Dream Chaser: Sierra Nevada's Design for Spaceflight

An artistic rendition of the Dream Chaser vehicle launching into space.

Credit: Sierra Nevada

Dream Chaser, a private spacecraft that looks like a stubby version of the space shuttle, is a concept being tested by Sierra Nevada Corp. based on NASA designs of a 1980s spacecraft prototype.

The spacecraft, which originally was developed by a company called SpaceDev, is among a group of ships that vied for private flights to the International Space Station. NASA funded SpaceX's and Boeing's concepts in 2014 for the last round of Commercial Crew Program development, sparking a formal protest from Sierra Nevada. In 2016, however, NASA selected Sierra Nevada, SpaceX and Orbital ATK for anticipated cargo missions to fly between 2019 and 2024. No specific flight awards have been made yet.

Once ready, Dream Chaser will carry up to seven people to the orbiting complex. It will launch vertically upon an Atlas 5 rocket and then, like the shuttle, land on a runway horizontally.

Based on secret Soviet design

Sierra Nevada, founded in 1963, describes itself as having expertise in electronics, avionics and communications systems. The Colorado-based firm has a space systems division that works on areas such as propulsion, small satellites and components for customers.

An artist's depiction of the Dream Chaser vehicle landing on a conventional runway at the end of its mission.

Credit: Sierra Nevada

The spacecraft has a bit of a tangled history. Its design is based mainly on the HL-20 — a NASA spacecraft design from the 1980s that was itself based on a Soviet spacecraft called the BOR-4. But the HL-20 design was never used for space.

SpaceDev resurrected the design. According to Ars Technica, in 2006 the firm signed a licensing agreement with NASA to reuse HL-20 for the Dream Chaser concept.

"We have tried to make it clear that SpaceDev does have plans of our own in terms of human spaceflight, both orbital and suborbital," said Jim Benson, the firm's founding chairman and CEO, in a Space.com 2004 interview.

Despite the agency heritage, SpaceDev failed to get funding under the initial NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems (COTS) program to fund commercial spacecraft. Benson left SpaceDev in 2006 to found a new space tourism company, but died in 2008 of a brain tumor.

SpaceDev, meanwhile, merged with Starsys Research Corp. and continued work with NASA under a non-reimbursable Space Act agreement in 2007.

That same year, it signed a memorandum of understanding with United Launch Alliance to put Dream Chaser on an Atlas 5 rocket. This entailed some design changes, but the companies were optimistic from the early days that this arrangement would work.

Sierra Nevada purchased SpaceDev in 2008, which added a new space systems business area to Sierra Nevada's divisions.

"The acquisition of SpaceDev ... represents a dynamic expansion of [Sierra Nevada]'s space technology capabilities," stated Fatih Ozmen, Sierra Nevada's chief executive, after the acquisition was finalized in December 2008. 

"We believe that combining SpaceDev's unique technological offerings, manufacturing capabilities and talented team with our existing space business and technology base will allow us to significantly increase our capacity and scalability while better serving our customers and making us a leader in space technology with access to a much wider customer and technology base."

NASA money for development

In August 2012, Sierra Nevada was one of three companies that received money under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) award. CCiCap was the third phase of commercial crew development, and was supposed to help companies in the latter stages of spacecraft work to get their ships ready for flight. Sierra Nevada's contract, which was worth up to $212.5 million, paid out money as the company progressed through certain milestones. 

"We're very pleased today to receive the award from NASA as a recognition of our work. We think the whole program is a very successful public-private partnership," Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of Sierra Nevada's space systems division, said Aug. 3, 2012, following the CCiCap announcement.

The company also passed several major tests in 2012, most notably a "captive carry" flight test where it rode below a helicopter. The spacecraft did a single glide test in 2013 where it was released from a helicopter and arrived at the runway, only to skid off and cause damage to the vehicle.

"We had a successful approach to the runway. The vehicle flared on cue and the speeds were perfect," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president and head of Sierra Nevada Corporation's (SNC) Space Systems based in Louisville, Colo., in a Space.com interview in October 2013.

"We hit the centerline exactly where we needed to be. On approach and landing, the left main gear did not deploy satisfactorily," he added. 

Sierra Nevada Corporation is developing its Dream Chaser spaceplane to ferry astronauts to Earth orbit and to the International Space Station. See how the Dream Chaser space plane works in this infographic.

Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor

NASA protest

In September 2014, NASA announced the next and final phase of the commercial spaceflight program would see SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft funded for the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap). The goal is to have the spacecraft ready to fly the International Space Station by 2017.

Sierra Nevada filed a protest Sept. 26, 2014, that temporarily halted work on commercial crew endeavors. The company said that Dream Chaser's technical concept was equally as mature as at least one of the rival companies, and that there were "serious questions and inconsistencies in the source selection process."

While the U.S. government allowed work to continue on commercial crew, the protest was reviewed by its General Accountability Office. In January 2015, the office said it would rule against Sierra Nevada. 

"GAO disagreed with Sierra Nevada's arguments about NASA's evaluation, and found no undue emphasis on NASA's consideration of each offeror's proposed schedule, and likelihood to achieve crew transportation system certification not later than 2017," part of the statement read.

Sierra Nevada's response said, in part, that the company would continue to look for other customers for its contract. 

"While the outcome was not what [Sierra Nevada] expected, we maintain our belief that the Dream Chaser spacecraft is technically very capable, reliable and was qualified to win based on NASA's high ratings of the space system," the company said in its statement.

In early 2016, NASA announced that Sierra Nevada (along with SpaceX and Orbital ATK) would all be listed as possible providers for cargo missions to ISS between 2019 and 2024. Specific flight awards haven't been made yet. 

"NASA has not yet ordered any missions, but will make a total of six selections from each menu of mission options at fixed prices, as needed," NASA wrote in a statement at the time. "Each task order has milestones with specified amounts and performance dates. Each mission requires complex preparation and several years of lead time."

The company is now working toward doing a second glide test in early 2016, but a firm date has not been released. 

"SNC has made significant structural and systems improvements to the ETA including the composite wings and aeroshells," Sierra Nevada wrote in October 2015. "SNC also invested heavily in maturing the spacecraft orbital avionics, guidance navigation and control, the flight software, and employed a number of new processes, all of which will be used on the orbital vehicle as well."

The NASA contract also triggered a $36 million investment by the 22-nation European Space Agency. Once the agreement is signed, ESA will begin work building the first flight model of the International Berthing and Docking Mechanism (IBDM), which Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser Cargo System will use to attach itself to the space station. 

Additional resources

• Sierra Nevada Corp.: Space Systems
• NASA: Commercial Crew & Cargo

{ http://www.space.com/ }

Details on the Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group

Incoming! Who ya going to call? A Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group (PIERWG) Charter has been developed

Credit: NASA

A partnership between the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and NASA is in place "to develop guidance to prepare for any potential impact of our planet by a large natural object."

A Planetary Impact Emergency Response Working Group (PIERWG) Charter was signed in August 2015 and is now available for public viewing here. 

The Charter notes that "the risks are inherently unique and there are currently no national policy covering this particular threat."

Spelled out in the Charter is the framework for the structure and processes of an interagency team focused on preparation for a predicted or actual impact of an asteroid or comet that could affect the United States or its territories.

The Charter details the roles, responsibilities, and membership of the PIERWG.

Coordinating agencies

The objective of the PIERWG provides a forum for affected U.S. Departments and Agencies to develop the essential information and recommendations needed by senior leadership to make informed decisions to respond to the “unique challenges” of an impending NEO impact.

PIERWG coordinating agencies include the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Department of Homeland Security-Science and Technology, as well as Department of Defense, and the Department of State’s Office of Space and Advanced Technology.

Approving the document is Damon Penn, Assistant Administrator of the Response Directorate of FEMA and NASA’s James Green, Director of the Planetary Science Division.

In early January, NASA announced the establishment of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) created to coordinate U.S. agencies and intergovernmental efforts to respond to future near-Earth objects that threaten Earth.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and is co-author of Buzz Aldrin's 2013 book "Mission to Mars – My Vision for Space Exploration" published by National Geographic with a new updated paperback version released in May 2015. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

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{ http://www.space.com/ }

First version of this article was originally published on January  22, 2015

A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com – With the discovery of the crucial, though, unexpected link between space and time, Einstein realized that these two things could no longer be thought of as separate things.

They are fused together and form the continuum (manifold) of space-time, viewed as a four-dimensional vector space.

Suddenly, he realized something unbelievable, namely that our understanding of past, present and future and the sharp difference we see between them – may only be an illusion.

“The distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion,” he said.

At first, he wasn’t particularly thrilled with the unified spacetime idea and dismissed new four-dimensional geometry propose

d by Hermann Minkowski, as “superfluous” pedantry but he eventually accepted the idea and so must we.

As Arthur Schopenhauer expressed, “the most insignificant present has over the most significant past the advantage of reality” and such a belief cannot be so easily dismissed.

Naturally, this illusion – our understanding of past, present and future – is very convincing for us, but it’s still an illusion, we live with every day, every moment, continuously.

Centuries ago, St. Augustine of Hippo, one of the world’s most influential thinkers was also occupied with the phenomenon of time and space.

“How can the past and future be, when the past no longer is, and the future is not yet?” he asked.

“As for the present, if it were always present and never moved on to become the past, it would not be time, but eternity.”

Essentially the same question we are pondering today.

Most of us are convinced that reality means the events of the present moment.

It’s our fundamental belief since we were children because the only we understand is the reality of the moment.

We divide time into past, present and future and it seems essential to our experience of reality – our reality – as anything, says Paul Davies, a Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Adelaide, Australia.

But what if our perception of time and space has simply deceived us?

Much of what we thought we knew about our universe-that the past has already happened and the future is yet to be, that space is just an empty void, that our universe is the only universe that exists-just might be wrong, says famous physicist Brian Greene.

In our day-to-day lives, we experience time as a continuous flow. But it can also be useful to think of time as a series of snapshots, or moments, and every event can be thought of as the unfolding of moment, after moment, after moment.

And “if we picture all these moments, or snapshots, line them up, every moment here on Earth, every moment of Earth orbiting the Sun, and every moment throughout the entire universe, we would see every event that has ever happened or will ever happen, from the birth of our universe at the Big Bang, some 14-billion years ago; to the formation of stars in the Milky Way galaxy; to the creation of Earth, four and a half billion years ago; to the time of the dinosaurs; to events happening on Earth today, like me working in my office,” Greene explains.

Don’t you have a strange feeling that someone out there is so incredibly advanced technologically that he can observe all those movements (snapshots) in the entire universe when they take place simultaneously?

And when we seriously consider the simple but essential concept of “now we begin to understand that both past and future must be real because they could be your now, which means past, present and future – are all equally real and all exist.

Moreover, they exist all at once.

Written by A. Sutherland – MessageToEagle.com Staff Writer

Copyright © MessageToEagle.com – All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of MessageToEagle.com

source:

Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality

{ http://www.messagetoeagle.com/ }

Why Are UFOs Shutting Down Our Nuclear Missiles?

{  http://www.collective-evolution.com/ }

Mac's UFO News - February 2016 (Season 4 Episode 2)

Triangle UFO Top Secret TR-3B Astra Video 1

Triangle UFO Top Secret TR-3B Astra Video 1

"Astronautentweeling brengt missie naar Mars dichterbij" - HLN.be

Bron: AD.nl

NASA: "Het is weer een stap op weg naar Mars.’’

De Amerikaanse astronaut maakte tijdens zijn jaar in de ruimte regelmatig selfies. © ap.

Astronaut Scott Kelly landt woensdagochtend om vijf uur na een jaar in de ruimte weer op aarde. Tijdens zijn verblijf in het International Space Station kletste de Amerikaan niet alleen met president Obama, maar was het vooral belangrijk om veel data te verzamelen. Kelly (48) en zijn identieke tweelingbroer Mark (die heeft een snorretje) vormen namelijk samen de prestigieuze NASA Twin Study.

Ergens in de woestijn van Kazachtsan landt de Amerikaanse astronaut Scott Kelly samen met zijn Russische collega Mikhail Korniyenko. Na een ruimtereis van 340 dagen - de langste ooit voor een Amerikaan - worden de beide astronauten als helden ontvangen. De Nederlander Piet Smolders, oud-directeur van Artis Planetarium in Amsterdam, kijkt uit naar de landing. "Dankzij Kelly en zijn identieke tweelingbroer kan er nu goed vergelijkend onderzoek worden gedaan naar het effect van gewichtloosheid op de lange termijn op een lichaam.'' 

Het is niet zo gek dat NASA graag wil weten wat gewichtloosheid met mensen doet. De reis naar Mars gloort aan de horizon, maar welk effect heeft een reis van acht maanden in de ruimte nou eigenlijk op het menselijk lichaam? Niemand die het precies weet. Voor, tijdens en na de vlucht ondergaan de broers fysieke en psychische onderzoeken. Mark, een gepensioneerd astronaut, ondergaat er zes en Scott elf. Eentje is bijvoorbeeld om te kijken hoe lichaamssappen zoals bloed en urine door het lichaam stromen tijdens een lange periode van gewichtloosheid. Daarnaast wordt er ook gekeken naar veranderingen in bloedcellen en de aanpassingen in het immuunsysteem.

Dunnere botten

Scott Kelly gaf zichzelf de griepprik. © ap.

Smolders: "Als je een tijd in de ruimte bent, verslappen je spieren fors.'' Je botten worden ook steeds dunner. Elke maand in de ruimte verlies je 1,5 procent aan botmassa. "Door veel te trainen, kan je dat wel een beetje tegengaan, maar de eerste uren op aarde ben je nog niet in staat om op je eigen benen te staan. Dat zie je ook altijd bij een astronaut die landt: die wordt in Kazachstan opgevangen door een groep mensen, op een soort strandbed gelegd en weggedragen.'' 

Maar op Mars staat er niemand om astronauten op te vangen. Daar moeten ze op eigen kracht aan de slag gaan. "De zwaartekracht op Mars is ongeveer de helft van die op aarde. Met kunstmatige zwaartekracht kunnen de astronauten er lichamelijk wel op worden voorbereid, maar het blijft een ingewikkelde kwestie'', vertelt Smolders.

Propaganda

Kelly en de bloem die hij tot bloei liet komen in de ruimte. © ap.

Toch zijn er ook sceptici. Ruimtevaartdeskundige Luc van den Abeelen bijvoorbeeld, denkt dat NASA de reis van de tweeling vooral gebruikt als propaganda. "Als je puur wetenschappelijk kijkt, is een onderzoek met slechts twee proefpersonen natuurlijk niet zo best.'' En er zijn wel wat meer wetenschappelijke wenkbrauwen gefronst: Zo eet aardbewoner Mark bijvoorbeeld geen astronautenvoer, zoals zijn zwevende broer. 

Van den Abeelen vermoedt dat het NASA hoogstwaarschijnlijk meer om geld te doen is. "Ze zijn de Amerikanen en de toekomstige president aan het opwarmen om meer budget vrij te maken voor hun onderzoeken. Dat vind ik prima hoor, maar om nou te zeggen dat dit een grote stap in de richting van Mars is...'' 

Maar toch... zo'n ruimtereis en alle tweets, foto's en filmpjes die Scott Kelly naar aarde stuurt, blijft iets magisch om te volgen, vinden beide mannen. Van den Abeelen: "Ondanks mijn scepsis blijf ik groot fan. Het is bovendien toch fantastisch als je bedenkt dat de eerste man of vrouw die straks in 2030 op Mars nu al op aarde loopt, of kruipt.''

{ http://www.hln.be/ }

Scott Kelly en Mikhail Kornienko weer op aarde na 340 dagen in ISS - HLN.be

  Bron: Belga

VIDEO Drie astronauten, onder wie de Amerikaan Scott Kelly en de Rus Michail Kornienko, zijn weer geland op de aarde na hun verblijf in het internationaal ruimtestation ISS. Kelly en Kornienko verbleven 340 dagen in de ruimte, om er experimenten uit te voeren met het oog op een eerste bemande trip naar Mars.

© afp.

Scott Kelly en Michail Kornienko zijn de eersten die dubbel zo lang als gewoonlijk in het ISS hebben gewoond en gewerkt. Ze kwamen samen met hun collega Sergej Volkov om 05.27 uur Belgische tijd, zoals verwacht, aan in Kazachstan met hun Sojoez.

Het was al de vierde missie voor Kelly, die bovendien een interessant studieobject is, aangezien hij een tweelingbroer heeft. Wetenschappers van NASA hebben zijn gezondheidstoestand vergeleken met die van zijn broer Mark, een voormalige astronaut, om de veranderingen te analyseren in het lichaam te onderzoeken die worden veroorzaakt door ruimtereizen. Volgens NASA ging het om het eerste onderzoek bij twee mensen met dezelfde genen in verschillende ruimtelijke omstandigheden.

In Kazachstan zal Kelly nu tests ondergaan om te bekijken welk effect de lange ruimtereis op zijn lichaam heeft gehad.

De absolute recordhouder in de ruimte is de Russische arts Valeri Poljakov. Hij heeft 438 dagen onafgebroken in het Russische ruimtestation Mir gewerkt.

Meteor Or UFO Seen Over Scotland On Feb 29, 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News

Date of sighting: February 29, 2016
Location of sighting: Scotland

A glowing object shot across the night sky in Scotland a few nights ago, which might or might not be a meteor. It was caught on security cams and car cams and shined more powerfully than the sun itself. If an alien were to enter Earths atmosphere, appearing like a meteor is what a higher intelligence being would do. Meteors have tails, this has none. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

RT News states:
A suspected meteor lit up the sky over Scotland on Monday. Local residents took to social media to discuss possible causes of a flash of light seen in the early evening.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

Australian Weathercam captured strange spherical object in the sky over Brisbane

A guest camera in the Australian Weathercam Network, owned and operated by North Brisbane Data Recovery captured a rare phenomenon, what looks like a spherical object surrounded by clouds, in the sky over Brisbane, Australia on February 29, 2016.

At first glance it looks like it just cloud forming or a reflection of the sun or camera, but as the phenomenon appears out of nowhere and turns slowly into a circular shape we may wonder whether it is cloud forming/reflection or it is something like a second sun, an ‘invisible’ planet or a decloaking object?

  

Major bolide explodes over Scotland - Video

Many people have reported a major bolide sighting over Northern Scotland during the evening of Mon 29-Feb-2016.

The fireball appears to be an unknown/undetected meteor/meteorite, turned night in to day for a few seconds and produced one or more sonic booms in the atmosphere.

Jenni Morrison was driving home from work on the A944 from Westhill to Alford at 6.45pm when she spotted the fireball light up the sky.

She told Sky News: "I thought what the hell was that! My son said it was a meteorite. It was like a light switch going on and off.”

"I knew it wasn't lightning and it was kind-of scary and amazing at the same time."

There are several dashcam and security camera recordings of the event.

ientists discover 8000-year-old hand prints in ancient cave were NOT made by humans

Anthropologists probing the discovery of tiny 8000-year-old hand prints in the eerie Egyptian Cave of Beasts say they were not made by human hands.

Explorers stumbled across the tiny hand imprints after unearthing more than 5000 images carved into the stone in Egypt's southwest border with Libya 14 years ago.

A study of the hand prints show that not only are they not human - but that they are believed to belong to tiny lizards.

The cave, which is also known as Wadi Sura II, has been the focus of study for Emmanuelle Honoré of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research for years.

She said she was stunned when she saw the shape of the small prints. "They were much smaller than human baby hands, and the fingers were too long," she told National Geographic.

The scientists took measurements of the stencils and compared them to those of newborn human infants under a year, including newborn premature babies that were 26 to 36 weeks old. But came to the startling conclusion that the prints were not human and instead were created by lizards.

But while Honoré is sure the prints were made by tiny crocodiles or lizards - she is unsure of the reason why they are there. Or why any civilization would want to draw or use the legs of animals on their cave walls.

Even though the fingerprints are interesting, the figures depicted are much more interesting.

A closer look at the several images show besides many different human-like species also human looking lizard creatures.

I have highlighted three figures: Two human-like species and a human-like lizard creature or reptilian humanoid.

Reptilian or Reptoid is a word mixed from reptilians and humanoids and are human looking lizard creatures. It is said that these reptilians are living inside the earth.

The dessert is the world's largest and is the size of Western Europe and goes from Egypt into Libya, Sudan and Chad. It is one of the driest places on earth - but wouldn't have necessarily been so when the images were made - since there would have been water to sustain life.

  

Mysterious Triangular Objects Spotted Over Newcastle, UK (Photos)

(Before It's News)

Two unknown objects flying in formation over Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Witness states: I was driving on the A19 and it was a sunny clear day and blue skies on January 11, 2016 when I noticed which I thought was a military aircraft very high altitude making big swooping turns it had a contrail so I took a picture of it on my Iphone.

I then took a second picture of it and then carried on driving and just watched it until I could no longer see it I then continued to my destination and thought nothing of it.

Second Picture.

It was then I got home and was scrolling through my pictures and on the second picture I took I noticed on the far right of the picture there was something which looks like a twin diamond shape or triangle with a sort of faint contrail coming from it which I did not see on the day I took the pictures.

I have added the two original pictures for you to take a look at to see if anybody can figure them out.
 

I am a very open minded person however this could be something completely rational but it seems very strange that I did not notice it at the time of taking the pictures of the military craft?

Hopefully somebody can explain what this was. Mufon case 74879.

Note: Could it be the infamous TR3B, a craft as shown in the image below or is it a type of craft of unknown origin?

Image craft bottom right is the new secret B-21 Stealth bomber. The US Air Force has unveiled the first image of its next-generation bomber. The all-black plane has a distinctive, zigzagging shape and a low profile designed to make it hard to spot on radar.

According to Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James the new stealth bomber has yet to be built, but she provided the world with the first glimpse of the project using an artist’s rendering. 

Thanks http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/

Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to Paranormal to Prophecy

Pilots Close Encounter Over Ontario Canada

(Before It's News)

MYSTERIOUS NAZI SUBMARINE FROM WWII DISCOVERED IN GREAT LAKES

Niagara Falls| Divers from the U.S coast guard took part this morning, in a delicate wreck recovery operation to bring to the surface a Nazi submarine discovered two weeks ago  at the bottom of Lake Ontario.

 

The U-boat was spotted for the first time by amateur scuba divers in late January and they had contacted the authorities. Archaeologists associated with Niagara University of  and master divers from the U.S Coast Guard were mobilized on site to determine what it was, and they soon realized that they were dealing with a German submarine that sank during World War II.

 

A wreck recovery vessel  of the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society was mandated to refloat the ship and bring it back to Niagara Falls, where it must be restored before becoming a museum ship. The delicate recovery operation took nearly 30 hours to complete, but the submarine was finally brought down on the bank with relative ease.

 

 

 

The submarine was identified as the UX-791, a unique experimental German submarine, based on the U-1200 model, and known to have participated in the “Battle of the St. Lawrence”. It  was reported missing in 1943 and was believed to have been sunk near the Canadian coast.

 

 

Professor Mark Carpenter, who leads the team of archaeologists, believes that the U-boat could have traveled up the St-Lawrence River, all the way to the Great Lakes, where it intended to disturb the American economy.

 

A report from the dated from February 1943 suggests, that the ship could have attacked and destroyed three cargo ships and two fishing vessels, even damaging the USS Sable (IX-81), an aircraft carrier of the U.S. navy that was used for training in the Great Lakes, before finally being sunk by anti-sub grenades launched by a Canadian frigate.

 

“We have known for a long time that the Nazis had sent some of their U-boats in the St-Lawrence River, but this is the first proof that they actually reached the Great Lakes,” Professor Carpenter told reporters. “This could explain the mysterious ship disappearances that took place in the region in 1943, and the reported “Battle of Niagara Falls” which had always been dismissed as a collective hallucination caused by fear.”

 

The restoration of the submarine could take more than two years, but oncecompleted, the museum ship is expected to become one of the major touristattractions of the region.

 

Source: http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/

 

Watch also

 

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{ http://7tales.net/index.php }

Biggest ‘ Flock ’ of UFOs Filmed While ‘ Playing ’ Over Kazakhstan

Russia Army Officer Eugene Gavrilov Reveals Antarctic Secrets

Reports of bright white light and rumbling in sky over north of Scotland

Fireball/Meteor over Inverness, Scotland, 29th Feb 2016

https://youtu.be/QegbDEMYnqg

Meteor over Scotland 29 02 2016

https://youtu.be/RSh5hrxD3-8

A flash of light has been spotted in the skies above the north and north-east by dozens of social media users tonight.

A member of the Aberdeen Astronomical Society explained it was likely to have been an exploding meteor.

The internet was awash with reports of a “big white flash” at about 7pm.

Witnesses across the Highlands and Aberdeenshire said they had seen the explosion – but said that it was not accompanied by any thunder.

Facebook user Wayne MacDonald was first to post CCTV footage of the massive flash online from Inverness.

And videos were uploaded by many people to a popular Facebook group called Scotland by the Roadside.

Picture of moment white light illuminated Scottish skies. From video by Jenni Morrison posted to Facebook

Inverness: CCTV captures moment white light illuminated night sky

Aberdeenshire: Dashcam shows moment huge light lit up Scottish sky

Highland councillor Ken Gowans told the Press and Journal he had witnessed the flash.

“I was standing in my upstairs room on the phone, blethering away and the next thing there was this big flash. It was a fair size, and a light, greeny colour.

“I phoned the police. They said they had received numerous reports of it.

“It was almost due south from where I am in Westhill. This thing was massive – but there was no sound.”

Social media erupted as people took to Twitter to debate what caused the flashes – with several tweeting the Royal Astronomical Society.

Did you see the flashes or hear a rumbling? Let us know and send in your pictures/video to webpix@ajl.co.uk

{ https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/ }

UFO’S AND THE LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE

“We are dealing with a multidimensional paraphysical phenomenon which is largely indigenous to planet Earth.”

Brad Steiger [cited in] Blue Book Files Released in Canadian UFO report, vol 4, no. 4, 1977, pg 20

Firstly, I am currently working on research that looks at the abduction phenomenon within ufology and its similarities to old school demonic possession. Now before you all start building a stake and pile of wood to burn me on let me say this…there are very little differences in the experiences of abductees and victims of demonic possession and rituals. You may just be surprised.

Remember the case of 21 year old Elisa Lam? She could have been influenced by an inter-dimensional entity or even a cloaked alien being, and how on Earth could she open that water tank by herself?

Secondly, this is my first article to U.I.P so let’s get out of the starting blocks by establishing where I want to go with the idea I stated above.

Scientific knowledge is essential in many aspects of investigating UFO’s. These include identifying “terrestrial” reasons to explain sightings first and obviously being reasonable in that approach is paramount to maintaining a level of trust not only with the witness but to keep credibility within the communities of Ufology and academic science at the same time. This however is a practice that is seriously lacking and even if you find it in most cases isn’t consistent. This undermines the topic, puts off serious researchers and scientists and scares highly trained witnesses such as airline pilots for example into just not wanting to report anything in the first place. What is also needed is a working knowledge of being able to interpret the data that goes along with sightings such as radar, weather and astronomical read outs. Scientific knowledge is also crucial in understanding other topics related to UFOs such as propulsion systems, genetics, astronomy, geology, biology and many more aspects up to and including history, psychology and even politics. Nonetheless, an individual whose foundation of knowledge is primarily scientific will still confront some serious limitations in his or hers approach to the UFO subject.

I’d like to quote a few paragraphs from a relatively unknown UFO book, translated from French to English in1958 called “Flying saucers and the straight line mystery” by Aime Michel. The book has a highly sympathetic preface by General L.M. Chassin, the then General Air Defence Coordinator of Allied Forces in Central Europe (NATO). Right in the beginning of the book Michel talks about the Limits of the scientific method of studying UFO’s. He argues:

“… Non reproducibility has held back progress in saucer investigations undertaken throughout the world for ten years, in spite of the time, competence and money expended…it is this non reproducibility that inspires the scepticism and distaste for the whole subject felt by most scientists. Nothing could be more legitimate than this negative attitude toward flying saucers generally adopted by science for there can be no science where there is no generalization. An isolated phenomenon, one that evades not only systematic experiment but even scientific observation. It cannot be the subject of scientific enquiry. It is at best historical fact. And if its truth is in question it’s not even that.”

Other books by Michel, some contain incredible shots of a flying saucer, taken in 1952, when Photoshop did not exist:

The study of saucers has been an analysis of reports by witnesses after sightings but this is not the scientific method. The analysis of testimony belongs to the law courts and history which attempts to weigh human uncertainties. Science has still not been able to apply methods here properly. This isn’t a refusal to do so but just an acknowledgement of limitations. Michel’s thoughts on the limits of science were clear and in my opinion are still almost values today some 50 to 60 years later.

Its useful to separate what we know about UFO’s and what is speculate about.

WHAT WE KNOW, through

(A) Possession of many first hands and credible UFO accounts

(B) Numerous available! Plausibly witnessed sightings

(C) First hand accounts by insiders and researchers (like my own!)

(D) Released FOIA documents

These four sources are certainly not comprehensive but lets accept them for a start. From them we know with certainty that:

1. UFO’s exist

2. Key branches of governments have taken them seriously as well as the E.T hypothesis itself.

3. Over the last 50 years there has existed a consistently strong link between UFO researchers and elite intelligence agencies.

4. That (most) governments publicly deny interest in UFO’s

5. That thousands of individuals worldwide have claimed to have had an ”abduction” experience, and have been willing to say so even after intense ridicule and even ostracism.

U.I.P Summary:

What we do not know:

1. What UFO’s actually are. (THIS IS FUNDAMENTALLY WHERE IM GOING WITH MY FUTURE POSTS AS I PRESENT MY THEORY AND IDEAS ON OUR CURRENT POSITION WITHIN UFOLOGY TODAY)

2. The exact relationship between, if any, between human power entities and UFO’s.

3. What technologies, again if any, at responsible for UFO’s.

4. How long have they been around

There is a lot more we can add to both groups especially the second one. What we do not know is still a valid and essential area for speculation and investigation. Even from this cursory overview it should’ve obvious that, not withstanding the great gaps in our knowledge of UFO’s, that there’s enough to warrant further investigation.

This ends part 1. More to follow.

DEFCON 1

{

Scientists Finally Prove ‘Invisible Alien Entities ARE Here On Earth’

Top leading SCIENTISTS who have been seeking evidence of anti-matter in space have recently claimed to have stumbled across a previously unknown “invisible life form” here on Earth, which could quite possibly be SPYING on us all!  Could this be the proof that we need to confirm that we are not alone and being visited by Alien Beings?  Quite possibly.

It is a successful corporation called Thunder Energies, which is an optics, nuclear physics and energy company, who have claimed to have detected “invisible entities” living in Earth’s atmosphere and watching over us all!

Harvard-educated Italian-American nuclear physicist Dr Ruggero Santilli is the controversial guy that runs the corporation.

Dr Ruggero Santilli is actually dismissed by many mainstream scientists as a “fringe scientist” but he has in turn branded the rejection of his work as a conspiracy against “novel science” which often conflicts with established thinking, such as Einstein’s theory of relativity – sadly the masses of this planet are too brainwashed to realise sometimes that there may be more than meets the eye to ‘what’s really going on!

Please check out the video to their exciting find (actually a rather interesting video):

The nuclear physicist says the discovery was ‘accidentally’ made using the Santilli Telescope he has developed to try to discover proof of theoretical anti-matter galaxies, anti-matter cosmic rays and anti-matter asteroids.

The research team are concerned that the previously unknown micro-lifeforms may be carrying out covert surveillance on Earth because of where they have been discovered.

Mr Santilli uses a concave lens, which is actually the opposite to the convex lenses of standard telescopes.  His telescope is still pending a trade mark and patent, but Mr Santilli is convinced it has been able to pick up a life form which cannot be seen by the naked eye – but sadly it is not a surprise at how much negative feedback Mr Santilli has received from the mainstream media.

Mr Santilli recently said:

“This is an exciting discovery. We do not know what these entities are, they’re completely invisible to our eyes, our binoculars, or traditional Galileo telescopes, but these objects are fully visible in cameras attached to our Santilli telescope. 

“Since the dawn of our civilisation, all the way to the time of this breaking news, we humans have believed that everything that exists up there is only what we can see with our eyes and with our optical instruments.

The TRUTH is coming! Art by Raphael Terra

 “Well things have changed now because we have established the existence of entities that are existing in our terrestrial environment – these are invisible to our eyes and optical instruments, but are fully visible with new instruments, therefore dramatically enlarging our conception of the perceivable universe with far reaching possibilities of future developments and discoveries that are perhaps beyond our imagination at this time.” He said.

Mr Santilli has claimed to have detected “at least two types” of Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITEs), which leave a dark image in a bright background of a digital cam attached to the telescope, and bright ITEs which do the opposite.

Santilli has claimed that the findings, which were published as “Apparent Detection via New Telescopes with Concave Lenses of Otherwise Invisible Terrestrial Entities (ITE),” in the American Journal of Modern Physics, have been “independently verified” by unnamed US astronomers.

But in the video released by his corporation on YouTube, Dr Santilli gave his findings a more sinister twist.  He said:

“The question of what those entities are must be answered by our government because these entities appear to be conducting unauthorised surveillance of rather sensitive civil, industrial and military installations.”

Dr George Gaines, president of the corporation, is also fully backing the research.  He went on to say:

“What we have learned is reality is much bigger than we originally supposed. “Things we can see and things we can’t see with our eyes or standard telescopes.

“The Santilli telescope allows us to see things that we have never seen before.”

The corporation are pushing this important find out into the public domain and are determined to try and discover exactly it is they witnessed on their powerful/clever telescope.  Santilli said that it is “nothing to do with money, its about discovering the truth!”

U.I.P SUMMARY – It was only a matter of time until somebody somehow discovered a way of highlighting what is going on out there above planet earth and it appears that this could be the beginning of something huge!

We have all seen many report and photographs of what appears to be cloaked craft in the skies above earth, could this be the new way of getting confirmed footage of what’s going on? Well to us guys at U.I.P YES most definitely! We are trying our hardest to arrange an interview with Mr Santilli to ask him some very straight talking questions – watch this space!

Perhaps footage like this is something that we can now look at in more detail with this technology –http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/latest-news/cloaked-ufo-caught-on-camera-coming-out-of-the-pacific-ocean/

MWV

{ http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/ }

I'm Terrified by the New Star Trek Series

Katharine Trendacosta

I love Star Trek above all other franchises. But it’s a twisted, painful sort of love. A love that, with a new TV series on the way, may actually kill me.

When it comes to many other things that I love, I feel like I have a healthy relationship with them. Star Wars, for example, has used up my outrage and now I happily pick and choose what I consider to be canon and what can be ignored. Disney can do whatever it wants with the old Expanded Universe, but I’m still going to pretend that the X-Wing pilots exist, and continue to be awesome. Similarly, I can deal with Chris Carter’s horrible vision of The X-Files,and continue to enjoy the rest.

That is not how I approach Star Trek.

Star Trek is, in Tumblr parlance, my “problematic fave.” I have massive issues with pretty much every iteration of the franchise, but I cannot distance myself from any part of it. And Star Trek gets every free pass I can give it. For every other movie, play, book, or television show, I insist that the story be good first. Not Star Trek. I let Star Trek be preachy and bad and I’ll defend the attempt.

But with that all-in commitment comes a nerd rage at Star Trek’s failure, that nothing else matches. I need Star Trek to be good, to justify all the time and energy I’ve put into it. I need people to recognize how groundbreaking and brilliant this franchise can be—because to understand Star Trek is, to an uncomfortably large extent, to understand me.

Star Trek was the first thing I ever watched that included people like me in its vision of the future. It was the first thing I ever experienced that articulated philosophy in a pop culture way. So, I love Star Trek in a deep, irrational, way.

But a series of disappointments mean that I also approach any new Star Trek in much the same way my cats do me after I’ve been away for a long time. I’m going to follow it from room to room, meowing plaintively until it does something. But I’m also not going to sit in its lap and purr until it’s proved it’s not going away again.

...This metaphor got weird. But the point still stands.

All of this brings me the the new Star Trek series. I am so afraid of this show. I am absolutely terrified that it cannot live up to my expectations. And I’m even more terrified it’s going to be successful, while failing to provide the thought-provoking storytelling that I expect from Star Trek. I would almost rather watchStar Trek fail while telling interesting allegories than succeed at being mindless pop fluff. If it’s just action adventure, but popular action adventure, that will be the final, crushing letdown.

I have precedent for my feelings. I have Star Trek: Nemesis, which I was unreasonably excited for when I was in junior high. Finally another Star Trekmovie! And an even-numbered one, that means its going to be good, right? Plus, Janeway had a cameo, I—also completely unreasonably, I know—love her. This should have been everything fourteen-year-old me dreamed of.

Cue Sarah Mclachlan singing “I Will Remember You,” as I stare sadly into the camera, locked in a cage of my own disappointment.

I also have Enterprise, which was so bad for so long, no amount of rehabilitation in later seasons can wash down the initial bad taste. I also have J.J. Abrams. I was fine with 2009's Star Trek, on the understanding that it was an introduction to a new timeline and a new set of adventures. It was fun enough, and popular enough, that we’d surely get something deeper and closer to “real” Trek in the next one, right?

I was, in a way, both right and horribly, horribly wrong.

 So I am constantly in need of more Star Trek, but also positive it is going to break my heart. This new series has Bryan Fuller and Nicholas Meyer on board, which is everything I could ever want. So of course, it must be a horrible prank pulled on fans by the universe. There haven’t been unambiguously good Star Trek choices, pretty much ever. In the new show’s case, my bet’s on Alex Kurtzman’s influence, tainted by Into Darkness, causing me endless pain.

I want Fuller’s Star Trek to be everything that Star Trek has been missing for years. I want it to look good, while also being innovative and interesting. I believe that, if anyone is capable of it, Fuller is. I also believe that if he succeeds, my heart won’t be able to take it and I will die of shock as the bedrock foundation of my world—Star Trek is the best and it always hurts me—cracks.

{ http://io9.gizmodo.com/ }

---

Contact the author at katharine@io9.com.

Strange lights were filmed over Stara Zagora, Bulgaria 29-Feb-2016

These strange unidentified flying object was caught on tape over Stara Zagora in Bulgaria yesterday.

Witness report: I was walking down Ivan Vazov street, and looked in the direction of the football field, it’s a construction site at the moment for some large store. 
I looked at the sky and saw those lights, yellow-orange, pretty big (maybe 5-10 times bigger than the biggest star), slowly appearing and disappearing, as if the object was rotating, or just switching the lights on/off. 
I dont know if it was a single object with lights or multiple objects. Overall I observed about 4 cycles of the lights slowly appearing and slowly disappearing. At some point the object started moving slowly. I shot a video with my 5 megapixel phone camera. 
Then the light slowly faded and never appeared again. I waited for a couple of minutes and walked away. 
I immediately thought it is a UFO, as I’ve seen something similar in the area a few years ago (tho it was a single light of similar size and color), and my father has seen the same. 
I felt kind of calm and even disconnected while taking the video, but afterwards I felt pretty excited and a little scared. I was amazed and there were shivers running down my spine and trough my body.

Author (source: MUFON)

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

Fast UFO filmed over Harstad, Norway

This older UFO video was filmed on 26th August 2015 and just yesterday reported to MUFON. It shows very wast object flying above Harstad in Norway.

Witness report: object changed green / red lights, moved fast above mountains and sea
I looked out over the sea from my balcony. First I saw this object standing still in the sky and I thought it could be a drone, but then it suddely moved very fast up into the sky in a straight line way to north. I run as fast as I could inside and looked out my kitchen-window while I at the same time told my girlfriend to come see this strange object. We have never seen anything like this before. The object suddenly moved fast back to where it came from, and we ran back to the balcony where I recorded this object on my iPhone. Then we saw this happening: The object moved very fast from high up in the sky above the mountain. Bright lights changed from red to green while it moved fast down toward the sea. Then it suddenly dissapeared behind the building. We stood there like paralyzed, not knowing what to say or feel.

Author (source: MUFON)

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

Aitkin County Resident Claim To Have Seen The Same UFO Everyday

A witness in Aitkin County, Minnesota reported seeing similar UFO every night and sent a video with a report to MUFON to prove her case. The report, which is filed in Case 50785 of the network’s witness reporting database, only has a few details as the witness primarily reveals that she saw the same unidentified flying object on a daily basis.

According to the report, the sighting took place at 7:18 p.m. on September 12, 2013. The case was also reported on the same date to MUFON.

The witness described the object to have the size larger than a basketball if measured at arm’s length. It hovered, descended while blinking and pulsing, according to the witness’ report. The witness estimated it to be at an altitude higher than 500 feet and a distance of over a mile.

Aitkin County, MN has more than 16,000 residents.

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

Unidentified flying objects filmed over Los Angeles, Nevada.

Here’s one new video of a bright lights flying across the sky above Las Vegas, Nevada. This was filmed on Thursday, 25th February 2016.

Witness report: It was a great night for the night vision camera. I began filming a light to the south before it was fully dark. Initially, I wasn’t sure what it was but know to film just in case. It turned out to be an interesting capture because it ended up being a minimum of four lights which ultimately disappeared below a nearby rooftop. The second set of lights were to the north and I knew immediately that they were special and began filming them because I have filmed similar lights many times before in the same location. What’s so interesting about them is the formations they were flying in and how slowly they were moving. The most interesting thing of all is that this time I know their destination because the camera followed them to Nellis Air Force Base. They also flew to a very strange area I have filmed on many occasions. It is a location where hundreds of lights seemingly appear out of thin air. I could visually see the lights to the south but the lights to the north did not reveal themselves visually. Finally, in both the north and south videos you will also see airplanes flying through the scene. The aircraft that were flying in the video from the north are very likely military because they appeared to be flying in restricted airspace. You can tell when you are looking at an airplane because the flashing beacon is much stronger and more pronounced.

Author (Steven Barone @ youtube)

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

Buzz Aldrin calls for human colony on Mars

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin takes his seat to testify before a Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness hearing, on February 24, 2015.

 

 REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE

Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, thinks that mankind's next big objective in space should be to colonize Mars. Speaking at an event at the Science Museum in London, Aldrin projected that by 2040, Earthlings will set foot on the Red Planet, making way for an eventual space colony.

"To take the step, to take the movement, to take the action to begin to occupy -- is there anything bigger that humans could do on Earth than to leave and begin to occupy?" Aldrin said.

The astronaut, who set foot on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 mission in 1969, said that getting to Mars would be the "easy part." Actually being able to sustain human life and establish a fully functioning colony would be the real challenge.

"I look at where we were 47 years ago, leading the world in space exploration, having six landings on the moon -- no one has done anything like that ever since," Armstrong said, lamenting the drop-off in human space exploration in the past few decades.

This isn't the first time that Aldrin has predicted that Mars colonization is next great frontier in space exploration. In fact, he has been advocating for sending humans to Mars since 1969. He's written about it in his book "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration" and children's book, "Welcome to Mars." Last fall, he told CBS News' Face the Nation that "growing public apathy" and the enormous cost required to send humans to Mars have contributed to stalled efforts to send people to the Martian surface.

At the event in London on Sunday, Aldrin (wearing a "Destination: Mars" t-shirt) proposed a "perpetual, continuous cycling between Earth and Mars ... it gets more economical that way." The goal, he said, is "to occupy Mars -- not just visit and come back, but to keep Mars occupied. You go and you stay, and other people go, and you may come back."

He also discussed the mental toll that colonizing the planet could have on future space explorers. He said it would take a specific kind of individual to commit to settling on another planet for the rest of his or her life.

"I can see people making that decision. That's the most important thing," he said. "But I can also see things getting a little tough and they regret the decision and their functioning going down and that being disruptive to people."

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9:42 AM - 29 Feb 2016

Giant statues called moai stand atop a stone platform called an ahu on Easter Island (Rapa Nui). Credit: Dan Ruby, University of Nevada, Reno View full size image

Thousands of small, sharp, spearlike objects scattered throughout Easter Island have long been presumed to be evidence of massive warfare that led to the demise of its ancient civilization. But new evidence from archaeological investigations suggests that these objects, called mata'a, were not used as weapons at all.

Easter Island is a tiny landmass located about 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) off the coast of Chile. The remote volcanic island, also known as Rapa Nui, has been at the center of fierce debates in both academia and popular culture.

Polynesians first arrived on the island in the 13th century, and Rapa Nui's early inhabitants were famous for the enormous stone statues (called moai) that they built and placed on the coastline. More than 900 of these majestic statues were found on the island — so many that scholars have argued that there must have been tens of thousands of residents on Easter Island at one point — but so far, scientists and historians have not been able to agree on what caused the collapse of its society. [Image Gallery: The Walking Statues of Easter Island]

Popular belief held that massive internal warfare led to the population's catastrophic collapse. This grim outcome became a cautionary tale of the overuse of limited resources and eventual self-destruction. But, in the past decade or so, this understanding has been challenged by archaeologists whose research points to a different story — in which disease and slavery introduced by Europeans were the more likely cause of the Polynesian society's decline.

By carefully examining more than 400 mata'a, collecting photographs and analyzing their shape using a technique known as morphometric analysis, researchers have added new evidence to this line of thinking.

"The mata'a have lots of different shapes," said lead study author Carl Lipo, an anthropologist at Binghamton University in New York. "Some of them are roundish, some of them are square and some are kind of triangular."

The mata'a would not have made good weapons, Lipo said. For one, they are not sharp, and not all of the mata'a are pointed. They are also too thick and asymmetrical for piercing lethal wounds, and the wear patterns on these objects suggest that they were used to scrape and cut things, rather than puncture vital organs, he said.

These are images of various mata'a.
Credit: Carl Lipo, Binghamton University

View full size image

Moreover, other evidence of systemic warfare on the island is mysteriously absent, according to the researchers. For instance, archaeological digs on Easter Island have not uncovered traces of lethal skull trauma, severed limbs or mass graves, Lipo said. Nor did scientists find defensive fortlike structures common on other islands in the Pacific with a history of warfare, such as Fiji and New Zealand.   

"There's no question that there's going to be competition on the island," Lipo told Live Science. "It is an island with finite resources. But the interesting thing is that it doesn't appear to have led to lethal violence."

All of this evidence suggests that the small population of 3,000 that was living on the island when Europeans first arrived in 1722 wasn't a relic of a much greater civilization. In fact, the Rapa Nui society probably flourished until well after initial European contact, according to Mara Mulrooney, an anthropologist at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, who also studies the Rapa Nui civilization but was not involved with the new research.

The researchers' "morphometric analysis of mata'a lends further empirical support to the notion that Rapa Nui is an example of success rather than 'collapse,'" Mulrooney told Live Science in an email.

The Rapa Nui mata'a were probably general-purpose tools used for agricultural practices such as lithic mulching, ritual sacrifice and tattooing, Lipo said. These peaceful activities actually make more sense in an archaeological context because on such a small, isolated island, people would have had to learn to deal with their problems and mitigate group-level competition, he added.

"You can't afford to escalate to killing because there's no way to escape the cost of killing," Lipo said. "Warfare would have killed everybody."

If the Rapa Nui civilization was successful on the remote island, the next question archaeologists need to answer is how these people created a sustainable community, Lipo said. "The mystery is actually more interesting now," he said, "because now, we have something to learn."

The new study was published online Feb. 17 in the journal Antiquity.

Follow Knvul Sheikh on Twitter @KnvulS. Follow Live Science@livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Editor's Recommendations

• The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth
• Album: The Seven Ancient Wonders of the World
• 14 Strangest Sights on Google Earth

{ http://www.livescience.com/ }

Monthly Statistical MUFON Report - for February 2016:

CMS continues to amass sighting reports from around the globe. In February 2016 there were 611 sightings reported to MUFON through CMS from the following countries; 

Within the United States the distribution by State was as follows;

If you are getting more sighting reports than listed here, please be sure to enter them manually into CMS. To make this happen automatically, make sure your local MUFON Website is pointing to the CMS Reporting form on www.mufon.com and direct all calls you get to the MUFON website so that witnesses can enter their own report directly into CMS.

ALL sighting reports received by CMS are already filled in by the witness, saving you and your investigators time. Each report is automatically sent to YOU, the State Director and Assistant State Director, for you to assign someone to follow-up and complete the report.

If a UFO sighting comes in over the phone, or by e-mail, and you want to enter it yourself, simply go to CMS at http://mufoncms.com (once logged in) and click on "ADD CASE" in the upper right hand corner of the screen. This gives you a blank sighting reporting form that you can fill out while the witness is on the phone. Once the report is filled out be sure to click "SAVE" and you will have easily added your NEW report to CMS.

Other interesting data points in CMS during February 2016 are the shape of the UFOs reported which were as follows; 

as well as the distance from the observer;

Most impressively there were 26 Landings, Hovering, or Takeoffs reported and 0 Entities observed.

To review the CMS data yourself go to www.mufon.com and click on "UFO Case Files" to 1.) Easily look at the Last 20 Sightings, or 2.) Do a customized search of the CMS database by date and/or location, or 3.) Logon to CMS for even more detailed UFO sighting information about your State and the World.

I hope you are enjoying our new internet based Sighting and Reporting System. For questions regarding its use please refer to the User Guide available on your CMS main menu screen. Please send your questions and/or suggestions to Jan Harzan atjanharzan@hotmail.com.

Thank you!

Pluto's North Pole Carved Up by Long Canyons (Photo)

The frozen canyons of Pluto's north pole are represented in enhanced colors in this image taken from the New Horizons spacecraft on July 14, 2015. The surrounding terrain shows higher elevations in yellow and lower elevations in shades of blue-gray.

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

A series of canyons snakes across Pluto's frigid north polar region, a gorgeous, newly released photo of the dwarf planet reveals.

The enhanced-color image, which was captured by NASA's New Horizons spacecraft during its historic Pluto flyby last July, shows a region informally named Lowell Regio, after Percival Lowell, the founder of Arizona's Lowell Observatory and the person who began the search that led to Pluto's discovery in 1930 (by American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh).

Several canyons run parallel across Lowell Regio, the photo reveals. The widest one measures about 45 miles (75 kilometers) across;. smaller, parallel canyons to the east and west of it are each about 6 miles (10 km) wide.

"The degraded walls of these canyons appear to be much older than the more sharply defined canyon systems elsewhere on Pluto, perhaps because the polar canyons are older and made of weaker material," NASA officials wrote in a description of the image, which was released Thursday (Feb. 25). "These canyons also appear to represent evidence for an ancient period of tectonics."

The photo also depicts a number of reddish pits, the largest of which are about 45 miles (70 km) across and 2.5 miles (4 km) deep. These mysterious features may indicate where subsurface ice melted and the ground fell in, NASA officials said.

The composition of Lowell Regio is intriguing and unusual. Some of the area's higher elevations show up in a yellow color not seen elsewhere on Pluto. The bluish-gray terrain in the image represents lower elevations and latitudes.

Pluto's North Pole Canyons Annotated

Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

New Horizons' measurements revealed that Lowell Regio contains lots of methane ice and little nitrogen ice, mission team members said.

"One possibility is that the yellow terrains may correspond to older methane deposits that have been more processed by solar radiation than the bluer terrain," Will Grundy, New Horizons composition team lead from Lowell Observatory, said in a statement published with the image description.

New Horizons took the image on July 14 from a distance of 21,000 miles (33,900 km) from Pluto's surface, about 45 minutes before the probe's closest approach to the dwarf planet.

The spacecraft is now speeding toward a small object called 2014 MU69, which lies 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) beyond Pluto. New Horizons will study 2014 MU69 up close on Jan. 1, 2019, if NASA approves and funds a proposed extended mission.

Follow Elizabeth Howell @howellspace, or Space.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

EDITOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS

• Destination Pluto: NASA's New Horizons Mission in Pictures
• Ice Volcanoes On Pluto? New Imagery Points To It | Video
• Pluto Quiz: How Well Do You Know the Dwarf Planet?

{ http://www.space.com/ }

Robotic Falconry: Clearing the Skies of Unwanted Drones

By: David Russell Schilling

Drone Capture (Image Courtesy www.pdeinsideout.com.au)

New “Bird” Abatement Market Opening Up

With the rise of millions of multi-rotor drones around the world, a “drone catcher system” or “bird abatement” seems an obvious necessity. People and organizations wishing to protect lives and property need a solution to force a landing or shoot down drones.

Using Eagles, Hawks for Robotic Falconry

It was recently reported that Eagles are being trained by police in Rotterdam, Netherlands to take out drones. In the following video, an Eagle takes out a drone, and it’s all captured by a camera aboard the drone.

Eagle Drone Catcher

Incidence of Bothersome Drones Increasing Exponentially

One obvious example of drone shenanigans is a hobbyist who flew a DJI Phantom helicopter over the White House last year. IndustryTap also recently reported on a professional skier who was nearly hit by a drone filming a ski competition.

Drone Capture Research & Development

Students at Michigan Tech are developing a “Robotic Falcon” to deal with renegade drones.

One of the current methods of gaining control over a renegade drone involves dropping a net over it.

The following video is a demonstration of a drone catcher in action from PDE Product Design Engineering.

David Russell Schilling

David enjoys research and writing about cutting edge technologies that hold the promise of improving conditions for all life on planet earth.

{ http://www.industrytap.com/ }

Advancing the Horizon of Human Understanding: MUFON Utah State Director Erica Lukes Interviews Jon Kelly

What Are Orbs in Photos? Spirits? Dust?

Researchers show some orbs are anomalous, cannot be explained by reflected light

A picture of the "aura" of a human hand. (Steffo27/iStock)

In Beyond Science, Epoch Times explores research and accounts related to phenomena and theories that challenge our current knowledge. We delve into ideas that stimulate the imagination and open up new possibilities. Share your thoughts with us on these sometimes controversial topics in the comments section below.

In some spiritual traditions, people are said to have “auras” around them. Sometimes the auras are described as being various colors or at various levels of intensity, depending on the person’s characteristics.

Photos taken using special methods are said to show the energy people emanate, their auras.

In a previous article about auras, we looked at several theories to explain what auras might be, including (A.) biophotons released during injury, (B.) the skin’s moisture, (C.) body heat, and (D.) a type of energy communication.

MORE:

• What Are the ‘Auras’ Around People Seen in Photos?

Here we will look at two more theories: (E.) it may be a bioenergy field, or (F.) it may be a result of a condition called synesthesia.

Bioenergy Field?

Biochemist John Norman Hansen, Ph.D., at the University of Maryland has found evidence of what he believes is a bioenergy field around humans.

Silhouette of a man (Zdravkovic/iStock) Background: (CarlosGFernandez/iStock)

MORE:

• We Each Have a Mysterious Bioenergy Field Around Us: Study

Instead of using photon sensors, as is often done in the search for auras, he decided to see if the “aura” has enough power to push a pendulum. He used a torsion pendulum, which can be moved by subtle force, and repeatedly found that its momentum changed when placed above a person’s head.

Synesthesia?

Synesthesia is a condition in which a person’s senses are cross-wired, so to speak. Someone might hear blue or smell a sonata, for example.

A study published by University of Granada researchers in 2012 shows that healers who say they see people’s auras sometimes have synesthesia.

MORE:

• Do Some People Sense the Unseen? (Part 1)

For example, they found that a local healer known as El Santón, has face-color synesthesia: “The brain region responsible for face recognition is associated with the color-processing region.”

MORE:

• What Are Orbs in Photos? Spirits? Dust?

“Not all ‘healers’ are synesthetes, but there is a higher prevalence of this phenomenon among them,” one of the researchers told Science Daily. “The same occurs among painters and artists, for example.”

Tags: auraparapsychologyspirituality

Category: Science Beyond Science

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Wat zijn aura’s en bestaan ze echt?

The Hololens, A Monumental Tool For UFOlogist, Feb 29, 2016, UFO Sighting News

Date of video: February 29, 2016
Source: Microsoft Hololens of Youtube

Holographic glasses will one day become the number one tool of alien artefact hunters that search through government Mars and space photos for archaeological structures. This new tool will give you a 360 degree view of many objects and allow you to actually stand over some of them. It will need about 5-10 more years to have enough apps for it, and for the headset to be smaller and lighter than it is today. It will change the world we live in forever. How...is up to us. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

Microsoft Hololens states: 
Gaze is one form of input on HoloLens. It tells you where the user is looking in the world and helps you determine their intent. This video provides an overview of Gaze input and the concepts you need to learn to work with this form of input. 

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

UFOs Over Phoenix, Arizona On Feb 2016, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: February 2016
Location of  sighting: Phoenix, Arizona, USA

This is a cool catch. It took place where a legendary sighting occurred back in March of 1997, what was called the Phoenix lights. The smaller light seems to have fallen from the larger one. Like a drone coming out of a main ship, to observe more safely and close up. 
Scott C. Waring
www.ufosightingsdaily.com

Jason Hunter of Youtube states:
This was sent to me by a viewer. Here is a UFO sighting happening right now in Phoenix. Viewer had to pull over to film in the darkness.

{ http://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

President Jimmy Carter UFO Witness (Video)

Before It's News)

Thanks http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.com/

Check out more contributions by Jeffery Pritchett ranging from UFO to Bigfoot to Paranormal to Prophecy

(Before It's News)

Horten Ho-2 Flying Wing Test Flight 1935

HORTEN 229 - Nazi Uber fighter of WW2

SIX Mysterious Bright Orbs Hover In The Sky Over Hythe UK – They Are WATCHING Us!

SIX mysterious bright ORBS have been witnessed circulating over Hythe and Folkestone, which many believe in the area that there are now unknown UFOs present around the Kent coast in England UK.

This strange sighting has left experts baffled and the Ministry of Defence, which runs training ranges nearby, have denied any involvement. One quite possible explanation for the phenomenon had been that these were military flares sent up to illuminate a mock battlefield, BUT intriguingly an MoD spokesman said there were NO military exercises taking place at the time – many witnesses in the area confirmed that these were no flares and appeared to be huge Orb- Like objects which streaked around the sky above them.

A Kent Unidentified Flying Objects Research Group spokesman said:

“The coastlines around East Kent and South Kent are major UFO areas.

“The towns in these areas have large amounts of UFO sightings on a continual basis.

“People are observing UFOs over the Thames Estuary and the English Channel all the time. UFO sightings in these areas have increased dramatically in the past few years.”

A similar event happened back in 2014 when 29-year-old Matt Law was driving back towards the Kent village of Dymchurch, when suddenly a string of UFO lights appeared in the sky in front of his car.  As he got closer, they remained stationary and when he opened his window there was no sound from them. Bewildered, he said he watched the lights eventually fly off and disappear as if in some kind of controlled manner!

“I’m not saying it was a flying saucer – I’m a bit of a sceptic – but it was NO plane or helicopter,” he said.

U.I.P SUMMARY –  The UK (my homeland) appears to be a bit of a hotbed of activity for UFO sightings, especially of these multi-coloured ORBS which are also being witnessed all over the world – in fact the Orbs are probably one of the main UFO sightings seen here in the UK at the moment – please see some of our reports below:

http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/ufo-photos-and-videos/pair-of-bright-orbs-caught-on-camera-in-the-uk-u-i-p-sighting-report/

http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/ufo-photos-and-videos/fleet-of-orbs-above-gloucestershire-uk-and-the-us-ets-disclosure/

http://www.ufointernationalproject.com/sighting-reports/the-foo-fighters-of-ww2-are-the-orbs-that-we-see-today/

Fleet of Orbs above Gloucestershire UK

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'The Martian' Lands No Oscars at Academy Awards

Comedian Chris Rock stands in for Matt Damon in a parody of "The Martian" shown during the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016.

Credit: ABC

"The Martian" was left stranded without any Oscars on Sunday night (Feb. 28) at the 88th Academy Awards.

Ridley Scott's science fiction film about a NASA astronaut (Matt Damon) being left for dead on Mars received seven nominations — including Best Picture and Best Actor — but ended the evening with no wins.

"It's pretty cool just to be nominated," wrote Andy Weir, author of the book on which the "The Martian" is based, in a post on Facebook. "Slowly but surely, science fiction is worming its way into popular culture and mainstream entertainment. I'm proud to be a small part of that." [Photos from 'The Martian': Matt Damon on 'Mars']

"The Martian" star Matt Damon with his wife Luciana Barroso on the red carpet at the 88th Academy Awards.

Credit: ABC

Still, it was other science fiction and dramatic films that ultimately brought home the Oscars.

Drew Goddard, who wrote the screenplay for "The Martian" based Weir's book, lost out to Charles Randolph and Adam McKay for "The Big Short." Visual effects artists Richard Stammers, Anders Langlands, Chris Lawrence and Steven Warner, who transformed Jordan into the Red Planet, were passed over in favor for team behind "Ex Machina."

Paul Massey, Mark Taylor and Mac Ruth, whose sound mixing on "The Martian" was recognized with a nomination, and Oliver Tarney, who was similarly honored for sound editing, lost to the sound engineers on "Mad Max: Fury Road." The same was true for "Martian" production designers Arthur Max and Celia Bobak.

Damon, who played Ares III crewmember Mark Watney, lost to a different type of frontiersman, Leonardo DiCaprioin "The Revenant," for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

And it was "Spotlight," about the real journalists who uncovered systemic child sex abuse in the Catholic church, that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, over the "The Martian."

The only other space-related film to be nominated this year, the animated short "We Can't Live Without Cosmos," was also left without an Oscar — the Academy Award going to "Bear Story." Directed by Konstantin Bronzit, "Cosmos" follows two cosmonauts and friends who try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality.

The evening, however, was not completely devoid of happy space-themed moments.

Josh Singer, who with Tom McCarthy was the writing team behind the film "Spotlight," won for best original screenplay. Singer is now working on the script for Universal Studios' Neil Armstrong biopic, based on historian James Hansen's biography "First Man," to be directed by Damien Chazelle ("Whiplash").

C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 take to the stage at the 88th Academy Awards to pay tribute to “Star Wars” composer John Williams, who was nominated for his 50th Oscar.

Credit: ABC

C-3PO, R2-D2 and BB-8 from "Star Wars" took to the stage to pay tribute to composer John Williams, who was nominated for his 50th Academy Award.

And Buzz Lightyear, the fictional space ranger (and sometimes International Space Station resident), was literally drawn onto the stage with his "Toy Story" co-star, Woody, to present the Oscar for best animated film.

Comedian Chris Rock used his platform as the ceremony's host to raise attention to the lack of diversity among this year's nominees. As part of this, Rock took Damon's place in a re-staged clip from "The Martian," where NASA Administrator Theodore Sanders (Jeff Daniels) and NASA public affairs officer Annie Montrose (Kristen Wiig) debated if it was worth spending $2500 "white dollars" to save a "black astronaut."

"The Martian" earlier won two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture — Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor (Damon) in the same category.

Robert Z. Pearlman is a Space.com contributing writer and the editor of collectSPACE.com, a Space.compartner site and the leading space history-focused news publication. Follow collectSPACE.comon Facebookand on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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