The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
19-07-2024
Swarming Satellites Could Autonomous Characterize an Asteroid
Swarming Satellites Could Autonomous Characterize an Asteroid
An asteroid’s size, shape, and rotational speed are clues to its internal properties and potential resources for mining operations. However, of the more than 20,000 near-Earth asteroids currently known, only a tiny fraction have been sufficiently characterized to estimate those three properties accurately. That is essentially a resource constraint – there aren’t enough dedicated telescopes on Earth to keep track of all the asteroids for long enough to characterize them, and deep space resources, such as the Deep Space Network required for communications outside Earth’s orbit, are already overutilized by other missions. Enter the Autonomous Nanosatellite Swarming (ANS) mission concept, developed by Dr. Simone D’Amico and his colleagues at Stanford’s Space Rendezvous Laboratory.
The concept behind ANS is relatively simple. A primary “mothership” spacecraft travels to an asteroid, where it deploys several smaller, autonomous nanosatellites upon arrival. These nanosatellites take up positions surrounding the asteroid and, using relatively inexpensive sensor and communications technology, map the asteroid’s features. After observing for some time, they send data back to the mothership, where an algorithm pieces together information similar to a stereo vision system on Earth and calculates the asteroid’s shape, size, and rotational speed.
There are several deeper layers to unpack in the mission, though. Communication is the first one. In ANS, only the mothership communicates back to Earth using a high-gain antenna. The smaller swarming robots all communicate with each other – partly to estimate distances between the different swarming satellites but also to coordinate observations.
Characterization is the first step toward exploitation, as Fraser discusses.
Each nanosatellite utilizes only a few relatively inexpensive pieces of hardware, including a star tracker for overall positioning, short range camera (as compared to more expensive lidar systems typically used in asteroid characterization missions), atomic clocks to synchronize timing, and radio frequency communication modules. These components allow for relatively independent operation of each nanosatellite and lower the burden of communication back with Earth – freeing up those deep space communications resources for other critical work.
But the critical component of ANS isn’t so much the hardware—it’s the software, particularly the control and estimation algorithm. Dr. D’Amico and his team describe a technical tool known as an unscented Kalman filter, which allows them to estimate asteroid shape, size, and rotation based on landmarks noticed by each swarming nanosatellite and run through this algorithm.
To demonstrate the effectiveness of that algorithm, the team tested it using a relatively well-characterized asteroid: 443 Eros. That asteroid had the distinction of being both the first near-Earth object ever found, back in 1898, and the first ever visited by a mission – the NEAR mission 100 years later. The NEAR Shoemaker craft that visited 433 Eros also successfully landed on it, another first for humanity. Even with the comparatively simple sensing technology of a quarter century ago, Eros is still one of the most characterized asteroids in the solar system.
Here’s a talk about autonomous swarming given by Dr. D’Amico, the head of Stanford’s Space Rendezvous Lab.
The demonstration results clearly showed that the ANS algorithm does its job well. It can coordinate the positioning of the nanosatellites surrounding the asteroid and coalesce their disparate data sets into a coherent picture of the asteroid they are monitoring. And it can do so remotely, with very minimal input from Earth.
For now, that is how far the algorithm has gotten. Several missions, some of which we’ll cover in the near future, further explore the idea of nanosatellite swarms. But ANS itself hasn’t yet been adopted into a formal mission architecture. One day, though, thousands of satellites might be swarming the tens of thousands of small bodies surrounding our home, leading to the first stages of a genuinely off-Earth economy.
The Most Dangerous Part of a Space Mission is Fire
This AI generated image shows a fire spreading in a spacecraft. Researchers are working to understand how fire behaves differently in spacecraft environments so they can protect astronauts. Image Credit: ZARM/ University of Bremen
The Most Dangerous Part of a Space Mission is Fire
Astronauts face multiple risks during space flight, such as microgravity and radiation exposure. Microgravity can decrease bone density, and radiation exposure is a carcinogen. However, those are chronic effects.
The biggest risk to astronauts is fire since escape would be difficult on a long mission to Mars or elsewhere beyond Low Earth Orbit. Scientists are researching how fire behaves on spacecraft so astronauts can be protected.
“A fire on board a spacecraft is one of the most dangerous scenarios in space missions,” said Dr. Florian Meyer, head of the Combustion Technology research group at ZARM. “There are hardly any options for getting to a safe place or escaping from a spacecraft. It is therefore crucial to understand the behavior of fires under these special conditions.”
Since 2016, ZARM has been researching how fire behaves and spreads in microgravity conditions like those in the ISS. Those conditions also include an oxygen level similar to Earth’s, forced air circulation, and ambient pressure similar to Earth’s. NASA has been conducting similar experiments, and now we know that fire behaves differently in microgravity than it does on Earth.
Initially, a fire will burn with a smaller flame and take longer to spread. This is to the fire’s advantage since it won’t be noticed as quickly. Fire also burns hotter in microgravity, meaning that some materials that may not be combustible in normal Earth conditions could burn in spacecraft, creating toxic chemicals in the spacecraft’s air.
Spacecraft for Mars missions will have different environments than the ISS. The ambient air pressure will be lower, which provides two benefits: it makes the spacecraft lighter and also allows astronauts to prepare for external missions more quickly. However, the lower ambient pressure introduces another critical change in the spaceship environment. The oxygen content has to be higher to meet the astronauts’ respiration needs.
In these latest tests, the team at ZARM tested fire in these revised conditions.
PMMA stands for polymethyl methacrylate and is usually called acrylic. It’s a common material used in place of glass because it’s light and shatterproof. The ISS doesn’t use it, but it’s being developed for use in future spacecraft. The Orion capsule uses acrylic fused to other materials for windows, and future spacecraft will likely use something similar.
In their experiments, the researchers lit acrylic glass foils on fire and varied three environmental factors: ambient pressure, oxygen content and flow velocity.
This table from the figure is the test matrix for the experiments. The X’s and the single O indicate flow rates: X = 100 mm/s, O = 30–200 mm/s. Image Credit: Ries et al. 2024.
The experiments showed that lower ambient pressure dampens fire. However, higher oxygen content has a more powerful effect. The ISS’s oxygen level is 21%, just as it is on Earth. Future spacecraft with lower ambient pressures will have oxygen levels as high as 35%. That translates into a huge increase in the risk astronauts face from fire. The results show that a fire can spread three times faster than it would under Earth conditions.
“Our results highlight critical factors that need to be considered when developing fire safety protocols for astronautic space missions.”
Dr. Florian Meyer, Combustion Technology research group at ZARM
This figure from the study shows a time series of infrared images of the tests. They show fire on an acrylic film under microgravity conditions with 100 mm/second airflow, 75 kPa, and 28.3% oxygen. The white dashed lines show the contour of the acrylic sample. The green dotted lines are the evaluation lines used to measure the fire’s propagation rate. In panel b, the pink horizontal bar below the propagation front is the igniter. Image Credit: Ries et al. 2024.
We all know increased airflow spreads fire faster; that’s why we blow on a small flame to create a larger fire. Increased airflow delivers more oxygen, increasing combustion, so increased airflow in a higher-oxygen atmosphere creates a dangerous situation for astronauts.
“Our results highlight critical factors that need to be considered when developing fire safety protocols for astronautic space missions,” said Dr. Florian Meyer. “By understanding how flames spread under different atmospheric conditions, we can mitigate the risk of fire and improve the safety of the crew.”
Meteor Exploded Over N.Y.C. at 38,000 MPH: 'Rare Daylight Fireball'
Meteor Exploded Over N.Y.C. at 38,000 MPH: 'Rare Daylight Fireball'
Story by Anna Lazarus Caplan
NASA said that it does not track small meteors at "significant" distances from Earth, but individuals in New York and New Jersey reported witnessing the event
A small meteor was responsible for a big fireball over New York City on Tuesday, July 16, authorities said.
The astronomical event was first detected about 49 miles above Upper Bay/New York Harbor and moved west towards New Jersey at 38,000 mph, passing over the Statue of Liberty before disintegrating about 29 miles above midtown Manhattan, NASA confirmed in a statement.
Witnesses described seeing a fireball, hearing “booms” and feeling “shakings” between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. local time, NASA said.
It is unclear if the sounds were related to the meteor or were due to military operations happening at the same time in New Jersey, Bill Cooke, with NASA’s Meteoroid Environments Office said, per ABC affiliate WABC-TV.
However, he added that the event was an unusual occurrence.
"Something when it's moving that fast it heats up,” Cooke said. “You expect to see meteors at night not during the day, so this was a rare daylight fireball."
While no meteorites were reported, the meteor gave pause to those underneath its trajectory.
Related video:
NASA Meteor Watch: 'Daylight fireball over New York City' around time of reported booms, shakings (News 12 (Video)
"It was long and really, really fast," Judah Bergman, who saw the meteor from his Lakewood, N.J. office, told WABC. "It looked like a flaming, long rod or something on fire and flying through the sky."
The meteor was not even on NASA’s radar, at first, according to the organization.
“We do keep track of asteroids that are capable of posing a danger to us Earth dwellers, but small rocks like the one producing this fireball are only about a foot in diameter, incapable of surviving all the way to the ground,” NASA said in its statement. “We do not (actually cannot) track things this small at significant distances from the Earth, so the only time we know about them is when they hit the atmosphere and generate a meteor or a fireball.”
While some seasoned New Yorkers were nonplussed, according to The New York Times, at least one resident who observed the moment reveled in its rarity.
“There’s something magical about it,” Tina Dang, a private chef, said. “You forget about these incredible moments in life, when so much else is going on.”
IJssmelt aangespoord door door de mens veroorzaakte opwarming van de aarde wijzigt de massaverdeling van onze planeet, vertraagt uiteindelijk de rotatie van de aarde en verlengt de 24-uursdag, volgens een studie gepubliceerd op 15 juli in het tijdschrift Proceedings van de National Academy of Sciences. Eerder onderzoek heeft vergelijkbare bevindingen gedaan, maar de nieuwe studie suggereert dat klimaatverandering een grotere impact heeft op de daglengte dan eerder werd gedacht.
Als het gebruik van fossiele brandstoffen en de uitstoot van broeikasgassen blijven toenemen in een algemeen genoemd scenario met hoge opwarming, bekend als RCP 8.5, dan zou klimaatverandering een grotere invloed kunnen hebben op de rotatie en daglengte van de aarde dan de maan, volgens de nieuwe bevindingen.
Veel factoren hebben een klein maar significant effect op de daglengte, waaronder de beweging van magma in de vloeibare kern van de aarde, windfluctuaties en de stroming van water op het oppervlak van onze planeet. Zoals het is, creëert de maan getijden die heen en weer wrijving produceren die de rotatie van onze planeet vertraagt. Op de schaal van de geologische tijd heeft dit maaneffect de grootste bijdrage geleverd aan veranderingen in de daglengte in de geschiedenis van onze planeet. Toch is de door de mens veroorzaakte opwarming van de aarde bezig met een inhaalslag.
De aarde is geen perfecte bol, het is "afgeplat", wat betekent dat het licht samengedrukt is langs de evenaar in een subtiele 3D-ovale vorm. Naarmate de ijskappen van Groenland en Antarctica smelten, beweegt er meer water en massa van de polen naar de evenaar. Dit maakt de aarde effectief verder plat, waardoor het midden nog breder en zwaarder wordt dan de boven- en onderkant, waardoor de rotatie enigszins wordt vertraagd als gevolg van de toegenomen traagheid. "Het is net als wanneer een kunstschaatsster een pirouette maakt, waarbij ze eerst haar armen dicht bij haar lichaam houdt en ze vervolgens uitstrekt", zei senior onderzoeker Benedikt Soja, hoogleraar ruimtegeodesie aan de ETH Zürich in Zwitserland, in een persverklaring. Met uitgestrekte armen zou de kunstschaatser vertragen, en twee eeuwen aan observatiegegevens en modellen suggereren dat onze planeet dat ook is.
Onderzoekers berekenden het smelten van ijs en de bijbehorende veranderingen in de afgeplatheid van de aarde met behulp van observatiegegevens die sinds 1976 zijn verzameld en modelleerden reconstructies en projecties van 1900 tot 2100. In de 20e eeuw ontdekten ze dat klimaatverandering de dag tussen 0,3 en 1,0 milliseconden verlengde. Sinds 2000 is de snelheid van door klimaatverandering veroorzaakte dagverlenging echter versneld tot ongeveer 1,33 milliseconden per eeuw. In het RCP 8.5-scenario met hoge emissies voorspellen de wetenschappers dat de snelheid van dagverlenging zou verdubbelen tot ongeveer 2.62 milliseconden per eeuw, waarmee officieel de getijdenwrijving van de maan zou worden overtroffen als de belangrijkste langetermijnkracht die op de daglengte van de aarde inwerkt.
Een paar milliseconden per eeuw klinkt misschien als kruimels in vergelijking met de universele taart, maar het kan oplopen tot dagen die uren langer zijn gedurende miljarden jaren. Op de kortere termijn hebben de door het klimaat veroorzaakte verschuivingen invloed op nauwkeurige tijdregistratie, die wordt gebruikt om nauwkeurige en soepele GPS-navigatie, wereldwijde communicatie, elektriciteitsnetten en financiële systemen te behouden. Ook de verkenning van de ruimte kan door de verandering worden beïnvloed, omdat zelfs kleine afwijkingen in rotatie en positie op aarde kunnen leiden tot grote misrekeningen als het gaat om het navigeren en corrigeren van het landen van een sonde over grote afstanden elders in het zonnestelsel.
Een verwante studie van dezelfde groep onderzoekers die op 12 juli werd gepubliceerd, beoordeelde niet alleen de rotatiesnelheid, maar ook de beweging en locatie van de as van de aarde. Soja en zijn collega's ontdekten dat dezelfde herverdeling van water en massa, veroorzaakt door smeltende poolkappen, bovendien de rotatie-as van de planeet verschuift - mogelijk met een paar meter per eeuw.
Er zijn beperkingen aan beide onderzoeken. RCP 8.5 wordt bijvoorbeeld over het algemeen beschouwd als een verouderde en onwaarschijnlijke projectie voor toekomstige opwarming en gemodelleerde gegevens gaan gepaard met een zekere mate van onzekerheid. Toch laten de twee wetenschappelijke artikelen zien hoe diep de gevolgen van klimaatverandering weerklinken.
"Wij mensen hebben een grotere impact op onze planeet dan we beseffen", aldus Soja in het persbericht. "Dit legt natuurlijk een grote verantwoordelijkheid op ons voor de toekomst van onze planeet."
'Broken piece of alien spacecraft' found is 'so light it won't bend a flower'
MUFON showed off the 'UFO debris' in their news conference in Texas earlier this week
(Image: Supplied)
'Broken piece of alien spacecraft' found is 'so light it won't bend a flower'
A group of UFO fanatics have claimed to have tiny objects believed to be debris from a 'crashed UFO' given to them from a Russian man who said he was handed them by aliens
ByDanny Gutmann
UFO enthusiasts claim to be in possession of aliens objects.
In a news conference held in Irving, Texas, US earlier this week the UFO organisation MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) presented the minuscule pieces of debris from a supposed alien spacecraft.
Speaking at the conference MUFON researcher Bob Spearing said: "It's very, very light material. It almost looks porous, like it has pores. It has a tinge of gold in it, but it's basically a black material. Seems to be some sort of composite."
He added: "It's so light that it won't even bend a flower."
Such is the sight and texture of the debris that MUFON believe that it simply can't come from something man made.
This is part of the debris that was discovered
(Image: Supplied)
They helped prove this by reportedly testing the samples with NASA-level technology and found that they couldn't identify 90 per cent of the debris, the Daily Mail reported.
The material was originally discovered by a Russian researcher named Arkady who said that he was contacted by aliens at his home who informed him that the debris was from a crashed UFO.
After further testing in Russia, Spearing said that the samples were found to be made up of 10 per cent calcium, titanium, iron, arsenic and copper.
UFO fans claim to be in possession of alien objects
(stock)( Image: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)
In a strange turn of events, MUFON claimed that the samples sent to them were originally stolen from official the Post Office Box of the United States after they were sent from a Russian man who sent them.
MUFON Media Relations Director Ron James said: "This is typical with evidence of this nature."
"We believe that this material was deliberately taken by someone who could hack into a locked Post Office Box to prevent further testing."
The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), a group of US-based UFO investigators, has reportedly obtained an unidentified material believed to be of 'non-human' origin.The sample was tested using NASA-grade technology, with results indicating that 90% of the material couldn't be identified.The gold-tinged, lightweight fragments were displayed at a conference in Irving, Texas this week.MUFON suggests that the unique texture of thesample indicates it is not a metal known to humankind and may resemble 'debris from a craft.'
Alien debris
Speculations surrounding its origin
A Russian researcher, who discovered the sample, had previously suggested that the unidentified material could be remnants of a crashed UFO.This theory has been echoed by independent UFO experts who have labeled this discovery as the latest sample with potential "alien origin."MUFON Media Relations Director Ron James claimed that some samples were stolen from their official Post Office Box in the US after the Russian finder tried to send them to MUFON for further testing.
Material examination
Detailed analysis of the unidentified material
MUFON researcher Bob Spearing shared that Russian researcher had approached him after testing the material using an X-Ray fluorescence gun in Russian geological labs.Spearing described the unidentified material as "very, very light" and almost porous in appearance.He added, "It has a tinge of gold in it, but it's basically a black material. Seems to be some sort of composite," and noted its extreme lightness by stating "It's so light that it won't even bend a flower."
AI Enhances Image of UFO Over New Jersey Sept 14, 2020, UAP Sighting News.
AI Enhances Image of UFO Over New Jersey Sept 14, 2020, UAP Sighting News.
Date of sighting:Monday, Sept 14, 2020
Location of sighting: New Jersey, USA
On Sept 14th, thousands of eyewitnesses saw a UFO over New Jersey area. The UFO which was about 30 meters across and hovered over various parts of the city. People were seen on the freeways pulling their cars over to the side of the road and watching this UFO in the distance. The object has a glowing light for a center, similar to the military TR3B, and strangely enough...it's not a disk, but a triangle. That fact that the event took place is obvious from all the videos currently being uploaded as we speak.
AI has focused two screenshots here of the video and it clearly shows a cigar shaped spacecraft. Now is the spacecraft alien or is it US military...thats the harder question to answer.
NASA's volgende doel is om de mens in 2026 terug te brengen naar de maan. In de tussentijd opent een ondergrondse grot op onze satelliet de deur naar nieuwe mogelijkheden.
De terugkeer van de mens naar de maan: de ondergrondse grot zou hem kunnen huisvesten
Meer dan 50 jaar zijn verstreken sinds de laatste mens op het maanoppervlak liep. Sinds 1972 heeft geen enkele andere bemanning onze natuurlijke satelliet bereikt, maar NASA bereidt zich voor op deze grote terugkeer en telt onder de astronauten op de missie de eerste vrouw en de eerste zwarte man met het Artemis-programma.
Nu heeft een nieuwe studie een ondergrondse grot op de maan ontdekt die nieuwe mogelijkheden opent: astronauten zouden daarin hun toevlucht kunnen zoeken voor een langdurig verblijf buiten de aarde. Wetenschappers hebben de aanwezigheid van de grot officieel gemaakt, gelegen op slechts 400 km van het punt waar Neil Armstrong in 1969 samen met Buzz Aldrin landde met de ruimtevlucht Apollo 11.
Bewijs voor het bestaan van maangrotten: de studie
Nature Astronomy
Het team van Italiaanse wetenschappers heeft bewijs gepubliceerd dat het bestaan bevestigt van de vrij grote grot, die toegankelijk zou kunnen zijn vanuit de diepst bekende maankuil. De grot bevindt zich in de Mare Tranquillitatis, de maanzee die zich bevindt op het halfrond dat altijd naar onze planeet is gericht. Tot nu toe zijn er tweehonderd mogelijk vergelijkbare grotten ontdekt, allemaal ontstaan door ingestorte lavabuizen.
Het onderzoek was erop gericht om de metingen van NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter te vergelijken met de lavabuizen op aarde. De radar mat alleen het eerste deel van de ondergrondse grot en detecteerde een breedte van ongeveer 40 meter en een lengte van tientallen meters. Leonardo Carrer en Lorenzo Bruzzone van de Universiteit van Trento, Italië, legden uit dat "maangrotten meer dan 50 jaar een mysterie zijn gebleven, dus het was spannend om eindelijk hun bestaan te kunnen bewijzen."
De ondergrondse maangrot zou astronauten kunnen huisvesten
De grot zou een potentiële maanbasis kunnen worden, volgens de wetenschappers, omdat het “beschutting biedt tegen de barre omstandigheden aan het oppervlak en de menselijke verkenning van de maan op de lange termijn zou kunnen ondersteunen”. De bouw van een nieuwe maanbasis, zo beweren de auteurs van het onderzoek, zou veel duurder en tijdrovender zijn, hoewel de muren van de groeve waarschijnlijk verstevigd zouden moeten worden om een mogelijke instorting te voorkomen.
Volgens Helen Sharman, een Britse astronaute, zouden mensen dankzij deze diepe ondergrondse schuilplaatsen over twee of drie decennia op de maan kunnen blijven en een soort lift installeren om naar het oppervlak terug te keren. Bovendien zijn de materialen in deze kuilen in de loop van eonen, oftewel miljarden jaren, niet veranderd en zouden ze waardevolle nieuwe informatie kunnen opleveren over de evolutie van de satelliet en zijn vulkanische activiteit.
Na meer dan een halve eeuw zal de mens dus terugkeren naar de maan met nieuwe mogelijkheden vergeleken met die van de twintigste eeuw, en zou hij lange tijd op de satelliet kunnen blijven, in ondergrondse grotten.
NASA zal dan toch geen "rover" (een rijdende robot) naar de zuidpool van de maan sturen om er water te zoeken. Dat heeft het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartagentschap woensdag bekendgemaakt. De kosten van de missie liepen te hoog op.
Het ruimtevaartagentschap gaf al 450 miljoen dollar uit aan de robot, waarvan de kosten oorspronkelijk waren geraamd op minder dan 430 miljoen dollar. De lancering was in eerste instantie voorzien voor 2022, maar was uitgesteld tot ten vroegste het voorjaar van 2025. Dat zou de totale kosten hebben opgedreven tot meer dan 600 miljoen dollar.
Het was volgens NASA een zeer moeilijke beslissing om de missie af te blazen, terwijl de rover al is opgetuigd. Het ruimtevaartagentschap heeft een oproep gelanceerd voor industriële of internationale partners die mogelijk geïnteresseerd zijn in de rover. Anders is NASA van plan om het toestel te ontmantelen om bepaalde onderdelen te hergebruiken, zoals batterijen en zonnepanelen.
This “penguin party” (called Arp 142) is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. The blue galaxy at upper right (near bright star) is a closer galaxie teeming with new stars. It's not part of the collision and lies closer to Earth than Arp 142.
What happens when a spiral and an elliptical galaxy collide? To celebrate the second anniversary of the “first light” for the Webb telescope, NASA released an amazing infrared view of two galaxies locked in a tight dance. They’re called the Penguin and the Egg and their dance will last hundreds of millions of years.
“In just two years, Webb has transformed our view of the universe, enabling the kind of world-class science that drove NASA to make this mission a reality,” said Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Webb is providing insights into longstanding mysteries about the early Universe.”
Webb Witnesses a Galactic Dance
The telescope targeted a collision scene named Arp 142 containing both galaxies—a scene that the Hubble Space Telescope has also explored. They lie about 326 million light-years away. Their first close encounter began somewhere between 25 and 75 million years ago. That’s when two partner galaxies had the first of many passages that will distort their shapes more than they already appear here.
The Hubble Space Telescope captured visible light when observing Arp 142, nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg, in 2013. The Webb view (right) shows the near-infrared view. Courtesy NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
Webb’s observations, which combine near- and mid-infrared light from Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), respectively, clearly show that a hazy cloud of gas and stars (blue) links them together. The close approach also set off tremendous bursts of star birth in the colliding clouds of gas and dust.
Eventually, after several close approaches in their cosmic dance, these two galaxies will merge completely. Observers hundreds of millions of years in the future will look at Arp 142 and see one massive elliptical galaxy.
Interestingly, Webb’s sharp infrared eyes also picked out very distant galaxies. Some lie beyond this cosmic collision, although at least one lies about a hundred million light-years closer to Earth. It bristles with hot, young, newborn stars.
How The Arp 142 Galaxies Experience a Merger
The Penguin and Egg galaxies lie about 100,000 light-years apart but they affect each other. The Egg’s gravitational pull distorts the spiral and that interaction is “sculpting” the Penguin. The core makes up the eye of a penguin. The slowly unwinding spiral arms form a beak, head, backbone, and tail.
Webb’s infrared view reveals otherwise unseen activity between the two. For example, the Penguin is rich in dust. Webb’s view shows us how gravitational interactions pull that dust away from the Penguin. There are also scads of new stars in the galaxy, surrounded by what looks like smoke. Webb’s view shows this hydrogen cloud. It’s rich in carbon-based molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). These are incredibly abundant in the Universe and astronomers find them just about everywhere they point a telescope.
Webb’s mid-infrared MIRI image shows the Egg as a small teal oval. Mid-infrared light predominantly shows the oldest stars in the elliptical galaxy, which has lost or used up most of its gas and dust. This is why the view is so different from the combined image, which includes near-infrared light. Courtesy: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI
By contrast, in Webb’s view, the Egg looks like it’s hardly been touched—it’s still an egg-shaped elliptical. It has much older stars than the Penguin. Past epochs of star birth have pretty much used up the available star-making material. So, even though the two galaxies have about the same mass, the Egg just doesn’t have as much material to get stretched out or turned into stars.
Zeroing in on Webb’s Two Views
If you look at both of Webb’s infrared views of the galaxy collision, you can see marked differences in them. That’s because each one prioritizes a different set of infrared wavelengths. In the mid-infrared view, the egg looks tiny and washed out. That’s because the instrument sees only the old stars in the Egg. By contrast, the Penguin’s distorted core and spiral arms are brimming with young stars embedded in the PAH-rich hydrogen clouds.
The combined near- and mid-infrared view shows more of the gas clouds as the Egg tears them away from the Penguin. These regions will glitter in the future with the light of newly formed stars. For now, however, only cooler, older stars are visible in the combined image. The younger ones are there, but the mid-infrared-sensitive instrument doesn’t spot them.
Here’s a flythrough visualization of Arp 142. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Christian Nieves (STScI), Joseph Olmsted (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI), Frank Summers (STScI), Greg Bacon (STScI)
Why Does Webb Study Galaxy Collisions?
By studying this galactic collision site, the Webb telescope further probes the activity as galaxies evolve. Collisions are an integral part of this process. Our Milky Way Galaxy will dance with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy, starting in about 5 billion years. Images and data from observations of other galaxies doing the same thing give astronomers a chance to understand the process and forecast the distant future when something called “Milkdromeda” will contain the stars and planets of two spirals that once were close neighbors.
A Hopping Robot Could Explore Europa Using Locally Harvested Water
Various forms of hopping robots have crept into development for us[e in different space exploration missions. We’ve reported on their use on asteroids and even our own Moon. But a study funded by NASA’s Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) in 2018 planned a mission to a type of world where hopping may not be as noticeable an advantage—Europa.
The mission, developed by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Purdue University, and Honeybee Robotics, is known as the Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds, or SPARROW. It’s about the size and shape of a soccer ball, with the logic, power, and control systems inside a spherical outer hollow shell.
SPARROW wouldn’t be able to operate on its own, however. It would require a lander to deposit it onto the surface and serve as a refueling and sample collection storage base. Europa Clipper, the only currently planned NASA mission to the icy moon, would have been good for hitching a ride, but its lack of a lander made it unsuitable for SPARROW.
Budget constraints are always a problem for innovative missions – as Fraser explains with Dr. Manasvi Lingam.
However, the hopping robot itself is well suited for the environment in Europa. Its designers intended to make it “terrain agnostic,” meaning it could traverse even the harshest terrain the icy moon could throw at it. These would include penitentes, shards of ice that could be meters tall, and difficult for ground-based robots to traverse.
SPARROW could fly over them, collect interesting samples, and return to the lander to refuel and deposit them. Then, it could go out again in a different direction. To model this system architecture, the JPL team spent Phase I trying to determine the best propulsion system for the robot and modeling control algorithms for the flights.
First, let’s tackle the propulsion system. The lander accompanying SPARROW would have to mine ice off the moon’s surface, then heat it and store it as water. When SPARROW returned from a hop, it would use the water to refuel. Five different propulsion methods were considered as part of the study. Still, the best turned out to be a “hot water thruster,” where SPARROW would internally heat the water supplied by the lander, then eject that out in a burst of propulsive force to launch the robot off the surface.
Exploring the surface of Europa is only one part of its mystery – as Fraser explains.
The second major part of the paper was controlling that propulsion. Trajectory correction is critical to mission success, but in this case, the designers believe that no matter where the robot ends up, it will be able to collect a sample and return to the lander. This is due to its gimballed design, which allows the robot to consistently orient correctly, even after bouncing along a frozen surface for a while.
There is still much work to do before the mission is ready to go, though. Some of the most pressing questions are how to stop ice from forming in the robot’s propulsion nozzle and throughout its structural cage. Such blockages could easily throw off any existing trajectory calculations and theoretically immobilize the hopper entirely if they were severe enough.
However, no work is planned to solve those problems for now as the project has yet to receive Phase II funding from NIAC, and work on it appears to have stalled. Dr. Gareth Meirion-Griffith, the primary investigator on the project, has moved on from JPL to take a job at Collins Aerospace. Even so, someday, the author’s ideas might be integrated into a Europa lander mission—we’ll have to wait and see.
'Clearest ever UFO photo of spaceship chased by fighter jet' uncovered
'Clearest ever UFO photo of spaceship chased by fighter jet' uncovered
Story by John O'sullivan & Danny Gutmann
On August 4, 1990, a pair of hikers embarked on a trek through the Scottish Highlands, unaware that they were about to snap what's been hailed as the 'clearest UFO photo ever taken'. The photograph, known as the 'Calvine photo' after the nearby hamlet where it was snapped, would go missing and become the subject of myth for thirty years.
However, after 13 years of relentless investigation by Professor David Clarke, a former journalist and now academic at Sheffield Hallam University, the elusive image was finally located. Prof Clarke discovered ex-RAF press officer Craig Lindsay, who had retained a copy of the photograph depicting the extraordinary scene the two hikers witnessed.
In the astonishing image, a sizable saucer-shaped craft is distinctly seen, with a jet fighter seemingly in hot pursuit. The hikers originally handed over the photograph to the Daily Record newspaper in Scotland, but it eventually ended up with the British Ministry of Defence, where it remained shrouded in secrecy until 2022.
Speaking to Newsweek, Prof Clarke recounted: "The Daily Record's picture editor at that time sent them to Craig Lindsay, who was the RAF press officer in Scotland. He passed the print to the Ministry of Defense in London, the Ministry of Defense in London then asked him to obtain the negatives. So he went back to the Daily Record, asked the Daily Record to send the negatives to London, which they duly did-quite amazingly-and that's when they disappeared."
Related video:
Pentagon Releases 3 NEW UFO Videos (Secret History)
The video, titled "Go Fast," can be seen below.
The video was reportedly taken from a Pentagon program studying Unidentified Flying Objects. It was originally classified when it launched in 2007 as the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program. The program shut down in 2012, but some elements of the program are reportedly still active. To The Stars Academy claims several government organizations reviewed the footage and it is available for anyone who submits a Freedom of Information Act request.
Despite the media attention the photo received, the two hikers involved have kept mum about their experience. Lindsay, however, shared what he knew about their eerie encounter with Clarke.
The pair, who were working as chefs at a hotel in the Scottish Highlands, took an evening stroll in Calvine in August 1990 and encountered the enigmatic object soaring overhead.
Prof Clarke told Newsweek: "They saw this thing in the sky and it scared them. They ran into some woodland to sort of keep their heads down, and they heard this jet come down the valley and then, two minutes later, it returned and started circling around the object. And that's when they took the photographs."
The incident witnessed by the men remains an unsolved enigma to this day.
The Ariane 6 rocket promises to be Europe’s newest portal into space. On Tuesday, the rocket successfully reached orbit for the first time, taking off from Europe's Spaceport in northeastern South America. If all continues to go well on future flights, Ariane 6 will pick up after Ariane 5, the workhorse that flew for the last time in July 2023, and which delivered critical missions into space like the James Webb Space Telescope.
“Ariane 6 is Europe’s rocket for the needs of today, adaptable to our future ambitions,” Josef Aschbacher, ESA Director General, shared via ESA.
When the new rocket is fully functioning, the ESA will be able to pay a European company to launch its projects. Today, it relies on U.S.-based private space companies such as SpaceX.
Ariane 6, unlike SpaceX’s Falcon fleet, isn’t a reusable rocket. However, the newly constructed spacecraft does come with some novel technology, including a special upper stage engine, called Vinci, that will be agile and friendly to the space environment.
“With many features brand new to Ariane 6, we’ll be able to carry more and take it further, while sustainably disposing of the launcher's upper stage to prevent it becoming space debris,” officials from the operator of the Ariane 6’s inaugural flight, the European Space Agency (ESA), wrote on Sunday.
An illustration of the Ariane 6 lifting off from French Guiana.
The 184-foot-tall spacecraft is a collaboration between Arianespace, its main customer ESA, and the French space agency CNES, which built out the Ariane 6 launchpad at Guiana Space Centre near Kourou, French Guiana. Like Ariane 5, Ariane 6 will launch near the Equator, taking advantage of the boost from Earth’s rotation there to reach space.
MEET VINCI
The Vinci upper stage engine is the Ariane 6 feature with the most allure. For one, it can be reignited, which allows a single Ariane 6 launch to deliver multiple missions on different orbits.
“Reigniting an engine in zero gravity may not sound so difficult, but as fuels float freely inside the tanks, it is not as simple as you might think. The Auxiliary Propulsion Unit (APU) helps here, providing a small but steady amount of thrust to cause fuel in the Vinci tanks to settle ensuring it can fire again,” ESA officials added.
A final command tells Vinci to passivate, or remove energy, so that it can reenter the atmosphere and burn up with the least chance of an explosion. According to ESA, this reduces the chances that Vinci pieces will linger around as space debris.
With Ariane 6, the ESA can now envision missions both within Earth orbit and beyond to destinations like the Moon.
Researchers made a tantalizing discovery after they MacGyver-ed old data from a radar instrument on a satellite gathered 14 years ago from the Moon. When they used the mission data in a fresh new way, they found proof of a Moon cave hiding in plain sight.
The cave is inside a hole in the ground located in the Sea of Tranquility, which is the same region where the first Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon. This pit is named Mare Tranquillitatis pit (MTP) after the area’s Latin spelling.
The team behind the new work, which was published today in the journal Nature Astronomy, created an ad-hoc radar technique. This provided them a refreshing new look at observations made with the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument onboard NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2010, when it fired pulses at an inclined angle down towards the pit. This data was invisible to the satellite’s optical cameras.
When they analyzed the signals anew, and compared it with simulations, they saw that Mini-RF had detected something spectacular. From an observational angle of about 47 degrees, they saw evidence that the pit floor, which was always visible overhead, is flanked by something burrowed beneath the surface. The finding may have repercussions for future lunar explorers.
The Mare Tranquillitatis pit (MTP) on the Moon’s near side.
The Moon cave is a conduit, or a section of a longer tunnel where something once used to flow.
What formed it? Researchers think that beneath the ground, lava flow likely formed the tunnel in the ancient past. Then suddenly, for an unknown reason (potentially a meteorite strike or tectonic activity), one section of the tunnel’s roof caved in, allowing Moon debris to fall down and form a cone-shaped pile.
This is the most compelling evidence for Moon conduits so far. There are several other conduits suspected of existing. But MTP was the right size to reveal its hidden cavern.
“It was large enough that the Mini-RF instrument could collect significant amounts of data from within the pit and, fortuitously, the conduit was oriented such that the look angle of the instrument could see into it,” Wes Patterson, study author and Mini-RF principal investigator, tells Inverse.
WHY LOOK FOR WHAT’S LURKING ON THE MOON?
Subsurface Moon caves could be an exciting foray for lunar science.
Beyond the natural silvery satellite, data on these features could shape how astronomers interpret other data to recreate an idea of how the planets formed. It could sharpen our idea of how the Moon and our world are intertwined.
“The study of this conduit could enhance our understanding of the dynamic relationship between the Earth and the Moon,” the study’s lead author Leonardo Carrer tells Inverse.
There’s also a far-off application: refuge for NASA’s Artemis program astronauts. The space agency is funneling its resources towards returning humans to the Moon this decade. The first program flight to bring boots back to the Moon is seeking a landing site near the lunar south pole. Craters may offer refuge to the crew. The lunar south pole, unlike the Sea of Tranquility, offers another critical resource: frozen water.
There’s no evidence that the Sea of Tranquility offers frozen water. But that doesn’t mean it’s not there, Carrer explains. “The presence of water ice in the lunar subsurface is unknown because we have not had the opportunity to observe it directly. This is why our discovery of a likely accessible cave is so important; it provides a potential entry point to explore the lunar subsurface.”
But if MTP leads to a conduit, there may be more. There could be other caverns on more distant worlds where NASA seeks to place astronauts: Mars.
This pit may have just opened up a whole new world of Moon science.
'The real Atlantis' discovered off the coast of Greece
'The real Atlantis' discovered off the coast of Greece
Story by Harriet Brewis
The legendary land of Atlantis may get all the press, but there exists a sunken city that’s far older than its mythological counterpart.
Pavlopetri is thought to be some 5,000 years old, but it wasn’t discovered until the 20th Century, and experts are still uncovering its secrets and treasures.
The Bronze Age town was first identified off the coast of Greece’s southern Peloponnese region in 1904 by a geologist named Folkion Negris.
However, it was largely unexplored until 1967, when Nicholas Flemming, of the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Southampton, rediscovered the site.
The following year Fleming, accompanied by a group of archaeologists from the University of Cambridge, spent six weeks surveying the drowned city, which lies submerged in around three to four metres (10 to 13 feet) of water, IFL Science reports.
The researchers then mapped out the ancient town, which boasted at least 15 separate buildings, as well as courtyards, streets and tombs.
They also recovered a number of artefacts from the seabed,including pottery, blades and a small bronze figurine which they dated to between 2800 and 1180 BC. However, the buildings of the city itself were found to date back to around 1650 to 1180 BC.
A diver explores Pavlopetri's submerged remains, which include parts of what was once a large rectangular building ((Jon Henderson and the Pavlopetri Project))
You might think that the discovery of a long-lost city buried beneath the waves would generate a fair amount of hype. But, in fact, it took another 40 years for the Pavlopetri site to receive further attention.
In 2009, an international team of experts from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, the Hellenic Centre for Maritime Research, and the University of Nottingham began a five-year project to excavate and explore the town in detail.
During their survey, the team discovered a further 9,000 square metres (97,000 square feet) of new buildings, including a large rectangular hall and structures that lined a previously hidden street, IFL Science notes.
They also unearthed ceramics that confirmed the city existed during the Mycenaean period (the last phase of the Bronze Age in ancient Greece), plus evidence suggesting that it had been occupied from around 3000 BCE up to 1100 BC, during which it would have had a population of around 500 to 2,000 people.
What ultimately sent Pavlopetri to the bottom of the sea remains unknown. Although, some experts believe it could have been sunk by an earthquake that occurred either around 1000 BC or 375 AD.
But given that the city predates Plato’s allegorical account of Atlantis, some people have excitedly suggested that Pavlopetri was the real-life inspiration for the glittering “lost” continent that still excites our imagination today.
Cassini Reveals Surface Properties of Titan’s Hydrocarbon Seas
Cassini Reveals Surface Properties of Titan’s Hydrocarbon Seas
Saturn’s moon Titan was explored by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2017. While Cassini revealed a lot about this Earth-like world, its radar observations could only provide limited information about Titan’s liquid hydrocarbons seas Kraken, Ligeia and Punga Mare. In anew paper in the journal Nature Communications, Cornell University researcher Valerio Poggiali and colleagues report the results of the analysis of the Cassini radar experiments data of Titan’s polar seas.
An artistic rendering of Kraken Mare, a large liquid methane sea on Titan.
Image credit: NASA’s John Glenn Research Center.
“The Cassini spacecraft explored Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, from 2004 to 2017, revealing an Earth-like world with a diverse set of strange, yet very familiar, surface morphologies shaped by a methane-based hydrologic system, operating in a dense nitrogen atmosphere,” Dr. Poggiali and co-authors said.
“Winds in the lower atmosphere move sediments and shape them into vast dune fields that encircle Titan’s equatorial latitudes.”
“In the mid-latitudes, flat and relatively featureless plains mark a transition between the eolian-dominated equator and lacustrine-dominated poles.”
“In the polar regions, large seas and small lakes of liquid hydrocarbons dominate the terrain.”
“Precipitation-fed channels flow into the seas creating estuaries, in some cases deltas, and other familiar coastal sedimentary deposits.”
“While Cassini has revealed much about Titan, these discoveries have prompted more questions.”
In the study, the scientists used four bistatic radar observations, collected by Cassini during four flybys in 2014 (May 17, June 18, October 24) and 2016 (November 14).
For each, surface reflections were observed as the spacecraft neared its closest approach to Titan (ingress), and again as it moved away (egress).
The authors analyzed data from the egress observations of Titan’s three large polar seas: Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare and Punga Mare.
“A bistatic radar experiment involves aiming a radio beam from the spacecraft at the target — in this case Titan — where it is reflected toward the receiving antenna on Earth,” they explained.
“This surface reflection is polarized — meaning that it provides information collected from two independent perspectives, as opposed to the one provided by monostatic radar data, where the reflected signal returns to the spacecraft.”
“The main difference is that the bistatic information is a more complete dataset and is sensitive to both the composition of the reflecting surface and to its roughness.”
The team found differences in the composition of the hydrocarbon seas’ surface layers, dependent on latitude and location (near rivers and estuaries, for example).
Specifically, the southernmost portion of Kraken Mare shows the highest dielectric constant — a measure of a material’s ability to reflect a radio signal.
For example, water on Earth is very reflective, with a dielectric constant of around 80; the ethane and methane seas of Titan measure around 1.7.
The researchers also determined that all three seas were mostly calm at the time of the flybys, with surface waves no larger than 3.3 mm.
A slightly higher level of roughness — up to 5.2 mm — was detected near coastal areas, estuaries and interbasin straits, possible indications of tidal currents.
“We also have indications that the rivers feeding the seas are pure methane until they flow into the open liquid seas, which are more ethane-rich,” Dr. Poggiali said.
“It’s like on Earth, when fresh-water rivers flow into and mix with the salty water of the oceans.”
“This fits nicely with meteorological models for Titan, which predict that the ‘rain’ that falls from its skies is likely to be almost pure methane, but with trace amounts of ethane and other hydrocarbons,” said Cornell University’s Professor Philip Nicholson.
“More work is already underway on the data Cassini generated during its 13-year examination of Titan.”
“There is a mine of data that still waits to be fully analyzed in ways that should yield more discoveries. This is only the first step.”
V. Poggialiet al. 2024. Surface properties of the seas of Titan as revealed by Cassini mission bistatic radar experiments.Nat Commun15, 5454; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-49837-2
This article is a version of a press-release provided by Cornell University.
Unveiling the Secret UFO Base of East Mountain: A Journey into Cold War Mysteries
Unveiling the Secret UFO Base of East Mountain: A Journey into Cold War Mysteries
In this episode of Strange Places, the spotlight is on a hidden relic from the Cold War era nestled deep within Vermont’s wilderness – the North Concord Air Force Station. This abandoned radar base is not just a reminder of past geopolitical tensions but also a site steeped in UFO history. From its connection to Project Blue Book to the famed Betty and Barney Hill abduction case, this location offers a fascinating blend of military history and ufology.
The Cold War Context
The early 1950s were marked by intense Cold War tensions, with the United States and the Soviet Union locked in a nuclear arms race. Amidst fears of aerial invasion and nuclear missile attacks, the US established a series of early warning radar systems across remote areas of North America, including Alaska, the Arctic, and Canada. Within the continental United States, radar stations were constructed to protect strategic air bases and form a comprehensive radar defense network. One such installation was the North Concord Air Force Station, situated in a secluded part of Northern Vermont, close to the Canadian border.
Establishment of the Radar Base
Construction of the North Concord Air Force Station began in 1952, though it did not become fully operational until 1956. Perched atop East Mountain, which stands at an elevation of nearly 3,500 feet, the station offered strategic views into Canada and neighboring New Hampshire. This vantage point was ideal for detecting potential Soviet threats from the north.
UFO Sightings and Project Blue Book
During the 1950s, the term “flying saucer” became widespread, and reports of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) surged, raising concerns among government officials. Many military bases across the US, including the North Concord Air Force Station, reported UFO sightings. These incidents were meticulously cataloged by Project Blue Book, the US Air Force’s official investigation into UFOs.
Project Blue Book, which ran from 1952 to 1970, was tasked with collecting and analyzing UFO reports. Under the leadership of its first director, Edward Ruppelt, the project coined the term “unidentified flying object” or UFO. Despite the project’s initial goal of identifying potential threats, it concluded in 1970 with the assertion that UFOs did not pose a threat to national security and showed no evidence of extraterrestrial origins.
Significant UFO Incidents at North Concord
Two notable UFO incidents were recorded at the North Concord Air Force Station. The first occurred on August 4, 1960, when an airman observed a circular object with a blue tip and a white tail over the mess hall. Despite the detailed eyewitness account, Project Blue Book concluded that the sighting was likely a meteor.
The second, and perhaps more intriguing, incident took place on September 19, 1961, the same night as the infamous Betty and Barney Hill abduction. Radar operators at the base tracked a large, erratically moving object at 62,000 feet for 18 minutes. The object’s behavior, including hovering and changing course, led the Project Blue Book report to speculate it was a weather balloon. However, the description and circumstances suggest it was something far more unusual.
The Betty and Barney Hill Abduction
The Betty and Barney Hill abduction case remains one of the most famous UFO incidents in history. On the night of September 19, 1961, the couple reported seeing a light in the sky while driving through Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, which later appeared to be a craft with humanoid figures inside. They claimed to have been taken aboard the craft and examined by its occupants. This event occurred just hours after the radar sighting at North Concord, located only 34 air miles away. The proximity and timing raise intriguing questions about a possible connection between the two incidents.
Exploring the Abandoned Radar Station
Today, the North Concord Air Force Station, later renamed the Lyndonville Air Force Station, lies abandoned. Despite its derelict state, the site offers a glimpse into its past through the remaining structures and graffiti-covered ruins. Exploring the base involves a challenging hike, but the panoramic views from the top of East Mountain and the eerie remnants of the Cold War era make it a compelling destination for adventurers and history enthusiasts alike.
Legacy and Speculations
The North Concord Air Force Station stands as a testament to Cold War paranoia and the lengths to which the US military went to protect the nation. Its brief operation period, from 1956 to 1963, and subsequent abandonment reflect the rapid technological advancements of the time. The UFO sightings linked to the base add a layer of mystery and intrigue, especially when considering their potential connection to the Betty and Barney Hill abduction.
While the true nature of the UFO phenomena observed at North Concord remains a topic of debate, the site’s role in the broader narrative of UFO history is undeniable. As modern investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena continue, the legacy of Project Blue Book and the Cold War radar stations like North Concord Air Force Station provide valuable context and insights.
The North Concord Air Force Station, with its rich history of Cold War defense and UFO sightings, offers a unique and fascinating story. From its strategic construction to its eerie abandonment, and the mysterious events that unfolded in its vicinity, the site encapsulates a remarkable chapter of American history. As we continue to explore and understand the complexities of UFO phenomena, places like East Mountain’s secret UFO base will remain significant landmarks in our quest for answers.
ESA bereidt missie voor naar asteroïde die vlak langs aarde zal scheren: “Zoiets gebeurt maar eens om de 5.000 of 10.000 jaar”
Een asteroïde die vroeger beschouwd werd als de gevaarlijkste van alle bekende planetoïden, zal op 13 april 2029 langs de aarde scheren en dichter bij komen dan sommige satellieten die rondom onze planeet cirkelen. Het Europese ruimtevaartagentschap ESA bereidt een missie voor om de passage van ‘99942 Apophis’ - een erg uitzonderlijke gebeurtenis - van nabij te volgen. Dat moet helpen om eventuele toekomstige botsingen met asteroïden te kunnen voorkomen.
Voor alle duidelijkheid: Apophis zal langs de aarde vliegen, maar tot een botsing zal het niet komen, volgens de ESA. “Astronomen hebben berekend dat een botsing tussen de asteroïde en de aarde voor minstens de komende honderd jaar uitgesloten is”, aldus het ruimtevaartagentschap.
De asteroïde met een diameter van 375 meter zal wel op minder dan 32.000 kilometer van het aardoppervlak passeren en dat is dichterbij dan telecomsatellieten in een geostationaire baan.
Unieke kans
Het biedt een unieke kans voor onderzoek, zegt ESA. Dat zo’n grote brok zo rakelings langs de aarde scheert, gebeurt immers maar eens om de 5.000 of 10.000 jaar.
Het Europese ruimtevaartagentschap wil met de missie Ramses (Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety) een ruimtetuig naar de asteroïde sturen om de passage te bestuderen. De verwachting is dat de aantrekkingskracht van de aarde een impact zal hebben op Apophis, met mogelijk aardbevingen of aardverschuivingen op de asteroïde tot gevolg. Ook de baan van de ruimtebrok kan veranderen.
“Door te analyseren hoe Apophis tijdens de passage verandert, zullen de wetenschappers veel te weten komen over de reactie van een asteroïde op externe krachten en over de samenstelling ervan, de interne structuur, de cohesie, de massa, de densiteit en de poreusheid”, stelt ESA. “Dat zijn allemaal belangrijke eigenschappen om te bepalen hoe een gevaarlijke asteroïde die op ramkoers ligt met de aarde, van baan kan worden veranderd.”
Gegevens die de Ramses-missie verzamelt, zullen ook meer inzicht geven in het ontstaan en de ontwikkeling van het zonnestelsel, “omdat asteroïden ook tijdcapsules zijn die ruim vier miljard jaar geleden gevormd werden”.
Experimenten
“Er is nog zo veel dat we moeten leren over asteroïden”, zegt Patrick Michel, onderzoeksdirecteur van het observatorium van de Côte d’Azur. “Tot nu toe moesten we ver in het zonnestelsel reizen om ze te bestuderen. We moesten zelf experimenten uitvoeren om in te werken op het oppervlak. Voor de eerste keer ooit brengt de natuur een asteroïde tot bij ons en voert die het experiment zelf uit.”
Ramses moet in april 2028 gelanceerd worden, zodat het ruimtetuig in februari 2029 bij Apophis kan aankomen, of twee maanden vóór de passage langs de aarde. De voorbereidingen voor de missie zijn nu gestart. In november 2025 moet tijdens een ministeriële top van ESA het licht definitief op groen worden gezet.
Blote oog
De passage van ‘99942 Apophis’ zal ook enkele uren met het blote oog te zien zijn in de nacht van 13 op 14 april 2029, als het weer het toelaat welteverstaan, en dat “voor ongeveer twee miljard mensen in het grootste deel van Europa en Afrika en delen van Azië”, aldus ESA.
De Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA stuurt ook een ruimtetuig - OSIRIS-REx - naar de asteroïde. Maar dat zal er pas een maand na de scheervlucht langs de aarde aankomen.
De ingang van de grot ligt op meer dan 100 meter diepte en de grot zelf zou zo'n 40 meter breed en tientallen meters lang zijn.
Foto: NASA, Universiteit van Trento
Grot gevonden op de maan: "Mogelijke uitvalsbasis voor toekomstige astronauten"
Wetenschappers hebben een grot ontdekt op de maan, niet ver van waar Neil Armstrong en Buzz Aldrin in 1969 voor het eerst voet op de maan hebben gezet. Ze vermoeden dat er nog honderden andere grotten zijn die als uitvalsbasis voor astronauten zouden kunnen gebruikt worden.
Stien Schoofs
Op slechts 400 meter van waar Neil Armstrong en Buzz Aldrin 55 jaar geleden zijn geland op de maan hebben Italiaanse en Amerikaanse wetenschappers een grot ontdekt die op meer dan 100 meter diepte ligt, onderin een diepe kuil.
De kuil, waarvan wetenschappers vermoeden dat er nog honderden andere zijn op de maan, zou miljoenen of miljarden jaren geleden ontstaan zijn toen lava op de maan stroomde en er zo een tunnel onder het gesteente ontstond.
De ingang van de grot ligt op meer dan 100 meter diepte en de grot zelf zou zo'n 40 meter breed en tientallen meters lang zijn. Dat staat allemaal beschreven in een onderzoek gepubliceerd in het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Nature Astronomy.
"Je kan er dus niet zomaar in wandelen", nuanceert ruimtevaartingenieur Stijn Ilsen. "Het is een soort van oude 'lavabuis'. Je kan het vergelijken met oude vulkanen op de aarde die ook buizen hebben waar vroeger de lava heeft doorgestroomd."
Maangrotten zijn al meer dan vijftig jaar een mysterie
De Maansatelliet Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter heeft in 2010 al beelden gemaakt van kuilen waarvan wetenschappers dachten dat het grotingangen konden zijn. Nu hebben ze echt bewijs door met een radar door te dringen in de opening van een kuil.
"Dat is een radar die die pulsen afvuurt naar de maan en zo kijkt wat er wordt teruggekaatst. Uit die terugkaatsing kunnen ze berekenen hoe het oppervlak zich gedraagt", legt Ilsen uit. "Nu hebben ze specifiek gemikt op een gebied waar ze een vermoeden hadden dat er een ingang van een grot zou zijn en daar hebben ze met een nauwkeurigheid van 25 centimeter die ingang gevonden."
"Maangrotten zijn al meer dan 50 jaar een mysterie. Het was dus spannend om eindelijk het bestaan ervan te kunnen bewijzen", zeggen onderzoekers Leonardo Carrer en Lorenzo Bruzzone van de Universiteit van Trento aan persbureau AP.
Uitvalsbasis voor astronauten
Wat kan zo’n grot betekenen voor een toekomstige Armstrong of Aldrin? Volgens de wetenschappers kan de grot gebruikt worden om een langere periode op de maan te overbruggen. De maangrot kan namelijk bescherming bieden tegen schadelijke straling, extreme temperatuurverschillen en kleine meteorietinslagen.
"Het leven op aarde is ook begonnen in grotten, dus het is logisch dat mensen ook op de maan veel hebben aan die grotten", zegt professor Carrer nog.
De maangrotten lijken zich volgens wetenschappers vooral te bevinden in de oude lavavlaktes van de maan.
Foto: NASA
Hoewel de wanden van de grotten misschien nog verstevigd moeten worden om instorting te voorkomen, is het volgens de wetenschappers een betere optie dan zelf voorzieningen bouwen om een langere periode op de maan te blijven.
De maangrotten lijken zich volgens wetenschappers vooral te bevinden in de oude lavavlaktes van de maan. Toch vermoeden ze ook dat er een paar op de zuidpool van de maan zijn, de plek waar NASA nog astronautenlandingen plant in de toekomst.
"Waar ze de grot ontdekt hebben, is het ongeveer 14 dagen heel warm, met temperaturen rond de 100 graden Celsius. Dan komt er 14 dagen nacht, waar het 100 graden Celsius onder nul is. Die lage temperaturen overleven mensen niet. Dan is zo'n grot de ideale schuilplaats", denkt Ilsen.Helen Sharman, de eerste Britse astronaut die naar de ruimte reisde, vertelde aan de Britse openbare omroep BBC dat de nieuwe ontdekte grot een goede uitvalsbasis lijkt. Ze suggereerde zelfs dat mensen mogelijk binnen 20 tot 30 jaar in maankuilen zouden kunnen wonen.
Wel vermoedt ze dat er jetpacks of een lift nodig zijn om eruit te komen, net omdat de grot zo diep is.
Leven op Mars?
De grotten kunnen dus handig zijn voor mensen, maar de wetenschappers benadrukken dat ze ook kunnen helpen bij het beantwoorden van vragen over de geschiedenis van de maan en ons zonnestelsel.
"De maan wordt continu gebombardeerd door deeltjes van de zon en die gaan de stenen die aan het oppervlakte liggen wel veranderen. In zo'n oude tunnel ga je net gesteente vinden dat bij wijze van spreken miljoenen - zelfs miljarden - jaren onaangeroerd bleef", zegt Ilsen.
Volgens Francesco Sauro, de coördinator van het Topical Team Planetary Caves van ESA, kan het onderzoek zelfs helpen om grotten op Mars te onderzoeken. Dat vertelt hij aan BBC.
"Dat zou de deur kunnen openen naar het vinden van bewijs dat er leven is op Mars. Want als dat er geweest is, zou dat vrijwel zeker in grotten zijn geweest, net omdat die bescherming bieden tegen elementen op het oppervlak."
Bekijk:
Professor sterrenkunde Leen Decin over het belang van deze ontdekking
Voor het eerst grot gevonden op de maan: "Mogelijke uitvalsbasis voor toekomstige astronauten"
Voor het eerst grot gevonden op de maan: "Mogelijke uitvalsbasis voor toekomstige astronauten"
Artikel door Stien Schoofs
Op slechts 400 meter van waar Neil Armstrong en Buzz Aldrin 55 jaar geleden zijn geland op de maan hebben Italiaanse en Amerikaanse wetenschappers een grot ontdekt die op meer dan 100 meter diepte ligt, onderin een diepe kuil.
De kuil, waarvan wetenschappers vermoeden dat er nog honderden andere zijn op de maan, zou miljoenen of miljarden jaren geleden ontstaan zijn toen lava op de maan stroomde en er zo een tunnel onder het gesteende ontstond.
De ingang van de grot ligt op meer dan 100 meter diepte en de grot zelf zou zo'n 40 meter breed en tientallen meters lang zijn. Dat staat allemaal beschreven in een onderzoek gepubliceerd in het wetenschappelijke tijdschrift Nature Astronomy.
De Maansatelliet Luna Reconnaissance Orbiter heeft in 2010 al beelden gemaakt van kuilen waarvan wetenschapper dachten dat het grondingangen konden zijn. Nu hebben ze echt bewijs door met een radar door te dringen in de opening van een kuil.
"Maangrotten zijn al meer dan 50 jaar een mysterie. Het was dus spannend om eindelijk het bestaan ervan te kunnen bewijzen", zeggen onderzoekers Leonardo Carrer en Lorenzo Bruzzone van de Universiteit van Trento aan persbureau AP.
Uitvalsbasis voor astronauten
Wat kan zo’n grot betekenen voor een toekomstige Armstrong of Aldrin? Volgens de wetenschappers kan de grot gebruikt worden om een langere periode op de maan te overbruggen. De maangrot kan namelijk bescherming bieden tegen schadelijke straling, extreme temperatuurverschillen en kleine meteorietinslagen.
"Het leven op aarde is ook begonnen in grotten, dus het is logisch dat mensen ook op de maan veel hebben aan die grotten", zegt professor Carrer nog.
De maangrotten lijken zich volgens wetenschappers vooral te bevinden in de oude lavavlaktes van de maan.
Hoewel de wanden van de grotten misschien nog verstevigd moeten worden om instorting te voorkomen, is het volgens de wetenschappers een betere optie dan zelf voorzieningen bouwen om een langere periode op de maan te blijven.
De maangrotten lijken zich volgens wetenschappers vooral te bevinden in de oude lavavlaktes van de maan. Toch vermoeden ze ook dat er een paar op de zuidpool van de maan zijn, de plek waar NASA nog astronautenlandingen plant in de toekomst.
Helen Sharman, de eerste Britse astronaut die naar de ruimte reisde, vertelde aan de Britse openbare omroep BBC dat de nieuwe ontdekte grot een goede uitvalsbasis lijkt. Ze suggereerde zelfs dat mensen mogelijk binnen 20 tot 30 jaar in maankuilen zouden kunnen wonen.
Wel vermoedt ze dat er jetpacks of een lift nodig zijn om eruit te komen, net omdat de grot zo diep is.
Leven op Mars?
De grotten kunnen dus handig zijn voor mensen, maar de wetenschappers benadrukken dat ze ook kunnen helpen bij het beantwoorden van vragen over de geschiedenis van de maan en ons zonnestelsel.
De rotsen in de grot zullen namelijk minder beschadigd zijn door het ruimteweer en kunnen de geologische geschiedenis van de maan beter weergeven.
Volgens Francesco Sauro, de coördinator van het Topical Team Planetary Caves van ESA, kan het onderzoek zelfs helpen om grotten op Mars te onderzoeken. Dat vertelt hij aan BBC.
"Dat zou de deur kunnen openen naar het vinden van bewijs dat er leven is op Mars. Want als dat er geweest is, zou dat vrijwel zeker in grotten zijn geweest, net omdat die bescherming bieden tegen elementen op het oppervlak."
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
