Phase III of the Moon to Mars plan (aka. “Earth Independent”), where operations will shift from cislunar to deep space. This will include transits to and from Mars using the Deep Space Transport (DST) and science operations on the Martian surface.

Risk Mitigation

Second, the Report acknowledges the historical trend where certain priorities (like discovery science, technology, and infrastructure development) are often sacrificed for short-term needs. To this end, it is recommended that NASA acknowledge and address tensions between scientific investment for “risk mitigation purposes and investment for discovery science in planning for M2M missions.” While there is no reference to the sacrifices made to realize the Artemis Program and a return to the Moon by 2024, there are some hints that this could be the case.

The shifting priorities brought about by the expedited timetable have led to the deprioritizing of mission elements crucial to reaching Mars by the 2030s – like the Lunar Gateway. As acting Deputy Administrator Doug Loverro explained in March of 2020 during a NASA Advisory Council science committee, the Gateway was deprioritized to “de-risk” Artemis so NASA could focus on meeting the mandatory goals of Artemis and its 2024 deadline. Meanwhile, no design or feasibility studies have been performed for the DST or a Mars orbital habitat (a la the Mars Base Camp) since 2018/19, coinciding with the Artemis “shake-up.”

Regardless, the Report cites the need for increased funding to ensure “technology maturation, demonstration, and infusion to incorporate capabilities.” This is understandable, given that budget concerns have been an issue since NASA began planning missions to the Moon and Mars. In addition to speeding the development of technology, an increase in funding is also desirable to incorporate rapidly advancing technologies such as “artificial intelligence, data management, in-space manufacturing,” and others that are still relatively early in the development process.

Another important factor emphasized here is Health and Human Performance (HPP), which clearly refers to strategies for mitigating the health risks associated with deep space transits. These include extended periods spent in microgravity and long-term exposure to elevated levels of solar and cosmic radiation. To date, NASA has explored multiple possibilities for addressing these concerns, but no concrete plans have emerged just yet.

Evolving Architectures

Further to Recommendation I, the Report states that NASA and commercial companies invested in Mars exploration should continue designing “evolvable mission and campaign architectures.” The purpose of this is to allow for new technologies to be incorporated along the way and prevent the current state of technology from limiting plans. As per the Report, this will help ensure that “we do not design architecture and hardware applicable only for the first mission without allowing both to evolve for subsequent missions.” To this end, NASA and commercial industries are encouraged to:

• Develop common standards, requirements, and interfaces to allow the incorporation of multiple technologies, capabilities, and/or solutions as technology progresses over the next two decades.
• Create and implement a Human and System Readiness Level verification process to assess if the human, hardware, software, and planning systems are sufficiently mature as an integrated system.
• Ensure that the architecture is sufficiently flexible that it can address a wide range of missions beyond the first one.

Commercial Partnerships

Finally, the Report encourages NASA to continue investing and cooperating with commercial partners to realize lunar capabilities and technologies that will help them reach Mars. This goes to the heart of the M2M mission architecture, which prioritized a return to the Moon during the 2020s to develop the necessary technologies, systems, and expertise to create a pathway to Mars by the 2030s. “The Moon is how we learn to get to Mars,” it reads, “and we want companies thinking not just about getting to the Moon but, at the same time, how getting there prepares us for the more challenging missions to Mars.”

****

As usual, the prospect of sending crewed missions to Mars raised many concerns at this year’s workshop. This should come as no surprise, as the goal itself is incredibly ambitious and presents many major challenges. If there is a takeaway from this year’s workshop, it is that there is plenty of work to be done before a mission can be realized. This work must take place at the architectural level, emphasizing wider public engagement, advancing technologies, and a commitment to long-term goals.

Further Reading: 

• Explore Mars

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 20:41 geschreven door peter  

In 2022, MSL Curiosity took an inventory of organic carbon in sediments at Gale Crater. Organic carbon is usually described as carbon atoms bonded covalently to hydrogen atoms and is the basis for organic molecules. The carbon in organic carbon can be either carbon-12 or carbon-13, and the amounts are important. At Gale Crater, Curiosity found about 200 to 273 parts per million of organic carbon. “This is comparable to or even more than the amount found in rocks in very low-life places on Earth, such as parts of the Atacama Desert in South America, and more than has been detected in Mars meteorites,” said Jennifer Stern, a Space Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center when the results came in.

This carbon is important evidence in understanding Mars’ history. It can tell scientists about the planet’s atmospheric processes and environmental conditions and even shed light on potential life. In fact, understanding Martian carbon can aid our understanding of habitability and prebiotic chemistry on distant exoplanets. The isotope ratio in this carbon is different than on Earth. It has a lower amount of carbon-13 relative to carbon-12 compared to Earth. Why the discrepancy?

In recent research in Nature Geoscience, a team of researchers tried to understand the difference between Earth’s and Mars’s carbon isotope ratios. The work is titled “Synthesis of ¹³C-depleted organic matter from CO in a reducing early Martian atmosphere.” The lead author is Yuichiro Ueno, a biogeochemist in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

“Strong ¹³C depletion in sedimentary organic matter at Gale crater was recently detected by the Curiosity rover,” the authors write. “Although this enigmatic depletion remains debated, if correct, a mechanism to cause such strong ¹³C depletion is required.” 

The amount of carbon-13 in the Martian sediments is far lower than in Earth’s sediments.

“On measuring the stable isotope ratio between 13C and 12C, the Martian organic matter has a 13C abundance of 0.92% to 0.99% of the carbon that makes it up,” lead author Ueno explained in a press release. “This is extremely low compared to Earth’s sedimentary organic matter, which is about 1.04%, and atmospheric CO2, around 1.07%, both of which are biological remnants and are not similar to the organic matter in meteorites, which is about 1.05%.”

The meteorite data is important because a four billion-year-old Martian meteorite named ALH 84001 is enriched in carbon-13, adding to the enigma of Mars’ carbon. Somehow, carbon-13 became depleted in the intervening billions of years. Solar escape is one possible reason for the carbon-13 depletion, but the authors discount that. There likely wasn’t enough time for enough carbon-13 to escape. “Furthermore, based on geomagnetic observations, early Mars probably had a geomagnetic field before 4?Ga,” the authors write. That field would’ve prevented solar escape.

To determine what’s behind this discrepancy, Ueno and his co-researchers simulated different Martian atmospheric conditions to see what would happen.

Their results show that isotope fractionation by solar UV light is responsible for Mars’ 13C depletion.

Carbon-12 and carbon-13 respond differently to UV light. Carbon-12 preferentially absorbs UV, which dissociates it into carbon monoxide that’s depleted in carbon-12. What’s left behind is CO2 enriched with carbon-13.

Scientists have observed this process in the upper atmospheres of Earth and Mars. In Mars’ reducing atmosphere, where oxygen was depleted, the CO2 enriched with carbon-13 would’ve transformed into formaldehyde and possibly methanol. But those compounds didn’t remain stable. In Mars’ early days, the surface temperature was close to the freezing point of water, and it never exceeded about 27 Celsius (80 F.) In that temperature range, the formaldehyde and other compounds could’ve dissolved in water. From there, they gathered in sediments.

But that’s not the end of Mars’ carbon isotope story.

The researchers used models to show that in a Mars atmosphere with a CO2 to CO ratio of 90:10, 20% of the CO2 would have converted to CO, leading to the sedimentary carbon isotope ratio we see today. The remaining atmospheric CO2 would be higher in C-13, and both values are in line with what Curiosity found, and with the ancient Martian meteorite ALH 84001.

This is a plausible scenario that can explain Curiosity’s curious carbon findings.

The team’s study also includes some other important details. For instance, atmospheric CO may not have come solely from photolysis by UV light. Some could have come from volcanic eruptions. And atmospheric CO may not have been the sole source of organics that found their way into the sediments. But either way, the results tell scientists something about Mars’ carbon cycle.

It also tells us to expect to find more organics in Martian sediments in the future.

“If the estimation in this research is correct, there may be an unexpected amount of organic material present in Martian sediments. This suggests that future explorations of Mars might uncover large quantities of organic matter,” said Ueno.

While the research shows us that life needn’t be present to produce these organics, it can’t rule life out. Nobody can, at least not yet.

The research also shows how complex atmospheric chemistry can be and how difficult it can be to draw conclusions from atmospheric studies of exoplanets. The JWST has examined several exoplanet atmospheres and found some interesting results. But there’s so much we don’t know. This research is a reminder that any conclusions are likely premature.

 { https://www.universetoday.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 20:22 geschreven door peter  

Robotische “derde duim” gemaakt om de grenzen van het menselijk lichaam te overwinnen en de bewegingsmogelijkheden te vergroten

Door Janine

Zijn twee duimen niet genoeg? Daar zorgt robotica voor

Dani Clode Design / The Plasticity Lab

Tien vingers in totaal, waarvan slechts twee duimen, is misschien niet genoeg, zelfs als we ons daar niet van bewust zijn. Gedreven door de overtuiging dat “meer beter is” wilden wetenschappers van de Universiteit van Cambridge de menselijke hand een extra verlengstuk geven. Robotisch natuurlijk. Deze sector wordt steeds populairder en ontwikkelt een reeks gemotoriseerde draagbare apparaten. Het doel? Door de grenzen van de menselijke anatomie te overwinnen en de motorische vaardigheden te implementeren die we nodig hebben om de prestaties te verbeteren, en om ondersteuning te bieden aan mensen met bewegingsproblemen.

Tamara Makin van de Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit van de Medical Research Council aan de Universiteit van Cambridge legt uit: “De technologie verandert onze definitie van wat het betekent om mens te zijn, waarbij machines steeds meer een onderdeel van ons dagelijks leven worden. Deze technologieën bieden opwindende nieuwe mogelijkheden waar de samenleving profijt van kan hebben, maar het is van cruciaal belang om te overwegen hoe ze alle mensen in gelijke mate kunnen helpen."

De robotiche derde duim: hoe werkt het

University of Cambridge/Youtube screenshot

De Derde Duim, de specifieke naam van het apparaat, is ontwikkeld door Dani Clode, die meewerkt in het laboratorium van Makin. Het gaat om een extra robotische duim die de bewegingsmogelijkheden vergroot, waardoor zowel het grijpvermogen van de hand als de last die deze kan tillen en dragen toeneemt. Met andere woorden: het maakt het mogelijk om handelingen uit te voeren die met één hand moeilijk of onmogelijk zijn.

Het apparaat wordt aan de andere kant van de hand gedragen dan de natuurlijke duim en wordt bestuurd door een druksensor die onder de grote tenen wordt aangebracht. Druk van de rechterteen verlengt de robotische duim, terwijl druk van de punt van de linker grote teen deze dichter bij de vingers brengt. De kracht van de druk bepaalt de bewegingssnelheid, evenals de terugkeer van het apparaat naar zijn oorspronkelijke positie. Wetenschappers testten de Derde Duim in 2022 tijdens de Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, waarbij enkele leden van het publiek betrokken waren die de kans hadden om het uit te proberen.

Inclusieve robotische duim: geschikt voor iedereen en eenvoudig in gebruik

University of Cambridge

592 deelnemers in de leeftijd van 3 tot 96 jaar waren in staat om de sensor gedurende vijf dagen te bewegen. Slechts vier deelnemers hadden hier echter moeite mee, omdat het prototype dat op de tentoonstelling werd gepresenteerd niet geschikt was voor de handgrootte van kleine kinderen, noch voor de sensor. In de overgrote meerderheid van de gevallen lukte het de proefpersonen om de duim te bewegen tijdens de minuut die beschikbaar was om hem te testen, geleid door de instructies van het team. De test bestond uit het oppakken van voorwerpen met alleen de Derde Duim, inclusief het oppakken van pinnen van een geperforeerd paneel en deze één voor één in de mand te verplaatsen, om er zoveel mogelijk te verzamelen binnen 60 seconden. Meer dan de helft van de deelnemers slaagde daarin.

Uiteindelijk was 98% van de deelnemers in staat om de objecten naar tevredenheid te verplaatsen, ongeacht verschillen in achtergrond en geslacht. Kinderen en ouderen toonden een vergelijkbaar vaardigheidsniveau, waarbij oudere volwassen deelnemers minder vaardigheid vertoonden vanwege hun leeftijd. Zoals Dani Clode uitlegde: "Gezien de diversiteit van lichamen is het cruciaal dat de ontwerpfase van draagbare technologie zo inclusief mogelijk is, zodat deze apparaten toegankelijk en functioneel zijn voor een breed scala aan gebruikers."

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

04-06-2024 om 17:20 geschreven door peter  

Astronomers Stumbled Upon A Rare Chance To Capture Just How Fast A Supermassive Black Hole Spins

One unlucky star brought fortune to these astronomers.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA

 

Back in 2020, astronomers noticed some strange activity. Using the Zwicky Transient Facility in California, they detected telltale signs that a star was going through what scientists call a tidal disruption event, in which an intense field of gravity rips a star apart. Tidal disruption events really only come from one thing: monster black holes. They realized what they were witnessing was a big black hole feasting on a star.

Astronomers observed the black hole in detail using the International Space Station’s NICER telescope, which is short for Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer. They found a few interesting details. Every 15 days, the supermassive black hole experienced a shift in X-ray intensity, and this pattern remained steady for the entirety of the four months they studied it.

From this, they were able to estimate the spin speed of the black hole. Finding such a specific detail about an object lurking roughly a billion light-years away is impressive. But the researchers say this new technique might be able to help solve some riddles about how the universe came to be. Specifically, how the hearts of galaxies evolved from Cosmic Dawn to today.

The supermassive black hole of the new study behaves somewhat like a kid swaying their hips to move a hula hoop. From the motion of the toy — in this case, the ring of shredded gas from the victim star — helped astronomers observe how the object’s intense gravity warps space-time to affect the disk. Black holes are so dense that not even light can escape them. But accretion disks around the black holes do emit light. They trace the path of this space-time warp. The black hole creates a drag called Lense-Thirring precession, and from this, astronomers deduced the spin speed.

This isn’t the first time that astronomers have derived the spin measurements of supermassive black holes and smaller black holes. But according to the lead author of the new study, MIT research scientist Dheeraj Pasham, this was the first time that the black hole’s warp of the space-time, paired with the luminosity of the accretion disk of an otherwise invisible object, led to finding the black hole’s spin speed.

The team owe much of their accomplishment to this black hole being a great candidate for study. It helped that the black hole was tilted towards Earth, letting astronomers investigate the X-rays clearly. NICER also has an easier job if it’s targeting objects in the direction of Earth’s poles, where the Sun can’t obstruct. The black hole is in the polar part of our sky, fortunately.

The spin speed of the black hole is a fingerprint. An abundance of slow-spinning black holes would mean frequent chaotic mergers between black holes — and the galaxies they reside in. “You’re dumping angular momentum in random orientations, and essentially spinning down the remnants,” Pasham tells Inverse.

“The other scenario is, let’s say you find most of the black holes are fast-spinning as close to the speed of light, that means they grew by accretion. Like a spinning top,” Pasham added. Over time, the balls of gas pulled in towards the black hole sped it up a little more.

This new research, along with discoveries emerging from a myriad of new telescopes taking flight soon, the universe’s history may not stay so hidden for long.

• https://youtu.be/yXIRhYBRtRE

• https://youtu.be/O0xHA0unJaw

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 17:04 geschreven door peter  

This Dwarf Planet Is Basically A Sweet Red Snow Cone

Please do not lick the science.

BY KIONA SMITH

NASA

A recent study found that Arrokoth, a weirdly-shaped dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt, gets its distinctive reddish coloration from complex hydrocarbon molecules, which form when cosmic rays and solar wind bombard the tiny world’s frozen methanol surface. The same chemical reactions that spawn those hydrocarbons also produce sugars like glucose and glycerol, which means that if you licked Arrokoth, it would probably taste sweet, but also a little like soap. (Please don’t try this, because methanol is poison, and also you shouldn’t open your spacesuit helmet in a vacuum. Safety first!)

University of Hawai’i at Manoa chemist Chaojiang Zhang and colleagues published their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

LAB-GROWN DWARF PLANETS

Zhang and colleagues froze a slab of methanol and carbon monoxide to around -390° Fahrenheit, or about 40 Kelvin, in their lab, then blasted it with high-energy electrons to simulate a couple billion years of cosmic rays.

The simulated cosmic rays triggered a series of chemical reactions in the ice, which produced complicated molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — the chemicals that stain Arrokoth’s surface a distinctive reddish color. Those same chemical reactions also produced sugars like glucose (the stuff that sweetens honey, berries, nuts, grains, and even potatoes), glycerol (the backbone of fatty acids called lipids, which make up part of our cell membranes, among other things), and ribose (and important part of DNA and RNA).

And the hydrocarbon molecules that give Arrokoth its color are built benzene, a chemical that is a ring of six carbon atoms with six hydrogen atoms on the outside. That ring structure is the basis for most organic chemistry, including some of the most important molecules for life: the “nucleobases” that make up the genetic code, as well as the amino acids that combine to form proteins.

In other words, the surface of Arrokoth is probably laden is with the chemical building blocks for life — and that’s pretty sweet, too.

“SUGAR WORLDS” MEET WITH EARTH

Some of the ribose in your DNA right this moment may once have been locked in frozen ice on the surface of a world like Arrokoth.

“Sugar worlds” like Arrokoth may have played a role in giving Earth its starter kit of life-building molecules, like sugars and benzene-based hydrocarbon rings. Some of the comets that bombarded early Earth around 4 billion years ago may have come from tiny Kuiper Belt worlds like Arrokoth. And Zhang and colleagues’ experiment suggests those comets may have carried more than just water ice to our young planet.

Different Kuiper Belt worlds may have supplied different organic chemicals to early Earth, according to Zhang and colleagues. Pluto’s dancing partner, Charon, and another dwarf planet called Orcus, have water and ammonia frozen on their surfaces; others have carbon dioxide. Zhang and colleagues want to do more experiments in their lab to simulate how cosmic rays change the chemistry on each of those worlds to learn what’s out there — and how it got here

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 16:48 geschreven door peter  

Look! NASA’s Lucy Mission Stumbled Upon An Asteroid With Planet-Like Features

Dinkinesh is a tough half-mile-wide rock.

BY DORIS ELÍN URRUTIA

NASA/GSFC/SwRI/Johns Hopkins APL/NOIRLab/Brian May/Claudia Manzoni

The Lucy mission, named after the famous 3 million year old hominid fossil, is slated to visit the Trojans, a swarm of asteroids stuck in Jupiter’s orbit that may be relics of the Solar System’s formation. But the spacecraft made a pitstop at asteroid Dinkinesh on November 1, 2023 for what was meant to be a simple test subject for the spacecraft's navigational systems.

The asteroid, however, turned out to have plenty of science to offer, including new information about how planets form, according to a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Dinkinesh, and its surprise mini-moon Selam, might also contain clues about how the planets formed billions of years ago, the study reveals.

HELLO DINKINESH

Dinkinesh is a rough half-mile-wide rock.

Lucy’s images show that Dinkinesh, located in the inner edge of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has a trough and a ridge, and is shaped like a spinning top.

Researchers think the ridge formed when a large chunk of rock dislodged from Dinkinesh. When the rock got knocked out, it broke into tiny pieces. These bits then settled to form the ridge. Some rock pieces might also have been lofted into space and then rained back down to add to the ridge.

“Basically, the planets formed when zillions of smaller objects orbiting the Sun, like asteroids, ran into each other. How objects behave when they hit each other, whether they break apart or stick together, has a lot to do with their strength and internal structure,” Lucy mission principal investigator Hal Levison said in the announcement.

Dinkinesh's terrain suggests it has a sturdy interior. This would have been an essential trait during the formation of the planets billions of years ago. The researchers think that the rock dislodged when an earthquake-like event occurred. During these types of events, there's a gradual buildup of stress that culminates as a swift release. If a celestial body experiences this type of event, that suggests it has a compact composition. If Dinkinesh's rocks were more loosely gathered together, the stress may not have built up, but instead, created gradual changes to the terrain, similar to the way a sand dune shape shifts.

The dislodged rock event could also explain how Dinkinesh’s tiny moon, Selam, formed. Over millions of years, the Sun’s thermal radiation caused Dinkinesh’s spin to accelerate. This created a centrifugal force. As material pooled near the center, or flew off into nearby space, Selam gained its raw ingredients.

In keeping with the moniker theme of the Lucy mission, Selam is a greeting meaning “peace” in the Amharic language. It’s spoken in Ethiopia, where the Lucy fossil was discovered. Dinkinesh is another Amharic word, meaning “marvelous.”

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 16:42 geschreven door peter  

The Alien Abduction of the Century: The Unbelievable Story of Linda Napolitano

In the realm of UFO encounters and alien abductions, few stories are as compelling and mysterious as that of Linda Napolitano. Her extraordinary experience on the night of November 30, 1989, has been dubbed “the alien abduction case of the century” by experts in the field. This article delves into the intriguing details of her encounter and its broader implications for our understanding of extraterrestrial phenomena.

The Initial Encounter

Linda Napolitano, an ordinary housewife from New York City, had her life turned upside down in the early hours of a cold autumn night. At around 3 a.m., she was awakened by an unsettling presence at the foot of her bed. What she saw defied all rational explanation: a small, skeletal-bodied creature with a large head and completely black eyes. This being, along with two similar figures, would soon transport her into an experience that remains one of the most detailed and disturbing accounts of alien abduction to date.

Linda described a powerful blue light flooding her bedroom, paralyzing her and lifting her out of her bed. She floated through her apartment window, high above the streets of Manhattan, towards a massive UFO suspended in the sky. The craft was oyster-shaped and adorned with colorful lights. Inside, she found herself subjected to strange and invasive procedures by her captors.

The Aftermath and Hypnosis

Following the incident, Linda’s memories of the abduction were fragmented and hazy. Desperate for answers, she reached out to Budd Hopkins, a well-known ufologist. Hopkins, who had extensive experience with abduction cases, conducted several sessions of regressive hypnosis with Linda. Through these sessions, they managed to piece together the details of her ordeal, from the moment she was lifted from her bed to the invasive procedures performed aboard the UFO.

Eyewitness Accounts

What sets Linda Napolitano’s case apart from other abduction stories is the corroborative eyewitness testimony. Two men, Richard and Dan, who initially claimed to be police officers, later revealed they were security agents assigned to an important political figure. They reported seeing Linda and the three alien beings floating in the sky and entering the UFO. Their accounts added a significant layer of credibility to Linda’s story.

In total, 24 witnesses came forward, describing bright lights in the sky, strange flying beings, and an unidentified flying object. This multitude of testimonies makes Linda’s case one of the most well-documented and witnessed UFO encounters in history.

Government Involvement and Threats

As Hopkins and Linda delved deeper into the case, it became apparent that there were broader implications. Richard and Dan’s initial friendly demeanor turned sinister as they began to harass and threaten Linda. They forced her into their car, interrogated her, and even subjected her to bizarre and invasive examinations. Their behavior suggested a deeper, more troubling connection to government agencies and possible cover-ups.

Hopkins received a letter from a third party, referred to as the “third man,” who warned him to cease his investigations. This mysterious figure hinted at ecological dangers, geopolitical implications, and the involvement of extraterrestrial forces in global affairs. Hopkins speculated that this third man might have been Javier Perez de Cuellar, the then-Secretary-General of the United Nations, who allegedly witnessed the abduction.

Theories and Implications

One of the most compelling aspects of Linda’s case is the possible explanations and theories that emerged from it. Professor Corrado Malanga, an Italian chemist and ufologist, proposed a groundbreaking theory based on his extensive research and regressive hypnosis sessions with abductees. Malanga suggested that aliens were interested in the human soul, a component of our being that they lacked.

According to Malanga, aliens performed intricate procedures to extract and utilize this soul component, which is timeless and immortal. This theory posits that humans are used as a source of life force by these extraterrestrial beings. Malanga’s findings suggest that the abduction phenomenon might be far more complex and sinister than previously thought.

VIDEO:

• THE ALIEN ABDUCTION OF THE CENTURY : LINDA NAPOLITANO STORY – ORIGINAL V MOVIES

• https://youtu.be/j2kzDJX7CRU

Linda Napolitano’s story remains one of the most fascinating and well-documented cases of alien abduction. With multiple eyewitnesses, government involvement, and credible research by experts like Budd Hopkins and Corrado Malanga, her experience continues to intrigue and challenge our understanding of extraterrestrial encounters. As ufology advances, the case of Linda Napolitano stands as a pivotal moment in the ongoing quest to uncover the truth about alien abductions and their implications for humanity.

LINKS VIDEOS

• https://youtu.be/dpoHdjDxCwQ

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

04-06-2024 om 16:13 geschreven door peter  

Tom Delonge Has UFO Secrets That Kept Him Up For 3 Nights: ‘These Beings Have Been Around Forever’

There are many things happening within the UAP phenomenon. With the recent Mexican UAP hearings, the entire world has come to learn about how governments worldwide are earnestly investigating this phenomenon. It is not solely about alien objects flying at supersonic speeds; the UAP phenomenon is intricately connected to our reality. Such like-minded individuals as Jacques Vallee and Michio Kaku propose the existence of other dimensions, also known as parallel universes, coexisting alongside our own reality. Within these dimensions, it is plausible that there are beings or entities living alongside us, despite our inability to perceive them.

Interestingly, Tom DeLonge, the former lead vocalist and guitarist of the popular band Blink-182, has always had a keen interest in UFOs. He has spent many years researching and studying the topic. He has even formed a company, To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science (or To The Stars) to investigate and promote research on UFOs and other related phenomena.

DeLonge even paid a visit to Rome with former Pentagon UFO official Luis Elizondo, where they discovered shocking details about the 2004 Sicily UFO attack. His “To The Stars” is behind publishing the three footages (captured in 2004 and 2015 by the US Navy) that were released in 2017 and 2018. They depict UFOs and include audio recordings of the pilots. These videos gained a lot of attention when they were released.

Tom’s fondness for UFOs began at a young age. As a child, he was fascinated by stories of alien encounters and sightings. He used to spend hours reading books and watching documentaries about unidentified flying objects and was particularly interested in the 1947 Roswell crash. Furthermore, his research led him to conclude that UFOs are not only real but that they have alien origins. He believes that there is a wealth of evidence to support this conclusion, including reports of sightings and encounters, as well as physical evidence such as radar tracks and photographs.

In this podcast with Dr. Brian Keating, Tom DeLonge shared several insights and personal experiences related to his involvement in UFO research. He was asked by TOE host Curt Jaimungal what it was that kept him up for three days.

DeLonge at first hesitates to delve into this topic but continues to talk about his communication with Jim Semivan (who is a co-founder of TTSA) and their unique way of thinking. Tom notes that Semivan and others have taught him how to analyze information more critically and avoid jumping to conclusions. They emphasize the importance of forming patterns and analyzing data over time.

Tom then touches on the idea of not fully grasping the stakes involved in the UAP phenomenon. He explains that initially, he struggled to accept the reality of it, despite encountering videos and books on the subject. He emphasizes the importance of verifying the authenticity of such evidence, especially when it comes to videos with a chain of title traced back to the Department of Defense (DOD).

“That’s why it was so important with the ones we brought out had chain of title all the way back to the DOD. So we knew those were real, it wasn’t just like it was on YouTube and leaked. So it’s, it’s the idea of bringing for things that you know, where they come from, and and you really take it from that point forward, and start getting really good data and evidence on people’s encounters, and the stakes that come with that. And that when when I’ve talked about this, as a threat, you know, this, that’s just my words, right? I mean, I would never know the way that government treats that that’s not my zone, obviously.

But for me, in my own personal research, if something’s been here for a long period of time, and it really is showing up in people’s bedrooms, or in front of an F 18, or on a petroglyph wall, or in an ancient text down in archives of the Vatican, or whatever it might be, it’s obviously doing something. And it’s obviously having an influence, and it might only be an influence on where we end up as mankind, or it might be an influence, to keep us suppressed in a weird way to where they can take advantage of something, who knows, um, but it’s here for a reason. And it’s not really being, you know, forward about its intent. But we do know that we’ve been dealing with it for a long period of time.”

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

04-06-2024 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

The study, conducted by a collaboration of scientists from Northwestern University, New York University, Rutgers University, the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and Georgetown University, offers new insights into the dynamics of interstellar interactions.

“CosmoAgent leverages large language models (LLMs) to simulate complex interactions between human and extraterrestrial civilizations,” the researchers explained. Employing mathematical models and state transition matrices, our approach quantitatively evaluates civilizations’ development trajectories, offering insights into future decision-making at critical points of growth and saturation.” 

In a preprint published on ArXiv, researchers explain that the novel “CosmoAgent” framework draws inspiration from the late Dr. Stephen Hawking’s cautionary advice about trying to haphazardly initiate contact with extraterrestrial species. 

In the latter part of his career, Dr. Hawking became an outspoken critic of attempts to contact intelligent alien life, warning that encountering advanced extraterrestrials could lead to the end of humanity.

“We don’t know much about aliens, but we know about humans,” said Dr. Hawking at a 2015 event. “If you look at history, contact between humans and less intelligent organisms have often been disastrous from their point of view, and encounters between civilizations with advanced versus primitive technologies have gone badly for the less advanced.” 

“A civilization reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.”

Inspired by Dr. Hawking’s warnings, researchers sought to explore the potential consequences of human policies toward extraterrestrial life and devise strategies to mitigate risks associated with first contact scenarios.

Employing large language models (LLM) to model diverse ethical paradigms, CosmoAgent simulates interactions between entities with distinct moral principles. This approach addresses the Earth-centric bias inherent in current AI designs by incorporating varied cosmologies, ethical codes, and worldviews that might be held by alien civilizations.

CosmoAgent’s simulations allow civilizations to choose between hiding, fighting, or collaborating based on their characteristics and decision-making processes. 

These choices are evaluated in a dynamic environment that examines potential outcomes, including alliances, rivalries, adherence to specific rules or agreements, and responses to unexpected threats or opportunities.

One key aspect of the study is the use of a Multi-Agent System (MAS) framework to model interactions among various civilizations. The framework allows for detailed exploration of different scenarios, such as civilizational alliances or rivalries, the effects of asymmetric information, and the development of novel cultures or technologies.

“Our simulations investigate potential interactions among different civilizations, including alliance formations, competitive relationships, and responses to unknown threats or opportunities,” researchers wrote. “By simulating these interactions, we gain insights into the mysteries of extraterrestrial existence, communication, conflict, and cooperation, potentially uncovering significant behavioral patterns and contributing valuable knowledge on diversity and order in the universe.”

The study addresses several key research questions, including the risks and benefits of human policies toward aliens, by using state transition matrices to simulate development levels and decision-making modes. Additionally, the model examines the management of asymmetric information and the impact of different moral views on civilizational interactions.

With the release of CosmoAgent’s code and datasets, researchers hope the model can provide a foundation for future studies and spur further academic investigation into the intriguing outcomes of “first contact” between humans and intelligent extraterrestrials. 

“This study marks a pivotal advancement in computational social science. It shows how we can leverage the latest artificial intelligence technologies, especially LLMs, to mimic complex social phenomena.,” the researchers emphasized. “These models serve as the foundation for multi-agent systems, enabling the creation of detailed and varied behaviors and interactions within civilizations.” 

“This research not only broadens the scope and realism of simulations but also opens a new area for investigation within computational social science: the study of civilizations in the universe.” 

CosmoAgent could also offer astronomers a fresh perspective and tool for exploring and understanding civilizations beyond Earth. By simulating how different civilizations develop and make decisions, the study could aid in forecasting and spotting the distinct characteristics of intelligent alien civilizations. 

Moreover, the study opens a novel platform for philosophical exploration, addressing the existence, communication, conflicts, and collaborations among civilizations in the universe. Through simulations of ethical viewpoints and behavior patterns of diverse cultures, it exposes the moral variety and intricacy within the universe’s civilizations.

As humanity continues to explore the cosmos, the insights gained from CosmoAgent could prove invaluable in shaping our approach to potential encounters with extraterrestrial life, ensuring that we are prepared to navigate the challenges and opportunities of interstellar communication and cooperation.

Finally, by integrating diverse ethical paradigms and simulating interactions between human and alien civilizations, researchers believe their innovative approach can expand our perspective and provide valuable insights for future decision-making and conflict resolution.

“This innovative research provides a new way to understand complex inter-civilizational dynamics, expanding our perspective while pioneering novel strategies for conflict resolution,” researchers concluded. “These strategies are key to avoiding interstellar conflicts and broaden our understanding of inter-civilizational relations.” 

• Tim McMillan is a retired law enforcement executive, investigative reporter and co-founder of The Debrief. His writing typically focuses on defense, national security, the Intelligence Community and topics related to psychology. You can follow Tim on Twitter: @LtTimMcMillan.  Tim can be reached by email: tim@thedebrief.org or through encrypted email: LtTimMcMillan@protonmail.com 

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

04-06-2024 om 00:28 geschreven door peter  

Ex-Defence Minister: E.T.s From Andromeda & Saturn’s Moon Visiting Earth For Thousands Of Years

There are already dozens of claims in favor of extraterrestrial visitation. Today, numerous astronauts and government officials support the UAP phenomena, and some are highly positive that they could have an alien origin. The Honorable Paul Hellyer (1923-2021), former Canadian Minister of Defense said extraterrestrials have been visiting our planet for thousands of years and it is likely that at least two of them are working with the U.S. government and sharing their highly-advanced technologies with humans.

In the 1960s, Paul Hellyer, a high-ranking official during the Cold War, asserted that he had discovered with certainty about the existence of aliens while serving in the military. He said that people from other worlds had been coming to Earth for a very long time. He insisted that a lot of the stuff that makes up our high-tech gadgetry had been gifted to us by overly-advanced ETs.

Hellyer had long expressed his views on extraterrestrials in public. He testified at the Citizen Hearing on Disclosure in May 2013 in Washington, DC. Five former members of U.S. Congress and one former U.S. senator listened to more than thirty hours of testimony from government officials, military personnel, researchers, and witnesses.

Huffington Post Canada described that, as part of his testimony, Hellyer stated that “aliens are living among us and that it is likely at least two of them are working with the U.S. government.” More specifically, Hellyer announced that at least four species of extraterrestrials had been visiting Earth for thousands of years. According to Huffington Post Canada, he also stated that some extraterrestrials originate from the “Zeta Reticuli, the Pleiades, Orion, Andromeda, and Altair star systems” and “may have different agendas.”

He first spoke openly about his belief governments are covering up an alien presence back in 2005, saying UFOs are as plentiful in our sky as airplanes. “Much of the media won’t touch it, so you just have to keep working away at it and we will get a critical mass and one day they will say Mr. President or Mr. Prime Minister, we want the truth and we want it now because it affects our lives.”

In 2013, Hellyer appeared on the RT interview show SophieCo with Sophie Shevardnadze to discuss extraterrestrials and UFOs. Shevardnadze asked Hellyer, “Why do you say that UFOs are as real as airplanes flying over our heads?” Hellyer replied, “Because I know that they are. As a matter of fact, they’ve been visiting our planet for thousands of years.” He further stated military action had brought down UFOs, and humans had adapted alien technology for use on Earth. (Source)

Read also:

• Head of Canada UFO Program: Ancient Races From Elsewhere Colonized Earth Many Times
• Ex-US Air Force Lt. Col. Testified He Saw Two UFOs With Grey Beings Underwater
• Ex-Pentagon Agent Claims UFOs Changed Witnesses’ Brain, Unlocked Sixth Sense
• Ex-Apollo Astronaut Claimed Humans Are Ancient Aliens, Visited Earth From Space

He said: “As far as technology is concerned, they are light years ahead of us, and we have learned a lot of things from them. A lot of the things we use today we got from them, you know – led lights and microchips and Kevlar vests and all sorts things that we got from their technology and we could get a lot more too, especially in the fields of medicine and agriculture if we would go about it peacefully. But, I think, maybe some of our people are more interested in getting the military technology, and I think that’s wrong-headed, and that’s one of the things that we are going to have to change, because we’re going to have to work together, all of us, everywhere on the planet.”

Shevardnadze asked: “Have you ever had your own encounter with aliens?” Hellyer replied: “Not encounter with aliens, no. I’ve seen a UFO, about 120 miles north of  Toronto, over Lake Muskoka, where I have a cottage. Two years ago, at Thanksgiving, which is October, [my wife?] said that she wanted to go out and look at the stars, so… I’m not much of a night man… but I put on my cap and went out with her and she looked into the eastern sky and said, ‘There’s a star,’ and I turned the other way and said, ‘Oh, there’s a much brighter one over here,’ and she looked there and we watched it until our necks almost broke for about 20 minutes, and it was definitely a UFO because it could change position in the sky by three or four degrees in three or four seconds.”

Shevardnadze further asked Hellyer if shooting down those UFOs was risking an interstellar war, and, if so, “should we be creating a Star Wars force to defend ourselves from possible invasion or something like that?”

Hellyer said: “I think it’s a possibility, but it’s a possibility especially if we shoot down every UFO that comes into our airspace without asking who they are and what they want. Right from the beginning, we started scrambling planes, trying to shoot them down, but their technology was superior enough that we weren’t able to get away with it, certainly not for a long while.”

He continued: “During that period of time they could have taken us over without any trouble if they wanted to, so I think, rather than developing our own Star Wars to protect ourselves against them, we should work with the benign species that are of a vast majority and work together, and rely largely on them, of course, and cooperate, so that we would be contributing something at the same time; I don’t think there’s any point in us developing a galactic force that would tempt us to ride on our own and get into mischief, which is one of the things that some of them are.

On countering physicist Stephen Hawking’s assertion that any alien visitors to Earth would likely be malevolent, Hellyer argued that not only have aliens already visited Earth but that they have helped contribute to humanity’s technological progress. He said earthlings owe a lot to their alien friends. “Even that computer screen on your desk,” he said, “can trace its origins to spaceships. Microchips, for example, fiber-optics, they are just two of the many things that allegedly — and probably for real — came from crashed vehicles,” Hellyer added. (Source)

Hellyer was not the only one speaking of a partnership between humans and extraterrestrial intelligence. The former head of the Israeli space security program and retired general Haim Eshed also claimed that a sort of agreement had been made between aliens and the US government to keep silent on their experiments on Earth and secret bases on Mars.

Mr. Eshed said that aliens and “Galactic federation” do exist and have been working with the US and the Israel government for years, but they keep it a secret to avoid mass hysteria. According to him, President Trump was aware of it and has already been in contact with space aliens. He further said that the aliens have been waiting for humans to evolve and reach a certain stage to actually understand space and spaceships. Besides, they signed a contract with humans to do experiments on Earth and also research with them to learn the fabric of the universe.

{ https://www.howandwhys.com/ }

03-06-2024 om 23:46 geschreven door peter  

How many people saw the Phoenix Lights?

Several thousand people reportedly witnessed the Phoenix Lights, with a 1997 Rocky Mountain Poll indicating that up to 10 percent of Arizonans saw it.

Why did so many people see it?

Shane Hurd, assistant state director of the Arizona chapter of the Mutual UFO Network, told Phoenix New Times in 2022 the sighting occurred on a clear moonless night, which aided visibility. Many people were already watching the skies because Comet Hale-Bopp was highly visible to the naked eye at the time because of its brightness.

Actor Kurt Russell may have been the first pilot to officially report the Phoenix Lights.

Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA 2.0/Flickr

Did any celebrities see the Phoenix Lights?

Yes. In 2017, actor Kurt Russell told BBC's “The One Show” he was flying his stepson Oliver Hudson into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport that night and spotted the V formation while landing and reported it to air-traffic controllers. The actor joked that might have made the first official report of the sighting.

03-06-2024 om 22:55 geschreven door peter  

Een oude Maya-techniek zou de groei van planten op Mars kunnen bevorderen, zo beweert een onderzoek

Door Janine

Vroeg of laat zullen mensen naar Mars gaan. Misschien zal de missie niet in de nabije toekomst plaatsvinden, maar het staat vast dat het koloniseren van de rode planeet een van de doelstellingen van ruimtevaartorganisaties is. De vraag is: wat zullen toekomstige kolonisten eten? Leveringen vanaf de aarde zijn allesbehalve duurzaam, en dus blijft er maar één optie over: voedsel direct op Mars verbouwen, met enige hulp van oude Maya-praktijken.

De Maya's en de landbouw op Mars

PLOS ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024

De voedselvoorziening en de landbouw op Mars zijn verre van een ondergeschikt probleem, maar uiterst belangrijke kwesties. Met name een onderzoek van Wageningen University & Research in Nederland heeft mogelijk de eerste stappen gezet om het probleem op te lossen. De onderzoekers hebben in feite een moderne versie van een oude Maya-techniek overgenomen, genaamd intercropping of tussenteelt, en zijn begonnen met het telen van tomaten, erwten en wortels in dezelfde potten.

De resultaten, gepubliceerd in PLOS ONE, waren verrassend. Tomaten geteeld door middel van tussenteelt verdubbelden hun productie vergeleken met individueel geteelde tomaten, met grotere vruchten en in minder tijd. Hetzelfde gebeurde niet met erwten, die een onveranderde opbrengst behielden, en wortelen, die daarentegen een lagere opbrengst vertoonden. Terwijl aan de ene kant intercropping veelbelovende resultaten oplevert, is het aan de andere kant essentieel om zorgvuldig gewassen, grond en additieven te kiezen.

Verbouwen op Marsgrond: is dat mogelijk?

PLOS ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024

Bij het experiment van de onderzoekers van de Nederlandse universiteit waren in deze eerste fase drie soorten gewassen betrokken. Zoals we al zeiden, zijn de grondsoort en eventuele toevoegingen even belangrijk. Om de bodem van Mars te simuleren, ontwikkelden wetenschappers een bodem die bestaat uit regoliet, zonder organisch materiaal, waaraan ze vervolgens bacteriën en voedingsstoffen toevoegden. Een proces dat sterk lijkt op het proces dat toekomstige kolonisten zouden kunnen gebruiken om gewassen op Mars te verbouwen.

Als aanvoer vanaf de aarde moet worden uitgesloten vanwege de kosten en tijd die daarvoor nodig is, lijkt teelt op de rode planeet de enige optie. En intercropping, oftewel het gebruik van planten met complementaire eigenschappen, zou echt een levensvatbare toekomst kunnen vertegenwoordigen. Evenals een manier om het gebruik van water en voedingsstoffen te optimaliseren.

De nieuwe landbouw op Mars en de kunst van het kiezen van de juiste planten

PLOSE ONE/Gonçalves et al./2024 / 中国新闻网/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY 3.0 DEED

Uit de resultaten van hun experiment ontdekten de onderzoekers dat de tomatenplanten een concreet voordeel haalden uit de nabijheid van erwten. Deze laatste kunnen namelijk zeer efficiënt stikstof uit de lucht opnemen en omzetten in voedingsstoffen. Tegelijkertijd profiteerden de wortels niet alleen niet van de nabijheid van de erwten, maar werden ze er ook door geschaad, waarschijnlijk als gevolg van de concurrentie om licht. En we weten dat zonlicht op Mars niet in grote hoeveelheden beschikbaar is: ook in dit geval zal het nodig zijn om na te denken over duurzame alternatieven voor een menselijke kolonie.

Het succes van toekomstige missies naar de rode planeet hangt inderdaad ook af van het vermogen van de kolonisten om zelfvoorzienend te zijn. En deze capaciteit hangt op zijn beurt af van duurzame landbouw op Marsgrond, dat wil zeggen van de tussenteelt van de oude Maya’s. Naast het kiezen van de juiste gewassen om het project te starten, rest er vandaag nog maar één twijfel: niemand heeft de tomaten, erwten en wortelen geproefd. Wie weet hoe ze zullen smaken.

{ https://www.curioctopus.nl/ }

03-06-2024 om 22:37 geschreven door peter  

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