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Psychology of alien contact: Could humanity handle the “otherness” of extraterrestrials?

• Humans do not respond well to "otherness." We are frightened and divide ourselves into "us" versus "them." 
• We need to overcome this tendency if we are to have a successful encounter with alien beings. 
• One possible solution, should we make contact with an intelligent alien species, would be to use "neutral" robots to facilitate interaction.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Searching for extraterrestrial life is an important goal not only for NASA, but for many of us in the scientific community to address the ancient question of whether we are alone in the Universe. But what if we actually discover alien life? We can just as easily imagine a friendly encounter (E.T., The Day the Earth Stood Still) as a fight to the death (War of the Worlds, Independence Day). Either way, we expect the extraterrestrials to be very different from us. It is implicit in the word we use to describe them: aliens.

Examining these conflicting views is one of the goals of a new initiative called Exploring Otherness on Earth and Beyond, funded by the Einstein Foundation in Germany, which held its first workshop earlier this month at the German Aerospace Center in Berlin. By including perspectives from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities, the initiative hopes to build on ideas discussed during a symposium on Astrobiology and Society held in 2015 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The fact that this can even be a topic of serious discussion suggests that contact with extraterrestrials is no longer considered an unlikely pipe dream.

While most scientists would welcome the discovery of alien life and the chance to learn more about it, such a discovery is often perceived as strange or frightening by the public at large. Some would welcome aliens with open arms and expect them to solve our problems, from climate change to cancer. Some might even treat them as gods. Others would be afraid the aliens would take over Earth and have us at their mercy. Which attitude prevails likely will depend on what type of behavior we recognize in the extraterrestrials as being like our own.

“Otherness”

Historians, philosophers, and social scientists have long grappled with the idea of “otherness.” Human history is a long parade of cultures colonizing and subjugating each other, and racial and tribal politics are still very much with us today. Although many in our society are becoming more tolerant of otherness in areas like sexuality and neurodiversity, the separation of “us” and “them” is alive and well.

And that’s just among humans. If we consider our fellow creatures on Earth, “otherness” is even more of a problem. Why do some animals repel us, while others we want to cuddle? A bear is far more dangerous to humans than a tarantula — a child’s teddy bear conveniently leaves out the teeth and claws — yet we feel more at ease around our fellow mammal. Since bears are more closely related to humans than tarantulas, it is easier for us to read a bear’s emotions. And most of us are creeped out by a tarantula’s otherworldly appearance and behavior — the multiple eyes and the scuttling movements. In fact, spiders in general tend to rank highly among the most feared/disgusting animals, with bunnies residing at the other end of the scale. This may explain the preponderance of movie aliens that resemble arthropods. (The movie District 9 — a powerful indictment of societal “otherness” — comes to mind.)

Science is only beginning to understand the staggering variety of “alien” behaviors on our own planet, from sea turtles that sense magnetic fields to plants that communicate with each other via airborne chemicals. If we venture into an inhabited universe, we are likely to run into beings that evolved under entirely different physical circumstances. Will we meet them as curious, friendly, fellow explorers? Predators and prey? Will we be delighted or disgusted by their strangeness?

This dynamic may depend on whether “they” are more technologically advanced than us. If they are, they are likely to call the shots, not us. But let’s assume for a moment that we are the more advanced species. Would we afford more protection to an extraterrestrial microbe than to our own microbes, which we kill by the billions in our lab experiments without giving it a second thought? What if the alien is a more complex life form — say, similar to one of our fellow terrestrial animals? Shouldn’t we treat it ethically? What would that even mean to a society like our own that still eats fellow animals, even those we are closely related to?

The psychology of alien contact

How we deal with alien life, if it should ever come to that, will be one of the major challenges for humanity. We certainly want to avoid miscommunications and misunderstandings that could have dire, and possibly fatal, consequences. And we need to consider the possibility of encountering intelligent life forms that we simply cannot understand, as in the Stanisław Lem novel Solaris. We might be so confused by their otherness that we don’t even recognize them as living beings.

There might be a way around this dilemma: Artificial robots may be more successful emissaries between interplanetary civilizations, since they could take on a more neutral form. Another solution would be mimicry. Many science fiction aliens, from The Man Who Fell to Earth to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, take human form when they come visiting.

Religious questions also come into play when discussing the otherness of aliens. How would the major religions on our planet deal with the discovery of intelligent aliens? At the 2015 Library of Congress meeting, Brother Guy Consolmagno from the Vatican Observatory said he was once asked whether he would baptize an alien. I thought his answer was very smart. He said yes, but only if the alien wants to.

Of course, some Eastern traditions like Buddhism would do away with notions of “self” and “other” altogether. Perhaps that is the key insight that will allow us, and perhaps other civilizations hoping to travel among the stars, to meet each other with open arms, rather than with weapons drawn — even if some of us (or them) might still have a deep nagging feeling inside of being repelled by alien otherness.

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Real images 0f Moon Bases and Ufo's. BruceSeesAll shows us two images that are from a space association and the rest of the video is all his personal research in ufology and astronomy on the moon. 

One of the most remarkable recordings of Bruce is a UFO leaving the moon and while NASA still insists that there is no extraterrestrial activity on the moon, it is only a matter of time before they can no longer deny it.

  

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

279-year-old file discovered on “first of its type” sight over Westminster in the London UFO mystery

Doctor Cromwell Mortimer saw an unexplained flying object soaring above downtown London on December 16, 1742, and he reported it to authorities. Mr. Mortimer, who was the secretary of the Royal Society at the time, observed the enigmatic object as it moved “slowly” above St. James’s Park around 8:40 p.m. while on his way home to Westminster. He noted that the object was moving quite slowly, which gave him about 30 seconds to acquire a good view of it.

Despite being short, 30 seconds is a lot longer than most sightings of meteors and other such phenomena.

He was even able to draw a schematic of the item, which he described in his 1746 report, which was recently discovered in the journal Philosophical Transactions, vol. XLIII.

In the south by west point, he claimed, “I saw a light appear hidden behind the woods and homes.”

After reaching a height of around 20 degrees, it moved in a direction that was almost aligned to the horizon and passed above the residences.

As he continued to observe the object, he thought that its route had taken it precisely over Bloomsbury, over Queen’s Square, and toward the nearby canal.

He also wrote that he had lost sight of it over the Haymarket.

Its action was so slow, he said, that I was able to see it for more than a minute and spend enough time studying it.

His illustration showed a thing with a blazing head that was “contained as it were in an open box” and bound by “bands of iron.”

Like contemporary airplanes, the extraterrestrial had a lengthy tail of light that was progressively becoming fainter.

The British UFO investigator Steve Mera was quoted by The Sun as saying, “It is the very first of its sort.”

People watching it from a balcony, he continued. They had good financial standing, which promoted thorough investigation.

The military has reported 400 sightings of UFOs and had 11 near experiences with them over the years, according to a top Pentagon officer who testified before the US Congress.

Due to a considerable increase in statements from military personnel concerning prior encounters, the stigma associated with reporting UFO sightings has decreased over the last several years, and this number has more than doubled.

These days, an “unidentified flying object” (UFO) may not always indicate alien sightings; it might even be highly developed drones.

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

How Astronauts Will Use Mars Soil For 3D Printing On The Red Planet

By Charles Nwali  

{ https://www.futurespaceworld.com/ }

The Milky Way Is Moving Through The Universe At 2.1 Million Kilometers Per Hour

{ https://blog.sci-nature.com/ }

Navy admits it has more UFO videos but says releasing the footage publicly would 'HARM national security' because it would reveal 'valuable' information regarding the Pentagon's operations and capabilities to America's enemies

• The U.S. Navy can't release more UFO videos that it has because doing so would 'harm national security,' a spokesperson said 
• The statement was made in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by government transparency site The Black Vault  
• 'The release of this information will harm national security as it may provide adversaries valuable information...' 
• During public hearings in May, the Navy revealed 400 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' reports in recent years  

By CHRISTOPHER CARBONE U.S. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

The U.S. Navy won't release additional footage of unidentified flying objects because doing so would 'harm national security.'

A spokesperson for the military branch made the statement in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the government transparency site The Black Vault - which has previously shared thousands of pages of UFO-related documents received from the CIA and other agencies. 

The FOIA request dates to April 2020, just after the Navy released the now infamous videos shot by its pilots that depicted some type of unidentified high-tech aircraft moving in ways that seemed impossible. 

The Black Vault had requested any and all other videos related to what the Navy prefers to call unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP). 

The U.S. Navy won't release additional footage of unidentified flying objects because doing so would 'harm national security' it stated in response to a FOIA request from The Black Vault. Above: a clip taken from a Navy cockpit in a training area and shows a spherical object floating by the aircraft

The FOIA request dates to April 2020, just after the Navy released the now infamous videos shot by its pilots that depicted some type of unidentified high-tech aircraft moving in ways that seemed impossible. Robert J. Salvo, a 13 year old boy walking his dog, purports to have taken a photo of a flying saucer, but no comment was made from the military

'The release of this information will harm national security as it may provide adversaries valuable information regarding Department of Defense/Navy operations, vulnerabilities, and/or capabilities,' Gregory Cason, deputy director of the Navy's FOIA office, wrote in a response letter shared by The Black Vault. 'No portions of the videos can be segregated for release.' 

Carson explained that the Navy only released those previous three videos because they'd already been leaked to the media and were therefore 'discussed extensively in the public domain.'

'Given the amount of information in the public domain regarding these encounters, it was possible to release the files without further damage to national security,' he said. 

The Black Vault has filed an appeal to seek the release of the videos that have been denied.  

Regardless of what they choose to release, the Pentagon is certainly taking the threat of UFOs seriously. During public hearings in May, the agency revealed 400 'unidentified aerial phenomenon' reports in recent years - which is significantly higher than the 144 incidents since 2004 that were reported the previous year.

Eleven of the incidents have been 'near misses,' where military aircraft just barely brushed past the UAPs without colliding. 

The Black Vault has filed an appeal to seek the release of the videos that have been denied. Above: A UFO variety was photographed when it hovered for fifteen minutes near Holloman Air Development Center in New Mexico. The object was photographed by a government employee and was released by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization after careful study. There is no conventional explanation for the object

'The release of this information will harm national security as it may provide adversaries valuable information regarding Department of Defense/Navy operations, vulnerabilities, and/or capabilities,' Gregory Cason, deputy director of the Navy's FOIA office, wrote in a response letter shared by The Black Vault . 'No portions of the videos can be segregated for release.' Above: Another shot of the unidentified spherical object

Ronald Moultrie, the Pentagon's top intelligence official, said the government has not ruled out the possibility that these incidents could be connected to extraterrestrial life.

'There are elements of our government engaged in ... looking for extraterrestrial life,' Moultrie said at the hearing. 'Our goal is not to potentially cover up something, it's to understand what's maybe out there.'

'We are all curious and we seek to understand the unknown. And as a lifelong intelligence professional, I'm impatient. I want immediate explanations for this as much as anyone else. However, understanding can take significant time and effort. It's why we've endeavored to concentrate on this data driven process to derive fact based results,' Scott Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers.

In July, the Pentagon announced that it has received federal funding to open a new office focused exclusively on managing reports of UFO sightings by the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force. 

Read more:

• U.S. Navy Says ALL UAP/UFO Videos Are Classified And Exempt From Release - The Black Vault

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/}

'Cosmic' and 'phantom' UFOs are all over Ukraine's skies, government report claims

Hubble Just Confirmed The Largest Ocean World In Our Solar System And Its Not On Earth

The Ganymede Ocean is believed to contain more water than Europa's,” says Olivier Witasse, a project scientist working on ESA’s future Jupiter Icy Moon Explorer (JUICE). “Six times more water in Ganymede’s ocean than in Earth's ocean, and three times more than Europa.”In March of 2020, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope revealed the best evidence yet for an underground saltwater ocean on Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon --larger than Mercury and not much smaller than Mars.

Identifying liquid water is crucial in the search for habitable worlds beyond Earth and for the search for life, as we know it“This discovery marks a significant milestone, highlighting what only Hubble can accomplish,” said John Grunsfeld, now retired assistant administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. “In its 25 years in orbit, Hubble has made many scientific discoveries in our own solar system. A deep ocean under the icy crust of Ganymede opens up further exciting possibilities for life beyond Earth.”

Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and the only moon with its own magnetic field. The magnetic field causes aurorae, which are ribbons of glowing, hot electrified gas, in regions circling the north and south poles of the moon. Because Ganymede is close to Jupiter, it is also embedded in Jupiter's magnetic field. When Jupiter's magnetic field changes, the aurorae on Ganymede also change, "rocking" back and forth.Just as Saturn's moon, Dione is perennially overshadowed by Enceladus and Titan, Ganymede's fame is eclipsed by its sister ocean world, Europa, slated for flybys by NASA’s Europa Clipper mission in the 2020s.

Ganymede's cycles of auroral activity on the surface, detected by the Hubble Space Telescope, reveal oscillations in the moon’s magnetic field best explained by the internal heat-generating tidal sloshing of a huge ocean hundreds of kilometers below the surface. JUICE will fly by the moons at distances between 1000 and 200 kilometers, orbiting Ganymede for nine months, with the latter four months at an altitude of about 500 km. While the oceans of Jupiter's moons are likely buried at significant depth below their icy crusts, radar will be able to help piece together clues as to their complex evolution.

For example, it will explore Europa's potentially active regions and be able to distinguish where the composition changes, such as if there are local, shallow reservoirs of water sandwiched between icy layers. It will be able to find 'deflected' subsurface layers, which will help to determine the tectonic history of Ganymede in particular.

{ https://blog.sci-nature.com/ }

Police officer Herbert Schirmer talks about being taken onboard a UFO, Nebraska

Police officer Herbert Schirmer talks about being taken onboard a UFO, Nebraska, December 3, 1967.

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NASA Shares Largest-Ever Image Of Andromeda Galaxy, Internet Calls It "Extraordinarily Beautiful"

American space agency NASA on Sunday shared the "largest-ever" image assembled of the Andromeda galaxy by the Hubble Space Telescope. The picture was captured seven years ago and it is the sharpest large composite image ever taken of our galactic neighbor.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the image depicts a 48,000-light-year-long region of the Andromeda galaxy with over 100 million stars visible. The Instagram picture divides the panoramic image into three parts, with the last revealing a belt of blue stars with countless stars sprinkled around the image.

The photograph has captivated internet users since it was shared. It has received almost one million likes. "It is really gorgeous," one user said. "It's wonderful," commented another. "Absolutely wonderful," said the third person.

The space agency noted that because the Andromeda galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away, dozens of star clusters can be identified. According to NASA, our Milky Way galaxy and the Andromeda galaxy are comparable in size and form.

{ https://blog.sci-nature.com/ }

A new way to Discover Planets? Astronomers Detect an Exoplanet by Seeing its Trojan Belts

Although we have found thousands of exoplanets in recent years, we really only have three methods of finding them. The first is to observe a star dimming slightly as a planet passes in front of it (transit method). The second is to measure the wobble of a star as an orbiting planet gives it a gravitational tug (Doppler method). The third is to observe the exoplanet directly. Now a new study in the Astrophysical Journal Letters has a fourth method.

Each of the methods we currently use has its drawbacks. The transit method only works when an exoplanet’s orbit is lined up with our view of the star, the Doppler method tends to favor larger planets orbiting close to a small star, and the direct observation is best for large planets orbiting far from their star. But all of these methods only work for planets orbiting middle-aged stars. That is stars that have long since cleared the dust and debris around them. So while we have learned a great deal about the types of planetary systems that are out there, we’ve learned less about how young star systems form.

Thanks to radio observatories such as ALMA, we have gotten a good view of early debris disks around very young stars. These disks emit a faint radio glow that ALMA is particularly effective at seeing. One of the things we’ve noticed in many of these disks is that they have gaps or bands within them. We think they are caused by young planets that have cleared a path in the debris disk as they grow and evolve. The problem is that we can’t be certain that’s what’s happening. There are other possible explanations, such as turbulence or gravitational resonances within the disk that causes gaps to form. The problem is that while we can study the structure of the gaps, telescopes like ALMA can’t resolve an actual planet orbiting within a gap. Even a planet as large as Jupiter is too small to clearly detect directly.

So this new study took a different approach. Instead of trying to detect an exoplanet in the disk directly, why not look for signs within the debris disk that the planet is there? And they’ve found a pattern that works. You might even call it their trojan horse.

Jupiter is by far the most massive planet in our solar system, and over time it has influenced the orbits of smaller bodies such as asteroids. One of the clear influences is on the asteroid belt, where it has induced resonant gaps known as Kirkwood gaps. The other is in the collection of asteroids it has gathered to its orbit, known as the Trojans.

Trojan asteroids are small bodies that have happened to get trapped in Jupiter’s Lagrange points. These are regions in Jupiter’s orbit about sixty degrees ahead and behind Jupiter itself. Through the gravitational dance of Jupiter and Sun, the Lagrange points are rather deep gravitational wells, so anything that finds itself there tends to stay there. So as Jupiter parades around the Sun, it has a cluster of Trojans marching along ahead and behind it.

In this new study, the team focused on a young star known as LkCA 15 and looked for similar gravitational dynamics. By analyzing high-resolution images of the star and its debris disk, they found two very faint clusters of dust. The clumps were in the same orbit within the debris disk, and they were separated by an angle of 120 degrees. In other words, the clumps have all the signs of being within the Lagrange points of a young planet. Based on the data, the team estimates the planet is roughly the size of Neptune or Saturn. Given that the planet is likely only a couple of million years old, it seems to have formed pretty quickly.

All of this paints an interesting picture of planetary evolution. Large planets seem to form early within a star system, and they almost immediately start influencing its gravitational dance. The next question is whether astronomers can find similar planets in other young star systems using the same method.

Reference: 

• Long, Feng, et al. “ALMA Detection of Dust Trapping around Lagrangian Points in the LkCa 15 Disk.” The Astrophysical Journal Letters 937.1 (2022): L1.

The post A new way to Discover Planets? Astronomers Detect an Exoplanet by Seeing its Trojan Belts appeared first on Universe Today.

Source: 

• https://www.universetoday.com/157651/a-new-way-to-discover-planets-astronomers-detect-an-exoplanet-by-seeing-its-trojan-belts/
  

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Alien Royalty and VIPs In UFO Over England To Attend Queens Funeral, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Sept 16, 2022

Location of sighting: Across England

 

Over 800 eyewitnesses reported seeing a glowing object for over 25 seconds passing over the UK last night. Reports poured in about it possibly being a meteor, comet or space debris. The object itself didn't always have a tail, as seen in the screenshot above I took which shows one large sphere craft and one much smaller sphere craft behind it. The UFO was flying horizontal to the ground...like a plane, like a craft carrying people would be when getting ready to land. Also this UFO was flying very slowly, much too slow to be a meteor and defiantly not a comet as some has said in my video comments...a comet would change the tides of our ocean causing tidal waves if it were inside our atmosphere like that. Most comets are .5km and bigger. 

 

I was actually waiting for this to happen, because I knew that alien dignitaries, royalty and VIPs would want to attend the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. Why? Because she was queen for nearly a century, maybe the longest ruling queen ever to date. Also, he royal perspective, respecting her royal duties, he royal roles that she was required to do, but...often humans refuse to partake in. 

 

So...here is the ship, from outside our solar system which contains alien royalty and dignitaries from across the universe...all which came to attend the funeral in person. To show respect to the fallen queen and to be in the same place, same location, same building with so many world leaders who are doing the same. A rare, painful and great moment not just for UK or England, but for the world and beyond. 

 

As I have said before, I mean what I say. I mean no disrespect to the Queen nor to the people of England or UK. I am only stating the obvious truth. And the truth is...she was respected across the Universe. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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NASA's Perseverance rover finds organic matter 'treasure' on Mars that could help to determine if life ever existed on the Red Planet

• Organic matter 'treasure' has been found by NASA's Perseverance rover on Mars
• This discovery could help to determine if life has ever existed on the Red Planet
• Suggests Jezero Crater may've had habitable environments 3.5 billion years ago
• There are no definite signs of life but experts think they are looking in right place 

By SAM TONKIN FOR MAILONLINE

It has been searching for clues about possible ancient alien life on Mars.

And now NASA's Perseverance rover has discovered organic matter 'treasure' that could help determine if extraterrestrials did in fact ever exist on the Red Planet.

The collection of organic matter from the Jezero Crater, which likely once held a lake and the delta that emptied into it, suggests it had potentially habitable environments 3.5 billion years ago.

These organic molecules contain carbon that are widely considered to be the building blocks of life. 

The US space agency said Perseverance had collected four samples from the ancient river delta since July 7, bringing the total count of scientifically compelling rock samples to 12. 

Discovery: NASA's Perseverance rover (pictured) has discovered organic matter 'treasure' that could help determine if extraterrestrials did in fact ever exist on the Red Planet

'The rocks that we have been investigating on the delta have the highest concentration of organic matter that we have yet found on the mission,' said Ken Farley, Perseverance project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. 

The rover has taken measurements and samples in an area called Skinner Ridge.

This is made of layered sedimentary rocks, some of which contain materials that were most likely transported from miles away by running water billions of years ago. 

'With the samples we're taking now in this more sedimentary area, we're of course right at the heart of what we wanted to do to start with,' said NASA science lead Thomas Zurbuchen during a press conference.

The sedimentary rocks contain complex organic molecules called aromatics, along with clays and sulphate minerals. The latter can be produced when water interacts with rocks. 

There are no definite signs of life, or biosignatures, in these materials but scientists are encouraged that they are looking in the right place.

'While the detection of this class of organics alone does not mean that life was definitively there, this set of observations does start to look like some things that we've seen here on Earth,' said Sunanda Sharma at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California during the press conference. 

'To put it simply, if this is a treasure hunt for potential signs of life on another planet, organic matter is a clue. 

'And we're getting stronger and stronger clues as we're moving through our delta campaign.'

David Shuster, of the University of California, Berkeley, added: 'This is really important that this has sulphate in it and also clays, because that means that this rock has high potential for biosignature preservation, meaning that if there were biosignatures in this vicinity when that rock formed, this is precisely the type of material that will preserve that for us to study when [the samples] come back to Earth.'

It is not the first time Perseverance has found organic matter on Mars, but this time the detection was in an area where life may have once existed.

'In the distant past, the sand, mud, and salts that now make up the Wildcat Ridge sample were deposited under conditions where life could potentially have thrived,' Farley said.

'The fact the organic matter was found in such a sedimentary rock – known for preserving fossils of ancient life here on Earth – is important. 

The US space agency said Perseverance had collected four samples from the ancient river delta since July 7, bringing the total count of scientifically compelling rock samples to 12. This image shows the holes from the first successful sample taken by the rover

'However, as capable as our instruments aboard Perseverance are, further conclusions regarding what is contained in the Wildcat Ridge sample will have to wait until it's returned to Earth for in-depth study as part of the agency's Mars Sample Return campaign.'

During its first science campaign, Perseverance explored the crater's floor, finding igneous rock, which forms deep underground from magma or during volcanic activity at the surface.

'The delta, with its diverse sedimentary rocks, contrasts beautifully with the igneous rocks – formed from crystallisation of magma – discovered on the crater floor,' said Farley.

'This juxtaposition provides us with a rich understanding of the geologic history after the crater formed and a diverse sample suite. 

'For example, we found a sandstone that carries grains and rock fragments created far from Jezero Crater — and a mudstone that includes intriguing organic compounds.'

NASA and the European Space Agency are planning to return the rock samples to Earth around 2033. 

NASA MARS 2020: PERSEVERANCE ROVER AND INGENUITY HELICOPTER ARE SEARCHING FOR LIFE ON THE RED PLANET

NASA's Mars 2020 mission was launched to search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet in a bid to help scientists better understand how life evolved on Earth in the earliest years of the evolution of the solar system.

Named Perseverance, the main car-sized rover is exploring an ancient river delta within the Jezero Crater, which was once filled with a 1,600ft deep lake.

It is believed that the region hosted microbial life some 3.5 to 3.9 billion years ago and the rover will examine soil samples to hunt for evidence of the life.

Nasa's Mars 2020 rover (artist's impression) is searching for signs of ancient life on Mars in a bid to help scientists better understand how life evolved on our own planet

The $2.5 billion (£1.95 billion) Mars 2020 spaceship launched on July 30 with the rover and helicopter inside - and landed successfully on February 18, 2021.

Perseverance landed inside the crater and will slowly collect samples that will eventually be returned to Earth for further analysis.

A second mission will fly to the planet and return the samples, perhaps by the later 2020s in partnership with the European Space Agency.

This concept art shows the Mars 2020 rover landing on the red planet via NASA's 'sky-crane' system

Read more:

• Perseverance rover finds organic matter 'treasure' on Mars | CNN

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NASA chose Jezero Crater which is 28 miles (45 kilometers) wide as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta and a key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. 

On July 21 and 22, 2022 the Rover captured an image of a very strange unnatural looking rock which according to NASA is an abraded rock at "Wildcat Ridge" in Mars' Jezero Crater. 

It seems almost impossible that such a perfectly round shaped rock was created by natural forces, also considering that no other comparable rocks are observable in the immediate vicinity of this rock with perfect curves, straight walls and flat plateau. 

And although it seems that NASA is talking about an ordinary rock that has been formed naturally over the years, it is questionable whether it was a natural process or whether this perfectly round and smooth shaped rock was artificially created by an unknown extraterrestrial race. 

As NASA said "an abraded rock"! 

Below an animated flyover of the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater.

  

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After 30 years, the world’s most clear UFO image of a diamond-shaped object has been discovered

It has been discovered that a cool UFO photograph taken by two hikers in the Scottish Highlands over 30 years ago and believed to be gone still exists.

A gigantic object in the sky (diamond-shaped) and what seems to be a Harrier jet far up there, may both be seen in the allegedly authentic “Calvine Photograph.”

It was discovered after years of investigation by journalist and researcher Dr. David Clarke and has been dubbed the “greatest” UFO photograph in the world by some.

The image was taken on August 4, 1990, on a hillside by two hikers close to Calvine, which is located approximately 35 miles northwest of Perth in Scotland.

The Scottish Daily Record newspaper received them and sent them on to the Ministry of Defense (MoD).

The narrative was never issued for an unknown reason, and the MoD stayed silent thereafter.

Due to the photographs never being made public until today, this gave rise to the current myth of the “Calvine Photograph.”

Then, it is said that the object abruptly rocketed into the sky before disappearing.

Dr. Clarke was able to locate the photograph after getting in touch with retired RAF press officer Craig Lindsay, according to The Sun. Dr. Clarke is an associate professor from Sheffield Hallam University and has served as a curator for the MoD UFO files project at The National Archives.

When the initial story was investigated in 1990, Mr. Lindsay was the one coordinating between the media and the MoD, hence he maintained a copy of the original image.

He still kept the Daily Record’s original envelope, which contained one of the Calvine images.

Dr. Clarke and Vinnie Adams from the advocacy organization UAP Media UK requested it, and Mr. Lindsay complied. It is currently housed in the Sheffield Hallam University archives.

It has been an honor to work on this case with such a committed team of academics, Mr. Adams told The Sun Online.

He also said that it felt nice to be able to share this rare photo with the public after 32 years and a thorough inquiry.

He pleaded for anybody with knowledge of the hikers’ identities or the case to come forward.

The photograph was originally displayed on the walls of the MoD’s “UFO office,” according to Nick Pope, who studied UFOs for the MoD in the 1990s. Nick Pope writes about the photograph in his 1996 book Open Skies, Closed Minds.

He said the US was questioned by the UK about whether the image was of an experimental aircraft.

The picture was afterward taken down from the wall and was never seen again.

The MoD is keeping the case of the sighting under wraps until 2072 for unknown reasons.

Despite the image’s obscurity, some think it was an experimental US aircraft, probably The Aurora, as the MoD had allegedly believed.

Although The Aurora’s existence has never been verified, some people think it was a hypersonic espionage plane with extremely high-top speeds.

In the late 80s and early 90s, some witnesses in the UK reported seeing angular flying objects.

Although they may not be any closer to determining what the object observed above Calvine in August 1990 was or whose it belonged, according to Graeme Rendall of UAP Media UK, an essential piece of the jigsaw has fallen into place as a result of careful investigation.

ALL RELATED VIDEOS AND INFO, selected and posted by peter2011

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'Game-changing' new battery for electric cars charges in 3 minutes and lasts for 20 YEARS - more than twice as long as current EV batteries

• Researchers at Harvard have created a battery that's inspired by a BLT sandwich
• They say the lithium-metal battery can be charged and discharged 10,000 times 
• Startup in Massachusetts has been given a licence to build the battery at scale

By JONATHAN CHADWICK FOR MAILONLINE 

A 'game-changing' new battery for electric vehicles (EVs) that charges in three minutes and lasts for 20 years could soon be coming to new cars.

Adden Energy, a start-up based in Waltham, Massachusetts, has been granted a licence and $5.15 million in funding to build the battery design at scale to fit in EVs. 

The battery, developed by Harvard scientists, is lithium metal, rather than lithium ion found in EVs that are already on the market. 

Its intricate design, inspired by a BLT sandwich, prevents the growth of troublesome 'dendrites' that grow in lithium-metal batteries and shorten their lifespan.

Harvard has granted an exclusive license to Adden Energy to develop the solid-state, lithium-metal battery. The startup aims to scale the battery up to a palm-sized 'pouch cell' - which has components enclosed in an aluminum-coated film (pictured)

Long-lasting, quick-charging batteries are essential to the expansion of the EV market, but today's lithium-ion batteries fall short, because they're too heavy and expensive and take too long to charge (file photo)

Currently, EVs contain lithium-ion batteries that degrade over time and last up to seven or eight years, depending on how much they're used – much like a smartphone battery. 

These lithium-ion batteries can be replaced, but they can cost thousands of pounds, meaning drivers are often better off buying a whole new EV. 

But this new solid-state, lithium-metal battery can increase the lifetime of EVs to a comparable length to petrol and diesel cars – up to 20 years – without the need to ever replace the battery during this time. 

In the lab, the team's battery prototype has achieved battery charge rates as fast as three minutes with over 10,000 cycles in a lifetime. 

The new technology has been created by Xin Li and colleagues at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS).

Adden Energy was co-founded in 2021 by Li, along with William Fitzhugh and Luhan Ye, both of whom contributed to the development of the technology as graduate students in Li’s Harvard lab.

The startup aims to scale the battery up to a palm-sized 'pouch cell' – which has components enclosed in an aluminium-coated film – and then toward a full-scale vehicle battery in the next three to five years. 

'We have achieved in the lab 5,000 to 10,000 charge cycles in a battery's lifetime, compared with 2,000 to 3,000 charging cycles for even the best in class now, and we don’t see any fundamental limit to scaling up our battery technology,' said Li. 'That could be a game changer.' 

Lithium-metal batteries hold substantially more energy in the same volume and charge in a fraction of the time compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries.

But they're prone to the formation of 'dendrites' – tiny, rigid tree-like structures that speed up battery failure. 

Researchers have therefore tried to harness the potential of solid-state, lithium-metal batteries, using a unique BLT-inspired design. 

A lithium-metal battery uses lithium in its pure metallic form, rather than lithium compounds used in lithium-ion batteries. 

Meanwhile, 'solid-state' just refers to the use of solid electrodes and a solid electrolyte, instead of the liquid or polymer gel electrolytes found in lithium-ion. 

'If you want to electrify vehicles, a solid-state battery is the way to go,' said Li, who is a scientific adviser to Adden Energy. 

'We set out to commercialise this technology because we do see our technology as unique compared to other solid-state batteries.' 

Batteries have three main components – the anode, cathode and electrolyte.

The electrolyte (typically a chemical) separates the anode and cathode and moves the flow of electrical charge between the two.  

Lithium-ion batteries move lithium ions from the cathode to the anode during charging. 

But when the anode is made of lithium metal, needle-like structures called dendrites form on the surface. 

These structures grow like roots into the electrolyte and pierce the barrier separating the anode and cathode, causing the battery potentially catch fire. 

Lithium ion batteries contain two electrodes - one made from lithium (cathode) and one from carbon (anode) - submerged in a liquid or paste called an electrolyte. When the battery is charged, electrons that were attached to the ions flow through a circuit, powering a device

To overcome this challenge, Li and his team designed a multi-layer battery that sandwiches different materials of varying stabilities between the anode and cathode. 

As previously described in Nature, the design prevents the penetration of lithium dendrites by controlling and containing them.

The battery is layered like so – first comes the bread (the lithium metal anode) followed by lettuce (a coating of graphite). 

Next, a layer of tomatoes (the first electrolyte) and a layer of bacon (the second electrolyte) and finally another layer of tomatoes and the last piece of bread (the cathode). 

The first electrolyte is more stable with lithium but prone to dendrite penetration, while the second electrolyte is less stable with lithium but appears immune to dendrites. 

In this design, dendrites are allowed to grow through the graphite and first electrolyte but are stopped when they reach the second. 

In other words, the dendrites grow through the lettuce and tomato but stop at the bacon. The bacon barrier stops the dendrites from pushing through and short-circuiting the battery.

The battery is also self-healing – meaning its chemistry allows it to backfill holes created by dendrites.

'Typically, lithium-metal anodes in other solid-state designs develop dendrites, twig-like growths that can gradually penetrate through the electrolyte to the cathode,' said Ye, who is now CTO of Adden Energy. 

'We defeat the growth of dendrites before they can cause damage, by novel structural and material designs. 

'As a result, the device can sustain its high performance over a long lifetime. Our recent study shows that this nice feature can also be maintained at scale-up.' 

Researchers also stress the importance of being able to help speed up the adoption of eco-friendly EVs in light of the climate crisis. 

EVs are generally seen as more eco-friendly than gasoline-powered vehicles, known for their planet-warming emissions. 

'Complete electrification of the vehicle fleet is one of the most meaningful steps we can take to fight climate change,' said Fitzhugh, CEO of Adden Energy. 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Nieuwe batterij voor elektrische wagens laadt op in 3 minuten en heeft levensduur van 20 jaar: “Dit kan gamechanger zijn”

Een batterij die in amper drie minuten is opgeladen en die ook nog eens twintig jaar meegaat. Welke eigenaar van een elektrische wagen zou daar niet voor staan springen? Het zou over een paar jaar zomaar kunnen. Onderzoekers van de universiteit van Harvard ontwikkelden de technologie daarvoor en de start-up uit Massachusetts heeft nu de licentie beet om ze ook te produceren. Een van hen spreekt van een “mogelijke gamechanger”.

Bron: Daily Mail

De technologie is ontwikkeld door Xin Li en zijn collega’s van de Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). Li richtte in 2021 samen met William Fitzhugh en Luhan Ye - twee studenten die de batterij mee hielpen ontwikkelen - Adden Energy op, een start-up gevestigd in Waltham in Massachusetts. Hun bedrijf kreeg de licentie én ook nog eens 5,15 miljoen dollar om de batterij op schaal te bouwen voor elektrische wagens. Binnen drie tot vijf jaar willen ze dat voor mekaar krijgen.

De batterij die de onderzoekers van Harvard ontwikkelden is een lithium-metaalbatterij en geen lithium-ion-batterij die je vandaag in de bestaande elektrische wagens terugvindt. Lithium-metaalbatterijen kunnen aanzienlijk meer energie opslaan in hetzelfde volume en laden in een fractie van de tijd op in vergelijking met traditionele lithium-ionbatterijen. Het prototype van de nieuwe batterij presteerde erg goed in het laboratorium. Het haalde oplaadsnelheden van amper drie minuten met meer dan 10.000 cycli voor het op was. “We hebben in het laboratorium 5.000 tot 10.000 laadcycli in de levensduur van een batterij bereikt, vergeleken met 2.000 tot 3.000 laadcycli voor zelfs de beste in zijn klasse nu”, aldus Li. “En we zien geen fundamentele limiet voor het opschalen van onze batterijtechnologie. Dit zou een gamechanger kunnen zijn.”

© Adden Energy

Het ontwerp van de batterij is geïnspireerd door wat de Amerikanen een “BLT sandwich” noemen. Dat zijn twee sneden brood met daartussen als beleg: spek (bacon), sla (lettuce) en tomaat (tomato). Vertaald naar de batterij: de onderste boterham is de lithium-metaal-anode, de sla is grafiet, de laag tomaten is de eerste elektrolyt, de laag spek is de tweede elektrolyt en de bovenste boterham is de kathode. Die ingewikkelde structuur moet voorkomen dat de levensduur van de batterij verkort wordt door zogenaamde ‘dendrieten’. Dat zijn kleine, harde boomvormige structuren, waarvoor lithium-metaalbatterijen gevoelig zijn en die de werking ervan verstoren.

De huidige lithium-ion-batterijen in elektrische wagens worden minder performant na verloop van tijd en gaan maximaal zeven tot acht jaar mee. De batterij dan vervangen door een nieuwe kost zo veel, dat bestuurders vaak al beter een nieuw elektrisch voertuig zouden kopen. De nieuwe lithium-metaalbatterij kan de levensduur van elektrische wagens verlengen tot zo’n 20 jaar - vergelijkbaar met de levensduur van benzine- en dieselauto’s. De batterij moet al die tijd niet worden vervangen. Dit zou een wereld van verschil kunnen maken.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

• https://www.universetoday.com/157596/a-galaxy-with-ten-times-the-mass-of-the-milky-way-is-preparing-to-become-a-quasar/

LATEST UFO SIGHTINGS AND VIDEOS

Two Large UFOs Leaving What Appears to be a Vapor Trail Over Kilbride Scotland!

Two large dark roundish UFO's Leaving a Vapor Trail over Kilbride Scotland!

Source Video YouTube Channel Sputnik

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27BKA...

Huge Black Triangle Shaped UFO Sighted Over England & Brightly Lit UFO Sighted Over New Mexico.

Clip One: This was sighted over Werneth Low which is a hill in Greater Manchester, England. This is a part of the Pennines, It is located on the borders of Stockport and Tameside. This object was sighted on August 31, 2022. The witness stated the following: "My first thought was that it was a balloon or kite, albeit an unusually large one. I couldn't see any lines holding it, nor strong winds affecting it, but we were at a significant distance. Shortly after this video, it disappeared without us seeing where it went."

Thanks to RyeZuul for allowing me the use of this footage and to view the original:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangen... 

Clip Two: This was sighted on September 7, 2022 over Albuquerque, New Mexico. In this footage we see this brightly lit UFO hovering over the city's skyline and although it is a short clip we can see it long enough to see that there is no nav lights on this craft or no sound coming from it.

Thanks to Zenificial and his coworker's son for allowing me the use of this footage and to view the original:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/HighStrangen... 

UFO, OVNIs, UFO 2022, OVNI, UFOs, НЛО, Flying saucer, OVNI 2022

Huge Cloud Formation Looking Like Mothership in China

Two UFOs in East Kilbride, Scotland Sept 2022

Video shared on Reddit by Kiamh2230 on September 10, 2022. Filmed in East Kilbride, Scotland.

There’s more to say, more to explore together and we invite you now to join this new journey with us on Section 51 ! Subscribe now !

Top 7 Insane UFO Encounters Proving Aliens Exist

Sightings of strange objects in the sky, became the raw materials for Hollywood, to present visions of potential threats. Scientists and astronomers express varying degrees of enthusiasm, for the possibility of intelligent life in the universe. In fact, NASA has officially joined the search party, to hunt aliens and UFOs.

And today, we bring to you the 7 most mysterious, yet true sightings of UFOs, from around the world! #aliens #space #ufo

Ancient Aliens Base Under Ocean: https://youtu.be/QkEd-lYQGao

Top 3 Insane UFO Encounters Caught on Camera Proving Aliens Exist

Top 3 Insane UFO Encounters Caught on Camera Proving Aliens Exist

What lies beneath the Bermuda Triangle seabed?

There’s one place in the oceans that has particularly sinister fame.
In the distant 15th century, Christopher Columbus’s expedition faced something that made the whole team panic. The great discoverer's ship journal contains accounts of the compass needle going haywire, huge spurts of flame appearing out of nowhere, and the sea giving off a strange glow.
Many years later, this dead place proved once again how sinister it is.
Ships disappear without a trace here. Sometimes they are found - drifting, empty, and completely desolated... But more often than not we don’t even find wrecks.
But it’s not only the ships that go missing!
Planes disappear too. Even entire squadrons of military aircraft!
Facts and rumors about these incredible phenomena have quickly spread around the globe, and soon this region of the Atlantic became known as something sinister, and it continues to uphold its eerie reputation even today.
You’ve already guessed it. This is the Bermuda Triangle.
What kind of supernatural power is hidden under its waters?
And what does science say about all this?
The Bermuda Triangle.

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