Dit is ons nieuw hondje Kira, een kruising van een waterhond en een Podenko. Ze is sinds 7 februari 2024 bij ons en druk bezig ons hart te veroveren. Het is een lief, aanhankelijk hondje, dat zich op een week snel aan ons heeft aangepast. Ze is heel vinnig en nieuwsgierig, een heel ander hondje dan Noleke.
This is our new dog Kira, a cross between a water dog and a Podenko. She has been with us since February 7, 2024 and is busy winning our hearts. She is a sweet, affectionate dog who quickly adapted to us within a week. She is very quick and curious, a very different dog than Noleke.
DEAR VISITOR,
MY BLOG EXISTS ALREADY 12 YEARS AND 11 MONTHS.
ON 06/05/2024 MORE THAN 1.972.210
VISITORS FROM 134 DIFFERENT NATIONS ALREADY FOUND THEIR WAY TO MY BLOG.
THAT IS AN AVERAGE OF 400GUESTS PER DAY.
THANK YOU FOR VISITING MY BLOG AND HOPE YOU ENJOY EACH TIME.
The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
Zoeken in blog
Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
08-03-2019
Bob Lazar, Area 51, Flying Saucers, UFOs, Alien Technology, Free Energy
Bob Lazar, Area 51, Flying Saucers, UFOs, Alien Technology, Free Energy
In this video I talk about the film Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers.
The film is the work of Jerry Corbell, is narrated by Mickey Rourke, and was released in December 2018.
If you've never heard of it there's a link to it below this video.
If you've never heard of Bob Lazar then you're in for a treat. It should at least awaken your curiosity.
It might also be one of those pivotal moments in life after which nothing is quite the same again.
The film itself is an excellent piece of documentary film making and is a highly commendable movie.
I'm no more of a film reviewer than I am an art or food critic, so I'll leave that to others. What I will say is do watch it, and keep an open mind as you do so.
About 30 years ago Bob Lazar took the courageous decision to become a whistleblower.
He had been recruited to assist with the reverse engineering of nine alien spacecraft - the small, silver, flying saucers that have been the subject of so much discussion since Roswell in 1947.
In the film he recounts the details of the information he gave three decades ago and it's clear from all the investigative journalism that his story is consistent.
What comes across though, and this is pointed out in the film, is that Bob Lazar is a very reluctant whistleblower.
His motivation for divulging these secrets was the fact that the alien technology is being kept secret.
It is thus depriving the human race of the solutions to almost every problem the modern industrial world faces.
It's technology that could provide free, clean energy for all our transportation; on land, at sea, in the air, and into space.
Instead, these secrets remain locked away and only known in detail to those with the highest level of security clearances.
If they were shared with the world's scientists then perhaps reverse engineering could continue to the point where all the secrets are unlocked and humanity could benefit from them.
By now I've probably lost of few viewers as they roll their eyes and think, "What is this gullible fool talking about?".
And that is a common reaction, because the main reason that there is rarely open and intelligent debate about non-human intelligences in the universe is fear.
It is the fear of ridicule, of loss of reputation and respect, and the fear of what might happen if the incontrovertible and uncomfortable truth finally came out.
No one wants to become that centre of attention for cynics and a jeering mob of critics.
Our addiction to social media is a symptom of a constant need for endorsement by others.
Say the wrong thing, hold the wrong point of view, and you risk unleashing the hounds on yourself and perhaps being shunned altogether.
After successfully undocking from the International Space Station in the early morning hours and burning through Earth’s atmosphere, SpaceX’s passenger spacecraft slowly descended back down to Earth, before safely splashing down into the Atlantic Ocean — and right on schedule at 8:45 am EST.
Crew Dragon’s descent was slowed thanks to four large parachutes it deployed once it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere.
Astronauts loaded roughly 300 pounds (136 kg) of cargo from the ISS into the spacecraft on Thursday to send back down to Earth.
SpaceX successfully launched the spacecraft on Saturday. It marks the first time a passenger spacecraft launched from American soil to the ISS — and returned safely back down to Earth — since the end of NASA’s Space Shuttle program in 2011.
Mission Accomplished
SpaceX’s Crew Dragon docked itself, with no robotic arm required, to an open port of the International Space Station early Sunday morning. It then spent five days docked to the station while astronauts checked out the inside of what could one day become their ride back home.
A lot could’ve gone wrong. The cargo Dragon variant featured a different parachute system and had a differently shaped hull.
“I see hypersonic re-entry as probably my greatest concern,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said during a post-launch press event on Saturday.
In July, SpaceX is hoping to send the Crew Dragon capsule back into space — but this time with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board.
Two of NASA’s astronauts are scheduled to make history this month.
On March 29, Anne McClain and Christina Koch will leave the relative safety of the International Space Station for aspacewalkto upgrade the craft’s batteries.
Though rare, a spacewalk alone isn’t history-making. What’s exciting is the fact that this spacewalk will be the first to feature only women astronauts — an inspiring sign that women are catching up with men in exploring the final frontier.
Spacewalk This Way
On Wednesday, NASA spokeswoman Stephanie Schierholz confirmed the all-female spacewalk with CNN.
“As currently scheduled, the March 29 spacewalk will be the first with only women,” she told the network.
In addition to McClain and Koch, Schierholz pointed out that two other women will play important roles behind the scenes for this spacewalk — Mary Lawrence and Jackie Kagey will serve as the spacewalk’s lead flight director and lead spacewalk flight controller, respectively.
A third woman, Canadian Space Agency flight controller Kristen Facciol, will support the spacewalk from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. She’s the one who first broke the news of the all-female spacewalk with an exuberant tweet on March 1.
As with anything space-related, there is always a chance the spacewalk might not go as planned, with Schierholz telling CNN that “assignments and schedules could always change.”
Still, right now, it’s looking like McClain and Koch will spacewalk their way into the history books on March 29.
Dozens of Weird Mummies Were Found in a Tomb near Pyramids.
Dozens of Weird Mummies Were Found in a Tomb near Pyramids.
SAQQARA, Egypt (Reuters) – Archaeologists in Egypt said on Saturday they had discovered a rare collection of mummified scarab beetles, as well as an apparently pristine Fifth Dynasty tomb that they plan to open in the coming weeks.
The mummified beetles were among artifacts found in seven tombs discovered over the past six months on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.
As they were preparing the site to present the latest discoveries, archaeologists found the door of another tomb that remains sealed, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters.
The tomb dates from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom and is unusual because the facade and door are intact, meaning its contents may still be untouched, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara area. He said experts plan to open the tomb in the coming weeks.
The Fifth Dynasty ruled Egypt from about 2,500 BC to 2,350 BC, not long after the great pyramid of Giza was built.
The tombs lie in a buried ridge that has only partially been uncovered and could offer many more similar discoveries, Waziri said. Excavations in the area had halted in 2013 before resuming earlier this year.
Saqqara served as the necropolis for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt for more than two millennia.
Ancient Egyptians mummified humans to preserve their bodies for the afterlife, while animal mummies were used as religious offerings.
Two large scarabs wrapped in linen and in very good condition were found inside a limestone sarcophagus with a vaulted, decorated lid, the antiquities ministry said in a statement.
Another collection of scarab mummies was found inside a smaller sarcophagus.
The mummified beetles were among artifacts found in seven tombs discovered over the past six months on the edge of the King Userkaf pyramid complex at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara, south of Cairo.
As they were preparing the site to present the latest discoveries, archaeologists found the door of another tomb that remains sealed, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters.
The tomb dates from the Fifth Dynasty of the Old Kingdom and is unusual because the facade and door are intact, meaning its contents may still be untouched, said Mohamed Youssef, director of the Saqqara area. He said experts plan to open the tomb in the coming weeks.
The Fifth Dynasty ruled Egypt from about 2,500 BC to 2,350 BC, not long after the great pyramid of Giza was built.
The tombs lie in a buried ridge that has only partially been uncovered and could offer many more similar discoveries, Waziri said. Excavations in the area had halted in 2013 before resuming earlier this year.
Saqqara served as the necropolis for Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt for more than two millennia.
Ancient Egyptians mummified humans to preserve their bodies for the afterlife, while animal mummies were used as religious offerings.
Two large scarabs wrapped in linen and in very good condition were found inside a limestone sarcophagus with a vaulted, decorated lid, the antiquities ministry said in a statement.
Another collection of scarab mummies was found inside a smaller sarcophagus.
The latest data sent back by the Juno and Cassini spacecraft from giant gas planets Jupiter and Saturn have challenged a lot of current theories about how planets in our solar system form and behave.
The detailed magnetic and gravity data have been “invaluable but also confounding,” said David Stevenson from Caltech, who will present an update of both missions this week at the 2019 American Physical Society March Meeting in Boston. He will also participate in a press conference describing the work. Information for logging on to watch and ask questions remotely is included at the end of this news release.
“Although there are puzzles yet to be explained, this is already clarifying some of our ideas about how planets form, how they make magnetic fields and how the winds blow,” Stevenson said.
Cassini orbited Saturn for 13 years before its dramatic final dive into the planet’s interior in 2017, while Juno has been orbiting Jupiter for two and a half years.
Credit: American Physical Society (APS)
Juno’s success as a mission to Jupiter is a tribute to innovative design. Its instruments are powered by solar energy alone and protected so as to withstand the fierce radiation environment.
Stevenson says the inclusion of a microwave sensor on Juno was a good decision.
“Using microwaves to figure out the deep atmosphere was the right, but unconventional, choice,” he said. The microwave data have surprised the scientists, in particular by showing that the atmosphere is evenly mixed, something conventional theories did not predict.
“Any explanation for this has to be unorthodox,” Stevenson said.
Researchers are exploring weather events concentrating significant amounts of ice, liquids and gas in different parts of the atmosphere as possible explanations, but the matter is far from sealed.
Credit: American Physical Society (APS)
Other instruments on board Juno, gravity and magnetic sensors, have also sent back perplexing data. The magnetic field has spots (regions of anomalously high or low magnetic field) and also a striking difference between the northern and southern hemispheres.
“It’s unlike anything we have seen before,” Stevenson said.
The gravity data have confirmed that in the midst of Jupiter, which is at least 90 percent hydrogen and helium by mass, there are heavier elements amounting to more than 10 times the mass of Earth. However, they are not concentrated in a core but are mixed in with the hydrogen above, most of which is in the form of a metallic liquid.
The data has provided rich information about the outer parts of both Jupiter and Saturn. The abundance of heavier elements in these regions is still uncertain, but the outer layers play a larger-than-expected role in the generation of the two planets’ magnetic fields. Experiments mimicking the gas planets’ pressures and temperatures are now needed to help the scientists understand the processes that are going on.
For Stevenson, who has studied gas giants for 40 years, the puzzles are the hallmark of a good mission.
“A successful mission is one that surprises us. Science would be boring if it merely confirmed what we previously thought,” he said.
Zagen deze 6 kosmonauten engelen in de ruimte? Nog altijd geen verklaring voor bizarre waarneming
Zagen deze 6 kosmonauten engelen in de ruimte? Nog altijd geen verklaring voor bizarre waarneming
In 1985 voerden zes kosmonauten op een dag experimenten uit in hun ruimtestation, Saljoet 7 , toen het schip plotseling werd gehuld in een oranje waas.
De kosmonauten Leonid Kizim, Oleg Atkov, Vladimir Solovjev, Svetlana Savitskaja, Igor Volk en Vladimir Dzjanibekov werden korte tijd verblind door een fel licht.
Vervolgens zagen ze buiten het ruimtestation de silhouetten van zeven gedaantes die de ruimtevaarders aan engelen deden denken.
Bizarre waarneming
De bemanning bracht het controlecentrum op aarde op de hoogte van de bizarre waarneming.
Documenten over het incident werden geclassificeerd als topgeheim. Alle bemanningsleden werden onderworpen aan psychologische en medische onderzoeken, maar ze bleken kerngezond te zijn.
Ook Amerikaanse astronauten zouden aan boord van spaceshuttles van de NASA engelachtige wezens hebben gezien.
Witte stad
Op 26 december 1994 maakte de Hubble-telescoop honderden foto’s van een soort witte stad in de ruimte. Het verhaal gaat dat de foto’s nooit zijn vrijgegeven.
Een kosmonaut die zes maanden lang in het ruimtestation Mir leefde en werkte, zei dat hij tijdens zijn verblijf samen met zijn partner de meest fantastische visioenen kreeg.
Onzichtbare hand
Piloten maken vaak melding van soortgelijke fenomenen. Er zijn gevallen bekend waarbij piloten tijdens lange vluchten voelden dat de stuurknuppel werd overgenomen door een ‘onzichtbare hand’.
De Amerikaanse luchtmacht concludeerde dat bijna 15 procent van de piloten zoiets heeft meegemaakt.
While we’re rightly worrying about the diminishing numbers of honeybees and the crop apocalypse that could occur with their demise, other creatures with stingers seem to getting … bigger. Earlier this year, a Wallace’s giant bee (Megachile pluto), measuring a whopping 1.5 inches and thought to be extinct, wasfound alive and stinging in Indonesia.Meh, say researchers in China who this week announced the discovery of a new species of Godzilla (uh-oh) hornet that is nearly an inch longer than the giant bee, has a 3.9 inch wingspan and a quarter-inch stinger (ouch!). With those measurements, it’s either the world’s biggest hornet or the world’s smallest fighter jet. This being China … it could be both!
The Godzilla or killer hornet was discovered near the Myanmar border in the city of Pu’er in the Yunnan province of southwestern China. It was brought to Zhao Li, the curator of the Insect Museum of West China in Sichuan Province, who determined it was a new species in the Vespa mandariniafamily. Vespa mandariana is already the world’s largest hornet and one of the deadliest, deserving of its other nickname – ‘yak killer’. These are not the yellow-legged or Asian hornets (Vespa velutina) which are an invasive now found across Europe and the UK (too late for a hornet Brexit). The yak killers only live (so far) in tropical eastern China in low mountains and forest areas. Zhao Li measured this specimen at six cm (2.3 inches) in length, a wingspan close to 10 cm (3.9 inches) and that 6.35 mm (.254 inch) stinger. (See a picture here.) Being a good entomologist, Zhao Li warned that the specimen was a worker and the queen would be even larger. Ahhh!
A hornet with a wingspan of 9.35 cm discovered in Southwest China's Yunnan province.
[Photo/Xinhua]
At least the Godzilla hornet only attacks larger insects like mantises and the occasional yak, right? Wrong! Asian giant hornets feed on honey and will attack entire colonies of defenseless honeybees to get to it. They also attack other hornet species and have been known to attack hives of their own species in order to bring protein-rich larvae to feed their queen. Moving up the biological scale, Asian giant hornets use their quarter-inch stinger to deliver a venom containing a toxin that causes tissue damage. Multiple stings by a swarm of giant hornets have been lethal to humans, even if they’re not allergic to the venom. In 2013, stings by Asian giant hornets killed 41 people and injured more than 1,600 in Shaanxi Province alone. Don’t bother running and hiding – they’re the only species of social wasps that mark their food source with a scent and return with a hunting party.
An example of an Asian giant hornet (not the one recently found)
(Wikipedia)
It’s a good thing there are professional giant hornet exterminators, right? Wrong! Godzilla hornets are the most difficult to kill. Exterminators resort to beating them with clubs (slow), removing nests (they’re huge), traps (expensive), poison (bad for other insects) and screens that only let honeybees in (leaving the angry hornets to attack humans instead).
Is there any good news about this new discovery of the world’s largest and deadliest hornet? Well, that larva that the queens eat is potentially good for improving human endurance and is being marketed in China as a “hornet juice” nutritional supplement.
You’ll be able to spot the users at the next Olympics – they’ll be the ones wearing gold medals and thanking their mom, God and the giant killer hornets.µ
Staying at a fancy hotel on a tropical beach doesn’t seem as much fun now since humans may soon be able to take a vacation into space and stay there at a hotel. Now that would be one amazing view. Since theCrew Dragon spacecrafthad a successful launch and docking mission to the International Space Station (ISS) this month, SpaceX plans to send humans to different destinations in space that could include hotels.
SpaceX plans to send astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley into space on Crew Dragon this summer and following that, it will take up to four astronauts to the ISS in six contracted missions with NASA. And it doesn’t just end there. After those missions are complete, the spacecraft plans to travel to several other locations in space.
Since the spacecraft is a commercial vehicle that will include up to seven seats per flight, anyone who is willing to pay will be able to travel into space in the near future. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a press conference, “Once Dragon is in regular operation, I think we will seek commercial customers.”
International Space Station
And several companies are already in the process of creating plans for space hotels that Crew Dragon could visit. In 2016, Bigelow Aerospace in Nevada attached a prototype habitat to the ISS and they plan to elaborate even further by sending the first items into space in 2021 for their hotels.
The habitat that they’re developing is called B330 and its interior space will measure 330 cubic meters. It has enough room for up to six people and they can conduct scientific research while they’re there. They plan on sending two habitats into space in 2021 on Atlas V rockets from the United Launch Alliance (ULA). The company said in a 2018 statement, “These single structures that house humans on a permanent basis will be the largest, most complex structures ever known as stations for human use in space.”
And Bigelow Aerospace isn’t the only company planning to launch space hotels, as Axiom space and NanoRacks – both located in Texas – are also interested in developing space housing.
Soyuz rocket
The cost of visiting space won’t come cheap, as seven space tourists have already gone to the ISS on the Russian Soyuz rocket and each of them paid around $20 million. But if money isn’t an option, it would certainly be the trip of a lifetime with a breathtaking view beyond anything we could imagine.
As a follow-up to my 2-part article on Shadow People and the Philadelphia Experiment – which is very much driven by the words and controversial claims of a whistleblower – I thought I would share with you over the next few days a number of additional whistleblower-based accounts that have come my way. We’ll begin with one which concerns the controversial Roswell affair of 1947. Back in 1998, I wrote a book titled The FBI Files. It told the story of the Bureau’s involvement in the UFO phenomenon, contactee cases, the alleged Aztec, New Mexico UFO crash of 1948, the cattle mutilation mystery, and even FBI records on the sinister Men in Black. Chapter Four of the book was titled “The Oak Ridge Invasion.” As so often happens when I write a book, people who personally know something of its contents or subject-matter will contact me and share the relevant information. And that is precisely what happened with regard to that specific chapter. It was a study of FBI files that had been declassified under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act and which described various UFO encounters at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
One of the people who contacted me – by letter, via the London, England-based publisher of The FBI Files, Simon & Schuster – was an elderly woman who worked at Oak Ridge in 1947, and who had read my book. She added she had some information that I was sure to find of interest, but which she preferred to tell me about specifically in person. Well, as I was living in the U.K. at that time, there wasn’t much of a chance of me meeting up with her at any time soon – which is exactly what I told her. I couldn’t persuade her to put her revelations onto paper. Nor would she share them with me over the telephone. And, she wasn’t on email – not a massive number of old folks were online in 1998, I am guessing. So, for a couple of years it was a case of her story not just stalling, but coming to a complete halt. That is, until the summer of 2001.
I moved to the United States to live in early 2001, and, in the summer, I traveled around much of the west coast – chiefly to do a series of lectures for various UFO groups in California. I put out a feeler to that same old lady, explaining my new circumstances and asking if we could now, finally, talk. Well, that would be just fine, she said. On July 28, 2001 I hung out with the then-seventy-nine-year-old woman: we had lunch in a Los Angeles restaurant and chatted extensively. She was driven to the restaurant by a family member, a much younger man who seemed to be equally as worried as she was. Nevertheless, she agreed to share what she knew, providing her name was never published (although, she was required to provide Simon & Schuster’s legal people with a release-form, as were each and all of the other whistleblowers when I wrote my 2005 book on all this: Body Snatchers in the Desert). So, I sat back and listened.
I referred to her in the book as the Black Widow. There was a relevant reason for this; a reason which was not mentioned in Body Snatchers in the Desert: her husband, who she married in 1972, was African-American. She, however, was not. They were both just into their very early fifties when they married and had twenty-four happy years together, despite some unforgivable racist comments from her ignorant family. It was in 1996 that her husband passed away, hence the title I gave her. When we met, and knowing that she had read The FBI Files, my natural assumption was that she wanted to tell me something about UFO encounters at the Oak Ridge facility. Makes sense, right? No. I was wrong: what she actually wanted to share with me was certain information that, if provable, would radically alter the face of Ufology and blow the Roswell case right out of the water. As we ate, I wondered, with a fair degree of excitement: what the hell have I got myself into? It wasn’t long before I had the answer to that loaded question.
The Black Widow, born in 1922, had been in the employ of Oak Ridge – in a medical capacity – from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s. While there, and on three occasions between May and July 1947, she saw a number of unusual-looking bodies brought to the facility – and under stringent security. They looked like regular Japanese people, she said. Others, however, displayed the signs of certain medical conditions: dwarfism, oversized heads, and bulging eyes. A few of the bodies were extensively damaged – as if they had been in violent accidents. In all, fifteen such bodies were brought to Oak Ridge under great secrecy; all of them reportedly used in certain high-altitude, balloon-based experiments in New Mexico, one of which led to the Roswell legend. Or, became a part of the legend is probably more correct. The Black Widow said: “Those bodies – the Roswell bodies – they weren’t aliens. The government could care less about those stories about alien bodies found at Roswell – except to hide the truth.”
She added: “I don’t know anything at all about how these people were brought [to the United States], but I heard at Oak Ridge that some of them were in the States in late 1945 and brought over with Japanese doctors and Nazi doctors who had been doing similar experiments. That’s when some of this began.” The story continued that at least some of the people used in the tests were American prisoners given the opportunity to cut the lengths of their sentences – if, that is, they were willing to take a chance and take part in the dicey experiments. Reportedly, a number did take the bait, but failed to survive the flights. Some of the handicapped people did not come from Japan, but from “hospitals and “asylums” in the United States.
All of the material evidence was said to have been eventually destroyed – chiefly because the operations didn’t provide much in the way of results, and because of the outright illegality of the experiments. Everything, the Black Widow said, was hidden beneath a mass of fabricated tales of flying saucers and little men from the stars. She doubted that anything of any significance still existed – certainly not the bodies or the balloons, and probably not even the old records, which she believed were burned to oblivion. Unless, however, some of them were preserved for secret, historical purposes, which is not impossible. I hope they were. If not, it may be nigh on impossible to conclusively prove anything about Roswell – ever.
There was one final aspect of the Black Widow’s story that needs to be addressed: her overwhelming fear. It was ever-present throughout our 2001 meeting. She tried to disguise that fear with smiles and laughter, but she was certainly no Oscar-winning Hollywood actor. That’s for sure. Seeing through her facade was like seeing through freshly polished glass. In Body Snatchers in the Desert I said that she “…possessed the sad and somewhat sunken eyes of a person with the weight of the world on her shoulders. She was clearly looking for someone to speak with; but, equally, she was very concerned about the ramifications of doing so, ‘if the government finds out.’”
What Does the Milky Way Weigh? Hubble and Gaia Investigate
What Does the Milky Way Weigh? Hubble and Gaia Investigate
Measurements from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope and the ESA Gaia mission have been combined to improve he estimate of the mass of our home galaxy the Milky Way: 1.5 trillion solar masses.
Credit: ESO, P. Horálek, ESA, Hubble, NASA., L. Calçada, M. Kornmesser, ATG Medialab, F. Ferraro, S. Brunier
We live in a gigantic star city. Our Milky Way galaxy contains an estimated 200 billion stars. But that’s just the bare tip of the iceberg. The Milky Way is surrounded by vast amounts of an unknown material called dark matter that is invisible because it doesn’t release any radiation. Astronomers know it exists because, dynamically, the galaxy would fly apart if dark matter didn’t keep a gravitational lid on things.
Still, astronomers would like to have a precise measure of the galaxy’s mass to better understand how the myriad galaxies throughout the universe form and evolve. Other galaxies can range in mass from around a billion solar masses to 30 trillion solar masses. How does our Milky Way compare?
Curious astronomers teamed up the Hubble Space Telescope and European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite to precisely study the motions of globular star clusters that orbit our galaxy like bees around a hive. The faster the clusters move under the entire galaxy’s gravitational pull, the more massive it is. The researchers concluded the galaxy weighs 1.5 trillion solar masses, most of it locked up in dark matter. Therefore, the Milky Way is a “Goldilocks” galaxy, not too big and not too small. Just right.
This artist’s impression shows a computer generated model of the Milky Way and the accurate positions of the globular clusters used in this study surrounding it. Scientists used the measured velocities of these 44 globular clusters to determine the total mass of the Milky Way, our cosmic home.
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, L. Calçada
We can’t put the whole Milky Way on a scale, but astronomers have been able to come up with one of the most accurate measurements yet of our galaxy’s mass, using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and the European Space Agency’s Gaia satellite.
The Milky Way weighs in at about 1.5 trillion solar masses (one solar mass is the mass of our Sun), according to the latest measurements. Only a few percent of this is contributed by the approximately 200 billion stars in the Milky Way and includes a 4-million-solar-mass supermassive black hole at the center. Most of the rest of the mass is locked up in dark matter, an invisible and mysterious substance that acts like scaffolding throughout the universe and keeps the stars in their galaxies.
Earlier research dating back several decades used a variety of observational techniques that provided estimates for our galaxy’s mass ranging between 500 billion to 3 trillion solar masses. The improved measurement is near the middle of this range.
“We want to know the mass of the Milky Way more accurately so that we can put it into a cosmological context and compare it to simulations of galaxies in the evolving universe,” said Roeland van der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. “Not knowing the precise mass of the Milky Way presents a problem for a lot of cosmological questions.”
[Left] — This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a portion of the globular star cluster NGC 5466. It is among 150 compact islands of stars that orbit our Milky Way galaxy like bees buzzing around a hive. The orbital speed of the cluster can be used to estimate the total mass of our galaxy. The more massive the Milky Way, the faster the cluster is moving under the pull of gravity. [Right] — To clock the cluster’s velocity, Hubble images taken ten years apart were compared. Hubble’s view is so sharp it can be used to measure the motion of the cluster’s stars by their offset positions between observing epochs. A grid in the background helps to illustrate the stellar motion in the foreground cluster (located 52,000 light-years away). Notice that background galaxies (top right of center, bottom left of center) do not appear to move because they are so much farther away, many millions of light-years. The precise measurements, when combined with other data, show that the Milky Way weighs in at about 1.5 trillion solar masses. Only a few percent of this comes from its population of approximately 200 billion stars. Most of the rest is locked away in an invisible mass called dark matter.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and S.T. Sohn and J. DePasquale (STScI)
The new mass estimate puts our galaxy on the beefier side, compared to other galaxies in the universe. The lightest galaxies are around a billion solar masses, while the heaviest are 30 trillion, or 30,000 times more massive. The Milky Way’s mass of 1.5 trillion solar masses is fairly normal for a galaxy of its brightness.
Astronomers used Hubble and Gaia to measure the three-dimensional movement of globular star clusters — isolated spherical islands each containing hundreds of thousands of stars each that orbit the center of our galaxy.
Although we cannot see it, dark matter is the dominant form of matter in the universe, and it can be weighed through its influence on visible objects like the globular clusters. The more massive a galaxy, the faster its globular clusters move under the pull of gravity. Most previous measurements have been along the line of sight to globular clusters, so astronomers know the speed at which a globular cluster is approaching or receding from Earth. However, Hubble and Gaia record the sideways motion of the globular clusters, from which a more reliable speed (and therefore gravitational acceleration) can be calculated.
The Hubble and Gaia observations are complementary. Gaia was exclusively designed to create a precise three-dimensional map of astronomical objects throughout the Milky Way and track their motions. It made exacting all-sky measurements that include many globular clusters. Hubble has a smaller field of view, but it can measure fainter stars and therefore reach more distant clusters. The new study augmented Gaia measurements for 34 globular clusters out to 65,000 light-years, with Hubble measurements of 12 clusters out to 130,000 light-years that were obtained from images taken over a 10-year period.
When the Gaia and Hubble measurements are combined as anchor points, like pins on a map, astronomers can estimate the distribution of the Milky Way’s mass out to nearly 1 million light-years from Earth.
This artist’s impression shows a computer-generated model of the Milky Way and the accurate positions of the globular clusters used in this study surrounding it. Scientists used the measured velocities of these 44 globular clusters to determine the total mass of the Milky Way, our cosmic home.
Credit: ESA/Hubble, NASA, L. Calçada, M.Kormesser
“We know from cosmological simulations what the distribution of mass in the galaxies should look like, so we can calculate how accurate this extrapolation is for the Milky Way,” said Laura Watkins of the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany, lead author of the combined Hubble and Gaia study, to be published in The Astrophysical Journal. These calculations based on the precise measurements of globular cluster motion from Gaia and Hubble enabled the researchers to pin down the mass of the entire Milky Way.
The earliest homesteaders of the Milky Way, globular clusters contain the oldest known stars, dating back to a few hundred million years after the big bang, the event that created the universe. They formed prior to the construction of the Milky Way’s spiral disk, where our Sun and solar system reside.
“Because of their great distances, globular star clusters are some of the best tracers astronomers have to measure the mass of the vast envelope of dark matter surrounding our galaxy far beyond the spiral disk of stars,” said Tony Sohn of STScI, who led the Hubble measurements.
The international team of astronomers in this study are Laura Watkins (European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany), Roeland van der Marel (Space Telescope Science Institute, and Johns Hopkins University Center for Astrophysical Sciences, Baltimore, Maryland), Sangmo Tony Sohn (Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland), and N. Wyn Evans (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom).
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.
Contacts and sources:
Ray Villard Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland
Laura Watkins European Southern Observatory, Garching
What You Have to Know About Latest UFO Footage and Why
What You Have to Know About Latest UFO Footage and Why
The Latest UFO Footage Chronicles
UFOs are frequently associated with aliens and conspiracy theories. They are frequently associated with aliens and conspiracy theories. Sometimes, however, they cannot be identified because of the low quality of evidence related to their sightings. Throughout that period of time, there were two triangle UFOs sighted in the same site.
The fantastic news for people that would like to have an out-of-body experience (OOBE), but haven’t yet done so is that there are tons of astral projection techniques out there. Some reports state it is a ping, although some claim it is a beep. They state it’s a ping, but others claim it’s a beep. Incidentally, it’s claimed the incident would lead to the recovery of a downed disk.
My sighting only lasted a couple of seconds. Many reported UFO sightings actually end up being something as simple as a balloon. They actually end up being something as simple as a balloon.
UFOs are observed through telescopes. At some stage, you’re most likely to encounter a UFO. At a while, you’re very likely to run into a UFO. Throughout that time period, there were two triangle UFOs sighted in the exact site.
Lies You’ve Been Told About Latest UFO Footage
You have the ability to have a peek at the footage below. You could have a look at the footage below. You may have a look at the footage below. It’s possible for you to look at the footage below. It’s possible that you look at the footage below.
You may have a look at the video below. It’s possible to have a peek at the video below. You’re in a position to have a look at the video below. It’s possible to have a look at the video below. You have the ability to look at the video below.
Whatever They Told You About Latest UFO Footage Is Dead Wrong…And Here’s Why
The object continues at a fast speed, and the pilots appear to go amazed. All the objects look the exact same dimensions and circular in shape. It tilts perpendicular to its original orientation at the end of the video. The strange object began to approach again. Since that day lots of people have filmed similar objects in and about crop circles.
You may observe the footage below. You may see the footage below. Footage of a gigantic shadow moving over the crowd stays in the movie.
You might actually watch videos all day long for many years about aliens. The quick video below, for example, is just one of several contemporary sightings. The shaky video tries to concentrate on the object. however, it fades in the clouds within minutes. You’re able to have a look at the video below. The video can be seen on the TTS Academy Community of Interest site by click on this link. Hypnosis video is merely one of the absolute most productive approaches to do hypnosis without the use of an actual hypnotist.
In fact, thousands of women and men visit the area annually. In reality, thousands of individuals go to the area annually. There are hundreds and hundreds of credible folks who support the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
The entire Moon can cause all kinds of changes on Earth. It can lead to all types of changes on Earth. None are in reality extraterrestrial spacecraft. None are actually extraterrestrial spacecraft. Other folks report being made to breed with human-like extraterrestrials. Today, plenty of individuals are confident that aliens exist.
WETENSCHAP & PLANEETTwee vrouwelijke astronauten zullen voor de eerste keer in de geschiedenis samen een ruimtewandeling maken. Dat meldt de Amerikaanse ruimtevaartorganisatie NASA aan CNN. Anne McClain en Christina Koch zullen de wandeling uitvoeren vanuit het internationaal ruimtestation ISS, zo deelde NASA-woordvoerster Stephanie Schierholz mee.
Vrouwen hebben in het verleden wel al vaker een ruimtewandeling gemaakt, maar het wordt de eerste keer dat twee vrouwen zich samen aan een stapje in de ruimte zullen wagen. De historische wandeling, die op vrijdag 29 maart plaatsvindt, zal zo’n zeven uur duren.
Het vrouwelijke team wordt vervolledigd door de Canadese Kirsten Facciol, die de twee astronauten zal coördineren vanuit Houston. Facciol maakte het nieuws eerder deze maand bekend op Twitter.
De ruimtevaartwereld werd lange tijd gedomineerd door mannen, maar daar is volgens NASA-woordvoerster Stephanie Schierholz stilaan verandering ingekomen. Zowel McClain als Koch studeerde in 2013 af als astronaut. De helft van de afgestudeerden, zo’n 6.100 astronauten, waren vrouwen.
De eerste ruimtevlucht van McClain, Sojoez MS-11, werd op 3 december vorig jaar gelanceerd. Zij zal een half jaar aan boord van het Internationaal ruimtestation ISS verblijven voor ISS-Expeditie 58 en ISS-Expeditie 59. Voor Koch is het zelfs de eerste ruimtevlucht ooit. Zij wordt volgende week op 14 maart gelanceerd vanop de ruimtevaartbasis in Bajkonoer, in Kazachstan.
Opdracht
NASA communiceerde voorlopig nog niet over de precieze opdracht van McClain en Koch. De ruimtevaartorganisatie zal meer uitleg geven op een persconferentie die ongeveer een week voor de wandeling georganiseerd wordt.
“Ruimtewandelingen kunnen een aantal verschillende doelen hebben”, zo vertelt Schierholz aan CNN. “Zoals het uitvoeren van onderhoud of reparaties aan de buitenkant van het ISS, het testen van nieuwe apparatuur en wetenschappelijke experimenten.”
De eerste vrouw die ooit een ruimtewandeling uitvoerde, was de Russische Svetlana Savitskaja. Dat gebeurde op 25 juli 1984.
Photo NewsEen simulatie van hoe de Crew Dragon zich aan aan af het ISS koppelt.
WETENSCHAP & PLANEET De testvlucht van de Crew Dragon - de ruimtecapsule van Elon Musks ruimtevaartbedrijf SpaceX - zit erop. Het nieuwe Amerikaanse ruimteschip voor bemand transport is na een eerste en geslaagde testvlucht zoals gepland omstreeks 14.45 uur (Belgische tijd) in de Atlantische Oceaan geland, zo was rechtstreeks op NASA TV te volgen.
De capsule plofte op 370 kilometer van de kust van Florida in het water. Een speciaal uitgeruste bergingsschip Go Searcher van SpaceX was in de buurt, net zoals een onderzoeksvliegtuig van het Amerikaanse ruimtevaartbureau NASA dat voor livebeelden zorgde. De laatste keer dat de Amerikanen een ruimteschip voor bemand transport in de Atlantische Oceaan zagen landen was op 13 maart 1969, met de Apollo-9.
De landing was een laatste grote test voor de Crew Dragon, die vanaf juli astronauten de ruimte in moet brengen. Het toestel heeft met de succesvolle landing bewezen dat het kan terugkeren in onze atmosfeer, zonder dat de lading iets overkomt. Daarbij gebruikte het onder meer een systeem van parachutes.
De testvlucht werd uitgevoerd met aan boord een dummy uitgerust met sensoren. Op die manier moest worden nagegaan welke krachten echte astronauten zouden ondergaan. De pop kreeg de naam ‘Ripley’, naar de heldin uit de Alien-films. Zij volgde zo ‘Starman’ op, die vorig jaar aan een reis door de ruimte begon in de rode Tesla van SpaceX-baas Elon Musk.
Met de missie - Demo-1 - wil het bedrijf van Elon Musk aantonen dat het ook een bemand ruimteschip kan ontwikkelen. De Crew Dragon was vorige week zaterdag met behulp van de draagraket Falcon 9 op Cape Canaveral gelanceerd en meerde een dag later op automatische piloot aan bij het internationaal ruimtestation ISS. De laatste grote test - de terugvlucht - werd vanmorgen ingezet.
Omdat alles goed is verlopen, zullen Bob Behnken en Doug Hurley waarschijnlijk in juli als allereerste astronauten met een Crew Dragon naar het ISS vliegen. Daarna zal de NASA beslissen of de capsule in dienst komt of niet.
Watch on NASA TV (all times ET): https://go.nasa.gov/2IW7vYt March 7 12:15pm Hatch Closure March 8 2:00am Undocking March 8 7:30am Deorbit Burn & Splashdown
Would that roundabout description of karma still hold true if the Earth was flat? A group of Flat Earthers trying to prove earthy flatness got a big dose of comes-aroundness when the $20,000 gizmo they purchased for that purpose kept coming up “round.” They could have spent far less with the same result by using a Magic 8-Ball … if those were flat. What does karma have against Flat Earthers? Let’s find out.
A documentary currently showing on Netflix called “Behind the Curve” follows members and leaders of the Flat Earth movement as they attempt to prove their beliefs and gather new followers. One of those leaders is Bob Knodel, who claims his background as an engineer and a pilot have convinced him that the Earth is folat and inspired him to create a YouTube channel cleverly named “Globebusters.” If anyone should know how to prove the globe is a flat glob, it’s an engineer and a pilot … right?
According to Newsweek, Knodel and his followers managed to purchase a gyroscope … not one of those fun spinning toys you played with as kids but a $20,000 highly-accurate laser gyroscope that they planned to use to disprove the scientific fact that a round Earth spinning at 15 degrees per house causes a gyroscope to drift the same 15 degrees per hour. Knodel fired up the gyroscope and stood back. When he saw the results, he said:
“We don’t want to blow this, you know? When you’ve got $20,000 in this freaking gyro. If we dumped what we found right now, it would be bad? It would be bad. What I just told you was confidential.”
That doesn’t sound anything like “Eureka!” That’s because it was more like a “Eureka … not!” moment for Knodel. What he saw that was “bad” and should be kept “confidential” was the laser gyroscope drifting 15 degrees per hour just like it was supposed to. So, Knodel had an awakening, admitted the Earth really is round, shut down his YouTube channel, picked up his flat globes and went home … right?
“Now, obviously we were taken aback by that – ‘Wow, that’s kind of a problem.’ We obviously were not willing to accept that, and so we started looking for easy to disprove it was actually registering the motion of the Earth.”
If you don’t like the results, blame the machine! (See a video clip here.) Knodel should have gone into politics … on second thought, maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t. Ignoring the drift and refusing to drift away from his non-scientific belief, he kept repeating it, hoping to get a different result. Many of you will recognize this as a popular definition of insanity … Knodel probably believes that this only applies to Round Earthers. Needless to say, the drifting $20,000 gyroscope wins again and again.
The documentary also shows Knodel’s channel co-host Jeran Campanella conducting a different experiment using a light pointed through three circles cut into boards at the same height, with the boards being far apart. If the Earth is flat, the beam will pass through all three holes. And if the Earth is round? Campanella saw the beam miss the last hole and said:
“Interesting. That’s interesting.”
At least he didn’t blame the boards … or the saw … or the laser pointer. (See a clip here.)
At this point, even a flat Magic 8-Ball would say, “Don’t bother asking again.”
It’s that time again, readers: the weekly mystery boom round up. These unexplained, powerful explosion-like sounds have been shaking the ground around the world with a worrisome increase in frequency lately, and if you ask me, not enough attention is being paid to them. While there are many different possible explanations for these anomalous sounds, the similarities among them are striking and seem to suggest one overriding phenomenon may be occurring. What could be causing these booms, and why are the ‘official’ channels so silent?
Probably because they’ve got much bigger fish to fry these days.
In my home state of North Carolina, residents of Johnston County have been reaching out to law enforcement for answers about the earth-rattling booms which have been shaking their homes for weeks. This week, one of the booms was so powerful it seemed to disturb the air. “It was a little bit of a weird atmosphere then, boom a loud bang,” said Clayton, North Carolina resident Rocky Hall. “When I mean loud, I mean it took the air out of your chest… it sucked right out of you and then everybody came running out of the houses and stuff.” The Wake County and Johnston County Sheriff’s Offices say their phones have been “ringing off the hook” this week due to the booms, but so far no evidence of their origin has been found.
Mysterious booms have been reported 64 times this year, in locations including Michigan, Lapland, St Ives, Swansea and Yorkshire. Incidents are becoming more frequent according to some reports.
Much farther north, people in southern Idaho have been reportedly hearing and feeling booms for weeks. The booms have been so prevalent that local radio station KEZJ has begun polling residents to see just how widespread this unexplained phenomenon may be. One local professor of geology believes the mysterious “skyquakes” are related to a nearby bombing range, but a spokesperson for the Mountain View Air Force station says the base had no aircraft in the air at the time the “skyquakes” were reported. However, the same spokesperson added that they “could not confirm that a separate military outfit wasn’t responsible for the noise.”
Idaho. How could you not want to visit this place? Just watch out for those skyquakes.
This next incident seems to close the case of the mysterious explosions which have plagued neighborhoods in northwest Phoenix, Arizona since last November. In that case, mysterious booms were accompanied in some cases by unexplained flashes of light and even flying debris, two details which seemed to suggest someone was testing improvised explosives. Those suspicions were confirmed this week as Phoenix Police recently arrested Houston Willis, a man they say has been detonating explosives all over town including on the grounds of an elementary school.
Last July, the FBI helped arrest the owner of a chemical supply company who had also been detonating homemade explosivesthroughout Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Are more of these mystery booms being caused by would-be bomb makers? Why are so many people constructing homemade explosives? Given the current sociopolitical climate in the US and the fact that several would-be terrorist plots have already been foiled, these developments are worrisome to say the least.
It’s been a tumultuous couple of years, that’s for sure.
Still, it seems that not all mystery booms can be chalked up to idiots playing with combustible materials. In central Missouri, residents reported a loud boom on the morning of March 4. Columbia Police and Emergency Management officials scrambled to locate the source of the noise before aerospace giant Boeing claimed responsibility. It turns out Boeing was performing a “functional check on a military aircraft” in the area, and while the company’s statement did not include the term “sonic boom,” it’s pretty clear that they broke the sound barrier as part of the test.
I’ve suspected for a while now that many of these booms are caused by military aircraft, but this is one of the few times that anyone has actually stepped forward to claim responsibility. Here we are hundreds of cases later with explanations provided in only a few incidents. Are these mystery booms not as related as they seem? Are there more would-be terrorists testing improvised explosive devices throughout the country? Is the military industrial complex testing new aerospace technology in secret? While a few cases have now been closed, the mystery only increases in terms of the hundreds of cases which still remain unsolved.
WHAT COULD THEY BE?
In 2017 alone, 64 booms have been heard worldwide.
The cause of most of the booms remains a mystery, although several explanations have been suggested.
1) Sonic booms
A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by an object traveling through the air faster than the speed of sound – such as supersonic aircrafts.
Sonic booms generate significant amounts of sound energy, sounding like an explosion to the human ear.
2) Military exercises
Many unexplained loud noises can be put down to military training, either at Army or Naval bases or in remote areas used for such exercises.
3) Controlled explosions
A controlled explosion is a method for detonating or disabling a suspected explosive device, such as bags left at train stations.
4) Unusual weather
Many loud noises link back to unusual weather events, such as electrical storms or thunder storms.
5) Meteors
Large meteors passing above Earth often produce shock waves that can be heard as a sonic boom.
6) Sound amplified from aircraft
Some have suggested that the sound was due to inversion - a phenomenon that occurs when a layer of warm air sits over a layer of cooler air, magnifying the sound of an aircraft miles away.
7) Aliens
Some conspiracy theorists claim that the mysterious booms are noises created by aliens - although there is no evidence to support this.
Ever since biblical times, mankind has been making astute observations of all of the known planets within the solar system. While many of the outer planets have only been discovered in more recent history, ancient civilisations have been fascinated with the inner solar system. The overwhelming passion for these ancient astronomers has been Mars. However, successfully getting any probe there has proven to be a bizarrely daunting task. This is the basis for what some people call the Great Galactic Ghoul.
The article Exploration of Mars in Wikipedia explains:
The phrase “Galactic Ghoul”or “Great Galactic Ghoul”, referring to a fictitious space monster that subsists on a diet of Mars probes, was coined in 1997 by Time Magazine journalist Donald Neff, and is sometimes facetiously used to “explain” the recurring difficulties.
Is there such a thing as the Great Galactic Ghoul? This illustration depicts a concept for NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Orbiter.
NASA.
Popular science fiction authors have long considered Mars to be the source for alien civilisations that have come to Earth in order to do us harm or take over our home. Most familiar of these tales is likely to be H.G. Wells ‘The War of the Worlds’. Such is the appeal of this timeless work that it has never been out of print in over a century.
Failed Mars Missions
It was only recently that technology firmly caught up with man’s curiosity. The last fifty or so years has seen plenty of probes and spacecraft make their way to our closest and best known neighbour. While not alone in humanity’s desire to learn more about the solar system we reside in, Mars is far and away the most popular planetary destination for our thirst for knowledge. Given this fact, it should be expected that, at times, something will go awry with any mission at any time. Statistics suggest that only a third of all missions sent to the Red Planet are actually successful. Scientists can’t fully understand why the other two thirds fail. To NASA and the Soviet Union, this goes beyond all expectations. While Mission Controllers can expect at least some failure, the sheer volume of unsuccessful launches is cause for some concern.
Strange Interference
Is there something on Mars that someone, or something, doesn’t want us to discover, and are interfering with most of our efforts to learn more? This is what proponents of the Great Galactic Ghoul theory maintain. Of the missions that have made it to Mars, plenty of images have made it online that show a whole host of features and formations that defy explanation. The Cydonia region is a mystery all of its own. Mars landers have sent back images of Sphinx-like statues, pyramids, apparent life forms, fossils and unknown lights.
Cydonia (The City), Mars. The famous face of Mars in upper right corner.
Mars Global Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera Release, published by NASA.
Failed Mars Missions Mount
The long list of failed Mars missions began with the first half a dozen probes sent there. All but one of these were Soviet missions that were only supposed to fly-by the planet. Several of these missions broke apart once Earth orbit had been established. Failures like these might be expected, given that the human race had never tried anything of this ilk before.
The first mission that made it as far as Mars was Mariner 4, NASA’s second attempt made in 1964. 21 images were sent back to Mission Control. Russia attempted numerous times to send a probe to Mars, but didn’t make a successful trip until 1971. This probe, Mars 2 Orbiter/Lander, made it as far as it’s intended destination but the lander was destroyed and no data was received. The Russians assumed that this probe was lost like so many others before it. Subsequently, the Mars 3 mission was the first Soviet success story. The lander touched down but only recorded several seconds of data, while the orbiter maintained contact for 8 months.
Over the course of the next four years, several missions were launched. Two of these missed Mars entirely and are probably still adrift somewhere within the solar system. One, Mars 7 Lander, is said to be in solar orbit. In 1975 a breakthrough in Martian exploration was achieved when NASA sent a pair of probes which likely made all previous failures worth it. The Viking probes were the first real success story, sending back in excess of 16,000 images, including the notorious Cydonia photos. It seemed the Great Galactic Ghoul was at work. It would be almost 20 years after this that another probe was a success.
Mars probe, Viking 2 Selfie on Mars. Sept. 3, 1976, NASA.
Japan Attempts a Mars Mission
In 1998, a new nation tried their luck with a probe, however they too had a failed Mars mission. The Japanese probe, Nozomi, was lost when fuel problems contributed to the probe’s failure to properly insert into Mars orbit. To date, this marked the beginning and end of Japan’s efforts to study the Red Planet. Since the launch of Nozomi, both the European Space Agency (ESA) and India have made launches toward the Red Planet. Both were deemed to be a success, but the ESA Beagle 2 lander failed to touch down on the surface of Mars. The India probe was the last mission that was sent to Mars back in 2013.
Mars and The Galactic Ghoul in Action
In the early days of Martian exploration, an idea began to develop that intent was behind these failures. What started as a probable joke quickly gained recognition outside of space agencies and an entire conspiracy theory was built up behind the so-called Great Galactic Ghoul. There can be little doubt that plenty of unforeseen technological issues may have plagued hardware such as a planetary lander and something not expected to happen had happened. Other causes could be nothing more than basic human error. This could explain fates that befell certain probes or missions, but some of these historic probes have disappeared completely.
Could the Great Galactic Ghoul have ushered them away from Earth control? NASA launched the Mars Observer in 1993 and when the probe was just 3 days from arriving, it ceased all transmissions. Officially, the propulsion system sprung a leak and the probe spun out of control as a result. All electronics were switched into safe mode and no transmissions were possible after this.
Cursed Mars Movies
If there is indeed a curse connected with all things Mars, then it extends beyond mere probes sent towards fact finding missions to the planet. There have been quite a few films made within a Martian setting. Mission to Mars, Red Planet, John Carter and Last Days on Mars never fared well with either cinema-goers or critics alike. The original release of Total Recall and the recent hit The Martian did much better at the box office, the latter being credited by The Washington Post as ‘having saved NASA and future space exploration’.
The Great Galactic Ghoul. From the novel, War of the Worlds. 1906.
Public Domain.
Video games are not immune to a possible curse either. In 2012, Bioware released the third game in their acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy. While not set on Mars, there was a mission early in the game that required Commander Shepard to visit an outpost on Mars. The conclusion of this game caused a severe backlash from many gamers about the ending. So much so, that Bioware developers were encouraged to supplement the ending with additional downloadable content to satisfy gamers later that same year. A more recent title based solely on Mars is the updated version of the classic Doom franchise of 1990s. Generally the reviews of this updated version have been positive. Video games do tend to transition to film, mostly to the chagrin of critics. Doom was no exception to this rule when it was released in cinemas in 2005.
Man vs. The Great Galactic Ghoul
The next stage of Martian exploration is, of course, to send astronauts there. These intrepid souls will have to face a whole host of challenges from a logistical and physical perspective. Schedules have yet to be finalised, but the current estimates is that man will set foot on Mars in 10-15 years time. Hopefully, we have all the Great Galactic Ghoul kinks worked out. Who could be waiting for them and what will they find there?
Mars, also often called “The Red Planet,” due to the reddish tint of its atmosphere, gets its name from the ancient Roman god of war, and is the 4th planet from the sun, as well as the second smallest in the solar system. For a very long time it has held a certain fascination for astronomers, and has over the century become quite a fixture in science fiction stories, once a very popular origin for alien invaders and all manner of bizarre creatures, most famously depicted in the H.G Welles science fiction classic War of the Worlds. In recent years it has become a major destination for exploration and an envisioned future of manned missions. The planet even now incites wonder and speculation, as we debate whether there is life there and the Internet pores over pictures often purported to show alien spacecraft, fossils, living organisms, spaceships, evidence of some ancient Martian civilization such as pyramids and other structures, and all manner of assorted bizarreness. There is also the idea that it is actually cursed or protected by alien forces from beyond our understanding.
There can be no doubt that Mars holds its share of mysteries, and one of the more curious of these is the persistent idea that for whatever reasons the planet itself seems to be cursed. The seed of this bizarre notion lies in the fact that despite all of the efforts, technology, and money poured into Mars exploration, it has stubbornly and persistently proven to be inordinately difficult to successfully reach and investigate, with a long list of freak mishaps, problems, and malfunctions that have conspired to keep us years behind where we should actually be in our stage of Mars exploration considering our best efforts.
The history of the exploration of Mars is littered with failed missions. The first half a dozen or so probes that were sent out there were all total failures, either malfunctioning, suffering miscalculations, or breaking up completely, or simply disappearing without a trace. In 1964, the Mariner 4 did manage to reach the planet and take a series of photographs, but in the meantime Russia suffered a string of failures, only managing to finally put a probe on the surface in 1971, the Mars 2 Orbiter/Lander, which made it to its destination but promptly and mysteriously lost contact with its handlers without any data being transmitted at all. Undaunted, the Mars 3 program was carried out, but the lander once again mysteriously cut out after transmitting only a few seconds of video.
Other failures followed at an alarming rate, with several other lost probes, on some occasions missing the planet entirely to go careening off out into space, including the Mars 7 lander. It wasn’t until 1975 that any real success was found with exploring Mars, with the Viking program, which was able to gain thousands of images of the planet’s surface. After that there would be another string of various failures to even reach the Red Planet that proved to be both enormously frustrating and expensive. One of these was NASA’s doomed Mars Observer, which was just 3 days away from its destination when it suffered a freak propulsion leak that caused it to spin out of control and cease transmissions. In 1998, Japan managed to send its Nozomi probe, but even this mission suffered various difficulties, as although it made it to Mars it had a fuel shortage that kept it from achieving orbit. So costly and disappointing was this failure that Japan hasn’t tried to send another probe since. The European Space agency had a similarly crushing failure when they managed to get its Beagle 2 lander into the Martian atmosphere, only to have it fail to land.
In 2004, NASA managed to land its robotic rover Opportunity on the surface, where it performed admirably for years before suddenly losing communication after a 2018 dust storm. At the time it was thought that the rover would resume operation after the weather cleared, but it never did, staying dark for reasons no one is quite sure of. The same sort of fate was suffered by Opportunity’s twin, Spirit, which had landed on the other side of the planet just a few weeks before the Opportunity. This lander functioned well until 2009, when it suddenly got stuck on something on the landscape and ceased to transmit. These are just some of the numerous misfires with Mars exploration missions, with errors, malfunction, mishaps, freak accidents, and even craft that have just sort of vanished for no discernible reason.
Of course this is not to say that every single mission has failed, as there are currently 6 orbiters in successful orbit around Mars and two functioning probes on its surface, the rover Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity and the lander InSight, and even the Opportunity mission was considered a success considering it had functioned far past its estimated lifespan before contact was suddenly lost. However, it is worth pointing out that it really is quite odd just how frequently failures have occurred considering all of the effort put into it all, with only one third of all attempts to reach Mars finding any appreciable success at all. This sheer number of failures versus successful missions is so pronounced that even the space agencies behind them have had trouble explaining why this should be.
Leave it to the media and Internet to pick up the slack. In 1997 there was an article published in Time Magazine by journalist Donald Neff, who jokingly suggested that the failures of the Mars missions were due to a nefarious alien creature he called the “Galactic Ghoul,” a space monster that basically runs amok attacking any probes that approach its home world. It was all meant to be in jest, but this got people to thinking that, while of course there wasn’t a literal enormous monster trashing Mars probes, could there be some force or presence on the planet that doesn’t want people snooping around? Is there maybe something that is trying to interfere with our efforts to photograph and explore the Red Planet? As absurd as this may seen, the idea has been picked up on many Internet forums, talking about the “Mars curse,” and the “Galactic Ghoul,” a stand-in for whatever presence does not want us there, and it has all become known as the Great Galactic Ghoul Theory, the idea that we are being pushed back and warded away.
Of course the rational explanation for all of this is that these setbacks were all caused simply by the fact that with these vast distances involved, the sheer complexity and logistics of it all, and the wealth of opportunities for technical problems it only makes sense that Mars is not an easy nut to crack even with all of our modern technology. Is that what this all is? Is this just technical difficulties mixed with a little human error, or is there something that does not want us there? In the coming years we can be sure to expect ongoing efforts to put people on Mars, so it is obvious that they will need to iron these problems out, correct our horrible track record of exploring the Red Planet, and possibly keep an eye out for rampaging alien monsters.
"Guardian Angel" high in the sky above New Windsor, New York
"Guardian Angel" high in the sky above New Windsor, New York
What is going on with all of the strange sightings in the sky.
This time a strange anomaly has been recorded hovering high in the clouds over New Windsor, New York on March 8, 2019.
It is not clear what the anomaly could be, but some people suggest that it is a flying humanoid or an interdimensional being, while others say that it is a guardian angel that is assigned to protect the country.
To transport “Project Blue Book” viewers into the top-secret world of the U.S. government’s Cold War-era U.F.O. investigations, production designer Ross Dempster and his team were tasked with conjuring a moment in time—from scratch. The drama series, in its first season on HISTORY, is based loosely on the real-life story of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, a brilliant astronomer recruited by the U.S. Air Force to scientifically scrutinize the growing number of saucer sightings, alien-abduction claims and more during the early 1950s.
HISTORY talked with Dempster, whose credits also include the recent reboot of “Lost in Space,” about how he creates environments that bring mid-century history to life onscreen and evokes the anxiety of the Atomic Age and the mystery of the unknown.
What does a production designer do?
Production design is the world in which our characters inhabit. It’s my job, along with the director and director of photography [DP], to make sure we come up with something creative that pushes the story along, makes it believable, and absorbs the audience.
Concept drawing, top, and set photo of the Project Blue Book headquarters reception room, which was designed to evoke the federal Art Deco look of the 1920s and '30s.
CREDIT: Drawing Ross Dempster, Photo: Eduardo Araquel/HISTORY.
How would you describe the setting for ‘Project Blue Book’?
We’re in 1951-52, so you've got this post-war thing that all the characters are living in. Rather than making it scream out as stereotypically '50s, I wanted to keep it in the realm of reality and show the time periods before that. In Dr. Hynek’s house, for example, there are antiques in the bedroom that were meant to be pieces that might have been handed down to the couple by their parents. Alongside that, you have modern furniture that they've purchased more recently. All of that tells a story, and makes the characters more real.
What mood were you trying to evoke in the key sets? Were you given a specific brief?
Other than the script, I didn’t have a brief to follow. I wanted my set design to evoke the period: the Project Blue Book HQ shows government frugality—plain enough with just enough period details to keep it visually interesting. For the Majestic 12 meeting room, the inner sanctum of the secret government team investigating the UFOs, we created a robust circular design with four entrances and heavy blast doors, evocative of the fear and planning, made from that fear, that would keep the seat of power intact no matter what happened in the arms race above ground.
The UFOs that appear throughout are all designed with the period aesthetic in mind so that the audience doesn’t feel removed from the moment. Again, people were scared of these saucers and lights, and my challenge was to reference the designs seen in comics but ensure they weren’t comical to a sophisticated audience. I wanted our audience to also be afraid of these ships.
What is your research process for a project so rooted in history?
I cover the walls in the art department [with period ads, artwork, movie stills and such]… I live in that world, and it is a constant inspiration. It's especially important when you're doing a period piece, that you understand the nuances of the period, the finer details.
The internet is a great source, but it doesn't cover all the specialist stuff. We ordered up a whole bunch of period interior magazines, Arts & Architecture, from 1935 into about 1955, to see where things were culturally and aesthetically, and where they were headed. We had a clear idea of everything that was going on in that period: curtain fabrics, laminate choices, appliances, all those kind of things. The look of films like L.A. Confidential and the Hong Kong-based In the Mood for Love [helped inform the design, with their rich evocation of] secrets, the good kind of historic nostalgia—and the mystery and look of a noir detective story.
Can you share a specific ad and how it ended up in the set?
To illustrate some of Mimi’s frustration with society’s expectations of women, we created an ad for the Hoover vacuum (“Moms Love the Hoover Upright”), that appears [in a store window] in the first episode. That fit with numerous references from the period—[specifically, all the ads we saw extolling how home appliances would bring happiness to women].
Any artists whose work informed the design?
Edward Hopper’s wonderful use of light and strong color in the darkness [was something] I wanted to apply to the scenes. The best example is the gas station scene from the “Abduction” episode. I also took color palettes from his work and used them frequently in the show, for example, in the backstage green room of the radio theater in the “Lubbock Lights” episode.
The dramatic lighting in this gas station scene shows the influence of painter Edward Hopper, says production designer Ross Dempster.
CREDIT: Eduardo Araquel/HISTORY.
This is such an interesting transitional period, design-wise, when modernism is starting to creep into people’s lives. Where did that aesthetic best serve the story?
I approached the Blue Book Headquarters, which were on the air base, to look like something that had been built earlier, beginning in the '30s into the '40s, this federal Art Deco look. In contrast to that, I thought the Hynek house could be a lot more modernist.
It also fits in with Mimi’s character...she was finding herself—it was the beginning of women freeing themselves from the home. I added in the idea that she had this modernist eye, and the furniture items that she picked were the beginnings of her emancipation. Those are the kind of details that a designer creates a story around. Then you push it forward and run with it.
Are there any specific pieces that illustrate that part of her character?
No individual piece speaks to this. It’s much more about separate items forming a whole—a larger picture—and together helping to push along a story arc. We sourced a period sofa and chose a fabric that was slightly more contemporary to brighten the mood in the [living] room. A lot of the fabrics in the period were dull browns and greens, and I wanted to have the mood lighter in the home than other sets. Warmer wood tones throughout also contrasted with the other main sets. We learn enough of Hynek’s character to guess that he isn’t the type to be picking furniture, so therefore it has to be Mimi’s choices. So it works on a subliminal level to the audience; when we see her character push for further freedoms in her life, it comes together to tell the story.
How much of what you’re sourcing is original to the period and how much is re-creation?
We try to get the real stuff wherever possible, but one thing you have to be careful of is in the period [of the show], they're supposed to look new. A lot of times you go around to second-hand stores, collectors' rooms, prop houses and there’s vintage stuff, but it’s in superbad condition. It's not going to look right.
For the Majestic 12 room, we wanted these leather and aluminum chairs, so we got in touch with the CEO of Emeco [a modernist furniture company founded in the 1940s], who is the son of the founder and is revitalizing that company. Emeco actually went back and remade the chairs especially for us.
What’s something you needed to recreate?
We have the Russian agent character, who was using the radio listening device. I always try and find pieces that are going to add something aesthetically. We knew about it on a Wednesday, I found [an image on the internet] on a Thursday or Friday, and by Monday my prop master had the device built and on set.
What are some original items you were able to source?
There were quite a few. The telephone in the Hynek house was something super-nice from the period. We got it from the widow of a collector of vintage phones—she supplied almost all the phones on the show, including a vintage phone booth. We’re always looking for stuff that stands out as a nice piece [like the iconic Kit-Cat Klock in the kitchen], but being careful it's not something that overtakes what’s going on in the scene. We didn’t pick specific designers for the Hynek house; we found stuff that was similar. We don’t want the audience thinking, "Oh, I recognize that as so-and-so’s chair."
Even simple stuff, like finding the correct oven: Storyline-wise, it had to work, so we had specialist gas fitters come in and make this wonderful vintage-looking piece actually work.
I have a wonderful set decorator, Janessa Hitsman, who loves to get into the finer details of things, making sure that a typewriter is exactly 1951 and not '52. We want to get it right. Sometimes you can get away with little things, but it’s all about making the period feel correct and keeping the audience in the story, believing where they are.
Lighting plays such an important role in the show; it’s so moody and noir-ish. How did you think about it?
Lighting is not something I completely leave to the DP; it becomes a discussion. It’s something I’m cognizant of from the beginning, giving them as many different tools in their box as possible to use.
That can be the difference between certain practical lighting on the desk or something that's a lot more built-in, such as in the Majestic 12 set. There's a very typical bulkhead light that appears in 100 different shows every week, but I didn’t want it to be like that… I wanted it to feel designed for that space, period correct and that it had something that made it cool and different. They're actually from old British trains [and salvaged from a factory in the Midlands]. They’re built bulletproof, they can withstand a bomb blast, and the Majestic 12 room is supposed to feel like a bunker, so they had an ideal aesthetic with all this protection around the light.
Coming from England, I’m a big fan of James Bond movies; Ken Adam is an amazing production designer [who designed the James Bond films in the 1960s and '70s and the famous war room in Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove]. I wanted to pay some small homage to him with the Majestic 12 room, so we designed that light to be reminiscent of the one in Dr. Strangelove.
What other lighting elements were important?
Thinking about the lights on the desk, we wanted to give this vibe that there were several people in the room [whose faces you may never see], just unknowable people in the darkness. There are a couple of scenes when you first see it where they lean forward and reveal themselves in the light through the cigar smoke. It gave this secretive vibe to the whole room.
In the Hynek house, it was about using the windows and the skylight above the kitchen. I came across the work of several period architects, but one of my favorites was [Los Angeles modernist] A. Quincy Jones. There was a particular house [of his] that inspired the Hynek house, which had a skylight with a nice wooden grill detail over it. But there was actually a practical element to it; it meant we could light the characters without having to push them right against the sink and the outside windows.
What other practical concerns do you need to think about?
Film school taught me about cinema, lighting and angles, so I tend to visualize sets from within the frame of a camera, and plan for shots in my head. They don't always have to use them, but they're there. I'm planning ahead right from the beginning.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 73 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
March 7 12:15pm Hatch Closure
