The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
Druk op onderstaande knop om te reageren in mijn forum
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld In België had je vooral BUFON of het Belgisch UFO-Netwerk, dat zich met UFO's bezighoudt. BEZOEK DUS ZEKER VOOR ALLE OBJECTIEVE INFORMATIE , enkel nog beschikbaar via Facebook en deze blog.
Verder heb je ook het Belgisch-Ufo-meldpunt en Caelestia, die prachtig, doch ZEER kritisch werk leveren, ja soms zelfs héél sceptisch...
Voor Nederland kan je de mooie site www.ufowijzer.nl bezoeken van Paul Harmans. Een mooie site met veel informatie en artikels.
MUFON of het Mutual UFO Network Inc is een Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in alle USA-staten en diverse landen.
MUFON's mission is the analytical and scientific investigation of the UFO- Phenomenon for the benefit of humanity...
Je kan ook hun site bekijken onder www.mufon.com.
Ze geven een maandelijks tijdschrift uit, namelijk The MUFON UFO-Journal.
Since 02/01/2020 is Pieter ex-president (=voorzitter) of BUFON, but also ex-National Director MUFON / Flanders and the Netherlands. We work together with the French MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP.
ER IS EEN NIEUWE GROEPERING DIE ZICH BUFON NOEMT, MAAR DIE HEBBEN NIETS MET ONZE GROEP TE MAKEN. DEZE COLLEGA'S GEBRUIKEN DE NAAM BUFON VOOR HUN SITE... Ik wens hen veel succes met de verdere uitbouw van hun groep. Zij kunnen de naam BUFON wel geregistreerd hebben, maar het rijke verleden van BUFON kunnen ze niet wegnemen...
31-12-2024
'Godfather of AI' shortens odds that new technology will wipe out human race over the next 30 years
'Godfather of AI' shortens odds that new technology will wipe out human race over the next 30 years
The British-Canadian computer scientist dubbed the 'Godfather of AI' has shortened the odds of artificial intelligence (AI) wiping out humans over the next 30 years, warning the technology could one day 'take control'.
Professor Geoffrey Hinton said we need to be 'very careful' and 'very thoughtful' about the development of AI which he says is 'potentially very dangerous'.
He had previously said there was a 10 per cent chance of the technology causing the extinction of the human race - but now predicts that figure to be '10 per cent to 20 per cent', because of the rapid pace at which AI is developing.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Professor Hinton said: 'You see, we've never had to deal with things more intelligent than ourselves before.'
He continued: 'And how many examples do you know of a more intelligent thing being controlled by a less intelligent thing? There are very few examples.
'There’s a mother and baby. Evolution put a lot of work into allowing the baby to control the mother, but that’s about the only example I know of.'
Professor Hinton, who won the Nobel Prize in Physics this year, warned AI is changing 'much faster' than he expected and there has not been enough time to complete the research he believes is required.
While his work has laid the foundations for machine learning, technology that allows computers to mimic human intelligence, his recent efforts have centred on advocating for safer AI.
Professor Geoffrey Hinton has shortened the odds of artificial intelligence (AI) wiping out humans over the next 30 years, warning the technology could one day 'take control'
Last year he made headlines after resigning from his job at Google, citing concerns 'bad actors' would use the technology to harm others.
Reflecting on where he thought the development of AI would have reached when he first started this work, he said: 'I didn't think it would be where we would be now. I thought at some point in the future we would get here.
'Because the situation we're in now is that most of the experts in the field think that sometime, within probably the next 20 years, we're going to develop AIs that are smarter than people.
'And that's a very scary thought.'
He added: 'I like to think of it as, imagine yourself and a three-year-old - we'll be the three-year-olds, and they'll be the grown-ups.'
Prof Hinton said he thinks the impact AI could have on the world will be similar to the industrial revolution.
'In the industrial revolution, human strength ceased to be that relevant because machines were just stronger, and if you wanted to dig a ditch, you dug it with a machine.
'What we've got now is something that's replacing human intelligence, and just ordinary human intelligence will not be at the cutting edge anymore. It will be machines,' he said.
Hinton had previously said there was a 10 per cent chance of the technology causing the extinction of the human race - but now predicts that figure to be '10 per cent to 20 per cent'
Asked what he thinks life might be like in 10 or 20 years from now, Prof Hinton said: 'It will depend very much on what our political systems do with this technology.
'So my big worry at present is that we're in a situation now where we need to be very careful and very thoughtful about developing a potentially very dangerous technology.
'It's going to have lots of wonderful effects in healthcare, and in almost every industry it's going to make things more efficient, but we need to be very careful about the development of it.
'We need regulations to stop people using it for bad things, and we don't appear to have those kinds of political systems in place at present.'
Prof Hinton said he fears AI will be bad for society if lots of people lost their jobs and all the benefit goes to rich people.
'If you have a big gap between rich and poor, it's very bad for society,' he said.
'These things are more intelligent than us. So there was never any chance in the industrial revolution that machines would take over from people just because they were stronger. We were still in control because we had the intelligence.
'Now there's the threat that these things can take control. So that's one big difference,' he added.
Hinton is considered one of three leading pioneer 'Godfathers' of AI, alongside Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio, after the three won the Turing Award for their work in thge field.
"I think that we will never know what is truly going on until we make a space where we can publicly and transparently engage in and encourage hard data collection from sensor systems and careful scientific analysis of that data."
(Image credit: Getty Images/Carlos Fernandez)
It seems fair to say that this year has arguably been a page-turner in defining and refining interest in Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), a new term — rightly or wrongly — for Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), those unknown events or craft seen in our skies.
There have been back-to-back open Congressional hearings and several classified gatherings in hush-hush, closed-door sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF) settings. "Whistleblowers" toot tales of retrieved objects and super-secret reverse engineering efforts to look under the hood of recovered vessels. Even claims of non-human "biologics" being pulled out of the wreckage of crashed craft.
No single explanation addresses the majority of UAP reports, points out the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the U.S. Government lead for diving in and deciphering the nature of now joined at the hip and lip lingo, UAP/UFOs. So what should happen in 2025 to move the UAP/UFO story forward? Are we at a dead-end? Conversely, is the coming year one of "full disclosure?"
Perhaps humanity is going to be on the receiving end of a shocking revelation that we are accompanied minors in a grown-up universe of intelligent civilizations?
Whatever the case, adult supervision seems advisable. On that pursuit, Space.com asked several leading UFO/UAP experts to look ahead into 2025.
Promising promises
A number of civilian institutions are making promising progress said Mark Rodeghier, president and scientific director of the J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, based in Chicago, Illinois.
What Rodeghier personally hopes to see in 2025 is continued progress with these groups, and others, new people entering the field with expertise and energy, and more development of the academic/professional UFO community
"All of that will move the story forward, though at a sedate pace," Rodeghier said. To truly make a significant difference — barring some amazing case, or "disclosure" with a capital D, or a detection by SETI researchers of an alien signal — he would like to see:
NASA take an active role and decide to fund proposals directly on the UAP subject
Congress mandate funding via, for example, the National Science Foundation, to support research on UAP
AARO to be more open, within understandable constraints of classification, to releasing their case investigations, and especially, of course, the case investigations for sightings which they cannot resolve.
"I'm not that hopeful, even given good intentions, that more Congressional hearings will be much help, without new whistleblowers with firsthand testimony," continued Rodeghier. "Otherwise, I want Congress to make certain that AARO has the resources required and to conduct thorough oversight of AARO's work," he said.
Hearings, legislation
Next year will see more congressional hearings, possibly additional legislation, and holding the DoD's AARO office publicly accountable, observes Jeff Gould who runs the UAP News Center, an informative website that finds and links to UFO daily news.
"Congress has clearly been deeply interested in the issue in the past three years. I anticipate that they will continue to pursue the UAP topic," said Gould. He expects more former government officials coming forward to speak on the topic.
Ryan Graves, executive director of Americans for Safe Aerospace, David Grusch, former National Reconnaissance Officer Representative of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Task Force at the U.S. Department of Defense, and Retired Navy Commander David Fravor are sworn-in during a House Oversight Committee hearing titled “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency” on Capitol Hill on July 26, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Wild card ahead?
Gould said the scientific community will advance in two ways.
"There will be increased willingness by the larger scientific community to broach the topic," and anticipates more papers of greater depth going forward. This year, he said, academic papers included a civilian astronomer's guide to UAP research, the commissioning of an all-sky infrared camera array for detection of airborne objects, as well as detecting extraterrestrial life with astophotonics.
Additionally, there are research organizations focused on UAP that will continue to deliver relevant research, Gould said, including Harvard's Galileo Project, Stanford University's Sol Foundation that's a think tank undertaking cutting-edge inquiry into all aspects of UAP, as well as The SETI Institute.
"The wild card is the Trump administration," Gould said. "They seem to have a bias towards declassification. Will they declassify UAP related documents? We'll see," he concluded.
Conspiratorial-driven mythos
In 2025, science needs to get serious about studying UAP, "or we will be stuck at a dead end of the conspiratorial-driven mythos," said Alejandro Rojas, a consultant for Enigma Labs that labels itself as the "#1 destination for UFO sighting alerts."
The newly found credibility of the topic, said Rojas, "has highlighted a blind spot the Pentagon had toward detecting low-tech small craft flying within secured airspace on land and sea."
While concerning, that's a very terrestrial and human problem, Rojas added.
Government conspiracies
"Regarding the anomalous side of the issue, public interest is centered on unsubstantiated claims of government conspiracies regarding aliens and Roswell [New Mexico]. To some, UFO disclosure only means 'tell me what I already know, aliens are here and the government interacts with them.' Opportunists, many of them longtime proponents of alien conspiracies, tell the public what they want to hear sans evidence," said Rojas.
The outcome is that this creates a lot of distrust and foments a hostile attitude towards scientists and those trying to research the topic methodically, Rojas said.
"I think that we will never know what is truly going on until we make a space where we can publicly and transparently engage in and encourage hard data collection from sensor systems and careful scientific analysis of that data," Rojas advised.
Roswell, New Mexico is the site of one of the most longstanding UFO crash conspiracy theories in American history. (Image credit: David Zaitz/Getty Images)
Increased transparency and openness
Delving into the topic for 18 years, Robert Powell, executive board member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU) explains that he's confident about one fact. "The UFO/UAP subject is not hindered by our calendar and will continue to move forward well past the year 2025," he said.
In the coming year, Powell spelled out SCU's agenda, promoting three areas:
Federal and private investments in unclassified UAP science research by academia and the scientific community.Increased collaboration between scientists, researchers, and government agencies could foster a more rigorous and multidisciplinary approach to the study of UAP. This is an approach that we have never taken since the phenomenon began in 1942.
Development of advanced UAP detection and sensor technologies.Significant sums of money are needed for the development and the deployment of networked sensor arrays.
Increased transparency and openness in the study of UAP. We must move away from a military-based study of the phenomenon to a science-based study. The former is controlled by secrecy while the latter depends on openness and collaboration.
"It matters not whether one believes that UAP are controlled by an advanced intelligence," Powell said. "The more exoplanets we discover, the more we know that someday the time will come when we will make first contact with another intelligence."
Powell said there's need to start now to establish clear definitions of near-Earth technosignatures, communication protocols, and the responsible and ethical sharing of knowledge gained from such contact.
"Furthermore, we must consider who should represent humanity in such a momentous event," Powell observed. "Should it be a nation-state's military organization or an entity that speaks for all of humanity? This is a critical question with far-reaching implications for the future of our species," he said.
New Study Advances Understanding of Habitability of Ocean Worlds within Solar System and Beyond
New Study Advances Understanding of Habitability of Ocean Worlds within Solar System and Beyond
In a new paper, planetary researchers from Texas A&M University and the University of Washington introduce a new thermodynamic concept called the centotectic and investigate the stability of liquids in extreme conditions — critical information for determining the habitability of icy moons and ocean exoplanets.
The surface of Europa looms large in this newly-reprocessed color view; image scale is 1.6 km per pixel; north on Europa is at right.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SETI Institute.
The exploration of icy ocean worlds represents a new frontier in planetary science, focusing on understanding the potential for these environments to support life.
The new research addresses a fundamental question in this field: under what conditions can liquid water remain stable on these distant, frozen bodies?
By defining and measuring the cenotectic, the absolute lowest temperature at which a liquid remains stable under varying pressures and concentrations, the authors provide a critical framework for interpreting data from planetary exploration efforts.
The study combines their expertise in cryobiology, with the expertise in planetary science and high-pressure water-ice systems.
Together, they developed a framework that bridges disciplines to tackle one of the most fascinating challenges in planetary science.
A 2016 artist’s concept of the Europa Clipper spacecraft. The design is changing as the spacecraft is developed.
Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.
“With the launch of NASA’s Europa Clipper, the largest planetary exploration mission ever launched, we are entering a multi-decade era of exploration of cold and icy ocean worlds,” said Dr. Baptiste Journaux, a planetary scientist at the University of Washington.
“Measurements from this and other missions will tell us how deep the ocean is and its composition.”
“Laboratory measurements of liquid stability, and notably the lowest temperature possible (the newly-defined cenotectic), combined with mission results, will allow us to fully constrain how habitable the cold and deep oceans of our Solar System are, and also what their final fate will be when the moons or planets have cooled down entirely.”
“The study of icy worlds is a particular priority for both NASA and ESA, as evidenced by the flurry of recent and upcoming spacecraft launches,” said Dr. Matt Powell-Palm, a plaentary scientist at Texas A&M University.
“We hope that Texas A&M will help to provide intellectual leadership in this space.”
The paper was published on December 18, 2024 in the journal Nature Communications.
A. Zarriz et al. 2024. On the equilibrium limit of liquid stability in pressurized aqueous systems. Nat Commun 15; doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54625-z
De planeet Jupiter in verbluffende, nieuwe beelden van NASA
De planeet Jupiter in verbluffende, nieuwe beelden van NASA
Artikel door thedailydigest.com
Een fascinerende planeet
NASA heeft onlangs nieuwe beelden van Jupiter vrijgegeven, die door de Juno-sonde naar de aarde zijn verzonden. Deze ruimtesonde, die sinds juli 2016 in een baan om de grote bal van gas draait, helpt onderzoekers de planeet beter te begrijpen en heeft onze kennis van de 'gasreus' verdiept.
Afbeelding: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / R. Ethington
Gelegen op 1,7 miljard kilometer van de aarde
NASA lanceerde de Juno-sonde in 2011. Na vijf jaar reizen en 1,7 miljard kilometer afgelegd te hebben, bereikte de sonde zijn bestemming en kon zijn verkenningsmissie beginnen.
Afbeelding: NASA
Een grote gasreusplaneet Omdat Jupiter een gasplaneet is, is hij voortdurend in beweging, met hevige winden die voortdurend van uiterlijk veranderen. Deze eigenschap biedt wetenschappers en astronomieliefhebbers elke dag nieuwe beelden.
Afbeelding: NASA
Verbazingwekkende afmetingen Jupiter is de grootste planeet in het zonnestelsel, met een indrukwekkende diameter van 139.822 km, elf keer de diameter van de aarde. De massa van de planeet bedraagt 1,9 × 10²⁷ kg, wat gelijkstaat aan 318 keer de massa van de aarde, volgens de Canadian Space Agency. Deze afmetingen zijn des te verbazingwekkender, aangezien Jupiter een gasplaneet is.
De samenstelling van Jupiter Volgens de Canadian Space Agency is Jupiter een planeet die voornamelijk uit gas bestaat. De atmosfeer bestaat uit moleculair waterstof, helium en methaan. Daarnaast geloven wetenschappers dat Jupiter een rotsachtige kern zou kunnen hebben, ter grootte van de aarde, maar ze hebben dit nog niet kunnen bewijzen.
Afbeelding: Katie Jolly CSUMB
Een compleet beeld van Jupiter Dankzij de Juno-sonde hebben wetenschappers nu een compleet beeld van Jupiter en kunnen ze de planeet vanuit elke hoek observeren. "Vanaf de allereerste baan, die zich uitstrekt over 53 dagen van de wolkentoppen van Jupiter tot de grenzen van het magnetische veld. Juno heeft onze kijk op de gasreus en zijn omgeving op zijn kop gezet," merkte NASA op op zijn website over de gasreus.
Afbeelding: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc
Duizenden afbeeldingen Sinds de start van de missie in juli 2016 heeft de Juno-sonde duizenden high-definition afbeeldingen verzonden. Deze stellen ons in staat om Jupiter met ongekende precisie te observeren, zoals deze afbeeldingen laten zien.
Afbeelding: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Björn Jónsson
Beeldverwerking Het Juno-missieteam maakt zijn afbeeldingen beschikbaar voor het grote publiek, inclusief burgerwetenschappers. Deze enthousiastelingen analyseren elke afbeelding en bewerken ze tot creatievere en artistiekere versies.
Afbeelding: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc
Sterke wind De beelden van de Juno-sonde laten met name uitzonderlijk sterke winden en stormen zien, meteorologische verschijnselen die kenmerkend zijn voor Jupiter.
Winden bij de Grote Rode Vlek van Jupiter Bij de Grote Rode Vlek, een gigantische anticycloon in de atmosfeer van de planeet, kunnen winden oplopen tot 700 km/u. Op de polen zijn dankzij het Alma-radiotelescoopnetwerk, onder leiding van de Europese Zuidelijke Sterrenwacht (ESO), echter nog krachtigere winden gedetecteerd van wel 1.450 km/u.
Afbeelding: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt / Thomas Thomopoulos
Belangrijke ontdekkingen Volgens NASA heeft het Juno-ruimtevaartuig grote ontdekkingen gedaan, waaronder “nog nooit eerder geziene netwerken van enorme stormen die rond de polen van Jupiter wervelen”, evenals actieve vulkanen en lavameren op de gasreusmaan Io.
Juno's missie eindigt in september 2025 De Juno-sonde bevindt zich nu in de laatste fase van zijn missie, die in september 2025 zal eindigen. Tot die tijd kijken we ernaar uit om nieuwe fascinerende beelden van Jupiter te ontdekken!
Jupiter’s 3D Atmosphere Revealed by NASA’s Juno Spacecraft (Media Briefing)
Jupiter seen in ‘remarkable’ detail in new images from Nasa’s James Webb Telescope
Scientists have discovered that the 'weak spot' in Earth's magnetic field is growing, allowing harmful radiation to come closer to our planet's surface.
The region, known as the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), spans more than more than 4.3 million square miles over parts of Africa and South America and is moving westward.
The SAA has increased by seven percent and moved 12 miles to the west since experts first sounded the alarm in 2020.
While scientists believe that the SAA's weakening magnetic intensity is still within the range of normal variation, recent studies have shown that it is starting to split from a single blob into two distinct regions of minimal magnetic field strength.
Models predicting changes in the SAA suggest this division will continue from 2025 onward, and scientists believe this could create additional challenges for satellite missions.
Researchers have speculated that the weakening is a sign that Earth is heading to a pole reversal that happens when the north and south poles switch places — and the last time this occurred was 780,000 years ago.
They said that if the poles are in the process of reversing, it will happen over several thousand years and it is unlikely the field will disappear completely.
NASA has been monitoring the South Atlantic Anomaly, a weak-spot in Earth's magnetic field sitting 40,000 miles above the planet's surface between South America and southwest Africa
Scientists first sounded the alarm about the weak spot in 2020, but new data shows it has increased by another seven percent over the past four years
The cause of SAA sits deep within Earth's surface.
'The magnetic field is actually a superposition of fields from many current sources,' geophysicist Terry Sabaka from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland explained in a 2020 statement.
While regions outside of Earth contribute to the observed magnetic field, the primary source stems from inside the planet.
This, coupled with the tilt of the planet's magnetic axis, is what produces the SAA, according to NASA.
But scientists have also suggested the SAA could be linked to a huge reservoir of dense rock known as the African Large Low Shear Velocity Province (LLSVP). The area of the anomaly appears to correspond to that of this geologic region.
The magnetic field surrounding our planet works as a shield, trapping and repelling particles of radiation from the sun. But the SAA allows radiation to come closer to Earth's surface
These researchers believe that the African LLSVP changes the flow of molten metal in the outer core underneath, which in turn changes the way the magnetic field behaves above this region, they explained in a 2017 article for the Conversation.
While much remains unknown about how the SAA came to be, recent studies have shed new light on how it is changing.
Tracking conducted by small satellites known as CubeSats confirmed that the SAA does not remain fixed in one place, but rather drifts around.
Researchers have also discovered that the anomalous region is splitting into two, with each representing distinct centers of minimum magnetic intensity within the greater SAA.
And another study suggested that this phenomenon is actually a recurrent event that may have affected Earth up to 11 million years ago.
If that proves true, this would contradict the idea that the SAA is a precursor to Earth's magnetic field flipping.
This vast, developing weak spot is a point of intrigue and concern for scientists, especially those at NASA whose satellites and orbital spacecraft can be significantly damaged by the SAA — including the International Space Station.
When these orbiters pass through the anomaly, it can cause satellites and spacecraft to experience short-circuits and malfunctions.
That's because the reduced strength of Earth's magnetic field allows the orbiters to be pummeled by incoming solar radiation that disrupts technological systems.
Typically, this only causes low-level glitches. But in extreme cases, it can permanently damage critical hardware inside an orbiter.
To avoid such damage, operators regularly shut down spacecraft and satellite systems before they enter the SAA.
The weakened field has been on the radar of experts for years — they know that it has lost nine percent of its intensity over the last 200 years.
It also appears to influence the strength of the southern aurora, a natural light display that occurs in the skies over the high-latitude regions of the southern hemisphere.
A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters in February found a 'substantial weakening' of magnetic fluctuations in the southern aurora where it overlaps with the SAA.
This weakening is even visible to the naked eye, the study's authors told Live Science.
They believe the weakened magnetic force of the anomaly reduces the amount of energy solar particles can put into Earth's atmosphere — which is what causes aurora — even through more of these particles are coming close to the surface.
To further understand how the SAA impacts orbiting satellites and spacecraft, and how it influences geophysical phenomena like the southern aurora, NASA scientists have been monitoring it for years.
Earth’s magnetic field acts like a protective shield around the planet, repelling and trapping charged particles from the Sun. But over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean, an unusually weak spot in the field – called the South Atlantic Anomaly, or SAA – allows these particles to dip closer to the surface than normal. Currently, the SAA creates no visible impacts on daily life on the surface. However, recent observations and forecasts show that the region is expanding westward and continuing to weaken in intensity. The South Atlantic Anomaly is also of interest to NASA’s Earth scientists who monitor the changes in magnetic strength there, both for how such changes affect Earth’s atmosphere and as an indicator of what’s happening to Earth’s magnetic fields, deep inside the globe. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio
Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Going To Flip! Apocalyptic Implications For The Entire Planet
2025 in SPACEFLIGHT: The incredible missions set to take off next year, revealed - from China's daring asteroid retrieval to the first private trip to Venus - PART I
'In 2024, NASA made leap after giant leap to explore, discover, and inspire – all while bringing real, tangible, and substantial benefits to the American people and to all of humanity,' said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
And 2025 is set to be an even more remarkable year for space agencies and companies around the world, who have an assortment of exciting missions lined up.
There's also the European Space Agency, which is set to launch its futuristic 'Space Rider' spaceplane – described as a 'robotic laboratory the size of two minivans'.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX could go one step further in 2025 with its 395-foot Starship vessel as it prepares for a trip beyond Earth orbit.
Here, MailOnline takes a look at the incredible space missions set to take off in 2025 that you won't want to miss.
MailOnline takes a look at the incredible space missions set to take off in 2025, from the first private mission to Venus to China's ambitious asteroid mission
TIANWEN-2
Surely one of the most ambitious trips of the year will be China's Tianwen-2, which is set for launch in May 2025.
Tianwen-2 is an asteroid sample return mission with near-Earth asteroid Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3) as its destination.
The asteroid is roughly the size of a Ferris wheel – between 150 and 190 feet in diameter – and gets as close as about 9 million miles from Earth.
Tianwen-2 will conduct remote sensing observations in orbit, before landing on the asteroid to collect about 100g (3.5 oz) of dusty surface rock ('regolith').
It will then return to Earth to drop off a return capsule containing the sample before a gravity assist maneuver will propel it toward a comet called 311P/PANSTARRS.
Kamo'oalewa has been considered for use as a space station for Earth-to-Mars travel, but samples from the asteroid could also reveal more about the solar system's formation and evolution
While the launch from Xichang is planned for May, Tianwen-2 won't reach Kamoʻoalewa (2016 HO3) until 2026 and 311P/PANSTARRS until 2034.
Image from China National Space Administration shows the Tianwen-1 probe en route to Mars. The follow-up, Tianwen-2, has a distant asteroid in its sights
At the start of December, NASA delayed its manned mission to the moon yet again.
It blamed 'technical issues' and needing time to allow critical changes for crew safety.
Artemis II - which will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home - has been delayed from 2025 to 2026.
Meanwhile, Artemis III - which will actually land humans on the lunar surface - has been pushed from 2026 to 2027.
VENUS LIFE FINDER
No definitive evidence has been found of past or present life on Venus – but an upcoming mission to the solar system's second planet could change that.
Venus Life Finder – the first private mission to Venus – will launch an uncrewed 17 kg (37 lb) spacecraft from New Zealand sometime in January.
If all goes to plan, the craft will arrive at Venus in May and drop a small probe into Venusian atmosphere that will scan for organic molecules, which could be a possible sign of life.
Launch vehicle company Rocket Lab is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the mission, which was originally planned for 2023.
Venus is known as Earth's 'evil twin' because its also rocky and about the same size, but its average surface temperature is a blistering 870°F (465°C).
The rocky sphere is not only inhospitable but also sterile – with a surface hot enough to melt lead and toxic clouds of sulfuric acid.
Launch vehicle company Rocket Lab is partnering with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to send the first private mission to Venus as soon as January 2025. Pictured, artist's impression of the Venus Life Finder craft in space
Venus is known as Earth's 'evil twin' because its also rocky and about the same size, but its average surface temperature is a blistering 870°F (465°C). Pictured, the surface of Venus, as interpreted by the Magellan spacecraft
What is Dream Chaser?
Dream Chaser is a reusable spacecraft developed by Colorado firm Sierra Space.
The world's only commercial spaceplane, it's designed to take people and cargo to space (specifically low Earth-orbit).
It will make its maiden trip to the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth-orbit after more than a decade in development.
DREAM CHASER
After more than a decade in development, Sierra Space's 'Dream Chaser' – which can land horizontally on a runway like a traditional aircraft – is ready to fly.
The craft will make its maiden trip to the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth-orbit no earlier than May 2025, carrying over 7,800 pounds (3,540kg) of cargo.
Dream Chaser will remain at the space station for about 45 days before it makes the journey back down to Earth.
Although this first flight will be an unmanned mission, it will eventually carry astronauts to the space station, much like SpaceX's Crew Dragon.
Along with SpaceX and Boeing, Sierra Space is one of the companies contracted by NASA a decade ago to send people and equipment to the ISS – but so far only SpaceX has been successful.
Sierra Space revealed in May 2024 that the ship had completed testing and was shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of an imminent launch – but it was pushed it back to 2025.
Although the project is geared towards delivering professional astronauts to space, the company hasn't ruled out using Dream Chaser for tourist trips later in the future.
It will make its maiden trip to the International Space Station (ISS) in low Earth-orbit, after more than a decade in development
Pictured, artist's impression of the Dream Chaser spacecraft during its descent back towards Earth
SPACE RIDER
Space Rider, a 26-foot uncrewed robotic laboratory, will be the European Space Agency's first re-usable space vehicle.
About the size of two minivans, Space Rider is scheduled for its maiden flight during the third quarter of 2025 – so between June and August.
After launch on the Vega-C single-body rocket from Guiana Space Centre, Space Rider will stay in low orbit for about two months.
On-board robotic experiments will benefit research in pharmaceutics, biomedicine, biology and physical science, says the agency.
At the end of its mission, Space Rider will return to Earth with its payloads and land on a runway to be unloaded and refurbished for another flight.
It's akin to the much larger Space Shuttle, NASA's legendary low Earth orbital spacecraft operated 1981 and 2011.
ESA says: 'Space Rider provides a range of possibilities and benefits to potential customers who want to use the advantages of microgravity and exposure to the space environment.'
Space Rider is an uncrewed robotic laboratory about the size of two minivans. After launch on Vega-C it will stay in low orbit for about two months
It's akin to the much larger Space Shuttle, NASA's legendary low Earth orbital spacecraft operated 1981 and 2011 (pictured)
ESCAPADE
NASA's upcoming 'ESCAPADE' project is the first ever mission to send two identical spacecraft to the Martian atmosphere.
For the mission, Rocket Lab has designed and built twin spacecraft, called Blue and Gold, which will launch from Cape Canaveral no sooner than spring 2025.
Following an 11-month, 230 million mile journey, together they will measure plasma and magnetic fields around the Red Planet.
It's hoped the data will reveal more about the processes that strip away atoms from Mars' magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, driving Martian climate change.
'This mission can help us study the atmosphere at Mars – key information as we explore farther and farther into our solar system and need to protect astronauts and spacecraft from space weather,' said Nicky Fox, NASA's science administrator.
In August, NASA said the twin spacecraft had arrived in Florida in preparation for launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.
ESCAPADE will use two identical spacecraft to investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars' magnetic environment (artist's impression)
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, depicted in space in this artist's impression, will send the ESCAPADE craft into space
HAVEN-1
Haven-1 is another big milestone for the private space industry – where companies launch spacecraft rather than government-backed agencies.
It's an ambitious new space station, just 33 feet in length – a fraction of the International Space Station's 356 feet.
Despite its humble size, Haven-1 will offer a luxury space for four astronauts, with queen-size beds, a state-of-the-art gym, maple wood interiors and a huge window to observe the Earth as it floats in orbit.
Haven-1 will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than August 2025.
Shortly after, the as-yet-unknown crew will travel to the station, which has been designed by California-based space firm Vast.
The seats will go to individuals who are involved in scientific or philanthropic projects at an unknown price – but potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars.
While the cost to build Haven-1 has not been disclosed, Vast says it will have invested about $1 billion by the time the station launches.
Haven-1 is an ambitious new space station, just 33 feet in length – a fraction of the International Space Station's 356 feet - launching in August
Haven-1 will offer a luxury space for four astronauts, with queen-size beds, a state-of-the-art gym, maple wood interiors and a huge window to observe the Earth as it floats in orbit
2025 in SPACEFLIGHT: The incredible missions set to take off next year, revealed - from China's daring asteroid retrieval to the first private trip to Venus - PART II
'In 2024, NASA made leap after giant leap to explore, discover, and inspire – all while bringing real, tangible, and substantial benefits to the American people and to all of humanity,' said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
And 2025 is set to be an even more remarkable year for space agencies and companies around the world, who have an assortment of exciting missions lined up.
There's also the European Space Agency, which is set to launch its futuristic 'Space Rider' spaceplane – described as a 'robotic laboratory the size of two minivans'.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX could go one step further in 2025 with its 395-foot Starship vessel as it prepares for a trip beyond Earth orbit.
Here, MailOnline takes a look at the incredible space missions set to take off in 2025 that you won't want to miss.
MailOnline takes a look at the incredible space missions set to take off in 2025, from the first private mission to Venus to China's ambitious asteroid mission
GAGANYAAN
Compared with 2023 when it sent its budget rover to the moon, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has had a quiet 2024.
However, 2025 is set to be a bumper year for India's space agency, with an anticipated three missions set to take place as part of its Gaganyaan programme.
Gaganyaan I, II and III, all scheduled throughout 2025, will send an uncrewed spacecraft into orbit from Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Should all go to plan, Gaganyaan IV – scheduled for 2026 – will carry a three-member crew into an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for three days, before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
On-board the crewed and uncrewed flights will also be Vyommitra, a humanoid robot specially designed for Gaganyaan.
India's space agency, ISRO, has said it will explore ways to achieve a sustained human presence in space once Gaganyaan is completed.
Gaganyaan is a crewed spacecraft being developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the country's space agency
India's space programme has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008
The first set of launches in India's Gaganyaan programme were intended to go ahead in 2024, building on momentum set by Chandrayaan-3.
However, ISRO pushed this back a year to ensure more time for essential safety checks and astronaut training.
STARSHIP
Last but by no means least is Elon Musk's company SpaceX, which is edging closer and closer to its ultimate goal of sending its Starship to other worlds.
This advanced mechanism is key to Starship not only landing safely, but being able to quickly refuel before another launch.
And although it's unclear exactly what feat Starship – the most powerful rocket in the world – will attempt in 2025, it's bound to be just as audacious.
It's possible SpaceX could capture both parts of the ship – the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage; MailOnline has contacted the firm for comment.
In October, SpaceX completed possibly its most impressive feat yet – it managed to catch the 'booster' section of the Starship system with metal 'chopsticks' so it could be reused
SpaceX pulled off its boldest test flight yet of the enormous Starship rocket in October, catching the returning booster back at the launch pad with metal 'chopsticks' - marking another milestone on Elon Musk's quest to get humanity to Mars
Musk's firm SpaceX is responsible for the most powerful rocket ever built on Earth - the Starship. The multi-billion-dollar, stainless-steel, 395-foot vessel has been designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth's orbit and the moon. But Musk thinks 'Earth to Earth' travel on Starship is also a possibility
SpaceX intends to launch Starship 25 times in 2025, the company recently revealed, and is seriously intending to ramp up production of the rocket.
Eventually, Elon Musk wants to launch Starships on a daily basis.
Musk predicts Starship will go to Mars in 2026, although it will be an uncrewed mission.
Two years after that in 2028, Starship will transport people to Mars for the first time – which would mark the first time humans have ever walked on another planet.
One Georgia night in 1969, Jimmy Carter looked up over the pine trees and saw a moving orb, as bright as the moon.
He was standing outside the local Lions' Club in Leary, where he was planning to address the meeting. But local politicking quickly vanished from his mind. The orb 'seemed to move toward us from a distance, stop, move partially away, return, then depart,' he said later, describing it as 'bluish at first, then reddish, luminous, not solid.' He called it 'the darndest thing I've ever seen.'
Carter's encounter with a UFO may pop up as a line in some of his obituaries, sandwiched between the sober analysis of his presidency and notable humanitarian work since. And like all politicians, he should be judged for his successes and failures, in office and out. But more than just an amusing footnote, this story gives us important insight into who he was as a man.
We have almost forgotten what it's like to have leaders capable of marveling at the unknown. For all the problems the country may have faced during his presidency, Jimmy Carter would openly consider the mysteries of life – before, during, and after his time in the White House – and he should be remembered for that.
Carter wasn't embarrassed to talk about his UFO sighting. In 1973, while serving as governor of Georgia, he filed a report documenting the sighting with the International UFO Bureau. He later said that after his own encounter, he would never again make fun of anybody who reported a similar experience.
His open-mindedness was rooted in the scientific training he received at college in Georgia, at the US Naval Academy, and later with his work on nuclear submarines. Carter maintained that just because something may be a UFO didn't mean it is extraterrestrial. Ultimately, he believed that what he saw - while unexplainable - was likely man-made.
Regardless, the encounter stayed with him for years. On the campaign trail in 1976, he made a point of promising that, as president, he'd release all UFO-related documents. By some accounts, after his election, he did in fact meet with then-CIA Director George H.W. Bush to make that request. Whatever may or may not have been said at that meeting, Carter never seemed to mention UFOs again - at least not publicly in his official capacity as a president.
He would later tell the American public that releasing such information would harm the interests of national security.
Jimmy Carter on his peanut farm in Plains, Georgia, in 1976
President Carter sent a message that read, in part: 'This is a present from a small distant world… We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe.'
It's hard to imagine many of his successors using such language. No other president has even attempted to address UFO sightings head-on. Clinton reportedly said that if he'd seen any evidence, he would tell the people - but never did. George W. Bush joked to late night host Jimmy Kimmel that such a disclosure 'might spin you into orbit.' Obama seemed to give up on the cosmos altogether, basically halting NASA funding. President Trump created Space Force - but for the purposes of national security rather than space exploration. On UFOs, Trump said, 'I'm not a believer, but anything's possible.'
Carter's fascination with the unknown stayed with him long after he left the White House. In 1994, he published a poem called 'Considering the Void' - a meditation on the images the Voyager spacecraft sent back to Earth.
Nearly twenty years after he sent his letter into space, the 'void' still haunted him: 'When I behold the charm of evening skies, their lulling endurance… the skyscape of our Milky Way holding in its shimmering disc an infinity of suns (or say a thousand billion)... knowing that this galaxy of ours is one of multitudes in what we call the heavens, it troubles me. It troubles me.'
If he was troubled by the vastness of the cosmos, at least it's because he had the will to try to comprehend it – and that's something to be admired in a leader.
Shane Cashman is a writer for Timcast News and author of the new book Tales From the Inverted World: Ghosts of the Civil War.
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Parker Solar Probe Survives Closest-Ever Approach to Sun
Parker Solar Probe Survives Closest-Ever Approach to Sun
On December 24, 2024, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe soared just 6.1 million km (3.8 million miles) above the surface of our home star, racing through the solar atmosphere at 692,000 km per hour (430,000 mph) — the fastest speed ever achieved by a human-made object; a signal received two days later confirmed the spacecraft had made it through the encounter safely and is operating normally.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe approaching the Sun.
Image credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Close to the Sun, Parker Solar Probe relies on a carbon foam shield to protect it from the extreme heat in the upper solar atmosphere called the corona, which can exceed 500,000 degrees Celsius (1 million degrees Fahrenheit).
The shield was designed to reach temperatures of 1,427 degrees Celsius (2,600 degrees Fahrenheit), while keeping the instruments behind it shaded at a comfortable room temperature.
In the hot but low-density corona, the spacecraft’s shield is expected to warm to 982 degrees Celsius (1,800 degrees Fahrenheit).
“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star,” said Dr. Nicky Fox, the associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.
“By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our Solar System, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the Universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”
“Parker Solar Probe is braving one of the most extreme environments in space and exceeding all expectations,” said Parker Solar Probe project scientist Dr. Nour Rawafi, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
“This mission is ushering a new golden era of space exploration, bringing us closer than ever to unlocking the Sun’s deepest and most enduring mysteries.”
Parker Solar Probe’s record close distance of 6.1 million km (3.8 million miles)may sound far, but on cosmic scales it’s incredibly close.
Image credit: NASA / APL.
“It’s monumental to be able to get a spacecraft this close to the Sun,” said Parker Solar Probe mission systems engineer John Wirzburger, a researcher at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.
“This is a challenge the space science community has wanted to tackle since 1958 and had spent decades advancing the technology to make it possible.”
By flying through the solar corona, Parker Solar Probe can take measurements that help scientists better understand how the region gets so hot, trace the origin of the solar wind and discover how energetic particles are accelerated to half the speed of light.
“The data are so important for the science community because it gives us another vantage point,” said Dr. Kelly Korreck, a program scientist at NASA Headquarters.
“By getting firsthand accounts of what’s happening in the solar atmosphere, Parker Solar Probe has revolutionized our understanding of the Sun.”
So far, the spacecraft has only transmitted that it’s safe, but soon it will be in a location that will allow it to downlink the data it collected on this latest solar pass.
“The data that will come down from the spacecraft will be fresh information about a place that we, as humanity, have never been. It’s an amazing accomplishment,” said Dr. Joe Westlake, the director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters.
The spacecraft’s next planned close solar passes come on March 22 and June 19, 2025.
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Another black painted stealth drone found crashed in Georgetown, South Carolina, but no owner has stepped up to claim it...now we have a pair, both the exact same stealth black drones 6 feet across! These must be the drones over New Jersey, New York and over over 35 US military bases! 👀📡🛰️ We have a pattern forming!
Covering an Asteroid With Balls Could Characterize Its Interior
Exploring asteroids and other small bodies throughout the solar system has gotten increasingly popular, as their small gravity wells make them ideal candidates for resource extraction, enabling the expansion of life into the solar system. However, the technical challenges facing a mission to explore one are fraught – since they’re so small and variable, understanding how to land on one is even more so. A team from the University of Trieste in Italy has proposed a mission idea that could help solve that problem by using an ability most humans have but never think about.
Have you ever closed your eyes and tried to touch your fingers to one another? If you haven’t, try it now, and you’ll likely find that you can easily. It’s possible to do even without guidance from your five normal senses. That is what is known as proprioception – our hidden “sixth” sense. It is that ability to know where objects are in relation to one another – in this case, where your hands are in relation to one another without any other sensory indication.
Taking that basic idea and extrapolating it to a mission to an asteroid, the basic concept of the mission involves a lander with what seems like a dome with a ton of little balls on it, each facing a slightly different direction. Those balls are then ejected from the dome with varying degrees of force and land on various parts of the asteroid or comet.
Fraser discusses why swarms are becoming so central to our idea of space exploration.
They then create what is known in networking as a “mesh” system by connecting through one another and back to the main lander, which has a higher power output and larger communications array. They also contain a series of sensors, such as a camera, a magnetometer, and, importantly, an inertial measurement unit, or IMU.
IMUs are commonly used in cell phones to tell which direction the phone is oriented—that’s why your phone’s screen will flip upside down if you hold it upside down. They can also measure acceleration, which is why many are used in modern rocketry. They’re tiny and not very power-hungry, allowing them to fit into the ball format used for this mission.
Measurements from each of the remote sensors IMUs can be combined with data about the strength of the force that propelled them to their final resting place and fed into an algorithm, which will then help the base station determine the location of each sensor unit. That then allows measurements from the other sensors, such as the magnetometers and cameras, to paint a picture of the body’s external and internal structure – since magnetic fields, surface objects, and even gravity can vary significantly on small celestial bodies.
There are plenty of missions using swarms to explore asteroids – like the MIDEA project, as described here. Credit – Cosmic Voyages YouTube Channel
As a proof of concept for this mission design, the team ran a simulation of a mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, most widely known for being visited by Rosetta, the ESA mission whose lander, Philae, experienced some of the trouble that is so common on these missions. They found that, depending on the number of projectile sensors, the mission could cover even weird morphologies like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s two-lobed form.
No agency has yet taken up the mission, but as electronics and sensors get smaller and more power efficient and more small bodies become potential resource sources, there might be a place for testing these spaced-out sensors. We’ll have to wait and see—just not with proprioception alone.
New Image Revealed by NASA of their New Martian Helicopter.
Ingenuity became the first aircraft to fly on another world in the first half of 2021. It explored the Martian terrain from above proving that powered air flight was a very efficient way to move around alien worlds. Now NASA have released a computer rendering of their next design, the Mars Chopper!
Ingenuity was a small helicopter, or rather more a drone, that was carried to Mars on board the Perseverance rover mission in 2020. It was designed as a technology demonstration to prove that powered flight was possible in the thin atmosphere of Mars. It made its first flight on 19 April 2021 and hovered just 10 feet above the ground before safely landing again. Since then, Ingenuity has completed 60 flights on Mars helping to survey and scout for areas of interest for further study.
This view of NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was generated using data collected by the Mastcam-Z instrument aboard the agency’s Perseverance Mars rover on Aug. 2, 2023, the 871st Martian day, or sol, of the mission, one day before the rotorcraft’s 54th flight. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS
Operating a drone in the Martian atmosphere offers challenges largely due to the lower density. Compared to Earth, the atmosphere is less than 1% the density of Earth’s atmosphere. This means the blades on any aerial vehicles need to work harder and generate more lift than their Earth-bound counterparts.
Image of the Martian atmosphere and surface obtained by the Viking 1 orbiter in June 1976. (Credit: NASA/Viking 1)
Density aside, the fine dust on the surface of Mars is often lifted up into the atmosphere which could damage the delicate mechanisms of operating craft. Not only must these types of vehicles be carefully designed to fly in alien atmospheres but they must also be able to protect themselves from local hazards.
Moving on from the success of the Ingeniuty drone, NASA has released a rendering of its next generation vehicle for aerial flight on Mars, known as the Mars Chopper. Ingenuity was a feasability study and proved aerial flight successful, new craft on the drawing board come with a greater payload capacity to carry scientific instruments such as imaging and analysis kit. This will enable them to undertake the basic tasks like scouting activity to support future exploration but also undertake analysis and terrain mapping work. Ultimately even providing support to the human exploration of Mars.
A conceptual design of the successor to NASA's Ingenuity helicopter.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
The image released reveals a drone like vehicle which is about the size of an SUV with six rotors. Each rotor has six blades which are smaller than those on Ingenuity but collectivity can provide even more lift. The payload capacity of the Chopper in its current design configuration is 5 kilograms a distance of up to 3km. The design is a collaboration between the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the Ames Research Center.
This new model will be a real game changer for the exploration not only of Mars but of any alien worlds with a solid surface and an atmosphere that can support flight. Ingenuity led the way proving the technology and now, with the new concept Mars ‘Choppers on the drawing board, aerial reconnaissance on these new worlds will vastly improve the value of ground based exploration. Remote aerial exploration will also be of invaluable benefit to support human exploration where rovers will be unable to reach.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Makes its Record-Breaking Closest Approach to the Sun
In August 2018, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe(PSP) began its long journey to study the Sun’s outer corona. After several gravity-assist maneuvers with Venus, the probe broke Helios 2‘s distance record and became the closest object to the Sun on October 29th, 2018. Since then, the Parker probe’s highly elliptical orbit has allowed it to pass through the Sun’s corona several times (“touch the Sun”). On December 24th, 2024, NASA confirmed that their probe made its closest approach to the Sun, passing just 6 million km (3.8 million mi) above the surface – roughly 0.04 times the distance between the Sun and Earth (0.04 AU).
In addition to breaking its previous distance record, the PSP passed through the solar atmosphere at a velocity of about 692,000 km/h (430,000 mph). This is equivalent to about 0.064% the speed of light, making the Parker Solar Probe the fastest human-made object ever. After the spacecraft made its latest pass, it sent a beacon tone to confirm that it made it through safely and was operating normally – which was received on December 26th. These close passes allow the PSP to conduct science operations that will expand our knowledge of the origin and evolution of solar wind.
Every flyby the probe made with Venus in the past six years brought it closer to the Sun in its elliptical orbit. As of November 6th, 2024, the spacecraft reached an optimal orbit that brings it close enough to study the Sun and the processes that influence space weather but not so close that the Sun’s heat and radiation will damage it. To ensure the spacecraft can withstand temperatures in the corona, the Parker probe relies on a carbon foam shield that can withstand temperatures between 980 and 1425 °C (1,800 and 2,600 degrees °F).
This shield also keeps the spacecraft instruments shaded and at room temperature to ensure they can operate in the solar atmosphere. Said Associate Administrator Nicky Fox, who leads the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a recent NASA press release:
“Flying this close to the Sun is a historic moment in humanity’s first mission to a star. By studying the Sun up close, we can better understand its impacts throughout our solar system, including on the technology we use daily on Earth and in space, as well as learn about the workings of stars across the universe to aid in our search for habitable worlds beyond our home planet.”
Nour Rawafi, the project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), is part of the team that designed, built, and operates the spacecraft. “[The] Parker Solar Probe is braving one of the most extreme environments in space and exceeding all expectations,” he said. “This mission is ushering a new golden era of space exploration, bringing us closer than ever to unlocking the Sun’s deepest and most enduring mysteries.”
The Parker Solar Probe was first proposed in a 1958 report by the National Academy of Sciences’ Space Science Board, which recommended “a solar probe to pass inside the orbit of Mercury to study the particles and fields in the vicinity of the Sun.” While the concept was proposed again in the 1970s and 1980s, it would take several more decades for the technology and a cost-effective mission to be realized.
The Parker Solar Probe also made several interesting and unexpected finds during previous close passes. During its first pass into the solar atmosphere in 2021, the spacecraft discovered that the outer boundary of the corona is characterized by spikes and valleys, contrary to expectations. It also discovered the origin of switchbacks (zig-zag structures) in the solar wind within the photosphere. Since then, the spacecraft has spent more time in the corona, closely examining most of the Sun’s critical processes.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe survived its record-breaking closest approach to the solar surface on December 24th, 2024. Credits: NASA
The probe’s discoveries are not limited to the Sun either. As noted, one of the PSP’s primary objectives is to study how solar activity influences “space weather,” referring to the interaction of solar wind with the planets of the Solar System. For instance, the probe has captured multiple images of Venus during its many gravity assists, documented the planet’s radio emissions, and the first complete image of Venus’ orbital dust ring. The probe has also been repeatedly blasted by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that swept up dust as they passed through the Solar System.
“We now understand the solar wind and its acceleration away from the Sun,” said Adam Szabo, the Parker Solar Probe mission scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “This close approach will give us more data to understand how it’s accelerated closer in.”
The probe even offered a new perspective on the comet NEOWISE by capturing images from its unique vantage point. Now that the mission team knows the probe is safe, they are waiting for it to reach a location where it can transmit the data collected from its latest solar pass. “The data that will come down from the spacecraft will be fresh information about a place that we, as humanity, have never been,” said Joe Westlake, the director of the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “It’s an amazing accomplishment.”
The spacecraft’s next solar passes are planned for March 22nd, 2025, and June 19th, 2025.
In 1970, Soviet scientists embarked on an ambitious project to drill as deep as possible into the Earth's crust. The result was the Kola Superdeep Borehole, located in the remote Pechengsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. Reaching a depth of 12,262 meters (40,230 feet), it remains the deepest man-made hole on Earth to this day. Originally intended as a scientific exploration of the Earth’s crust, the project uncovered a treasure trove of geological data and sparked decades of intrigue. Fast forward to 2024, Russian authorities have officially announced the permanent sealing of the borehole, citing both safety concerns and the enigmatic findings from its depths.
A Glimpse Into Earth's Hidden History At the heart of the decision lies an extraordinary discovery made during the drilling process. Approximately 9,000 meters down, scientists uncovered microscopic fossils embedded in rocks estimated to be over 2 billion years old. These fossils, believed to be remnants of ancient single-celled organisms, offered an unprecedented look into early life on Earth.
The Final Seal: A New Era for Kola On December 15, 2024, Russian officials sealed the Kola Superdeep Borehole with a reinforced concrete cap. The decision was influenced by concerns over structural integrity, as well as the increasing difficulty of maintaining the site in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Scientific Contributions That Changed the World The borehole's legacy extends far beyond its depth. Among its most notable contributions were revelations about the Earth's crust. Scientists discovered that the crust was thinner than previously thought and that water existed at great depths, likely trapped in rock formations.
Mysteries and Myths: The "Sounds of Hell" Over the years, the Kola Superdeep Borehole became a focal point for myths and conspiracy theories. In the 1980s, rumors spread that microphones lowered into the borehole recorded the "sounds of hell." These tales, fueled by doctored recordings and imaginative storytelling, have been debunked but continue to capture the public's imagination.
The Kola Superdeep Borehole has long been a point of local and international interest. Its presence brought increased tourism to the region, with travelers drawn to the site’s history and significance. However, maintaining the area proved challenging, particularly as infrastructure aged and environmental concerns grew.
A Symbol of Cold War Ambition The Kola Superdeep Borehole stands as a symbol of the scientific ambition that defined the Cold War era. The Soviet Union's race to explore uncharted territories of science and technology led to unparalleled achievements, including this record-breaking endeavor.
Why Now? Timing of the Closure The timing of the closure has sparked debate within the scientific community. Some argue that technological advancements in drilling and remote sensing could have allowed for further exploration. Others point out that the borehole has been inactive since the early 1990s, with little new research conducted in recent decades.
Preserving the Legacy Through Digital Records To ensure the borehole's contributions remain accessible, Russia has launched an initiative to digitize all data and samples collected during the project. This extensive archive will be shared with international research institutions, fostering continued study and collaboration.77
International Interest in Deep Earth Exploration The closure of the Kola Superdeep Borehole has reignited interest in deep-earth exploration worldwide. Countries such as Japan and the United States have ongoing projects aiming to drill into the mantle. These initiatives build on the lessons learned from Kola and seek to answer fundamental questions about Earth’s formation and behavior.
Lessons Learned: Balancing Ambition and Responsibility The Kola Superdeep Borehole serves as a case study in balancing scientific ambition with environmental and logistical realities. As nations continue to push the boundaries of exploration, the borehole’s history offers valuable insights into the challenges of operating in extreme environments.
Community Reactions to the Closure The closure has elicited mixed reactions. While many scientists and locals support the decision, others mourn the end of an era. Social media has been flooded with posts celebrating the borehole’s achievements and sharing personal anecdotes about visits to the site.
The Future of Earth Science Exploration As the Kola Superdeep Borehole fades into history, its legacy continues to inspire scientists and explorers. The lessons learned from this extraordinary project will undoubtedly shape the next generation of earth science research.
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An experienced drone pilot in New Jersey has come forward to demonstrate how advancedthe state's mystery drones are compared to ordinary consumer models.
The pilot known to fans of his paranormal investigation series 'Terror Talk' as Michael B, witnessed his own drone crash and burn as he attempted to steer it near one of the many, still-unexplained drone UFOs that have swarmed the state.
'When this started, I tried to take my drone over Picatinny Arsenal to follow a drone that was just hovering over there,' Michael explained, 'and as I got closer my drone lost power, spun out, the battery died and it went down.'
'But the other drone,' he noted, ominously, 'remained sitting in the air, unaffected.'
Picatinny Arsenal, a US Army base that houses military research and manufacturing facilities, has proven to be ground zero for the Garden State's bizarre drone crisis.
Officials at the arsenal, in fact, recently revealed that the aerial incursions above their base began five days earlier than previously reported, with one base police officer making a confirmed sighting on November 13.
What makes these mystery drone flights so concerning, according to Michael B, is that sensitive sites like Picatinny Arsenal and major US airports already have drone jamming technology that prevents commercial drones from entering their airspace.
The 'Terror Talk' host even demonstrated how similar FAA-mandated jamming capabilities prevent models like his own from even taking off near local airports.
Pentagon officials and US intelligence agencies are 'playing stupid,' he argued — and know more about these strange craft than they are letting on.
An experienced drone pilot in New Jersey has come forward to demonstrate just how advanced the state's mystery drones (seen above) really are compared to consumer models
What makes these mystery drone flights (examples above) so concerning, according to this drone pilot, is that sensitive sites like Picatinny Arsenal and major US airports already have drone-jamming technology that prevents commercial drones from entering their airspace
To demonstrate the government's drone deterrence capabilities, Michael B brought his DJI brand quadcopter to a parking lot near Morristown Municipal Airport, a local flight corridor that has achieved national prominence due to President Trump's use.
With his camera pointing at his DJI's remote controls, Michael B showed MSNBC host Alex Witt just what the FAA overrides look like on a store-bought drone display.
'We set up in a parking lot about a quarter mile away from the airport,' Michael B explained, 'and I'm trying to get flight clearance to take the drone up and see what this other drone is — and I cannot.'
'Restricted,' he continued, noting the warning signal on his drone's controls.
'I tried to bypass it,' he added. 'At one point, it even asked for my phone number and I said, 'Nah. I think we're good at this point.''
Witt asked Michael B: 'What do you think that is? What do you think people are seeing in the sky? And why only at night?'
'At this point, I think that someone knows what they are,' Michael B responded.
The Terror Talk host also noted that he has technology to detect objects in the sky, 'none of these things that we go after are on flight radar.'
To demonstrate the government's drone deterrence capabilities, the pilot brought a DJI brand drone to a parking lot near Morristown Airport, a local flight corridor that's achieved national prominence due to Trump's use. 'Restricted,' he noted pointing at his drone's controls
The drone pilot - known to fans of his paranormal investigation series 'Terror Talk' as Michael B (pictured) - witnessed his own drone crash and burn as he attempted to steer it near one of the many unexplained drone UFOs that have swarmed NJ. The mystery drone was 'unaffected'
Michael B told MSNBC that he believes the government is keeping the truth about New Jersey's unidentified drones a mystery on purpose.
The real answers, he said, are likely to be 'secrets that the government don't want us to know [...] either that or aliens.'
'At this point, I think that someone knows what they are,' he told the station.
'What they could be — I have no idea,' the paranormal investigator admitted, although he emphasized that he was taking it as a personal mission to keep monitoring the state's mystery drones to get answers.
The FBI has fielded over 5,000 complaints in the course of this drone UFO wave, in progress, but noted that only 100 of these cases now warrant further investigation.
The US Department of Homeland Security official has also noted that sightings due to mass concern over the drones has led to many false positives.
'We're confident that many of the reported drone sightings are, in fact, manned aircraft being misidentified as drones,' DHS officials said.
But the cases above sensitive military bases and US Coast Guard ships off the Jersey shore continue to worry state officials, federal investigators and the US military.
The FBI and other agencies are investigating the strange activity, but a representative from the Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday, Dec. 11: 'We have no more information as to where these drones are coming from, where they're launching from, where they're landing'
Officials and residents have also seen truly odd, well-lit drones that do not resemble fixed-wing aircraft (example above) deepening the mystery of the craft's origins and intent
Picatinny Arsenal told press that sightings of the unidentified drones, capable of beating their counter-drone defenses, has now climbed to 11 confirmed cases.
'While the source and cause of these aircraft operating in our area remain unknown,' Picatinny's garrison commander, Lt Col Craig A. Bonham II, said, 'we can confirm that they are not the result of any Picatinny Arsenal-related activities.'
Amid the uncertainty, the president-elect called for answers from the US Government as he slammed the Biden administration and urged them to shoot down the UFOs.
But this was rejected by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas who said that the government does not have the authority to neutralize the drones.
Disturbing video appears to show bizarre flying objects in the sky along the New Jersey coast after a YouTuber set out on a mission by boat to hunt drones.
CJ Faison usually reports on paranormal activity and haunted houses to his 600,000 followers, but the issue of drones in and around the state captured his attention.
Reports of unidentified drones, with strange patterns and movements, have rattled residents sparking a flurry of questions.
CJ sailed onto the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Atlantic City determined to see if he would witness any of the drones for himself.
Since mid-November, sightings of mysterious drones have been reported with New Jersey emerging as a hotbed of activity.
Witnesses describe fleets of drones appearing in grid-like formations, flying with precision, and then dispersing into the night sky
'Tonight, I'm doing something no YouTuber or news outlet has done,' he announced in a video that has since gone viral. Armed with cameras, equipment, and a chartered boat, he set out into the icy waters off New Jersey, determined to uncover the truth.
CJ rented the vessel and hit the open water at dusk, just at the time the drones have reportedly been appearing in recent weeks.
CJ Faison rented a boat to sail out onto the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Atlantic City in a bid to investigate the origin of recent drone sightings that have been spotted in the area
Just as dusk started to fall one by one the drones started to appear in the sky
Accompanied only by the boat's captain, CJ patrolled miles of coastline
The night was bone-chillingly cold with temperatures plunging below freezing.
Accompanied only by the boat's captain, CJ patrolled miles of coastline.
The skies were clear as the sun set but as the minutes passed it was not long before a drone was spotted flying nearby.
Minutes later, one by one more drones materialized, their lights blinking in patterns eerily reminiscent of commercial aircraft, he claimed.
'They're blending in,' CJ observed. 'Hidden in plain sight!'
Some were seen hovering close by while others appeared to dart back-and-forth.
He described the drones as moving in deliberate formations, emerging from the ocean before spreading inland. 'It's wild,' he said. 'It's eerie.'
Despite the dramatic sightings, federal officials insist that many of the reports are likely misidentified planes, helicopters, or even stars.
Much of CJ's footage was blurry with the drones only visibly by their lights
Some drones appeared to be hovering while others could be seen darting back and forth
The lights were lowered on board the vessel as the CJ and the Captain sailed out to sea
The precision and frequency of the sightings suggest something far more organized.
There has been no official explanation from authorities as to what the drones are, who they belong to or what their purpose may be.
President Joe Biden has downplayed the incidents, stating there's no evidence of anything 'nefarious.' However, his reassurances haven't quelled the growing unease.
President-elect Donald Trump has been more vocal, accusing the government of withholding information. 'Let the public know,' he posted on Truth Social. 'Otherwise, shoot them down!'
At one point over the last month, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) even responded by temporarily banning drone flights in dozens of zones across New Jersey and New York.
Federal agencies, including the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, have launched investigations, but officials maintain there is no evidence of a national security threat.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy has called for stricter rules on drone use and greater transparency from federal authorities.
CJ pondered the meaning behind the drones and where they had been coming from
Looking back towards Atlantic City three drones could be seen hovering over the skyline
CJ braved freezing temperatures in an attempt to capture evidence of the drones off the coast
Multiple sightings have caused alarm among many communities along the East Coast with amateur sleuths now turning their binoculars and cameras to the night sky in order to capture their presence on film as evidence.
In the comments of his 30 minute clip posted to YouTube, some viewers criticized CJ for the footage which failed to give a clear view of the drones he was talking about, beyond the bright lights. He insists they were not regular commercial or military aircraft.
As darkness fells, CJ could be seen in the cabin of the boat pondering what the significance of the drones might be and where they are coming from.
'This is just the beginning,' he said.
Only weeks earlier one New Jersey Sheriff's Deputy had reported seeing 50 drones coming in off the ocean.
The Coast Guard, too, has encountered these drones. One chilling account described 13 drones swarming their boat, some flying as low as 300 feet above the water.
CJ analyzed flight radar in order to check what aircraft was flying in the area
CJ resolves to go out back out to see this time armed with a better camera
Swarms of drones have been spotted in the skies of New Jersey for weeks, sparking officials to call for a 'limited state of emergency'
The sightings started mid-November with footage capturing 'car-sized' drones with flashing lights
A wave of footage has emerged of the drones since they were first spotted last month
'Their wingspans were about eight feet,' an officer reported, only adding to the growing sense of unease.
Later in the clip, several more drones are spotted hovering above the Atlantic City skyline.
Despite capturing more than a dozen drones on video during his expedition, he believes he arrived too late to witness the full scale of activity and is now planning an overnight trip further offshore, into international waters, to uncover more.
CJ concludes that the mystery for now will remain unresolved but he has promised to return to the open ocean better equipped next time with a more powerful camera in the hopes of gathering more data.
'I have so many questions,' he said. 'What's launching these drones? How are they staying airborne for hours? What's their energy source? And why here? Why New Jersey?'
Bright orange 'UFO orbs' were allegedly caught flying over New York City,' raising concern among residents of the Big Apple over the holiday week.
On Friday, Reddit user @YogurtclosetFlat5701posted the video to the 'The UFOs Subreddit' - a forum for UFOdiscussions where people can talk about sightings, experiences, news and investigations.
The local recorded the video above Brookville Blvd in Queens, New York, right next to JFK airport.
'We looked up and there were 4 orange orbs in formation in what is suppose to be a no fly zone they then started to disappear,' the user wrote.
In the video, four unblinking orange orbs are suspended in the air, forming a striking boomerang shape.
A video was taken from inside the user's car and another from outside the user's car.
'They were moving oddly like not completely stationary and then started to disappear one by one. The 2nd to last one drifted slighting then disappeared. They maintained that formation for the duration of the sighting,' the user said.
Users local to the New York City area confirmed the traveler's sightings. One, who goes by the username @ZoraOctavia, said they have lived by the airport for over a decade and know the difference between a plane and a UFO.
'Lived here 14 years with planes flying by all day everyday. They fly so low it feels like you can almost touch them. I know what they look like when they come in to land and take off. I have never ever seen anything like this. Ever,' the user said.
Bright orange 'UGO orbs' were allegedly caught flying over New York City ,' stumping raising concern among locals
The traveler recorded the video above Brookville Blvd in Queens, New York, right next to JFK airport
Other users deemed the occurrence as highly suspicious, and was shocked the government wasn't taking immediate action.
'Seeing as that's a no fly zone, the FAA should be all over that,' said a user.
'This is truly not okay. Can we please start demanding the government gives more a fuck about this?' chimed a third.
Recent reports of strange orbs in the skies above the eastern United States have added another layer of mystery to the ongoing drone sightings across the country.
A father and son in Georgia experienced an unusual encounter on Thursday evening when they spotted a bright orange 'UFO orb' moving across the night sky.
While taking out the trash, the father noticed the glowing object and pointed it out to his son.
Intrigued, they watched the orb for several minutes before deciding to film it.
The father then shared the video on the 'UFO Reddit' forum, seeking explanations for the mysterious phenomenon.
The 58-second video shows the orange orb gliding through the sky, occasionally moving upwards or downwards.
As the father followed it, the orb appeared to dim and eventually vanish, leaving him and his son puzzled about its nature.
The father described the initial sighting as a 'huge' light in the distance, which seemed to dim as it approached. He speculated that the orb might have been trying to evade him, or it could have simply disappeared behind clouds.
The video has since garnered significant attention on Reddit, with over 2,000 shares and 500 comments from users discussing the unusual sighting.
Just days prior, a perplexing light was captured hovering over New Jersey skies.
A father and son in Georgia followed a mysterious 'orange UFO orb' after they spotted the luminous hue gliding through the sky shortly after 6:30pm on Thursday evening
Earlier this week, another perplexing light was captured hovering over the skies of New Jersey
The witness described the object as hovering 100 yards above, illuminating the area brighter than any full moon.
These sightings, along with others reported to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), continue to fuel public interest and speculation about the nature of these unidentified aerial phenomena.
Footage has emerged of what appears to be a 'UFO' hovering in the skies over New Jersey before suddenly accelerating away, leaving onlookers lost for words.
In a short 13 second clip posted to social media, a white light blinks in the sky before suddenly vanishing.
In the footage, which was shot on Sunday night close near Atlantic City, family members are heard discussing what they are witnessing before the object suddenly disappears.
'It just vanished!' one said. 'I just watched it through the telescope.'
'I was starting to lose interest in these #drones #orbs until I received this video from our friends who went out tonight down by the bay. I don't trust random videos I see on X… but this is 100% real (wait till 4 sec mark),' he wrote.
The footage generated some comments online, many agreeing that what the family witnessed was extremely unusual.
The video is the most recent in a long line of mysterious drone sightings that have been reported flying over New Jersey and across the eastern U.S., sparking speculation and concern over where they came from and why.
'You can see it didn't just disappear but took off with incredible speed, there's a small flash of light to the left as it leaves. Humans can't produce the energy required to go that fast, especially from standstill,' wrote one.
Footage has emerged of what appears to be a ' UFO ' hovering in the skies over New Jersey before suddenly accelerating away leaving the family who were watching lost for words
In a short 13 second clip posted to social media, a white light can be seen blinking in the sky before suddenly vanishing
'Yeah this is appears to be another genuine one. Exactly what I filmed in the UK. The light dims and moves off left and upwards. If you want me to frame by frame enhance send me the original. I've got a lot of experience doing this analysis for my own sighting,' added another interested observer.
'Send this to some proper Professors. They can make the math if it's moved at all and just freeze in time while the Earth keeps moving. I have a feeling they are just traveling back in time and keep recharging their batteries here on our Nuclear Energy and travel further back,' a third suggested.
'Note: it didn't vanish, it took off at impossibly high speed diagonally up and to the left of frame (about 10 o'clock angle). Using your own logic, we shouldn't believe this video,' added a fourth.
'This is exactly how the orb I saw flew away. That's why I said nothing can move like that. No flight system we have right now can go from stationary to warp drive in an instant. These flight characteristics are... Well beyond light years beyond us,' said another, transfixed.
FAA officials said federal security agencies requested the flight restrictions, which are effective through mid-January.
The FBI, the Homeland Security Department and state agencies have been investigating, but officials say there has been nothing so far to suggest any drones have posed a national security or public safety threat.
A wave of footage has emerged of the drones since they were first spotted last month including this footage from Bernardsville, New Jersey
Several drones appeared to be flying over Randolph, New Jersey earlier this month
Authorities say many of the drone sightings have actually been legal drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars.
President Joe Biden ruled out anything nefarious about the flying objects.
Despite federal officials' comments, many state and municipal lawmakers have called for stricter rules about who can fly unmanned aircraft - and for the authority to shoot them down.
Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing dronesstatewide since mid-November, including near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump's golf course in Bedminster.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has said drone-detection equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information.
He declined to describe the equipment except to say it was powerful and could even disable the drones.
The growing anxiety among some residents is not lost on the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
Swarms of drones have been spotted in the skies of New Jersey for weeks, sparking officials to call for a 'limited state of emergency'
In recent months New Jersey has been ravaged by thousands of unexplained drone sightings, as over 5,000 reports of unusual drone prevalence have been filed with law enforcement
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks.
The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said.
About 100 of the more than 5,000 drone sightings reported to the FBI in recent weeks were deemed credible enough to warrant more investigation, according to a joint statement by the Department of Homeland Security, FBI, Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense.
Speculation has raged online, with some expressing concerns the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents or clandestine operations by the U.S. government.
Drone activity earlier this month led to an hourlong closure of runways at New York's Stewart International Airport, about 60 miles north of Manhattan, a four-hour closure of air space around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, and the arrests of two men in Boston accused by police of flying a drone too close to Logan International Airport.
Trump said he believes the government knows more than it is letting on.
'Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!' he posted on Truth Social.
U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, said he has heard nothing to support the notion that the government is hiding anything. He said a lack of faith in institutions is playing a key part in the saga.
'Nothing that I´m seeing, nothing that I´ve engaged in gives me any impression of that nature. But like, I get it, some people won´t believe me, right? Because that's the level of distrust that we face,' Kim said.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut last week called for the drones to be 'shot down.'
Matias De Stefano said he lived in an Atlantis colony in Egypt 12,000 years ago in his past life and that Atlantis was founded by beings from other worlds 30,000 years ago. He suggests that all past lives happen simultaneously, as everything is part of a singular organism. He began recalling his past life as an Atlantean at the age of 12. He shared his drawings and memories with his mother, describing life in an Atlantis colony in Egypt 12,000 years ago. According to him, Atlantis was founded by beings from other worlds 30,000 years ago.
Matías De Stefano is a well-known author, speaker, and teacher who is recognized for his deep insights into consciousness, spirituality, and the connection of everything in the universe. He shares a unique view on reality and explains how we can create our own lives. His philosophy is called “Ater Tumti” (Heaven on Earth), which shows how we can take control of our reality and learn to transcend it.
Born on November 12, 1987, in Venado Tuerto, Argentina, De Stefano started his journey of self-discovery at a young age. Since he was three, he has had vivid memories of past lives and deep knowledge of the universe. From ages 12 to 18, he could see Etheric Beings, which led to intense visions, memories of past lives in ancient cultures, and painful headaches. To understand what was happening to him, he began searching for answers through the Akashic Records and his surroundings.
Matias began communicating with his spirit guides at a young age when he began remembering past lives, including one in an ancient Atlantean colony called Kehm and another on a distant planet named Gludok in the Canis Major star system.
He believes these memories help him understand his current mission: to bring heaven to earth, a concept known as Ater Tumti in Atlantean. Matias has inspired thousands of people to join his efforts to heal our planet.
Matias De Stefano
He has traveled to more than 40 countries, visiting key locations to “unlock” energy portals and activate the Earth’s chakras. According to Matias, these portals increase energy flow for everything on the planet—not just humans, but all living beings.
Matias’ mission isn’t new. He says it began over 12,000 years ago during the Age of Leo. Today, he is deeply committed to this spiritual path and shares his message with anyone ready to listen, though his journey hasn’t always been smooth.
At 23, while giving a talk in Spain, he suddenly forgot everything he was saying. He realized this was his guides’ way of clearing his mind for new messages. Shortly after, they told him that on November 11, 2011 (11/11/11), he needed to prepare a gathering to shift the energy in a specific place. This pushed him into a challenging inner and outer journey, bringing him to the next step of his mission—one that almost cost him his life.
Disclaimer: This story is based on Matias De Stefano’s experiences and beliefs. It reflects his personal spiritual journey and metaphysical perspectives.
Matias says the story of Atlantis is deeply rooted in humanity’s collective subconscious because it represents the beginning of our current civilization. He claims to remember his life in an Atlantean colony, where he learned about Atlantis through stories told by his grandfather in that life.
According to Matias, the Atlantean people were a mix of beings from the stars and Earth, often referred to as the Anunnaki, giants who settled in the Middle East.
The ‘Anunnaki’ created a civilization by having children with humans—partly to help their species transcend since their planet was dying. Some Anunnaki treated humans as equals, while others used them as slaves to extract minerals needed for survival.
Matias recounts that the Greek god Poseidon, whom he knew as Stalin in his memory, was an Anunnaki who protected 12 children of mixed lineage. Poseidon led them away from the controlling Anunnaki in the Middle East, settling them near the Atlantic Ocean, where they founded Atlantis’ 12 families.
He adds that Atlantis was divided into 12 regions, each managed by these families, who were not rulers but guides. They held knowledge from the stars and passed it down, encoded in their bloodline, to maintain cosmic wisdom and spiritual balance. The Atlantean culture, as Matias remembers, focused on humanity looking beyond Earth and toward the stars.
Matias also suggests that the Anunnaki and other star beings were part of a larger universal experiment. Even they didn’t fully understand their role in humanity’s creation. Atlantis, according to him, played a crucial role in setting the foundation for human awakening and consciousness, and he invites exploration into the connections between these cosmic ancestors, Atlantis, and the origins of human civilization.
According to Matias, the creation of races was part of a larger evolutionary process driven by cosmic forces. He describes the sixth dimension as crucial because it forms the foundation of all life in the universe, represented by the “Flower of Life” pattern of six spheres. This geometric structure is fundamental to the design of living beings and reflects how water crystallizes in six-sided forms.
In the sixth dimension, time and space interact, splitting into six patterns of time and six parts of space, creating 12 fundamental forces or beings, referred to as the “Elohim.” These Elohim are the architects of the universe and oversee the creation of life across different dimensions, including the third, fourth, and fifth. While often visualized as angelic or human-like figures, Matias describes the Elohim as massive spherical entities that divide and multiply, similar to cells in a mother’s womb, to initiate life and creation.
Matias views the Elohim as the primordial forces or “seeds of life” that help shape the universe and its evolutionary journey.
Matias explains that the Elohim, which began as enormous spherical beings, split into thousands of cells, each becoming the source of life for various entities. Every one of us originates from one of these Elohim. Over time, these Elohim separated into different frequencies and vibrations, which became distinct “races” or rays of light in the universe. These rays, seen as colors filling the cosmos, led to the concept of Archangels—another name for Elohim in different vibrational forms.
Matias likens this process to the ancient Greek idea of Chronos, the god of time, whose offspring emerged from divisions of his own body. Similarly, the Elohim created life, species, and realities in the third dimension from their own essence. The purpose of this creation was for the universe to explore itself through evolution and experience different aspects of its own existence.
Initially, the Elohim existed as vibrations and waves through time but eventually took on geometric forms, giving rise to living beings in the spatial reality of the universe. These creations weren’t immediate but the result of billions of years of evolution, with humanity as a final product.
The first beings the Elohim created were not species as we think of them but entities designed to govern the four fundamental elements of the universe: water, earth (minerals), fire, and air (gas). These elements serve as the building blocks for all life and realities in the third dimension.
Matias explains that the first forms of life in the universe were shaped by the four elements: gas, fire, minerals, and water. Different planets created life from these elements. For example, life forms could emerge from gas or fire, while Earth-based life came from minerals and water. Of these, bacteria were the most crucial for building the foundation of all other species.
The “fifth body,” the ethereal body, connects everything. It holds the memory and consciousness of all beings, linking them to the soul’s energy, which flows through all species. Early species made of fire and gas developed distinct shapes and consciousness. These beings lived on suns and gas planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, but are so fundamentally different from humans that communication would only be possible if we were “Elementals,” beings tied to the same elemental forces.
As mineral and water-based life evolved, the ethereal energies combined with water to create the first conscious beings in this context. These beings include highly advanced species like the Pleiadians. They are connected to the universe’s creation of water and existed in dimensions that allowed them to integrate fire and water energy. When water appeared on Earth around 4.6 billion years ago, it was due to a massive collision between the early Earth and a moon-like object. This impact created the Pacific Ocean and introduced rocks carrying hydrogen, which, under the right conditions, formed Earth’s water.
Matias mentions that this process was guided not by a higher organization, like a “Confederation,” but by the forces of the sixth dimension. He emphasizes that destruction and chaos in the universe were necessary for creating new realities, including the seeds of life on Earth.
Matias explains how the patterns of the sixth dimension were connected to the third dimension (space) through the fourth dimension (time). The process required beings to first exist in the fourth dimension, which allowed them to develop self-awareness and experience life through four stages: expression, experimentation, integration, and transcendence.
A key challenge arose because the beings created in the fourth dimension lived eternally in the same form, with the same personality and knowledge. This unchanging existence hindered their ability to grow and explore new ways of understanding the universe. To solve this, death was introduced. Death allowed these beings to end a cycle of existence and start anew, enabling evolution and greater adaptability.
his new system tied expression to being born, experimentation to procreation, integration to aging, and transcendence to death. By dying, beings in the fourth dimension could create life in the third dimension, using death as a tool to end one perspective and begin another. This shift made learning and adaptation more dynamic and allowed for greater diversity in experiences.
Matias highlights that this evolutionary process deeply connects us to water. Water species discovered that by changing their shapes while maintaining their core essence, they could better adapt and exchange information with the universe. This ability to transform ensured their survival and growth. Humanity, as part of this evolutionary lineage, reflects this principle—while we evolve and change outwardly, our core remains constant. In essence, we are like water: ever-changing in form but eternal in nature.
Matias explains that water holds the key to creating and shaping life because it can carry and store information. However, for water to express this information in diverse forms, it needs minerals to give it structure. Throughout the galaxy’s history, minerals conditioned water to capture and hold information from various parts of the universe and the planet. Beings from other dimensions or planets also used minerals to shape water into structures that could hold and transmit their knowledge through time and space.
The DNA spiral, created by the universe, serves as a vessel to store this information within cells, akin to how planets hold life. Matias says intelligent species, including humans, are often seen as being created by extraterrestrial beings, which is true—but not in the simplistic sense of aliens arriving and crafting new life forms from scratch. Instead, these beings spent millions of years studying Earth to understand its systems, much like how the human immune system rejects foreign entities it doesn’t recognize.
The process began in water, where extraterrestrial beings tested the merging of information—through DNA and blood—with Earth’s organisms. Over time, they identified the whale as the wisest and most suitable being to hold vast amounts of information. Attempts to cross water-dwelling beings with land species, including mammals, birds, and reptiles, didn’t always succeed. Early experiments created prototypes of beings like cats and reptilians, but they fell short of the desired outcome.
Eventually, extraterrestrial beings observed the evolutionary progress of hominids in Africa. These beings recognized hominids as uniquely equipped to receive and integrate information from higher dimensions, making them ideal candidates for helping the planet reach greater awareness. The extraterrestrials didn’t randomly modify hominids but chose them because they were already evolving toward higher consciousness.
As the climate changed, these beings selected hominids from regions like South Africa, Congo, Egypt, Arabia, the Middle East, and India. They guided their development in remote locations like islands to protect and prepare them. Through this process, early humans were born, with different prototypes created and tested to see which ones could best merge with existing humans and adapt to the planet’s needs.
Matias explains that humanity’s diversity and genetic makeup were intentionally designed to serve as a repository of universal information. He states that certain species, such as the Arcturians, contributed to creating and shaping human genetics by interacting directly with humans, including through reproduction, rather than conducting laboratory experiments. This process ensured that humans became a species capable of hosting diverse knowledge and consciousness essential for Earth’s development.
He describes how beings from other places blended their genetics with humans, not just to create new traits, but to carry different types of information within the human species. Among the various species tested for survivability on Earth, Homo sapiens sapiens proved to be the most adaptable, largely due to their similarities with the Arcturians. This compatibility made humans the chosen species to carry consciousness and contribute to the larger universal plan
Matias emphasizes that the diversity of human races plays a critical role in humanity’s purpose. This diversity allows the species to gather a wide range of information and adapt to varying conditions. It also prepares humans for their eventual expansion beyond Earth, where they are destined to populate and adapt to life in other parts of the galaxy. He explains that the differences among human races serve to store a broader array of data and perspectives, which are necessary for this future.
The number 33 holds great significance in this process. It represents alignment and enlightenment, as well as the connection between mind, body, and emotions. Matias explains that humans have 33 vertebrae in their spines, corresponding to 33 energy codes or nodes on Earth. These codes are also tied to 33 distinct genetic bloodlines that integrate the collective knowledge of 22 extraterrestrial races, along with Earth’s contributions. This alignment enables humans to access and channel universal wisdom.
Humanity has been selected to act as a “garden of the galaxy,” a hub where genetic and cosmic information converge. This role equips humanity to spread across the galaxy, colonizing planets like Mars and Jupiter, and eventually reaching star systems such as Sirius and the Pleiades. Matias asserts that humanity’s diversity and embedded knowledge make it uniquely suited for this destiny.
As humans evolve and become more aligned, the wisdom within their DNA will unlock, allowing them to interact with the galaxy as a unified and enlightened species. Matias underscores that humanity holds the potential for both individual and collective enlightenment, with a role in the cosmos that extends far beyond the confines of Earth.
Past lives are happening simultaneously, as everything is part of a singular organism
Matias explains that what we perceive as past lives are not separate events in time but rather connections to specific pieces of information existing in another frequency. He suggests that all past lives are happening simultaneously, as everything is part of a singular organism.
He compares this idea to the human body, where each cell represents an individual person. Every cell contains the same genetic information but specializes in fulfilling a specific function within an organ. Similarly, every person holds the same universal knowledge but focuses on a particular role in the collective organism of humanity. This specialization prevents individuals from remembering everything, as doing so could create confusion about their purpose.
Therefore, forgetting past lives or universal knowledge is intentional—it allows individuals to concentrate on their specific roles. However, some people, like Matias and others, act as the neural network or nervous system of the collective body, communicating and reminding others of their purposes. These individuals serve as the connections or pulses that help the rest of the “cells” understand their roles and stay aligned with the greater organism.
Matias emphasizes that the variation in memory or awareness among people is due to the unique tasks each has been designed to fulfill within this interconnected system.
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In a way, this is progress. The reason this outbreak looks so familiar is that such drone sightings would previously have been identified as UAP ones. It’s only after years of concerted efforts in education, and transparency by U.S. Department of Defense officials, that UAP sightings have rightfully evolved into common drone identification. That is not to say that the drone sightings are any less of a concern, but fortunately, we can address them without the contagion of the UFO community and the conspiracies associated with it.
A New Jersey state assemblyman has accused federal officials of “lying to us” about drones on CNN. The president-elect suggested we “shoot them down!!!” which is almost (but only almost, sadly) needless to say, a bad idea. So is wasting resources to investigate nonsensical notions of advanced technology related to Iran or, again, aliens. Calls for shooting objects down not only have obvious safety issues but fail to recall that Congress and the White House limited such strikes over U.S. territory after the incidents involving the Chinese high-altitude balloon and other balloons, based on concerns about civilian safety.
There are a couple of things we need to make clear about the drone sightings. First, many of the sightings remain mistaken interpretations of manned aircraft or satellites such as Starlink ones. The real drone sightings fall into two classes: those that are in restricted airspace, and those that are in legal airspace. Restricted airspace surrounds airports as well as national security areas such as Air Force and Navy bases. Most sightings reported fall within the latter category and have been assessed as having no immediate national security or flight safety risk, although the public finds them annoying.
One fact that many people tend to overlook, or at least don’t readily rationalize, is that these drones have lights on them. That lights are present on various flying objects including drones (also known as unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs) is a fact I often referred to in my last job, heading a Pentagon office investigating UAP sightings. Lights on a drone are for collision avoidance. They are a safety feature. Flying drones with lights ensures they can be seen; if they were meant to be unnoticed, the operators would turn off or disable the lights. In September 2023, the FAA changed the rules to allow drones to fly at night this way, and this is likely a contributing factor to the increase in sightings. The public and elected officials in Congress continue to believe lights in the sky are scary, however, particularly when they mistake crewed aircraft for drones.
Congressional officials and that unfortunate source of information, social media, continue to make unfounded claims of drone technologies far ahead of U.S. capabilities. The most recent example being the assertion that drones flew from an Iranian mother ship off the coast of the U.S. and demonstrated seven or eight hours of battery life. That fantastic assertion requires there to be evidence that the drones originated from an Iranian ship and were tracked continuously to the U.S. cities. There are no such tracks. The more rational explanation is that they originated near the place of the sighting, that is from domestic operators.
However, that doesn’t mean some drone operations aren’t ill-intentioned.
Several hypotheses (apart from mistaken identity) might explain these drones in legal airspace. They might be academic, professional or hobbyist domestic operators exploring a new technology. YouTube overflows with drone footage from amateur photographers all over the world. Flying in urban settings, in legal airspace, for photography or maybe even some research such as high resolution thermal or pollution measurements is very plausible. Or they are commercial. Increased commercial activity is unavoidable as industry advances drone technology for delivery, remote sensing and communications.
More concerning, operators could be probing the limits of legal activities, or in military speak, performing or exploring preparation of the battlespace. Whether foreign or domestic bad actors, they could be flying commercial drones, complete with lights, to test reactions of both the public and the government. As long as they are flying within legal airspace, under legal limits, they can push those limits and measure what the reaction is. That information on reactions and response could readily feed back to some sort of attack planning, illegal drug delivery or other malicious intent.
Finally, the operators could be using them intentionally to whip up frenzy, hysteria and panic. It could be for personal gain (such as claiming they have the anti-UAV solution to sell), or perhaps advertising something resembling another History Channel series on aliens.
Much like the UAP problem, there is little evidence to support, or rule out, any of these hypotheses. Like UAP, the drones don’t likely all have the same explanation. That makes it hard from a national security perspective to distinguish when a sighting is benign versus potentially nefarious. Lest we forget the lessons of the ongoing war on Ukraine, we don’t want to be caught in an intelligence or technical surprise.
Meanwhile, the sightings that are clearly in restricted airspace usually have more obvious intentions. These can range from benign to nefarious, but generally center around seeing things that are normally not allowed. Whether this is military aircraft, commercial airports or operations, these clearly identified drones and balloons with payloads pose not only a security risk but also a flight safety risk. It would only take one small quad copter to get sucked into a commercial jet engine to end in tragedy.
The proliferation of drone technology, in its commercial, recreational, scientific and military uses, is clearly disrupting the world around us. Our legislation and regulation have created an environment that allows for legal drone usage. It should come as no surprise then that drones are in the air and increasing. Yet here we are, once again with more extraordinary claims, public demands for transparency, baseless accusations of hiding the truth, and congressional calls for more legislation over a mystery in the sky, instead of a rational scientific approach to the investigation. Sound familiar?
This is an opinion and analysis article, and the views expressed by the author or authors are not necessarily those of Scientific American.
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
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.
