The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
08-12-2024
Secret Pentagon study hints at reincarnation being real after finding consciousness 'never dies'
Secret Pentagon study hints at reincarnation being real after finding consciousness 'never dies'
A study conducted by US Army Intelligence has suggested that reincarnation is real because consciousness 'never dies.'
Entitled 'Analysis and Assessment of The Gateway Process,' the 29-page report was drafted by US Army Lieutenant Colonel Wayne M McDonnell in 1983 and declassified by the CIA in 2003.
The research has resurfaced on social media, with Chicago-based comedian Sara Holcomb summarizing the findings, saying: 'We're pretty sure reincarnation is real.'
'Consciousness is energy and it exists outside of our understanding of reality,' Holocomb said, paraphrasing page 19 of McDonnell's Army intel report. 'And energy... never dies.'
The mind-bending official Pentagon study was commissioned to better understand what its Army intel colleagues were doing sending personnel to a small institute in Charlottesville, Virginia that was working on the 'Gateway Experience.'
The then-secretive 'Gateway' project, based to McDonnell's analysis, was 'a training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence... to alter consciousness.'
From there, Gateway's ambitious goal was to shift the practitioner's consciousness 'outside the physical sphere so as to ultimately escape even the restrictions of time and space.'
At least according to McDonnell, the Monroe Institute's discoveries that wound up bolstering the case for reincarnation were profound.
'When consciousness returns to the Absolute [Monroe jargon for a realm outside spacetime] it brings with it all the memories it has accumulated through experience in reality,' as he distilled the Institute's finding that memories pass on from life to life via reincarnation.
An eye-popping study conducted by US Army Intelligence and made public by the CIA has shocked social media with its finding that consciousness transcends space and time. Entitled 'Analysis and Assessment of The Gateway Process,' the 29-page report was drafted in 1983
The recently resurfaced US Army Intelligence report presents an abstract explanation of how consciousness is created through the brain's processing of energy in the physical world - transforming it into what Lieutenant Colonel Wayne McDonnell compares to a hologram (above)
Or, as Holocomb put it more succinctly in one of many videos by TikTok users fascinated with the metaphysical US Army study: 'You're pretty sure reincarnation is a legit thing? Yup.'
The comedian, who posts as @mad_hatter_news on TikTok, also referenced a vast body of research by the nearby University of Virginia Medical School's Division of Perceptual Studies which has compiled a database of over 2,500 cases of professed reincarnation.
Many of the cases involved children under the age of five who claimed to remember 'memories of a previous life they claim to have lived.'
'Why the kids?' Holocomb continued in her post. 'It seems they're the ones that most easily remember their past lives.'
But the Gateway study explored more than simply heady spiritual questions of reincarnation, the nature of consciousness and the afterlife.
Ltc McDonnell's report as a member of US Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM) was concerned with psychic spycraft along the astral plane. Psychic spycraft involves the use of alleged paranormal abilities for espionage.
In 1983, INSCOM was headed by Major General Albert Stubblebine III, one of the US military's greatest proponents of psychic warfare.
Joe McMoneagle — who served as Remote Viewer No1. in one of Major General Stubblebine's psychic spy programs — has said his own role was to use remote viewing to spy on Russian military bases and gather intelligence.
He spent more than 20 years as a so-called 'remote viewer' working at Fort Meade in Maryland, which is also home to the National Security Agency (NSA).
'My success rate was around 28 percent,' McMoneagle said. 'That may not sound very good, but we were brought in to deal with the hopeless cases.'
'Our information was then cross-checked with any other available intelligence to build up an overall picture. We proved to be quite useful "spies."'
Joe McMoneagle (pictured) was a Vietnam vet and American 'psychic spy.' His role was to use 'remote viewing' to spy on Russian bases and gather intelligence. He now serves on the Board of Advisors for the Monroe Institute - whose 'Gateway' process was studied in the 1983 report
In 1983, INSCOM was headed by Major General Albert Stubblebine III (portrait above), one of the US military's greatest proponents of psychic warfare
Today in retirement, McMoneagle serves as on the Board of Advisors and as a trainer for the Monroe Institute, the same institute whose 'Gateway' process was studied by US Army INSCOM in their 1983 report.
Ultimately Ltc McDonnell's 'Gateway Experience' report, was an effort to verify the institute's suitability as a defense contractor used in this Army INSCOM program to operationalize 'out of body' experiences for espionage.
In his summary, McDonnell concluded: 'There is a sound and rational basis in terms of physical science parameters for considering Gateway to be plausible in terms of its essential objectives.'
'Intuitional insights of not only personal but of a practical and professional nature would seem to be within the bounds of reasonable expectations,' he continued, in essence validating INSCOM's 'psychic spying' strategy.
But there was a catch, he noted: These experiences were hard to control or direct consistently, which Ltc McDonnell suggested would require long and careful training.
'[A] phased approach for entering the Gateway Experience in an accelerated mode would seem to be required [...] from the standpoint of establishing an organization-wide exploitation of Gateway's potential,' he wrote.
In other words, while the Army intel official found that Gateway was real and possible, more research was needed to get to a place where US intelligence could actually make use it.
Ltc McDonnell then laid out recommendations for how Army INSCOM could go about designing further Gateway studies, though its unclear if more studies were ever launched.
Mysteriously, one page of Ltc McDonnell's report is missing, number 25, in the middle of a section where he was outlining potential practical defense uses of Gateway.
The omission caught the attention of some readers who launched a Change.org petition calling for the CIA to release it.
The CIA, however, says that it never had the page to begin with — fueling theories that it has been left it out on purpose due to the powerful techniques that page 25 described.
Researchers say there's evidence that consciousness continues after clinical death
The United States Air Force (USAF) has confirmed to Liberation Times that ‘small unmanned aerial systems’ were observed above three of its UK bases in the East of England over a continuous five-day period.
‘Small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over Royal Air Force Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall and RAF Feltwell between Nov. 20 and Nov. 24.
‘The number of systems fluctuated, and they ranged in sizes and configurations. The sUASs were actively monitored and installation leaders determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents, facilities or assets.’
On Facebook, Colonel Jack R. Arthaud the commander of the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath posted:
‘You are most likely aware that we have experienced several sUAS or small drone sightings across the tri-base area since 20 Nov. They are being actively monitored and have not impacted base residents or infrastructure.
‘If you see anything suspicious, to include sUAS's or drone activity within the tri-base area, please contact either local police or Security Forces. The Liberty Wing is taking all appropriate measures to safeguard RAF Lakenheath, RAF Feltwell and residents.’
Specific details about the drone activities on Saturday 23 November, and Sunday 24 November, are not yet known. However, with wind speeds reaching up to 65 miles per hour in the area over the weekend, operating drones in such conditions would likely have been challenging.
This evening, plane spotters monitoring USAF activities from the affected bases reported ongoing drone incursions and observed Air Force assets deploying apparent countermeasures.
One YouTuber filming from outside RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk stated that he could see lights of apparent drones “skimming the tops of trees” near the base and that F15s had taken off and were going “round and round above us”.
The streamer, whose YouTube channel is named ‘Liberty Wing UK’, witnessed the F15s take off, said “they weren’t hanging around, full afterburner all the way up.”
The streamer appeared to have captured a radio conversation from the base, where one USAF officer can be heard saying:
“We’ve got multiple reports of UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] taking off from fields to the north and south”
Later on, the streamer added:
“I've had this information that it's some sort of test. But I just can't think it is because what I've been told by the base as well.
“They didn’t want me to stream to start with. If it was just an exercise I would have thought they wouldn’t bother saying anything to me.
“But they came over to me and spoke to me and, on purpose, asked me what I was doing. And they've been going around the perimeter, looking at people's cars and stuff as well. To me, I don’t think they would be bothered doing stuff like that if it was just an exercise.”
X user Dr. Andrew O'Malley shared a map of the area surrounding the base, highlighting aircraft activity, including a military refuelling plane.
He added:
‘Stratotanker up. That means fighter jets are up too with their transponders off.’
Liberation Times requested comment from the USAF to confirm whether drone incursions were ongoing as of 25 November 2024 - however no official confirmation has been provided.
One Facebook user and local resident named Hardy Lewis Jhardy witnessed what may have been one of the mysterious drones in the nearby Valbri Motel in the town of Brandon, Suffolk.
Jhardy told Liberation Times that the apparent drone appeared to be moving fast towards RAF Lakenheath and was medium in size.
The video was also posted onto Facebook. In response to it, one commenter suggested that it could be a USAF drone, stating:
‘Could be a drone from the base. I saw a drone once inside the Lakenheath base but owned by the military.’
Another commenter agreed, posting:
‘Is nobody considering that they may be security drones scanning for potential threats or sabotage!!’
On a separate Facebook post commenting on the incidents, one former USAF officer speculated that the apparent drones could belong to an adversary power, writing:
‘I hope the installation security posture is reflecting the threat? Drones will test security, gauge response times, identify vulnerabilities, and distract from another higher priority mission. A Drone swarm could overwhelm security forces in short order.
‘Too many incidents not to be coordinated. Stateside, overseas, getting probed. Very reminiscent of the bad old days, when we had humans poking around.’
The activity affecting the USAF-operated bases took place after the UK and U.S. governments approved the Ukrainian military's use of long-range missiles to strike targets within Russian territory.
So far, neither the UK nor U.S. governments have identified the operators of the apparent drones or specified the types of drones involved, despite their repeated launches on consecutive nights.
A resident of the nearby town of Brandon expressed his frustrations on Facebook, writing:
‘So Lakenheath, Mildenhall & Feltwell RAF American bases, have all had mystery drones flying around them. I have to ask, why were the drones not quickly shot down.’
Another wrote:
‘Little worrying.’
Meanwhile, Brandon’s Town Council told Liberation Times:
‘Our Town Clerk has informed me that we have received no official reports from any of the bases but the Squadron Leader does have a regular report at Full Council, so if there is anything to report on the matter, we will receive it then.’
With locals left concerned about the situation, a spokesperson from the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) commented to Liberation Times:
“We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites. This includes counter drone security capabilities.
“We won’t comment further on security procedures.”
The incursions over the U.S. bases follows other drones incidents reported by Liberation Times above Langley Air Force in December 2023, where logs show that dronebusters used by security forces failed to intercept the objects.
In January this year, it was reported that the U.S. military was set to deploy nuclear weapons at RAF Lakenheath.
In March 2023, a document, external from the U.S. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense disclosed how $50m had been earmarked to build a facility known as a ‘Surety Dormitory’ at the base.
Unveiling the Mystery: Underwater UFOs and Hidden ET Bases Beneath the Waves
Unveiling the Mystery: Underwater UFOs and Hidden ET Bases Beneath the Waves
The mystery of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) has long fascinated humanity, but a less-discussed phenomenon also warrants attention: underwater unidentified submerged objects (USOs). These transmedium crafts exhibit extraordinary abilities to seamlessly transition between air, water, and even space. Recent explorations near California have shed light on compelling evidence of these enigmatic phenomena and the possibility of extraterrestrial (ET) bases hidden beneath the ocean’s surface.
Discoveries by Rory Kremer: Archaeologist and Undersea Explorer
Rory Kremer, a seasoned archaeologist with over 20 years of experience, ventured into the depths near California as part of a Netflix series, Alien Investigation. Tasked with exploring underwater structures and anomalies, Kremer’s findings have captivated UFO researchers and skeptics alike. Using advanced technologies such as side-scan sonar and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), Kremer identified potential evidence of intelligent design beneath the waves.
One of the most notable discoveries was a 60-90 foot fuselage-like structure with an aerodynamic form, unlike anything naturally occurring. Other finds included geometrically precise stone objects and what appeared to be ancient fire rings. These discoveries hint at either long-lost civilizations or something more extraordinary, such as ET activity.
The Transmedium Craft Phenomenon
Eyewitness accounts of transmedium crafts reveal their astonishing ability to traverse multiple environments—air, water, and space—without losing speed or maneuverability. One such encounter, described by Kremer, occurred during a Pacific expedition. He recounted a glowing object that emerged from the ocean, hovered briefly, and vanished into the night sky within seconds. This object, capable of both soundless flight and underwater navigation, challenges conventional understanding of physics and technology.
Footage from Kremer’s expeditions captured what appeared to be playful interactions from such objects, diving and reemerging from the water with remarkable speed. The video evidence, later featured in the Netflix series, showcases an object entering the ocean and glowing beneath the water’s surface, leaving behind an otherworldly phosphorescent trail.
California’s Underwater Hotspot
The waters surrounding California, particularly near Santa Cruz Island and Catalina Island, have been hotspots for USO sightings. The area is known for frequent reports of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) diving into the ocean, further fueling speculation about underwater ET bases. Native American oral histories also reference mysterious flying entities, which some researchers link to these modern-day sightings.
Underwater UFOs and ET Bases | Alien & UFO Ancient Mystery
Geologically, the region’s underwater caves, lava tubes, and trenches provide ideal hiding places for advanced underwater vehicles or bases. Kremer’s exploration into Painted Cave and Balloon Hanger Cave revealed potential evidence of such activity, with structural anomalies that defy natural explanations.
Military Connections and Speculations
Adding to the intrigue, the area is a known hub for military activity, including testing of advanced technologies. Some speculate that these sightings could involve classified military projects, but the capabilities of these objects far surpass known human technology. Reports of UFOs disabling missile facilities in Montana during the 1970s further link these phenomena to sensitive military zones, suggesting a deeper connection between UFOs, national security, and extraterrestrial involvement.
Historical and Cultural Significance
The region’s rich history also adds layers of mystery. With water levels rising by approximately 200-250 feet over the past 10,000 years, much of California’s ancient coastal archaeology lies submerged. Kremer’s findings suggest that some underwater anomalies may belong to pre-European civilizations. However, the precision of certain artifacts raises questions about whether these structures could be linked to advanced non-human intelligence.
The Road Ahead: What Lies Beneath?
Kremer’s work underscores how little is understood about the depths of our oceans. Advanced tools like LIDAR could revolutionize future investigations, offering a clearer picture of underwater landscapes and the potential presence of ET bases. The Netflix series and accompanying evidence have already sparked widespread interest, though much remains unexplored.
For now, the mystery of underwater UFOs and USOs continues to challenge our understanding of the natural and extraterrestrial world. Are these sightings evidence of ancient civilizations, classified military experiments, or visitors from other worlds? The answers may lie deep beneath the ocean’s surface, waiting for humanity to uncover them.
Ancient Aliens: TOP 3 DEEP SEA UFO MYSTERIES
Evidence Of Underwater UFOs Plagues The California Coast | UFO Witness
Mysterious UFO drones have been spotted flying over New York City - after weeks of being photographed in New Jersey.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella confirmed that the peculiar objects had been seen flying above Howland Hook Marine Terminal and the West Shore on Staten Island earlier this week.
In a letter addressed to the FAA and FBI requesting an investigation, Fossella called the situation 'bizarre', according to PIX11.
'It is odd and quite bizarre that nobody can figure out who is flying these drones, where they are coming from, and their purpose.
'It is not just a bizarre situation, but also a concerning one, as it seems these drones can potentially become a danger to personal safety.'
He also stated that he was worried about the drones' ability to impede life-saving care in medical emergencies - especially over the two hospital systems on Staten Island.
'It was recently reported that, during a medical emergency resulting from a crash in Branchburg, New Jersey, the presence of these drones prevented a medevac helicopter from being able to transport a seriously injured patient to the hospital.
'We hope that such an investigation may shed light on what these drones are doing, where they are coming from and how to mitigate the risks they may pose on public safety.'
Mysterious UFO drones have been spotted flying over New York City - days after being photographed in New Jersey
One drone, heard roaring in the skies as it moved through the darkness, appeared to have a cluster of white lights on its underbelly and red lights blinking at the tips of its wings and tail.
Another drone came into frame that resembled a classic 'black triangle' UFO or the triangular TR-3B, which beamed bright white lights from its nose, wingtips and tail.
Since mid-November, a wave of unexplained drone sightings above central Jersey has left both law enforcement and the general public watching the skies, hunting for clues on what these mysterious night flights might be.
Governor Phil Murphy has attempted to calm residents claiming these true UFOs pose 'no known threat to the public at this time,' but FBI and local police are actively investigating.
'Water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments, and military installations' have all had the UFOs roaming above them in recent weeks, according to the chief of police for the New Jersey borough of Florham Park.
'Their presence appears nefarious in nature,' the police chief added.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella confirmed that the peculiar objects had been seen flying above Howland Hook Marine Terminal and the West Shore on Staten Island earlier this week
'Seems like they want them to be seen,' NJ native and TikTok creator @_bucky13 commented under his phone footage of the eerie drones (still image above), captioned 'Mysterious drones spotted all over New Jersey.' At least five drone-like UFOs are seen in his 50-second clip
One of the UFO drones, whose engines can be heard roaring from the ground, appeared to have a cluster of white lights on its underbelly with red lights blinking at its wingtips and tail (above)
But the New Jersian who posted the new footage of these drones online maintains the answer lies within America's own classified world of black budget projects.
'Seems like they want them to be seen,' TikTok user @_bucky13 commented under his phone video of the eerie UFOs, captioned
'I think they are trying to scare Russia by demonstrating some secret weapons,' he wrote.
The camera was pointed to the sky when the drones came into view.
'There they are! There are more in New Jersey!,' he can be heard shouting in his handheld video — as an unsettled woman off-camera says, 'We shouldn't be outside.'
'They look like an f***ing triangle! They look like a triangle,' he said in disbelief, as je spotted a triangular-shaped drone cruising into the night.
A later UFO or drone seemed to hover stationary beyond the tree line, lit up with multiple lights that pulsed bright enough to produce a lens flare effect.
'Are you freaking kidding me right now,' one woman can be heard saying of the craft.
Commenters of UFO video joined him in his suspicion that the objects may ultimately prove to be top secret US military craft, even as the TikToker can be heard marveling in his video that 'an F-16 just flew over' in hot pursuit of the unidentified craft.
According to one NJ local, this image depicts roughly nine of the unidentified drones flying in to the Garden State from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night, December 5
A later UFO or drone in the new video looks like it might have hovered stationary beyond the tree line, lit up with multiple lights that pulsed bright enough to produce a lens flare effect
'Looks like a military drone,' one Tik Tok user said, with another chiming in 'Definitely government made drones.'
Many stated with confidence that the triangle craft was the legendary and still unconfirmed TR-3B 'Black Manta' anti-gravity spy plane, the alleged follow-up to the equally unconfirmed TR-3A, both claimed to have been made by defense contractor Northrop in the early 1990s.
'Those are TR-3B government drones,' one poster said. 'Look them up, they're pretty cool.'
A December 1991 cover story in Popular Mechanics was one of the first mainstream media reports to allege that the TR-3A existed as a highly advanced 'tactical reconnaissance vehicle' eyewitnesses said was 42-feet long with a 60-foot wingspan.
Others have speculated that the UFOs above New Jersey might be an update to US defense contractor Lockheed Martin’s original 'Darkstar' that flew in 1996.
The Artemis moon landings are delayed again due to technical difficulties. This time, the problem is with the Orion spacecraft heat shield. NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced that the new landing dates are in April of 2026 for Artemis II and sometime in 2027 for the first human landing during the Artemis III mission.
The difficulties the Artemis program faces stem from the complexity of the hardware and trajectories needed to take astronauts to the Moon according to Nelson. “The Artemis campaign is the most daring, technically challenging, collaborative, international endeavor humanity has ever set out to do,” said Nelson. He pointed out that the mission has made a lot of progress. However, there’s more work to be done, in particular on the Orion life support systems. Artemis II is next up in early 2026. It will be a test flight to demonstrate the viability of all the systems, said Nelson. “We need to get this next test flight right. That’s how the Artemis campaign succeeds.”
Making a safe return through Earth’s atmosphere is a vital part of the mission. After Orion came back from its Artemis 1 mission in November 2022, engineers noticed issues with the heat shield. They figured out that gases generated inside the heat shield didn’t vent properly. That caused cracks in the shield and triggered an investigation. The decision to delay the Artemis II test flight came after that investigation. This allows NASA engineers to work with the heat shield currently attached to the Orion capsule for the April 2026 flight. In addition, they’re studying the re-entry process to avoid future problems with the shield.
Artemis II to the Moon
As we all know, the Artemis program will allow long-term exploration of the Moon. The April 2026 mission is a test flight that will orbit, but not land, and then return to Earth. The idea is to test all the spacecraft’s systems with astronauts on board.
The Orion spacecraft is the crew’s living quarters and lab, all in one. It’s built to carry four astronauts from Earth to space and ultimately to the Moon. It makes sense that this “home away from home” has to be shielded from pretty much anything that space—and Earth’s atmosphere—can throw at the capsule. This includes the ultrahot trip through our atmosphere on the return trip. At times, Orion experiences temperatures up to 2700 C (5000 F), which could harm the capsule if not for the shielding. So, the shield is a life-saver.
When Orion first encountered the heat shield problem, engineers determined that heating rates increased during the spaceship’s planned “dips” into the atmosphere. It was performing a skip guidance entry technique. Heat built up inside the heat shield’s material and gases accumulated. Eventually, that cracked areas in the outer layer of the shield and blew some of it off to space. It turns out that if astronauts had been aboard, they would not have been affected. However, now that engineers understand what occurred, they can enhance the heat shield material to make sure it doesn’t happen again. In addition, the mission plan will be altered to change how far the capsule flies between atmospheric re-entry and eventual landing.
Upgrading Mission Plans
The extended time until the April 2026 and mid-2027 Artemis missions will allow improvements to the capsule and launch systems. For example, engineers can give more attention to environmental and life support systems. This is particularly important for the Artemis III mission. It will launch on top of a Space Launch System rocket into Earth orbit. Once there, the mission will perform a translunar injection to send it to lunar space.
Not only will it carry astronauts to the Moon, but they will land in the south polar region using a SpaceX landing system. That 30-day mission will require at least two crew members to spend a week at the pole collecting samples, doing site photography, and measuring conditions there.
Artemis III will be the first time anyone has set foot on the Moon since the last Apollo mission in December 1972. The entire Artemis program aims at providing long-term habitation and study of Earth’s nearest neighbor in space. To that end, NASA has been studying several interesting landing spots at the pole.
Eventually, there will be an orbiting lunar station, plus habitats on the surface and regular trips between. NASA and other agencies expect that lunar explorers will be spending their time studying the surface and geology of the Moon, plus determining what resources are available for long-term exploration and habitation. However, given the pace of the program, those next developments probably won’t take place until the 2030s.
New Species of Archaic Human Proposed: Homo juluensis
New Species of Archaic Human Proposed: Homo juluensis
Homo juluensis — a newly-erected human species that includes enigmatic Denisovans and several hominin fossils from Tibet, Taiwan and Laos — lived in eastern Asia from around 300,000 years ago to 50,000 years ago.
A portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps.
Image credit: Maayan Harel.
“Our study clarifies a hominin fossil record that has tended to include anything that cannot easily be assigned to Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens,” said University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Professor Christopher Bae and Dr. Xiujie Wu from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“Although we started this project several years ago, we did not expect being able to propose a new hominin species and then to be able to organize the hominin fossils from Asia into different groups. Ultimately, this should help with science communication.”
“This work is important because it helps scientists better understand the complex story of human evolution in Asia, filling in some of the gaps in our understanding of our ancient relatives.”
Reconstruction of Homo floresiensis.
Image credit: Elisabeth Daynes.
The authors suggest that at least four hominin species — Homo floresiensis, Homo luzonensis, Homo longi, and the newly-established Homo juluensis — were present in eastern Asia during the Late Quaternary period.
Homo juluensis lived approximately 300,000 years ago in eastern Asia, hunted wild horses in small groups, and made stone tools and possibly processed animal hides for survival before disappearing around 50,000 years ago.
“Thanks largely to a growing hominin fossil record, the field of Late Quaternary eastern Asian paleoanthropology is in the midst of significant and important change that is contributing tremendously to how we view and are refining these evolutionary models,” the researchers said.
“In particular, the field received a jolt two decades ago with the publication of the diminutive Homo floresiensis fossils from the island of Flores in Indonesia in 2004.”
“More recently, another diminutive species, Homo luzonensis, from the island of Luzon in the Philippines was added as a new hominin species.”
“In China, Homo longi was presented following an analysis of the Harbin fossil.”
“Fossils like Dali and Jinniushan may be tentatively included in Homo longi as well, though we await further comparative analyses.”
“Most recently, after a detailed study of the Xujiayao and Xuchang fossils, we have added Homo juluensis to these discussions.”
More research is clearly needed to test this relationship, which is primarily based on similarities between jaw and teeth fossils from these different sites.
“The eastern Asian hominin fossil record is an excellent example of how unilineal models of evolution, such as traditional multiregionalism, cannot adequately explain the complexity in the paleoanthropological record, particularly during the Late Quaternary,” the authors concluded.
“If anything, the eastern Asian record is prompting us to recognize just how complex human evolution is more generally and really forcing us to revise and rethink our interpretations of various evolutionary models to better match the growing fossil record.”
Their paper was published in the journal Nature Communications.
C.J. Bae & X. Wu. 2024. Making sense of eastern Asian Late Quaternary hominin variability. Nat Commun 15, 9479; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-53918-7
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Most people will think of a dry arid landscape when they think of Mars. When seen from orbit, dry river channels and lake-beds can be seen along with mineral deposits thought to be the created in the presence of liquid water. A team of researches now suggest that liquid carbon dioxide could also explain the features seen. On Earth, a process known as carbon sequestration liquefies CO2 which is buried underground. There are a number of mechanisms that could explain the liquid CO2 underground the researchers suggest.
Mars is often referred to as the ‘red planet’ due to its visual appearance. It’s the fourth planet from the Sun and has been a real focus for exploration and research for decades. The red colour is caused by iron oxide (rust) on its surface which can often be lifted up into the atmosphere by the Martian winds giving stunning pink skies. It’s just over half the size of the Earth, has a thin atmosphere mostly made of carbon dioxide and a surface composed of deserts and volcanoes like Olympus Mons. One of the key focusses of the exploration on Mars has been to establish whether the conditions are suitable for life, have been suitable in the past or whether liquid water exists on the surface.
The presence of dry riverbeds and lake beds points to a surface that had liquid flowing long ago. Quite what that liquid is has been the cause for debate. Observations of minerals from orbit and from more direct analysis on the surface, suggest that the liquid was just water. However a team of researchers have published a paper in Nature Geoscience that suggests otherwise. They explain that water is only one of two possible liquids that could have existed on ancient Mars. The other is liquid carbon dioxide or CO2. Given the atmospheric conditions it may have been more likely and easier for CO2 in the atmosphere to condense into a liquid than for surface ice to melt into water.
It has been the general consensus that the minerals point to liquid water. The paper suggests that processes like carbon sequestration, liquid CO2 buried underground can alter the composition of minerals even faster than water can. Lead author Michael Hecht, research scientist at MIT’s Haystack Observatory said “Understanding how sufficient liquid water was able to flow on early Mars to explain the morphology and mineralogy we see today is probably the greatest unsettled question of Mars science. There is likely no one right answer, and we are merely suggesting another possible piece of the puzzle.”
The paper explores our current understanding of the Martian atmosphere and combine it with the carbon sequestration research to conclude that the processes do support the evidence and mineralogy seen on Mars. They note however that this proposal does not suggest all Martian surface liquid was CO2 but rather there could have been a combination of the two.
They explain that liquid CO2 on the surface of Mars could exist as a stable surface liquid, as melted CO2 under CO2 ice or in subsurface reservoirs. Which actually took place would have dependent entirely on the distribution of CO2 at the time and the surface conditions too. The paper acknowledges that further testing is required under more realistic Martian conditions to test whether the same processes still occur.
New footage of multiple eerie 'triangle' craft flying above New Jersey has only compounded the mystery for locals.
At least five or possibly six of the unidentified drones were capturedin the new, 50-second cell phone video, which one commenter declared was 'the clearest video yet.'
One drone, heard roaring in the skies as it moved through the darkness, appeared to have a cluster of white lights on its underbelly and red lights blinking at the tips of its wings and tail.
Another drone came into frame that resembled a classic 'black triangle' UFO or the triangular TR-3B, which beamed bright white lights from its nose, wingtips and tail.
Since mid-November, a wave of unexplained drone sightings above central Jersey has left both law enforcement and the general public watching the skies, hunting for clues on what these mysterious night flights might be.
Governor Phil Murphy has attempted to calm residents claiming these true UFOs pose 'no known threat to the public at this time,' but FBI and local police are actively investigating.
'Water reservoirs, electric transmission lines, rail stations, police departments, and military installations' have all had the UFOs roaming above them in recent weeks, according to the chief of police for the New Jersey borough of Florham Park.
'Their presence appears nefarious in nature,' the police chief added.
'Seems like they want them to be seen,' NJ native and TikTok creator @_bucky13 commented under his phone footage of the eerie drones (still image above), captioned 'Mysterious drones spotted all over New Jersey.' At least five drone-like UFOs are seen in his 50-second clip
One of the UFO drones, whose engines can be heard roaring from the ground, appeared to have a cluster of white lights on its underbelly with red lights blinking at its wingtips and tail (above)
But the New Jersian who posted the new footage of these drones online maintains the answer lies within America's own classified world of black budget projects.
'Seems like they want them to be seen,' TikTok user @_bucky13 commented under his phone video of the eerie UFOs, captioned
'I think they are trying to scare Russia by demonstrating some secret weapons,' he wrote.
The camera was pointed to the sky when the drones came into view.
'There they are! There are more in New Jersey!,' he can be heard shouting in his handheld video — as an unsettled woman off-camera says, 'We shouldn't be outside.'
'They look like an f***ing triangle! They look like a triangle,' he said in disbelief, as je spotted a triangular-shaped drone cruising into the night.
A later UFO or drone seemed to hover stationary beyond the tree line, lit up with multiple lights that pulsed bright enough to produce a lens flare effect.
'Are you freaking kidding me right now,' one woman can be heard saying of the craft.
Commenters of UFO video joined him in his suspicion that the objects may ultimately prove to be top secret US military craft, even as the TikToker can be heard marveling in his video that 'an F-16 just flew over' in hot pursuit of the unidentified craft.
According to one NJ local, this image depicts roughly nine of the unidentified drones flying in to the Garden State from the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday night, December 5
A later UFO or drone in the new video looks like it might have hovered stationary beyond the tree line, lit up with multiple lights that pulsed bright enough to produce a lens flare effect
'Looks like a military drone,' one Tik Tok user said, with another chiming in 'Definitely government made drones.'
Many stated with confidence that the triangle craft was the legendary and still unconfirmed TR-3B 'Black Manta' anti-gravity spy plane, the alleged follow-up to the equally unconfirmed TR-3A, both claimed to have been made by defense contractor Northrop in the early 1990s.
'Those are TR-3B government drones,' one poster said. 'Look them up, they're pretty cool.'
A December 1991 cover story in Popular Mechanics was one of the first mainstream media reports to allege that the TR-3A existed as a highly advanced 'tactical reconnaissance vehicle' eyewitnesses said was 42-feet long with a 60-foot wingspan.
The magazine even suggested that this alleged 'black budget' surveillance plane 'may have seen action during Operation Desert Storm.'
Aerospace illustrator, Mark McCandlish, who contributed art for a 1991 Popular Mechanics article on the alleged TR-3A 'Black Manta' would go on to claim that the US had covertly reverse engineered a crashed UFO
The article also described a much largerm even more incredible and 'highly maneuverable' black triangle aircraft — as big as a B-2 bomber's 150-foot wingspan and capable of turning '90 degrees on its wingtip.'
A decade later at the National Press Club in Washington DC, May 9, 2001, the aerospace illustrator who contributed art for that PopMech article, Mark McCandlish, claimed that US covert anti-gravity propulsion research had actually reverse engineered a crashed UFO.
Others have speculated that the UFOs above New Jersey might be an update to US defense contractor Lockheed Martin’s original 'Darkstar' that flew in 1996.
The RQ-3 DarkStar was a highly-advanced remotely piloted aircraft intended for stealth reconnaissance, but officially the firm says that Darkstar 'never entered production' due to 'cost and aerodynamic stability problems.'
But, if the craft really are 'above top secret' American innovations, few other branches of the federal government appear to be in the loop, with many worrying about rival foreign powers like Russia or China being the culprits.
This past November 22, the FAA banned drone flights over the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey until Friday, December 6, as well as above the Picatinny Arsenal Military Base in Rockaway until December 26.
Above: US defense contractor Lockheed Martin’s original 'Darkstar' which flew in 1996. The RQ-3 DarkStar was a highly-advanced, stealthy reconnaissance remotely piloted aircraft that the firm says 'never entered production' due to 'cost and aerodynamic stability problems'
'We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations,' FAA officials in a statement, 'and investigate when appropriate.'
The administration warned drone operators that any unmanned flights that endanger aircraft or pedestrians down below could lead to fines up to $75,000 —plus a loss of their drone operators' pilot certificates.
Local digital news site NJ.com spoke with a spokesman for Picatinny Arsenal, Eric Kowal, who repeated that it is illegal to fly drones over the base without prior authorization. But he does not believe the drones pose an immediate threat.
'From our standpoint we're not alarming our residents and employees,' he said.
'The FBI are the experts on the threat. We don't believe there to be a threat at this juncture.'
"It is important to think about what supporting instruments and technologies need to be developed now to equip our astronauts for doing outstanding science at Mars."
Mars beckons. Human explorers can maximize the science output for unraveling the complex nature of the Red Planet.
(Image credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings)
The future of Mars exploration will be greatly enhanced by humans that make the sojourn to the Red Planet. The work that could be performed by astronaut crews on that distant world would far outstrip what mechanized Mars machinery can attain - but certainly at a far greater cost.
To that end, NASA is blueprinting a moon-to-Mars strategy that identifies science as one of three pillars upon which the agency's quest for a sustained human exploration throughout the solar system is built. What's now being plotting out is the architecture for achieving that goal.
NASA moon-to-Mars architecture workshops are being held later this month, hosted by the Space Studies Board of the National Academies. According to a statement by Nujoud Merancy, Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA's Strategy and Architecture Office within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, the space agency is searching for views on science and technology investments that can help lead to a sustainable human return to the moon and dispatching crews to Mars.
Artemis II: Meet the Astronauts Who will Fly Around the Moon (Official NASA Video)
"Our partnerships with industry, academia, and the international community are helping NASA define an architecture that empowers us to boldly explore the moon, Mars, and beyond," Merancy explains.
Tale of the tiger team
Arguably, the science conducted on the surface of Mars by astronauts will have the most impact on the scope and scale of that architecture. Therefore, deciding on science priorities warrant early attention.
Recent history demonstrates the issue of shoe-horning in science tasks for astronauts too late.
That is a central message from a recent study for the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG), one that suggests how and where on the Red Planet humans can maximize exploration and science output.
A MEPAG Tiger Team on Mars Human-Mission Science Objectives was led by Bruce Jakosky, a senior research scientist at the University of Colorado's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder, Colorado. Their report was transmitted to NASA late last year.
Proactive, not reactive
"I think the real value of this report is if we can get NASA to pay attention," Jakosky told Space.com in an exclusive interview. "We see a lot of work going on in planning the architecture for human Mars missions. But science isn't on the table at all. My goal as chair of the Tiger Team is trying to get science into the discussion," he said.
Fitting science in around the edges is not the way to do world class science, Jakosky said. NASA needs to be proactive, not reactive in incorporating science, he said.
NASA's Apollo program of the 1960s into the early 1970s, noted Jakosky, had scientists, engineers, and astronauts working hand-in-hand, shoulder to shoulder to make sure science was done.
"And that's something that I don't think we see today in Artemis or in Mars," Jakosky said. "It's got to be an iterative process in order to make sure that the science and the engineering will work together," he said.
Science-based landing sites
Jim Head, a noted planetary researcher at Brown University, was a member of the Tiger Team report group.
"NASA is currently updating the objectives for the Moon-to-Mars initiative with the strategy of 'architect from the right/execute from the left,'" Head said. That translates into, he added, "work backwards from the defined goal to establish the complete set of elements that will be required for success. Execute development of all elements in regular fashion, integrating as you move right according to the established architecture."
Head said that the MEPAG Tiger Team report was designed to be a part of NASA strategy, in that the group considered things like the optimum science-based Mars landing sites, the types of activities and stay-times required to accomplish goals and objectives, and potential robotic partnerships.
"These types of considerations provide significant insights into feed-forward for the lunar component of NASA's Moon-to-Mars initiative, the Artemis phase," Head said.
Real-time interaction and adaptability
Mars holds many clues to early solar system history and how terrestrial planets sustain habitats and life, said Bethany Ehlmann, a member the Tiger Team report group. She is a professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies in Pasadena, California.
For many types of geologic science, especially those involving lots of interaction with terrain like sample collection or deep coring, Ehlmann said that human capabilities are "uniquely enabling" because of real-time interaction and adaptability.
"Humans on an EVA activity can accomplish in a few hours data acquisitions and sample collections that have taken rovers years," Ehlmann told Space.com. "With NASA's Moon-Mars initiative underway, it is important to think about what supporting instruments and technologies need to be developed now to equip our astronauts for doing outstanding science at Mars."
Ehlmann flags the reference missions called out in the study report that exemplify a range of possibilities, like astronauts investigating icy locales, accessing cliffs, exploring higher altitudes on Mars or having expeditions investigate caves.
Those example cases underscore how individual, specific missions can achieve high-value science.
Catalyze discussion
Jakosky as the Tiger Team chair notes that the list of cases called out in the report do not represent all potential missions, but "should serve to catalyze discussions within and between the science and exploration communities."
Missions suggested included projected astronaut treks to Utopia Planitia, Valles Marineris, as well as Cerberus Fossae.
"Any landing site is going to provide spectacular science results. I think that's clear," Jakosky said. "Mars is a very diverse, geologically complex planet. One site isn't going to tell us everything we want to know about Mars."
One scenario involves crews going au naturel on Mars. That is subsurface study of natural caves — with many Mars caves already previously spotted.
There's need to characterize the habitability conditions of a cave environment, be it the availability of water, energy sources and chemical potential. But also to determine if signatures of life are present in the cave environment, the report adds.
Human explorers could land near a target cave and remain within the habitat for much or most of the mission. They would teleoperate sample retrieving robots deployed to a cave floor. Doing so would eliminate the operations time lag compared to running a robotic investigation from Earth, "a multiple orders of magnitude decrease in decision time," says the report.
Why humans on Mars?
The report spells out how humans can advance a valuable palette of science objectives at the Red Planet. Clearly, crews can conduct on-the-spot field measurements, execute local area mapping, and gain, below their boots, subsurface access.
Selection of the highest value samples for return from the surface, subsurface, and atmosphere and getting those specimens into labs on Earth is crucial, the report explains.
First of all, explorers on Mars can emplace local and regional networks of info-gathering devices to capture processes operating on Mars during and between missions.
From orbit or on the surface of Mars, teleoperating robotic assets as precursors to human struts across Mars can probe sites out-of-reach of a human landing site, or to assess a rich diversity of terrains and habitats.
Back here on Earth, there's need for ground controllers to operate the infrastructure needed to ensure human safety and efficient operations at Mars. It's also vital to loop in the enhanced capabilities for doing science thanks to teams of on-the-Earth specialists.
High-priority science
One key signal from the study is site selection to do science with humans at Mars.
"Given the complexity of Mars' evolutionary history and the tremendous diversity of environments on Mars, no single site can address all of the high-priority science goals," the report stresses.
A central study finding is that vital science can be accomplished by humans on Mars "that would be much harder or impossible to do with robotic spacecraft; the capabilities of human missions have the potential to change both the objectives and the priorities — and can definitely accelerate the pace — for Mars scientific exploration."
As for science work on Mars, the Tiger Team flagged a trio of high-level objectives:
Astrobiology - Determine if life ever developed on Mars and the nature of habitability;
Climate and volatiles – Unravel the processes and history of water and climate change on Mars; and
Geology/Geophysics/Geochemistry - Understand the physical record of planetary evolution from planetary formation until today and the processes driving the evolution of the surface, crust, and interior of Mars
"What sets Mars apart from the rest of the solar system is the potential for life, the history of water, and the nature of the geological processes and similarities to Earth," said Jakosky. "Secondly, it is the relative closeness of Mars and the relative ease with which we can explore it," he said.
Very familiar with the report findings is Scott Hubbard, a former director of the NASA Ames Research Center, now an affiliate in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University.
Hubbard served as NASA's first Mars exploration program director in 2000, earning him the title of "Mars Czar" as he restructured the space agency's Mars program in the wake of several failures to explore the planet.
In Hubbard's view, the MEPAG Tiger Team report is an "excellent example of science objectives-based human exploration goals for Mars," Hubbard told Space.com.
Hubbard said it is his hope that both NASA and the forthcoming National Academies study will utilize the Tiger Team report as "important community input."
The full text of the "Report Of MEPAG Tiger Team On Mars Human-Mission Science Objectives" can be read online.
NASA has announced new plans for an experiment on the Moon that could fundamentally change the future of lunar exploration, the agency said this week.
The experiment, set to be delivered in mid-February aboard the second Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) delivery, will involve a demonstration of autonomous navigation and could lead to significant improvements in the way humans, robotic explorers, and spacecraft can track their location during lunar exploration.
Dubbed the Lunar Node-1 (LN-1) experiment, the technology demonstration will feature a radio beacon that is designed to support extremely accurate navigation and geolocation capabilities. The device will allow future observations that will assist astronauts, spacecraft, and surface infrastructure in confirmation of their positions on the Moon relative to other objects.
The space agency reported this week that these radio devices will also allow spacecraft to perform complex orbital maneuvers, in addition to ensuring safe landings of both crewed and autonomous craft sent to the lunar surface.
Navigation systems engineer Evan Anzalone, who is the principal investigator in charge of the LN-1 experiment, likened the technology to a network of “lunar lighthouses,” which he says will offer “sustainable, localized navigation assets that enable lunar craft and ground crews to quickly and accurately confirm their position instead of relying on Earth.”
NASA envisions this new technology as being part of a much larger navigational system that will be supported by satellites operating in orbit around the Moon. The spacecraft will comprise what the space agency calls its Lunar Communications Relay and Navigation Systems project.
Lunar Node-1, an autonomous navigation payload that will change how human explorers safely traverse the Moon’s surface and live and work in lunar orbit, as seen aboard IM-1
(Credit: NASA).
The technology will eventually use reference signals generated by beacons on the lunar surface and in orbit to provide navigational aid, offering a vast improvement over current navigational methods that rely primarily on NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN).
While the DSN has proven to be a reliable system for navigation beyond Earth for many years, it does have limitations. Chief among these is that it relies mainly on point-to-point communication, which requires information to be sent back to Earth to be processed, and then delivered back to spacecraft.
Deep Space Station 35 in Canberra, Australia, which is a key facility for use with the Deep Space Network
(Credit: NASA).
Anzalone compares this to a sailing vessel having to wait to receive information from the port it sailed from, even as it is nearing its destination.
“Imagine getting verification from a lighthouse on the shore you’re approaching, rather than waiting on word from the home port you left days earlier,” Anzalone said.
The experiment will involve a CubeSat-sized device and is one of six payloads that NASA will send to the lunar surface later this month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 that will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. On its way to the Moon, the payload will send daily transmissions back to mission control.
Once it arrives, the Nova-C lander will touch down close to Malapert A, a lunar impact craternear the lunar south pole. At that time, a complete array of tests will be undertaken before continuous operation begins within the spacecraft’s first 24 hours on the Moon.
Map of the lunar south pole region, with Malapert crater visible near the bottom in the image above
(Credit: NASA).
Over the course of the following ten days, LN-1’s transmissions will be monitored via the DSN by researchers at Morehead State University in Kentucky and at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Based on these initial tests, Anzalone believes the technology will eventually evolve into a system more like a subway system than a single lighthouse, where a variety of spacecraft, surface vehicles, and other mission assets—including astronauts—will all be able to navigate more safely and effectively on the lunar surface.
“LN-1 could connect them all and help them navigate more accurately, creating a reliable, more autonomous lunar network,” Anzalone said in a statement released this week. Currently, future applications for the technology are already in the works, which may be utilized by NASA during forthcoming missions to Mars, as well as by the space agency’s international partners.
EXCLUSIVE: Marine vet breaks 14-year silence to make astonishing claim that his six-man unit saw a hovering octagonal UFO being loaded with WEAPONS by unmarked US forces who threatened them at gunpoint while serving in Indonesia in 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Marine vet breaks 14-year silence to make astonishing claim that his six-man unit saw a hovering octagonal UFO being loaded with WEAPONS by unmarked US forces who threatened them at gunpoint while serving in Indonesia in 2009
Former Marine Michael Herrera tells DailyMail.com that he saw a UFO being loaded with weapons while serving in Indonesia in 2009
Herrera claims an Air Force lieutenant colonel told him, 'You're not allowed to talk about what happened. You will go to prison, or you will die'
He says he was emboldened to break his 14-year silence by new UFO whistleblower protections and in April testified under oath about his wild story
A former Marine claims he and five comrades saw a flying saucer being loaded with weapons while serving in Indonesia in 2009 – and was threatened at gunpoint by unmarked US forces at the scene.
The wild story comes after an Air Force whistleblower from the government's UFO office joined growing numbers of intelligence officials claiming the US has recovered and is even reverse-engineering crashed or landed 'non-human' spacecraft.
Michael Herrera was a 20-year-old rifleman sent on a Navy humanitarian mission during the 2009 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami that devastated the region.
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, he claims that while guarding an airdrop of aid supplies outside the city of Padang in October that year, his six-man unit stumbled across a hovering octagonal craft in apparent use by clandestine US forces.
Former Marine Michael Herrera tells DailyMail.com that he saw a UFO being loaded with weapons while serving in Indonesia in 2009. He was just 20 at the time
'The craft was rotating in a clockwise motion while changing colors. It had an audible hum to it, like the sound of a transformer or a guitar amp. It was an octagonal shape with a pyramid at the top of it that was black,' Herrera said
After 14 years of silence, Herrera was emboldened by new UFO whistleblower protections and in April testified under oath to the government's UFO investigation team, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), as well as a Senate committee.
He provided his unblemished four-year service record, and texts about the incident with an alleged fellow witness – who refused to talk, saying it was 'not worth my life or jeopardizing my family'.
Peripheral aspects of his account were verified by DailyMail.com using military sources. But Herrera, 33, does not have documentation or photos of the incident itself.
Herrera says he was emboldened to break his 14-year silence by new UFO whistleblower protections and in April testified under oath about his wild story
The Denver native joined the Marines fresh out of high school. He had been serving for less than two years when he was deployed to the Philippines as a member of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to help distribute aid in the wake of a typhoon.
When a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Sumatra on September 30, 2009, his 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, Echo Co. 2nd Platoon was rerouted to help guard helicopter aid drops around Padang City, beset by violence from local insurgents.
Around October 8 he and five marines were dropped off at a clearing in the north eastern part of the city by a CH-53 chopper, and hiked 900ft up a ridge to take their positions for the incoming supply drop, Herrera said.
It was then he spotted a strange object in the jungle on the other side of the hill.
'I could see something moving and rotating. It was changing colors between a very light matte gray to a very dark matte black,' he said. 'It stuck out like a sore thumb.'
Oddly, he said, they had not been given radios, so instead of calling it in they edged down the hill in formation to investigate, while Herrera snapped photos and video on his Panasonic camera.
'The thing was massive, the size of a football field,' Herrera told DailyMail.com.
'The craft was rotating in a clockwise motion while changing colors. It had an audible hum to it, like the sound of a transformer or a guitar amp. It was an octagonal shape with a pyramid at the top of it that was black.
'It had 'scales' that were on the outside of the craft that covered the whole craft. It had seams and sharp edges which I suspect to be man-made. Nothing on it was smooth. It had some panels on the vertical edges that were like Vantablack.'
He claims that his six-man unit stumbled across a hovering octagonal craft and they were threatened at gunpoint by unmarked US forces at the scene. A rendering of the scene is above
Herrera claims an Air Force lieutenant colonel told him, 'You're not allowed to talk about what happened. You will go to prison, or you will die'
An aerial view of the damage from a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 30, 2009,. Herrera's unit was rerouted to help guard helicopter aid drops around Padang City, beset by violence from local insurgents
According to AARO's statistics of UFO reports between 1996 and 2023, only 1% are polygons (like an octagon), 2% disk-shaped, while 52% are orbs or spherical.
However, an object shot down in February over Lake Huron, Michigan by F-16 fighter jets – after their first missile missed – was described as 'octagonal' by congress members briefed on the incident.
Herrera claimed that when he and his five comrades got within 150 feet of the craft, they were ambushed by eight men wearing all-black camouflage, bullet-proof vests, wielding M4 rifles with high-end night vision attachments given to elite US troops.
'They had their weapons drawn on us,' he said. 'We could audibly hear their weapon safety levers flipping off safe.'
'Who the f*** are you guys? What are you doing here?' two of them yelled with American accents, he said.
'They said we weren't supposed to be there, and that they could kill us.'
As the men continued to threaten them, took the marines' weapons, dumped their ammunition and scanned their military IDs, Herrera said he saw others loading 'large weapon cases' and other containers from modified Ford F350 trucks onto a platform beneath the craft.
'When the last two trucks finished unloading and drove off, the lower part of the platform rose off the ground to about 10 feet and the craft lowered to meet it and it came together into one piece,' he said.
'On the corners of the craft, it had lights that were changing between blue, red, yellow and green.
'It rose off the ground and a little past the trees, then shot off to our left towards the ocean at around 4,000mph.
'We can't believe this is f***ing happening. From a dead stop, it didn't make any sound like a sonic boom, it didn't disturb the trees like rotor wash would. We could see coconuts on the trees and none of them were disturbed.'
Herrera said the eight unmarked soldiers gave them back their unloaded guns and marched them back over the hill, 'still telling us how they could kill us.'
'Once we got over the hill they told us to get the f*** away from here and don't look back.'
Herrera left the Navy in October 2011, his certificate of release showing four years of active duty and medals for 'national defense service', 'global war on terrorism service', 'humanitarian service', 'sea service deployment' and a 'sharpshooter rifle badge'
The six marines ran back to the aid drop site and were scolded by their gunnery sergeant for returning early, Herrera said, adding that they all kept quiet about the disturbing encounter.
'I was f***ing scared,' the veteran said. 'I was thinking: I could have been killed, how the hell am I going to explain this?'
Back on the USS Denver, Herrera's unit were debriefed by a rear admiral he didn't recognize. He said it was odd to have such a high-ranking officer there, and again none of them mentioned the saucer and unmarked troops.
A few days later they were docked in Subic Bay in the Philippines, the marine said. After an evening of drinking with his colleagues, he returned to find his camera's card and battery removed from his locked locker, along with his five comrades' phones missing.
In early December 2009 he was back at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan. He was told to report to the office, where he found an Air Force lieutenant colonel in full uniform but no name tag.
'He starts telling me, 'You're not allowed to talk about what happened, not to your chain of command, not even a general,' Herrera said. 'You will go to prison, or you will die.'
'He told me to keep my mouth shut and slid a paper to me which was an NDA. The only thing I can recall is that it said 'TS/SCI', Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information. And it had Indonesia on it.'
The rifleman said he signed and was told to 'get the f*** out of there'.
'I ran back to the barracks and haven't talked about it ever since. It's something I've kept secret for almost 14 years. But I've thought about it every single day.'
He left the Navy in October 2011, his certificate of release showing four years of active duty and medals for 'national defense service', 'global war on terrorism service', 'humanitarian service', 'sea service deployment' and a 'sharpshooter rifle badge'.
Herrera made several million dollars as an entrepreneur and now runs a private security company called Valkyrie Eye.
New UFO whistleblower protections enacted in December prompted the ex-marine to finally tell his story.
Former senior Air Force intelligence officer David Grusch gave an on-camera interview alleging that the US government possesses multiple crashed 'non-human' craft
New UFO whistleblower protections enacted in December prompted the ex-marine to finally tell his story. A Pentagon chief told a first-of-its-kind NASA hearing that unidentified metallic orb UFOs have been spotted 'all over the world'
Last year's annual military funding bill, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), included a new clause allowing whistleblowers to report previously undisclosed UFO 'material retrieval, material analysis, [and] reverse engineering' programs to the Pentagon's AARO team without fear of prosecution for violating their security oaths and non-disclosure agreements.
Herrera said in 2017 he met UFO activist Dr. Steven Greer at a conference, and Greer helped persuade him to talk and connected him with congressional and AARO staffers earlier this year.
Herrera is also planning to tell his story at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC on Monday organized by Greer, alongside four other UFO witnesses.
The ex-marine claims his five former comrades are too scared to come forward.
In a May 3 text message, one wrote: 'this is asking to[o] much of me and it's not worth the risk.'
'It's not worth my life or jeopardizing my family. I know we go way back, but this is asking to[o] much. You need to get out of whatever you are in and don't get me involved with this mess. My career isn't worth helping you. Don't ask me to do this s**t ever again.'
DailyMail.com verified the sender was a marine serving in the same unit in 2009.
'It sounds a bit like science fiction, but it actually is science fact,' Greer told DailyMail.com. 'These breakthroughs have been kept very, very secret, much to the detriment of the American people and the planet.
'We feel it's very important that the public understand this is not just a silly story about Little Green Men. This has very significant implications for the environment, for energy independence, for global poverty.'
Greer and his organization, the Disclosure Project, gained international attention as well as derision in 2001 when he gathered 20 retired Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration and intelligence officers at the National Press Club to tell their stories of extraordinary UFO and alien encounters.
The 2001 conference did not spark congressional hearings as Greer hoped.
Leslie Kean, an investigative journalist who was the first to bring Air Force whistleblower David Grusch forward to make his bombshell claims in her story in engineering news site The Debrief this week, said she was skeptical of Greer's approach in an interview with the New Yorker in 2021.
'There were some good people at that conference, but some of them were making outrageous, grandiose claims,' Kean said. 'I knew then that I had to walk away.'
Grusch has also reportedly released a statement distancing himself from Greer, after Greer claimed that he met with the senior military intelligence official in March 2022 in Culpeper, Virginia.
'I took my job very seriously, and early on, I allowed various individuals that alleged they had information to speak their truth as part of my evaluation process,' Grush reportedly said in a statement published on Twitter by UFO researcher Vinnie Adams this week.
'I emphatically request that Steven Greer cease using my name to promote his personal agenda.'
The former ER doctor spent the two decades following his 2001 press conference collecting UFO witnesses, and has now assembled a database of 746 people in or related to the US government.
Some have detailed and compelling stories and have even testified to AARO. Others are merely senior officials who made public statements acknowledging the possibility of UFOs having non-human origins. According to the database, 76 have passed away.
He will also be unveiling a 'Disclosure Project Intelligence Archive' with 'over 5 terabytes of government documents, whistleblower testimony and specific locations of illegally operated UFO projects,' according to a press release.
Greer has become a controversial figure even among UFO enthusiasts, making disputed claims and charging up to $3,500 for group sessions where he purports to teach and perform summonings of extraterrestrials using psychic powers.
A video of one of his 'contact' events in Vero Beach, Florida on January 27 2015 shows a light appearing over the Atlantic ocean which Greer attributed to aliens.
A July 2020 article by the Washington Examiner questioned whether it was in fact faked with a flare dropped from a Beech 76 Duchess plane that was flying offshore at that time.
Prominent figures have chided Greer over his statements, including late sixth man on the moon Edgar Mitchell who said Greer would 'overreach his data continuously', and former CIA director James Woolsey who wrote that a 1993 'briefing' Greer claimed he gave Woolsey was merely a 'distorted account of a dinner party'.
Greer called the allegations 'ridiculous and untrue', and said his Monday press conference was about the witnesses, not him.
'I would give anything to have someone else do this so I don't have to. But I don't see that happening,' he said.
'I just say the track record of what we've done over 30 years stands on its own.'
On June 12, 2023, Dr. Steven M. Greer, a renowned founder of the Disclosure Project, presented a compelling three-hour UFO conference. This conference featured whistleblowers who shared their astonishing testimonies. For 33 years, Dr. Greer has dedicated himself as a volunteer to the Disclosure Project. His most recent event before this was held 22 years ago on May 9, 2001, where 22 individuals from various government sectors participated.
In this long disclosure event, Dr. Greer presented his investigations on secret programs, and he was joined by six courageous whistleblowers who shared compelling information about covert operations. Among them was Michael Herrera, a former United States Marine, who shared an astonishing account from 2009 where he and five comrades saw a giant UFO being loaded with weapons while serving in Indonesia. During this incident, they were threatened at gunpoint by unmarked US forces at the scene.
Herrera was assigned to the 2nd Battalion 5th Marines, described as the most decorated infantry battalion within the Marine Corps. This battalion was part of Operation Ketsana, a humanitarian mission in the Philippines in 2009. Herrera’s unit was affiliated with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, primarily conducting maritime operations across Southeast Asia in partnership with the seventh naval fleet.
Herrera was on the USS Denver and went to help after a big tsunami and earthquake hit Padang City in Indonesia. It was surprising because it was Herrera’s first time doing a mission like this. When Herrera and his team got there on October 8, they got some important information. They found out that some of President Obama’s family might be there. They knew it was a dangerous place because of the threat from terrorist activities prevalent in Indonesia.
Their job was to keep the area safe and give people things they needed like medical supplies, food, water, and shelter. Herrera was picked to be one of the main people for this job. When they landed in Padang, it was all broken and damaged. Everything looked bad with fires and floods everywhere. They quickly went to a higher place so they could see better and plan. They had to be ready for anything.
Herrera and his team, armed with M16A4 rifles, advanced about 300 meters, maintaining a tactical column formation. Their primary goal was to maintain situational awareness, be prepared for potential engagements, and execute their mission amidst the harrowing conditions.
The Mystery Craft in the Jungle
Herrera had a camera and was taking pictures of a damaged area from a high spot. But he noticed something strange: a weird object in the jungle. This thing looked different from the trees around it. It changed colors from light gray to dark black and spun around. This was so memorable for Herrera that he could not forget it for 14 years. He and his team took pictures and videos of this odd object.
As they got closer to the strange object, Herrera and his team saw a group of soldiers. These soldiers looked American — a group of soldiers or, as Herrera described them, a “Rogue military force.” What made this encounter even more unsettling was their distinctly American appearance and gear. These were not just any soldiers; they were equipped similarly to elite Special Operations units, dressed in black camouflage and donning OTVs.
Finding these soldiers made things even more confusing. Why were they there? Were they part of a secret mission? Or something even stranger? Herrera’s story made people think a lot about what really happened that day. His story mixed a strange flying object, its odd behavior, and meeting mysterious soldiers. This made people wonder about secret things happening in the world.
As the tension escalated, Herrera and his team were on high alert. These soldiers looked like U.S. Special Forces but acted differently. Their clothes, weapons, and tools showed they were well-trained. Even though Herrera and his team were outnumbered, they stayed calm. They did not talk to the strange soldiers and moved away carefully. Their main goal was to keep safe and learn more about the unknown flying object and the mysterious soldiers.
Many questions arise about this strange meeting. Maybe these soldiers were doing secret missions without permission? Or were they guarding the strange flying object? Herrera thought maybe they were there to protect the craft and was curious about where it came from.
The flying object Herrera saw had unique features. He noticed its color changes and its pyramid-like top. It also made a sound like a guitar amp or a machine.
“They had no insignias on, they had no ranks,” Herrera began, describing the unidentified soldiers who confronted him and his team. The soldiers’ attire and equipment far surpassed the standard-issue gear Herrera and his unit possessed. Their M4A4 rifles were enhanced with Advanced Combat Optical Gunsights (ACOGs) and PEC 16 IR illumination devices, indicating advanced capabilities and possibly specialized training.
Things got intense quickly. Herrera remembered these soldiers yelling at him and his team. They made scary threats, suggesting they could harm them severely or even make them disappear. The soldiers were very thorough. They checked everyone’s identity carefully, using devices that looked like they were scanning their military cards. This made Herrera believe they were very organized and knew what they were doing.
Herrera also saw some trucks that looked suspicious. The trucks had special containers, and there were rumors that these might be used for illegal activities, like smuggling people. This worried Herrera because the area was already facing many problems.
The strangest part was when Herrera saw an odd flying object. It appeared suddenly and then left quickly without making any noise or causing any disturbance. Herrera and his team were shocked and did not know what to make of it.
“So as we’re going back between these guys, as well as what’s going on in the background at that time, there were four of these trucks which were f-350s.” However, it was what these trucks were transporting that took center stage in Herrera’s recounting.
He described the craft in vivid detail: “It floated right above the tree line.” He emphasized its unique shape, stating, “On each corner, it emanated a light. It was either red, yellow, green, or blue – only those four colors. I can distinctly remember.” This octagonal craft, with its mesmerizing lights, seemed to defy conventional understanding, as Herrera continued to describe its departure.
“As soon as it was able to break that tree line,” Herrera recounted, “it shot over to the left, basically where the ocean was, at a speed so fast I would estimate probably three, four, five thousand miles an hour – instantaneous like that.” The craft’s rapid movement, devoid of any discernible sonic boom or disturbance, left Herrera and his team in a state of shock and bewilderment.
From Herrera’s story, it sounded like he saw something very strange and unexpected. He did not understand what it was, and it left him with many questions. His story highlights the mystery of what he saw and suggests that there is a lot more to learn about such strange occurrences.
After this weird encounter, Herrera was approached by someone from the Air Force. This person, even though not wearing a name tag, made Herrera sign a paper promising not to talk about what happened. The paper had confusing terms on it, and Herrera was left puzzled and scared about what might happen if he spoke up.
As Herrera concluded his account, he made a compelling plea to Washington, urging political figures to address the situation. “There are people who are either being hurt or killed by this,” he emphasized, highlighting the gravity of the events he witnessed.
According to DailyMail, Herrera left the Navy in October 2011, his certificate of release showing four years of active duty and medals for “national defense service,” “global war on terrorism service,” “humanitarian service,” “sea service deployment” and a “sharpshooter rifle badge.” He made several million dollars as an entrepreneur and now runs a private security company called Valkyrie Eye.
Video/Photo Evidence
In this interview with Jimmy Chruch on FADE TO BLACK Radio, Herrera said that during the operation, he had a Panasonic camera capable of capturing both stills and videos. Throughout their mission, he took several photographs and videos, capturing the devastation and potentially more. Herrera concealed this vital evidence in his dump pouch, which seemed to go unnoticed by the individuals overseeing the mission.
When Herrera and his team got back to their ship, strange things started happening. As they gave back their weapons, they felt worried. They were scared about what might happen if their bosses found out about their strange experiences.
After their tough trip, Herrera and his team went to Subic Bay in the Philippines for a break. They tried to relax and have fun. But when Herrera went back to his ship, he found his camera in his locker. Sadly, the battery and memory card were gone. When he tried to use it again, it did not work. Herrera felt upset because he realized how important the missing camera parts were to his story.
Herrera shared more about what he learned from his experience. He talked to people who told him about secret groups that do bad things. These groups hurt people and try to keep their actions hidden. But Herrera also met some good people who wanted to tell the truth about these secret operations.
During an event with Dr. Greer, Herrera thought the containers they saw might have drugs. But someone from the group told him they were not drugs. This new information made everyone wonder: What were they really hiding? Why was it so secret? And how does this affect Herrera and his team?
Herrera said that these mysterious people have been doing secret stuff since the 1990s. Most of them come from JSOC, which is like the top experts in the military. He was careful when talking about them to keep things secret and protect people’s identities.
He remembered when these mysterious folks reached out to him. Instead of asking for his contact details, they gave him theirs. This made Herrera curious. He wanted to know why they did not harm him during a mission in 2009.
Herrera met these secretive people in a safe place out West. When he got there, they had strict rules to make sure no one was listening in on their talk. What Herrera learned surprised him.
He originally thought their main thing was illegal drug deals. But it turned out to be something even stranger. They seemed interested in people from certain backgrounds or groups, like the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These people were seen as spiritually wise and not influenced by mainstream beliefs, making them important for what the group was doing.
“They screen individuals with specific conscious abilities and higher consciousness. They particularly focus on people from third-world countries since these individuals haven’t been indoctrinated by television and lack certain resources. Consequently, their minds aren’t as clouded, making them more spiritually adept. Additionally, they recruit individuals from the Bureau of Indian Affairs for similar reasons: these individuals are spiritually more adept and have a higher level of consciousness, making them suitable participants for these programs.”
Herrera describes a group that works everywhere, not just in one country. They keep their actions hidden and use very advanced machines. To most people, these machines might look like they come from outer space, but they’ are made by humans. Because no one knows much about them, they can act fast and quietly.
A surprising thing Herrera says is that this group sometimes shoots down crafts that seem to be from outer space. They do this a few times every year. They also have strong weapons that can destroy other countries’ copied machines. Herrera tells stories of private planes that accidentally go into their area and get shot down. No one knows what happened to these planes or the people inside.
“They shoot down two to three ET crafts a year, retrieve them, and then take them away for analysis or whatever they do with them. Additionally, they shoot down aircraft from other agencies for reverse engineering purposes. Most of the time, these retrieved crafts are destroyed; they don’t return them. They often blow them up or discard them.
The airspace isn’t always open 24/7; it’s restricted, especially during operations or testing. When restricted, it’s limited up to 60,000 feet. Regrettably, some private aircraft have suffered tragic consequences because they didn’t divert their course. These planes were targeted with advanced weapons, which aren’t just experimental — they’re regularly used. After such incidents, they dispose of the wreckage, and bodies, and issue missing persons reports. They are adept at keeping their secrets, and that’s how their operations function.”
Herrera talks about a building that looks normal from the outside but is full of secret work inside. Even though it looks old and worn out, inside, it is busy with top-secret tasks. Most people working there come from places with lots of problems, like war or poverty. For them, the place might seem like a dream compared to what they had before.
EX US MARINE SAW MASSIVE UFO HIDDEN BY SECRET MILITARY IN INDONESIA JUNGLE IN 2009 ! 👽
Water is een cruciaal ingrediënt voor het ontstaan van leven op andere planeten, net als op Aarde, en dan het liefst in een waterkringloop waarbij het goedje in vloeibare vorm bij een aangename temperatuur rondstroomt. Australische wetenschappers waren dan ook erg enthousiast toen ze in een beroemde Marsmeteoriet oeroud bewijs vonden van waterhoudende vloeistoffen.
De onderzoekers uit Perth hebben mogelijk het oudste directe bewijs van heet water op Mars gevonden. De ontdekking toont aan dat de rode planeet in een ver verleden leefbaar moet zijn geweest. Het team bestudeerde een zeldzaam zirkoonkorreltje van 4,45 miljard jaar oud, afkomstig uit de beroemde Marsmeteoriet NWA7034, beter bekend als Black Beauty.
Zirkoon Het mineraal zirkoon is een zirkonium-silicaat met de molecuulformule ZrSiO4. De natuurlijke kleur van zirkoon varieert van kleurloos, goudgeel en rood tot bruin. Het mineraal wordt vaak verward met de synthetische edelsteen zirkonia, een geliefde imitatie van diamant, maar schijn bedriegt. Zirkonen zijn bijzonder goed bestand tegen verwering. Ze bevatten kleine hoeveelheden radioactieve isotopen van uranium en thorium, die op den duur vervallen tot een isotoop van lood. Door de verhoudingen van deze isotopen te bepalen is het mogelijk om de kristallisatietijd van het kristal te bepalen, en daarmee de ouderdom van het gesteente waarin het zich bevindt.
4,45 miljard jaar oude sporen In het piepkleine korreltje vonden de onderzoekers oeroud bewijs van geochemische ‘vingerafdrukken’ van waterhoudende vloeistoffen, zo schrijven ze in hun studie. Volgens onderzoeker Aaron Cavosie geeft deze ontdekking de mensheid nieuwe inzichten in de hydrothermale systemen van Mars en de mogelijkheid dat de planeet vroeger leefbaar was. “Met behulp van nanogeochemie hebben we bewijs gevonden van heet water op Mars, zo’n 4,45 miljard jaar geleden”, maakt de onderzoeker duidelijk. “Hydrothermale systemen speelden een cruciale rol in het ontstaan van leven op aarde. Ons onderzoek laat zien dat ook onze buurplaneet Mars water had tijdens de vroege vorming van zijn korst – een essentiële voorwaarde voor een leefbare omgeving.”
Nanogeochemie Door middel van hypermoderne beeldvormingstechnieken en spectroscopie op nanoschaal ontdekte het team patronen van elementen zoals ijzer, aluminium, yttrium en natrium in het zirkoon. Deze elementen zijn indertijd aan het mineraal toegevoegd tijdens de vorming van het kristal. Dit wijst erop dat er water aanwezig was op de rode planeet tijdens deze periode van vroege magmatische activiteit. Cavosie legt uit dat het water rondspoot op een moment in de planetaire geschiedenis, toen gigantische meteorietinslagen het oppervlak van Mars geselden en ontwrichtten. Dit spectaculaire proces vond plaats in de vroege Pre-Noachiaanse periode – een Martiaans tijdsgewricht meer dan 4,1 miljard jaar geleden.
Schokbestendig korreltje Een eerder onderzoek in 2022 van hetzelfde zirkoonkorreltje toonde aan dat het een meteorietinslag had doorstaan. Dat was een unieke vondst. Tot nu toe is het de eerste en enige bekende ‘geschokte’ zirkoon van Mars. “Door onze bevindingen zijn we een flinke stap verder gekomen in onze kennis over het vroege Mars”, vertelt Cavosie. “We hebben nu duidelijke aanwijzingen van waterhoudende vloeistoffen uit de tijd dat het korreltje zich vormde. We kunnen de geochemische markers van water in de oudste bekende korst van Mars nu aanwijzen en hierop kunnen we verder bouwen in onze vervolgonderzoeken.”
Deze ontdekking geeft een fascinerend kijkje in de vroege geschiedenis van Mars en levert nieuw bewijs dat onze buurplaneet ooit omstandigheden kende die vergelijkbaar waren met een jonge versie van de Aarde.
Je hebt ijstijden en ijstijden en die van ruim 700 miljoen jaar geleden was me er eentje. De Aarde veranderde in één grote ijzige bol, zelfs de oceanen waren dichtgevroren. Tot nu toe begrepen onderzoekers niet goed hoe dat kon, maar nu hebben ze een verklaring: de vulkanen stootten extreem weinig CO2 uit.
“Stel je voor dat de Aarde compleet bevroren is, want dat is wat er zo’n 700 miljoen jaar geleden gewoon is gebeurd. De planeet was bedekt met ijs van de polen tot de evenaar en de temperaturen doken naar beneden”, zegt hoofdonderzoeker Adriana Dutkiewicz. “Wat dit heeft veroorzaakt, was tot nu toe echter een open vraag.”
Maar ze denkt dat het mysterie van de zogenoemde Sneeuwbalaarde nu is opgelost. “Waarschijnlijk was er een historisch lage uitstoot van vulkanische CO2 in combinatie met de verwering van een enorme berg vulkanisch gesteente in wat nu Canada heet, een proces waarbij de basaltstenen CO2 uit de atmosfeer absorberen.” Dat werkt als volgt: regen slaat CO2 op uit de lucht. Die regen reageert met het verpulverde basalt, die de CO2 opslaat.
Inspiratie uit het zuiden van Australië De Australische geologen werden geïnspireerd door overblijfselen uit de ijstijd, die geweldig goed te zien zijn in de Flinders Ranges in Zuid-Australië. Een recente trip daarheen, bracht de wetenschappers op het idee om met behulp van een supercomputer van de University of Sydney tektonische plaatmodellen te bestuderen om te achterhalen wat de oorzaak is van de extreem lange en hevige ijstijd. De studie helpt bovendien om de natuurlijke thermostaat van de Aarde beter te begrijpen, die voorkomt dat onze planeet oververhit raakt. Het toont ook aan hoe gevoelig ons klimaat is voor de hoeveelheid CO2 in de atmosfeer.
Aan de slag met de computer De extreme ijstijd duurde van ongeveer 717 tot 550 miljoen jaar geleden. In die tijd bestond er geen complex leven. “Er zijn verschillende oorzaken genoemd voor het begin en het einde van deze ijstijd, maar het meest mysterieuze is waarom hij tientallen miljoenen jaren duurde, een lengte die wij ons nauwelijks kunnen voorstellen”, aldus Dutkiewicz.
De onderzoekers wendden zich tot een tektonisch plaatmodel dat de evolutie van continenten en oceanen laat zien in de periode na het uiteenvallen van supercontinent Rodina. Dat verbonden ze met een computermodel dat de CO2-ontgassing van onderwatervulkanen berekende langs de breuklijnen waar de tektonische platen uit elkaar drijven en nieuwe oceaanbodem ontstaat.
Kalme vulkanen Zo zagen ze al snel dat het begin van de ijstijd precies overeenkwam met een ongezien dieptepunt aan vulkanische CO2-uitstoot. Daarbij bleef de uitstroom van CO2 relatief laag gedurende de hele ijstijd. “In die tijd waren er geen meercellige dieren of landplanten op Aarde. De broeikasgasconcentratie in de atmosfeer werd bijna volledig bepaald door de CO2-uitstoot van vulkanen en de CO2-opslag van verpulverd vulkanisch gesteente.”
Met andere woorden, vulkanen bepaalden het klimaat op Aarde. “We denken dat de ijstijd begon door een dubbele klap: een opschudding van de tektonische platen bracht de ontgassing van vulkanen tot een minimum, terwijl tegelijkertijd een vulkanische provincie in Canada begon te eroderen. Die sloeg dus een enorme berg CO2 op”, legt professor Dietmar Müller van de University of Sydney uit. “Het gevolg was dat het CO2-niveau in de atmosfeer zo laag werd dat de ijstijd begon. De schatting is dat dit gebeurt bij minder dan 200 CO2-deeltjes per miljoen, minder dan de helft van wat er nu in de atmosfeer zit.”
De toekomst Het onderzoek roept interessante vragen op over de toekomst van de Aarde. Volgens een recente theorie zou onze planeet in de komende 250 miljoen jaar kunnen evolueren tot Pangea Ultima, een supercontinent, dat zo heet is dat zoogdieren mogelijk uitsterven. De CO2-uitstoot van vulkanen wordt echter op de lange termijn minder is de verwachting, dus misschien verandert Pangea Ultima ook weer in een ijsbal. “Wat de toekomst ook brengt, het is belangrijk om te weten dat geologische klimaatverandering, zoals we die hier beschrijven, extreem langzaam gaat. Volgens de NASA gaat door mensen veroorzaakte klimaatverandering tien keer sneller dan we tot nu toe hebben gezien”, klinkt het tot besluit.
Scientists have revealed new details about the impact of a massive asteroid that hit the US roughly 35 million years ago.
The asteroid, between three and five miles wide, created a giant 25-mile-wide crater in what now lies beneath Chesapeake Bay, with the center located at the southern end of Northampton County near Cape Charles, Virginia.
Instead, they found 'our planet seemed to carry on as usual,' according to study co-author Bridget Wade with University College London (UCL).
What's more, the researchers found another giant asteroid collided with what is now Russia some 25,000 years prior and only disrupted Earth's climate for a brief period.
That impact left a 60-mile-wide crater - known today as the Popigai crater - in northern Siberia.
These two asteroid strikes formed the fourth and fifth largest known craters on Earth, and yet, they did not trigger any measurable climate changes over the following 150,000 years, the researchers concluded.
'However, our study would not have picked up shorter-term changes over tens or hundreds of years, as the samples were every 11,000 years,' Wade explained.
'Over a human time scale, these asteroid impacts would be a disaster. They would create a massive shockwave and tsunami, there would be widespread fires, and large amounts of dust would be sent into the air, blocking out sunlight.'
Roughly 35 million years ago, an enormous asteroid slammed into the ocean off the eastern coast the North American continent, but didn't cause climactic changes (STOCK)
The asteroid, between three and five miles wide, created a giant 25-mile crater in what now lies beneath Chesapeake Bay, with the center located at the southern end of Northampton County near Cape Charles, Virginia
Evidence of the asteroid impacts were found in tiny droplets of silica, which appeared like small balls of glass.
The formations were created by the intense heat released as the asteroid impacts vaporized rocks on.
The team inferred what Earth's climate looked like after the asteroid strikes by analyzing carbon and oxygen isotopes in more than 1,500 fossils of shelled, single-celled organisms called foraminifera.
These tiny sea creatures lived near the ocean surface or on the sea floor between 35.5 and 35.9 million years ago, and served as a record of how warm Earth's oceans were at that time.
The fossils were found embedded within 10 feet of a rock core drilled from underneath the Gulf of Mexico by the scientific Deep Sea Drilling Project.
The researchers found shifts in isotopes 100,000 years prior to the two asteroid impacts that suggested the ocean surface warmed 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, and the deep ocean cooled 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
But they did not find evidence of any climactic shifts around the time of the impacts or afterwards.
Another giant asteroid that collided with what is now Russia some 25,000 years prior similarly did not disrupt Earth's climate for more than a brief period
The isotope samples collected were over intervals of 11,000 years, and therefore do not reflect the short-term affects of these massive asteroid impacts, which would have been a 'disaster' over a human time scale, Wade said.
The Chicxulub impact, for example, caused a shift in climate on a much smaller timescale of less than 25 years. But it was so extreme that it triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs.
'So we still need to know what is coming and fund missions to prevent future collisions,' Wade said.
Evidence of the asteroid impacts were found in tiny droplets of silica, which appeared like small balls of glass. The formations were created by the intense heat released as the asteroid impacts vaporized rocks on
The PDCO's primary mission is finding, tracking and better understanding asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. But it also launched the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission in November 2021.
This mission rammed a spacecraft into the near-Earth asteroid Dimorphos to alter its trajectory - a strategy NASA could one day use to save the planet from an oncoming asteroid.
Even though Wade and Cheng's study did note capture the more immediate affects of the strikes, they did create a more precise timeline of climactic change, as previous studies used fossils samples over intervals longer than 11,000 years.
What's more, using fossils that lived at different ocean depths provided a more complete picture of how the oceans responded to the asteroid strikes.
'It was fascinating to read Earth's climate history from the chemistry preserved in microfossils,' Cheng said.
The conversation of baffled pilots tracking 'super bright' UFOs 'moving real quick' above their planes in Texas has been revealed.
The short audio heard flight crews on American Airlines and Spirit planes speaking with air traffic control (ATC) on the night of November 30, as they were both flying into the Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
The American Airlines pilot was the first to contact ATC, saying: 'We are following these two lights that are up above us that are kind of jogging back-and-forth, left and right, for the past, like, half hour.'
A Spirit Airlines pilot was then heard describing a similar experience, noting their flight crew was 'watching them for about an hour or two in the northwest sky.'
He continued to explain that he saw the same phenomenon a week earlier.
The American Airlines pilot, flying from Louisville, Kentucky to Dallas-Fort Worth, said that the odd lights were above his cruising altitude of 34,000 feet.
'The lights were quite a bit above us on the horizon,' the pilot later explained.
'My first thought was satellites, but they kept getting super bright and [going] away over and over.'
Fort Worth ATC checked in with the US Air Force about possible activity over two, nearby 'military operations areas' (MOAs) — at the pilot's behest — but neither MOA had craft in the skies that night, as confirmed on radar.
Baffled pilots with American Airlines and Spirit tracked two unexplained, 'super bright' UFOs 'kinda jogging back and forth, left and right,' over Dallas, Texas. And at least one motorist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area also noted the UFOs that night, posting video to TikTok (pictured above)
The video (screencapture above), taken near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on November 30th, appears to corroborate the two aircrew reports, based on the poster's independent account. 'They would disappear and reappear in different formations,' the TikToker wrote
'It's gonna sound a little weird,' the pilot about the American Airlines aboard flight ENY3413 can be heard telling Fort Worth air traffic control (ATC) in real time, 'but [...] they get super bright and then go completely dim also.'
While the pilot for the budget passenger airliner Spirit on flight NKS1757 did not mention a change in brightness, he did report getting a much longer look at the two mysterious aerial lights up to two hours of flight time.
And, he explained, the UFOs were moving 'real quick' and about '100 miles out in space.'
The Spirit pilot also added that the odd lights appeared to be independent of each other, not fixed to one object, whether it was terrestrial aircraft, alien flying saucers or something else.
'They split positions,' he told ATC. 'It's the first time I've seen them change relative position.'
The American Airlines pilot explicitly asked ATC whether or not the US military had activity in the Rivers, Oklahoma 'military operations area' (MOA) to the north, which is used by the Air Force's 138th Fighter Group.
'I asked if the RIVERS MOA was hot and they said 'no' with nobody on radar,' the pilot told the YouTube flight-tracking channel VISAviation.
'Do you know if the Rivers MOA is hot? You got anybody messing around over there?' the pilot of AA flight ENY3413 can be heard asking on radio.
'It is cold,' ATC replied. 'I am curious why you ask?'
The American Airlines pilot, who was flying from Louisville, Kentucky that night, said that the odd UFO lights were above his own cruising altitude of 34,000 feet: 'The lights were quite a bit above us on the horizon [...] they kept getting super bright and [going] away over and over'
Another Tik Tok user in the area, who posts as @godandtruth777, might have also captured the UFOs on film (above), commenting: 'Seen in DFW! And they didn't look like planes!'
The pilot also enquired about Shirley MOA north of Little Rock, Arkansas, used by Arkansas Air National Guard's 188th Fighter Wing, but this MOA was 'cold' that night as well.
'Nobody on the radar,' the pilot noted. 'It was super odd because they were high and fast and kept with us for a long time.'
'They kept the same 1-2 o'clock position on us for about 250 miles,' as he wrote in his email to VASAviation.
'And would be moving in formation, sometimes really fast on the horizon.'
After their half-hour long UFO encounter, this American Airlines flight landed in Dallas-Fort Worth around 9:42pm local time.
A third passenger jet, American Airlines flight AA2800, was also nearby in the sky that night but it is unclear whether anyone on board also caught a glimpse of the strange, blinking and fast-moving lights.
And at least one motorist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area also captured UFOs in the sky that night, posting video to TikTok under her handle @laurenallison45 — and claiming 'No they arent airplanes. Positive of that!'
'I've lived here my entire life, and I have never seen anything like this,' Lauren Allison said in her post. 'What is that?!' she can be heard wondering in her clip.
The citizen video, taken near Dallas Fort Worth International Airport on November 30, appears to corroborate the two aircrew reports, based on the poster's independent account.
'They would disappear and reappear in different formations,' the TikToker noted, identifying a distinct feature of the UFO lights that were also reported by the American Airlines pilot flying in from Louisville aboard flight ENY3413.
Another Tik Tok user in the area, who posts as @godandtruth777, might have also captured the UFOs on film, commenting: 'Seen in DFW! And they didn't look like planes!'
People are hooked on finding out what is going on in the sky. So far, answers remain limited, and the government has admitted it has zero explanation for some sightings.
A team of researchers at Cornell University has created a new class of magnetically controlled microscopic robots (microbots) that operate at the visible-light diffraction limit. Termed diffractive robots, these microbots can interact with waves of visible light and still move independently, so that they can maneuver to specific locations to take images and measure forces at the scale of some of the body’s smallest structures.
A diffractive robot.
Image credit: Smart et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adr2177.
Diffractive robotics connects, for the first time, untethered robots with imaging techniques that depend on visible light diffraction — the bending of a light wave when it passes through an opening or around something.
The imaging technique requires an opening of a size comparable to the light’s wavelength.
For the optics to work, robots must be on that scale, and for the robots to reach targets to image, they have to be able to move on their own.
Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University
Itai Cohen, professor of physics, in his lab in the Physical Sciences Building.
Controlled by magnets making a pinching motion, the robots can inch-worm forward on a solid surface. They can also ‘swim’ through fluids using the same motion.
The combination of maneuverability, flexibility and sub-diffractive optical technology create a significant advance in the field of robotics.
“A walking robot that’s small enough to interact with and shape light effectively takes a microscope’s lens and puts it directly into the microworld,” said Cornell University’s Professor Paul McEuen.
“It can perform up-close imaging in ways that a regular microscope never could.”
“These robots are between 2 and 5 microns. They’re tiny. And we can get them to do whatever we want by controlling the magnetic fields driving their motions.”
A magnified view of the tiny crab robot, standing on the edge of a coin.
Credit: Northwestern University
“I’m really excited by this convergence of microrobotics and microoptics,” said Cornell University’s Dr. Francesco Monticone.
“The miniaturization of robotics has finally reached a point where these actuating mechanical systems can interact with and actively shape light at the scale of just a few wavelengths — a million times smaller than a meter.”
To magnetically drive robots at this scale, the team patterned the bots with hundreds of nanometer-scale magnets that have an equal volume of material but two different shapes — long and thin, or short and stubby.
Jason Koski/Cornell University
Itai Cohen, center, professor of Physics and Design Tech, works with Melody Lim, left, and Zexi Liang, right, at Cohen’s lab in the Physical Sciences Building.
“The long, thin ones need a larger magnetic field to flip them from pointing one way to pointing the other, while the short, stubby ones need a smaller field,” said Cornell University’s Professor Itai Cohen.
“That means you can apply a big magnetic field to get them all aligned, but if you apply a smaller magnetic field, you only flip the short, stubby ones.”
To create the robots, the authors combined this principle with very thin films.
“One of the main optical engineering challenges was figuring out the most suitable approach for three tasks — tuning light, focusing, and super-resolution imaging — for this specific platform, because “different approaches have different performance trade-offs depending on how the microrobot can move and change shape,” Dr. Monticone said.
“There’s a benefit to being able to mechanically move the diffracting elements in order to enhance imaging,” Professor Cohen said.
The robot itself can be used as a diffraction grading, or a diffractive lens can be added. In this way, the robots can act as a local extension of the microscope lens looking down from above.
The robots measure forces by using the same magnet-driven pinching motion that enables them to walk to push against structures.
“These robots are very compliant springs. So as something pushes against them, the robot can squeeze,” Professor Cohen said.
“That changes the diffraction pattern, and we can measure that quite nicely.”
Force-measurement and optical abilities can be applied in basic research, as in explorations of the structure of DNA; or they might be deployed in a clinical setting.
“Looking to the future, I can imagine swarms of diffractive microbots performing super-resolution microscopy and other sensing tasks while walking across the surface of a sample,” Professor Monticone said.
“I think we are really just scratching the surface of what is possible with this new paradigm marrying robotic and optical engineering at the microscale.”
China’s growing presence in space has been undeniable since the turn of the century. Between sending the first “taikonaut” to space in 2003 (Yang Liwei), launching the first Chinese robotic mission to the Moon (Chang’e-1) in 2007, and the deployment of their Tiangong space station between 2021-2022, China has emerged as a major power in space. Accordingly, they have bold plans for the future, like the proposed expansion of their Tiangong space station and the creation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) by 2035.
In their desire to become a space power that can rival NASA, China also has its sights on Mars. In addition to crewed missions that will culminate in a “permanent base,” they intend to conduct a sample-return mission in the near future. This will be performed by the Tianwen-3 mission, which is currently scheduled to launch in 2028 and return samples to Earth by 2031. In a recent article, the Tianwen-3 science team outlined their exploration strategy, including the methods used to retrieve the samples, the target locations, and how they’ll be analyzed for biosignatures that could indicate the presence of past life.
This mission is the third in China’s Tianwen (Chinese for “questions to heaven”) exploration program. The previous mission (Tianwen-1) included an orbiter, a lander, and the Zhurong rover, which reached Mars in February 2021. The successful deployment of this mission made China the third nation (after the Soviet Union and the U.S.) to land on Mars. Highlights of the mission include the mapping of the entire Martian surface by the orbiter and the discovery of hydrated minerals by Zhurong, further confirming that Mars once had liquid water on its surface.
“China has retrieved the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon with the Chang’e-6 mission this year. Since Mars is much farther away than the moon, it will take two launches to carry out the Mars sample-return mission due to the limited carrying capacities of our current rockets. Two Long March-5 carrier rockets will be used for the mission.”
Other details include the 86 potential landing sites proposed by the team, which are primarily concentrated in the ancient Chryse Planitia and Utopia Planitia regions. These areas are considered good places to search for potential biosignatures that could be preserved remains of ancient life. This includes features that indicate the presence of past water, including delta fans, lake beds, and the coastline, suggesting the presence of a past ocean in the Northern Lowlands. The team also stated that Tianwen-3 will carry payloads developed with international partners.
They also stressed the necessity for new instruments specifically designed to detect biosignatures. To this end, they have developed a 13-phase mission plan that leverages in-situ and remote-sensing detection technologies. Liu also disclosed that the mission will rely on multi-point surface sampling, fixed-point in-depth drilling, and in-flight vehicle sampling to obtain diverse samples. They also state that China will conduct joint research with scientists worldwide on Mars samples and detection data.
What is clear from this latest news is that China intends to preempt NASA and the ESA’s proposed Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission. Due to budget cuts announced earlier this year, this mission is currently stuck in the design phase. Similarly, China has indicated that the Tianwen-4 mission will explore the Jupiter system to learn more about its moons and their evolutionary history. This mission is scheduled to launch in September 2029 and will follow on the heels of NASA’s Europa Clipper and the ESA’s JUpiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE).
This is in keeping with China’s pattern of following in NASA’s footsteps, catching up with them and surpassing them as the leader in space exploration. If they manage to return Martian samples to Earth before either NASA or the ESA, they will have accomplished a task no other space agency has. However, given the scientific value of these samples and the international cooperation that will go into their analysis will be to the benefit of all.
Astronauts on Long Missions Will Need Personal AI Assistants
How can artificial intelligence (AI) help astronauts on long-term space missions? This is what a recent study presented at the 2024 International Astronautical Congress in Milan, Italy, hopes to address as an international team of researchers led by the German Aerospace Center introduce enhancements for the Mars Exploration Telemetry-Driven Information System (METIS) system and how this could help future astronauts on Mars mitigate the communications issues between Earth and Mars, which can take up to 24 minutes depending in the orbits. This study holds the potential to develop more efficient technology for long-term space missions beyond Earth, specifically to the Moon and Mars.
Here, Universe Today discusses this incredible research with Oliver Bensch, who is a PhD student at the German Aerospace Center regarding the motivation behind the study, the most significant results and follow-up studies, the significance of using specific tools for enhancing METIS, and the importance of using AI-based technology on future crewed missions. Therefore, what was the motivation behind this study regarding AI assistants for future space missions?
“Current astronauts rely heavily on ground support, especially during unexpected situations,” Bensch tells Universe Today. “Our project aims to explore new ways to support astronauts, making them more autonomous during missions. Our focus was to make the great amount of multimodal data, like documents or sensor data easily, and most importantly, reliably available to astronauts in natural language. This is especially relevant when we think about future long-duration space missions, e.g., to Mars where there is a significant communication latency.”
The goal of the study was to develop a system that can improve astronaut autonomy, safety, and efficiency in conducting mission objectives on long-duration space missions to either the Moon or Mars. As noted, communication delays between the Earth and Mars can be as high as 24 minutes, so astronauts being able to make on-the-spot decisions could mean the difference between life and death. Therefore, what were the most significant results from this study?
“In our project we aim to integrate documents, like procedures, with live sensor data and other additional information into our Knowledge Graph,” Bensch tells Universe Today. “The stored and live updated information is then displayed in an intuitive way using augmented reality cues and natural language voice interaction, enhancing the autonomy of the astronauts. Reliable answers are ensured by backlinks to the Knowledge Graph, enabling astronauts to verify the information, something that is not possible when just relying on large language model-based assistants as they are prone to generating inaccurate or fabricated information.”
Regarding follow-up studies, Bensch tells Universe Today the team is currently working with the MIT Media Lab Space Exploration Initiative and aspires to work with astronauts at the European Space Agency’s European Astronaut Centre sometime in 2025.
As noted, the researchers integrated Generative Pretrained Transformer (GPT) Models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Knowledge Graphs (KGs), and Augmented Reality (AR) with the goal of enabling more autonomy for astronauts on future long-term space missions. GPTs are designed to serve as a framework for generative artificial intelligence and was first used by OpenAI in 2018.
RAGs help enhance generative artificial intelligence by enabling the algorithm to input outside data and documentation from the user and are comprised of four stages: indexing, retrieval, augmentation, and generation. KGs knowledge bases responsible for enhancing data through storing connected datasets and the term was first used by Austrian linguist Edgar W. Schneider in 1972. AR is a display interface that combines the elements of the virtual and real world with the goal of immersing the user with a virtual environment while still maintaining the real-world surroundings. Therefore, what was the significance of combining RAGs, KGs, and AR to produce this new system?
“Traditional RAG systems typically retrieve and generate responses based on a single matching document,” Bensch tells Universe Today. “However, the challenges of space exploration often involve processing distributed and multimodal data, ranging from procedural manuals and sensor data to images and live telemetry, such as temperatures or pressures. By integrating KGs, we address these challenges by organizing data into an interconnected, updatable structure that can accommodate live data and provide contextually relevant responses. KGs act as a backbone, linking disparate sources of information and enabling astronauts to access cohesive and accurate insights across multiple documents or data types.”
Bensch continues, “AR enhances this system by offering intuitive, hands-free interfaces. By overlaying procedures, sensor readings, or warnings directly onto the astronaut’s field of view, AR minimizes cognitive load and reduces the need to shift focus between devices. Additionally, voice control capabilities allow astronauts to query and interact with the system naturally, further streamlining task execution. Although each technology provides some benefit individually, their combined use offers significantly greater value to astronauts, especially during long-duration space missions where astronauts need to operate more autonomously.”
While this study addresses how AI could help astronauts on future space missions, AI is already being used in current space missions, specifically on the International Space Station (ISS), and include generative AI, AI robots, machine learning, and embedded processors. For AI robots, the ISS uses three 12.5-inch cube-shaped robots named Honey, Queen, and Bumble as part of NASA’s Astrobee program designed to assist ISS astronauts on their daily tasks. All three robots were launched to the ISS across two missions in 2019, with Honey briefly returning to Earth for maintenance shortly after arriving at the orbiting outpost and didn’t return until 2023.
Each powered by an electric fan, the three robots perform tasks like cargo movement, experiment documentation, and inventory management, along with possessing a perching arm to hold handrails for energy conservation purposes. The long-term goal of the program is to help enhance this technology for use on lunar crewed missions and the Lunar Gateway. But how important is it to incorporate artificial intelligence into future crewed missions, specifically to Mars?
“Astronauts are currently supported by a team during training and their missions,” Bensch tells Universe Today. “Mars missions involve significant delays, which makes ground support difficult during time critical situations. AI assistants that provide quick, reliable access to procedures and live data via voice and AR are essential for overcoming these challenges.”
How will AI assistants help astronauts on long-term space missions in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
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