“AARO has successfully resolved hundreds of cases in its holdings to commonplace objects such as balloons, birds, drones, satellites and aircraft,” the office’s director, Jon Kosloski, said in a news release. “Only a very small percentage of reports to AARO are potentially anomalous, but these are the cases that require significant time, resources and a focused scientific inquiry by AARO and its partners.” 

In the past, U.S. military and intelligence officials have suggested that some UAP sightings may be attributable to intrusions by rival powers such as Russia or China. The Chinese spy balloon that was intercepted and destroyed by Air Force fighter jets last year after crossing over the U.S. serves as a prime example.

AARO’s latest report says that U.S. military aircrews provided two reports over the past year that identified flight safety concerns, and three reports described pilots being trailed or shadowed by anomalous objects. “To date, AARO has no indication or confirmation that these activities are attributable to foreign adversaries,” the report says, but the office is continuing to work with the U.S. intelligence community to investigate the cases.

“None of the reports AARO received during the reporting period indicated that observers suffered any adverse health effects,” the report says.

AARO’s reporting system was established to encourage members of the U.S. military to let the Pentagon know about UAP sightings and take the stigma out of the process. Based on the latest numbers, the strategy seems to be working. Between May 2023 and June 2024, AARO received 757 UAP reports, compared with 291 reports for the period between August 2022 and April 2023.

Here are more statistics from today’s report:

• Of the 757 reports received over the past year, 485 relate to incidents during the yearlong reporting period, and the remaining 272 reports relate to incidents occurring in the 2021-2022 time frame.
• In addition to the 118 resolved cases, another 174 cases have been queued up for closure, pending a final review and approval by AARO’s director. All those cases were attributed to prosaic objects.
• Seventy percent of the closed cases in 2023-2024 were attributed to balloons. Sixteen percent were attributed to drones, 8% to birds, 4% to satellites and 2% to birds.
• AARO determined that 21 cases merited further analysis, based on reported anomalous characteristics or behaviors. Those cases are being studied by AARO’s experts as well as the office’s partners in the intelligence community and the science and tech community. “AARO will provide immediate notification to Congress should AARO identify that any cases indicate or involve a breakthrough foreign adversarial aerospace capability,” the report says.
• The remaining 444 cases received over the past year lacked sufficient data for further analysis. They’ve been placed in an archive and will be revisited if additional data comes to light. AARO says it has 1,652 UAP reports in all.
• In addition to reports from the U.S. military, AARO is receiving reports of sightings by civil and commercial pilots via the Federal Aviation Administration. AARO says 392 of the 757 reports received over the past year came from the FAA.
• AARO says unidentified lights or orb-shaped objects were mentioned most frequently in the subset of UAP reports that included references to visual characteristics. Other reports mentioned cylinders, disks, triangles, squares or exotic objects such as a “green fireball” or “a jellyfish with flashing lights.”

AARO’s global map of UAP reporting hotspots highlights four broad areas: the southeastern U.S. and Gulf of Mexico; the West Coast and Pacific Northwest; the Middle East; and northeastern Asia in the vicinity of Japan and the Korean peninsula. This doesn’t mean the aliens favor those regions. Instead, AARO says the distribution favors a “continued geographic collection bias based on locations near U.S. military assets and sensors operating globally.”

AARO says it’s getting an increasing number of cases that can be traced to sightings of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. “For example, a commercial pilot reported white flashing lights in the night sky,” the report says. “The pilot did not report an altitude or speed, and no data or imagery was recorded. AARO assessed that this sighting of flashing lights correlated with a Starlink satellite launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the same evening about one hour prior to the sighting.”

One of the reports received via the FAA mentioned a possible flight safety issue. “In this instance, a commercial aircrew reported a near miss with a ‘cylindrical object’ while over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York,” the report says. “AARO continues its research into, and analysis of, this case.”

AARO received 18 reports from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that related to UAP incidents near U.S. nuclear infrastructure, weapons and launch sites. NRC officials attributed all those sightings to drones. One of the incidents, in August 2023, involved the recovery of a crashed drone in the vicinity of the D.C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan — but AARO provided no further information about the drone.

What more can be done? In today’s report, AARO says its ability to resolve cases has been constrained due to “a lack of timely and actionable sensor data.”

“AARO continues to address this challenge by working with military and technical partners to optimize sensor requirements, information-sharing processes, and the content of UAP reporting,” the report says. “AARO is also expanding engagement with foreign partners to share information and collaborate on best practices for resolving UAP cases.”

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

15-11-2024 om 16:26 geschreven door peter  

Landing 12 people on the moon remains one of NASA's greatest achievements, if not the greatest.

Astronauts on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s collected rocks, took photos, performed experiments, planted flags, and then came home. But those stays didn't establish a lasting human presence on the moon.

More than 50 years after the most recent crewed moon landing — Apollo 17 in December 1972 — there are plenty of reasons to return people to Earth's giant, dusty satellite and stay there.

We're getting closer. In February, a US lunar lander touched down on the moon's surface for the first time since Apollo 17. The uncrewed Nova-C lander, named Odysseus, was designed by the Houston company Intuitive Machines with a $118 million contract from NASA. It was the first commercial mission to touch down on the moon and a huge step toward new human landings.

NASA has promised we will see US astronauts on the moon again soon-ish — maybe by September 2026 at the earliest, in a program called Artemis, which is set to include the first woman, first Black astronaut, and first Canadian to touch the lunar surface.

Jim Bridenstine, who ran NASA during the Trump administration, said it's not science or technology hurdles that have held the US back from doing this sooner.

"If it wasn't for the political risk, we would be on the moon right now," Bridenstine said on a phone call with reporters in 2018. "In fact, we would probably be on Mars."

Why a permanent crewed lunar base is worth it

Researchers and entrepreneurs have long pushed for the creation of a crewed base on the moon — a lunar space station.

"A permanent human research station on the moon is the next logical step. It's only three days away. We can afford to get it wrong and not kill everybody," Chris Hadfield, a former astronaut, previously told Business Insider. "And we have a whole bunch of stuff we have to invent and then test in order to learn before we can go deeper out."

A lunar base could evolve into a fuel depot for deep-space missions, lead to the creation of unprecedented space telescopes, make it easier to live on Mars, and solve long-standing scientific mysteries about Earth and the moon's creation. It could even spur a thriving off-world economy, perhaps one built around lunar space tourism.

But many astronauts and other experts suggest the biggest impediments to making new crewed moon missions a reality are banal and somewhat depressing.

It's really expensive to get to the moon — but not that expensive

A tried-and-true hurdle for any spaceflight program, especially missions that involve people, is the steep cost.

NASA's 2024 budget was $24.9 billion, which may sound like a windfall until you consider that the total gets split among all the agency's divisions and ambitious projects: the James Webb Space Telescope, the giant rocket project called Space Launch System, and far-flung missions to the sun, Jupiter, Mars, the asteroid belt, the Kuiper belt, and the edge of our solar system. 

By contrast, the US defense budget for 2024 is about $883.7 billion.

With such a tight budget, NASA is vulnerable to government gridlocks. Congress was slow to pass its 2024 budget — a delay NASA cited as a major reason for laying off 8% of its workforce at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in February.

Plus, NASA's budget is somewhat small relative to its past.

"NASA's portion of the federal budget peaked at 4% in 1965," Walter Cunningham, an Apollo 7 astronaut, said during congressional testimony in 2015.

In comparison, NASA's 2024 budget represents roughly 0.36% of US spending, according to a report from the Planetary Society. It has fluctuated between 0.4% and 1% since the 1970s, the report said.

Returning to the moon costs a significant chunk of that budget. A 2021 report from NASA estimated that the Artemis program to return people to the moon would cost a total of $93 billion from 2012 through 2025.

The Apollo program, by comparison, cost about $257 billion in today's dollars.

"Manned exploration is the most expensive space venture and, consequently, the most difficult for which to obtain political support," Cunningham said during his 2015 testimony.

He added, according to Scientific American: "Unless the country, which is Congress here, decided to put more money in it, this is just talk that we're doing here."

Referring to Mars missions and a return to the moon, Cunningham said, "NASA's budget is way too low to do all the things that we've talked about."

The problem with presidents

President Joe Biden will no longer be in office in 2026, when NASA plans to send astronauts back to the moon.

And therein lies another major problem: partisan political whiplash.

"Why would you believe what any president said about a prediction of something that was going to happen two administrations in the future?" Hadfield previously told BI. "That's just talk."

The process of designing, engineering, and testing a spacecraft that could get people to another world easily outlasts a two-term president. But incoming presidents and lawmakers often scrap the previous leader's space-exploration priorities.

"I would like the next president to support a budget that allows us to accomplish the mission that we are asked to perform, whatever that mission may be," Scott Kelly, a retired astronaut who spent a year in space, wrote in a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" thread in January 2016, before Donald Trump took office.

But presidents and Congress don't often seem to care about staying the course.

In 2004, for example, the Bush administration tasked NASA to come up with a way to replace the space shuttle, which was set to retire, and also return to the moon. The agency came up with the Constellation program to land astronauts on the moon using a rocket called Ares and a spaceship called Orion.

NASA spent $9 billion over five years designing, building, and testing hardware for that human-spaceflight program.

Yet after President Barack Obama took office — and the Government Accountability Office released a report about NASA's inability to estimate a realistic cost for Constellation — Obama pushed to scrap the program and signed off on the SLS rocket instead.

Trump didn't scrap SLS, but he did change Obama's goal of launching astronauts to an asteroid, shifting priorities to moon and Mars missions. Trump wanted to see Artemis land astronauts back on the moon in 2024.

Such frequent changes to NASA's expensive priorities have led to cancellation after cancellation, a loss of about $20 billion, and years of wasted time and momentum.

Biden seems to be a rare exception to the shifty presidential trend: He hasn't toyed with Trump's Artemis priority for NASA, and he's also kept the Space Force intact.

For Trump's second term, some space industry experts told BI that SpaceX founder Elon Musk could influence the space agenda and help finally get the US back to the moon and, ultimately, to Mars.

Buzz Aldrin said in testimony to Congress in 2015 that he believed the will to return to the moon must come from Capitol Hill.

"American leadership is inspiring the world by consistently doing what no other nation is capable of doing. We demonstrated that for a brief time 45 years ago. I do not believe we have done it since," Aldrin wrote in a statement. "I believe it begins with a bipartisan congressional and administration commitment to sustained leadership."

The real driving force behind that government commitment to return to the moon is the will of the American people, who vote for politicians and help shape their policy priorities. But public interest in lunar exploration has always been lukewarm.

Even at the height of the Apollo program, after Aldrin and Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar surface, only 53% of Americans said they thought the program was worth the cost. For the most part, US approval of Apollo hovered below 50%.

A 2023 Pew Research Poll found most Americans said NASA should continue leading space exploration. But that doesn't mean people care about going back to the moon — only 12% of the 10,329 respondents said NASA should prioritize human lunar missions.

Support for crewed Mars exploration isn't much stronger, with 11% of the poll's respondents saying it should be a NASA priority. Meanwhile, 60% said scanning the skies for killer asteroids was important.

The challenges beyond politics include problematic regolith and eye-popping temperature fluctuations

The political tug-of-war over NASA's mission and budget isn't the only reason people haven't returned to the moon. The moon is also a 4.5-billion-year-old death trap for humans and must not be trifled with or underestimated.

Its surface is littered with craters and boulders that threaten safe landings. The US government spent what would be tens of billions in today's dollars to develop, launch, and deliver satellites to the moon to map its surface and help mission planners scout for Apollo landing sites.

But a bigger worry is what eons of meteorite impacts have created: regolith, also called moon dust.

Following the Apollo missions, scientists quarantined the astronauts for two weeks after they landed, in part because they were worried about the effects of the dust, according to a 2022 NASA study. The fine powder that sits on the moon's surface stuck to their suits and vehicles and even got inside their spacecraft.

Peggy Whitson, an astronaut who has spent 675 days in space, previously told BI that the Apollo missions "had a lot of problems with dust."

"If we're going to spend long durations and build permanent habitats, we have to figure out how to handle that," Whitson said.

There's also a problem with sunlight and deadly solar radiation.

For about 14 days at a time, the side of the moon facing Earth is a boiling hellscape that is exposed directly to the sun's harsh rays; the moon has very little atmosphere, and therefore no protection against solar radiation.

The next 14 days that same side is in total darkness, dipping to temperatures below minus 200 degrees Fahrenheit, making the moon's surface one of the colder places in the solar system.

NASA is developing a fission power system that could supply astronauts with electricity during weekslong lunar nights — which would also be useful on other worlds, including Mars.

"There is not a more environmentally unforgiving or harsher place to live than the moon," the astronautical engineer Madhu Thangavelu wrote. "And yet, since it is so close to the Earth, there is not a better place to learn how to live away from planet Earth."

NASA has designed dust- and sun-resistant spacesuits and rovers, though it's uncertain whether that equipment is anywhere near ready to launch.

"I already knew going to the moon was hard," Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II mission commander, said at a press conference in 2023. "But boy, it's harder than I thought."

A generation of billionaire 'space nuts' may get there

Another issue, astronauts say, is NASA's graying workforce. In 2019, more American kids polled said they dreamed about becoming YouTube stars than astronauts.

"You've got to realize young people are essential to this kind of an effort," the Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt previously told BI. "The average age of the people in Mission Control for Apollo 13 was 26 years old, and they'd already been on a bunch of missions."

An estimated 14% of NASA's workforce is over 40 years old, according to a Zippia analysis.

"That's not where innovation and excitement comes from. Excitement comes from when you've got teenagers and 20-year-olds running programs," Rusty Schweickart, a former NASA astronaut, said. "When Elon Musk lands a [rocket booster], his whole company is yelling and screaming and jumping up and down."

Musk is part of what retired astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman has called a "generation of billionaires who are space nuts," developing a new, private suite of moon-capable rockets.

"The innovation that's been going on over the last 10 years in spaceflight never would've happened if it was just NASA and Boeing and Lockheed," Hoffman told journalists during a roundtable in 2018. "Because there was no motivation to reduce the cost or change the way we do it."

Hoffman was referring to the innovative work of Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, as well as to Jeff Bezos, who founded the aerospace company Blue Origin.

"There's no question: If we're going to go farther, especially if we're going to go farther than the moon, we need new transportation," Hoffman added. "Right now we're still in the horse-and-buggy days of spaceflight."

Many astronauts' desire to return to the moon aligns with Bezos' long-term vision. Bezos has floated a plan to start building the first moon base using Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket system. 

"We will move all heavy industry off of Earth, and Earth will be zoned residential and light industry," he said in April 2018.

Musk has also spoken at length about how SpaceX's Starship launch system could pave the way for affordable, regular lunar visits.

"My dream would be that someday the moon would become part of the economic sphere of the Earth — just like geostationary orbit and low-Earth orbit," Hoffman said. "Space out as far as geostationary orbit is part of our everyday economy. Someday I think the moon will be, and that's something to work for."

SpaceX successfully launched its complete Starship system in October.

It was a huge feat, proving the reusable rocket could launch toward space and safely come back to Earth.

With space enthusiasts, both public and private, making strides, astronauts don't doubt whether we'll get back to the moon and onto Mars. It's just a matter of when.

"I guess eventually things will come to pass where they will go back to the moon and eventually go to Mars — probably not in my lifetime," said 96-year-old retired astronaut Jim Lovell, who flew to the moon on Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. "Hopefully, they'll be successful."

• This story was originally published on July 14, 2018. It has been updated. 
• Correction: February 27, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the size of NASA's contract with Intuitive Machines. It was $118 million, not $118 billion. A prior version of this story also misstated the number of moonwalkers. During NASA's Apollo program, 12 people landed on the moon.

{https://www.msn.com/en-us/ }

14-11-2024 om 21:49 geschreven door peter  

Researchers find strong evidence for “Snowball Earth” theory

Study “presents the first physical evidence that Snowball Earth reached the heart of continents at the equator” says lead author Liam Courtney-Davies.

A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents strong evidence that massive glaciers covered the entire globe during the Cryogenian Period, including thick ice sheets that likely formed over Colorado. Led by the University of Colorado Boulder, the research focuses on the Front Range of Colorado's Rocky Mountains, where geologists found physical evidence related to the Snowball Earth hypothesis. The study describes a missing link found in an unusual pebbly sandstone encapsulated within the granite that forms Colorado's Pikes Peak.

Liam Courtney-Davies, the lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geological Sciences at CU Boulder, stated, "This study presents the first physical evidence that Snowball Earth reached the heart of continents at the equator." The discovery that glaciers reached the center of continents, where conditions would have been very dry, deepens the mystery of where and how life survives. Physical evidence that ice sheets covered the interior of continents in warm equatorial regions had eluded scientists until now.

During the Snowball Earth period, around 720 to 635 million years ago, the Earth cooled so much that massive ice sheets encased the entire planet like a giant snowball. Temperatures plummeted, and ice sheets that may have been several miles thick crept over every inch of Earth's surface. Evidence of ice in Colorado dating back 661 million years supports this hypothesis. Scientists believe that ice sheets possibly surrounded the entire planet, even at the equator, where it is warmer today.

Despite decades of research, scientists have not agreed whether the entire globe actually froze during the Snowball Earth period. Initially, geologists were skeptical about finding far more ancient hints of glaciers in tropical regions. It seemed implausible that the planet had ever been cold enough for thick sheets of ice to have reached the equator. The new findings further cement the global Snowball Earth hypothesis, which suggests that this global deep freeze endured for tens of millions of years.

The study focuses on the Tava sandstones, a series of rocks nicknamed the Tavakaiv or "Tava," which hold clues to the frigid period in Earth's past. The Tava rocks are composed of solidified sand injectites, formed when sand-rich fluid was forced into underlying rock, similar to fracking for natural gas or oil. To the untrained eye, the Tava sandstones might seem like ordinary yellow-brown rocks running in vertical bands less than an inch to many feet wide. For geologists, however, they have an unusual history; they likely began as sands at the surface of Colorado at some point in the past.

The researchers used a dating technique called laser ablation mass spectrometry, which zaps minerals with lasers to release some of the atoms inside. Recent advancements in laser-based radiometric dating allowed the researchers to measure the ratio of uranium to lead isotopes in iron oxide minerals, revealing how long ago the individual crystals formed. This allowed them to figure out an age bracket for the sand injectites, which must have formed between 690 million and 660 million years ago, during the Cryogenian Period.

The group suspects that thick ice sheets formed over Colorado during the Snowball Earth period, exposing the sands to intense pressures. The researchers envision the following scenario for how the sand injection happened: A giant ice sheet with areas of geothermal heating at its base produced meltwater, which mixed with quartz-rich sediment below. Similar to fracking for natural gas or oil today, the pressure cracked the rocks and pushed the sandy meltwater in, eventually creating the injectites seen today.

Liam Courtney-Davies says, "These are classic geological features called injectites that often form below some ice sheets, including in modern-day Antarctica." He added, "You have the climate evolving, and you have life evolving with it. All of these things happened during Snowball Earth upheaval." The researchers argue that mineral veins injected into sandstones are a sure sign of a combination of glacial pressure and geothermal heating.

At the time of the Snowball Earth period, Colorado rested over the equator as a landlocked part of the ancient supercontinent Laurentia, and the Tava rocks found on Pikes Peak would have formed close to the equator. If glaciers formed in Colorado, scientists believe they could have formed anywhere on Earth. The Colorado sites fit the criteria of being tropical, low altitude, and far from continental margins at the relevant time.

Rebecca Flowers, co-author of the study and professor of geological sciences at CU Boulder, said, "We're excited that we had the opportunity to unravel the story of the only Snowball Earth deposits that have so far been identified in Colorado." The discovery provides crucial evidence supporting the idea that the entire planet may have been encased in ice.

The findings also have implications for understanding the history of life on Earth. Before the Cryogenian period, life on Earth was dominated by single-celled organisms. After Snowball Earth thawed, the earliest examples of large organisms appeared during the Ediacaran period, which lasted from 635 to 541 million years ago. Scientists still don't understand the processes which led to this explosion in life after Snowball Earth.

Liam Courtney-Davies emphasized the importance of the study, saying, "We have to better characterize this entire time period to understand how we and the planet evolved together." He added, "If such features formed in Colorado during Snowball Earth, they probably formed in other spots around North America, too." The researchers hope that the secrets of these elusive Cryogenian rocks in Colorado will lead to the discovery of further terrestrial records of Snowball Earth.

Such findings can help develop a clearer picture of Earth during climate extremes and the processes that led to the habitable planet we live on today. The researchers' results support that a Great Unconformity near Pikes Peak must have been formed prior to Cryogenian Snowball Earth. This finding is at odds with hypotheses that attribute the formation of the Great Unconformity to large-scale erosion by Snowball Earth ice sheets themselves.

Ultimately, the study not only sheds light on a critical phase in Earth's geologic history but also deepens the mystery of where and how life survives during extreme climate events. The researchers' work underscores the interconnectedness of Earth's climate and the evolution of life, providing new avenues for exploration and understanding.

Sources:

• Science Alert,
• Cosmos,
• Phys.org,
• IFLScience,
• Science Daily

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq

{ https://www.jpost.com/ }

14-11-2024 om 21:19 geschreven door peter  

Welcome to this week’s double-sized installment of The Intelligence Brief… today, the DoD released its 2024 annual report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), within 24 hours of the conclusion of a Congressional hearing on the topic. In our analysis of this week’s UAP double-hit combo, we’ll be looking at 1) significant takeaways from the latest official report on the DoD’s UAP investigations, 2) trends reported by the DoD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), and then shifting gears, we’ll examine 3) what former officials told lawmakers on Capitol hill yesterday involving UAP and 4) how claims involving secret U.S. programs and Pentagon disinformation campaigns became a major focal point of yesterday’s hearing.

Quote of the Week

“Let me be clear: UAP are real. Advanced technologies not made by our government—or any other government—are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe.”

– Luis Elizondo

Latest News: In recent news from The Debrief, Avi Loeb provides an update on the release of the Galileo Project’s commissioning data from its first Observatory at Harvard University in a new scientific paper. Elsewhere, tiny “hurricanes of light” could revolutionize the transmission of information in a process described as “halfway between order and chaos.” You’ll find links to all our recent stories at the end of this week’s newsletter. 

Podcasts: In podcasts this week, on the latest installment of The Debrief Weekly Report, Kenna and Stephanie decide to take a dip in a Martian ocean and discuss China’s Mars expedition and its discovery. Meanwhile on The Micah Hanks Program, I provide a deep-dive in to this week’s Congressional UAP hearing. You can find all our past episodes on The Debrief’s Podcasts Page.

Video News: On the latest episode of Rebelliously Curious, Chrissy Newton takes a critical look at the rise of misinformation, manipulation, and cult-like followings in UFO culture. Be sure to check out other great content from The Debrief on our official YouTube Channel.

With all that out of the way, it’s time to dive into the DoD’s latest report on its ongoing investigations into unidentified anomalous phenomena and what a group of lawmakers said about the topic during a congressional hearing earlier this week.

The DoD Just Dropped Its Latest UAP Report

On Thursday, the DoD released the Fiscal Year 2024 Consolidated Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, the Pentagon’s latest official annual installment detailing its progress in studying and evaluating unusual phenomena encountered by U.S. military personnel.

The new report covers incidents from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024, and any previously undocumented reports from earlier periods. According to the document, the DoD’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) received 757 UAP reports, 485 of which occurred during the most recent reporting period (272 reports were from a period between 2021 and 2022).

Among the key takeaways from the new report, AARO received two reports indicating flight safety concerns, and “three reports described pilots being trailed or shadowed by UAP.”

“To date, AARO has no indication or confirmation that these activities are attributable to foreign adversaries,” the report states, adding that “AARO continues to coordinate with the Intelligence Community (IC) to identify whether these activities may be the result of foreign adversarial activities.”

The new AARO report also says 49 of the cases it received were resolved, 243 were recommended for closure and are pending peer review, and 444 lacked enough data for reliable analysis. Presently, no cases it resolved have been linked to suspected foreign adversarial technologies, nor do any appear to display evidence of advanced capabilities or other scientific or technological breakthroughs.

Unknowns, UAP Trends, and Further Analysis  

However, the report states that “AARO determined 21 cases merit further analysis by its IC and science and technology (S&T) partners,” which the office “is working closely with its IC and S&T partners to understand and attribute,” given that these cases appear to “merit further analysis based on reported anomalous characteristics and/or behaviors.”

The report also says observed UAP morphologies and other attributes remain consistent with traditional observations, with most reported UAP appearing as spherical objects. The report does include several examples of less conventional reported morphologies including descriptions of a “green fire ball,” “a jelly fish with [multicolored] flashing lights,” and a “silver rocket approximately six feet long.”

AARO’s investigations also reveal that the office “increasingly receives cases that it is able to resolve to the Starlink satellite constellation,” as well as sensor artifacts on various systems that lead to misidentification of birds and similar prosaic objects.

The report notes 392 reports AARO received from the FAA, only one of which involved possible flight safety issues arising from a commercial aircrew reporting a near miss with a “cylindrical object” it encountered off the coast of New York, one of several cases AARO is still analyzing.

The report also details the recovery of a crashed unmanned aerial system (UAS) near the D.C. Cook Nuclear Power Plant, which was later provided to local law enforcement. As far as any more exotic crash retrievals, the report states that “AARO Possesses No Data to Indicate the Capture or Exploitation of UAP,” although protocols are currently in development in the event such capture were ever to occur. In the recent reporting period, AARO also says it received no reports involving adverse physiological or health effects.

Unclassified diagram detailing AARO’s GREMLIN sensor suite, which employs various sensor capabilities to detect and track UAP in areas of interest

(Credit: DoD/AARO).

AARO also reported that it has begun testing its new GREMLIN sensor system, which the office says “demonstrated functionality and successfully collected data during a test event in March of 2024.”

“The next step for GREMLIN is a 90-day pattern of life collection at a site of national security,” the report states.

UAP and Government Transparency on Capitol Hill

The release of the 2024 annual UAP report was preceded by a congressional hearing on Wednesday, the latest in a series that have recently addressed the UAP subject. Several former officials, including Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet, former counterintelligence special agent Luis Elizondo, and former NASA UAP Independent Study Team member Mike Gold, along with independent journalist Michael Shellenberger, spoke before a bipartisan group of lawmakers, who expressed frustration over government secrecy surrounding the Pentagon’s investigations.

Luis Elizondo

(Credit: To The Stars Academy).

“Has the government conducted secret UAP crash retrieval programs, yes or no?” Representative Nancy Mace (R-SC) pointedly asked Elizondo during the hearing.

“Yes,” Elizondo said, also responding in the affirmative to an immediate follow-up from Mace asking if such programs were designed to identify and reverse-engineer alien craft.

Secret Programs and Disinformation Campaigns

Also contributing to the discussion involving alleged secret UAP programs was witness Michael Shellenberger, an independent journalist and founder of Public, who published a report several weeks ago detailing the existence of an alleged secret UAP program called “Immaculate Constellation.” According to Shellenberger’s sources (all of which currently remain on background), the U.S. Executive Branch has concealed the existence of UAP programs for decades without congressional oversight.

Another notable highlight from the recent hearing involved assertions by Gallaudet and Elizondo involving disinformation campaigns carried out by the DoD. Specifically, Elizondo highlighted instances involving information management campaigns that he claims have aimed not only to mislead the public, but also to harm his credibility. Gallaudet also discussed a meeting he attended with AARO officials earlier this year, which he likened to being an “influence operation,” where officials appeared to try and convince him of the possibility that a famous 2004 UAP incident involving an object popularly known as the Tic Tac might have been secret U.S. technology.

When pressed on what UAP might represent, the witnesses offered diverse views. Gallaudet and Elizondo suggested non-human intelligence could be a plausible explanation, while Shellenberger and NASA’s Michael Gold were uncertain about what UAP might be. However, Gold warned against making assumptions, telling Rep. Mace that “the ultimate answer is going to surprise us all.” You can find The Debrief’s complete coverage of Wednesday’s Congressional hearing on our website.

That concludes this week’s installment of The Intelligence Brief. You can read past editions of our newsletter at our website, or if you found this installment online, don’t forget to subscribe and get future email editions from us here. Also, if you have a tip or other information you’d like to send along directly to me, you can email me at micah [@] thedebrief [dot] org, or Tweet at me @MicahHanks.

• You can find the unclassified version of the annual UAP report here.

Here are the top stories we’re covering right now…

• Breakthrough in Photonic Time Crystals: New Material Design Could Revolutionize Light Control and Amplification
  A recent breakthrough in the development of photonic time crystals could dramatically alter how we manipulate and amplify light.
• NASA-Funded Study May Have Finally Solved ‘A Mystery at the Sun’s Poles’
  New research funded by NASA into the potential formation of solar vortices may finally solve the mystery at the sun’s poles.
• “PanoRadar”: Penn State Engineers Give Robots Superhuman Vision Using Breakthrough RF-Based 3D Imaging
  Engineers from Penn State have unveiled PanoRadar, an innovative radar-based imaging system that can give robots superhuman vision.

• The Oceans of Mars This week on The Debrief Weekly Report…
  On this week’s episode, Kenna and Stephanie decide to take a dip in a Martian ocean and discuss China’s Mars expedition, and its discovery.
• Ancient Interactions with an Enigmatic “Lost” Species Profoundly Shaped Early Human History, New Data Reveals
  New data is revealing deeper insights into how early humans interbred with Denisovans in several distinct events that significantly shaped our early history.
• Galileo Project Releases Commissioning Data on Half a Million Aerial Objects: Are Any of Them UAP?
  The Galileo Project has released the commissioning data from its first Observatory at Harvard University in a new scientific paper.
• “Halfway Between Order and Chaos”: New “Hurricanes of Light” Could Revolutionize Data Transmission and Communication
  Tiny “hurricanes of light” could revolutionize the transmission of information in a process described as “halfway between order and chaos.”

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

14-11-2024 om 21:05 geschreven door peter  

Department of Defense Releases the Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP)

This week the Department of Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence delivered to Congress the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office’s Annual Report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena as required by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022, as amended by the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2023.  

Analyzing and understanding the potential threats posed by UAP is an ongoing collaborative effort involving many departments and agencies, and the department thanks the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other contributing departments and agencies for their collaborative efforts to produce this report.

The safety of our service personnel, our bases and installations, and the protection of U.S. operations security on land, in the skies, seas, and space are paramount. We take reports of incursions into our designated space, land, sea, or airspaces seriously and examine each one.

The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office is leading DOD's efforts, in coordination with ODNI and other government agencies, to document, analyze, and when possible, resolve UAP reports using a rigorous scientific framework and a data-driven approach. This year's UAP report covers UAP reports from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024, as well as any UAP report from previous time periods that were not included in an earlier report.  AARO received 757 UAP reports during this period; 485 of these reports featured UAP incidents that occurred during the reporting period. The remaining 272 reports featured UAP incidents that occurred between 2021 and 2022 but were not reported to AARO until this reporting period and consequently were not included in previous annual UAP reports.  This brought the total cases that AARO has been reviewing to over 1,600 as of June 1, 2024.

• You can find the unclassified version of the annual UAP report here.
  
• You can also find the report on odni.gov, and on AARO's website, aaro.mil.

{ https://www.defense.gov/ }

14-11-2024 om 20:45 geschreven door peter  

{ https://www.dazeddigital.com/ }

14-11-2024 om 20:36 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Loch Ness skipper shares images of monster-like shape on sonar 

By MICHAEL HAVIS FOR MAILONLINE

Stunning footage of two mysterious humps prowling through the shallows of Loch Ness 'could not be anything but the monster'.

That's the verdict of Nessie hunter Eoin O'Faodhagain, who was watching the loch via webcam when he spotted something strange in the water.

Measuring an estimated 25ft in length – bigger than four average men laid end to end – the 'whopper of a beast' is too big to be any of the loch's normal residents.

Eoin said: 'Two sections of this creature can be visibly seen rising out of the water as it moves at a steady pace – a large front hump, and a larger second hump behind.

'Both humps are black to dark grey in colour, but visually striking in the environment.

'I was ecstatic and captivated by this large, fast-moving, unidentified animal out in the deep water of the loch.

'My only instinct was that this could not be anything other than the Loch Ness Monster.'

Mr O'Faodhagain, from County Donegal, Ireland, said the sighting was 'one for the record books'.

Stunning footage of two mysterious humps prowling through the shallows of Loch Ness 'could not be anything but the monster'

Eoin O'Faodhagain was watching the loch via webcam when he spotted something strange in the water

He continued: 'The creature is no less than 25 feet long. 

'It rises about three feet out of the water.

'There are no known creatures in Loch Ness that have dimensions like this one.

'The largest of the known creatures are seals, which can reach up to eight feet long, but this whopper of a beast outreaches any seal.'

The footage, taken on October 25, was captured using a webcam at the Clansman Hotel maintained by Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN).

It's a spot about four miles from the loch's northern shore.

Eoin, a veteran Nessie hunter, also spotted something in the water there in July – but he says this latest sighting is in a league of its own.

The 60-year-old said: 'As far as Nessie sightings go, you could not get any better unless the creature came out of the water and posed outside the Clansman.

The footage, taken on October 25, was captured using a webcam at the Clansman Hotel maintained by Visit Inverness Loch Ness (VILN)

'If this was 1933 and you captured this sighting on black and white camera film, it would be a classic sighting by now.'

The VILN webcams can be watched live online at visitinvernesslochness.com. 

The news comes shortly after skipper Shaun Slogg and maritime pilot Liam McKenzie, 29, stumbled upon a strange shape while doing their usual rounds at Cruise Loch Ness. 

On September 22, 2024, while preparing for another vessel's arrival, Sloggie's sonar flashed up.

The sonar indicated that a large object was lurking at a depth of around 98-metres. 

He described it as 'the biggest thing I've ever seen.'

With its elongated shape and distinct features hinting at air pockets, the team couldn't help but wonder if the sonar reading was tied to the infamous Loch Ness Monster.

'The strangeness of it was chilling – it's the sort of thing that leaves you speechless,' Slogg said. 

What IS the Loch Ness Monster?

Rumours of a strange creature living in the waters of Loch Ness have abounded over the decades, yet scant evidence has been found to back up these claims.

One of the first sightings, believed to have fuelled modern Nessie fever, came in May 2, 1933.  

On this date the Inverness Courier carried a story about a local couple who claim to have seen 'an enormous animal rolling and plunging on the surface'.

Another famous claimed sighting is a photograph taken in 1934 by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson.

It was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged.

Other sightings James Gray's picture from 2001 when he and friend Peter Levings were out fishing on the Loch, while namesake Hugh Gray's blurred photo of what appears to be a large sea creature was published in the Daily Express in 1933.

Robert Kenneth Wilson, a London physician, captured arguably the most famous image of the Loch Ness Monster. The surgeon’s photograph was published in the Daily Mail on April 21, 1934 - however it was later proven to be a fake 

The first reported sighting of the monster is said to have been made in AD565 by the Irish missionary St Columba when he came across a giant beast in the River Ness.

But no one has ever come up with a satisfactory explanation for the sightings - although in 2019, 'Nessie expert' Steve Feltham, who has spent 24 years watching the Loch, said he thought it was actually a giant Wels Catfish, native to waters near the Baltic and Caspian seas in Europe.

An online register lists more than 1,000 total Nessie sightings, created by Mr Campbell, the man behind the Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club and is available at www.lochnesssightings.com. 

So what could explain these mysterious sightings? 

Many Nessie witnesses have mentioned large, crocodile-like scutes sitting atop the spine of the creature, leading some to believe an escaped amphibian may be to blame.

Native fish sturgeons can also weigh several hundred pounds and have ridged backs, which make them look almost reptilian.

Some believe Nessie is a long-necked plesiosaur - like an elasmosaur - that survived somehow when all the other dinosaurs were wiped out.

Others say the sightings are down to Scottish pines dying and flopping into the loch, before quickly becoming water-logged and sinking.

While submerged, botanical chemicals start trapping tiny bubbles of air.

Eventually, enough of these are gathered to propel the log upward as deep pressures begin altering its shape, giving the appearance of an animal coming up for air.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

14-11-2024 om 17:58 geschreven door peter  

Chances of aliens existing in our universe finally revealed by new 'formula for life' calculator

• READ MORE:  NASA likely to release evidence of alien life

By NIKKI MAIN SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Researchers have calculated the chance of intelligent life existing in our universe right now and in the future.

They've developed a new 'formula for life' model they claim is the most comprehensive of its kind.

But the majority of people will likely be disappointed.

That's because the new calculation put the chances of life in universes beyond our galaxy at 27 percent - much lower than the 65 percent of American adults who think there is extraterrestrial life on other planets.

The likelihood that intelligent life exists within our own galaxy is slightly lower, hovering at just 23 percent, researchers at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Genevieve in Switzerland reported.

The research suggested that the star formations and evolution of large-scale planets could quietly combine to 'form the next generation of intelligent life.'

To uncover the mysteries of other lifeforms, the team created a theoretical model based on the Drake Equation that was developed in 1960.

The model calculates the universe's expansion and has previously been used as a framework to research whether advanced civilizations exist in our galaxy.

Researchers found there is a 23 percent chance that alien civilizations have formed in the Milky Way, while there is a 27 percent chance of them forming in other universe's

The team said they did not use their calculations to determine the number of intelligent lifeforms, but instead estimated the likelihood that they exist.

This is due to dark energy which makes up more than two thirds of the universe and drives its expansion, causing galaxies and galaxy clusters to develop.

These clusters can join together to form stars and planets that could host alien life if they remain stable for billions of years.

The research suggested that the star formations and evolution of large-scale planets could quietly combine to 'form the next generation of intelligent life.'

Lead researcher Dr Daniele Sorini, of Durham University's Institute for Computational Cosmology, said: 'Understanding dark energy and the impact on our Universe is one of the biggest challenges in cosmology and fundamental physics.

'The parameters that govern our Universe, including the density of dark energy, could explain our own existence.'

The study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, also took into account that alien lifeforms that don't currently exist could develop in the future, although it did not state how long that could take. 

The researchers estimated the probability by calculating the amount of ordinary matter that combined to form stars across the history of the universe, dating back 13.8 billion years.

They then separated each star cluster by the amount of dark energy density that contributed to their formation.

The model predicted that the probability of intelligent life developing in universe's outside our own hovers at 27 percent.

'Surprisingly, we found that even a significantly higher dark energy density would still be compatible with life, suggesting we may not live in the most likely of universes,' Dr Sorini said. 

Currently, researchers can't conclusively explain what dark energy is or how much exists in the universe, Dr Sorini told NBC6 News. 

Professor Lucas Lombriser, at the University of Genevieve and co-author of the study, added: 'It will be exciting to employ the model to explore the emergence of life across different universes and see whether some fundamental questions we ask ourselves about our own universe must be reinterpreted.' 

Dr Sorini added: 'I cannot give you a number or a percentage chance of finding intelligent life at this stage as the model is just one step in the process.

The formation of civilizations could be caused by dark matter which forces the universe to grow and create star clusters that combine to create other planets that could harbor life

'We should be able to give a more accurate figure in the future. We are not restricting on when life could emerge past, present or future,' she continued.

'It could be that many lifeforms could emerge much later in the life of the universe.'

The team's findings are in contrast to past research that claimed the likelihood of other advanced technological civilizations existing was 'astonishingly low.'

In 2016, researchers at the University of Rochester in New York also used the Drake Equation to ask if humans on Earth are the only technological species that has ever existed.

They reported that the odds of a civilization developing into a habitable planet is less than one in 10 billion trillion.

Yet, even by those statistics, Adam Frank, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester and co-author of the 2016 study said: 'One chance in a trillion, implies that what has happened here on Earth with humanity has in fact happened about a 10 billion other times over cosmic history.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

14-11-2024 om 17:22 geschreven door peter  

By MATTHEW PHELAN IN WASHINGTON DC FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Congress is set to hear testimony from four sworn witnesses on America's weird and troubling UFO problem starting at 11:30am Eastern Time, Wednesday morning — and DailyMail.com is on the ground with live updates from inside the US House of Representatives.

The House Committee On Oversight and Accountability has given Wednesday's open hearings the slightly over-egged, cable TV-ready title 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.' 

But it's no exaggeration to say that the pre-submitted testimony is rife with stark accusations of 'illegal and unethical DoD [Department of Defense] disinformation efforts,' a 'multi-decade, secretive arms race' to reverse-engineer crashed UFO tech and 'even threats.'

21:46

There was massive attendance by public citizens - all eager to see House Oversight's UFO hearing live

There was one anomalous phenomena in Congress that more than a few reporters clocked as it overtook today's House Oversight hearing: rabid public interest.

One civilian visitor to the Capitol building, who hoped to attend the UFO hearing, told DailyMail.com that he'd heard some people were preparing to start loitering outside as early as 4:30am in the hopes of getting one of the coveted 'first come, first serve' seats inside the hearing room.

The line filled at least one entire hallyway of the Rayburn House Office Building, where Wednesday's UFO testimony was sworn to.

'I've covered probaly hundreds of congressional hearings,' as NewsNation Joe Khalil Washington Correspondent put it. 'This doesn't happen.'

20:14

The House Oversight hearing on UFOs is over - spilling out into the halls of Congress

Citizen-scientists, non-profit advocates on the topic of UFOs, and various well-known names in the world of UFO journalism are all keeping the questioning going outside the House Oversight hearing room.

None of what's going on is under oath anymore, but many of the event's spectators and attendees don't appear to be done inquiring about the topic.

UFO documentary filmmaker James Fox, New York Times freelancer investigative reporter Leslie Kean (who helped first bring Lue Elizondo to public reknown), and the man who brought the 'Jellyfish UFO' to the public, Jeremy Corbell, were all observing the hearing, in the room, in person.

For more from the hearing's witnesses, read DailyMail.com's exclusive interview with Luis Elizondo, our coverage of Mike Gold's work with NASA's UFO advisory group and some of Rear Admiral Gallaudet's comments on underwater UFOs.

20:00

Intelligent life may not be green aliens

Government Cybersecurity and Innovation Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) took a philosophical or metaphysical direction in her final question: 'How would you define non-human intelligence, non-human biologics? What are we actually talking about.'

Gold was the last to provide his answer, to which he asserted that we must re-examine the idea with modest assumptions, but noted that an advanced visiting intelligence may not actually be biological.

When pressed about what 'non-biological intelligence' means,' Gold replied: 'Artificial intelligence, ML, machines.'

'We assume all intelligence would be like us, but when we look out into the universe we are humbled to what we don't know in terms of the form of intelligence.'

'I can't answer your question, but the ultimate answer will surprise us all.'

19:57

Congresswoman Lauren Boebert endorses 'Flat Earth' theory in unusual, self-deprecating grandstanding commentary

Colorado Rep Lauren Boebert — to some degree best known now for her attendence of 'Beetlejuice: The Musical' — spent her time with the witnesses in an extended, apparently satirical bit about her own reputation for conspiracy theories.

'Now that we have all been cautioned in this committee hearing that the mention of the Pentagon's "Immaculate Constellation" program could put us on a list, well I already find myself on many lists I am sure,' the congresswoman began.

'So, I speak my mind often. So why not now just keep going with it,' she said.

'I may just go all out and say it, "The Earth is flat. The birds are government drones. We never stepped on the moon and Joe Biden received 80 million votes in the 2020 presidential election,"' Rep Boebert told the assembled committee, witnesses and public viewers. 'Lets see how many lists we can get on today.'

19:41

Hearing co-lead grills witness on UFO crash retrievals and who has the craft now

South Carolina congresswoman Nancy Mace has just spent the past several minutes peppering Elizondo with a volley of questions in an effort to induce him to mention the name of the defense contractor who has long held crashed UFO material.

Rep Mace, who is co-leading this hearing, as chair of House Oversight's National Security Subcommittee, then pivoted to asking Elizondo generic questions about defense contractor Lockheed Martin.

Elizondo said he'd rather let Lockheed — whose 'Skunkworks' designed several of America's most sensitive stealth aircraft since the Cold War —speak for themselves.

19:32

Former NASA advisor raises national security concerns

Florida Rep Anna Luna — who has been very active on the UFO issues with fellow committee member Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett — raised a question to the witnesses about the sophistication of UAP technology.

'It seems that some aircraft are operating off of energy we don't have. If we did obtain it, would it impact humanity for the better or negative?' she asked.

Gold jokingly responded: 'It would certainly save us [i.e. NASA] some money on funding an Artemis,' referring to America's current race to return astronauts to the moon.

However, he put on a serious face to explain how such technology poses threats to America's national security.

'If there is such technology out there we may not be the only country that has access to it. We don't want to be on the wrong end of technological surprise,' he said.

(Mike Gold, at right, testifying during the during the hearing by the House Oversight)

19:27

Was there a failed, secret effort to change ownership of a crashed UFO?

Missouri Congressman Eric Burlison is pressing Luis Elizondo, effectively, on his recent comments on the late night paranormal radio show Coast-to-Coast AM.

When not under oath, Elizondo discussed failed efforts by defense contractor Lockheed Martin to 'divest' itself of a crashed UFO that it had struggled to reverse engineer for decades.

Under oath, Elizondo has been more reticent to name the company specifically, noting again the strictures of what was approved for release by Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR) for his new memoir, 'Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs.'

Rep Burlinson appears to be a fan of sometime DailyMail.com contributor Chris Sharp, referencing his reporting on this failed effort to move the alleged UFO crash parts to Budget Suites billionaire Robert Bigelow's Bigelow Aerospace.

This unsuccessful effort — made public by the Pentagon's AARO in the office's historic UFO report last March — was code named 'Kona Blue.'

(Elizondo, center, during his testimony on Wednesday)

18:55

Louisiana congressman presses reporter for details on anonymous author of 'Immaculate Constellation' report

Louisiana Congressman Clay Higgins has been pressing Michael Shellenberger on any details he can provide on his anonymous source: the author of this report on 'Immaculate Constellation.'

'The person is a current or former US government employee,' Shellenberger said cautiously.

When pressed to get into more details, he declined.

Then, when asked by Rep Higgins if he 'can't say or won't say,' Shellenberger replied 'I won't say because I protect my sources.'

14-11-2024 om 16:56 geschreven door peter  

By MATTHEW PHELAN IN WASHINGTON DC FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Congress is set to hear testimony from four sworn witnesses on America's weird and troubling UFO problem starting at 11:30am Eastern Time, Wednesday morning — and DailyMail.com is on the ground with live updates from inside the US House of Representatives.

The House Committee On Oversight and Accountability has given Wednesday's open hearings the slightly over-egged, cable TV-ready title 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.' 

But it's no exaggeration to say that the pre-submitted testimony is rife with stark accusations of 'illegal and unethical DoD [Department of Defense] disinformation efforts,' a 'multi-decade, secretive arms race' to reverse-engineer crashed UFO tech and 'even threats.'

18:25

Michael Shellenberger has brought his anonymous whistleblower's classified report on the secret 'Immaculate Constellation' UFO program with him

I think many who read Shellenberger's investigative report on 'Immaculate Constellation' — or who heard him speak about it on Joe Rogan — might have assumed he was shown this classified congressional briefing at the heart of his story, but not allowed to hold on to a copy.

Apparently, there's no need to speculate on that now: Shellenberger's oral presentation of his pre-written testimony has now included the journalist and academic waving before the committee a copy of that report and a promise to share it with House Oversight.

Like a lot of what happens within Capitol Hill hearing rooms, there's a bit of theatrics to this, but nevertheless it was done under oath and carries weight.

18:02

Pentagon's former UFO boss, Dr Sean Kirkpatrick defends his record - and accuses Navy witness of being 'conspiracist'

Fresh controversy has already arrived before a word has been spoken at the hearing.

Dr Sean Kirkpatrick, former director of the Pentagon's current UFO investigations at the new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), has accused the committee's first witness of being a 'still bitter' prospective hire.

Responding to Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet's prewritten testimony, Dr Kirkpatrick accused the retired government official of harboring 'predisposed tendencies for conspiracies without evidence' which made him 'unsuitable for a job' at AARO that 'required objectivity and evidence-based reason.'

Rear Adm. Gallaudet's testimony accused AARO of targeting him for 'an hours-long influence operation' which attempted to convince him of 'the validity of [AARO's] severely flawed historical records report' as part of a 'disinformation' effort.

Unfortunately for Dr Kirkpatrick, the suspect quality of AARO's March 8, 2024 'Historical Records Report' on UFOs speaks for itself: the 45-page document cites a 'fandom.com' wiki on military history; misidentifies the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as a 'New Mexico' legislator (He represented Nevada.); and incorrectly named a 1955 Air Force-contracted study of UFOs 'Project BEAR' instead of its true name 'Project STORK' — apparently because AARO had relied on a mass-market paperback for its reference material, instead of declassified government files.

Further errors and omissions in AARO's short, unclassified report were documented by The Debrief and former Department of Defense official Christopher Mellon.

As Elizondo put it in his written testimony today: 'Most Americans would be shocked to learn that the Pentagon’s very own Public Affairs Office openly employs a professional psychological operations officer [Susan Gough] as the singular point of contact for any UAP-related inquiries from citizens and the media.'

(Dr Kirkpatrick, at right below, during a past public speaking event, accompanied by Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough, at left.)

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

14-11-2024 om 16:52 geschreven door peter  

Mars has been a fascination to us for centuries. Early observations falsely gave impressions of an intelligent civilisation but early visiting probes revealed a stark, desolate world. Underneath the surface is a few metres of water ice and a recent study by NASA suggests sunlight could reach the layer. If it does, it may allow photosynthesis in the meltwater. On Earth this actually happened and biologists have found similar pools teeming with life. 

The exploration of Mars by space probes began in the 1960’s. It began with the Soviet Union Mars 1 and NASA’s Mariner mission and was soon followed by the well known Viking landers in 1976. They were the first missions to test surface material for signs of life. The Mars Pathfinder mission took along the Sojourner rover and was followed by Spirit and Opportunity rovers after the turn of the century. Curiosity rover was among the latest of the visitors along with Perseverance and China’s Tianwen-1. The focus of later missions has been the hunt for water and analysis of the climate and geology of the planet. This was not only to understand the conditions as the planet evolved but to pave the way for human exploration. 

To date, there has been no evidence of life on Mars. The question has intrigued us for decades though. Of all the planets in the Solar System, Mars is the most likely place to have once harboured primitive life, chiefly due to the discovery of liquid water in the distant past. Evidence of ancient dried river beds has been found across the planet with mineral deposits indicating that Mars was once warmer, wetter and potentially far more habitable. Even organic molecules have been discovered by the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers but researchers continue to hunt for evidence (past or present) of microbial life. 

A team of researchers from NASA have published a paper articulating their use of computer modelling to help the search. They have shown that sunlight can shine through the Martian water ice, perhaps even enough for photosynthesis to occur in shallow pools of meltwater. 

There are two types of ice on Mars, frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. The study explored water ice which had mostly formed as snow had fallen on the surface during a Martian ice age millions of years ago. The team believe that the key to the study are the dust particles that obscure light reaching the deeper layers of ice. They suggest that sunlight will warm the dark dust more than surrounding ice and then cause ice to warm and melt. Some scientists believe that ice at the surface cannot melt due to the thin dry atmosphere causing it to turn straight to a gas. This won’t apply to the ice deeper in the surface layer. 

Such a process has been observed on Earth where dust heats ice, melts and allows the dust to sink. Over time, the dust particles will stop sinking through the ice but still generate enough heat to melt the ice and create tiny voids. It is here that thriving ecosystems have been found hosting simple forms of life. 

The paper published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, suggests the dusty ice can produce enough light at depths up to 3 metres to allow photosynthesis to occur. The subsurface pools of meltwater are protected from evaporating by the ice above. It also provides some protection from radiation too providing a possibly habitable environment for simple forms of life. The authors suggest the areas would likely form in the Martian tropics between 30 and 60 degrees latitude in both hemispheres. 

Source : 

• Could Life Exist Below Mars Ice? NASA Study Proposes Possibilities

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-11-2024 om 14:54 geschreven door peter  

When the wind is forced to move up and over an obstacle, it creates a lower-pressure zone on the leeward side. As the wind moves, it creates standing waves. If conditions are right, these waves become visible when the moisture condenses.

The Taieri Pet forms over New Zealand’s Rock and Pillar Range in the Strath-Taieri region of Otago on New Zealand’s South Island.

The Otago region on New Zealand’s South Island is home to the Taieri Pet.

Image Credit: Peetel, (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International.)

The cloud is a common feature near the town of Middlemarch. It’s mentioned in newspapers as far back as the 1890s. Locals sometimes took Taieri Pet’s appearance as a signal that a storm was coming.

The Operational Land Image (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this stunning image of the Taieri Pet in September. Landsat 8 follows a polar orbit that allows it to observe the entire surface of the Earth every 16 days.

The Landsat satellites have been monitoring Earth for over 50 years from their orbit 705 km above us. The images and data are widely used by scientists, but they’re also beautiful portraits of our extraordinary, once-in-a-solar-system planet.

Anybody can enjoy the Landsat galleries, found here.

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-11-2024 om 14:35 geschreven door peter  

Is intelligent alien life darting around in space — and even in the skies above us here on Earth? Has the U.S. government been covering up unexplained phenomena, and using secret extraterrestrial discoveries to boost its own technology?

Those are among the questions members of Congress discussed Wednesday in a joint hearing by subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee. Its title: "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth."

The Pentagon issued a report in March saying that it has found no evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Four experts testified in Wednesday's public hearing. You can watch the proceeding here.

Extraordinary moments unfolded in a similar hearing last year, most notably when retired Maj. David Grusch, formerly part of the Pentagon's UAP Task Force, alleged that the U.S. government has recovered nonhuman "biologics" from crash sites and has long operated a secret reverse-engineering program to glean advances from recovered vessels.

Grusch isn't among the witnesses for the 2024 hearing.Four experts testified in Wednesday's public hearing. You can watch the proceeding here.

Instead, those testifying include:

Tim Gallaudet, retired rear admiral, U.S. Navy; CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, LLC

"Confirmation that UAPs are interacting with humanity came for me in January 2015," Gallaudet said in his written testimony.

He describes being part of a pre-deployment naval exercise off the U.S. East Coast that culminated in the famous "Go Fast" video, in which a Navy F/A-18 jet's sensors recorded "an unidentified object exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal."

He was among a group of commanders involved in the exercise who received an email containing the video, which was sent by the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command, Gallaudet said.

"The very next day, the email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation," he said.

Luis Elizondo, author and former Department of Defense official

Elizondo's written testimony was brief and alleged that a secretive arms race is playing out on the global stage.

"Let me be clear: UAP are real," he wrote. "Advanced technologies not made by our Government — or any other government — are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe. Furthermore, the U.S. is in possession of UAP technologies, as are some of our adversaries."

Elizondo is a former intelligence officer who later "managed a highly sensitive Special Access Program on behalf of the White House and the National Security Council," according to his official bio.

"By 2012, [Elizondo] was the senior ranking person of the DOD's Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program, a secretive Pentagon unit that studied unidentified anomalous phenomena," his bio states, adding that he resigned in 2017.

Michael Gold, former NASA associate administrator of space policy and partnerships; member of NASA UAP Independent Study Team

Gold's written testimony stressed the need for government agencies and academics to "overcome the pernicious stigma that continues to impede scientific dialogue and open discussions" about unexplained phenomena.

"As the saying goes, the truth is out there," Gold said, "we just need to be bold enough and brave enough to face it."

Michael Shellenberger, founder of Public, a news outlet on the Substack platform

Shellenberger's testimony ran to some 214 pages, including a lengthy timeline of UAP reports from 1947 to 2023.

Shellenberger pressed the White House and Congress to act, calling for the adoption of UAP transparency legislation and cutting funds for any related programs that aren't disclosed to lawmakers.

"UAP transparency is bi-partisan and critical to our national security," his written testimony stated.

Here are some key moments from the hearing:

U.S. accused of having UAP crash retrieval programs

An early exchange between Elizondo and Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., who led the hearing as chairwoman of the subcommittee on cybersecurity, IT and innovation, suggested that whatever UAPs are, the U.S. is intent on learning more about them — including efforts to recover any objects that might crash.

"Has the government conducted secret UAP crash retrieval programs? Yes or no?" Mace asked.

"Yes," Elizondo said.

"Ok. Were they designed to identify and reverse-engineer alien craft? Yes or no?" the lawmaker asked.

"Yes," Elizondo replied.

"Are you read into secret UAP crash retrieval programs?" Mace later asked.

"We would have to have a conversation in a closed session, ma'am," Elizondo said. "I signed documentation three years ago that restricts my ability to discuss specifically crash retrievals."

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., asked Elizondo about the document he signed with the Defense Department.

"You specifically said the document said you can't talk about crash retrieval," Moskowitz said. "Well, you know, you can't talk about fight club if there's no fight club."

"Correct," Elizondo replied.

Mace noted that in his testimony, Elizondo stated that advanced technologies "not made by our government or any other government are monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe."

"If these technologies are not made by any government, who's making them?" Mace asked, adding later, "Are these private companies you're implying, or is this nonhuman intelligence?"

"It may be both," Elizondo replied.

Immaculate Constellation

Shellenberger's Public news site recently published a story alleging that the U.S. government is operating "an active and highly secretive 'Unacknowledged Special Access Program'" intelligence operation through the Department of Defense called Immaculate Constellation.
Shellenberger shared a document with lawmakers that he described as a whistleblower report about the program.

Shellenberger said the program uses high-quality imagery and other sophisticated tools to capture data about UAPs. Quoting from the report, he said that an F-22 plane encountered several orbital objects while on patrol in an unnamed place and at an unnamed date.

"The F-22 broke trajectory and attempted to evade but was intercepted and boxed in by approximately 3-6 UAPs," Shellenberger said in his testimony. He added that a source had warned him of tight secrecy controls around the program — a point also raised by Mace.

"Rep. [Anna Paulina] Luna [of Florida] just told me, if I say, 'Immaculate Constellation,' I'll be on some list, maybe [get] a FISA warrant," she said. "So come at me, bro, I guess."

Experts push for more transparency

Over the years, a number of unusual encounters have been found to have a reasonable explanation after they were reported, from weather balloons and atmospheric phenomena to drones, airborne trash and birds.

"I think probably the vast majority of UAP are drones, experimental aircraft, weather conditions," Gold, the former NASA administrator, said. "But there is a percentage that isn't."

Gold said agencies such as NASA should get funds to develop instruments to study UAP anomalies for potential new discoveries. As things stand, he said, researchers are relying on cellphones and fighter jets' cockpit gun cameras.

Repeatedly, Wednesday's witness panel stressed that the U.S. government — specifically, presidential administrations and the Pentagon — should be more transparent about UAP reports. And they called for ensuring that no one risks being stigmatized or intimidated for trying to report or study UAPs.

Elizondo said he believes many classified materials can be shared with Congress and the public.

When Elizondo was asked how he would characterize UAPs, he replied:

"An enigma, sir, and a frustration. We are talking about technologies that can outperform anything we have in our inventory. And if this was an adversarial technology, this would be an intelligence failure eclipsing that of 9/11 by an order of magnitude."

Reports of UFOs and UAPs are now more centralized

In 1977, President Carter asked NASA to look into resuming UFO investigations, but the agency and the Air Force believed "nothing would be gained by further investigation."

But in recent years, there have been increased efforts to compile and centralize the reporting of unexplained phenomena.

In July 2022, the U.S. government established the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, to standardize reporting methods and data collection. It collects UAP reports from the military and from the Federal Aviation Administration including sightings reported by civilian pilots to air traffic control. The agency doesn't offer a way for the general public to file a UAP report. It does accept "reports from current or former U.S. Government employees, service members, or contractor personnel with direct knowledge of U.S. Government programs or activities related to UAP dating back to 1945."

The agency adds that potential filers should not submit "any information that is potentially CLASSIFIED, or unclassified information that is not publicly releasable (e.g. subject to export control regulations)."

Many historical records are also available

Because of intense public interest, a number of records related to UFO studies are available online, including a "case files" folder related to UAPs on the U.S. Navy's website. The FBI also has an online "vault" of records, covering the period from 1947 to 1954.

As for the famous Project Blue Book run by the U.S. Air Force from 1947 through 1969, documents related to the project are now kept by the National Archives, which holds 37 cubic feet of case files, along with at least 5 other cubic feet of records.

The bulk of the Blue Book investigations into 12,618 reported sightings were resolved, or explained, — but 701 remained "Unidentified," the Air Force has said. The service said that none of the incidents constituted a security threat or indicated abilities beyond modern science. It added, "There was no evidence indicating that sightings categorized as 'unidentified' were extraterrestrial vehicles."

{ https://www.npr.org/ }

14-11-2024 om 14:21 geschreven door peter  

An 11-page document that’s attributed to a Pentagon whistleblower has provided new cases in the controversy over unidentified anomalous phenomena — also known as UAPs, unidentified flying objects or UFOs.

The document, released today in conjunction with a House subcommittee hearing on UAPs, lays out details about what’s said to be a special access program called Immaculate Constellation. It accuses officials in the federal government’s executive branch of a “criminal conspiracy” that has been managing issues surrounding UAPs and evidence for non-human intelligence “without congressional knowledge, oversight or authorization for some time, quite possibly decades.”

Over the past few years, the Department of Defense has become more open to discussing UAP reports publicly, while insisting that there have been no substantiated reports of alien visitations. During today’s hearing, lawmakers called on the Pentagon to be more transparent in its investigations.

“It is clear, from my experience and what I’ve seen, that there is something out there,” said Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn. “The question is, is it ours? Is it someone else’s? Or is it otherworldly? … We must know, and anyone who prevents us from gaining access to that information, I would consider that criminality, because we have U.S. personnel who may very well be in harm’s way.”

The document claims that the Immaculate Constellation program has imagery and other data relating to encounters with a variety of anomalous objects. “From 1991 to 2022, the most common UAP shapes reported in this [U.S. government] dataset were spheres/orbs, discs/saucers, ovals/tic-tacs, triangles, boomerang/arrowhead, and irregular/organic,” it said. The irregular objects were described as having a “floating brain” or “jellyfish” appearance.

Michael Shellenberger, an author and journalist who received the document from the purported whistleblower, said he verified the source’s credentials and assured lawmakers that the document was authentic. He also said he’s continuing to gather reports from other sources.

“Since my reporting on this Immaculate Constellation last month, another source came forward,” Shellenberger said. “He told me that they saw a roughly 13-minute-long, high-definition, full-color video of a white orb UAP coming out of the ocean approximately 20 miles off the coast of Kuwait. It was filmed from a helicopter. Then halfway through the video, the person said, the orb is joined by another orb that briefly comes into the frame from the left before rapidly moving again out of the frame.”

Shellenberger said there may be “hundreds, maybe thousands” of UAP reports in the Immaculate Constellation database.

Mick West, a retired software engineer who specializes in analyzing UAP reports, was generally skeptical of the claims made during the hearing, which was conducted jointly by two subcommittees under the aegis of the House Oversight Committee. Nevertheless, West was intrigued by the purported whistleblower report — and said the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO, should follow up.

“The UFO document discussed in congressional testimony today contains descriptions of some interesting-sounding videos,” West said in a posting to the X social-media platform. “If these exist, I urge @DoD_AARO to make as many of these videos public as possible and share their analysis so we can get some clarity ASAP.”

In addition to Shellenberger, the witnesses at today’s hearing included retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet, who served as the acting administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration during the Trump administration; Luis Elizondo, a former intelligence official who is now an advocate for UAP disclosure; and Mike Gold, a former NASA associate administrator who was a member of NASA’s independent UAP study panel and is now chief growth officer at Redwire.

In advance of the hearing, Gallaudet came in for some strong criticism from Sean Kirkpatrick, who was in charge of AARO in 2022-2023 and is now chief technology officer for defense and intelligence programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. “Mr. Gallaudet is clearly still bitter that I didn’t hire him into AARO when he came looking for a job,” Kirkpatrick said in a statement distributed on X. “His predisposed tendencies for conspiracies without evidence made him unsuitable for a job that required objectivity and evidence-based reason.”

Kirkpatrick and others involved in the UAP debate have suggested that the likeliest explanations for anomalous aerial sighting have to do with advanced technologies that are being secretly employed by rival nations, including Russia and China. But questions about potential alien intrusions, secret crash retrievals and exotic technologies repeatedly came up during the hearing.

In response to such questions, Gallaudet said he believed some of the reports about UAPs could be attributed to non-human higher intelligence. Elizondo agreed. “Although much of my government work on the UAP subject still remains classified, excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public — all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos,” Elizondo said.

In contrast, Gold declined to weigh in definitively on questions about extraterrestrials. “I just don’t know,” he said. “I think we must be modest in our assumptions that we’re looking for intelligence that could be biological. It might not.”

For example, Gold said, some UAPs may be controlled by artificial intelligence. “We assume that all intelligence would be like us, and every time we look out in the universe, we are humbled relative to what we don’t know, in terms of the forms of intelligence and what it may take,” he said. “l probably can’t answer your question, but I think the ultimate answer is going to surprise us all.”

The witnesses and the lawmakers seemed unanimous in their support for greater transparency about UAP sightings. Congress is currently considering legislation that would strengthen current requirements for UAP disclosure and whistleblower protection.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., hinted that more information may be forthcoming when Donald Trump returns to the White House. “This has been bipartisan, bicameral,” Moskowitz said. “As we get into a new administration, the president-elect has talked about opportunities to declassify information on UAPs, and I hope he lives up to that promise.”

VIDEOS

Replay! Historic UFO hearing held by US government

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

14-11-2024 om 14:06 geschreven door peter  

Navy Rear Admiral to give bombshell testimony to Congress about underwater UFOs that have been tailing US nuclear subs

• READ MORE: Mystery Russian radio signal, heard for 40 years, baffles scientists

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

A retired rear admiral, who served as the Navy's head oceanographer, will testify to Congress about the risks of UFOs that appear to traverse Earth's seas with impunity.

Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (ret.) has attested publicly in the past to 'an interesting correlation [...] where we see so many potential interactions of UAP [i.e. UFOs] and nuclear ships' — but has never before discussed the issue under oath.  

And increasingly, Rear Adm. Gallaudet has also given voice to growing concern among military officials that these strange apparent craft possess 'capabilities [...] beyond our current understanding of science, technology as well as engineering.'

'We need to research these more, get a better understanding of them,' as he put it this week, 'both for the national security implications, as well as just the science.' 

But despite Rear Adm. Gallaudet's openness on the once-fringe topic of UFOs, the substance of what he plans to reveal on Wednesday before the House Oversight committee's latest public UAP hearing remains a mystery.

The naval oceanographer did, however, reveal two startling UFO encounters on Monday, as reported to him by Navy personnel ahead of his testimony.

One submariner told Rear Adm. Gallaudet of an encounter a US sub had with a bizarre underwater object in the 1980s, which stopped on a dime while speeding deep under the Atlantic Ocean.

'It had all the signatures of a Russian torpedo,' Rear Adm. Gallaudet said, 'because it approached a rapid rate. But then it slowed down, which torpedoes don't do.'

Retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet (above) has attested publicly in the past to 'an interesting correlation [...] where we see so many potential interactions of UAP ['Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena' or UFOs] and nuclear ships' - but has never before discussed the issue under oath

Rear Adm. Gallaudet explained that this US Navy submarine — which was traveling 'at a deeper depth during a very significant North Atlantic storm' — had conducted evasive maneuvers to escape what its crew thought, at first, was a Russian torpedo.

'Because of its rapid rate of approach, they went to "crush depth." That was their SOP, standard operating procedure,' the retired rear admiral told NewsNation.

Sometimes known as 'collapse depth,' the term 'crush depth' is used to indicate a level of deep ocean where the density and pressure of water is a threat to the structural integrity of a particular submarine's design.

But, the dense water at 'crush depth' can also help a sub evade torpedoes following it, by helping to confuse the weapon's on-board sonar, used for 'acoustic homing.'

The sound waves emitted as sonar 'pings,' in other words, can be slowed, dissipated or otherwise disrupted when passing through dense water at these depths.  

'It was an old sub, too,' Rear Adm. Gallaudet said of the risky defensive gambit, which could have imploded the undersea vessel, killing its crew. 'So, they were not happy doing that and not comfortable.' 

'They really believed it was a Soviet sub,' he told NewsNation correspondent and veteran investigative reporter Ross Coulthart, 'launching an attack on them.' 

'And then, of course, this object, it stopped, and it went around to their stern and followed them,' he continued. 'Then it rapidly accelerated out of the scene.'

'Back in the '80s, we know of no technology that could have done that. What was that?' as the rear admiral put it rhetorically to Coulthart. 'I can't explain it either.'

In his appearance on NewsNation, Rear Adm. Gallaudet also discussed 'an extraordinary story from a chief petty officer on the USS Eisenhower' in which an entire carrier strike group of multiple ships witnessed a giant UFO. Above, a fighter jet onboard the Eisenhower

Still images from a leaked video showing a spherical UFO diving into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Investigative journalist Jeremy Corbell says the video shows 'FLIR [forward looking infrared] data' that is complimented by the unreleased US Navy radar footage

Above, Rear Adm. Gallaudet when he was a a deputy administrator to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), touring a National Weather Service office

In his appearance on Coulthart's NewsNation program, Rear Adm. Gallaudet also discussed 'an extraordinary story from a chief petty officer on the USS Eisenhower' in which an entire carrier strike group of multiple ships witnessed a gigantic UFO.

'On an earlier deployment about 20 years ago, the senior leadership, this chief petty officer, all witnessed a UAP in the middle of the strike group,' he said.

 The retired rear admiral, who also spent three years as a deputy administrator to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), also noted that he has begun 'a correspondence with Robert Hastings.' 

Hastings, author of a doorstop book on the subject, titled 'UFOs and Nukes,' has helped bring public many US military witnesses to the similar UFO events in the past.

But, Rear Adm. Gallaudet noted that several of the most persuasive witness accounts, that he has heard about, are tied up with the classified sensitivities of America's nuclear submarine fleet.

'I've heard there's others,' he said, 'but submarine information and operations are so highly classified, with nondisclosure agreements signed by everybody on the force that they're hard to come out and find.'

Rear Adm. Gallaudet will speak Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at the UAP hearing hosted by the House Oversight and Accountability Committee is planning to host the hearing on Nov. 13,

According to a committee spokesperson: 'The Cyber Subcommittee and National Security Subcommittee will hold a joint hearing on UAPs on November 13. Cyber Subcommittee Chairwoman Nancy Mace (R-SC) and National Security Subcommittee Chairman Glenn Grothman (R-WI) will co-chair the hearing,'

VIDEOS

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

13-11-2024 om 23:17 geschreven door peter  

Congress is revisiting UFOs: Here's what's happened since last hearing on extraterrestrials

UFO testimony via military recounts 'nonhuman' pilots and 'superior tech'

More than a year has passed since elected leaders in Congress last heard from experts about mystifying objects outmaneuvering our military and claims of shadowy government programs to study alien spaceships.

The now-infamous congressional hearing was one filled with sensational claims about UFOs. Despite the government's rebranding of UFOs with a less-stigmatized acronym – unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAP – the hearing still captivated a public long obsessed with ideas of flying saucers and little green men.

So, when military officers spent hours providing compelling testimony about not just strange craft whizzing unchecked through U.S. air space, but about a concerted effort of our government to capture and study those craft, the public was hooked.

The hearing served to reignite long-held public suspicions that the U.S. military and other high levels of government are suppressing information about extraterrestrial activity and galvanized a movement for transparency. Now that a little more than a year has gone by, the government has signaled that after years of secrecy, it's slowly coming around to the idea of sharing more information publicly.

But some lawmakers and advocates say it hasn't been enough. And now, they're on the verge of delving into the topic of UAP once again Wednesday.

Ahead of the next congressional hearing, here's what has happened since Congress' last foray into UFOs.

UFO hearing: 

• US Congress hopes to 'pull back the curtain' on UFOs in latest hearing

Watch Wednesday's hearing

USA TODAY is providing a livestream of Wednesday hearing at the embed below:

July 2023: Military officials testify about UFOs at last congressional hearing

David Grusch, a former National Reconnaissance Officer, testifies July 26, 2023 before Congress about an alleged Pentagon program to retrieve and study downed UFOS. The … Show more   

Jack Gruber/USA TODAY

In the July 2023 hearing, House members heard testimony from two former Navy pilots who came forward with information about objects routinely violating U.S. airspace.

Lt. Ryan Graves and Cmdr. David Fravor each provided accounts of specific incidents they had either witnessed over the years or heard about from other pilots they deemed credible. Some of the accounts they described were of aircrafts displaying capabilities they believed were beyond any known human technology.

Fravor himself was among Navy pilots who spotted the now-famous Tic Tac-shaped object that was captured in 2004 on video during a flight off the coast of Southern California. In testifying about the well-known sighting, Fravor described the oval object as "perfectly white, smooth, no windows," and displaying flight capabilities that were unheard of.

But the most sensational part of the hearing came when former Pentagon intelligence official David Grusch offered testimony about an alleged shadowy "multi-decade" Pentagon program to retrieve and study not only downed spacecraft, but extraterrestrial pilots. Without offering hard evidence, Grusch accused the Pentagon under oath of being aware of extraterrestrial activity since the 1930s and hiding the program from Congress while misappropriating funds to operate it.

The Pentagon has repeatedly denied that such a program exists.

August 2023: Pentagon unveils UFO website with declassified info

Within about two months of the hearing, the Pentagon's office to investigate UFOs revealed a new website for the public to access declassified information about reported sightings.

The site, operated by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) – a relatively new Pentagon program established to analyze UAP reports – also has a mechanism for military pilots to report sightings.

More than a year after launching, the site includes a handful of videos, some of which have been explained as commercial craft and some of which have been labeled as "unresolved." Each video contains a short description with an explanation by AARO of where it was captured and what characteristics the object was exhibiting.

Those who visit the site can also access an assortment of laws, memos, congressional briefings and press releases related to UAP.

But if you're going to the site to look for evidence of aliens, you'll be disappointed. In January, outgoing AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick – since replaced by Jon T. Kosloski – appeared on a podcast and made one thing clear:

"There is no evidence of aliens and there's no evidence of the government conspiracy," he said.

September 2023: NASA releases UAP report, appoints research head

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson reveals the space agency's report on UAPs, the government's new term for UFOs, during a press conference Sept. 14, 2023 in … Show more   

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Weeks later, NASA released a long-awaited UFO report affirming that no evidence existed to confirm that alien spaceships have visited Earth.

However, in what Administrator Bill Nelson described as a signal of the agency's transparency, NASA appointed a director of UAP research.

Because of the potential threat posed to national security and air safety, NASA embarked in 2022 on the space agency's first-ever study of UFOs, For the report, experts commissioned by the the space agency outlined ways in which NASA can partner with the U.S. government and private commercial organizations to better study and understand unidentified flying objects.

Legislation aims to declassify records, make reporting easier

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-TN) attend a news conference on Nov. 30, 2023 calling for more transparency … Show more   

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

In the wake of the hearing, Congress has sought to take action in the form of bipartisan legislation to demystify UFOs for the public.

Last December, President Joe Biden signed into law a watered-down version of a bill seeking the release of the executive branch's UFO records, which was included in an annual defense policy bill.

However, lawmakers like Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) and many UFO transparency advocates derided the legislation as disappointment. While the measure directs the government to disclose to the public at least some records about UAP, it grants various agencies wide latitude in concealing certain information.

Did America get 'ripped off'? 

• UFO disclosure bill derided for lack of transparency

Then, under a House bill introduced in January, commercial airline pilots who witness crafts flying through the skies in unexplainable ways would be able to report the UFO sightings to the federal government. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-California) and Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wisconsin) both sponsored the bill, which would create a mechanism for civilian pilots and other airline workers to report sightings to the the Federal Aviation Administration.

However, the bill appears to have since stagnated since its introduction.

Alien renaissance in pop culture

The fiery Congressional hearing served to reignite a public obsession with UFOs that first came to focus after the infamous 1947 Roswell incident.

In the past year, Netflix released a docuseries. Brands like MoonPie jumped on the bandwagon. And conspiracy theories flourished. Even the tourism bureau in Lexington, Kentucky, capitalized on the craze with a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign to encourage extraterrestrials to vacation in the city.

The idea that, absent any immediate logical explanation, strange crafts sighted whizzing through our skies must surely be alien visitors seems to only continue gaining momentum – even as astrophysicists caution that the absence of obvious natural explanations for UFOs doesn't make extraterrestrial ones likely.

Some experts even see the UFO hoopla as "a widespread societal problem."

• Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

{ https://eu.usatoday.com/tech/ }

13-11-2024 om 22:38 geschreven door peter  

UFO whistleblowers tell Congress 'we are not alone in the cosmos' (video)

UFOs came to Washington again today.

Like previous congressional UFO hearings, today's event featured testimony from current U.S. military personnel who claim the American government has for decades hidden evidence of advanced technologies and otherworldly visitors from the public. A multitude of anecdotes were presented about flying orbs coming out of the ocean, disc-shaped objects, and craft "exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal." While such claims are nothing new, what is noteworthy about today's hearing are the pedigrees of some of the whistleblowers who testified, including a former U.S. counterintelligence officer, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral and a former NASA associate administrator. All of them stressed the need for more government transparency, less stigma about the UFO topic and new policies to bring UAP data out of the "black" classified world and into the public domain.  

This isn't the U.S. government's first attempt to investigate the recent wave of UFO claims that began in 2017. A similar hearing was held last year, in which a whistleblower told Congress the U.S. government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence.' 

The Pentagon also created the All-Doman Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in 2022 to investigate UAP reports and government data about UFOs, but critics, including some government officials, are skeptical of the office's aims and methods. 

Related: 

• UFO whistleblower tells Congress the US government is hiding evidence of 'non-human intelligence'

"AARO is unable, or perhaps unwilling, to bring forward the truth about the government's activities concerning UAPs," Representative Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) said during the hearing's opening remarks today. "I'm disturbed that AARO itself lacks transparency; even its budget is kept from the public. So if there is no 'there' there, then why are we spending money on it? And by how much? Why the secrecy?"

Other representatives stressed the need for transparency and data analysis today, a common theme of other recent UAP studies. "We have evidence that what we are detecting things, and we know that we don't understand them, and this is worth investigating," Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) said. "I believe we can always be more transparent. To me, this hearing and others are simply about the truth and getting to the facts of what these UAPs actually are."

Luis Elizondo, a former U.S. counterintelligence officer who has been vocal about such claims in recent years, told the assembled representatives at the hearing that "excessive secrecy has led to grave misdeeds against loyal civil servants, military personnel and the public — all to hide the fact that we are not alone in the cosmos." 

We are "in the midst of a multi-decade, secretive arms race  — one funded by misallocated taxpayer dollars and hidden from our elected representatives and oversight bodies," Elizondo stated during his testimony. 

Elizondo, who claims to have previously investigated UFOs as part of a secret Pentagon program, suggested that the U.S. government create a "whole-of-government" approach to studying UAP, create a national UAP strategy and offer protections so that whistleblowers who are "desperate to do the right thing can come forward without fear."

During questioning, Elizondo was asked if some of the "advanced technologies" that have been seen monitoring sensitive military installations around the globe could be operated by aliens or private companies. "Maybe both," Elizondo replied.

Elizondo also stated point-blank to Rep. Mace's questioning that the U.S. government has programs to retrieve crashed UAP and reverse-engineer them, but avoided giving any specifics in an unclassified public setting such as the hearing.

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) then questioned Elizondo, asking the former counterintelligence agent about a document he signed that limits him from speaking publicly about crash retrieval programs. "The document said you can't talk about crash retrieval. Well, you know, you can't talk about Fight Club if there's no Fight Club, correct?"

Like other witnesses, Elizondo stated that the alleged excessive government secrecy around UFOs harms national security. In response to questioning from Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Elizondo stated that, if UAP sightings turned out to be technologies operated by adversarial nations, it would be "an intelligence failure eclipsing 9/11 in order of magnitude."

Retired U.S. Navy rear admiral Tim Gallaudet offered similar testimony as Elizondo. "We know from last year's UAP hearing and recent statements and publications by credible whistleblowers that UAP, NHI [non-human intelligence], and their technology of unknown origin (TUO) represent a new realization that we are not the only advanced intelligence in the universe," Gallaudet said on Wednesday, according to his published remarks. 

"Unelected officials in the U.S. government do not have an exclusive right to this knowledge about the nature of reality. The American people have a right to that knowledge," Gallaudet said. The retired rear admiral also stressed the national security and airspace safety concerns related with UAP sightings, calling them "extensive."

When Rep. Garcia asked Gallaudet and other witnesses what UAP might represent, the retired rear admiral said he believes they are evidence of a "non-human higher intelligence."

Former NASA Associate Administrator for Space Policy and Partnerships Michael Gold also testified at today's hearing, and previously served on NASA's UAP study team. Gold's testimony was more grounded; for example, he stressed the need for NASA to contribute its authority and expertise toward analyzing what UAP data it might already possess and helping dispel the stigma associated with the UFO topic. 

"Our best tool for unlocking the mystery of UAP is science, but we cannot conduct a proper inquiry if the stigma is so overwhelming that just daring to be part of a NASA search team elicits such a vitriolic response," Gold said during today's hearing. "Therefore, one of the most important actions that can be taken, relative to exposing the truth of UAP, is to combat the stigma, and this is where I believe that NASA can be eminently helpful."

Gold added that NASA has a massive archive of data that could possibly contain evidence of UAP, and suggested that artificial intelligence/machine learning algorithms could help sort through the agency's trove of data to help shine light on the UFO phenomenon. In addition, the former NASA associate administrator said the agency should develop specialized instruments that might be able to gather useful data about UAP.

Related:

• NASA UFO report finds no evidence of 'extraterrestrial origin' for UAP sightings

Journalist Michael Shellenberger also testified today, telling the representatives that there's a "growing body of evidence that the government is not being transparent about what it knows about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), formerly called UFOs, and that elements within the military and IC [intelligence community] are in violation of their Constitutional duty to notify Congress of their operations." 

Shellenberger stated that there is a secret program within the U.S. government known as "Immaculate Constellation" whose sole purpose is to collect UFO and UAP reports from military personnel and sensor data and quarantine them away from the rest of the government and military. While he noted that a Pentagon spokesperson has stated no such program exists, Shellenberger recounted prior examples in which the Department of Defense has initially denied knowledge of UAP-related information only to later change its stance and either admit the information exists or release it to the public. 

"The U.S. government appears to know significantly more about UAPs than it is revealing," Shellenberger said at the hearing. "But even those who believe the U.S. government has revealed all that it knows should have no objection to Congressional demands for greater transparency."

To conclude the meeting, Rep. Mace asked each of the witnesses to define what non-human biologics or non-human intelligence mean to each of them.

"I don't think it's a stretch, when you look at the diversity of life on this planet and the size of this universe, to think that there will be more diverse, higher-order, non-human intelligence throughout the universe, and that's probably what's visiting us," Gallaudet said.

Elizondo stated he would take a scientific approach: "The definition would be the ability to react to a stimulus in a manner that requires an intellectual thought process."

Gold, meanwhile, questioned whether non-human intelligence necessarily implies life, suggesting sophisticated artificial intelligence might be responsible for some UAP encounters. Shellenberger simply stated he did not know what they might be.

Related: 

• The search for alien life

In today's hearing, as in other UFO hearings, there was a lot of telling and not a lot of showing. One of the core tenets of these whistleblower testimonies is that much of the credible UFO data is classified and can't be revealed to the public based on the military capabilities that some of that data could reveal. 

Whistleblowers have attested for years that, because advanced or classified sensors and satellites sometimes capture footage or photos of unexplained phenomena or advanced craft, those photos or videos are likewise classified by the U.S. government in order to not reveal America's full surveillance or sensing capabilities. 

Such was the case in 2023 when U.S. military aircraft shot down a mysterious object off the coast of Alaska. The American government has yet to release any imagery from the event, but a Canadian freedom of information request unveiled a photograph earlier this year of a balloon-like object.

Those incidents and others like it, such as a weeks-long drone incursion above Langley Air Force Base in Washington, D.C., were discussed in today's hearing. "The origin of these drones and their operators remains a mystery," Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-Wis.) said. "This incident and other sightings near sensitive military installations highlights the complexity of the UAP challenge facing our intelligence, defense and homeland security committees."

{ https://www.space.com/ }

13-11-2024 om 22:17 geschreven door peter  

Read the chilling testimony of Navy veteran due to testify on UFO cover up: 'We're being visited'

• READ MORE: Ex-Pentagon official claims US has recovered alien bodies

By MATTHEW PHELAN SENIOR SCIENCE REPORTER FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Expert witnesses plan to testify before Congress about a 'constitutional crisis' posed by government secrecy on UFOs — and even 'threats' to scientists investigating these mysterious phenomena.

One, Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, will also speak about secret 'satellite imagery' from a 2017 UFO case that has been illegally hidden from congressional oversight.

'Elements of the government are engaging in a disinformation campaign,' the rear admiral stated in his prepared written testimony submitted ahead of this Wedneday's hearing, '[including] personal attacks designed to discredit UAP whistleblowers.'

Scientists, policymakers and others have adopted 'Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena' (UAP) to more precisely describe UFOs and better incorporate all cases, including startling undersea encounters with apparent 'transmedium' craft.

Another witness, former NASA legal advisor Mike Gold, plans to speak on behalf of scientists, pilots and others who have faced 'negative consequences to their career' for openly pursuing answers to these enigmatic and unusual incidents.

'It's disconcerting when members of the academic community are vilified for even having the temerity to attempt to study UAP,' Gold wrote in his own testimony.

Also slated to testify: Decorated ex-counterintelligence officer Luis Elizondo, who investigated UFO cases while at the Pentagon, and Michael Shellenberger, a reporter who went viral last month with claims from a new UFO whistleblower.

Above, eerie UFO footage captured by hurricane remediation worker William Guy in September 2019 - documenting strange lights off North Carolina's Outer Banks, not too far from the Atlantic Ocean training areas where US Navy pilots reported UFOs in 2014 and 2015

Rear Adm. Gallaudet, who also served as deputy administrator to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), offered to help Congress obtain the wrongfully withheld UFO satellite data in a classified briefing. 

'I would be happy in a closed setting to provide the dates involved if that would help the committee to formulate a specific request for access,' he stated in his testimony.

The rear admiral has become a prominent voice calling for wider transparency on the topic of UFOs over the past three years, as well as a defender of once senior US intelligence officers, like David Grusch, who have come forward on the issue.

Late last year, Rear Adm. Gallaudet said he found Grusch's account of a decades-old, highly classified UFO crash retrieval and reverse engineering program to be credible.

'We're being visited by non-human intelligence with technology we really don't understand,' Gallaudet confirmed, 'and with intentions we don't understand either.'

In his prepared testimony to Congress, expected to be followed by detailed questions from House Oversight, the retired Navy and NOAA official explained that he has witnessed the dangers of government UFO secrecy firsthand.

In January 2015, according to Gallaudet, he received an 'URGENT SAFETY OF FLIGHT ISSUE' inquiry on the Navy's secure internet network from the operations officer of the Navy's Fleet Forces Command — only to have that message just disappear.

'The text of the email was brief but alarming,' he testified, 'with words to the effect [of] "We are having multiple near-midair collisions, and if we do not resolve it soon, we will have to shut down the exercise."' 

'This incident disturbed me,' he added, 'for the remainder of my government service, including my time as an Under Secretary of Commerce and NOAA Administrator.'

Retired Rear Admiral Gallaudet (left), a PhD oceanographer who also served as deputy administrator to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will testify on UFOs this Wednesday in Congress. Joining him will be ex-NASA legal advisor Mike Gold (right)

According to a committee spokesperson, Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace (above), chair of House Oversight's Cybersecurity Subcommittee will co-chair the new UFO hearing

'Attached to the email was what is now known as the "Go Fast" video, captured on the forward-looking infrared sensor onboard one of the Navy F/A-18 aircraft participating in the exercise,' he added. 

What the rear admiral found most disturbing about this disappearing Navy email was that clear implication that the need for secrecy surrounding these UFOs — whatever they were — had trumped the very lives of America's fighter pilots. 

'It highlighted a dangerous culture of over-classification, where even pressing safety-of-flight issues could be swept aside under the pretense of secrecy,' he noted.

Based on his own naval experience, the rear admiral inferred that the absence of answers on these life-threatening UFOs meant that the explanation was unlikely to be a 'classified technology demonstrations' by the US Department of Defense (DoD). 

'Because DoD policy is to rigorously deconflict such demonstrations with live exercises,' Rear Adm. Gallaudet wrote, 'I was confident this was not the case.' 

'I concluded that the UAP information must have been classified within a special access program managed by an intelligence agency,' he continued, 'that even senior officials, including myself, were not read into.'

Gallaudet plans to describe these and other episodes of UFO secrecy as 'an absolute outrage' during his upcoming, in-person testimony. 

The retired senior-level official also plans to call out former leadership of the Pentagon's All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) for what he characterizes as 'illegal and unethical DoD disinformation efforts.'

Above, a still from the 'Go Fast' UFO video - captured by Navy Pilots off the coast of Florida in 2015. Rear Adm. Gallaudet plans to testify about receiving a 'brief but alarming' official email regarding the 'Go Fast' incident that mysteriously disappeared from secured Navy servers

Republican congressman Glenn Grothman (above), chair of House Oversight's National Security Subcommittee, is expected to co-lead the UFO hearing Wednesday with Rep. Mace. Above, Rep. Grothman seen entering a secured room for a classified UFO briefing last year 

His assessment will join public comments by ex-NASA scientists, US Air Force personnel, and other UFO whistleblowers who have criticized AARO's performance of its duty to create a historical records report on past UFO cases.

'AARO needs to explain the inaccuracies and incompleteness of AARO's first historical records report,' according to Rear Adm. Gallaudet.

Submitted testimony from former NASA legal advisor Mike Gold praised House Oversight's 'devotion to truth and scientific openness regardless of the ridicule and even spite that the discussion of UAP can engender.'

Gold also served on the US space agency's UFO advisory council last year in a volunteer capacity alongside his official duties as Chief Growth Officer for RedwireSpace a private aerospace company.

'Stigmatization of UAP prevents the gathering of invaluable data that represents our best and only chance to understand the phenomena,' Gold wrote in his testimony.

NASA legal advisor Mike Gold (top right) - who also served on the US space agency's UFO advisory council last year - praised House Oversight's 'devotion to truth and scientific openness regardless of the ridicule and even spite that the discussion of UAP can engender'

This stigma issue, he noted, has resulted in malformed and maladapted official policies that are slowing down the quest for answers on these increasingly controversial debates of these seemingly otherworldly phenomena. 

The ex-NASA official cited decades of poor reporting standards for private pilots who see UFOs.

For years civilian and commercial aviators were told not to report UFOs to federal flight safety regulators but to private citizen UFO hunters, including the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) in Washington state. 

'Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) instructions on the matter are difficult to find, provide obsolete advice (e.g., referencing organizations that no longer exist), and are not generally known or understood by the civilian pilot community,' he said.

Based on his submitted testimony, Gold plans to also credit the efforts of NASA's UFO advisory panel, 'particularly those who encountered ridicule and even threats due to their participation.'  

'The stigma prevents scientific inquiry,' Gold warned in his statement, 'the best tool that we have to understand anomalies, from being fully applied.'

'Moreover, science is driven by anomalies,' he noted. 'The Theory of General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, virtually all of our scientific progress has been based on discovering and studying anomalies.'

VIDEOS

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

13-11-2024 om 21:42 geschreven door peter  

• READ MORE: Doctors raise concerns about Sunita Williams' health on the ISS

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The stranded NASA astronaut at the center of growing health fears has finally broken her silence in a video recorded from space.

Health experts and NASA insiders had raised concerns that Sunita Williams, 59, was rapidly losing weight after photos appeared to show her looking 'gaunt' earlier this month, after spending over 150 days stuck on the International Space Station. 

But Williams hit back at the 'rumors' in a live video published by NASA today, claiming that she has actually put on muscle. 

'My thighs are a little bit bigger, my butt is a little bit bigger. We do a lot of squats,' she said.

She added that she is the same weight as when she launched to the ISS in June, and bizarrely claimed the apparent change in her appearance was due to 'fluid shift.'

'I think things shift around quite a bit, you probably heard of a fluid shift,' Williams said.

'Folks in space you know, their heads look a little bit bigger because the fluid evens out along the body.'

During spaceflight, weightlessness instantly shifts blood and fluids from the lower portion of the body to the upper areas, which can sometimes result in a puffy pace and thinner legs.

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has broken her silence about fears that her health has deteriorated since becoming stranded on the International Space Station (ISS)

The health concerns surface when a photo from September appeared to she her with 'sunken' cheeks and a thinner frame 

Williams and her crewmate Barry Wilmore, 61, have been living on the ISS for five months after Boeing's faulty Starliner spacecraft was deemed unsafe to return them to Earth.

The mission was initially only supposed to be eight days but the astronauts won't return until February 2025. 

Williams spoke with the New England Sports Network Clubhouse Kids Show Tuesday while more than 250 miles above Earth's surface. 

During the interview, she addressed health concerns, calling them 'rumors,' and discussed her food intake, such as dining on a Turkish fish stew with olives and rice.

Williams did not provide details about her caloric intake while aboard the ISS.

A photo taken September 24 initially sparked health fears. A doctor told DailyMail.com at the time her cheeks looked 'sunken', possibly as a result of rapid weight loss.

Dr Vinay Gupta, a pulmonologist and veteran in Seattle, told DailyMail.com at the time that although she did not seem at a place where her life was in danger, 'I don't think you can look at that photo and say she has sort of healthy body weight.' 

More recently, a NASA source told the New York Post that NASA has been scrambling to 'stabilize the weight loss and hopefully reverse it.'

The unnamed employee who is 'directly involved with the mission' said that Williams has been 'unable to keep up with the high-caloric diets that astronauts must consume' while on the ISS. 

'The pounds have melted off her and she's now skin and bones. So it's a priority to help her stabilize the weight loss and hopefully reverse it,' the NASA source told the New York Post.

Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore before their mission on June 5. Williams said that she is the same weight now as she was at launch

Williams did not touch on her caloric intake while on the ISS, but alluded that she was eating well 

Williams and Wilmore still have to wait about three to four months until they can return to Earth on SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that Williams' alleged health decline will impact this timeline.

But the female body suffers more in space than their male counterparts.

A study assembled by NASA in 2014 found that women have greater loss of blood plasma volume than men during spaceflight, and women’s stress response characteristically includes a heart rate increase while men respond with an increase in vascular resistance.

Read More

• The frightening amount of radiation NASA's stranded astronauts have endured because of Boeing's faulty spaceship 

The loss of blood plasma causes your metabolic rate to temporarily increase while your body mobilizes resources to adjust to the loss of plasma.

And this response can slightly elevate your calorie burn, resulting in weight loss similar to what Williams may be experiencing.

Another study released by Ball University in 2023 also found that women lose more muscle than men in a microgravity environment such as spaceflight.

'The amount of oxygen in the air is lower than it is at baseline, their nutritional intake is not going to be as robust as can be on the ground,' said Dr Gupta.

'Their ability to work out is going to be limited. So every every sort of physiologic variable that defines our well being is going to be suboptimal, especially even in a pressurized cabin, but in, you know, in outer space in their case, right?

'So what you're seeing there in that picture, especially with Sunita, is somebody that I think is experiencing the natural stresses of living at very high altitude, even in a pressurized cabin, for extended periods.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

13-11-2024 om 21:00 geschreven door peter  

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech).

The new findings could improve the chances of life having once existed on Mars, as well as the likelihood that additional evidence for it may be uncovered during current investigations at promising sites like Jezero Crater, where NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently conducting studies.

Harsh Living Conditions

The cold, dry conditions on Mars right now make it an unlikely place for organisms to be able to thrive, and a demanding place for humans who may undertake extended missions there in future decades.

Yet geological evidence suggests that this might not have been the case in the distant past. Around 3.7 million years ago, Mars may have possessed liquid water and an environment in which at least simple organisms could have thrived.

According to the Tohoku University team, formaldehyde might have also formed during this period of relative habitability on Mars. This is significant because formaldehyde is an important precursor in the formation of biomolecules through abiotic processes.

Modeling Early Mars

The Tohoku University team employed a computer model that allowed them to simulate conditions on the Red Planet long ago and see whether the formation of formaldehyde seemed likely based on the premise that the atmosphere then would have had an abundance of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

Based on their simulations, Mars would have had an atmosphere 3.6 to 2.8 billion years ago that could have provided enough formaldehyde to allow several different organic compounds to form. This is significant since it means there is a chance that organic materials found on Mars could have had atmospheric origins during the earliest geological periods on the planet.

Shungo Koyama, the lead author of a new study outlining the team’s research, says their findings offer potentially groundbreaking insights into what chemical processes might have been occurring on Mars in the past, which provide a clearer picture of the conditions there that might have been conducive to life long ago.

Building Blocks of Life

“Our results show that a continuous supply of atmospheric [formaldehyde] can be used to form various organic compounds, including amino acids and sugars,” the team writes in the paper, offering a potential origin for its presence on the Martian surface.

With formaldehyde’s conversion into ribose, the team reports that “a continuous supply of bio-important sugars on early Mars, particularly during the Noachian and early Hesperian periods,” seems plausible.

Future studies by the team aim to explore geological data NASA’s rovers have collected to find additional clues about the presence of organic molecules on ancient Mars, and compare their models with samples obtained from the planet.

The team’s recent study, “Atmospheric formaldehyde production on early Mars leading to a potential formation of bio-important molecules,” was published in Scientific Reports.

VIDEOS

• 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/ }

13-11-2024 om 20:38 geschreven door peter