Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 13 YEARS AND 2 MONTH.
ON 06/08/2024 MORE THAN 2.161.100
VISITORS FROM 135 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
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
Zoeken in blog
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...
02-08-2024
Flying Saucer? No, But This Inflatable Heat Shield Could Help Astronauts Land on Mars
Flying Saucer? No, But This Inflatable Heat Shield Could Help Astronauts Land on Mars
NASA says that its new inflatable heat shield, which may one day assist in landing humans on Mars, will soon be launched with a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite to help study Earth’s climate.
Currently undergoing tests at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is an inflatable heat shield designed to withstand incredible temperatures approaching 2900°F, for use in slowing down large payloads.
Following tests at Vandenberg, the LOFTID is scheduled to be included as a secondary payload aboard NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) satellite. The space agency hopes that current testing of the device will help gauge its capabilities for future missions, which may include the delivery of everything from future robotic explorers that will follow in the tread marks left by Perseverance to spacecraft carrying human crews.
NASA’s LOFTID inflatable heat shield undergoes electromagnetic testing in a shielded room (Credit: NASA).
“LOFTID is dedicated to the memory of Bernard Kutter, manager of advanced programs at ULA, who passed away in August 2020 and was an advocate for technologies like LOFTID that can lower the cost of space access,” the space agency said in a statement.
Over the last several weeks, the LOFTID underwent a complete systems test, along with several environmental tests, electromagnetic compatibility tests, and other checkups, along with match-mate testing between NASA and ULA components to help ensure that the systems can be successfully integrated prior to launch.
Following testing, the heat shield (also called an aeroshell) was fully inflated under conditions that replicated its orbital deployment environment, after which it underwent laser-assisted measurements before being repackaged for launch.
The LOFTID will be carried to space on board a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket, after which its inflation mechanism will be deployed. Then, traveling at speeds nearing 5 miles per second, the inflatable heat shield will be tested on whether it can withstand the tremendous pressures of re-entry.
The LOFTID, a project of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, falls under its Technology Demonstration Missions program. In partnership with United Launch Alliance (ULA), the current LOFTID launch is being overseen out of Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.
Micah Hanks is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. Follow his work atmicahhanks.com and on Twitter:@MicahHanks.
A thought-provoking interview has recently been conducted between Project Unity host Jay Anderson and the U.S. Congressman Andy Ogles. The discussion focused on the implications of complete UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) disclosure. Anderson asked serious questions to Rep. Ogles about UFOs, revealing that the release of extraterrestrial technology could potentially disrupt the world economy and energy sector.
Rep. Andy Ogles spoke about the difficulty in gathering information due to the compartmentalization of special access projects, emphasizing the need for a methodical and persistent approach to uncover the truth. In the interview, he expressed his concern about UAPs operating in both military and commercial airspace, raising questions about the potential national security threats. He said, “I’m not going to assume I know what it may or may not be. What I do know is there’s a national security issue here.”
He considers various possibilities, including the involvement of experimental aircraft, joint ventures, or foreign adversaries. He emphasizes the importance of avoiding predetermined conclusions and encourages an open-minded investigation to determine the true nature of the UAP phenomenon.
When asked about his personal understanding of UAPs, Rep. Ogles talks about the hope that it might be advanced technology possessed by the United States. He says, “My hope would be… some new technology that we possess… puts us that next generation above our adversaries.” However, he acknowledges the mysterious aspects of UAPs, saying they seem to “defy physics.”
Rep. Ogles then considers the energy implications of the advanced propulsion technology displayed by UAPs. He wonders about the amount of energy needed for such rapid movements and how it could impact the energy sector.
He says, “That being said, these UAPs seem to defy physics. They seem to have some sort of propulsion technology that’s unknown to man as we understand it. So, what does that do to the energy sector? If there’s a new way of thinking about the amount of energy it takes to take a craft that’s hovering and suddenly it’s going Mach one in a matter of seconds – the human body can’t sustain that as we understand it, right? So that craft would have to have next-level technology to protect tissue, if you will, or it’s an unmanned type of craft. Again, there are just a lot of questions that have to be probed. But, if there is this propulsion technology out there and this energy capability out there, not only are we in a renaissance when it comes to aircraft, but we’re in a renaissance in terms of propulsion and energy production consumption. So, again, huge implications across the economic scale, both domestically and internationally.”
He mentions his inquiries in committee about the DOE (Department of Energy), suggesting it could be an ideal place to house top-secret technologies. He says, “If you’re going to house a top-secret Next Level technology, what better place to have it and house it than… nuclear facilities.”
“Everybody knows about Area 51. It’s a testing area… You’ve got this super top-secret, super secure facility that, again, would be ideal to have and to house some new technology, emerging technology that we want to fully master for ourselves and quite frankly control. Because again, as you look at that next generation of warfare, it’s not just tanks and planes. It’s drones. It’s unmanned aircraft. It’s economic. There’s a lot that’s about to happen as we go forward as a superpower and our competitive edge on the global stage.”
Later in the interview, Jay Anderson brings up Congressman Burchett’s positive impression of David Grusch’s testimony during classified briefings. Rep. Ogles says that credible sources have vouched for Grusch’s reliability. He suggests believing what Grusch said, thinking about it carefully, and not trying to say it is wrong without some good proof. Ogles says it is important to keep an open mind, focus on getting answers, and not to try finding faults without good reasons.
Rep. Ogles explains that it does not require unanimous congressional support but rather the speaker’s will to initiate action. He emphasizes the bipartisan interest in addressing the issue and expresses the need for a select committee to ensure transparency and accountability in the investigation. He, along with Congressman Burchett, acknowledges the likelihood of a multi-decade cover-up or compartmentalization due to the secretive nature of special access programs (SAPs) and classified information related to national security.
When asked about evidence suggesting reverse engineering or more exotic propositions, Rep. Ogles mentions the classification of such information and the need for careful consideration. He discusses questions about the origin of technology, whether it is our own creation or recovered from elsewhere, and the potential for reverse engineering.
Stephen Bassett, the only registered lobbyist of Washington and founder of Paradigm Research Group, shares the same UFO disclosure concerns that will pose serious implications for the world’s economy.
The PRG researchers claim they have known the reasons why the US authorities were hiding information about UFOs. According to them, disclosing UFO data would lead to the collapse of the entire world economy. Bassett added that all so-called “flying saucers” do not use oil, gasoline, gas, or coal. “They have a different energy system. Without a doubt, a much more complex and deep system based on anti-gravity,” he said.
“Some programs have been removed from the jurisdiction of the White House and Congress and are working somewhere very, very deep, in a ‘hidden mode,'” the researcher emphasized. “I assure you, when the head of state finally officially admits this fact and presents evidence, people will start to worry and want to know more.” But even if the economy stops developing in the current way, it will have new opportunities, Bassett believes.
During an interview with uInterview, he said that UFOs are not unidentified flying objects, as the acronym suggests, but rather alternative energy and propulsion devices. The technology behind UFOs was heavily studied by a team headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and by 1954, they had developed what is known as “gravity control” and “zero-point energy.”
[Editor’s note] In January 2015, former NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell sent an email to Podesta, asking him to have an urgent meeting to discuss Disclosure and Zero Point Energy (ZPE). He was concerned about the peace in space. Mitchell wrote: “My Catholic colleague Terri Mansfield will be there too, to bring us up to date on the Vatican’s awareness of ETI. Another colleague is working on a new Space Treaty, citing involvement with Russia and China. However, with Russia’s extreme interference in Ukraine, I believe we must pursue another route for peace in space and ZPE on Earth.” (Click here to read the full article)
However, Dr. Greer stated that the secrecy surrounding this technology went off the rails and became deeply entrenched in compartmented intelligence operations, even causing President Eisenhower to become frustrated with being denied information on the projects.
“The problem became to be, and this is what President Eisenhower warned us about, the secrecy became so enmeshed and compartmented in intelligence operations, that even he as president lost control over it,” Dr. Greer said.
He further stated: “One of our military witnesses, he was a young man working at the White House – which I’m looking at from my place here in Washington, he told us, Mr. Lubkin, who is an attorney, said that Eisenhower was very frustrated that he was being denied information on the projects controlling this issue. So the secrecy went off the rails into these unacknowledged special access projects.”
The disclosure of UFOs would mean the end of oil, gas, coal, and public utilities, as the technology would completely transform the world. Those with trillions of dollars invested in these industries would not be enthused about this possibility. This is the reason for the secrecy, and it has been maintained for 70 years, according to Dr. Greer.
NASA’s Curiosity rover has made an uncharacteristically colorful discovery on the Red Planet. It revealed a small pocket of yellow crystals hidden within a stone on the Martian surface.
The colorful stones, composed of sulfur, were found on May 30 during the rover’s exploration of a sulfate-rich region of the Martian surface. However, the discovery of the bright yellow crystalline mineral was an unexpected find for the Curiosity team, marking a colorful first that, to date, has never been previously encountered on the Red Planet.
The discovery raises several intriguing questions about Mars and its history, as well as what environmental factors could have led to the formation of the crystals.
A Chance Discovery
Since October 2023, Curiosity has been scouring the Gediz Vallis channel on Mount Sharp, an area where scientists believe ancient lava flows occurred in the planet’s early history. The Martian rover has concentrated its explorations in the area, given the region’s promising potential for having once been home to microbial life or even the possibility that it may still be a present-day refuge for such simple organisms.
The sulfur was revealed in a chance discovery as NASA’s Curiosity rover smashed open a rock by driving over it (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS).
The discovery of the colorful mineral was made by chance, as Curiosity cracked open a rock while driving over it. To the Curiosity team’s surprise, the yellow interior of the stone revealed what is likely to be pure sulfur, whereas the sulfates that are normally encountered in the area are salts comprised of combinations of sulfur and other minerals.
Unveiling Mount Sharp’s Mysteries
Since 2014, NASA’s Curiosity rover has made its ascent of Mount Sharp, where its explorations of the Gediz Vallis channel have revealed a portion of the landscape once shaped by ancient water flows on the planet. Curiosity’s present mission is to investigate whether this ancient channel and its surrounding terrain could have supported microbial life, particularly at a time when water was more abundant on Mars.
“This was not a quiet period on Mars,” according to Becky Williams, a scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and deputy principal investigator of Curiosity’s Mast Camera. “There was an exciting amount of activity here.
“We’re looking at multiple flows down the channel, including energetic floods and boulder-rich flows,” Williams said.
Going forward, the Curiosity team hopes to conduct drilling on larger rocks in the area to determine if they may also contain sulfur crystals. Presently, the relationship between elemental sulfur and other sulfur-based minerals in the area remains unclear to scientists studying the Martian environment.
“Finding a field of stones made of pure sulfur is like finding an oasis in the desert,” said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity’s project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
“It shouldn’t be there, so now we have to explain it,” Vasavada said in a statement.
“Discovering strange and unexpected things is what makes planetary exploration so exciting.”
New imagery from beneath Antarctica’s Dotson Ice Shelf obtained by an underwater robot has revealed previously unseen features, some of them hundreds of feet long, that provide scientists an unprecedented look at the dynamics of the southernmost continent’s ice shelves.
Ran, an undersea robot that uses sonar to collect data of the underside of the Dotson Ice Shelf in Antarctica, surfacing after a dive into a Dotson cavity in January 2022.
Credit...Li Ling/KTH Royal Institute of Technology
The recent findings reveal how ocean temperature and circulation are changing, which contributes to the steady increase in melting observed on Antarctica’s ice shelves in recent years, as well as to the rise of global sea levels.
With the help of advanced capabilities that include the use of undersea robots, scientists are now assembling a clearer picture than ever before of the dynamics of melt occurring at the ice base of West Antarctica’s Dotson Ice Shelf.
Visualization of the sand dune shaped ice structures found on the underside of the Dotson Ice Shelf.
(Image credit: Filip Stedt / University of Gothenburg)
Basal Melt Processes and Ice Shelf Stability
Melt rates beneath Antarctic ice shelves often show remarkable variability. One factor that influences this process, one that scientists have focused on in recent years, is how warmer salt water interacts with the ice along the base of the continent’s ice sheets.
One significant mechanism that contributes to this mixing of warm water into the ice-ocean boundary is turbulence resulting from shear-driven mixing. Another is vertical convection, which includes a process known as double-diffusive convection, although these generally produce lower melt rates. However, when combined, these processes have now been revealed to produce uniquely shaped features on the base of the ice, which include the formation of what are sometimes very large basal channels and terraces.
Due to varying oceanic conditions, ice can sometimes melt at different rates even along the same ice shelf. This appears to be caused by factors that include not only ocean temperature but also the speed of ocean water’s movement, both of which contribute to diverse formations of natural features along the base of Antarctica’s ice.
According to new findings detailed in a study published in Science Advances, researchers have successfully mapped these changes with the help of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), revealing remarkable and never-before-seen details about the processes that are driving accelerated melt along the continent’s ice shelves.
Structures mapped by an undersea robot named Ran on the underside of the Dotson Ice Shelf in Antarctica. The streaks, etched by currents, are up to 60 feet deep and miles long.
Credit...Filip Sted/University of Gothenburg
The Dotson Ice Shelf Mapped in Detail
In the team’s study, the researchers produced high-resolution maps of the underside of the Dotson Ice Shelf, made possible by an AUV that produced data covering close to 140 square kilometers. The new data revealed features such as plateaus, teardrop-shaped formations, and erosion patterns that appear to correlate with the variety of different conditions that contribute to ice melt.
Overall, the research team found that the basal topography of the Dotson Ice Shelf varies significantly between its eastern and western portions. While the ice is thicker and appears to be melting more slowly to the east, on the opposite end, the opposite is the case, with noticeably thinner ice indicating higher melt rates.
In their study, the research team links these variances in ice melt rates to the presence of what is called modified Circumpolar Deep Water (mCDW), which refers to Pacific and Indian Ocean water mixing with other nearby water masses and interacting with the ice base. Faster-moving currents in the western region revealed smooth features on the base of the ice, accompanied by higher melt rates.
In contrast, the central and eastern regions of the ice sheet bore evidence of terraced features, which the research team attributes to warm water intrusions that occur closer to these areas.
Visualization of features located beneath the Dotson Ice Sheet, obtained with the aid of an underwater robot (Credit: Filip Stedt / University of Gothenburg).
Ultimately, the presence of remnant winter water and mCDW mixtures was revealed to produce streaks of temperature and meltwater that significantly influence overall melt rates. The team’s findings through AUV observations help to reveal how future missions may be able to reveal further details about the Antarctic ice base and how shear-driven turbulence and the presence of warm water accelerate melting in the western outflow region.
“This new wealth of processes, all active under a single ice shelf, must be considered to accurately predict future Antarctic ice shelf melt,” the team writes in their recent study. Going forward, ongoing mapping and study of the ice shelf will be crucial in order to refine existing models, in addition to improving our understanding of ice-ocean interactions and their relationship to rising sea levels in the years ahead.
The team’s new study, “Swirls and scoops: Ice base melt revealed by multibeam imagery of an Antarctic ice shelf,” by Anna Wahlin, et al., appeared in Science Advances on July 31, 2024.
A visualization of an area in the east, where the water eroded several layers of ice. The structures are carved 20 meters deep into the ice, and they are several kilometers long.CreditCredit...
Filip Stedt/University of Gothenburg
A top level view, taken by the researchers from a helicopter survey, of a crack along the front of the Dotson Ice Shelf.
Credit...Clare Eayrs/Korea Polar Research Institute
It's the film that left us all wary of disastrous and abrupt climate change.
But The Day After Tomorrow is probably not when we're going to experience apocalyptic weather events, according to a study.
Researchers argue that it's almost impossible to predict the timing of climate tipping points – and that catastrophe could strike at any time in the next 6,000 years.
A team from the Technical University of Munich and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research provided the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) as an example.
This system circulates water from north to south and back in a long cycle within the Atlantic Ocean, carrying warm water from the tropics northwards.
It's the film that left us all wary of disastrous and abrupt climate change. But The Day After Tomorrow is probably not when we're going to experience apocalyptic weather events, according to a study
Climate models suggest the AMOC will weaken over the 21st century due to increases in greenhouse gases and melting ice.
If the system collapsed the Northern Hemisphere would get colder, causing temperatures in Europe to drop dramatically.
Wet seasons in the Amazon rainforest would be reversed to dry seasons, and in coastal cities the sea would rise even faster.
Previous predictions from historical data suggest a collapse could occur between 2025 and 2095.
However, the new study revealed that uncertainties are so large that these predictions are not reliable.
Using different data sets and analysis, tipping times for the AMOC ranged from 2050 to 8065 – a 6,000-year window which isn't particularly useful, the researchers said.
Writing in the journal Science Advances they said the timing of other climate tipping points – such as the melting of the polar ice sheets or the collapse of tropical rainforests – are also too uncertain.
This is because there is too much still unknown about the underlying physical mechanisms of climate change, a lack of direct observations of the climate system, and incomplete history data, they explained.
Lead author Maya Ben-Yami said: 'Our research is both a wake-up call and a cautionary tale.
Climate models suggest the AMOC will weaken over the 21st century due to increases in greenhouse gases and melting ice. If the system collapsed the Northern Hemisphere would get colder, causing temperatures in Europe to drop dramatically
'There are things we still can't predict, and we need to invest in better data and a more in-depth understanding of the systems in question.
'The stakes are too high to rely on shaky predictions.'
While the study shows we cannot reliably predict tipping events, the possibility of such events cannot be ruled out either, the team said.
They also stressed that statistical methods are still very good at telling us which parts of the climate have become more unstable.
'We still need to do everything we can to reduce our impact on the climate, first and foremost by cutting greenhouse gas emissions,' co-author Niklas Boers said.
'Even if we can't predict tipping times, the probability for key Earth system components to tip still increases with every tenth of a degree of warming.'
In lunar regolith samples collected by China’s Chang’e-5 probe, planetary scientists have identified few-layer graphene formed together with complex minerals. The finding provides new insights into the origin of the Moon, supporting the hypothesis of a carbon-containing Moon.
Structural and compositional characterization of few-layer graphene in the Chang’e-5 lunar soil sample.
Image credit: Zhang et al., doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae211.
“Graphene has revolutionized the research of condensed matter physics and materials science with its novel physical phenomena and extraordinary properties,” said Jilin University Professor Wei Zhang and colleagues.
“It plays an increasingly important role in extensive areas including planetary and space science.”
“It is estimated that around 1.9% of total interstellar carbon is in the form of graphene and protosolar graphene has been identified in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites.”
The researchers analyzed an olive-shaped sample of lunar soil, about 2.9 mm by 1.6 mm, collected by the Chang’e 5 mission in 2020.
Using a special spectrometer, they found an iron compound that is closely related to the formation of graphene in a carbon-rich section of the sample.
They then used advanced microscopic and mapping technologies to confirm that the carbon content in the sample comprised ‘flakes’ that have two to seven layers of graphene.
The scientists proposed that the few-layer graphene may have formed in volcanic activity in the early stages of the Moon’s existence, and been catalyzed by solar winds that can stir up lunar soil and iron-containing minerals that helped transform the carbon atoms’ structure.
Meteorite impacts, which create high-temperature and high-pressure environments, may also have led to the formation of graphene.
Scientists have discovered graphene on the Moon, in a lunar sample returned to Earth
“This is the first study to verify the presence of natural few-layer graphene in lunar soil samples by examining its microstructure and composition,” the authors said.
“Our finding provides new insights into the origin of the Moon, supporting the hypothesis of a carbon-containing Moon.”
“Moreover, the exotic properties of graphene are highly structurally and environmentally dependent.”
“Further in-depth property investigation of natural graphene would provide more information on the geologic evolution of the Moon.”
“In turn, the mineral-catalysed formation of natural graphene sheds light on the development of low-cost scalable synthesis techniques for high-quality graphene.”
“Therefore, a new lunar exploration program may be promoted and some forthcoming breakthroughs can be expected.”
Chinese researchers have discovered a form of carbon in lunar soil samples collected in 2020 which could overturn the theory that the moon was formed by a cosmic collision between Earth and a smaller planet.
Photo: Reuters
The findings were published in the journal National Science Review.
Wei Zhang et al. Discovery of natural few-layer graphene on the Moon. National Science Review, published online June 17, 2024; doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwae211
Fresh lunar powder collected less than two years ago shows promising — albeit early — signs that it could support humans in space for long periods.
As part of a recent study published Thursday in the journal Joule, Chinese scientists opened Moon parcels from the country’s Chang’e-5 mission. In December 2020, this spacecraft performed a quick rendezvous with Earth’s natural satellite, collecting lunar soil from the Moon’s "Ocean of Storms" plain (Oceanus Procellarum) and bringing it back to our planet. In the new research, a team analyzed the moondust’s basic building blocks to see how it might serve as a cornerstone for life-sustaining chemical reactions on a future lunar base.
An Apollo 12 astronaut walking on the Moon’s “Ocean of Storms” region.
NASA./Corbis Historical/Getty Images
What’s new —The new study proposes “extraterrestrial photosynthesis,” a process by which humans in space can draw on just two simple, out-of-this-world ingredients — lunar soil and sunlight — to produce fuel and recycle carbon dioxide back into breathable oxygen on long-duration crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.
One major talking point for space agencies with their eyes to the skies: How do you power a trip far from Earth? The longest crewed lunar mission to date — NASA’s Apollo 15 flight in 1971 — lasted 12 days. They maintained themselves on the supplies they brought along, which had the heaviest payload in a lunar orbit at about 107,000 pounds.
Digging into the details —The study looks at ways to replenish water, oxygen, and fuel by using human byproducts, solar radiation, and local lunar soil called regolith. If this is successfully achievable, space agencies can save on cargo weight and vehicle space for crewed missions lasting weeks or even months.
Their preliminary findings inspired them to propose a model for how a self-sustaining Moon outpost could work.
Apollo 15 lunar module pilot Jim Irwin loads the lunar rover.
Heritage Images/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The team analyzed the Chang’e-5, or “CE-5,” regolith samples to see what chemicals they contained and then investigated how well these components could catalyze carbon dioxide into oxygen. Exhaled breath might be used for potable water, or turned into hydrogen or methane for fuel.
Their experiments yielded some positive results. They saw bubbles of hydrogen and oxygen gas, for example. The paper reports that compounds in lunar regolith catalyzed a reaction during a photovoltaic-driven water electrolytic (PV-EC) test, which takes light and water and turns the liquid into those two gases. On the Moon, the water used here would come from lunar ice and human breath that would have previously gone through a dehydrating process. The astronauts would use the water for drinking.
What’s next — A lot more needs to be done before the research is Moon-ready. The researchers wrote that “the current catalytic performance from the CE-5 lunar sample cannot fully satisfy the requirement of extraterrestrial survival,” adding that their findings weren’t on par with the efficiency of existing catalyst systems on Earth.
They wrote that researching the compounds on the Moon more thoroughly could lead to more success.
Date of sighting: July 31, 2024 Location of sighting: Ibiza, Spain
Watch the video here:
Introduction
Unidentified flying objects (UFOs) have intrigued humanity for decades, sparking countless debates and discussions about the existence of extraterrestrial life. These sightings often stir the imagination and provoke questions about what lies beyond our planet. The latest UFO sighting comes from the picturesque island of Ibiza, Spain, where a group of tourists captured a mysterious object in the sky that vanished within seconds. This astonishing video has now gone viral, captivating the attention of UFO enthusiasts and skeptics alike.
Green Light in Ibiza Skies: UFO or Illusion?
The Incident
The incident occurred on a clear day near the coastline of Ibiza, a popular tourist destination known for its stunning beaches and vibrant nightlife. A group of tourists, enjoying the scenic beauty near a cliff, inadvertently became witnesses to an unusual phenomenon. The video, recorded by one of the tourists, begins with a serene view of the landscape, capturing the natural beauty of the area.
Suddenly, the tranquility is interrupted by a girl running and pointing towards the sky, drawing the attention of the others. The camera follows her gesture, panning to reveal a bright, clear sky with the moon prominently visible. Beside the moon, an unidentified object appears, hovering momentarily before it disappears within seconds. The object’s sudden vanishing act leaves the onlookers stunned and puzzled.
Public Reaction
The video quickly gained traction on social media, with users from around the world sharing and commenting on the mysterious sighting. UFO enthusiasts were particularly excited, viewing the footage as potential evidence of extraterrestrial activity. Skeptics, on the other hand, offered various explanations ranging from natural atmospheric phenomena to sophisticated drones or even a hoax.
Regardless of one’s stance on the existence of UFOs, the video has undeniably sparked curiosity and debate. Many people are fascinated by the possibility of encountering something beyond the realm of known science, while others enjoy the mystery and intrigue that such sightings bring.
Expert Opinions
To gain a deeper understanding of the sighting, several experts were consulted. Dr. Laura Mendes, an astronomer and UFO researcher, analyzed the footage and provided her insights.
“The video is intriguing, and while it does show an unidentified object, it’s important to approach such sightings with a scientific mindset. There are many plausible explanations, including atmospheric distortions, reflections, or man-made objects. Without more data, it’s difficult to draw any definitive conclusions,” Dr. Mendes stated.
Aviation expert Carlos Rodriguez also weighed in on the sighting. “Given the proximity to a tourist area, it’s possible that what was seen could be a drone or another type of aircraft. However, the rapid disappearance is unusual and warrants further investigation,” he remarked.
Historical Context of UFO Sightings
UFO sightings have been reported for centuries, with varying levels of credibility and detail. From ancient texts describing celestial events to modern-day videos captured on smartphones, the phenomenon has persisted through time. One of the most famous incidents is the Roswell incident of 1947, where an alleged UFO crash in New Mexico spurred widespread speculation and conspiracy theories.
In recent years, the U.S. government has declassified numerous reports and videos of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), reigniting interest in the topic. These disclosures have lent some credibility to the notion that there are aerial objects that defy conventional explanations.
The Science Behind UFOs
While the idea of extraterrestrial visitors is captivating, scientists urge caution and critical thinking. Most UFO sightings can be attributed to natural phenomena or human activities. For instance, weather balloons, experimental aircraft, and atmospheric conditions can create optical illusions that mislead observers.
The scientific method relies on reproducibility and evidence. For a UFO sighting to be considered credible, it must be corroborated by multiple witnesses, radar data, and other forms of empirical evidence. In the case of the Ibiza sighting, while the video is compelling, more information would be needed to reach a conclusive explanation.
The Cultural Impact of UFO Sightings
UFO sightings often capture the public’s imagination and inspire various forms of media, including movies, books, and television shows. The idea of encountering alien life forms has become a staple of science fiction, reflecting humanity’s curiosity and desire to explore the unknown.
Movies like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Independence Day" have popularized the concept of UFOs and alien encounters, blending entertainment with speculative science. These cultural artifacts shape our perception of UFO sightings, often blurring the lines between fiction and reality.
Personal Accounts and Eyewitness Testimonies
Eyewitness testimonies play a crucial role in the study of UFO sightings. Personal accounts, like the one from Ibiza, provide valuable insights into how these phenomena are experienced and perceived by individuals. However, eyewitness accounts are also subject to cognitive biases and memory distortions, which can affect the accuracy of the observations.
In the Ibiza case, the tourists’ reactions and the immediate recording of the event add a layer of authenticity to the sighting. Their spontaneous responses and genuine astonishment suggest that they truly witnessed something unexpected.
The Role of Technology in UFO Sightings
Advancements in technology have significantly impacted the documentation and analysis of UFO sightings. High-resolution cameras, drones, and satellite imagery provide new tools for capturing and investigating aerial phenomena. These technologies can help distinguish between known objects and genuinely unidentified ones.
The Ibiza video, recorded on a smartphone, benefits from modern technology, offering clear footage that can be analyzed frame by frame. This level of detail was not available in earlier UFO sightings, making contemporary reports more credible and easier to scrutinize.
Government Involvement and Disclosure
Governments worldwide have historically shown interest in UFO sightings, often conducting secret investigations. The U.S. government’s recent release of UAP reports has highlighted the importance of transparency and scientific inquiry in addressing these phenomena.
In Spain, the government has not released any official statements regarding the Ibiza sighting. However, the increasing public interest in UFOs may prompt authorities to take a more proactive role in investigating and disclosing information about such incidents.
Conclusion
The UFO sighting in Ibiza has captured the imagination of people around the world, reigniting debates about the existence of extraterrestrial life and the nature of unidentified flying objects. While the video offers a tantalizing glimpse of something unexplained, it also underscores the need for rigorous scientific investigation and critical thinking.
As technology continues to advance and more sightings are documented, the mystery of UFOs may eventually be unraveled. Until then, incidents like the one in Ibiza will continue to intrigue and inspire, reminding us of the vastness and wonder of the universe.
Whether you are a skeptic or a believer, the sighting serves as a reminder that there is still much to explore and discover in our world and beyond. The quest for understanding UFOs is not just about finding answers but also about embracing the unknown and celebrating the human spirit of curiosity and exploration.
Cryptoterrestrials: Are Aliens Already Living Among Us?
Cryptoterrestrials: Are Aliens Already Living Among Us?
The concept of extraterrestrial life has long captivated the human imagination, often depicted as beings visiting Earth from distant galaxies. However, a compelling hypothesis suggests an alternative possibility: aliens might already be living among us, hiding in plain sight as “cryptoterrestrials.” This theory challenges traditional views of alien life and opens up intriguing discussions about the nature of extraterrestrial existence on Earth.
Understanding the Cryptoterrestrials Hypothesis
The cryptoterrestrials hypothesis proposes that extraterrestrials are not just visiting Earth but have been residing here, possibly for millennia. Unlike the typical depiction of aliens arriving in spaceships from far-off planets, cryptoterrestrials are thought to be integrated into human society, cleverly disguised to avoid detection. This idea shifts the focus from outer space exploration to a more introspective examination of life on Earth.
Four Categories of Cryptoterrestrials
The hypothesis can be divided into four distinct categories, each presenting a unique perspective on how aliens might be living among us:
Ancient Super Civilization: This theory suggests that an advanced civilization once thrived on Earth but was destroyed by a catastrophic event, such as a flood. The survivors of this civilization, possibly connected to legends like Atlantis, might still be present today, blending into human society.
Animal-Like Alien Civilization: Another possibility is that a complex civilization of aliens exists, resembling more animal-like beings rather than humanoid forms. These creatures might have developed unique ways to coexist with humans, perhaps living in remote or hidden locations.
Hidden Underground Aliens: Some theorists propose that aliens are hiding underground, utilizing Earth’s vast subterranean environments to remain concealed. This notion aligns with various myths and legends of underground worlds inhabited by mysterious beings.
Magical or Mythical Beings: The final category encompasses the idea that aliens could be perceived as mythical creatures, such as sprites, fairies, or goblins. These beings might possess abilities that enable them to exist undetected, contributing to folklore and mythical narratives.
Speculation and Skepticism
The cryptoterrestrials hypothesis, while intriguing, is primarily speculative. It seeks to expand the boundaries of thought and academic discussion, challenging established notions about extraterrestrial life. However, it’s important to note that proponents of this hypothesis acknowledge the lack of concrete evidence supporting the idea of aliens walking among us. The hypothesis is intended to provoke thought and encourage exploration of alternative possibilities rather than make definitive claims.
The Role of Media and Public Perception
Media plays a significant role in shaping public perception of the cryptoterrestrials hypothesis. Sensationalist headlines and exaggerated claims can often distort the original intentions of speculative discussions. While some media outlets may present the idea humorously or dismissively, it is crucial to approach such topics with an open mind and a critical eye.
A Historical Perspective
Throughout history, many revolutionary scientific ideas have initially been met with skepticism and ridicule. The notion of a round Earth, once considered absurd, eventually became a widely accepted fact. Similarly, the cryptoterrestrials hypothesis challenges us to reconsider our understanding of life on Earth and the potential for hidden civilizations.
Conspiracy Theories and Cultural Influences
The cryptoterrestrials hypothesis intersects with various conspiracy theories and cultural beliefs about non-human entities living among us. Concepts like “lizard people” or “skinwalkers” have circulated for decades, often rooted in folklore and mythology. The hypothesis serves as a framework to explore these longstanding ideas and examine their plausibility in a modern context.
The Possibility of Alien Integration
While the cryptoterrestrials hypothesis remains speculative, it raises thought-provoking questions about the potential motivations and methods of extraterrestrial life integrating into human society. If aliens are indeed living among us, what could they gain from such integration? Would their presence have an impact on human culture, technology, or evolution?
The Age of the Galaxy and Earth’s History
Considering the vast age of the galaxy, estimated to be around 13 billion years, and Earth’s 4.5 billion-year history, there is ample time for the development and evolution of intelligent life forms. If cryptoterrestrials do exist, they might have arrived on Earth long before humans, potentially influencing the course of human history in ways we have yet to understand.
VIDEO:
Cryptoterrestrials: Aliens Walking Among Us? | Strange & Suspicious TV Show
The cryptoterrestrials hypothesis invites us to expand our perspective on extraterrestrial life, challenging the conventional narrative of aliens as distant visitors. While evidence supporting the existence of cryptoterrestrials is currently lacking, the hypothesis encourages curiosity and exploration of alternative explanations for unexplained phenomena. As scientific understanding evolves, the possibility of discovering hidden civilizations or new forms of life continues to inspire both intrigue and skepticism. Ultimately, the cryptoterrestrials hypothesis serves as a reminder of the boundless mysteries that the universe, and perhaps even our own planet, still holds.
Diamonds aren't the traditional 20th anniversary gift, but we're not going to complain, since these came from a spacecraft that crashed into the surface of Mercury back in 2015.
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft launched 20 years ago, on August 2, 2004, and although its mission ended in 2015, MESSENGER's observations of the Sun-scorched planet are still yielding new discoveries today. A recent study of MESSENGER data suggests that a 10-mile-thick layer of diamond might lie deep inside Mercury, between the planet's mantle and its core. That's a heck of a find from a defunct spacecraft!
Yongjiang Xu, of the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing, and his colleagues published their work in the journal Nature Communications.
The dark patches on Mercury’s surface, seen in this photo from Mariner 10 in 1974, are graphite.
Space Frontiers/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Diamonds In The Rough
Like most rocky planets, Mercury was once a seething, churning ball of magma. Over time, that magma cooled and solidified, and in the process, it settled into layers — giving the planet a dense inner core, a slightly lighter and mostly fluid mantle, and a light, rocky outer crust. To simulate that process, Xu and his colleagues made digital models using data from MESSENGER that offered clues about Mercury's inner structure. They also squashed a lot of carbon samples in the lab to see how the material behaved under tremendous heat and pressure.
According to Xu and his colleagues’ simulations, there should be a layer of diamond lying atop Mercury's core and just beneath its mantle — and it could be between 9 and 11 miles thick. The diamond would have crystallized out of an ocean of carbon-rich magma that once covered Mercury billions of years ago.
Meanwhile, on the surface, carbon crystallized into a different (and much less sparkly) form called graphite. Graphite and diamond are both pure carbon, but the atoms are arranged in different crystal structures, which gives the two materials very different properties. At the surface, where pressures and temperatures were much lower, the carbon formed dark, soft graphite. Deep below, the intense pressure beneath Mercury's mantle pressed carbon into diamond — if Xu and his colleagues are right.
In this photo, Messenger prepares for prelaunch testing.
The finding is just the latest scientific gem MESSENGER has laid at our feet since its launch 20 years ago. It took four years just to reach Mercury in 2008, and then the spacecraft had to make a carefully-planned series of flybys to slow down enough to enter Mercury's orbit without also accidentally getting pulled into the Sun. (Trying to maneuver a spacecraft that close to the Sun's gravitational influence is a challenge.) MESSENGER settled into Mercury's orbit in 2011.
During its four years in orbit around Mercury, MESSENGER revealed some surprising things about our Solar System's innermost planet. One of those is the graphite that dusts its surface, which gives the planet's surface its dark, patchy appearance — and gave Xu and his colleagues the idea for their recent simulations.
Xu and his colleagues’ simulations may help explain another of MESSENGER's most important discoveries: Mercury's surprisingly strong magnetic field.
For such a small planet, Mercury boasts a disproportionately powerful magnetic field. If Xu and his colleagues are right, the layer of diamond lying beneath the mantle could be changing how heat flows from the core to the mantle (because diamond transfers heat very efficiently). That, in turn, could be changing how convection, currents driven by hot liquid rising and cool liquid sinking, happens in the molten outer layers of Mercury's core. And since all that flowing molten metal is part of what generates the magnetic field, the diamond layer could be a big part of the explanation.
The MESSENGER mission came to a dramatic end on April 30, 2015, when the spacecraft smashed into Mercury's surface at more than 8,000 miles per hour. Because MESSENGER was on the far side of the planet at the time, its human team back on Earth didn't witness its final moments; they heard only the silence of the dead spacecraft failing to resume radio contact a few moments later.
"The processes that led to the formation of a diamond layer on Mercury might also have occurred on other planets, potentially leaving similar signatures," says Yanhao Lin, also of the Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research in Beijing and a coauthor of the recent study, in a recent statement. The riches of the Universe seem to only grow with time.
Volgens de New York Times zet het Pentagon spoed achter de voorbereidingen om oorlog in de ruimte te kunnen voeren.
Washington is ervan overtuigd dat de snelle vooruitgang van China en Rusland op het gebied van ruimteoperaties een groeiende bedreiging vormt voor de Amerikaanse troepen en andere militaire middelen op de grond en satellieten in een baan om de aarde.
De details van de inspanningen van het Pentagon blijven zeer vertrouwelijk. Bepaalde documenten zijn echter onlangs vrijgegeven en gepubliceerd door de New York Times.
Daarin erkennen functionarissen van het Ministerie van Defensie in toenemende mate dat het initiatief een grote verschuiving in militaire operaties weerspiegelt, waarbij de ruimte een echt slagveld zal worden.
De VS zal niet langer alleen vertrouwen op militaire satellieten om te communiceren, navigeren, traceren en te richten op terrestrische bedreigingen, instrumenten die het Pentagon decennialang een aanzienlijk voordeel hebben gegeven in conflicten.
Het ministerie van Defensie wil een nieuwe generatie instrumenten op de grond en in de ruimte verwerven waarmee het zijn satellietnetwerk kan verdedigen tegen aanvallen en, indien nodig, vijandelijke ruimtevaartuigen in een baan om de aarde kan verstoren of uitschakelen, aldus functionarissen van het Pentagon in een reeks interviews, toespraken en verklaringen
De strategie verschilt fundamenteel van eerdere militaire ruimteprogramma's door de uitbreiding van het scala aan offensieve capaciteiten, wat heel anders is dan het voorstel voor het Strategisch Defensie-initiatief uit de jaren tachtig, dat nooit het daglicht zag en dat tot doel had satellieten te gebruiken om de Verenigde Staten te beschermen tegen aanvallen met nucleaire raketten.
(SR and MaSi for Tagtik/Source: New York Times/Photo: Pixabay)
How Oumuamua Changes Our Perspective on Galactic Panspermia
Artist’s impression of the first interstellar asteroid/comet, "Oumuamua". This unique object was discovered on 19 October 2017 by the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope in Hawaii. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser
How Oumuamua Changes Our Perspective on Galactic Panspermia
Panspermia is an innately attractive idea that’s gained prominence in recent decades. Yet, among working scientists, it gets little attention. There are good reasons for their relative indifference, but certain events spark renewed interest in panspermia, even among scientists.
The appearance of Oumuamua in our Solar System in 2017 was one of them.
Panspermia is the hypothesis that life can travel throughout the Universe by hitching an unintended ride with space dust, meteoroids, asteroids, comets, and even rogue planets.
It’s an ancient idea, which only increases its resonance for some. The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras was the first to propose it. He coined the term ‘panspermia’ and said that the Universe was full of life and that some of it fell to Earth. It remains on the fringe of science because it can’t explain how life started, and it’s not testable. But it is enduring.
Oumuamua’s appearance sparked renewed interest in Panspermia. After the object came and went rapidly in 2017, scientists attempted to determine what it actually was. Maybe it was a comet, maybe it was an asteroid, maybe it was a chunk of frozen hydrogen. Many hypotheses were presented. Now, we simply call it an interstellar object, or ISO.
From the perspective of panspermia, Oumuamua’s classification isn’t the most pressing concern. It was a visitor to our Solar System from elsewhere, and that’s the most salient point.
In a new paper, a trio of researchers examine how many of these types of objects might exist and what properties they’d need to protect and transport life throughout the galaxy. The paper is titled “The Implications of ‘Oumuamua on Panspermia.” The lead author is David Cao, a high school student who also served as an intern at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
“Panspermia is the hypothesis that life originated on Earth from the bombardment of foreign interstellar ejecta harbouring polyextremophile microorganisms,” the authors write. “By utilizing ‘Oumuamua’s properties as an anchor, we estimate the mass and number density of ejecta in the ISM.”
Throughout their work, they acknowledge that “panspermia is an extraordinarily difficult theory to quantitatively model and assess.” But it’s still worth an attempt because of Oumuamua. “The recently discovered ‘Oumuamua merits a reexamination for the possibility of panspermia, the hypothesis that life seeded on Earth from the bombardment of life-bearing interstellar ejecta and that life can be transferred from one celestial body to another.”
Panspermia is the idea that life is spread throughout the galaxy, or even the Universe, by asteroids, comets, and even minor planets. Credit: NASA/Jenny Mottor
The trio determined the minimum size of ejecta needed to protect extremophiles from radiation, especially from supernovae. Intense gamma rays can sterilize ejecta if they’re not large enough for extremophiles to survive in their interiors, shielded by rock or water ice. Ejecta also needs to be large enough to protect any lifeforms from impact with another body. But the size depends on the nature of the ejecta.
“We consider the four most common elemental compositions of asteroids (chondritic, stony and metallic) and comets (water-ice) in our own Solar System: silicate, nickel, iron, and water-ice,” they write. Nickel has the highest attenuation and the smallest minimum size needed to shelter life. Water-ice requires the maximum size.
The authors explain, “We make an assumption that the number density abundances and varying compositions of interstellar ejecta mirror the content of minor bodies in our own Solar System.” Based on that, they settled on a minimum size of 6.6 meters.
They also tried to determine the likelihood that extremophiles could have seeded Earth, though they acknowledge that many of the factors involved are poorly understood and poorly constrained. In order to seed life, an ejecta carrying extremophiles had to have arrived at Earth early, before the earliest evidence of fossilized life. “Second, we estimate the total number of impact events on Earth after its formation and prior to the emergence of life (? 0.8 Gyr).”
They calculate impact rates for objects of different sizes. For objects at least 10 meters in diameter, they calculate that about 40,000 of them could’ve impacted Earth in its first 800,000 years.
This figure from the study shows the total number of collisions by minimum shielding depth for Earth’s first 800,000 years. The different dotted, dashed, and solid lines represent distribution slopes. Image Credit: Cao et al. 2024
Existing estimates of the number of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way are available. Based on those, here’s what it all adds up to, keeping in mind all of the poorly constrained factors involved. “However, we find that panspermia is a plausible potential life-seeding mechanism for (optimistically) potentially up to ~ 105 (100,000) of the ~ 109 (one billion) Earth-sized habitable zone worlds in our Galaxy,” the authors write.
But the prospects that Earth itself was seeded by panspermia are very weak. “For the Earth in particular, we conclude that, independent of other hypotheses for the origins of life on Earth, panspermia remains improbable (< 0.001%).” In a way, it’s more of a thought experiment. The authors say that “the true relative probability for panspermia remains unknown.”
The panspermia idea will not disappear. It’s simply too compelling to discard, even though it cannot be tested.
Another way of looking at it is that Earth could be a source of panspermia rather than a receiver.
“The fraction of these rocky planets that possess magnetic fields, atmospheres, and liquid surface water capable of supporting life is currently unconstrained and unknown, but our work implies as many as 104 of these worlds in our Galaxy could be populated with life today via panspermia under the most optimistic assumptions that all of these worlds are capable of supporting ejecta-transported life, with Earth as one of the potential source planets.” The number could rise to 104 under the most optimistic conditions.
There are other factors to consider. We’re only beginning to determine the number of rogue planets or free-floating planets (FFPs). As we learn more about them and their abundance, the panspermia hypothesis will change. “The discovery of rogue-free floating planets (FFPs) suggests a significantly higher ISM ejecta number density than expected for large objects,” the authors explain.
This illustration shows a rogue planet travelling through space. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)
Also, the number of ejecta and their mass haven’t been constant. For example, during the hypothesized Late Heavy Bombardment, a much larger number of objects were crashing into the Earth and the other Solar System bodies. How would that have affected panspermia?
“~4 Gyr ago, the Earth is thought to have experienced an unprecedented number of impact events that consequently ejected matter into the ISM, the era of Late Heavy Bombardment,” the authors write. The rate of bombardment was between 100 to 500 times greater than the present rate. If other solar systems experienced similar events, there would be substantially more potential for panspermia.
Artist concept of Earth during the Late Heavy Bombardment period. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab.
The star formation rate also plays a role. “As more stars are formed, more mass will be ejected into the ISM in star formation regions, increasing the production of ISM ejecta number density,” the authors explain.
There are so many unknowns and so much conjecture that many scientists avoid the panspermia theory completely. But more and more data will keep coming our way, and as it does, the idea will be revised and reconsidered.
The Rubin Observatory Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will hopefully see its long-anticipated first light in early 2025. That telescope will undoubtedly detect many more ISOs and FFPs, filling in important gaps in our knowledge.
As that data comes in, expect more attention to be focused on the panspermia theory
Starliner Successfully Fires its Thrusters, Preparing to Return to Earth
Being trapped in space sounds like the stuff of nightmares. Astronauts on board the International Space Station have on occasion, had their return delayed by weather or equipment malfunction. We find ourselves again, watching and waiting as two astronauts; Juni Williams and Butch Wilmore have been stuck for months instead of their week long mission. The delays came as the Starliner system required fixes to be implemented. NASA successfully fired up 27 of its 28 thrusters in a hot-firing test and now, ground teams are preparing finally, to bring them home.
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft is officially known as the CST-100 Starliner. It was developed by Boeing as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Its purpose is to transport astronauts to the International Space Station and other low orbit craft. Starliner hit the headlines with its reusable design aimed at reducing costs and increasing launch frequency. It was first launched on 20 December 2019 as an uncrewed test flight to demonstrate docking capability with ISS.
Boeing’s CTS-100 Starliner taking off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on June 5th, 2024. Credit: NASA
Since 2019 Starliner has had issues along the way but has largely seen a successful progression to becoming a key part of NASA’s launch capability. Just recently however there have been issues with the manoeuvring jets used to adjust the attitude. Engineering teams at NASA and Boeing have been working on and running tests with Mexico a new configuration. Part of the thruster system controls the flow of helium, these are the helium manifolds and they were opened to allow engineers to monitor any helium supply issues and leaks.
The team ran a hot fire test of the reaction control system jets on 27 July to see if there were any problems with the propulsion system. They test fired 27 out of 28 jets while astronauts Wilmore and Williams sat inside the docked Starliner. The tests involved firing the jets for short bursts, one at a time. They revealed that all thrusters were back to performing well and the helium manifolds were within operational margins that were needed for a return trip from ISS. The engineering teams closed the manifolds ahead of undocking and returning the astronauts home.
The work is not over for the engineering teams however as they are now reviewing data from the tests and from ground based testing at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Once the review of data is complete, NASA and Boeing will identify a date to return the astronauts.
Meanwhile back on board the ISS Wilmore and Williams wait. They have been checking other Starliner systems in preparation for return, working with other Boeing teams to prepare and have been undertaking pressure tests of their space suits. They have been working alongside Expedition 71 members and have recently helped setup the BioServe centrifuge in the Harmony Module. The centrifuge supports a wide range of biological, physical and materials science projects. Facilitating the separation of substances with different densities it can work with cell cultures, DNA, protein, blood and sedimentary samples.
Astronomers have recently spotted signs of an extended disk of dust and gas, whirling in orbit around a distant star.
While this phenomenon is a normal stage in the development of a star and its planetary system, what makes this find so spectacular is that it's the first one we've seen around a star in a whole other galaxy, outside of our own.
The feature was spotted in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a dwarf galaxy some 179,000 light-years away from the Milky Way. And, although it might seem like common sense to suppose that star formation processes are universal, we've not been able to observe their vagaries outside of our home galaxy before.
"When I first saw evidence for a rotating structure in the ALMA data I could not believe that we had detected the first extragalactic accretion disc, it was a special moment," said astronomer Anna McLeod of Durham University in the UK, when the findings were published in November.
"We know discs are vital to forming stars and planets in our galaxy, and here, for the first time, we're seeing direct evidence for this in another galaxy."
An artist's impression of the recently discovered disk.
Stars are born from dense clumps in clouds of molecular gas and dust that hang out in interstellar space. When a clump grows dense enough, it collapses under gravity; spinning, it starts to draw in more material from the cloud around it. This material doesn't just fall onto the protostar any old how, though; it arranges into a disk around the star's equator, and falls down onto it in a more controlled, steady stream, like water down a drain.
Once the star is done forming, what remains of the disk stays there, clumping together to form all the other elements of a planetary system: the planets, the asteroids and meteors, the comets, the dust. That's why the Solar System's planets are more or less orbiting the Sun in a flat plane. We ourselves are like the sentient mold that grew on the leftovers of the Sun's breakfast.
The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a powerful radio telescope, has imaged quite a few such disks throughout the Milky Way, in various stages of development; some have clear gaps that are thought to be cleared by planets clumping together as they orbit. But the farther away something is, the harder it is to resolve, even with a powerful telescope.
The location and orientation of the jets and disk identified in HH 1177.
McLeod and her colleagues embarked on their campaign to find an extragalactic stellar disk when data obtained by the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) instrument on the Very Large Telescope revealed signs of a jet, in a system named HH 1177.
These, too, are a signature of star formation: some of the material swirling around the forming star gets whisked away along its magnetic field lines to the poles, where it is launched into space in the form of a powerful jet.
The researchers wanted to see if they could spot the disk in the dusty heart of star formation, so they used ALMA to look for signs of rotation. This can be seen in the way wavelengths of light are shortened as the source is pushed towards us, and lengthened as they are pulled away.
"The frequency of light changes depending on how fast the gas emitting the light is moving towards or away from us," explained astronomer Jonathan Henshaw of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK. "This is precisely the same phenomenon that occurs when the pitch of an ambulance siren changes as it passes you and the frequency of the sound goes from higher to lower."
Interestingly, the ALMA data showed clear signs of this rotation. The star, the team's analysis revealed, is very young and massive, still feeding from the disk around it. This is pretty normal. But there was a difference between it and the protostellar disks found in the Milky Way: the HH 1177 disk can be seen in optical wavelengths.
This, the researchers explain, has to do with the interstellar environment in the Large Magellanic Cloud. There is much less dust there; so the HH 1177 star is not as shrouded in a curtain of material as young, massive Milky Way stars usually are.
This makes the discovery an important one for studying, not just how stars form in different environments, but the limits those environments can place on star formation in general.
"We are in an era of rapid technological advancement when it comes to astronomical facilities," McLeod said. "Being able to study how stars form at such incredible distances and in a different galaxy is very exciting."
When Black Holes Die, They Are Reborn As White Holes
When Black Holes Die, They Are Reborn As White Holes
Story by The Physics arXiv Blog
When Black Holes Die, They Are Reborn As White Holes
In recent years, black holes have morphed from highly theoretical exotic possibilities to well-observed astrophysical objects. The observational evidence has come from sources such as the first observation of ripples in spacetime caused by black hole collisions and the first image of a black hole published in 2019.
Black holes are predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, which describes the universe on the largest scale. But these objects must also distort spacetime on the tiniest scale, meaning that black holes must also have interesting quantum properties. The challenge for theorists is to find ways to unite the disparate theories of relativity and quantum mechanics in a theory of ‘loop' quantum gravity that correctly predicts observations.
And these theorists have been busy. Over the last decade, they have developed an increasingly sophisticated theoretical understanding of black holes that could explain some of the biggest mysteries of cosmology.
Now the physicist and popular science writer Carlo Rovelli with Francesca Vidotto, both at Western University in Canada, review this progress and highlight some of its jaw-dropping conclusions. The new work suggests that when black holes die, they turn into white holes. That myriads of tiny white holes could be passing through the Earth at any time. And that these objects are an ideal candidate for the dark matter that cosmologists believe fills the universe but have never directly observed.
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What If Earth Fell Into a Black Hole? (Dailymotion)
Astrophysicists have long believed that black holes cannot be large static objects that remain unchanged over the lifetime of the universe. Instead, their work suggests that black holes evolve. Now theoreticians' work with loop quantum gravity has thrown the details of this evolution into stark relief.
For a start, black holes gradually evaporate by emitting Hawking radiation. This causes the black hole horizon to shrink, while the volume of the interior does not. "This implies that an old evaporated black hole has a small horizon but a huge internal volume," say Rovelli and Vidotto.
This shrinking continues until the hole reaches the tiniest possible size at the Planck Scale. At this point, the quantum energy density becomes great enough to resist further shrinkage. The hole rebounds and undergoes a strange quantum personality change. "At the end of the evaporation, a black hole undergoes a quantum transition to a white hole with a Planckian-size horizon and a vast interior," say the researchers.
This is what cosmologists call a "remnant" of a black hole and understanding the properties of these remnants has been an important part of their work.
White holes have been studied for some time. Like black holes, they are legitimate solutions to Einstein's field equations. "A white hole spacetime is simply the time reversal of a black hole spacetime," say Rovelli and Vidotto.
And like black holes, white holes were not thought likely to play a major role in the universe. This view now needs to change, say Rovelli and Vidotto, just as it has for black hole because the two are intrinsically linked.
One potential stumbling block has always been that the solutions giving rise to white holes are unstable. But Rovelli and Vidotto point out that any instability should lead to the formation of a superposition of both black and white holes that is stable.
The difference is largely academic anyway. To a casual observer, a white hole is indistinguishable from a black hole. It is only their past and future that differ, albeit in a way that is inaccessible to most observers.
An important question is how long remnants last. Rovelli and Vidotto point out that for the remnant itself, the process of full dissipation must happen very quickly. But time dilation means that for a distant observer, it could take the lifetime of the universe.
"Time slows down near high density mass," say the researchers. "An observer (capable of resisting the tidal forces) landing on a Planck matter distribution will find herself nearly immediately in the distant future, at the time where the black hole ends its evaporation." In other words: "A black hole is a shortcut to the distant future," they say.
If all this is accurate, the universe should be full of black hole remnants (or white holes). And their mass should have a gravitational effect on all the visible matter in the universe. That's why remnants are good candidates for dark matter.
"Remnants are a dark matter candidate that does not require exotic assumptions of new forces, or particles or corrections to the Einstein equations, or physics beyond the standard model," say Rovelli and Vidotto. "It only requires general relativity and quantum theory to hold together."
Quantum Detector
But these particles will be very hard to detect because gravity is such a meagre force on this tiny scale. Yet Rovelli and Vidotto say there may be a way.
The idea is to create a mass that exists in two different locations at the same time in a quantum superposition of both states. Then, as a remnant flies past, it will interact via gravity more strongly with the nearer mass, causing the superposition to change in character. Detecting this change would be a sign that a dark matter particle has passed by.
Whether this would uniquely indicate the presence of a black hole remnant is another question yet to be decided. But the important point is that this kind of experiment is close to being possible today.
All that makes this an exciting area of physics to be in. And one that is likely to change as physicists gather more detailed observations of black hole collisions and other quantum gravity phenomenon. So watch this space - black holes, white holes and Planck stars are set to become the coolest things in astrophysics (as if they were ever anything else)!
Several studies in recent years have found amino acids, some of the molecules that make up cell membranes, and other key pieces of the chemistry of life floating on grains of interstellar dust. But a recent experiment also found that the reactions that make nitrogen and carbon available for that kind of chemistry could have happened on early Earth — with remarkable efficiency. So which is it? Did life crash-land on our planet or did arise from a bubbling cauldron of planetary ingredients? A growing body of evidence explains how the answer is, well, both. As the researchers explain to Inverse, it’s complicated — and a little bit mind-blowing.
Lightning striking the ground may have kickstarted some of the chemistry that made nitrogen available for the development of life.
LAURA HEDIEN/MOMENT/GETTY IMAGES
RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Nitrogen is an essential ingredient for life — an element that is found in proteins, amino acids, and DNA. But not just any nitrogen will do. Most of the time, nitrogen atoms are locked together in close-knit pairs, held together by very strong chemical bonds, which means neither atom is available for chemical reactions. So it needs a little jolt to shake it loose.
Harvard University chemist Hahui Jiang and her colleagues’ recent experiments showed that lightning, especially if it struck wet soil near rivers or lakes, can break these bonds, splitting the coupled-up nitrogen into free atoms. That, in turn, could have set the stage for chemical reactions that produced more complex molecules — including important ingredients for living cells and the nutrients they crave.
Jiang and her colleagues published their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, but Sasselov tells Inverse that it’s only one piece of a much larger puzzle. Exactly where the chemical building blocks of life came from is a puzzle that chemists, astronomers, and biologists are still trying to solve. The answer could help explain our own origins, but it also could help us figure out how likely it is that we’re not alone in the universe.
A 1952 experiment by scientists Harold Urey and Stanley Miller found that lightning can jumpstart chemical reactions that, eventually lead to organic chemistry: the types of molecules that eventually become the building blocks of life. But the story of how a planet full of inert chemicals turned into a planet teeming with life, is a lot more complicated than Urey and Miller ever imagined.
“The origin of life question is more of a puzzle, consisting of multiple pieces that need to fit together, rather than a single breakthrough,” Harvard University astronomer Dimitar Sasselov, a coauthor of the recent study, tells Inverse.
IT’S ALIVE!
Some of the chemical ingredients for life form around deep-sea vents where water and rock meet, and where intense heat provides the energy for chemical reactions. Others can be found in erupting volcanoes. More of the chemistry of life probably happens anytime ultraviolet light hits water, according to another recent study. And most astrobiologists also assume comets and meteors delivered some of the ingredients for life to early Earth.
But some of the stuff cells are made of — including some of the most complex chemical compounds on the ingredients list — may have been part of the starter pack for our newly-formed Solar System 4.6 billion years ago. Astronomers have spotted the telltale spectrum of light emitted by an animo acid called tryptophan in a nearby cloud of interstellar gas and dust, and a chemical called ethanolamine, which is a key part of cell membranes, formed in a cold, dark interstellar cloud more than 100,000 light years away. Other organic chemistry — like the ring-shaped molecule benzene, on which most other organic chemistry is based — has been spotted forming in the cloud of gas and dust around a pair of newborn stars, in chemical reactions powered by shock waves.
The reality is that the chemicals that made up the earliest life on Earth may have take a little from column A and a little from column B — a mixture of deep space feedstock and home-grown biochemistry.
“We cannot limit ourselves to think that the answer to the origin of life comes from a single source,” Arhaus University astronomer Sergio Ioppolo, one of the researchers whose team discovered ethanolamine in deep space last year, tells Inverse. “We should also consider that lightning-induced electrochemistry alone cannot explain the onset of life on the early Earth. It is likely that our planet got the building blocks of life by multiple endogenic [local] as well as exogenic [from space] routes.”
RAW MATERIALS ABOUND
Sasselov says that even if the Solar System formed with a starting supply of building blocks — amino acids, ethanolamine, and more — those building blocks couldn’t just assemble themselves into working cells. Instead, according to Sasselov, those complex molecules probably got provided things like phosphorus and carbon to the early Earth.
But even a starting supply of several tons of, say, amino acids, delivered by meteors or baked into Earths’ crust, wouldn’t be enough to sustain organic chemistry long enough for life to emerge. Whatever amino acids and benzene rings found their way to early Earth from deep space, they were more useful for their raw materials than as preassembled components for cells. That’s because the chemistry that led to life needed a constant supply of things like carbon, phosphorus, sulfur, and nitrogren.
“[Those molecules] themselves cannot be directly incorporated into the cells which produce life,” says Sasselov, adding, “We now know that some of those chemical reactions which happen in interstellar space are very different from the ones which can sustainably occur on the surface of the Earth later on.”
So the ethanolamine in your cell membranes probably didn’t form on the surface of a distant bit of interstellar dust, but the ingredients were likely there — being carried through the universe to do their thing on the petri dish that is Earth.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
“The work of Jiang and her colleagues is one of the many pieces of the puzzle which we should build on,” says Ioppolo.
And the particular piece of the puzzle Jiang and her colleagues were interested in was small but vital: how early Earth got enough nitrogen, in a usable form, to fuel the chemical machinery that eventually produced — and sustained — life. They found that lightning was the solution to that particular piece of the puzzle, especially when it struck water or wet soil, where a wider selection of minerals could get in on the resulting chemical reactions. (In contrast, Urey and Miller just studied the effects of lightning in midair back in 1952, because that’s easier to simulate in a lab.)
Sasselov emphasizes that we shouldn’t picture a single lightning strike spawning life here on Earth. It took a very long time, and a lot of small events adding up, before life finally arose.
“The origin of life is not a single event, or a number of single events, in which the chemistry happened once, almost miraculously, somewhere on the surface of the planet, and then everything went on afterwards,” says Sasselov. “That kind of scenario doesn't work.”
Because the story of life’s origins is so complex, it takes scientists from a wide range of disciplines to put the whole puzzle together.
“In my view, our only chance to address the fundamental question of the origin of life is to put different scientific communities together and tackle the issue from many different perspectives including astronomy, astrochemistry, astrobiology, planetary science, volcanology, and biology,” says Ioppolo.
There are few places on Earth more remote and mysterious than the underside of Antarctica’s ice shelves. These floating tongues of ice that extend off the continent’s vast, land-bound glaciers are at the front line of polar melt and sea level rise. But we know relatively little about them — how they’re melting, changing, and moving — beyond the surface level, because it’s hard to get a good look.
Ice shelves are often hundreds of meters thick. Through satellite data and radar measurements of the surface, glaciologists can make inferences and estimates about shifts in sea ice behavior unfolding under climate change. Yet a new perspective can offer a whole lot more information, as demonstrated in a study published July 31 in the journal Science Advances. A team of scientists deployed an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) to explore beneath Dotson ice shelf, on the western side of Antarctica.
The unmanned submarine traveled more than 600 miles over 27 days, collecting ocean temperature, salinity, and current data while also scanning the bottom of the ice shelf using sonar for the first time. The resulting, detailed measurements allowed the researchers to construct the most detailed maps of the Dotson ever, revealing exactly how the shelf is changing and even new types of ice-shelf formations never seen before.
“It's a bit like seeing the back of the moon,” said Anna Wåhlin, lead study author and a professor of oceanography at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, in a press statement.
The Dotson shelf is an outflow of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the continent’s largest contributor to sea level rise (and second only worldwide to the Greenland Ice Sheet, when it comes to melt volume). Though ice shelves don’t directly contribute to sea level rise, as they’re already floating, ice shelf losses contribute to ice loss on land, as glacial flow moves outward and the shelves and sheets fail to recover under ever-warmer conditions. Shrinking marine ice shelves can destabilize sheets on land.
As climate change progresses, Antarctica is set to become an even larger factor in globally rising tides. Understanding ice sheets is key to improving our predictions of how that melt is likely to unfold, and its subsequent impacts. And the new work offers a deeper understanding of Dotson than scientists have ever had before. The observations could help inform not only how glaciologists assess this one ice shelf but every Antarctic ice shelf.
The unmanned submarine traveled more than 600 miles over 27 days, collecting ocean temperature, salinity, and current data while also scanning the bottom of the ice shelf using sonar for the first time.
Past estimates of ice loss have failed to meet reality. This new information, combined with a wave of other recent analyses, will hopefully make for clearer, more accurate forecasts. “These new observations will help the community of ice modelers to reduce the large uncertainties in future sea level,” said Karen Heywood, a study co-author and professor of oceanography at the University of East Anglia in England in the news release.
This is not the first study to use an unmanned submarine to make measurements beneath an ice shelf; the method has been deployed for a few years. However, these are the first sub-shelf AUV data on Dotson, and it’s one of relatively few expeditions to have occurred in a growing field. For now, every mission below an Antarctic ice shelf is notable, and brings new information. Many of the new observations confirmed estimates from surface analyses: Researchers had inferred that the western portion of Dotson is thinning faster than the eastern and central sections. Data collected on currents also bolsters previous hypotheses about why that is. Water is flowing faster beneath the western part of the shelf. Yet some of the observations were totally novel.
Per the AUV scans, the underside of the eastern and central regions of the Dotson Ice Shelf is characterized by large, flat terrace-like topography, bordered by steep walls. The researchers note this melt pattern is likely the result of periodic intrusions of sea water below the ice shelf’s grounding line. In contrast, the western side of the shelf is mostly smooth on the bottom with shallow, odd features like swirling, teardrop-shaped imprints.
“There were cracks and swirls in the ice that we weren’t expecting. It looked more like art,” said Heywood. Initially, the scientists had no idea what was causing these patterns, but they’ve homed in on one hypothesis related to a known ocean current phenomenon called the Ekman spiral.
Yet still, there’s much more to uncover in the massive trove of data compiled by the solo sub. These initial maps are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Unfortunately, to make future observations, the researchers will need a new AUV. The marine drone the expedition had been using, dubbed Ran, disappeared below the ice during another expedition, cut woefully short. The observations on Dotson are a final transmission from a lost ship.
ON A CLEAR, SUNNY DAY IN JULY, Mick West, a former video game programmer, was flying from his home in Sacramento, California, down to Pasadena. From the aircraft, he spied a small, white, elongated object that seemed to be passing over the mountains. Intrigued, he took a short video with his phone. Though he assumed the anomaly was just another airplane, West just couldn’t help himself; he needed to investigate.
When he got to his hotel room, West did what he so often does: a bit of digital sleuthing. First, he uploaded the raw footage to Photoshop to drill down into the image until it resembled a mosaic of zoomed-in pixels. “You have to be very careful about what you’re looking at … for me, that’s the very first step in investigating a case,” he explains. He also downloaded the GPS routes of his plane and a few nearby ones from FlightAware.com, a real-time worldwide flight tracker.
West is a longtime UFO debunker. Retired from the gaming industry in the early 2000s, he’s dealt with about 1,000 UFO cases over nearly a decade, ultimately completing a deeper analysis of about 100 on a pro-bono basis. He examines scoops from official and leaked government reports, sightings trending on social media, emails people send to him, and anomalies posted on popular UFO databases like Enigma and MUFON. He’s even appeared on a History Channel show, The Proof Is Out There, as a forensic video analyst.
He’s found that most skyward curiosities have a logical explanation. No aliens required.
And yet, reports of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs)—a term the U.S. government’s National Defense Authorization Act of 2023 established to replace the term “UFO”—are on the rise, according to data from the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, established in 2022. West believes in using logic and common sense while investigating such claims. That means following the clues and cross-referencing them with simultaneous events such as flights, weather phenomena like saucer-shaped lenticular clouds, ground camera images, and satellite data from companies like Starlink.
That may not necessarily lead to thrilling discoveries of alien encounters, but for West, chipping away at the puzzle to reveal the truth is enormously satisfying.
WEST USES A THOUGHTFUL, methodical process every time he investigates a UAP. His investigation of the white mystery object spotted during his flight to Southern California is the perfect example.
First, he pulled data from the original video. To do so, West used programs like Invisor, an app that displays and compares technical information about video, audio, and photo files. “You drag in the video and you get all this information, things like the original date it was recorded, the resolution, the frame rates … sometimes you get location as well,” he explains, sharing his screen via Zoom, displaying a long column of dozens of datasets.
Understanding the physical perspective of the camera shot is crucial, too. Since West’s video was taken from an airplane, he consulted the free online tool FlightRadar24. A green and brown map depicting U.S. physical features popped up, dotted with dozens of tiny yellow airplane symbols. “You can figure out what’s actually in the air at a particular time,” West explains.
Mick West
Mick West demonstrates using FlightRadar24, an online tool that allows you to track every flight path and its historical data. This aids in recreating an encounter with a UAP.
When he zoomed in on his own flight, West could see exactly where his plane was at the particular time he spotted the mysterious, white airborne object, as well as the positions of every other plane nearby. So, he connected the dots. “I knew I was sitting on the right side of the plane,” he says, moving his cursor over another nearby plane, “so this is a likely contender.” He could see that the plane had taken off from Los Angeles’ Van Nuys Airport shortly before his video and that it was ascending. “That matches what we see in the video,” he says.
Then, West turned to a tool he designed himself, called Sitrec. An organization that prefers to remain anonymous paid West to continue developing the app and to help make it freely and publicly available on his website, Metabunk.org, a hub for UAP news, forum discussions, and debunking resources. West simply dragged and dropped his video into Sitrec—a “situation recreation” tool which integrates flight data and video from any source—and used satellite imagery to recreate situations.
“I set the camera to point from my plane to the other two. One of them matched exactly. It was a small Cessna,” he says. “This confirms that this was the plane I was actually looking at.”
WEST USED TO CODE FORTony Hawk’s Pro Series™ skater video games, a billion-dollar franchise. He likes to joke that it was his “baptism by fire,” because he would sometimes “spend an inordinate amount of time on this trivial little thing, this one intractable little bug that is just causing this problem. It can be very difficult to figure out … but you have no choice.”
It’s this passion and rigor that ignited his first foray into UAP investigations. That, and a fascination with conspiracy theories.
It all began with the “chemtrails” conspiracy theory that claims airplane vapor trails secretly contain chemical or biological agents meant to control people. To debunk that far-fetched idea, West launched the website ContrailScience.com. Eventually, he started debunking other conspiracy theories including those about 9/11, Earth being flat, and finally UFO alien sightings.
The most important element of maintaining accuracy is to hold on to reasonable—albeit mundane—explanations. “This is a big, big issue in UFO investigations. Instead of trying to eliminate something, you just move possibilities up and down the list,” West explains. Perhaps the list of possibilities for a UAP includes a bird, a weather balloon, an alien spaceship, a hallucination, or a camera glitch. “Which one’s the most important one? The most likely one,” West says. “If you eliminate something, you’ve thrown it away, and you might never get it back.”
That’s what happened during a UAP investigation in Chile—one that would permanently cement West’s interest in UAPs.
In 2014, the Chilean Navy caught video footage of overlapping mysterious black blobs leaving black streaks behind them. Chile’s military studied the recording for two years, but ruled out several different possibilities, leaving behind only the tantalizing chance of aliens. On Metabunk, you can watch West’s analysis of the recording. He discovered that the thermal camera responsible for the footage made the blobs appear hot. In reality, they were just hotter than the surrounding sky that day. Likewise, the streaks were also warmer than the surrounding sky. It’s the same effect as looking through a regular camera at an object with a very bright background, West says—the object appears black.
“It’s not an intuitive thing, and if you don’t delve too deeply into it, [you’ll be wrong,]” he says. In fact, after removing the radiating heat effects around the object, the shape of a regular airplane emerges. The blobs were the four engines of an airplane, and the streaks its contrails.
Mick West
A screenshot from Mick West’s free online Sitrec tool showing the Chilean Navy UAP video, with a flight path analysis and additional information about the November 11, 2014 incident on the left-hand side of the screen.
Another aspect the original investigation got wrong was the blob’s flight path. The footage originated from a helicopter and seemed to indicate a UAP over a nearby bay. “They thought they were looking at an object that was moving left to right, here,” says West, pointing out the flight track path on the video via Sitrec. “In fact, what they were looking at was this plane, just departed from San Diego Airport.” As the plane looped around to gain height over the nearby mountains, it banked in such a way that it appeared to be over the bay and so—apparently—didn’t match any flight records. West was able to simulate the blob’s actual movements by accounting for the camera angle and the relative movement of the blob, and overlaid it successfully with official flight records, matching the paths.
DESPITE HIS DEDICATION, West does have a few unsolved cases on his list. Sometimes, there’s just not enough information to draw a conclusion. For example, in 2017, TheNew York Timespublished a video that appeared to depict a flying saucer. West deeply investigated it, checking out how the camera could have been moving, how the UFO could have matched the rotation of the camera, and how there could’ve been a glare in the camera lens. But the analysis took West a long time, and the case is still puzzling. Ideally, West needs the original radar data instead of the analysis the government actually released. The original would have allowed him to recreate the scenario in three dimensions.
“In most cases, what you really want is to have two videos from two different angles. Multiple sensor data is kind of the gold standard,” he explains.
Now that the National Defense Authorization Act requires the government to declassify many UAP documents, West hopes he can get his hands on more original evidence. So far, it’s been a slog, and until there’s fuller disclosure of past UAPs, some of those cases will likely remain open.
Not all of West’s investigations take place on a computer, though. Sometimes he needs to do a little detective work on the side. Once, when somebody reported to him that they’d seen mysterious lights in the sky, West followed his hunch that they might be searchlights and called the local town. He was right: a tree farm in the suspicious location had just installed attention-grabbing searchlights.
Even though West has solved many UAP analysis requests over the years, his conclusions—so far, always mundane—can be unwelcome. People want to believe extraterrestrial aliens are making contact with us. And in the rush to find answers, even other investigators often jump to the wrong conclusions, he says.
There’s also this fact: “The people who are into UFO investigations are so interested because they’re looking for something extraordinary,” West says. “I’m just looking to find out what something actually is, whether it’s extraordinary or not. I don’t have a preference.”
Earlier this year, following last summer’s congressional hearings on UFOs, the Pentagon’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) issued a 63-page report evaluating almost 80 years of evidence. Its conclusion — not altogether surprising, given the name of the office — can be summarized as follows: Not much to see here. Please move on.
The Senate Intelligence Committee isn’t buying it. The Intelligence Authorization Act, which it passed recently, among other things calls for review of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office. The bill would also limit research into what are now called UAPs (for unidentified anomalous phenomena) unless Congress is informed and add whistleblower protections for anyone who might wish to step forward and speak their minds.
Less plausible claims about UAPs have been achieving greater circulation in part because of the efforts of David Grusch, who testified before Congress last year about hidden alien bodies, crashed vehicles and secret conspiracies. Those claims, which primary witnesses have not corroborated, defy belief and the ensuing controversy has helped make concerns about UAPs appear silly.
Nonetheless, the truth remains that there are systematic sightings and sensor data of fast-moving entities that the government cannot explain. You don’t have to think they are space aliens to realize that they are threats to national security. At the very least, the mere fact that some experienced military pilots entertain the more speculative alien-linked hypotheses suggests that the military is not processing information effectively. Does it make anyone feel better when reports from pilots are dismissed as crazy?
UAPs will remain an issue as long as China and Russia (and possibly other nations) remain national security threats, because the U.S. military will always want to identify possible entrants to its airspace. No report or bureaucratic process can make those concerns go away. And so there is a kind of paralyzed equilibrium, where a very strong force — the desire to know — has met an immoveable object — a lack of knowledge.
In this sense, the frustration of the Senate Intelligence Committee — as expressed by its unanimous 17-0 vote — is understandable. The Pentagon’s report presents many of the weaker UAP allegations and notes that there is no serious evidence to back them up. And it simply dismisses some of the stronger UAP puzzles, such as the Nimitz or Gimbal incidents.
It is not until Page 26 that the report concedes: "A small percentage of cases have potentially anomalous characteristics or concerning characteristics. AARO has kept Congress fully and currently informed of its findings. AARO’s research continues on these cases.” Those sentences should have been on the first page and then the report should have presented the evidence about those cases. If this were an undergraduate term paper, I would have given it a D+.
The chatter among insiders, some of which surely reaches senators, is that some of the data is very hard to explain. Some people, such as John Brennan, former head of the CIA, have even speculated that the available evidence might imply contact with a nonhuman civilization. Agree or disagree, the admission is a marker of our ignorance.
The conspiracy, to the extent there is one, is not to suppress evidence of different life forms; it is to avoid admitting the embarrassing absence of any real answers. So at the very least, the Senate Intelligence Committee deserves credit for reopening the issue.
It can be hard to wrap your head around such huge questions. People are often more concerned with dismissing the possibility of alien life than with admitting the possibility of genuine uncertainty. And since even partial evidence of aliens might scare the public too much, there is an overriding incentive to keep matters under wraps.
When I think about all this, I try to keep two questions separate. First, is there a major puzzle to account for? And second, what is the best explanation for that puzzle? It helps to focus on the first question in isolation, since we can’t seem to keep our heads on straight when it comes to the second.
By admitting that there is a real puzzle to be solved, the Senate Intelligence Committee has moved decisively to answer the first question. Once we clarify exactly what the puzzle is, maybe we’ll be able to make some progress explaining it.
Tyler Cowen is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the Marginal Revolution blog
The question of whether humans are alone in the universe and whether we may one day make contact with extraterrestrials has tantalized philosophers and scientists for centuries.
Astronomers continue to scour the cosmos for signs of biosignatures in far-distant atmospheres that could reveal the planetary home of simple lifeforms or possibly even technosignatures that would indicate an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization not unlike us. Meanwhile, some also speculate that signs of extraterrestrials—particularly in the form of their technologies—might be discovered far closer to home than most would ever expect and that perhaps the search for alien technosignatures should include studies of nearby asteroids, planets, Earth’s Moon, and even sightings of unusual phenomena that occasionally occur within our own atmosphere.
Now, a new survey being conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom is asking the public for answers about people’s attitudes toward the idea that humans could one day contact intelligent extraterrestrials or even the controversial notion that some form of contact might have already occurred.
The survey, led by Professor Michael Bohlander, Chair in Global Law and SETI Policy at Durham Law School in the United Kingdom, along with Dr. Andreas Anton, also a Research Fellow at Durham Law School, in cooperation with Dr John Elliott, Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Computer Science at the University of St Andrews, aims to gauge participants’ attitudes toward the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), as well as reports in recent years involving what the United States military now calls Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), or what have traditionally been known as UFOs.
Bohlander and the team hope to learn how participants would react to such a contact event and what its global societal implications would be for humankind.
While the idea of contact with extraterrestrials has long been an area of focus in both science fiction as well as astronomers’ ongoing search for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, Bohlander recently told The Debrief that he and his colleagues hope to learn more about the human side of the question of alien life: namely how people would likely react to such an event, and therefore how scientists can better prepare for what Bohlander and his colleagues view as the eventuality of some form of contact.
“Such an event would likely pose an existential risk to humanity, regardless of whether the contact were to be hostile or peaceful,” Bohlander said in an email to The Debrief. “In the words of former NASA chief historian Steven J. Dick, we need to work on a unilateral metalaw to determine by which principles humanity should be guided in the process.”
Bohlander says the survey aims to collect data that ranges from the ethical and moral to political, religious, and even legal perspectives from people in all parts of the world on questions related to the prospect of contact with extraterrestrials. Primarily, the questions contained within the survey will aim to inform what Bohlander describes as “the coming debate about the foundations for such a globally accepted metalaw.”
“It actively addresses the traditional geopolitical imbalance of the SETI and UAP debate,” Bohlander told The Debrief, “where the voices of the so-called Global South, or of Earth’s Eastern Hemisphere are not routinely heard.”
Unlike many past surveys that have looked at people’s attitudes or beliefs toward the possible existence of alien life, Bohlander and his colleagues also incorporated the recent interest in unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) into the questions they ask of participants, although he notes that they approach the topic from a slightly different angle than the standard questions involving whether we are alone in the universe.
“The UAP/UFO aspect is of a slightly different nature,” Bohlander explains. “Apart from all the recent controversies about cover-ups and conspiracies, about crash site retrievals or reverse engineering, as well as political and constitutional issues of the public’s right to disclosure versus national or indeed global security, UAP/UFOs represent a fait accompli.”
The revelation that some UAP sightings could be related to extraterrestrials, if ever proven, would mean that humankind could soon face an unexpected development of historic proportions. Currently, the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) maintains there is still no evidence that is suggestive of any links between UAP and off-planet technologies, but for Bohlander and his team, the question alone is worthy of addressing from an academic perspective.
“If some of them are of extraterrestrial origin, then humanity is for all intents and purposes unprepared,” Bohlander told The Debrief. “This is especially the case given the apparent massive difference in technological capacities in some of the observed objects.”
Also, given the recent advancements in artificial intelligence that have seen a sudden surge in recent years, many researchers have begun to question whether intelligence from off-planet, if it were to be encountered, would necessarily even be biological life as we know it. For Bohlander, whatever the nature or form any prospective non-human intelligence may take, the biggest question for humanity has to do with its intentions.
“There is, however, still the question of how to deal with the intelligence behind them—biological or AI—once they reveal themselves,” Bohlander said. “Questions of negotiations and possibly armed response do remain,” he added.
Prospective participants can find the team’s survey, “Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence: A study of projected perceptions and reactions among the world’s societies,” available at the website of Durham University’s Durham Law School.
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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 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.