NASA and Boeing Release New Rendering of their X-66 Sustainable Experimental Airliner

Combined with an advanced propulsion system, a sophisticated systems architecture, and advanced materials, this configuration could reduce fuel consumption and the resulting emissions by up to 30% (compared to top-of-the-line commercial aircraft). Development of the X-66 began in early 2019 through the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator (SFD) project, which is an integral part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership (SFNP) – where NASA Aeronautics partners with industry, academia, and other agencies to accomplish the goal of net-zero aviation by 2050.

To build the X-66A, Boeing has been working with NASA to modify a McDonnell Douglas MD-90 single-aisle passenger aircraft. Modifications include a shortened fuselage and the replacement of its wings with the longer, thinner truss-braced variant. The engines have also been relocated from the tail section to under the wings and replaced with gas-electric models. Boeing transported the MD-90 aircraft to its facility in Palmdale, California, in August of 2023 and has since removed its engines and completed the 3-meter (10-foot) model wing they will use for aerodynamic testing.

The project’s ultimate goal is to inform a new generation of more sustainable, single-aisle aircraft, which account for the largest share of air travel worldwide. The program is also part of the U.S. Aviation Climate Action Plan, which seeks to not only meet the nation’s ambitious climate goals but also to improve the quality of life for those living near airports and under flight paths through reductions in noise and pollutants. As NASA Administrator Bill Nelson remarked in a press statement last year:

“At NASA, our eyes are not just focused on stars but also fixated on the sky. The Sustainable Flight Demonstrator builds on NASA’s world-leading efforts in aeronautics as well [as] climate. The X-66A will help shape the future of aviation, a new era where aircraft are greener, cleaner, and quieter, and create new possibilities for the flying public and American industry alike.”

Further Reading: 

• NASA

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

A 790,000 Year-Old Asteroid Impact Could Explain Seafloor Spherules

Our solar system does not exist in isolation. It formed within a stellar nursery along with hundreds of sibling stars, and even today has the occasional interaction with interstellar objects such as Oumuamua and Borisov. So it’s reasonable to presume that some interstellar material has reached Earth. Recently Avi Loeb and his team earned quite a bit of attention with a study arguing that it had found some of this interstellar stuff on the ocean seabed. But a new study finds that the material has a much more local origin.

The original study is based on a 2014 meteor that entered the Earth’s atmosphere off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Observations of its impact trajectory suggested it might have been extraterrestrial in origin. And since we had an idea of where it hit, why not look for its debris? This led Loeb’s team to the seafloor near Papua New Guinea, where they found small, iron-rich spheres known as spherules. The study analyzed the composition of these spherules and found the isotope distribution was so unusual they must have an interstellar origin.

The iron isotopes of these spherules show a local origin. Credit: Desch, et al

While that sounds compelling, there are a few caveats. The first is that the trajectory of the 2014 meteor isn’t that precisely known. We know the general impact region, but the data simply isn’t good enough to prove that these spherules came from this particular meteor. The second is that “unusual” isotopes aren’t uncommon within our solar system. As the new study shows, there is a distribution of iron isotope ratios for objects originating in the solar system, specifically the ratios of ⁵⁷Fe and ⁵⁶Fe. The ratio for the “alien” spherules is well within that range. So well that the odds of them being interstellar is less than 1 in 10,000. So these spherules have a local origin.

But they were likely formed from an impact event, so this new study went further. Is there a known impact from which these spherules originated? Turns out there is. The region in which they were found is part of what’s known as the Australasian tektite strewn field. It is a vast field that spans southeast Asia to Antarctica and was caused by a large impact 790,000 years ago. The team looked at other isotope ratios and found they are consistent with other known Australasian tektites.

So these particular spherules have a local origin. But that doesn’t mean interstellar meteorites don’t exist. Given what we know, there are almost certainly interstellar objects on Earth just waiting to be found. We just have to keep looking for them.

Reference: 

• Loeb, A., et al. “Recovery and Classification of Spherules from the Pacific Ocean Site of the CNEOS 2014 January 8 (IM1) Bolide.” Research Notes of the AAS 8.1 (2024): 39.
•  Desch, Steve. “Be, La, U-rich spherules as microtektites of terrestrial laterites: What goes up must come down.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05161 (2024).

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

Mars Was Hiding Another Giant Volcano

Olympus Mons is well known for being the largest volcano in the Solar System. It’s joined on Mars by three other shield volcanoes; Ascraeus, Pavonis and Arsia but a recent discovery has revealed a fifth. Provisionally called Noctis volcano, this previously unknown Martian feature reaches 9,022 metres high and 450 kilometres across. Its presence has eluded planetary scientists because it has been heavily eroded and is on the boundary of the fractured maze-like terrain of Noctis Labyrinthus. 

Mars seems to like shield volcanoes. They are a type of volcano that have a broad gently sloping profile and are generally composed of basaltic lava flows. The flows spread out over large distances during eruptions before eventually solidifying and creating long gently sloping faces. They tend to be the result of divergent plate boundaries where tectonic plates gently drift apart. It’s not just Mars that hosts them, here on Earth Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea in Hawaii are great examples of shield volcanoes.

Olympus Mons, captured by the ESA’s Mars Express mission from orbit. Credit: ESA/DLR/FUBerlin/AndreaLuck

Noctis volcano was found on the edges of Noctis Labyrinthus, a region whose name means Labyrinth of the Night. It’s a fascinating surface feature with a complex valley, canyon and ridge system within Valles Marineris. It’s a distinctive feature on the Martian surface with disorderly, intersecting valleys and plateaus. Thought to be the result of erosion and tectonic activity the region has masked the new volcano, until now. 

A team of scientists, led by SETI Institute planetary scientist Dr Pascal Lee said “We were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realised we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano.” There were a number of signs that revealed the volcanic activity in the region and led to the volcano’s discovery. Located on the eastern edge of Noctis Labyrinthus there were a number of meseas – or flat topped mountains – arranged in an arc that seemed to reach a peak before descending away from an apparent summit area. A gentle slope softly slips away over distances of over 200km and close study seems to reveal the remains of a caldera. The study revealed what looked like a collapsed crater that once contained a lava lake and there was significant evidence of lava flows in the area including pyroclastic deposits. 

The study of Mars over the years since the invention of the telescope and more recently the advent of space flight has revealed a complex geological history. The features across the planet seem to reveal significant modification too perhaps from thermal erosion, glacial erosion and fracturing of the crust. 

The team conclude that the volcano is a shield volcano that has been built up of layers of accumulations of pyroclastic material, lava and ice. The ice it seems, just like volcanic lava, has built up over repeated years of snow and ice build up on the flanks of the volcano. With the fractures, likely driven by plate uplifts in the general Tharsis region, lava was able to seep through different regions of the volcano. Where the ice has been buried and subsequently melted, catastrophic collapses have occurred compounding the challenge of identifying it.

Source : 

• Giant Volcano Discovered on Mars

{ https://www.universetoday.com/ }

THIS DAY IN UFO HISTORY: The Phoenix Lights March 13, 1997, Phoenix, Arizona, USA, 27 Years Later! UAP Sighting News. 

 { https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Antikythera Mechanism Found On Mars, Alien Tech Revealed! NASA Source, UFO Sighting News. 

 { https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Taiwan university prof take photo of UFO sighting on March 31, 2010, UFO Sighting News. 

 { https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Dr Michael Salla discusses the following topics: 

• US Congress cuts funding to NASA while corporations are funding more space missions. 

• Detailed breakdown of UAP historical report cites glaring deficiencies. Article proclaims Pentagon is heading for disaster due to AARO UAP report – catastrophic disclosure more likely. 

• AARO Report: Lies, flawed, unresponsive, clueless, and knavish analyzed by Robert Powell (A must read). 

• Webinar Trailer released- Ancient Alien Experiments and Crypto Terrestrials.  

• Space Force budget exceeds NASA but will surge as elements of secret space programs are integrated. 

• UFO Disclosure Project Attorney Danny Sheehan recounts his encounter with secret Project Blue Book files in 1977 that contained photos of retrieved flying saucer craft. 

• Could Romanian President entering race for NATO leadership be a reward for him suppressing news of the discovery of an ancient Hall of Records under Bucegi Mountains in 2003? 

• President Eisenhower’s role in agreements reached with Aliens revealed by Great Granddaughter in New Book. 

• New JP video highlights ETs monitoring humanity’s consciousness and the importance of the love ethic. 

• The wise Reptilian entity depicted in Japanese art is similar to Naga beings in Vedic art and literature. 

• Analysis of AARO historical report discussing July 1952 shootdown attempt against a flying saucer involved in Washington flyover. 

Four primary goals in AARO historical report point to a coming false flag UFO event.

  

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

Mysterious Triangular UFO Spotted in the Skies of Bratislava

In an extraordinary event that has captured the attention of UFO enthusiasts and skeptics alike, a remarkable sighting occurred in the night sky over Ru¸inov, a bustling borough of Bratislava, Slovakia, on March 14, 2024. This incident has swiftly climbed the ranks in the annals of UFO sightings, stirring a whirlwind of speculation and intrigue.

The Sighting in Detail

Just before the clock struck 11 pm on that fateful evening, a resident and amateur UFO enthusiast known online as “ufoslovakia” managed to capture jaw-dropping footage of an unidentified flying object. But this was no ordinary sighting. The footage reveals a distinct triangular-shaped craft, looming ominously above. What makes this sighting particularly fascinating is the suggestion from the footage that we might be looking at a single, massive object rather than three separate entities.

The Eyewitness and the Video

“ufoslovakia,” known for his passion for filming and sharing aerial anomalies, could hardly believe his eyes. Through his lens, he witnessed what could very well be one of the most definitive pieces of visual evidence of UFO activity in recent history. The clarity and detail of the footage have left viewers in awe, prompting debates and discussions across various platforms.

What Makes This Sighting Unique?

Triangular UFO sightings have been reported globally, but the Bratislava incident stands out for several reasons. First, the quality of the footage is unusually high, providing a clear view of the object’s shape and movements. Secondly, the size of the craft, as suggested by the footage, indicates that this could be an unusually large object, distinguishing it from more common reports of smaller, drone-like objects.

Skeptics and Believers Alike Are Intrigued

While some skeptics propose explanations ranging from advanced military aircraft to atmospheric phenomena, the distinct characteristics observed in the Bratislava sighting challenge conventional understandings. Enthusiasts point to the lack of sound, the steady flight pattern, and the uniformity of the object’s lights as indicators that this sighting cannot be easily dismissed.

VIDEO

• https://youtu.be/_A-sum7bAfQ

This remarkable sighting in Bratislava has added a fascinating chapter to the ongoing narrative of UFO sightings. Whether you’re a staunch believer in extraterrestrial visitors, a curious skeptic, or simply someone fascinated by the unknown, this incident invites you to explore the endless possibilities that our universe holds.

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

Aliens and the Origins of Human Life: Insights from David Grusch on The Joe Rogan Experience

In an enthralling episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, David Grusch joined Joe Rogan to delve into the enigmatic possibility of extraterrestrial influence on the development of human life. This thought-provoking discussion explored various aspects of alien life, the hypothesis of extraterrestrial seeding of life on Earth, and the implications of such interventions.

The Hypothesis of Extraterrestrial Seeding

David Grusch presented a captivating hypothesis that extraterrestrial beings could have played a pivotal role in the genesis or acceleration of life on Earth. This theory suggests that aliens, through genetic intervention, could have fast-tracked the evolution of emerging intelligent life forms on our planet. The underlying idea is that such interventions would not only boost the natural progression of evolution but also imbue these life forms with an innate drive for innovation, control, and the expansion of influence.

Beyond Biological Limitations

A significant portion of the discussion was dedicated to the concept that advanced extraterrestrial entities might have evolved beyond the biological constraints known to human beings. Grusch and Rogan speculated about the existence of beings that operate in realms undetectable to us, free from the limitations of physical space and the conventional life-death cycle. This advanced state would allow them to engage in and influence processes in ways that are currently beyond human comprehension.

Technological Evolution and Communication

Reflecting on the rapid evolution of human communication technologies, from face-to-face interaction to instant global connectivity, the conversation touched upon the potential for future advancements. This led to discussions about the possibility of instant physical presence across vast distances, drawing parallels between human technological progress and the speculated capabilities of advanced extraterrestrial beings.

Theoretical Frameworks and Cosmic Perspectives

The dialogue ventured into discussions on theoretical frameworks that could potentially explain the universe’s complexities, including Eric Weinstein’s Geometric Unity. The notion that the universe itself could be considered a creator or a form of god was explored, suggesting a meta-perspective on the origins and nature of creation. This perspective invites contemplation on the universe’s ability to generate complex systems, potentially including other universes.

Exploring Existential Questions

The conversation between Grusch and Rogan raised profound existential questions regarding the nature of the universe, the origin of life, and the concept of a cyclical universe that undergoes endless cycles of expansion and contraction. They discussed the limitations of human understanding and the exciting potential for discoveries that lie beyond our current observations of the cosmos.

VIDEO:

• Aliens CREATED Humans?! David Grusch on Joe Rogan

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

David Grusch’s appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience provided a fascinating exploration of the hypothesis that extraterrestrial life forms might have contributed to the creation or acceleration of human life. This discussion spanned the potential for biological and technological advancements beyond our current understanding, theoretical frameworks for comprehending the universe, and the deep existential questions these ideas evoke. The possibility of alien influence on human evolution invites us to reconsider our place in the cosmos and the untapped mysteries of the universe.

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

The Enigma of Scotland’s UFO Encounter: Unraveling the Mystery with Physical Evidence

In the captivating landscape of Scotland, nestled within the enigmatic expanse known as the Falkirk Triangle, an incident unfolded that would forever etch its name in the annals of UFO research. The event centers around Bob Taylor, a forest service supervisor, whose ordinary day transformed into an extraordinary encounter, presenting what many believe to be undeniable evidence of an extraterrestrial presence.

The Unforgettable Encounter

On a day like any other, Bob Taylor ventured down a wooded path, only to be greeted by a sight that defied explanation—a massive, hovering object, with a distinctive disc-like shape, adorned with peculiar propellers. This was not merely a fleeting vision; it was a tangible entity that marked its presence in the physical world. Taylor’s attempt to approach the object led to an unforeseen altercation, culminating in him being forcibly drawn towards this mysterious craft, an experience that left him staggered and bewildered.

The Investigation Unfolds

What sets the Bob Taylor incident apart is not just the encounter itself, but the aftermath. Disturbed and disheveled, Taylor managed to return home, promptly alerting the authorities. Thus began one of the few UFO cases to be officially investigated as a criminal matter. The scrutiny it attracted was not limited to law enforcement; young UFO researchers Malcolm Robinson and Andrew Collins, alongside researcher Hugh Newman, took it upon themselves to delve deeper, seeking answers to a mystery that had lingered for over four decades.

Physical Evidence: A Tangible Proof

The investigation into Taylor’s encounter is distinguished by the compelling physical evidence it amassed. The site of the encounter bore witness to peculiar ground markings, arranged in a circular pattern, defying conventional explanations. These were not mere anomalies; they were physical imprints of an otherworldly visitor. Further corroborating Taylor’s account was the condition of his trousers, torn in such a unique fashion that it suggested a struggle with an unseen force, a testament to the physical reality of his experience.

VIDEO:

• Ancient Aliens: Scottish UFO Landing PROVED By Physical Evidence (Season 29)

• https://youtu.be/C_IqDWxuUOI

The Bob Taylor incident offers a rare glimpse into the potential for extraterrestrial encounters, bolstered by tangible evidence and an official investigation. It challenges us to reconsider our understanding of the unknown, urging a more open-minded and rigorous exploration of unexplained phenomena. As we continue to ponder the mysteries of the cosmos, cases like Taylor’s serve as a beacon, guiding us through the uncharted territories of our universe in search of the truth.

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

Why are bizarre metal pillars popping up in the British countryside? From the work of UFOs to mystery collectives planting the monoliths by helicopter in the dead of night and Banksy rumours... all the theories explained

ByARTHUR PARASHAR 

Humans have long been obsessed with the idea that we are not alone in the universe - which is why the appearance of random metal pillars in the British countryside have sparked fresh theories over whether a third kind truly does exist.

Last weekend, yet another mysterious shiny silver structure was spotted by walkers on Hay Bluff, near the town of Hay-on-Wye. 

It was the latest in a series of bizarre structures to crop up, with pillars also spotted on a beach in the Isle of Wight, at the top of Glastonbury Tor, in the middle of Merry Maidens stone circle in Cornwall and on the fields at Dartmoor National Park.

The appearances that range from 2020 to last weekend have led to much speculation over who has put them there and why, with some even pondering whether or not the objects could be of extra-terrestrial origin. 

Local builder Craig Muir, who discovered the 10ft monolith sticking up out of the mud, said he assumed it was 'some sort of a UFO' while out walking.

The latest sighting remains shrouded in mystery as no-one has come forward to claim responsibility for the Welsh metal pillar which bears striking similarities to the one featured in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. 

The pillars have turned up in the UK following a spate of monoliths appearing around the world in 2020, including in Romania and the Utah desert. 

Last weekend, yet another mysterious shiny silver structure was spotted by walkers on Hay Bluff, near the town of Hay-on-Wye 

While some speculated that the structure could be the work of aliens or a sign of life on Mars, others said it was an elaborate piece of artwork

The latest sighting remains shrouded in mystery as no-one has come forward to claim responsibility for the Welsh metal pillar which bears striking similarities to the one featured in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey (pictured)

READ MORE: 

• Inside Britain's monolith mystery: As a FIFTH bizarre structure shaped like a massive Toblerone appears on a Welsh hill here's where else the alien objects have appeared in the UK 

Conspiracy theorists believe that aliens are behind the structures but others have speculated that helicopters could be dropping them off in the dead of night.

Since there is no way to drive up to the top of the hill, Mr Muir suggested it could have been taken by a group of people or dropped off by the chopper on its spot.

'It didn't seem like it was chucked in there, instead it has been accurately put in the ground,' he said.

'However, there were no obvious tracks around it and one would think that there would be a lot of mess around it, but there wasn't.'

The latest discovery is similar to the structure found on Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight four years ago.

A number of photos from various different angles suggested that  the monolith was buried in the sand and offers out a perfect reflection. 

How the object ended up on the beach was unclear, as it is only accessible via a footpath.

Locals were quick to question whether images of the monolith posted on social media had been 'photoshopped' or if it was 'just a late April Fool's joke'.

On December 12 2020, local resident Luke Brown stumbled across another imposing monolith in Cornwall and captured a video of the metallic object

 But photographer Alice Williams insisted it was real, sharing snaps of the eight-foot-tall structure at sunset in a local Facebook group.

Elsewhere, on December 12 2020, resident Luke Brown stumbled across another imposing monolith in Cornwall and captured a video of the metallic object.

He said: 'I was left in shock and awe earlier at finding a monolith at the centre of the Merry Maidens stone circle near sunset, the one time I left my camera at home.

'It was a thing of beauty but I can't help thinking of the damage that may have been done at this beautiful protected natural heritage site.'

The Merry Maidens also known as Dawn's Men - a likely corruption of the Cornish Dans Maen Stone Dance - is a late neolithic stone circle.

Just one day prior to the monolith being captured in Cornwall, another pillar was also spotted in Dartmoor National Park, Devon. 

The structure was spotted on Dartmoor by photographer Sarah Clarke, who captured a shot of the monolith, before posting to X, formerly Twitter.

Dartmoor National Park swiftly removed the monolith after a picture of it was posted by photographer Sarah Clarke, with the body saying that the moorland is protected

Only 48 hours prior to the sighting of a monolith in Dartmoor National Park, another similar structure was seen on top of a hill in Glastonbury with 'Not Banksy' etched on it

She reassured her followers that the image was not made using photoshop software, stating: 'So, a very exciting morning - it's a real thing. 'Anyone who knows me, knows I just can't do Photoshop so, take it from me.'

Mark Bullock, who went to look at the pillar himself, said its vantage point on the hill made it appear like 'something was wrong with the sky'. He added: 'It was a bit surreal.'

Dartmoor National Park swiftly removed the monolith after Ms Clarke's post, saying that the moorland is protected.

Just 48 hours prior to the Dartmoor sighting, another similar monolith was seen on top of a hill in Glastonbury with 'Not Banksy' etched on it.

Walkers discovered the large silver structure at Glastonbury Tor - an ancient hill linked to King Arthur and Celtic mythology.

It is believed the monolith was placed there overnight before it was felled by a gust of wind.

On December 6 2020, another monolith was found by beachgoers at Compton Bay on the Isle of Wight

The shiny triangular pillar features a stencil drawing of a rat, similar to the style used by street artist Banksy.

Michelle Cowbourne spotted the metal structure at the National Trust site while on her regular morning walk. 

'I walked up the long slope side and this was on the other side and when I saw it I couldn't believe my eyes,' she said. 'I just thought what on earth is that.

'There were two big metal bolts but they hadn't been fixed to the ground properly.

'It's a big chunk of metal and it was really heavy,' Ms Cowbourne added.

The first pillar in Utah was originally spotted in 2020 by state wildlife officials who were helping to count bighorn sheep from a helicopter. When the structure suddenly vanished, many thought it was the work of aliens.

However, a photographer revealed later that he had seen four men remove the pillar from the remote area of red rock in Spanish Valley, Utah.

Two weeks after the Utah pillar was discovered, another mysterious monolith, this one 13ft tall, appeared on Batca Doamnei Hill in Romania.

It is not known where there monuments are coming from but some have guesses it is a tribute to 2001: A Space Odyssey.

In the book by Arthur C Clarke, a monolith appears on Earth and gives wisdom to a group of apes. 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Mars Drives Deep-Ocean Circulation in Earth’s Oceans, Study Suggests

Geoscientists from Australia and France have used the geological record of Earth’s deep oceans to discover a connection between the orbits of our home planet and Mars. They’ve discovered a surprising 2.4-million-year cycle where deep currents wax and wane which, in turn, is linked to periods of increased solar energy and a warmer climate.

This image from Mars Express’ High Resolution Stereo Camera shows the globe of Mars set against a dark background. The disk of the planet features yellow, orange, blue and green patches, all with an overall muted grey hue, representing the varying composition of the surface.

Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Michael / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

“In 1976, scientists demonstrated for the first time the presence of 10,000 – 100,000-year astronomical cycles in Pleistocene deep-sea sediments, confirming Milutin Milankovitch’s theory that Earth’s climate is modulated by periodicities in perturbations of Earth’s orbit around the Sun and Earth’s spin axis,” said University of Sydney researcher Adriana Dutkiewicz and her colleagues.

“Apart from the well-known astronomical cycles with periods of 19,000, 23,000, 41,000, 100,000, and 400,000 years that pace Earth’s climate, the geological record also contains signals of much longer-period grand cycles, which are predicted by astronomical theory.”

“These grand cycles include orbitally-forced periodicities of millions and even tens of millions of years that are similarly linked to changes in incoming solar energy and paleoclimate.”

In their new research, the authors used the deep-sea sediment record to check for links between sedimentary shifts and changes in the Earth’s orbit.

They found that the vigor of deep-sea currents shifts in 2.4-million-year cycles.

“We were surprised to find these 2.4-million-year cycles in our deep-sea sedimentary data,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“There is only one way to explain them: they are linked to cycles in the interactions of Mars and Earth orbiting the Sun.”

“The gravity fields of the planets in the solar system interfere with each other and this interaction, called a resonance, changes planetary eccentricity, a measure of how close to circular their orbits are.”

“For the Earth it means periods of higher incoming solar radiation and warmer climate in cycles of 2.4 million years.”

The researchers found that the warmer cycles correlate with an increased occurrence of breaks in the deep-sea record, related to more vigorous deep ocean circulation.

They identified that deep eddies were an important component of earlier warming seas.

It is possible these could partly mitigate ocean stagnation some have predicted could follow a faltering AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) that drives the Gulf Stream and maintains temperate climates in Europe.

“We know there are at least two separate mechanisms that contribute to the vigor of deep-water mixing in the oceans,” Professor Müller said.

“AMOC is one of them, but deep ocean eddies seem to play an important role in warm climates for keeping the ocean ventilated.”

“Of course, this would not have the same effect as AMOC in terms of transporting water masses from low to high latitudes and vice-versa.”

“These eddies are like giant whirlpools and often reach the abyssal seafloor, resulting in seafloor erosion and large sediment accumulations called contourites, akin to snowdrifts.”

“Our deep-sea data spanning 65 million years suggest that warmer oceans have more vigorous deep circulation,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“This will potentially keep the ocean from becoming stagnant even if AMOC slows or stops altogether.”

• The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.
• A. Dutkiewicz et al. 2024. Deep-sea hiatus record reveals orbital pacing by 2.4 Myr eccentricity grand cycles. Nat Commun 15, 1998; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46171-5

{ https://www.sci.news/news/space }

BY JACKSON CHEN

 

Figure

The eerily conversational robot is a result of Figure’s robotic design and OpenAI’s intelligence on the backend. It may not be able to backflip off a skateboard, but the demo shows Figure 01 handing over an apple and putting away dishes. That’s not incredibly groundbreaking, but with how fast ChatGPT and other large language models are advancing, Figure 01 could see advancements quickly.

LAPPING THE COMPETITION

It’s impressive to see Figure 01 smoothly navigate a normal conversation with a human, all while responding to requests and handling simple tasks. Of course, putting away dishes isn’t the most complex task, but it’s a promising start considering how Figure 01 can already identify what’s in front of it and respond accordingly in real-time.

It’s a big difference compared to the demos we saw with Tesla’s Optimus bot. While Tesla has come out with a second-generation model already, Optimus has yet to show us the same fluidity and responsiveness we’re seeing with the Figure 01 demo.

Figure says the goal is to make a “fully electromechanical humanoid” robot to handle all the physical tasks that humans have to do. So far, the Figure 01 stands 5’6”, weighs more than 132 lbs, can handle payloads up to around 44 lbs, and tops out a brisk 1.2 m/s. Figure also says there’s a runtime of five hours, so it’s not quite meant to cater to your needs 24/7.

Figure debuted its 01 humanoid robot back in October.

FIGURE / X

NO RELEASE DATE YET

With Figure 01, it does feel like we’re inching towards a future of at-home robots. Still, we don’t have a release date for Figure’s robot yet, but the company’s founder and CEO Brett Adcock has already said that the company wants to produce its robots at “exceptionally high volume.”

Figure hasn’t detailed any prices for its robot yet, either, but Adcock expressed optimism for trying to bring the costs down to “affordable levels.” Considering how nascent this technology is, it’s tough to determine what’s affordable or not. For reference, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk previously said that the Optimus robot is targeting a price of around $20,000.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

46 Years Later, This Iconic Pair Of NASA Spacecraft Are Still Sending Signals Home

Besides 46 years of science, the aging twin spacecraft have taught engineers how to improvise -- and the value of redundancy.

BY KIONA SMITH

 

MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images

But over the last couple of weeks, Voyager 1’s issues seem to be improving. It’s putting its 0s and 1s together in patterns, not just random sequences. However, these patterns are more like baby babble than language.

“They're not exactly what we would expect, but they do look like something that can show us that the FDS is at least partially working.” Voyager program manager Suzanne Dodd tells Pasadena Star-News.

An artistic rendering of the interplanetary space probe Voyager II as it flies by Jupiter. 

HISTORICAL/CORBIS HISTORICAL/GETTY IMAGES

Dodd recently told the press that it would take a miracle for Voyager 1 to pull through, but the hardy little spacecraft and its twin sister Voyager 2 have survived a lot over the 46 years of their joint mission. And their engineering teams have found creative ways to keep the aging sister spaceships flying — and most importantly, to keep them sending new data home. Inverse talked with a Voyager engineer about what the team has learned from those years of jury-rigging solutions and how it might help other missions.

“In the last decade, I have learned from Voyager that there is (almost) always a way around a problem, no matter how dire it is,” Voyager mission assurance manager Bruce Waggoner tells Inverse. “You just have to think ‘outside the box’ when people tell you not to do so.”

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are on different trajectories out of the Solar System.

QAI PUBLISHING/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME

The team of engineers running the twin Voyager spacecraft have had to get increasingly creative over the last 46 years, as aging parts and systems have started to develop glitches and the power supply has begun to dwindle. Most of the people who designed the Voyagers and worked on the spacecraft in the early years of their mission have long since retired (and several have died), and they would probably be surprised by the ways today’s Voyager team has kept the pair of space probes running.

“Recently, the team found a way to keep the instruments powered for an additional 2 to 4 years by operating the spacecraft with an unregulated voltage,” says Waggoner. “This is a first as far as I know: operating the power system in a completely different way than the designers intended.”

The Voyagers’ designers built a safety mechanism to protect the instruments from sudden changes in the flow of electricity. If that happens, a regulator allows the spacecraft to access a small reserve of power, which is supposed to help it ride out the voltage fluctuation. But recently, Voyager engineers decided that after 45 years of the electrical systems working smoothly, Voyager 2 needed the extra power more than it needed the safety feature — because the alternative was shutting off one of Voyager 2’s instruments. (Voyager 1 is already down an instrument due to a hardware failure earlier in the mission, but its payloads will eventually face the chopping block, too.)

That kind of off-script improvisation has been the Voyager team’s standard operating procedure for decades.

“I would say that 100 percent of it has been figured out along the way,” Dodd told Inverse last year. “Absolutely nothing was known about flying for 45 years at 175 AU from us here on Earth, and we're into our 46th year now.”

And it’s been mostly trial and error. When something goes wrong with one of the Mars rovers, for instance, engineers can try out their solutions on a testbed: a replica of the spacecraft here on Earth kept on hand for exactly that purpose. But there is no Voyager testbed.

The goal is for each spacecraft to reach 19 billion miles away from the Sun with at least one instrument still running and communicating with Earth. Waggoner says the team has a 120-page book of ideas on how to keep the aging Voyagers working. Along the way, they’ve learned some tricks that may help extend the lives of future space missions.

An artist's impression of the Voyager 1 space probe flying past Saturn in the outer solar system, circa 1980.

SPACE FRONTIERS/ARCHIVE PHOTOS/GETTY IMAGES

KEEP THE SPACECRAFT SIMPLE

“Hopefully, people will look back at the lessons of Voyager and apply them,” says Waggoner. I work on many missions, and I use ideas from Voyager all the time, especially to think outside the box.”

Another key lesson is that it’s easier for a space mission’s engineering team to be flexible if the spacecraft itself is simple, study, and has backups for most of its hardware. The Flight Data System that’s currently on the fritz, for example, is Voyager 1’s backup; it's original one failed in 1981, and without redundancy, scientists would have missed 33 years of exploring the outer fringes of our Solar System.

Compared with more recent spacecraft, the Voyagers’ hardware is pretty bare-bones, its software is programmed in languages most modern engineers don’t even learn, and it sports about 64 kilobytes of memory (about 240,000 times less than the smartphone you’re probably reading this article on). But as strange as it sounds, that antique simplicity is actually one of Voyager’s biggest assets because it makes troubleshooting easier.

“I like the simpler code on Voyager because people can understand what the system will do, in most cases without simulation,” says Waggoner. That especially helps when trying to fix a pair of spacecraft with no testbeds here on Earth “just by thinking through the problems,” as Waggoner puts it.

Dodd, speaking to Inverse last year, compares operating the Voyagers to repairing an older-model car, compared with a more modern version with more complex systems and electronics.

“The simplicity of Voyager helps if you want to change things over time as the spacecraft gets older and the mission lasts longer,” says Dodd. “It's kind of like having an old car, and you can look under the hood and know what the key pieces are. When you have a new car, it's all driven by software and it's really hard to just go in there and tweak the carburetor and have it still run.”

Waggoner has a story about that, too. The Voyagers’ thrusters, which keep the distant spacecraft’s antennas pointed toward Earth, are slowly clogging with silicon dioxide. Last summer, it looked like the clogged thrusters could doom the missions within the next couple of years.

“Again, the team found workarounds by changing the way the thrusters are fired and pointing is managed,” says [source]. “Once the worst [clogged] thrusters fail, there may even be a way to allow the spacecraft to roll and return data.”

Of course, for Voyager 1, that depends on whether the spacecraft ever learns to speak again.

 { https://www.inverse.com/ }

Without question, the notion that a fragment might have been recovered after a shoot-out with a flying saucer in the 1950s offers a textbook example of what most would call a dubious claim. Yet a deeper look into this Cold War-era rumor reveals, surprisingly, that there could potentially be more to this odd story than past assessments would seem to indicate.

However, you would never have gleaned that from reading the latest report issued by the U.S. Defense Department’s official UAP investigative office.

Last week, the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) released a long-awaited historical report on its findings involving the United States government’s involvement with UAP and related programs since the end of World War II.

In the report, AARO investigators maintained the U.S. federal government’s longstanding position that it has never found any convincing evidence of extraterrestrial technologies operating near Earth, nor of any secret programs involving the acquisition or reverse engineering of crashed exotic technologies that have remained hidden from Congress.

The report was met with heavy criticism following its publication, partly due to a number of errors it was revealed to contain. Despite this, there were also a few intriguing inclusions made by AARO’s investigators, based on their relevance to the question of whether UAP materials have ever crashed on Earth and been studied.

One of these appears in a section of the AARO report that discusses the University of Colorado UFO Project, more commonly called the Condon Committee, a U.S. Air Force-funded evaluation of cases that were collected under its long-running Project Blue Book investigations that studied UFOs during the 1950s and 1960s.

According to AARO’s recent report, the Colorado scientific panel, led by American physicist Edward U. Condon, “investigated a claim made by radio broadcaster Frank Edwards in a 1966 book that a piece of a UFO was recovered near Washington, D.C. in the summer of 1952 during the spike in UFO sightings over the U.S. Capitol in July and August.”

The account in question appeared in Edward’s book Flying Saucers: Serious Business, of which AARO’s investigators recount that Edwards “claimed that a USN jet fired on a two-foot diameter glowing disc and dislodged a one-pound fragment that was recovered by a ground team.” At the time of their study, the Condon Committee’s investigators inquired about the incident with Project Blue Book, who told the University of Colorado team that they were unaware of the purported 1952 incident.

Above: Excerpt from Frank Edwards’ 1966 book, Flying Saucers: Serious Business, where the author discussed the alleged 1952 UFO incident.

“The USAF and USN found no incident report of weapons engagement with a UFO that summer, no USN aircraft were present, and the retired officer who was the original source of the claim had retired before the summer of 1952, when the event allegedly occurred,” the AARO report’s summary reads.

The report then attributes another claim to Edwards, this time involving fragments from a UFO that were loaned by the United States to the Canadian government. “It is not clear if this claim was linked to the alleged Washington, D.C. incident,” the AARO report’s authors state, adding that “The Condon panel determined that these claims most likely were false.”

The reason any connections between the 1952 UFO incident and Frank Edwards’ claims of a flying saucer fragment being loaned to the Canadian government remained unclear to AARO’s investigators is probably very simple. In likelihood, their investigation of these claims took them no further than the Condon Committee’s report (as evidenced by the relevant source citations found at the end of AARO’s document). Indeed, the two events are connected, as a deeper examination of the literature regarding this alleged 1952 incident readily reveals.

Additionally, much like other assertions that appeared in the recent AARO report, some of the facts about this case have been misrepresented. However, this may not be entirely the fault of AARO’s team in this instance; a closer look at this case also reveals how much of the confusion arises from the Condon Committee’s original investigation, and problems involving their main source for the claims.

THE CONDON COMMITTEE’S CONFUSION

In the late 1960s, under contract No. 44620-67-C-0035 with the United States Air Force, the University of Colorado conducted an extensive analysis of UAP incidents collected by Project Blue Book, which resulted in the publication of its findings in a lengthy report titled Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects.

Despite the title of the Condon Committee’s report, many viewed it as being anything but a truly scientific evaluation of existing data on aerial mysteries. As British physicist Peter Sturrock later noted in his analysis of the Condon Committee’s findings, “most case studies were conducted by junior staff, the senior staff took little part, and the director took no part, in these investigations.” Additionally, after concerns were raised by some of the Committee’s members over apparent biases and other issues they identified with its leadership, several either resigned or were dismissed, resulting in the final report being partly assembled by staff who had only joined the project as it neared completion.

Above: Original title from John G. Fuller’s article, “Flying Saucer Fiasco,” published in Look Magazine, May 14, 1968

(Credit: CIA CREST/Public Domain/Fair Use).

The saga of the 1952 UFO shoot-down over Washington was addressed in a section of the Condon Committee’s final report titled “Parts of UFOs, or UFO Equipment,” where the Colorado team’s investigators wrote that “Representatives of Air Force Project Blue Book claimed no knowledge of the disc fragment discussed by Edwards, who claimed the successful search for this fragment was confirmed by Lt. Cdr. Frank Thompson of the U.S. Navy.”

“The fragment, said to have been dislodged by gunfire from a Navy jet, reportedly fell to the ground, where it was found, still glowing, an hour later by U.S. military ground search crews,” the Committee’s report states. “Reports of UFO events over Washington, D.C., in 1952 contain no reference to such a gunfire incident,” they add, though noting that had the fragment ever really existed “and was classified ‘Secret’ as was claimed, its existence and whereabouts would not necessarily be revealed to this project.”

On the outside chance that such an incident might have occurred, the Committee’s members reached out to U.S. Air Force headquarters for clarification. A response came from J.W. Clinton “by direction of the Chief of Information, Department of the Navy,” who indicated that a search of all Navy records revealed no documentation related to the purported incident, nor could they find any records involving the retrieval of fragments at any time that were believed to have come from a UFO.

That wasn’t the only damning revelation that came from a search of the Navy’s records. “Perhaps more significant, however, were the facts that Navy records of the year 1952 carried only one Frank Thompson, an individual who had retired from active duty several years before 1952 with the rank of lieutenant, not lieutenant commander,” the Condon Committee’s report states. In addition to this, the Committee’s investigators were told that it was unlikely that U.S. Navy aircraft would have participated in any shoot downs of objects over the nation’s capital, since in doing so they “would have been usurping an Air Force function if they had been present over Washington, D. C., as interceptors.”

“The incident is not beyond the realm of possibility,” Clinton nonetheless conceded to the Colorado team, though ultimately concluding that the incident was “very highly unlikely” given the jurisdictional issues limiting any Navy aircraft’s involvement.

Although Clinton had admitted that the incident reported by Edwards might at least have been possible, the fact that there had been no evidence of a “Frank Thompson” with the rank of lieutenant commander in active service at the time seemed to pour cold water on Edwards’ claims.

However, a closer look at Edwards’ sources for this account reveals something that may help to clarify the matter, since it turns out the name of the Lieutenant Commander in question was not “Frank Thompson” at all.

In the relevant chapter of Flying Saucers: Serious Business, Edwards states that one of his sources regarding the 1952 affair had been an earlier book from 1955 by Major Donald E. Keyhoe, titled The Flying Saucer Conspiracy. In Edwards’ book, he even provides the page number (272) for Keyhoe’s account of the incident, a review of which helps to shed some light on the situation.

“I also listed a recent report given me by Lieutenant Commander Frank Thomas,” Keyhoe wrote in his brief account of the 1952 incident, immediately revealing that the “Frank Thompson” Edwards had been referencing was, in fact, instead a Lieutenant Commander Frank Thomas.

Above: Excerpt from Donald Keyhoe’s 1955 book, later cited by Frank Edwards, where the actual name of Keyhoe’s source is shown as “Frank Thomas.” Edwards mistakenly wrote this individual’s name as “Frank Thompson” in his 1966 book.

“According to Thomas, a peculiar object had fallen near Washington during the mass saucer sightings in 1952,” Keyhoe writes. “Retrieved by a naval officer, it was later analyzed by the Bureau of Standards.”

Keyhoe goes on to describe the object, noting that “one side of it was flat with odd markings, as if it had been milled. During tests the unknown substance proved to be fire-resistant. But the analysis, Thomas said, had failed to determine whether it was an artificially constructed object or a fragment of some unknown type of meteorite.”

Keyhoe concluded the brief account by adding that “Afterward the object had been sent to W. B. Smith at Ottawa for further analysis by Project Magnet engineers.”

One must wonder whether the Condon Committee might have had better success locating the Lieutenant Commander in question if only they had asked the Navy to search for Frank Thomas, rather than Frank Thompson, as Edwards later mistakenly spelled the individual’s name.

However, further adding to the confusion is the fact that nowhere in the original account written by Keyhoe is it stated that the fragment was dislodged from the UAP during the purported 1952 incident by fire from an aircraft. In Keyhoe’s account, the author only conveys that “a peculiar object had fallen near Washington during the mass saucer sightings in 1952,” though adding that it was “Retrieved by a naval officer.”

Although Edwards initially only referred to a “military jet” in his retelling of the account in 1966, later in the same chapter he makes passing references to “the fragment collected by gunfire from that Navy jet.” It seems likely that Edwards had merely inferred that a Navy jet had been involved; confusion that may have stemmed from his misreading, again, of Keyhoe’s original account involving a “naval officer” who retrieved the fragment, as well as his primary source, a USN lieutenant commander.

Based on this, it would appear the insinuation that a Navy jet had been involved was another error made by Edwards, which ultimately the Condon Committee’s investigators relied on without attempting to validate the author’s sources. Add to this the fact that they had the wrong name of the alleged lieutenant commander they were looking for, and it becomes quite clear why the Navy was unable to corroborate any of the details in Edwards’ 1966 account.

THE WILBERT SMITH INTERVIEW

Although the recent AARO historical report only provides a cursory summary of the alleged 1952 incident based primarily on the Condon Committee’s findings (which, as demonstrated above, were doomed to fail from the outset based on inaccuracies in Frank Edwards’ account), there is still more to this bizarre story of alleged UAP debris. Much of this involves the Canadian engineer and UFO researcher Wilbert Smith, who eventually received the alleged flying saucer fragment according to Keyhoe’s original 1955 narrative.

A Canadian Department of Transport engineer, Smith ran Project Magnet, a UFO investigative effort that formally ran out of the Canadian government from December 1950 until mid-1954, although Smith’s informal studies involving UFOs continued for many years after the project ended.

“Smith assessed that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin and that they flew by magnetism,” the recent AARO historical report states in a summary of Project Magnet that appears in a section addressing Foreign and Academic Investigatory Efforts. “Smith believed he was in personal contact with extraterrestrial beings through telepathy and ‘tensor beams’,” AARO’s investigators add, noting that in a 1961 interview Smith had “claimed that in 1952, the USAF lent him a piece of a UFO to study. He also claimed it was composed of magnesium orthosilicate.”

A rather revealing transcript of this interview with Smith appeared in Edwards’ 1966 book, based on a recording supplied to the author by Ohio-based researchers C.W. Fitch and George Popovitch, who conducted the 1961 interview. At one point while speaking with Smith, Fitch asked Smith about his association with the retired U.S. Navy Admiral Herbert B. Knowles, to whom Smith had reportedly shown the fragment of the saucer that the U.S. government had loaned him:

FITCH: You’re a friend of Admiral Knowles, Mr. Smith? [Rear Admiral H. B. Knowles, U.S. Navy, Retired.]

SMITH: Oh, yes. Admiral Knowles and I have been very good friends for many years.

FITCH: I have been told by a mutual friend that in 1952 you showed Admiral Knowles a piece of a flying saucer. Is that statement correct, sir?

SMITH: Yes. It is correct. I visited with Admiral Knowles and I had with me a piece which had been shot from a small flying saucer near Washington in July of that year—1952. I showed it to the Admiral. It was a piece of metal about twice the size of your thumb which had been loaned to me for a very short time by your Air Force.

FITCH: Is this the only piece you have handled which definitely had been part of a UFO, Mr. Smith?

SMITH: No. I’ve handled several of these pieces of hardware.

FITCH: In what way, if any, do they differ from materials with which we are familiar?

SMITH: As a general thing they differ only in that they are much harder than our materials.

FITCH: What about this particular piece from that UFO near Washington . . . did it differ from conventional materials? Was there anything unusual about it, sir?

SMITH: Well, the story behind it is this: The pilot was chasing a glowing disc about two feet in diameter—

FITCH: Pardon me, sir. But did you say two feet . . . ?

SMITH: That is correct. I was informed that the disc was glowing and was about two feet in diameter. A glowing chunk flew off and the pilot saw it glowing all the way to the ground. He radioed his report and a ground party hurried to the scene. The thing was still glowing when they found it an hour later. The entire piece weighed about a pound. The segment that was loaned to me was about one third of that. It had been sawed off.

FITCH: What did the analysis show?

SMITH: There was iron rust—the thing was in reality a matrix of magnesium orthosilicate. The matrix had great numbers—thousands—of I5-micron spheres scattered through it.

Fitch then questioned Smith about the whereabouts of the sample the U.S. Air Force had loaned him, to which he responded by providing the following very intriguing remarks:

FITCH: You say that you had to return it—did you return it to the Air Force, Mr. Smith?

SMITH: Not the Air Force. Much higher than that.

FITCH: The Central Intelligence Agency?

SMITH: [Chuckles] I’m sorry, gentlemen, but I don’t care to go beyond that point. I can say to you that it went to the hands of a highly classified group. You will have to solve that problem—their identity—for yourselves.

Smith’s insinuations about “a highly classified group” within the United States government that the alleged UFO fragment had been returned to is certainly intriguing, although for more reasons than merely those which are immediately obvious. Another has to do with a memorandum dated November 21, 1950, addressed to the Canadian Controller of Telecommunications, in which Smith discussed inquiries he made at the Canadian Embassy in Washington shortly after acquiring a copy of author Frank Scully’s book Behind the Flying Saucers, an early book on UFOs that recounted a dubious story involving the alleged crash of a flying saucer near Aztec, New Mexico (the incident was later deemed to have been a hoax).

Smith’s 1950 memo included a series of intriguing remarks that eventually became widely discussed in UFO circles, following the rediscovery of the memorandum in the Canadian National Archives decades later. Specifically, Smith stated that:

I made discreet enquiries [sic] through the Canadian Embassy staff in Washington who were able to obtain for me the following information:

1. 1. 1. The [UFO] matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States Government, rating higher even than the H-bomb.
      2. Flying saucers exist.
      3. Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush.
      4. The entire matter is considered by the United States authorities to be of tremendous significance.

The entire 1950 memorandum can be read online via the Computer UFO Network here, and a scan of the original 1950 Smith memorandum can be found here via Metabunk, with an additional lengthy thread discussing Smith and his involvement with early UFO research available here.

The reference to Vannevar Bush in the 1950 memorandum is noteworthy, particularly because Bush’s name would later appear in an infamous series of documents sent to filmmaker Jaime Shandera in 1984, which consisted of briefing papers describing “Operation Majestic 12,” an alleged secret U.S. investigation into UFOs and extraterrestrials that began in the aftermath of the supposed crash said to have occurred at Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. The Majestic 12 documents, as they have since become known, also later appeared in British researcher Timothy Good’s book Above Top Secret.

Despite a few intriguing references from over the years like the one in the Smith memorandum, no evidence verifying the existence of “Operation Majestic 12” has ever surfaced. The documents were deemed to be hoaxes in a series of separate investigations, including one conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which concluded the documents were “completely bogus.”

It is worth noting that in the recent AARO report’s summary of the Condon Committee’s findings regarding the alleged 1952 saucer fragment affair, the AARO authors state that Frank Edwards “claimed that Dr. Vannevar Bush, a prominent inventor, defense industry scientist, and founder of the National Science Foundation, led the effort to study the fragment.” The citation given for this in the AARO report, number 49, lists “The Condon Report” (Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects) as the source for this, although a search of both the PDF linked to by the AARO report’s authors, as well as an online text version of the Condon Report, reveals no references to Vannevar Bush. This could represent another error on the part of AARO’s investigators, who may have mistakenly attributed Wilbert Smith’s alleged knowledge that a “concentrated effort is being made by a small group headed by Doctor Vannevar Bush,” as stated in the 1950 memorandum, with details in the Condon Committee’s final report.

THE LETTER FROM REAR ADMIRAL KNOWLES

There is a final addendum to the story of the 1952 Washington saucer fragment, which involves testimony from the man who was allegedly shown the sample of the object while it was in Smith’s possession. As conveyed earlier in the transcript of C.W. Fitch and George Popovitch’s interview with Wilbert Smith, the latter had confirmed his friendship with U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Herbert B. Knowles, an individual with whom Fitch also corresponded about the alleged 1952 UFO incident.

In the March 1986 edition of Just Cause, the newsletter of the FOIA activist group Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), a letter provided to the editor, Barry Greenwood, from none other than C.W. Fitch lent additional corroboration to the story of the saucer sample Wilbert Smith claimed the U.S. Air Force had loaned him in the 1950s.

“We must thank long-time UFO investigator C. Wesley Fitch for the following information, which CAUS regards as of great historical interest to our subject,” an entry at the end of the newsletter stated. “Fitch is one of a shrinking group of researchers who knew many of the pioneers of UFOlogy. We regard ourselves as fortunate that he chose to give this impressive little tid-bit to us.”

The item in question had been a series of then-25-year-old correspondences shared with CAUS, revealing “that former Navy Rear Admiral Herbert B. Knowles was involved in the examination of fragments of a UFO shot at over Washington, D.C. in 1952.” As it turned out, in addition to recording the interview where Wilbert Smith acknowledged his friendship with Admiral Knowles, Fitch had also corresponded with Knowles about the saucer fragment Smith claimed to have shown him while on loan from the United States.

As explained in the CAUS newsletter, Fitch, a member of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) had been told by one of the organization’s board members, the Reverend Albert Baller, about a visit he received from Admiral Knowles (also a board member of NICAP at the time) during which the two men discussed UFOs. Throughout their discussion at Baller’s home, Knowles recounted how he was allowed to examine the purported UFO fragment in Smith’s possession, which he said had been shot off a small glowing disk in 1952.

Fitch managed to track down Admiral Knowles, who at the time (1961) had been living in Eliot, Maine, and wrote to him asking for confirmation as to whether he had indeed examined the alleged saucer fragment. In a response dated August 27, 1961, Knowles wrote back to Fitch, divulging the following intriguing account of his recollections about the visit with Smith:

Yes, I have had a piece of a small disc in my hands. It was shown me by Mr. Wilbert Smith (address given- Ed.). At that time (1952), Mr. Smith was heading the “Flying Saucer” research of the Canadian government and working in very close cooperation with our authorities in Washington, D.C. He is still very much interested in this matter and does independent research. The Canadian Govt. has “officially” abandoned the project.

To the best of my recollection the object was shot down by a plane and seen to fall in the yard of a farmer across the river in Virginia. Upon searching the area several pieces were found, one of which was turned over to Mr . Smith for independent research. In one of his trips down to see me he brought the piece along for my inspection.

It was a chunk of amorphous metal-like structure, brownish in color where broken, with a curved edge indicating the whole thing to have been not over 2′ in diam. The edge was rounded in cross section, perhaps a quarter inch thick and obviously swelled to a considerably greater thickness at the center. The outer surface was smooth but not polished, and at the broken sections there were obviously iron particles and even evidence of iron rust. I would say that the weight was somewhat lighter than if of solid iron, but it was not extremely light.

Mr. Smith told me that a chemical test had been made of the piece at hand, that iron had been found in it but little if anything else could be identified.

Concluding his account, the retired Admiral then asserted his belief that the fragment he examined had belonged to a “remotely-controlled observation disc,” the likes of which have been “seen many times, most often in the vicinity of defense installations.”

A follow-up letter from Knowles, dated October 11, 1961, included a sketch of the alleged UFO fragment, a version of which was redrawn and included in the CAUS newsletter based on faded originals provided to Fitch (see below).

CONCLUSIONS

As a deeper analysis into this alleged 1952 incident has revealed, the DoD’s recent investigations into the matter amounted to little more than a rehashing of the flawed conclusions of the Condon Committee from decades ago, whose investigators, as we have now seen, relied on incorrect data provided in a popular book on UFOs from the 1960s as the basis for their investigations.

Thus, to briefly summarize:

1. AARO’s recent historical report features a short entry on the University of Colorado UFO Project (i.e., the Condon Committee) and its findings, including its investigation into claims made in a 1966 book by Frank Edwards involving a fragment allegedly shot off a UFO by a U.S. Navy aircraft near Washington, D.C., in 1952.
2. While the Condon Committee determined the incident had likely never occurred, the information used as the basis for its investigations had been incorrect details from Edwards’ book, resulting from his probable misreading of information in an earlier 1955 book by author Donald Keyhoe. The Condon Committee’s investigators seemingly did not scrutinize this information before providing it to the U.S. Navy, which, understandably, was unable to verify the erroneous claims.
3. AARO’s report attributes unverified claims involving American defense industry scientist Dr. Vannevar Bush to statements from Frank Edwards in 1966, although his book published that year makes no references to Bush, nor does the Condon Committee’s final report, which AARO cites as its source for this assertion in its recent report. It seems likely that a possible origin for the claims involving Bush may have been a 1950 memorandum attributed to Wilbert Smith, who was allegedly loaned a portion of the UFO fragment by the U.S. Air Force two years later.
4. A recording of a 1961 interview the Ohio-based researcher C.W. Fitch conducted with Smith, partially transcribed in Edwards’ 1966 book, details Smith’s recollections about the purported UFO fragment he was loaned and insinuated that it was returned to a “highly classified group” within the United States government. Additional correspondences between Fitch and Rear Admiral Herbert B. Knowles from 1961, and later supplied to the activist organization CAUS, confirmed that Knowles had been shown the object during a meeting with Smith in 1952, corroborating Smith’s claims of having once had the fragment in his possession.

If the AARO report had indeed conducted an “exhaustive analysis” of U.S. government records associated with UAP, one would expect they would have also easily spotted errors in the publicly accessible resources like the Condon Committee report, as well as Frank Edwards’ 1966 account involving the alleged UFO fragment from 1952.

Instead, as indicated by AARO’s contention that “it is not clear” whether the alleged 1952 incident had been associated with claims that the Canadian government was loaned a sample from a UFO, it is hard to see past the fact that the AARO’s investigators performed little more than a cursory examination of the 1952 UFO case… just like the Condon Committee had done decades ago. Thus, one wonders: what else might they have overlooked?

This all may seem inconsequential to some, especially since the present analysis alone cannot “prove” that a fragment was indeed blasted off a small, drone-like UFO near Washington in 1952. However, what this analysis does help to illustrate, taken alongside the numerous other factual errors within AARO’s recent report, is that questions regarding the merit of AARO’s broader historical investigations are indeed warranted. It is also not impossible that, if such problems as those addressed here were taken into further consideration by AARO in advance of the publication of Volume II of its historical report, perhaps they may be better equipped to satisfactorily resolve some of these lingering questions.

Altogether, maybe these decades-old claims about a fragment shot off of a flying saucer, which past studies (and more recent ones) have claimed “were most likely false,” should warrant further attention after all.

And if nothing else, perhaps, given such considerations, we can better understand why many Americans remain skeptical about their government’s latest proclamations regarding the long-reviled subject of UFOs.

• Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.

{ https://thedebrief.org/ }

UFO Over Green River, Wyoming March 10, 2024, UFO Sighting News. 

Date of sighting: March 10, 2024
Location of sighting: Green River, Wyoming, USA
Source: 

• https://facebook.com/rwbeckwith

Watch this amazing raw footage of a UFO creating another UFO over a river in Wyoming last week. The orange craft has the shape of a classic disk with a hump on its top center area. The craft has a glow around it and a rhythmic pattern of moving forward and back that is perfectly timed. Very unusual and looks 100% alien. With aliens coming closer and closer and the publics evidence getting more and more clear, more and more indisputable...it wont be long before the world all agrees on one thing...that intelligent aliens exist. 

Scott C. Waring 

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

The Pentagon Introduces a New Surveillance System for UFO Investigations

In a groundbreaking development, the Pentagon has announced the deployment of a sophisticated surveillance system specifically designed to monitor and investigate reports of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). This new initiative, known as the “gremlin system,” marks a significant step forward in the way the military approaches the phenomenon of unidentified objects.

Overview of the Gremlin System

The gremlin system is described as a deployable surveillance tool equipped with a suite of configurable sensors. These sensors can be quickly dispatched in response to UFO sightings, capturing detailed information about the encountered objects. Whether the sightings occur in the air, outer space, or underwater, the gremlin system’s versatility allows it to gather critical data from virtually any environment.

The technology behind the gremlin system is encapsulated in Pelican cases, making it not only highly portable but also ready for rapid deployment. This ensures that whenever reports of unidentified objects emerge, the system can be swiftly sent to the location to begin the investigative process.

Pentagon’s Commitment to Transparency

Despite past controversies surrounding the Pentagon’s handling of UFO information, this new development indicates a shift towards greater openness and diligence in investigating such reports. The introduction of the gremlin system is part of a broader effort to address the public’s curiosity and concerns about unidentified aerial phenomena with a more structured and scientific approach.

The system’s deployment underscores the Pentagon’s acknowledgment of the importance of thoroughly investigating reports of unidentified objects. By leveraging advanced technology, the military aims to demystify sightings and provide clear explanations for what are often perceived as mysterious occurrences.

Skepticism and Ongoing Debate

While the Pentagon’s report and the unveiling of the gremlin system suggest there is no concrete evidence of extraterrestrial life, the topic remains a hotbed of speculation and debate. Journalists and researchers who have dedicated their careers to studying UFO phenomena are skeptical of official denials of secret programs or encounters with alien life.

This skepticism is fueled by insider accounts and whistleblowers who challenge the official narrative, suggesting that there might be more to the story than what is publicly acknowledged. The debate continues, with many urging for more in-depth investigations and transparency from the government.

The Future of UFO Investigations

With the gremlin system now in play, the Pentagon has reaffirmed its commitment to investigating every report of unidentified flying objects. This commitment is critical, as the military receives over a hundred cases every month from various sources, including military branches and civilians.

VIDEO: 

• Pentagon has new surveillance system for UFO reports | NewsNation Now

• https://youtu.be/ZcN1DzdvB3Y

The ongoing investigations, bolstered by the new technology, aim to shed light on the nature of these sightings, ensuring that the public receives accurate and comprehensive information. As the debate around UFOs persists, the gremlin system represents a crucial tool in the quest for clarity and understanding of these mysterious occurrences.

In conclusion, the Pentagon’s introduction of the gremlin system for UFO reports is a significant milestone in the ongoing investigation of unidentified aerial phenomena. By employing advanced surveillance technology, the military seeks to approach the subject with renewed rigor and transparency, hoping to demystify the sightings that have captivated public interest for decades.

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“To date, AARO has not discovered any empirical evidence that any sighting of a UAP represented off-world technology or the existence a classified program that had not been properly reported to Congress,” the report said.

Citing investigations that revealed most sightings to result from the “misidentification of ordinary objects and phenomena,” the report acknowledged that “many UAP reports remain unsolved,” though adding that better data could lead to the resolution of some of the currently unresolved cases.

In advance of the report’s release, Tim Phillips, acting director of AARO on assignment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), provided a briefing to a limited number of reporters on Wednesday, where he discussed the new report and revealed details about a new system called “Gremlin” designed to acquire real-time data on UAP. The Debrief did not participate in Wednesday’s media briefing.

Following the release of the report, Department of Defense spokesperson Sue Gough said in an email to The Debrief that “AARO reviewed all official USG investigatory efforts since 1945, researched classified and unclassified archives, conducted dozens of interviews and site visits, and partnered with the Intelligence Community and DoD officials responsible for special access program oversight.”

“AARO created a secure process in partnership with the highest-level security officials within the DoD, IC, and other organizations to research and investigate these claims,” Gough said. “AARO was granted full, unrestricted access by all organizations.”

Major Jesse Marcel poses with mysterious wreckage associated with the purported crash of a flying saucer near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947. AARO’s recent historical report says the incident involved a once-secret U.S. covert operation called Project Mogul, as determined by the USAF in the 1990s

(Public Domain).

Although there were notable exceptions, most media coverage of the new AARO report focused almost entirely on the lack of evidence linking UAP sightings to extraterrestrial technologies, as well as the absence of classified programs involved in the recovery of crashed vehicles of non-human origin.

Also commanding media attention had been revelations involving the existence of a proposed program pitched to the Department of Homeland Security in the 2010s under the codename “Kona Blue,” which involved a prospective reverse engineering program for any extraterrestrial technologies acquired by the U.S. government.

According to the AARO report, Kona Blue had been proposed by former members of a DIA program called the Advanced Aerospace Weapons Systems Application Program (AAWSAP), whose personnel are identified in the report as some of the main proponents behind ongoing assertions involving secret U.S. government UAP programs.

The report says that AARO investigators found no evidence that extraterrestrial craft or their occupants had ever been acquired by the U.S. military and that Kona Blue was ultimately rejected by DHS leadership due to a lack of merit.

Friday’s report was met with significant criticism online following its release, with many arguing that its findings were invalid, while others expressed skepticism over its assertions that no evidence of cover-ups involving crashed UAP retrieval programs had been found.

The report’s findings appear to run in stark contrast to whistleblower allegations that first received widespread public attention last June, involving an official complaint filed with the Intelligence Community Inspector General by David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer whose duties included participation in the U.S. government’s investigations into UAP in recent years.

In January, Inspector General of the Intelligence Community Thomas Monheim spoke with members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a classified briefing on UAP, with some who attended claiming it left them with more questions than answers regarding ongoing claims of secret programs and exotic technologies.

Following the release of AARO’s report on Friday, amidst all the attention surrounding what AARO investigators did or did not find, and programs that were proposed but never came to fruition, few mainstream outlets discussed the numerous intriguing allusions to legitimate advanced capabilities the U.S. possesses that are peppered throughout the report—many of which, in likelihood, actually have contributed to UAP sightings over the years.

These seemingly went unnoticed, as well as several factual errors that appear throughout the new report that, for some, potentially undermine the level of rigor AARO appears to have applied in its investigations.

FACT-CHECKING AARO’S HISTORICAL REPORT

Among the many mistakes that appear in the new report, one of the most glaring appears in references to the late Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his involvement in helping acquire funding for a controversial UAP investigative effort run out of the Defense Intelligence Agency in the early 2000s. The report refers to the Democrat Senator’s home state as being New Mexico, whereas Reid was a U.S. Senator from Nevada.

In another instance, a famous sighting reported by pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mount Rainer, Washington in the summer of 1947 is described as having taken place on “June 23,” one day earlier than Arnold’s sighting occurred.

The report similarly claims Arnold described the objects he observed as being “saucer-like aircraft”, although this now-famous characterization was only later applied by members of the media who, at the time, were referencing Arnold’s description of their movement resembling “saucers” skipping across water.

In yet another example, the AARO report repeatedly refers to a statistical analysis of sightings collected by the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book conducted by the Battelle Memorial Institute as “Project BEAR,” which had, in fact, only been a nickname given to the program by Blue Book’s original director, Edward J. Ruppelt. The project’s actual name—one that has now been known publicly for decades—was Project STORK.

“The name Project BEAR was an intentionally false name made by Edward Ruppelt,” wrote Robert Powell, an Executive Board Member with the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, in a  posting on X, “so as not to reveal the true name of the project.”

Powell also noted that the recent AARO report seemingly misstated the date of the Battelle project as having been issued in late 1954, whereas the date on the folder in the Air Force’s Project Blue Book files indicates a date of May 5, 1955.

Beyond mere problems with dates, AARO’s report makes further assertions that Battelle’s study, the results of which were published in a report titled Project Blue Book Special Report #14, “concluded that all cases that had enough data were resolved and readily explainable.” Quite the contrary, the study actually found that among the UFO sightings categorized within a reliability group of reports deemed “Excellent,” only 4.2% had “insufficient info,” whereas 33.3% of these cases remained “Unknown.”

In a posting on X, Marik von Rennenkampf, an analyst who worked with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, called the error “Blatantly, demonstrably false.”

INTRIGUING ACCOUNTS AND UNSOLVED CASES

Despite the number of factual errors that appear throughout the final AARO report, there are nonetheless a handful of intriguing references in it that appear to describe advanced U.S. technologies, although again, few of these have received significant attention in mainstream coverage.

In one example, which describes an individual’s account provided during an interview with AARO investigators, the report states that “AARO was able to correlate this account with an authentic USG program because the interviewee was able to provide a relatively precise time and location of the sighting which they observed exhibiting strange characteristics.”

Test flight during the 1970s of Lockheed’s then-secret Have Blue, the code name for its stealth fighter

(Public Domain).

AARO concluded the technology mistaken for being an exotic UAP technology by the unnamed witness correlated with DoD tests “of a platform protected by a [Special Access Program]” occurring at roughly the same time. “The seemingly strange characteristics reported by the interviewee match closely with the platform’s characteristics,” the AARO report’s authors state, “which was being tested at a military facility in the time frame the interviewee was there.”

“This program is not related in any way to the exploitation of off-world technology,” the report’s authors emphasize, offering no further details on the technology that is believed to have been mistaken for a test involving an exotic craft.

The report’s authors later add that “All the programs assessed to be authentic were or—if still active—continue to be, appropriately reported to either or both the congressional defense and intelligence committees.”

In another instance, material believed to have been retrieved from a UAP was subjected to analysis by the U.S. Army, with subsequent analysis conducted by AARO and “a leading science laboratory,” concluding that “the material is a metallic alloy, terrestrial in nature, and possibly of USAF origin, based on its materials characterization.”

Although most of AARO’s reported findings dismissed any verifiable connections to exotic craft or genuine unexplained phenomena, linking them instead to known U.S. government programs, there are a handful of incidents AARO said it was still investigating, which included a series of widely discussed UAP events that occurred at U.S. strategic sites during the 1960s and 1970s.

Historic image of an A-12 test flight at Area 51 in 1962

(Public Domain).

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