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Is this proof of LIFE on Mars? NASA's Curiosity rover snaps photos of Martian mushrooms that prove the red planet is home to organic lifeforms, scientists claim in controversial study

• Images from NASA's Mars Curiosity show pictures of mushrooms and funghi
• Some scientists claim these NASA images show the red surface is not barren   
• The claims from the researchers have yet to be confirmed or refuted by NASA

By JOE PINKSTONE FOR MAILONLINE 

Images from the surface of Mars reveal the presence of mushrooms, a group of scientists claim in a controversial new study. 

It states some images captured by NASA's Curiosity show fungi is growing on the surface of the supposedly barren planet. 

The claims have yet to be confirmed or refuted by NASA.

Scroll down for video  

A study claims some objects captured by NASA's Curiosity show fungi is growing on the surface of the supposedly barren planet (pictured)

The research lists 15 images as evidence of algae, lichens and 'Martian mushrooms'.

Photographic evidence of such flourishing lifeforms, should the discovery be confirmed, would likely revolutionise our understanding of Mars and life outside of Earth. 

Dr Regina Dass, of the department of microbiology at the school of life sciences, India, the study's co-author said: 'There are no geological or other abiogenic forces on Earth which can produce sedimentary structures, by the hundreds, which have mushroom shapes, stems, stalks, and shed what looks like spores on the surrounding surface,' the Express reports. 

'In fact, fifteen specimens were photographed by NASA growing out of the ground in just three days.' 

It remains unknown why life may have sprouted on Mars but it is possible conditions are more suitable for cultivating life underground than on the surface.  

The claims have been published in Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews.

A controversial piece of research such as this is subjected to extensive vetting by peers within the scientific community. 

The research states 15 images include evidence of algae, lichens and 'Martian mushrooms' (pictured). The claims have been published in Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews

Photographic evidence of such flourishing lifeforms, should the discovery be confirmed, would revolutionise our understanding of Mars. Images from the rover include purported evidence of 'life' on martian rocks 

Editors of the journal say six independent scientists and eight senior editors were recruited to scrutinise the study. 

Eleven recommended publication on the grounds certain revisions were implemented and three rejected the results. 

Other academics proposed an alternative explanation and say it is more feasible the specimens are hematite, a form of iron oxide. 

The journal stated: 'Evidence is not proof and there is no proof of life on Mars.

'Abiogenic explanations for this evidence can't be ruled out.'

Read more:

• Life on Mars? Growing ‘FUNGI’ spotted in Mars Curiosity Rover photos - SHOCK CLAIM | Science | News | Express.co.uk
• Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews

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14. Evidence of Martian Algae/Cyanobacteria

Several investigators, based on an examination of photos of Martian specimens, have suggested that what appears to be algae may be present on Mars (Joseph 2014; Krupa 2018 Levin, Straat, & Benton, 1978). Levin et al (1978) upon closely examining photos from the 1976 Viking mission, observed what appeared to be green patches on Mars rocks which, over time, changed in size. Levin, Straat and Benton (1978) argued that changes in the green patches could represent biological activity and evidence of life (e.g. algae), or alternatively, green-colored dirt and dust.

In 2017, T. A. Krupa presented evidence at the Lunar and Planetary Society of what may be green photosynthetic organisms, e.g. algae. Krupa performed a detailed analysis of low albedo, "anomalous" images from Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater, and those photographed by the Spirit Rover's Pan Cam in an area of Mars dubbed "Larry's Outcrop/Larry's Lookout." These photos were initially analyzed by employing "red," "blue," and "green" filters, which were "radiometrically corrected with the radiance correction parameters found in the image file header." These images were analyzed next with a computer Geographic Information System, SAGA.

Krupa (2017) reported the analysis revealed what appears to be water pathways which may intermittently fill with water and that "the hillside at Larry's outcrop is covered by a very thin layer of green material" and "green spherules" which clearly resembles algae in the soil. Krupa (2017) concluded "that these spherules are a life form supported by that water.... and their green color suggests that the spherules contain a photosynthetic compound similar to green chlorophyll...The distribution of these spherules in a single layer...is also consistent with the hypothesis that the spherules are photosynthetic life forms," e.g., algae/cyanobacteria.

Krupa's (2017) computerized analyses which revealed possible water pathways that may intermittently fill with water, is, of course an unproven hypothesis, but which is nevertheless consistent with findings of Martian water by Renno et al., (2009) and other investigators. Specifically, in 2004 the European Space Agencies' Mars orbiter found evidence of water ice and detected vapors of water molecules via an infrared camera aboard the Mars Express spacecraft which was circling the Red Planet's south pole whereas additional "water" "anomalies" were reported in 2015 (Villanueva et al. 2015).

15. Biology of Seasonal Fluctuations in Martian Methane

If prokaryotes and fungi contributed to the formation of Martian sedimentary structures billions of years in the past, the accumulation of these decaying organisms should also be a source of sedimentary and atmospheric methane. As based on simulation studies (Tarasashvili et al., 2013), methanogens can flourish in a Mars-like environment. If methanogens have colonized Mars, they too would be a source of methane. In fact, high levels of methane have been detected at ground level and in the atmosphere of Mars and which varies in concentration depending on the season and which is continually replenished (Formisano et al. 2004; Mumma et al. 2004, 2009; Webster et al. 2013, 2015, 2018).

Specifically, it has been determined that Martian atmospheric methane levels are punctuated by major spikes in concentration which later decline, only to later increase again (Formisano et al. 2004; Mumma et al. 2004, 2009; Webster et al. 2018). Three separate methane plumes consisting of 19,000 metric tons of methane gas were detected in the Martian atmosphere by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft in 2003 (Formisano et al. 2004). Employing infrared spectrometers on three Earth-based telescopes several possible methane emission sources were found in the vicinity of Syrtis Major, Arabia Terra, and Nili Fossae in the southern and northern hemispheres (Formisano et al. 2004; Mumma et al. 2004).

In July of 2013, "an upper limit of 2.7 parts per billion of methane" was detected in the vicinity of the Gale Crater fluctuating between a value of 0.18 ppbv to 1.3 ppbv as measured on September of 2013 (Webster et al. 2013). A "tenfold spike" in methane levels followed with increases in late 2013 and early 2014, averaging "7 parts of methane per billion in the atmosphere" (Webster et al. 2015).

In 2018, Webster and colleagues reported that "in situ measurements at Gale crater made over a five-year period by the Tunable Laser Spectrometer on the Curiosity rover "revealed a strong, repeatable seasonal variation...which is greater than that predicted from either ultraviolet degradation of impact-delivered organics on the surface or from the annual surface pressure cycle." According to Webster et al (2018), the findings "are consistent with small localized sources of methane released from Martian surface or subsurface reservoirs."

On Earth, 90% of methane is produced biologically by living and decaying organisms (U.S. Department of Agriculture 2017; U.S. Department of Energy, 2017) and released as a waste product by prokaryotes (Bruhn et al. 2012; Kepler et al. 2006) and certain species of fungi (Lenhart et al. 2012; Liu et al 2015; Mukhin & Voronin, 2007). Terrestrial atmospheric methane levels also vary with the seasons and are directly attributed to biological activity.

For example, Rasmussen and Khalil (1981) found "stable seasonal cycles with peak concentrations in October and minimum concentrations in July." In 1983 these investigators reported that in the southern hemisphere the lowest concentrations are found during the late Australian summer and fall; likewise, there is less atmospheric methane in the northern hemisphere during summer. These seasonal variations have as their source biological activity in wetlands (Chen et al. 2008; Whalen 2005) and on farms and in rice paddies, just prior to harvest (Chen et al. 2008; Cicerone et al. 1983).

Chen et al. (2008) report a direct correlation between atmospheric methane and the growing seasons (14.45 mg CH₄ m^-2 h^-1 [0.17 to 86.78 mg CH₄ m^-2 h^-1) vs non-growing seasons (0.556 mg CH₄ m^-2 h^-1 (0.002 to 6.722 mg CH₄ m^-2 h^-1). Major contributing factors include surface temperatures, standing water depths, and the degree of plant growth, whereas in anerobic environments the absence of oxygen and the amount of degradable material are controlling influences.

Based on a thorough review of the evidence, Whalen (2005) determined that "emission from wetlands is also a significant component of the atmospheric CH₄ budget...about 25% of total emissions from all anthropogenic and natural sources." Much of "this methane is produced by subsurface, anaerobic methanogenic bacteria and surficial oxidation by methanotrophic bacteria."

As documented in this report, methanogens, cyanobacteria, fungi, and lichens can easily survive in a Mars-like environment. Further there is evidence that these same species of prokaryote and eukaryotes have colonized Mars and that there is water beneath and above the surface.

Although considered controversial, NASA's 1976 Viking Labeled Release (VLR) studies, at two landing sites 4,000 miles apart on Mars, detected evidence of surface biological activity that could be attributed to fungi, lichens, algae, and a variety of prokaryotes (Levin & Straat, 1976, 1977, 1979a,b, 2016). In 2009 Levin and Straat also argued that perhaps 25% of the gasses released during the experiments could have been methane attributed to methanogens. 

It is also well established that fungi and stromatolite-building cyanobacteria (algae) produce and are sources of methane (Hansson 1983; Klassen et al. 2017; Lenhart et al. 2012). Fungi and other eukaryotes generate methane via interactions with methanogenic archaea (see Olsson et al. 2017).

Algae and Saprotrophic fungi also produce methane independently of archaea (Hansson 1983; Klassen et al. 2017; Lenhart, et al. 2012) whereas fungal (and archaea) methane production is inhibited by the presence of oxygen and increases with increased levels of carbon dioxide (Lenhart, et al. 2012)--a finding which is true for most methane-producing species. Therefore, Mars is an ideal habitat for methanogens as there are minimal levels of free oxygen and the atmosphere is 96% carbon dioxide (Mahaffy et al. 2013), whereas the electron acceptor in methanogenesis is carbon dioxide.

Martian radiation may also promote the biological production of methane. It has been established that saprotrophic micro-fungi biologically decompose carbon-based radioactive debris from the damaged Chernobyl nuclear reactor (Zhdanova et al., 1991). Saprotrophic fungi are even adapted for accumulation and uptake of radiocesium fallout (Dighton et al. 1991) and, as noted, are a source of methane (Lenhart, et al. 2012). As indicated by Figures 8, 9, 10, 12, there is evidence of Martian fungal growth. Hence, it would be expected that the growth and biological activity of any Martian organisms might wax and wane, thereby resulting in a waxing and waning of Martian methane and contributing to seasonal variations.

Using Earth as an example, the most probable contributors to seasonal variations in Martian methane emissions are variations in water availability, temperature, degradable and methanogen biomass and the growth and decay of various organisms. As there no evidence of any significant abiotic methane production on Mars (Khayat et al. 2017; Roos-Serote et al. 2016; Webster et al. 2018), and given that 90% of terrestrial methane is biological in origin, it is reasonable to assume biological activity is the primary source of fluctuating levels of and seasonal variations in Martian methane.

16. Geology of Martian Methane?

Certainly, and as most investigators insist, it is possible that Martian methane is produced geologically and through abiogenic processes. Perhaps Martian methane is vented periodically and naturally released via gas permeable fissures; faults and fractures in rocks; sandstone and sediment; and the leakage of deep gas reservoirs through geothermal activity, and especially through vents leading deep beneath the surface from inactive mud-volcanoes as these are the source of abiogenic methane on Earth (U.S. Department of Energy, 2017; Etiope & Klusman 2002; Vanneste et al. 2001).

Khayat and colleagues (2017), however, searching for geological sources found none. Khayat et al. (2017) examined two volcanic districts via a high resolution spectrometer at NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility and using the high resolution heterodyne receiver at the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope facility, and "no active release of such gasses was detected."

Organic molecules are also a source of terrestrial methane (U.S. Department of Energy, 2017) and several investigators have reported what may be trace amounts of organic molecules on the surface of Mars (Ming et al. 2009; Sutter et al. 2016) which has been attributed to material deposited by meteors and dust drifting down from space (Frantseva et al. 2018; Moores & Schuerberg 2012; Schuerger et al. 2012). Therefore, it's been argued, Martian methane is produced by comets and meteors and via the UV photolysis of the minimal amounts of organic carbon drifting down upon the surface (Fries et al. 2015; Keppler et al. 2012).

However, as determined by Webster et al. (2018) these scenarios cannot account for the variations, levels and amount of methane so far detected which are far "greater than that predicted from either ultraviolet degradation of impact-delivered organics on the surface or from the annual surface pressure cycle." Furthermore and as summed by Roos-Serote, Atreva, Webster and colleagues (2016), "We find no compelling evidence for any correlation between atmospheric methane and predicted meteor events."

Moreover, UV photolysis of Martian organic carbon is carbon-limited and constrained by the accretion rate of IDP organics (Moores & Schuerberg 2012). There is insufficient carbon on the surface (Bieman et al. 1976; Ming et al. 2009) to account for the varying and large concentrations of methane which are periodically pumped into the Martian atmosphere (Moores & Schuerberg 2012). And, organics buried one to two mm below ground would not be subject to UV photolysis, and any methane could only be liberated biologically (U.S. Department of Energy, 2017; U.S. Department of Agriculture 2017).

Certainly there is a likely abiogenic contribution to Martian methane. However, as on Earth, that contribution appears to be minimal. By contrast, there is evidence of biological activity, including the growth of what appears to be fungi, algae and lichens, on the Martian surface; and on Earth 90% of methane is biological in origin. Thus, the most logical, scientific explanation for the replenishment of and seasonal fluctuations in Martian methane is biological activity--the first evidence of which may have been discovered by the Viking Labeled Release experiments (Klein et al. 1976; Levin 2010; Levin & Straat 1976, 2009, 2016).

17. The Viking Labeled Release Experiment Detects Biological Activity on Mars?

As summarized by Levin (2010; Levin & Straat 2016), the Viking Labeled Release (LR) experiments were designed to detect biological activity on Mars. Thousands of field tests were performed and it was proved the LR experiment was capable of accurately detecting a very wide range of microorganisms including aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria, as well as lichens, fungi, and algae.

Once on Mars a nutrient containing radioactive carbon was added to a Martian soil sample and the presence of radioactivity in the gasses released served as evidence of active metabolism. A control experiment heat-treated a second sample to kill microorganisms. Positive results including evidence of biological metabolism were obtained from the raw sample which was not subject to extreme heat-sterilization. By contrast, when soil samples were heated to 50°C, biological activity decreased by 65%. When Martian soil was pre-heated to 160°C there was no evidence of biology. When two samples of Martian soil were stored at approximately 10°C for long time periods there was a 90% and 100% reduction in activity. When not subject to sterilization, robust evidence of biological metabolism and increases in activity were obtained (Klein et al. 1976). As described by Levin and Straat (2016), the LR instruments operated flawlessly on Mars. Both Viking landing sites, some 4,000 miles apart, produced strong responses and met the pre-mission criteria for the detection of life.

To distinguish between non-biological and biological agents, additional experiments were executed via commands from Earth. Each such ad hoc series of tests again demonstrated on-going Martian metabolism. Four different LR experiments were conducted, each of which yielded positive results, and five controls, all of which supported the positive results as biological.

Levin concluded that the "amplitudes and kinetics of the Mars LR results were similar to those of terrestrial results, especially close to those of soils in, or from, frigid areas," and that the LR experiment had found evidence of biological activity on Mars (Levin 2010; Levin & Straat 1976, 1979a,b, 2016).

The results, however, were rejected by NASA administrators who argued that since the addition of more nutrients into the soil temporarily decreased the level of biological activity "the LR therefore had not detected life on Mars, but had detected a chemical or physical agent that had produced false positive results" (Levin 2010). NASA's arguments (detailed on the NASA/Mars website), though interesting, are not based on factual evidence, but post-hoc theorizing and the interested reader is encouraged to review NASA's claims to arrive at their own conclusions. In fact, according to Levin (2010) "NASA-bonded Antarctic soil 664 had reacted to its second injection as had the Martian soils" and "the decline in gas level was caused by re-adsorption of the evolved gas into the dampened soil." That only trace amounts of carbon and organic molecules have been detected on Mars (Bieman et al. 1976, 1977; Ming et al. 2009; Sutter et al. 2016) also does not support NASA's physical-chemical-false-positive hypothesis.

Subsequently, Bianciardi, Miller, Straat, and Levin (2012) performed a mathematical complexity deep analysis of the Viking LR data, employing seven complexity variables. It was determined that the Viking LR positive responses demonstrated a different pattern from control responses which resembled near-random noise. By contrast, the active experiments exhibited highly organized responses typical of biology.

18. Caveats and Conclusions

We have presented a body of observations and evidence which supports the hypothesis Mars may have been, and may still be, a living planet.  Although disagreements and differing interpretations and hypotheses abound, there is no factual, scientific evidence proving or even strongly supporting a purely abiotic explanation for the data and observations presented here which we believe favors biology. Thus, the null hypothesis is rejected.

Admittedly, abiogenic factors can't be ruled out. Conversely, at present, there is no microscopic evidence depicting cells or intra-cellular structure and thus no definitive proof of Martian life.  Moreover, although organisms can survive in space or in simulated Mars-like environments, there is no proof they can flourish on Mars. It is also very difficult to distinguish, with a high level of confidence, between what may be living organisms vs sedimentary structures. Similarities in morphology are not proof. In many respects the observations presented here could be described as circumstantial and do not rise to the level of "extraordinary evidence" thus precluding "extraordinary claims." Although, collectively, the evidence, in total, weighs in favor of biology, we can only conclude that the question of life on Mars remains unanswered.

Peer Review and Recommendations 


Fourteen qualified experts (eight Senior Editors and six independent
scientists) refereed and peer reviewed "Evidence of Life on Mars?" Eleven
experts in total recommended publication and of the eight Editors three
rejected the article. The experts have a publication history in the
following areas of science: Microbiology, Biochemistry, Biogeology,
Mars Viking Experiments, Fungi, Lichens, Methanogens, Extremophiles,
Mars-Simulated Environments, Martian Atmosphere, Martian Meteors,
Radiation Biology.

TOTAL: 11 Yes / 3 No

Supervised and Verified by the Managing Editor

D. Anderson
February 28, 2019
Journal of Astrobiology and Space Science Reviews

http//JournalofAstrobiology.com

{ http://journalofastrobiology.com/LifeonMarsPressRelease.html }

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{ http://journalofastrobiology.com/LifeonMarsPressRelease.html }

Power outages are nothing new in Venezuela – they seem to be happening weekly and often occur cross multiple states. UFO sightings over Venezuela are infrequent but happening more often, but it still seems improbable that a recent one recorded on video by a motorist in the state of Trujillo is related to the blackout he was driving through, yet that’s one of the explanations given by a reporter who investigated it. Is there really a connection? Are Venezuelans and leaders around the world pointing their fingers at the wrong cause for that country’s problems – at least its electrical power ones? And why are there so many recent UFO sightings there … including one with a crop circle?

“At first I did not pay much attention because I thought it was a reflection of the sun, but suddenly I realize that the sun was to the left, and much lower. (Immediately) the light began to move in a zigzag pattern. I called my cousin who was sleeping and I told him: record, and he started recording while I took the pictures.”

That video (watch it here) was given Friman Rodríguez to reporter Hector Escalante, a loca UFO investigator. Rodríguez saw and recorded the video with his cousin on February 16, 2019, as they were driving back to Cabimas on the Pan American Highway (Troncal 1) at about 5 pm after finding out their destination was blacked out. He apparently stopped the vehicle on the highway and recorded the UFO zigzagging across the sky, descended and then stopped. Although it’s not apparent from the video, Rodríguez claimed they were close to where the UFO hovered and possibly landed, but he didn’t want to get out and pursue it since it appears they just stopped in the middle of the highway and needed to move.

“I felt happy to record it and continue. I was not confident to return and stay to see something I do not know what could end.”

Does Friman or his DNA attract UFOs? He admits this is his first sighting but reveals his father has seen a similar object twice. Also, both he and his cousin say they were unusually exhausted and sleepy after the encounter, and the cousin had a headache that needed medical attention. While it was hot, Friman says they were in a new truck that kept them cool. Coincidences?

At this point, Escalante brings in another recent UFO sighting in La Lorena Venezuela on March 7 which also occurred during a blackout. A video (watch it here and here in a video that also incudes the possible UFO) taken in La Lorena shows people inspecting what appears to be a crop circle that the uploader says matches the shape of the UFO that reportedly hovered over it.

“Large circular signs on the vegetation left two presumed UFOs on the night of March 7, 2019. I was in the scene and it is amazing as you can see the circular shape of two alleged ships that locals say they saw the night before the video . They report that two large circular lights perched on the vegetation of the lagoon for a few minutes, then climbed the stars at an unspeakable speed. As a curious fact I must tell you that under that straw there is water … people walked on the straw that was molded by the UFOs on the water.”

Another journalist, Nelsored González, confirmed on Twitter that there was a blackout in Lake Lorraine (this appears to be a Google translation of La Lorena), and then added a couple of political dots in an attempt to connect everything to Russia!

“For those who are not aware, the day of the national blackout at 4:55 pm, on March 7, reported an alleged sighting and extraterrestrial landing on Lake Lorraine City Bolivar presumably was the cause of the blackout that Maduro does not know how to explain and for which he blames the USA. The Russians who arrived yesterday are a unit of communications, scientists and the Russian Federal Space Agency, confirms a colleague in Ciudad Bolivar who is already part of the Russian team there, created a perimeter in Lake Lorraine, where the alleged landing occurred UFO.”

But wait … there’s more! González refers to yet another recent UFO sighting (and possibly more) in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. One is a triangular set of lights that some commenters attribute to flares or military planes.

Which brings us back to the current state of affairs — paranormal, normal and abnormal — in Venezuela. The sighting in Trujillo is unusual enough that it can’t easily be written off as a refection or lens flare. The crop circle doesn’t look like the typical British countryside variety of geometric shapes and no one seems to have a logical or natural explanation. Government problems can definitely be blamed for the blackouts and military operations for at least some of the UFOs. But not all … at least not yet.

Could it be that extraterrestrials are more concerned about Venezuelans than the rest of the world? Wouldn’t that be nice?  Keep an eye on the skies and the ground for more clues.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

In late 2018, geologists and seismologists were baffled by a mysterious seismic event unlike anything seen before. Some type of massive event literally shook the entire Earth, and scientists still aren’t quite sure what it could have been. A team of French researchers published a study of the seismic anomaly this week which offers a few clues about its origins, but the study ultimately poses more questions than it answers. What’s happening deep within the Earth?

The epicenter for the 2018 seismic anomaly was just off of the coast of Mayotte, a small archipelago in the Indian Ocean presided over by France. The event consisted of long pulses of extremely low frequency waves far below the threshold of human perception but quite powerful enough to register on seismological instruments.  The pulses did not appear to be caused by earthquakes – at least any type of earthquake we know of – yet also did not appear to be man made.

Petite-Terre, Mayotte.

To add to the mystery of the 2018 seismic anomaly, geologists have found that Mayotte is sinking by as much as 9 mm or .35 inches a month as well as drifting eastward at twice that rate. That observation seems to support the new hypothesis that the 2018 event was caused by an underwater volcanic event the likes of which we’ve never seen.  In the new study of the event, researchers write that this event could be “the offshore eruption with the largest volume ever documented.”

The event is thought to have been caused over a cubic kilometer of magma 28 km (17 miles) below the ocean surface somehow flowed outward into surrounding sedimentary layers as opposed to flowing upward, hence why nothing was observed on the surface. If that’s true, though, it leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the event. In the months since the seismic anomaly, large fish kills have been observed; if all of the magma remained underground, what’s killing the fish? What is causing the high frequency pulses which were recorded alongside the low frequency rumbles? And could this activity be related to the island’s eastward and downward migration?

Map of recent cracks forming in eastern Africa.

The 2018 seismic anomaly is only one example of recent disquieting developments in eastern Africa which suggest something big may be happening below the Earth’s surface. Last year, a massive crack was found to have formed in eastern Africa running through Kenya and Somalia, a crack which is pulling away from the rest of the continent at 2.5 cm or 1 inch per year. A few months earlier, scientists published a study of the so-called “South Atlantic Anomaly,” a strange and unexplained disturbance in the Earth’s magnetic field which suggests “there’s something unusual about the core-mantle boundary under Africa that could be having an important impact on the global magnetic field.”

The South Atlantic Anomaly

Could all of these events and phenomena be related? What exactly is happening deep within the Earth under Africa? Do we really want to know, or is it better to be surprised in the middle of your breakfast burrito by the massive wall of magma rushing to engulf you and everyone you know? At least it wasn’t a good breakfast burrito. That new girl on the taco truck always puts the cheese in a big clump right in the middle instead of spreading it out evenly throughout the whole burrito.

Life is just a series of disappointing burritos. Bring it on, magma. End it already.

If there’s one thing humans aren’t prepared for, it’s new curveballs thrown at us by the angry Earth.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Video – Who Lived on Earth 100,000 Years Ago

Who Lived on Earth 100,000 Years Ago

Attribution:Youtube - ETupdates 

{ https://www.etupdates.com/ }

Symbolism of the Mythical Phoenix Bird: Renewal, Rebirth and Destruction

www.Ancient-Origins.net – Reconstructing the story of humanity’s past

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/v3/ }

Insights about secret scientific research in the US

Come Carpentier de Gourdon

Screenshot of Bob Lazar’s website.

It shows the existence of a two-tier scientific culture, of which the upper tier would be a domain for clandestine R&D, unknown to democratically elected authorities.

Many investigators and whistleblowers in the United States have, over the last 40 years, called attention upon unacknowledged scientific and technical programmes being carried out in various publicly and privately funded laboratories and research centres, affiliated to military and intelligence agencies, in “exotic” areas that are officially not regarded as deserving of serious attention in civilian institutions such as universities. The existence of such programmes, now being proven, would demonstrate the existence of a two-tier scientific culture in the US at least, if not in the rest of the world, of which the upper tier would be a domain for clandestine R&D, unsupervised by, and unknown to, democratically elected authorities. If only for this reason, finding out the truth about the situation is of great value to society.

What do we know about the long suspected “special access” programmes hiding within the American military-industrial-intelligence complex and what is backed by material evidence?

Among the first whistleblowers, who emerged in the 1980s (1989 in his case), Bob Lazar is noteworthy because of the extensive information he provided in videotaped talks about research he had carried out in Area S-4 close to the since notorious Area 51 in the Nevada desert’s atomic testing range, around the dry Groom lake riverbed.

Lazar claimed to have being recruited by the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI), through defence contractor EG&G, to work as part of a team on a highly classified project which involved examining and reverse engineering a 52 feet wide saucer-shaped craft that he quickly realised was not built by humans. He further explained that it was made of some unknown ceramic-like material, could sit three small sized (3 feet tall) crew members and was powered by a hitherto undiscovered super-heavy element, eventually identified as number 115 on the periodic table, which generated its own gravitational field and enabled the craft to reach fantastic speeds. Lazar further explained that the retrieved space vehicle was being test flown in Area 51/S-4 although neither its materials nor its propulsion systems could be figured out or reproduced. However, he warned that the US military had somehow gotten hold of a substantial quantity of Element 115, stored at Los Alamos and intended for weaponisation. His report was supported by well connected investigators, including John Lear, son of the Learjet inventor and a veteran CIA operative who testified that he was also exposed to covert research into “alien” technologies.

Lazar’s testimony (retraced and updated in a recent documentary by Jeremy Corbell entitled Bob Lazar, Area 51 and Flying Saucers) was one of many that were more or less publicised in the following decades despite stubborn denials from official quarters. In 1997, former Pentagon intelligence officer (foreign technology desk) and White House staffer Colonel Philip Corso’s bestselling book, The Day After Roswell, purported to lift the veil on much of the clandestine research pursued since 1947 by various branches of the federal government and compartmentally outsourced to defence contractors such as Lockheed, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Martin Marietta, Northrop, Grumman, Raytheon, General Dynamics and others. However, the results of those advanced investigations remained largely undisclosed, although Corso alleged that major technical breakthroughs such as microtransistors, superconductors, fibre optics, Kevlar and night vision goggles had been developed through reverse engineering of alien materials. Since then aeronautics engineer Edgar Fouché, who reports having worked for the Aurora Project at Area 51 which built the secret Tr3-B triangular mercury plasma fuelled spacecraft, Dr Robert Wood from McDonnell Douglas, Corey Goode, Wlliam Tompkins also formerly at McDonnell Douglas and the more controversial Dan Burisch, are among the alleged “insiders” who have blown the whistle on various “black” programmes. Some like Goode claim to have served on an SSF (Secret Space Fleet), a branch of the US Navy which began operating in the 1960s or 1970s under the Solar Warden code name. Their accounts have been extensively reported and analysed by veteran researchers such as Linda Moulton Howe as part of her Earthfiles series, Paola Harris, Dr Steven Greer (in his widely publicized Disclosure Project) and Dr Michael Salla, co-founder of the Exopolitics Institute.

Additionally, in June 2017, a 47-page top secret briefing document was leaked and analysed by various experts. It appears to be a briefing dictated by a member of the clandestine MJ-12 agency (set up to deal with UFO related issues in 1954) for Dr Philip Morrison, an eminent MIT physicist. It contains detailed descriptions of alien craft and their recovery, transcripts of communications with alien beings and spells out the measures taken by concerned agencies to keep the entire subject secret, even to the highest elected authorities.

Back in 2007, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, in which Area 51 is located, and who then chaired the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, set up a new study group with the support of fellow Senators, Inouye and Stevens, under the name of AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) at the suggestion of his friend, billionaire Robert Bigelow, chairman of Bigelow Aerospace, a contractor to NASA which conducted research on UFOs and collected substantial evidence of the extraterrestrial presence.

Senator Reid wished to gather information on the secret work being carried out outside the purview of Congressional authorities and got an appropriation of $22 million for a five-year budget. The investigations were entrusted to Bigelow’s aerospace research division and coordinated by Earthtech of Austin, Texas, an R&D centre in frontier areas of science headed by Dr Harold Puthoff, formerly at Stanford Research Institute. AATIP under the stewardship of high-ranking intelligence officer Luis Elizondo, commissioned a still unissued 490-page report and collected 38 classified papers from a number of universities and research centres reflecting some of the goals pursued at the behest of the DIA (as Defense Intelligence Research Documents or DIRD) and other military intelligence bodies.

AATIP remained unknown to the public until both the New York Times and the Washington Post on 16 December 2017 published articles about it with the mandatory sceptical rumblings. They both, however, provided online links to a film taken in 2004 by Super Hornet jet pilots from the USS Nimitz, off the coast of Southern California, of a fleet of extremely fast flying objects, exhibiting performances far beyond the abilities of the most advanced aircraft, whose shapes suggested “tictacs” which became their moniker.

Physicist Jack Sarfatti, formerly at San Diego State University, has gone on record to say he is doing research on the propulsion system of the “tictac” by studying “alien” recovered metamaterials in the custody of Dr Puthoff’s Earthtech. The existence of those materials of non-earthly origin has been officially confirmed.

In January of this year a Freedom Of Information Act request from Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists against Government Secrecy, led to the release by the DIA of the list of titles of above mentioned 38 government-funded research reports gathered by AATIP as part of the process to “read in” on a need-to-know basis, officials in the military and civilian administrations. They include two papers leaked earlier by Corey Goode, respectively entitled Traversable Wormholes, Stargates and Negative Energy (number 8 in the list) and Warp Drive, Dark Energy and the Manipulation of Extra-Dimensions (number 19). Others are dedicated to invisibility cloaking technologies, propulsion systems from space vacuum, anti-gravity, space communication based on Quantum Entanglement and Non-Locality, programmable matter, negative mass propulsion and other such topics not publicly recognised as being within the realm of realistic possibilities.

Cynics who alleged that all this is speculative mumbo-jumbo amounting to a waste of public money did not consider that the disclosure from AATIP seems to be what the CIA calls a “limited hangout”: i.e. a superficial glimpse of a much larger secret cloaked in “plausible deniability”.

Since the alleged closure of AATIP in 2012, a private initiative called TTSA (To the Stars Academy) has been set up with the participation of some of the staffers of AATIP, including its former director Luis Elizondo. TTSA is working with retired military and civilian officials to further disclose the extensive and long-standing secret military R&D pursued between government agencies and private contractors involved in what is commonly called the Deep State. Its executive director Tom DeLonge has produced a new documentary series for the History Channel relying on military insider testimonies and entitled Unidentified.

How much more time and effort will it take for certain agencies in the US government to confess to the many ominous or mind-boggling secrets they have kept from the public, often in violation of constitutional principles and legal norms and procedures?

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

A Physicist Says He's Found the Solution to the Fermi Paradox—And It's Terrifying

The idea is that the first civilization to attain interstellar travel would start gobbling up as many resources as it could to drive its own expansion and ensure a future for itself. This would eventually cause it to start stripping worlds that already have life on them, leading it to destroy alien civilizations as it went.

This wouldn't be out of malice, Berezin argues:

"I am not suggesting that a highly developed civilization would consciously wipe out other lifeforms," Berezin says.

"Most likely, they simply won't notice, the same way a construction crew demolishes an anthill to build real estate because they lack incentive to protect it. ...This problem is similar to the infamous 'Tragedy of the commons'. The incentive to grab all available resources is strong, and it only takes one bad actor to ruin the equilibrium, with no possibility to prevent them from appearing at interstellar scale.

All right, so this is pretty much the 'Big Bad Alien Civilization' hypothesis, but with some economic reasoning behind it, right?

No, actually—it's the Big Bad Human Civilization hypothesis. 

Berezin believes the answer to the Fermi Paradox, the reason we haven't picked up on alien signals or observed evidence of this steamroller alien civilization, is because we're the first ones to have made it this far.

With Berezin's logic in mind, we're also going to be the first civilization to attain interstellar space travel, and our expansion beyond the solar system is going to inevitably wipe out alien life on other plants.

And this, Berezin admits, "would be hard to accept, as it predicts a future for our own civilization that is even worse than extinction."

That future, it appears, is utter loneliness.

{ https://www.outerplaces.com/ }

The Universe's Dark Secret: Where Did All the Antimatter Go?

By Paul Sutter

It's a cosmic whodunit.

Electrons and their antimatter counterparts, positrons, interact around a neutron star in this visualization. Why is there so much more matter than antimatter in the universe we can see?

(Image: © NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center)

• Paul M. Sutter is an astrophysicist at The Ohio State University, host of Ask a Spaceman and Space Radio, and author of Your Place in the Universe. Sutter contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

So there's this stuff called "antimatter." You may have heard of it. It's just like normal matter, with all the same properties and all the same abilities to make up atoms and molecules, except for one crucial difference: It has an opposite charge. Take the humble electron, for example. Mass of 9.11 x 10^-31 kg. Quantum spin of 1/2. Charge of 1.6 x 10^-9 coulombs.

It has an antimatter evil twin, the positron. The positron has a mass of 9.11 x 10^-31 kg. Quantum spin of 1/2. Charge of … -1.6 x 10^-9 coulombs.

• Related: Will Antimatter Engines Power the First Starships? (Video)

It's the same for every other particle out there. There's a dark-side twin for the top quark, the neutrino, the muon and on and on and on. All the fundamental particles that make up our daily lives have a partner, living just on the other side of the charge fence.

That's all well and dandy and no big deal at all, except for one thing, which is a tiny bit of a big deal. As far as we can understand the theory and see in the observations, not only are matter and antimatter paired up like this, they're symmetric. Every particle of normal matter produced in a reaction comes paired with its antimatter sibling. 

The only conclusion: Our universe ought to be swimming with antimatter, existing in equal parts with normal matter. Whole planets, stars and galaxies made of antimatter! Or at the very least, loads of antimatter particles just floating around in space, minding their own business.

But when matter and antimatter meet, it's bad news. Just as the pairs are produced in perfect symmetry in fundamental interactions, they are destroyed in symmetry as well. When a particle finally gets to meet and shake hands with its antiparticle best friend, they end up like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: going down in a blaze of glory.

All their combined matter is converted into energy, usually in the form of high-energy gamma-ray radiation. 

A disturbance in the force

We don't see signs of abundant free-floating carefree antimatter, because we don't see the aftermath of its inevitable destruction upon meeting regular matter. The universe is filled with constantly-interacting stuff. High-energy particles zipping across light-years. Fountains of material escaping from galaxies and new junk drifting in. Stars colliding. In our universe, stuff mixes with stuff all the time. If some decent proportion of that was antimatter, the universe ought to be a lot more … energetic … than it is.

So if the antimatter isn't here anymore, where the heck did it go? 

One possibility is that our universe was simply born this way, with an abundance of matter and a severe lack of antimatter. While that's certainly an excuse, it isn't much of an explanation. "That's just the way it is, folks" isn't the most compelling argument in scientific circles. So while you could always say that, let's move on to other, more productive lines of inquiry.

Perhaps something in the early universe caused an imbalance between matter and antimatter. 

It's not that crazy of an idea. The early, early, early days of the universe were pretty funky times, with all sorts of crazy physics and exotic interactions at play that are now, thankfully, merely a cosmic memory. So maybe something happened. Maybe the universe was rolling along just fine, with each particle met with an equal and opposite antiparticle. 

And then … a shift. An imbalance. A strange process that produced more matter than antimatter. Most of the pairs would be annihilated, but a few normal particles would remain. It wouldn't have to be much: Just one particle in a billion would be enough to lay the foundations for all the stars and galaxies that we see today.

• Related: The Universe: Big Bang to Now in 10 Easy Steps

Strength through weakness

It would indeed have to be a very peculiar set of conditions to cause such an imbalance. Our universe is governed by rules of how particles and forces should interact and behave. It's these rules that lay the framework for all the wonderful interactions that make up the richness of everyday life.

But sometimes rules need to be broken, as in the case of the early universe. After all, it's those same rules that say that the divergence between matter and antimatter ought not to be in the first place.

Whatever interaction, whatever process, led to matter's ultimate victory had to be strange indeed. It had to start with producing not just an excess quantity of regular matter, but also an excess quantity of charge to counterbalance it. Otherwise, because total charges must stay the same throughout a process, that matter-loving route would've been perfectly balanced by a twin antimatter-loving road.

Plus, this process had to happen during a sharp boundary, when the infant cosmos was transforming rapidly from one state to another. It's only there that the physics would permit such a rule-breaking violation to take place; otherwise a universe in equilibrium would just end up balancing all interactions out anyway.

Is there anything in all of known physics that could make the antimatter go away? Well, maybe. There are some hints and suggestions buried in rare particle interactions involving the weak nuclear force. We understand these interactions only dimly, especially the way they would occur in the early universe, but even there our best guess for its matter-favoring ability put it far, far below the minimum needed to explain our present situation.

The origins of the asymmetry between matter and antimatter is an outstanding problem in physics. A problem that pushes the boundaries of current knowledge and pushes our understanding of the universe into some of its earliest moments. A problem that, you could say, really matters.

• Why Physicists Are Planning to Drive Antimatter Around in a Moving Van
• Laser Experiment Helps Unravel Mystery of Antimatter 
• First Solid Sign that Matter Doesn't Behave Like Antimatter

Learn more by listening to the episode "Hey, who took all the antimatter?" on the Ask A Spaceman podcast, available on iTunes and on the Web at http://www.askaspaceman.com. Thanks to 185transformer, William G., Matthew A., Bogdan V., dave B., Eric D., Kent B., and Kahandran for the questions that led to this piece! Ask your own question on Twitter using #AskASpaceman or by following Paul @PaulMattSutter and facebook.com/PaulMattSutter. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

How 3-D Printing Could Break into the Building Industry

Imagine a single trained operator making a bridge, home or barracks

Grootste tyrannosaurus rex ter wereld ontdekt - HLN.be

Bron: afp

Paleontologen ontdekten resten van de grootste tyrannosaurus rex ooit in de Canadese provincie Saskatchewan. Dinosaurus Scotty, die ongeveer 66 miljoen jaar geleden leefde, was ongeveer 13 meter lang en woog maar liefst 8.800 kilogram. 

Lees ook

Perfect bewaarde sporen van dinosaurussen ontdekt in Amerikaans natuurpark

“Dit is de rex der rexen,” aldus de Canadese onderzoeker Scott Persons. “Er zijn aanzienlijke verschillen tussen tyrannosaurussen. Sommige individuen waren forser dan anderen. Scotty is een voorbeeld van zo’n fors exemplaar. Zorgvuldige metingen van de benen, heupen en zelfs schouders wijzen uit dat Scotty langer was dan elke andere tyrannosaurus rex (die tot op heden is teruggevonden, red.).” 

De vorige recordhouder was Sue, een tyrannosaurus rex met een lengte van 12,3 meter. Deze dino woog zo’n 5.654 kilogram. 

Scotty is niet alleen de grootste tyrannosaurus rex ter wereld. “Hij is ook de oudst bekende”, aldus de Canadese wetenschapper. “Je kunt een idee krijgen van hoe oud een dinosaurus is door in de beenderen te zagen en de groeipatronen te bestuderen”. Uit de onderzoeksresultaten bleek dat Scotty ongeveer dertig jaar oud was toen hij 66 miljoen jaar geleden stierf. “Dat is uitzonderlijk lang”, aldus Persons. 

De grootste dino ter wereld wordt bewaard in het Royal Saskatchewan Museum in Canada.

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

Archeologen stoten op schat in Mexico en denken dat ze allereerste graftombe Azteekse keizer op spoor zijn - HLN.be

De ontdekking gebeurde niet in een afgelegen of onontgonnen gebied, maar midden in het centrum van het drukke Mexico-Stad. Meer bepaald aan de voet van de bekende Templo Mayor. Dat was 500 jaar geleden de belangrijkste tempel van de Azteekse hoofdstad Tenochtitlan, in de periode dat de machtigste heerser van het rijk aan de macht was.

Lees ook

Aardbeving in Mexico leidt tot ontdekking van 900 jaar oude tempel

Heiligdommen

De tempel was een gigantisch complex van 60 meter hoog, dat beschouwd werd als het middelpunt van de aarde. Bovenaan stonden twee heiligdommen: een voor de oorlogsgod Huitzilopochtli en een voor de regengod Tlaloc. Bij een van de vele uitbreidingen van de tempel - in 1487 - zou een van de grootste massaoffers plaatsgevonden hebben uit de geschiedenis van de beschaving, waarbij naar schatting 4.000 mensen het leven lieten. De tempel werd uiteindelijk verwoest tijdens de verovering van Mexico door Hernán Cortés in 1521.

De resten kwamen in 1978 tevoorschijn tijdens een verbouwing op het centrale plein van Mexico-Stad. En het is aan de voet van de tempel dat archeologen nu hun ongeziene vondst hebben gedaan: rijkelijke offergaven die zouden kunnen wijzen op een koninklijke begraafplaats. (lees hieronder verder)

Het gaat onder meer om de resten van een luxueus versierde jaguar, verkleed als krijger, een kleine jongen van een jaar of negen die gekleed is als Azteekse oorlogs- en zonnegod - met een jaden ketting en vleugels van havikbeenderen - en een set vuursteenmessen die versierd zijn met parelmoer en edelstenen. De offergaven werden vijf eeuwen geleden neergelegd door Azteekse priesters op een cirkelvormig platform voor de tempel, een plek waar zich volgens de vroegste overleveringen de rustplaats zou bevinden van Azteekse keizers.

“We hebben nu enorme verwachtingen”, zegt het hoofd van de groep archeologen die er aan het werk is - Leonardo Lopez Lujan - aan persbureau Reuters. “Naarmate we dieper graven, zullen we vermoedelijk nog veel meer rijkelijke objecten vinden.” (lees hieronder verder)

REUTERS 

Op dit beeld is de jaguar te zien, met het cirkelvormige embleem van oorlogsgod Huitzilopochtli. Er zijn ook resten van koraal en zeesterren achtergebleven.

 REUTERS 

Leonardo Lopez Lujan.

Vooral de vondst van de jaguar blijkt opwindend. Die zat in een grote stenen doos, waarvan nog maar een tiende is opgegraven en die nu al een ware schatkist blijkt te zijn. Het dier draagt een houten gravure op de rug met het embleem van de god Huitzilopochtli. Bovenop liggen offergaven uit de zee, zoals schelpen, zeesterren en koraal. Die kunnen verwijzen naar de onderwaterwereld waar de zon volgende de Azteken ’s nachts doorheen reisde. De rode lepelaar – een vogel uit de familie van de flamingo’s – die gevonden is, wordt dan weer geassocieerd met heersers en krijgers en zou hun geest voorstellen in hun tocht naar de onderwereld.

Broers

Tientallen jaren na de verovering van Mexico, brachten enkele geschiedschrijvers verslag uit van de begrafenisrites van drie Azteekse heersers: drie broers die heersten van 1469 tot 1502. Volgens die verslagen werden hun gecremeerde resten neergelegd op of vlakbij het cirkelvormige platform aan de tempel, voorzien van rijkelijke offergaven en de harten van geofferde slaven.

13 jaar geleden werd vlakbij het platform een gigantische monoliet gevonden van een aardgodin. Daarop stond een inscriptie die overeenkwam met het jaar 1502, het jaar waarin de jongste broer en machtigste heerser die de Azteken ooit kenden – Ahuitzotl – stierf. (lees hieronder verder)

 REUTERS 

De kleine jongen die aangekleed werd als Azteekse oorlogs- en zonnegod, met een jaden ketting en vleugels van havikbeenderen.

 REUTERS 

De schedel van de geofferde jongen.

Volgens Elizabeth Boone – een expert in het oude Mexico aan Tulane University in New Orleans – zou de dood van Ahuitzotl gepaard gegaan zijn met een grootse begrafenis en zou de jaguar de koning kunnen voorstellen als onbevreesd krijger. “Hij kan goed in die stenen kist begraven liggen”, klinkt het.

De offergaven werpen ook een blik op hoe mobiel de Azteken waren. Ze zouden een beschaving van krijgers geweest zijn die naburige koninkrijken binnenvielen en onderwierpen, een beetje zoals de Spartanen in het oude Griekenland. Zo kwamen de zeesterren bijvoorbeeld uit de Stille Oceaan, terwijl het jade van Centraal-Amerika afkomstig was, ter hoogte van het huidige Honduras.

Budget

Verwacht wordt dat de opgravingen nog zeker enkele maanden zullen duren. De wetenschappers zullen het daarbij niet makkelijk krijgen, want de nieuwe regering van Mexico heeft het budget van het project met 20 procent verminderd voor dit jaar, dixit de archeologen. Bijna iedereen van het 25-koppige team is al niet meer betaald sinds december.

 REUTERS

{ https://www.hln.be/ }

DE LIJST MET BUITENAARDSE OFFICIEREN ( VIDEO )

Hoeveel bewijs is er nog nodig, voordat men in mainstream land gaat toegeven dat er buitenaards leven is (geweest) op Mars en andere locaties. 

De lijst met buitenaardse officieren van NASA met bijbehorende ruimteschepen bewijst dat wij maar met een fractie  bekend zijn met wat er werkelijk in de ruimte gebeurt.

Het beste bewijsmateriaal voor leven op Mars is nog altijd afkomstig van NASA. 

Soms is het even gemakkelijk te ontdekken, omdat een gecrasht ruimteschip meestal niet altijd mooi aan de oppervlakte ligt, maar gedeeltelijk begraven. 

Maar, voor ervaren ufologen zoals Scott Waring, is het mogelijk om deze objecten op te sporen op de foto’s van NASA en het object op de foto voor een deel scherper zichtbaar te maken. 

Het begint met een foto van één van de Rovers die er als volgt uit ziet. 

Het bekende Mars landschap, met in de verte iets dat uitsteekt boven de heuvelrand.

Wanneer we dat object wat dichterbij halen, dan krijgt het een bekende vorm.

En als Scott klaar is met het verbeteren van de foto, dan ziet het er uiteindelijk als volgt uit en zien we dat we hier te maken hebben met een klassieke of retro ufo.

En als dit nu het enige gecrashte ruimteschip op Mars zou zijn, dan zou je misschien nog kunnen twijfelen, maar er zijn in de loop der jaren meer objecten waargenomen op de rode planeet die niet anders uitgelegd kunnen worden dan als gecrashte ruimteschepen. 

In 2016 publiceerden wij de volgende opnames van een gecrasht ruimteschip op Mars.

Beelden die later viraal gingen en werden opgepikt door de wereldpers.

Een jaar later, in 2017, duikt er weer een NASA foto op waarop duidelijk een soort gecrasht ruimteschip op Mars is te zien.

Het wordt zo langzamerhand een onhoudbare zaak voor NASA om nog langer te ontkennen dat er geen tekenen van leven worden gevonden op Mars. Zoals wij eerder deze week een artikel publiceerden met daarop een object, gevonden op Mars, dat onmogelijk natuurlijk kan zijn waarmee door NASA eigenlijk al is toegegeven dat buitenaards leven bestaat. 

Bij dat alles komt natuurlijk ook ander soort bewijs zoals dat geleverd is door de Engelse hacker Gary McKinnon. We hebben eerder al uitgebreid geschreven over deze man en de zaken die  hij ontdekte.

Eén van de meest opmerkelijke dingen die Gary ontdekte was een lijst met buitenaardse officieren en schepen met namen die nergens op aarde zijn te traceren. En dat ze onvindbaar zijn is omdat het namen zijn van ruimteschepen van degeheime ruimtevloot.

Naast bovengenoemde lijsten kwam Gary ook afbeeldingen tegen. Echter, omdat dit alles plaatsvond een kleine 20 jaar geleden toen wij nog geen snel internet hadden en Gary verbinding had via een 56k modem, was het niet mogelijk om afbeeldingen van 2 mb of groter te downloaden.

De oplossing die Gary toen bedacht is om controle te nemen over een computer in de NASA gebouwen en daar op een scherm een afbeelding te downoaden. Hij was een heel eind op weg en zag wat er op stond toen iemand bij NASA in de gaten kreeg dat er iets vreemds met die computer aan de hand was omdat de muis vanzelf over het scherm bewoog en werd de verbinding verbroken.

Maar, wat Gary zag was een groot cilinder-/sigaarvormig schip dat er ongeveer uit zag als op de volgende afbeelding die is gemaakt op basis van de beschrijvingen van Gary. Deze vorm ruimteschepen komen we ook vaak tegen op aarde.

Tegenwoordig hoor je weinig meer van Gary McKinnon en daarom is het volgende interview wat Gary enkele dagen geleden deed met Richard Dolan heel bijzonder en hier is precies te horen hoe Gary te werk ging om de lijst met buitenaardse officieren te bemachtigen. 

{ http://niburu.co/ )

The recent spate of anomalous noises heard worldwide continues this month as residents of a small town in Michigan report hearing and even feeling a strange, unexplained hum. The hum or vibration is reportedly strong enough to rattle homes, cause glasses of water to ripple Jurassic Park-style, and even crumble the foundations of homes. What could be causing such a powerful vibration throughout Michigan?

Hopefully not a wayward Tyrannosaur.

For now, there are very few theories as to what could be causing the mysterious vibration which seems to be centered around the township of Canton, just west of the former post-apocalyptic dystopia and current mid-gentrification dystopia of Detroit. The U.S. Geological Survey has verified that there has been no seismic activity in the area which could explain the vibration or hum, leaving city officials in Canton to guess the mysterious tremor and noises could be related to either utilities, a nearby landfill, or even traffic on local highway I-275. However, Canton residents don’t buy any of those explanations and say the mysterious vibration sounds different from usual industrial noises and has been increasing in frequency and prevalence lately.

The Canton township municipal complex which includes town hall.

Longtime Canton resident Mackey Howell says in his twenty years in the township, he’s heard and felt the vibrations from local transportation arteries for years but this latest hum somehow seems different:

I’m familiar with all those sounds – the airport, the train, and (the sound) I-275 makes – this is something is very different. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced it during the daytime. Its disturbing. We’ve had pictures actually fall off the wall.

The hum has been reported since the 1970s, but many Canton residents agree with Howell that this latest iteration is anomalous and seems to be getting louder in recent weeks. Some people have even reported feeling pressure changes in their inner ears at the same time they hear and feel the mysterious vibration. Oddly enough, some North Carolina residents reported the same sensation in conjunction with good ol’ fashioned mystery booms in the area just a few weeks prior. 

I’ve been tracking and researching these anomalous, Earth-rattling noises for over two years now, and like city officials and public safety agencies everywhere, I’m at a complete loss to explain what forces or phenomena may be behind these events. Are these unknown natural occurrences, or are they caused by some man made activity? Reports of anomalous noises and mysterious booms date back centuries, but the unbelievably high number of reports lately suggests either that the phenomenon is increasing or intensity or that a new cause is afoot. What’s behind all of these anomalous noises? Is the Canton hum related in any way to more well-known hums like the Taos hum or Windsor hum?

Stay tuned.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

'Project Blue Book' Season 2 Possible Air Date, Plot, Other Story Details Unveiled

Is science fiction the cause of mysterious lights seen at night in Delamere Forest?

Is science fiction is the cause of mysterious lights seen at night in Delamere Forest?

PEOPLE living in and around Delamere Forest have been puzzled by the appearance of strange, eerie lights among the trees.

They could be forgiven for think that the forest was the sight of a UFO encounter - and they would not be far wrong.

The forest is increasingly being used as a location for films and television - including a BBC adaptation of War of the Worlds and a new Netflix series called The Stranger.

Photo: Lee Cartwright

The dense forest has recently been used as a backdrop for dramatic scenes of an alien invasion for the latest adaptation of H G Wells classic War of the Worlds.

The Peter Harness' three-part adaptation the sci-fi classic will be screened on BBC One later this year.

And more recently, a car chase was filmed for The Stranger, a series due to be shown on Netflix later this year starring Hannibal and The Hobbit actor Richard Armitage.

Few details are available about the eight-episode series, based on Harlan Coben’s novel, but the synopsis from Netflix reads: “ A secret destroys a man’s perfect life and sends him on a collision course with a deadly conspiracy in this shocking thriller.

“Adam Price has a good life, two wonderful sons, and a watertight marriage - until one night a stranger sits next to him in a bar and tells him a devastating secret about his wife, Corinne.

“Soon Adam finds himself tangled in something far darker than even Corinne’s deception, and realises that if he doesn’t make exactly the right moves, the conspiracy he’s stumbled into will not only ruin lives — it will end them.”

One resident of Station Road said weird sightings were becoming more common in the forest.

He said: There's a weird chunky looking prop with bright lights attached to it, suspended from a really high crane arm, above white gate car park and its mega bright. It lit up my house through the windows yesterday. I've not heard any noises or anything though."

The lights certainly piqued residents' curiosity.

Posting in the Delamere and Oakmere Facebook group, Jacqui Brooks asked: "What are the giant lights on the skyline over far side of the forest for?"

Sarah Evans said: "We have wondered every morning/evening...query aliens abduction of locals, building, concerts..can tell kids the truth now?"

Ellen Piercy replied: "Nah, stick with the aliens story, MUCH more exciting."

Others described the filming as "exciting" and "very, very bright".

The forest has become popular with television and film producers, with episodes of ITV drama Cold Feet filmed there recently.

Residents have been told filming is permitted until 1am.

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

UFO Over Berlin Airport Moves Out Of Way Of Jet, March 6, 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 6, 2019

Location of sighting: Berlin, Germany

Source: MUFON #99333

 

Here is an interesting report from MUFON today. A person took some photos and noticed a UFO two of the photos. What looks like a ring UFO may be one solid craft with the top center having a dark tinted dome window area on it. The UFO moves it position when it notices the passenger jet approaching it. This makes me think there is a possibility of the UFO having shown up on airport radar. The UFO itself was probably hovering over Berlin Brandenburg Airport for a few minutes before it was forced to move out of the path of a jet. 

 

When you compare the size of the jet, lets say for comparisons sake its a 747 which is 76.3 meters long. Then this UFO is 30% the diameter of the jet, making the UFO 22.89 meters across. Notice how the UFO takes on the color of the sky behind it? Its tying to go unnoticed. The ships outer hull reflects the colors around it.

 

A lot of UFOs have been recorded over Airports over the years. I guess anything that flies has the newest and highest tech for safety reasons and that makes it worth investigating by aliens. 

Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

 

Eyewitness states: 

Round object found in the sky after taking photo from the TV tower in Berlin.

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

Mind Blowing Structures On Earths Moon In NASA Photo, March 2019, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: March 25, 2019
Location of discovery: Earths Moon
Source NASA photo: 

• https://www.lpi.usra.edu/resources/apollo/frame/?AS15-P-9583
  
  

Sure some of you have heard about my discovery of the Yoda face on Earths moon a few years ago, (Click here to see Yoda post) but did you know there is so much more there? Its true, but to see the structures there, you must follow my instructions below. 

1. Go to URL and lift photo from site to desktop. 
2. Open photo on desktop. 
3. Goto tools bar at top (IOS mac). Then hit size. 
4. Change size, enlarge until photo is 10MB. Then close photo. 
5. Now Open photo in any photo program and add contrast like its going out of style...that means a lot. 
6. Now save photo and start searching it for structures, you will have to use zoom and have to look carefully. 

You need to do this because NASA added too much light to the photo on purpose in order to cause many of the ares of the photo to appear as white/grey and unclear. Thus bring it back into the proper light and focus creates the original photo as it was first taken. 

You will notice that the aliens built the structures square partitions. Much like remaking a house and moving the parts to the location to create it. This may be proof that the structures were created somewhere else, then brought to the moon to put together. 

Do not do this if you are sensitive. It might be overwhelming to suddenly go from believing to knowing. I do not mean to frighten anyone, but only to bring the truth to light. I actually found this several weeks ago, but hesitated till now to publish it. I was worried some people may panic. The biggest fear is not aliens attacking earth, its that they exist when science says they should not. It causes the person to call into question everything they ever learned in school, church, TV, from friends...and how aliens must have already influenced the direction humanity is currently traveling without anyone ever knowing. Its a bit deep of a plunge, but it must be taken. I did, I remember that day well. Thats why I never say I believe in aliens...it sounds like I have doubt, but I don't. I know they exist. 
Scott C. Waring-Taiwan

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

The Navy Plans to Put HELIOS Laser Weapon on Destroyer by 2021

HELIOS will be capable of downing drones and “burning boats”.

By Kyle Mizokami

LOCKHEED MARTIN

Pew-pew-pew is coming soon-soon-soon.

The U.S. Navy plans to put a laser weapon on a warship by 2021. The High Energy Laser with Integrated Optical-dazzler and Surveillance (HELIOS) system, or HELIOS, is a defensive weapon system designed to burn boats and shoot down unmanned drones. The weapon will go to sea with a guided missile destroyer assigned to the Pacific Fleet in two years' time, the Navy says.

The service placed an order for HELIOS in January 2019. The $150 million contract, awarded to Lockheed Martin, calls for the company to deliver two systems. According to a company press release, one will go to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico for testing. USNI News says the Navy will install the other on a Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

HELIOS is a 60-kilowatt laser system, meaning it has twice the power of the AN/SEQ-3 Laser Weapon System, or LaWS installed on the USS Ponce in 2014. HELIOS is billed as a weapon that can burn small speed boats of the type Iran deploys in armed swarms, and can torch unmanned aerial vehicles out of the sky. Alternately—and perhaps to avoid an international incident—HELIOS can simply “dazzle” a UAV’s electro-optical sensors, damaging them and preventing them from performing their mission.

Here’s a simple example of this theory, in which a laser used during tattoo removal damages a digital camera sensor:

HELIOS has a long-range intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability. While LockMart doesn’t spell out the details, we can surmise that the aiming system for the laser weapon/dazzle is probably capable of high-definition, high-powered digital magnification, allowing a ship fitted with it to closely watch nearby threats.

Many weapons already deployed on U.S. Navy warships, including the Phalanx close-in weapon system and the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), have a similar capability against small boats and drones as HELIOS while also being capable of taking on larger, faster aircraft and missiles. Range is also comparable.

Where a laser weapon like HELIOS shines, literally, is its ability to fire a theoretically unlimited number of shots using the destroyer’s onboard electrical generation systems. Phalanx, on the other hand, is limited to 20 to 30 seconds of continuous firing, while RAM is limited to 21 missiles aboard the Mk. 49 Guided Missile Launching System.

HELIOS is not a quantum leap above existing systems, but then again, early guns like the matchlock were in some ways inferior to the bow and arrow. Eventually, as firearms technology progressed, the gunpowder gun progressed to the point where it was clearly superior. As laser weapons become more powerful, they could quickly become much more effective than conventional gun and missile weapons.

Read more at USNI News

{ https://www.popularmechanics.com/ }

Archaeologist debunks alien influence, other conspiracy theories in archaeology

Have you heard the one about the aliens and the pyramids? Or what about the technologically advanced but tragically lost city of Atlantis?

Chances are that most of us have encountered at least one such story—a tale that tries to explain the past in a way that can sound scientific, but in doing so ignores the evidence and methods of science.

Why is this alternative archaeology so popular? And how do we tell fact from fiction?

Assistant Professor Matthew Peeples, co-director of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change's Center for Archaeology and Society and an archaeologist of the Southwest U.S., is no stranger to the weirder side of his field. He has investigated false claims and has even been accused of covering up the truth.

For Arizona Archaeology and Heritage Awareness Month, he sat down to discuss the background on these conspiracy theories, including one surrounding a petroglyph at the nearby Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

Question: What are some examples of outrageous archaeological narratives in pop culture?

Answer: Probably the biggest out there involves the notion that intelligent alien life visited human populations in the ancient past and either influenced or directed the development of human cultures. This idea is pervasive in science fiction going back to early 20th-century authors like H.P. Lovecraft, but has gained popularity in more recent years through a deluge of books and TV shows like "Ancient Aliens."

These ideas are not supported by scientific evidence, but they've become so prevalent that many people believe there must be something to them. To use the Great Pyramids in Egypt as an example, archeologists have clearly shown how these structures fit in a broader tradition of smaller stone structures and earlier attempts at pyramid construction. The building technology is impressive, but we don't need to invoke aliens to explain it.

Another popular notion is that professional archaeologists themselves are actively hiding the truth about the past. I've personally had people accuse me of being part of a widespread cover-up or conspiracy. This trope shows up again and again in pop culture through shows like "The X-Files" or "Stargate." In reality, archaeologists love to test and retest each others' ideas about the past using new data and discoveries, which is what pushes the science forward.

Q: What are the myths surrounding the Deer Valley petroglyphs?

A: I wasn't aware of this until visitors at the preserve asked about it, but there was a mention of Deer Valley in a book published in the 1970s claiming to show evidence of Europeans visiting North America prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus or the Viking colonization of Newfoundland.

The book featured drawings of rock art from throughout North America supposedly depicting boats from various places in ancient Europe and the Near East. One, from the Deer Valley Petroglyph Preserve, was said to depict a Punic sailing vessel along with the words "the ship" in Iberian Punic.

I worked with a group of honors students in my "Frauds, Myths and Mysteries" class to track down this claim and assess it. It took us quite a while to locate the petroglyph in question, largely because the drawing bore little resemblance to the actual petroglyph. We took high-resolution photos and made a 3-D model of the petroglyph, and we were able to show that the features that made both the supposed inscription and ship "convincing" were either exaggerated or were absent in the actual petroglyph (which archaeologists had previously suggested may have been a butterfly).

Q: When did conspiracy theories like these first come about? And why are they still popular today?

A: False archaeological claims like these have a really long history. There are accounts of a supposed discovery of the tomb of King Arthur and Guinevere by monks at Glastonbury Abbey in 1191, shortly after the abbey was burned in a massive fire. The story attracted a lot of pilgrims who funded the reconstruction of the church, but more recent archaeological work has shown that the pre-Christian cemetery dated many centuries later than would be expected were there truth to this story. Most historians now chalk this up to a publicity stunt by the abbey. There are even similar references to such claims going back to at least the second century A.D.

I think these claims are still popular today for a number of reasons. First, there is a lot of money to be made from selling pseudoscientific ideas to the public, as is evidenced by the numerous books and TV shows that keep popping up. A lot of these ideas are also tied to nationalism and various other kinds of group identities. People have a desire to claim that their ancestors were the first to arrive in a new land or develop some advanced technology, claims that have even been used to justify war and invasion.

Q: How do archaeologists separate plausible arguments from pseudoscience? What are the challenges in that?

A: Archaeology is all about the systematic and scientific study of human societies based on the stuff they leave behind in context. A lot of pseudoscientific ideas attempt to put on the trappings of science by using the jargon but completely ignore the scientific process of formal observation and evaluation. Plausible arguments need to be supported by evidence rather than simply asserted, and the methods and data used should be made available for scrutiny.

Be suspicious if someone is making conspiratorial claims that scientists' lack of acceptance for their ideas is about suppression of the truth. Relying on high-quality, peer-reviewed sources will also ensure that people with the relevant expertise have had a chance to vet the work. I'm a fan of a set of tools Carl Sagan published as a "baloney detection kit," which are a series of questions you can ask yourself about a given claim to help you fortify yourself against falling for pseudoscientific claims.

Q: Where can the public look for accurate archaeological information?

A: If you're interested in archaeology here in Arizona, there are a lot of excellent groups and organizations you could get involved with. The Arizona Archaeological Society has chapters throughout the state that offer talks, tours and even opportunities to work on archaeological projects. There are also nonprofits like Archaeology Southwest in Tucson that provide high-quality information for non-specialists on the archaeology of the region.

 Explore further: Archaeologists must avoid prehistoric Brexit parallels – they encourage twisted readings of the past

{ https://phys.org/ }

2020 Mars Helicopter Could Open Alien Skies to Exploration

By Mike Wall 

The little craft's demonstration mission could lead to big things.

The 4-lb. Mars Helicopter will travel to the Red Planet with NASA's next Mars rover, which is scheduled to launch in mid-2020.

(Image: © NASA/JPL)

A few brief hops in the Martian air two years from now could help open alien worlds to an entirely new kind of exploration.

An autonomous mini-helicopter will fly with NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission, which is scheduled to launch in July of that year and land on the Red Planet in February 2021. 

The bantam chopper is a stripped-down technology demonstration, and it will make a maximum of five short sorties in the Martian atmosphere. Success in this pioneering work would be a big deal, extending the reach of humanity's robotic explorers, which are currently restricted to the surfaces of alien worlds or the dark realms far above them.

• Related: NASA's Mars Rover 2020 Mission in Pictures (Gallery)

"We envision helicopters opening doors to new types of exploration on Mars," Håvard Grip, flight-control and aerodynamics lead for the Mars Helicopter, said Wednesday (March 20) during a presentation with NASA's Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group.

One day, more-advanced versions could serve as scouts for rovers or explore the Red Planet on their own, added Grip, who's based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology, which are both in Pasadena. 

"In the future, we could imagine doing things like [engaging in] regional exploration using multiple helicopters or going to inaccessible areas or biologically sensitive areas using small helicopters," he said.

The Mars Helicopter weighs 4 lbs. (1.8 kilograms) and has a body about the size of a softball. It carries a range of avionics and communications gear, a small solar panel, rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, "survival heaters" to keep its electronics warm through the frigid Martian night, and a navigation camera.

The helicopter doesn't have any science instruments, but it is outfitted with a high-resolution color imager.

"That's, so to speak, the payload," Grip said. "That's what we [use to] take pretty pictures and send them back to Earth."

The helicopter will travel to Mars attached to the belly of the car-size 2020 rover, which will hunt for signs of ancient Red Planet life and collect and store samples to return to Earth in the future, among other tasks. 

• Related: The Search for Life on Mars: A Photo Timeline

A month or two after the rover lands on the Red Planet, the chopper will drop down and hit the dirt itself. The little vehicle will then make a series of short flights, each of which will last about 90 seconds and reach a maximum altitude of 16.5 feet (5 meters) or so, Grip said.

These sorties will be made between 330 feet and 3,300 feet (100 to 1,000 m) away from the rover — far enough away to pose no collision danger, but close enough to be in communications range. (The helicopter will talk to its handlers on Earth via the rover.)

Success would be quite an achievement, considering that the Martian atmosphere is just 1 percent as dense as that of Earth at sea level. Cruising just above the Martian surface is equivalent to flying at an altitude of 100,000 feet (30,000 m) here on Earth, more than twice as high as any helicopter has ever gotten. (The handicap imposed by the thin air is only partially offset by the Red Planet's lower gravity, which is 38 percent that of Earth, Grip said.)

To generate enough lift, the Mars Helicopter sports two stiff rotors that measure 3.9 feet (1.2 m) long — pretty much as big as the team could make them, Grip said. And the rotors will spin at 2,400 revolutions per minute, about 10 times faster than the blades of a chopper on Earth, mission team members have said.

The team has put this design through its paces many times in Mars-like conditions here on Earth, Grip said. Indeed, the little craft is pretty much ready to go.

"The flight model is built and more or less tested," Grip said.

The ultimate test, of course, will come on Mars.

"The Mars Helicopter's initial flight will represent that planet's version of the Wright brothers' achievement at Kitty Hawk and the opening of a new era," Susan Gorton, manager of NASA's Revolutionary Vertical Lift Technology project, which has been working with the Mars Helicopter team, said in a statement last week. 

"For those of us whose research revolves around all things related to flight, that would be a remarkable, historic moment," Gorton added.

Such historic moments may not be limited to Mars' skies. NASA is considering launching a quadcopter lander to Titan, Saturn's huge, haze-enshrouded moon. This mission, called Dragonfly, would fly from spot to spot on Titan, investigating the complex chemistry occurring on the potentially life-supporting moon.

Dragonfly is one of two finalists for a mid-2020s launch slot under NASA's New Frontiers program of medium-cost missions. The other contender is a comet sample-return mission called CAESAR. NASA is expected to announce its selection later this year.

The Mars Helicopter and Dragonfly teams have not collaborated to date, Grip said.

• Mars 2020: The Red Planet's Next Rover
• How NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Will Work (Infographic)
• NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Is Unique. And So Is Its Paint Job.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

UFO Community Versus Science – When Science Meets Faith In The UFO

IT’S OFFICIAL. HUMANS ARE GOING TO MARS. NASA HAS UNVEILED THEIR MISSION.

Humanity has been fascinated by Mars since long before we stepped foot on the Moon. Our planetary neighbor has been the subject of innumerable works of sci-fi and inspired countless dreams of adventure and exploration. Now, after decades of determination, research, and scientific breakthroughs, we’re finally ready to do it: humans are going to Mars. Really.

Last year President Trump issued a mandate for NASA: get people to Mars by 2033. One week later, NASA responded with its most detailed plan to date for reaching the Red Planet, and it details five phases along the road to Mars.

We’re in Phase 0 now, conducting tests at the International Space Station (ISS) and developing partnerships with private space companies. Phase I will span 2018 to 2025 and will include the launch and testing of six SLS rockets. Those rockets will deliver components of the Deep Space Gateway (DSG), a new space station to be built near the Moon to serve astronauts en route to Mars.
After that, Phase II will launch the Deep Space Transport (DST) tube toward the lunar station in 2027, and in 2028 or 2029, astronauts will inhabit the tube for more than 400 days. 

In 2030, Phase III will see the DST restocked with supplies and the Mars crew via SLS rocket. Phase IV, of course, will be the trip itself in 2033. That means we’re just a scant 16 years away from reaching a goal that has eluded every generation that came before us.

Completing the mission within their budget will be a challenge for NASA. That budget is currently about .5 percent of the total U.S. budget. For comparison, it was more than four percent during the Apollo Moon missions.

The mission to Mars includes obstacles beyond budget — keeping astronauts healthy and reasonably happy on the journey is chief among them. Without stopovers between Earth and Mars, astronauts will need to port everything they need with them, including air, food, and water, for a round-trip duration of two or three years.

Mental health is likely to be a concern for Mars astronauts, too, as they will essentially be sealed into the space tube for years at a time, with no ability for an emergency return once they leave Cislunar space. NASA’s HI-SEAS isolation experiment has shown promising results, but it is likely that the journey won’t be possible for everyone.

NASA also has competition in the race to get to Mars. Both Boeing and SpaceX hope to get there first, with SpaceX setting the lofty goal of arriving in 2022.

Ultimately, though, we all benefit from the friendly competition in the race toward Mars and the creative solutions it will almost certainly generate. If private companies work out some of these human challenges before NASA can, the agency can build on their experiences and spend its budget and efforts on other problems. In the end, the goal of putting humans on Mars will have been reached, irrespective of which organization crosses the finish line first.

{ http://www.physics-astronomy.com/ }

NASA may send smallsat mission to giant asteroid Pallas

Pallas, third largest asteroid in the asteroid belt and the second such object to be discovered, by the German astronomer and physician Wilhelm Olbers on March 28, 1802. The asteroid was named after Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom.

Pallas is 512 kilometers (318 miles) in diameter, somewhat smaller than 4 Vesta. It is likely a remnant protoplanet. The asteroid's orbit is unusually high in inclination to the plane of the asteroid belt, and its eccentric orbit is nearly as large as that of Pluto, making Pallas almost inaccessible to spacecraft.

NASA won't make the final decision on funding this mission until mid-April. The so-called Athena mission will be competing with 11 other SmallSat and CubeSat mission proposals, according to Arizona State University planetary scientist Joseph O’Rourke, Athena’s principal investigator, reports Forbes.

If the mission is approved, it will follow in the path of the Dawn Mission that explored two other giant objects in the asteroid belt, Vesta and Ceres. The Dawn Mission ended last year.

"Pallas is really the only other object in the main asteroid belt that's like Vesta and Ceres … not just an asteroid, but a protoplanet, a real world," said O'Rourke, reports Space.com. "I see this as a way to go do a lot of the same science that Dawn did, but at a dramatically cheaper price, and Pallas is the sort of place that might be worth sending a much bigger mission to someday."

Athena would hitch a ride with Psyche Mission

If selected, Athena would launch in August 2022, riding piggyback along with the NASA Psyche Mission. Psyche is a very interesting mission in its own right. It will explore the origin of planetary cores by studying the metallic asteroid,16 Psyche. 16 Psyche is the heaviest known M-type asteroid and is thought to be the exposed iron core of a protoplanet.

"We would race Psyche to Mars, use Mars as a gravity assist, and then catch Pallas," O'Rourke said. The Pallas flyby would come about a year after the launch.

Psyche is one of the ten most massive asteroids in the asteroid belt. It is over 200 kilometers (120 miles) in diameter and contains a little less than 1 percent of the mass of the entire asteroid belt.

A protoplanet is a large planetary embryo that originated within a protoplanetary disc and has undergone internal melting to produce a differentiated interior. Vesta is also a protoplanet. On January 4, 2017, the Psyche mission was chosen along with the Lucy mission as NASA's next Discovery-class missions.

{ http://www.digitaljournal.com/ }

NASA May Send a Smallsat Mission to the Giant Asteroid Pallas

By Meghan Bartels 

If selected, the mission would launch in August 2022, riding piggyback with NASA's Psyche mission that is bound for an asteroid made nearly entirely of metal. "We would race Psyche to Mars, use Mars as a gravity assist, and then catch Pallas," O'Rourke said. The Pallas flyby would come about a year after the launch.

During the maneuver, Athena would take an extremely precise measurement of just how massive Pallas is and snap a bunch of images of the asteroid, which scientists could then use to piece together how water and impacts may be shaping its surface. "There's hints on the ground that it might have bright spots like Ceres," O'Rourke said, referring to features Dawn scientists believe may represent salty patches on that asteroid's surface. "So it could potentially be a place with a lot of interesting chemistry going on."

With a price tag about a tenth the size of the $467 million Dawn mission, and a single flyby instead of long-term visits, Athena likely won't produce as comprehensive a package of science results as the Dawn mission has. But it should be enough to begin to understand this little-known world, according to O'Rourke. "This mission is going to pluck a lot of the low-hanging fruits scientifically," he said. "Hopefully, it will showcase the fact that we're beginning a new era of planetary exploration," in which cheap probes can precede flagship missions.

The Athena team would also post all its images soon after downloading them from the spacecraft. "In fact, one of my biggest worries about the mission is that the mission team will get scooped on the science," O'Rourke said. "Everyone will be able to make our discoveries right along with us, so we'd better be ready to bang out some papers."

NASA's decision, whether it chooses Athena or not, will come just a few months after the first tiny satellites to venture beyond Earth's orbit proved just how valuable small spacecraft can be to planetary scientists. Two cubesats the size of bread boxes hitchhiked with NASA's Mars InSight lander as the Mars Cube One (MarCO) mission. The little satellites captured stunning images of the Red Planet and in November, they acted as communications relays, saving scientists from hours of agony about whether the main spacecraft had touched down safely.

Athena would be larger — the size of a miniature refrigerator and about 400 lbs. (180 kilograms) — but would still represent a new mindset for planetary science, one that relies on dramatically less complicated spacecraft than traditional missions.

"I think the asteroid belt is a really great target for smallsats because there are so many targets that are interesting, we're not going to send these half-billion-dollar-plus missions to every single one," O'Rourke said. "So we have to get good at building these small flight systems that are versatile and can be used to explore."

•  Success of Tiny Mars Probes Heralds New Era of Deep-Space Cubesats
•  Photos: The Changing Bright Spots of Dwarf Planet Ceres
•  Photos: Dwarf Planet Ceres, the Solar System's Largest Asteroid

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. 

{ https://www.space.com/ }

Why Nuclear Fusion Is Always 30 Years Away

By Nathaniel Scharping

Nuclear fusion has long been considered the “holy grail” of energy research. It represents a nearly limitless source of energy that is clean, safe and self-sustaining. Ever since its existence was first theorized in the 1920s by English physicist Arthur Eddington, nuclear fusion has captured the imaginations of scientists and science-fiction writers alike.

Fusion, at its core, is a simple concept. Take two hydrogen isotopes and smash them together with overwhelming force. The two atoms overcome their natural repulsion and fuse, yielding a reaction that produces an enormous amount of energy.

But a big payoff requires an equally large investment, and for decades we have wrestled with the problem of energizing and holding on to the hydrogen fuel as it reaches temperatures in excess of 150 million degrees Fahrenheit. To date, the most successful fusion experiments have succeeded in heating plasma to over 900 million degrees Fahrenheit, and held onto a plasma for three and a half minutes, although not at the same time, and with different reactors.

The most recent advancements have come from Germany, where the Wendelstein 7-X reactor recently came online with a successful test run reaching almost 180 million degrees, and China, where the EAST reactorsustained a fusion plasma for 102 seconds, although at lower temperatures.

Still, even with these steps forward, researchers have said for decades that we’re still 30 years away from a working fusion reactor. Even as scientists take steps toward their holy grail, it becomes ever more clear that we don’t even yet know what we don’t know.

The first plasma achieved with hydrogen at the Wendelstein 7-X reactor. Temperatures in the reactor were in excess of 170 million degrees Fahrenheit.

(Credit: IPP)

For Every Answer, More Questions

The Wendelstein 7-X and EAST reactor experiments were dubbed “breakthroughs,” which is an adjective commonly applied to fusion experiments. Exciting as these examples may be, when considered within the scale of the problem, they are only baby steps. It is clear that it will take more than one, or a dozen, such “breakthroughs” to achieve fusion.

“I don’t think we’re at that place where we know what we need to do in order to get over the threshold,” says Mark Herrmann, director of the National Ignition Facility in California. “We’re still learning what the science is. We may have eliminated some perturbations, but if we eliminate those, is there another thing hiding behind them? And there almost certainly is, and we don’t know how hard that will be to tackle.”

We will almost certainly get a better perspective on the unknown problems facing fusion sometime in the next decade when an internationally-backed reactor, intended to be the largest in the world, comes to fruition. Called ITER, the facility would combine all we have learned about fusion into one reactor.

It represents our current best hope for reliably reaching the break-even point, or the critical temperature and density where fusion reactions produce more power than is used to create them. At the break-even point, the energy given off when two atoms fuse is enough to cause other atoms to fuse together, creating a self-sustaining cycle, making a fusion power plant possible.

Perhaps inevitably, however, ITER has fallen prey to setbacks and design disputes that have slowed construction. The U.S. has even threatened to cut its funding for the project. It is these sorts of budgetary and policy hesitations that could ensure we continue saying fusion is 30 years away, for the next three decades.

In the face of more immediate challenges, from health epidemics to terrorism, securing funding for a scientific long bet is a hard sell. A decades-long series of “breakthroughs” that lead only to more challenges, compounded by pervasive setbacks, have diluted the fantastic promise of a working fusion reactor.

What Exactly Is Fusion?

Reliably reaching the break-even point is a twofold problem: getting the reaction started and keeping it going. In order to generate power from a fusion reaction, you must first inject it with sufficient energy to catalyze nuclear fusion at a meaningful rate. Once you have crossed this line, the burning plasma must then be contained securely lest it become unstable, causing the reaction to fizzle.

To solve the issue of containment, most devices use powerful magnetic fields to suspend the plasma in midair to prevent the scorching temperatures from melting the reactor walls. Looking something like a giant doughnut, these “magnetic containment devices” house a ring of plasma bound by magnetism where fusion will begin to occur if a high enough temperature is achieved. Russian physicists first proposed the design in the 1950s, although it would be decades before they actually achieved fusion with them.

A magnetic confinement fusion device, the Wendelstein 7-X, under construction.

(Credit: IPP)

To create a truly stable plasma with such a device, two magnetic fields are required: one that wraps around the plasma and one that follows it in the direction of the ring. There are currently two types of magnetic confinement devices in use: the tokamak and the stellarator.

The differences between the two are relatively small, but they could be instrumental in determining their future success. The main disparity in their design arises from how they generate the poloidal magnetic field — the one that wraps around the plasma. Tokamaks generate the field by running a current through the plasma itself, while stellarators use magnets on the outside of the device to create a helix-shaped field that wraps around the plasma.

According to Hutch Neilson of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, stellarators are considered more stable overall, but are more difficult to build and suffer from a lack of research. Tokamaks, on the other hand, are much better understood and easier to build, although they have some inherent instability issues.

At the moment, there is no clear winner in the race between the two, as neither appears to be close to the “holy grail.” So, due to lack of a victor, researchers are building both.

“There is a lack of a solution at this time, so looking at two very realistic and promising configurations for closing that gap is the responsible thing to do,” says Neilson.

One of five sections that comprise the outer vessel of Wendelstein 7-X, photographed during production. 

(Credit: Wolfgang Filser/IPP)

Currently, the largest fusion reactor in the world is the Joint European Torus (JET), a tokamak based in England and supported by the European Union. JET was commissioned in the 1970s and first came online in 1983 and successfully produced plasma, the first step in achieving fusion.

With a series of upgrades beginning in the late 1980s, JET became the world’s largest fusion generator, and currently holds the record for the most energy produced in a fusion reaction at 16 megawatts. Even so, it has not yet reached the break-even point.

ITER Offers a Way

To reach this all-important milestone, we will likely have to wait for ITER.Latin for “the way,” ITER will be the largest and most powerful fusion generator in the world, and is expected to to cross the break-even point. ITER is projected to produce 500 MW of power with an input of 50 MW, and be able to hold plasma for half an hour or more. That’s enough energy to power roughly 50,000 households.

Based on the tokamak design, the project is the result of a collaboration between the European Union and six other countries, including the U.S., that have pooled resources and expertise to build a reactor that is expected to be the gateway to useable fusion energy.

One of the cables used to create the toroidal magnetic field within ITER.

(Credit: ITER Organization)

One of the main issues facing current generators is one of size, says Duarte Borba, a researcher at EUROfusion, and ITER will attempt to overcome this shortfall. As reactors get larger, they become more stable and can achieve higher temperatures, the two key factors in creating fusion.

ITER is meant to be the successor to JET, and will take the technology developed there and apply it on a much larger scale. This includes JET’s tungsten and beryllium divertors, which capture energy in the reactor, as well as the capability to fully control the system remotely. ITER will also use superconducting magnets to create its magnetic field, as opposed to ones made of copper, according to Borba.

Such magnets will reduce the amount of energy consumed by the device and will allow for longer, more sustained plasma production. JET can currently only produce plasma in bursts, as it cannot sustain the high levels of energy use for very long.

Collaboration Is Key

The most important development made by JET and implemented with ITER may not even be scientific, but rather bureaucratic in nature, says Borba. As a project supported by multiple nations, JET forged the path for organizing and implementing a large-scale, decades-long project.

With a projected price tag of $15 billion and a daunting shopping list of complex components, ITER could only exist today as a collaborative effort. Each of the member nations contributes researchers and components, with the hope that the potential benefits will be shared by all.

An illustration showing which countries are responsible for manufacturing various parts of the ITER reactor.

(Credit: ITER Organization)

However, the democratic nature of ITER has significantly slowed down its construction. The goal is to have all of the parts arrive at the same time, but allocating each part to a different country brings in political and economic variables that throw the timing off. When ITER first received formal approval in 2006, it was slated to first achieve fusion in 2016, a date which has since been pushed back at least 10 years. Issues with component construction and design disagreements have been blamed for the delays.

A Worldwide Effort

To achieve a fusion power plant capable of addressing our energy needs, ITER alone is still not enough, according to Neilson. Even though it represents a significant advancement in reactor design, ITER isn’t the end game for fusion research.

If everything goes to plan, ITER will pave the way for another reactor, called DEMO, which will expand the technologies perfected by ITER to an industrial scale, and hopefully prove that nuclear fusion is a viable source of energy.

In the meantime, the new crop of fusion reactors appearing around the world will continue to play crucial roles in the chase for fusion. Far from being redundant, their supplemental research will attack the problem from different angles.

While ITER addresses the issue of scale, fusion projects in Asia are attempting to hold on to plasmas for longer and longer as they probe the benefits of superconducting magnets, Neilson said. Meanwhile, in Germany, the Wendelstein 7-X is pushing the boundaries of the stellarator design, possibly sidestepping issues of stability entirely. Nuclear fusion research has been a mild success in terms of international cooperation, with a growing number of countries determined to contribute their own piece of the puzzle.

Today, there are nuclear fusion experiments operating in the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, India, France, Japan and several other countries. More reactors are being planned or are currently under construction. Even with the surge of interest, it’s still not enough, says Neilson.

“For a problem as dense and challenging as fusion, you want to have many more experiments trying out different parts of the problem than we actually have,” says Neilson.

More Than a Scientific Problem

Ultimately, the question may be one of funding. Multiple sources said they were confident that their research could progress faster if they received more support. Funding challenges certainly aren’t new in scientific research, but nuclear fusion is particularly difficult due to its near-generational timescale. Although the potential benefits are apparent, and would indeed address issues of energy scarcity and environmental change that are relevant today, the day when we see a payoff from fusion research is still far in the future.

Our desire for an immediate return on our investments dampens our enthusiasm for fusion research, says Laban Coblentz, the head of Communication at ITER.

“We want our football coaches to perform in two years or they’re out, our politicians have two or four or six years and they’re out — there’s very little time to return on investment,” he said. “So when somebody says we’ll have this ready for you in 10 years, that’s a tough narrative to tell.”

In the U.S., fusion research receives less than $600 million in funding a year, including our contributions to ITER. This is a relatively small sum when compared to the $3 billion the Department of Energy requested for energy research in 2013. Overall, energy research represented 8 percent of the total funding the U.S. gave out for research that year.

“If you look at it in terms of energy budgets, or what’s spent on military development, it’s not really a lot of money that’s going to this,” says Thomas Pedersen, division head at the Max-Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik. “If you compare us to other research projects, it seems very expensive, but if you compare it to what goes into oil production or windmills or subsidies for renewables, its much, much less than that.”

The JET reactor, as seen from above.

(Credit: EUROfusion)

Pedersen looks at fusion research in terms of expected inputs and gains. Research into solar and wind power may be relatively cheap, but the payoff pales in comparison to a working nuclear fusion generator.

Always 30 Years Away

However, the finish line has been visible for some time now, a mountaintop that seems to recede with every step forward. It is the path that is obscured, blocked by obstacles that are not only technological, but also political and economic in nature. Coblentz, Neilson and Borba expressed no doubts that fusion is an achievable goal. When we reach it however, may be largely dependent on how much we want it.

Soviet physicist, Lev Artsimovich, the “Father of the Tokamak” may have summed it up best:

“Fusion will be ready when society needs it.”

{ http://discovermagazine.com/ }

While it hasn’t happened yet, at least one politician in the Pacific Northwest state of Washington – an alleged hotbed of Bigfoot sightings – is pushing for Sasquatch to be named the official State Cryptid, making it the first to carry that title in the U.S. Jealous? New Jersey, shouldn’t the Jersey Devil be the first? Michigan – how about the Dogman? West Virginia – isn’t Mothman more worthy of this honor? How about the rest of you? New Hampshire – why not replace that tired old slogan with ‘Live Free With a Wood Devil’? Do you even know what your state’s most popular cryptid is? Now there’s help. A new map of the U.S. lists the most famous cryptids and mythical creatures in each state, along with illustrations to help seekers and public relations people identify them for possible official state honors.

(Credit:

https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/)

The American Bestiary map and project was commissioned by CashNetUSA and is well-researched and fair — eliminating clear hoaxes and awarding multi-state cyrptids (Bigfoot, for instance) to the state with the most references. The information on each creature (and ins some cases, aliens) includes links for more details. The artwork is creative, informative and fun. While some are well-known, even outside the paranormal world, the map is giving others some much-deserved attention. For example:

(Credit:

https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/)

“According to the legend there’s a fairly straightforward explanation for Sink Hole Sam, Kansas’s aquatic answer to the exogorth from Star Wars; it’s just a foopengerkle… whatever that is. Locals have speculated that the eel-like creature had been living in a prehistoric underground cavern that had filled with water from a sinkhole. This flooding allowed the creature to finally escape. Fishermen reported seeing something that was 15 feet in length and as round as an “automobile tire.””

(Credit:

https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/)

“Despite having far more terrifying features than any self-respecting monster actually needs, the Snallygaster remains popular three centuries after it was first spotted; it even has a guest role in the Harry Potter universe. Early settlers told tales of a demonic, bird-like creature with a metallic beak filled with teeth. In 1909, locals reported seeing a bird-like monster with; “enormous wings, a long-pointed bill, claws like steel hooks and an eye in the center of its forehead”.”

(Credit:

https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/)

“What happened to Sam Harris? Sightings of a previously unseen pig-man shortly after the teenager’s disappearance on the Halloween of 1951 conjure just two alternatives: either young Harris transformed into a pigman, or a preexisting pigman ate him. Whatever happened to Sam; years after his disappearance, some high school students reported a monster emerging from the woods. It walked like a man, but was covered in white fur, and had a pig’s face.”

(Credit:

https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/)

“The carrot-headed aliens who visited a pair of night-fishermen on the Pascagoula River in a glowing egg-shaped spaceship may just have been symptoms of the witness’s hunger. Or they might have been robots; either way, they’ve not returned, having apparently been satisfied by the experiments they conducted on the two perfectly sober men. The fishermen claimed they heard a “zipping” sound and saw a glowing object hovering above the ground. Then three robot like aliens, that were just over 5 feet tall, exited from the craft.”

There’s 46 more stories and illustrations awaiting you at :

• https://www.cashnetusa.com/blog/most-famous-mythical-creature-of-every-us-state-illustrated/.

Check them out.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Friday Futures: the sea as fuel, DNA as a computer

Welcome to Friday Futures, our weekly guide to the latest visions of The Future from around the web. This week: the sea could be the best source of fuel; levitation by light; AI and science; DNA as a computer; DNA regenerates limbs.

1. The oceans could be the real source of renewable fuel

The ocean may soon be a valuable source of renewable energy.

A team of scientists at Stanford have figured out a way to make hydrogen fuel out of saltwater. The discovery could open up the world’s oceans as a potential source of energy.

Source: Stanford University

2. Can we levitate objects using light alone?

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say they’ve found a way to levitate and propel objects using only light — though, for the time being, the work remains theoretical. 

Light Levitation

Researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) say they’ve found a way to levitate and propel objects using only light — though, for the time being, the work remains theoretical.

They hope the technique could be used for “trajectory control of ultra-light spacecraft and even laser-propelled light sails for space exploration,” according to a paper published in the journal Nature Photonics Monday. That means no fuel needed — just a powerful laser fired at a spacecraft from back on Earth.

Optical Tweezers

The Caltech scientists devised the so-called “photonic levitation and propulsion” system by designing a complex pattern that could be etched into an object’s surface. The way the concentrated light beam reflected from the etching causes the object to “self-stabilize,” they say, as it attempts to stay inside the focused laser beam.

The first breakthrough that laid the groundwork for the new research were the development of “optical tweezers” — scientific instruments that use a powerful laser beam to attract or push away microscopic objects. The big downside: they can only manipulate tiny objects at only microscopic distances.

Ognjen Ilic, post-doctoral scholar and first author of the new study, puts the tweezer concept and its limitations in much simpler terms: “One can levitate a ping pong ball using a steady stream of air from a hair dryer,” he said in a statement. “But it wouldn’t work if the ping pong ball were too big, or if it were too far away from the hair dryer, and so on.”

From Micrometers To Meters

In the paper, the Caltech researchers argue that their light manipulation theoretically could work with an object of any size, from micrometers to spaceship size.

Though the theory is still untested in the real world, the researchers say that if it pans out, it could send a spacecraft to the nearest star outside our solar system in just 20 years.

“There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft,” said Harry Atwater, professor at the Caltech Division of Engineering and Applied Science. “We’re a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles.”

READ MORE: Levitating objects with light [Caltech]

More on light levitation: Japanese Researchers Unveil Tiny, Floating “Firefly” Light

3. What is the relationship between 5G and space?

4. AI is becoming really good at science

The Square Kilometer Array, a radio telescope slated to switch on in the mid-2020s, will generate about as much data traffic each year as the entire internet. 

Read more…

5. DNA molecules can be programmed as computers

Computer scientists at Caltech have designed DNA molecules that can carry out reprogrammable computations, for the first time creating so-called algorithmic self-assembly in which the same “hardware” can be configured to run different “software.”

 Read more…

6. And can regenerate limbs, maybe

Harvard researchers say they’ve identified a “DNA switch” enabling animals to regrow entire portions of their bodies — a finding that, with a few important caveats, could pave the way to helping human lost limb regeneration. 

Read more…

7. An explanation of CRISPR that makes sense!

8. And of course, the dating app based on the contents of your fridge

The first time John Stonehill was invited back to his girlfriend’s house, he headed straight for the refrigerator. It was stainless steel with a water and ice dispenser.

 Read more…

(Compiled by Alex Leslie, edited by John C. Tanner)

{ https://disruptive.asia/ }

We take light for granted and often forget just how weird and powerful the sometimes-wave, sometimes-particle is. Never mind that our entire existence is dependent on light, there’s a whole host of other wacky applications that science is only beginning to get get a grasp on. For example, new research from the California Institute of Technology has apparently found a way to levitate macro-scale objects using noting but light. Scientists at Caltech say that, once implemented, this technology would allow a spacecraft to surf its way on a beam of light to the nearest planet outside our solar system in as little as 20 years.

The new research is only theoretical at this point, but it builds off decades of previous work using light to manipulate very small objects. The first so-called “optical tweezers,” which use the radiative pressure of focused light beams to manipulate nano-scale objects, led to the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics. The principle is more or less the same, but but there’s a big difference between moving microscopic objects microscopic distances, and launching interstellar spacecraft. Ognjen Ilic, postdoctoral scholar at Caltech and author of the new paper, says:

“One can levitate a ping pong ball using a steady stream of air from a hair dryer. But it wouldn’t work if the ping pong ball were too big, or if it were too far away from the hair dryer, and so on.”

The key to the new research is in creating nano-scale reflection patterns on the surface of the objects to be levitated. By giving the surface of the object the right pattern it will interact with the light beam in such a way that it will continually spin itself back into the beam of light, creating a feedback loop of sorts with the radiative pressure of light all the way to another star system. While previous theoretical concepts for light sails relied on incredibly powerful lasers to do the heavy lifting, this method would encode the objects surface with what it needs to stay stable, and would work with a light source even millions of miles away.

Of course, this is still theoretical. They haven’t started building light sails yet, and actual real world demonstrations will be needed. Still, it’s pretty exciting. Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science at Caltech says:

“We have come up with a method that could levitate macroscopic objects. There is an audaciously interesting application to use this technique as a means for propulsion of a new generation of spacecraft. We’re a long way from actually doing that, but we are in the process of testing out the principles.”

It probably won’t look like this.

If it works, this technology would allow starships to travel at close to the speed of light and would open up a whole new realm of possibilities for the future of sustained interstellar travel. Just think, we’ve spent so much time lighting stuff on fire, trying to squeeze out the little bit of propulsion we could from it, when all we really needed was a big flashlight.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

What do magnetic and glassy impact-related spherules, nanodiamonds, carbon spherules, biomass burning, and anomalous levels of platinum and chromium in ancient sediment layers all have in common?

Here’s a hint: it involves a controversial theory about an ancient cataclysmic event… and one that is gaining new support, after an international team of scientists found compelling new evidence for its cause in South America. 

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis contends that around 12,800 years ago, a disintegrating comet or asteroid led to an impact event—or maybe several—along with possible airbursts which resulted in widespread fires and climate changes identified in relation to the Younger Dryas Climate Event.

Proponents of the theory also believe climate changes occurring at this time may have been a contributing factor in megafaunal extinctions, along with existing evidence of human predation, which began to occur several thousands of years ago. However, archaeological evidence also seems to indicate that human populations were affected at the same time; presumably a result of the same environmental changes.

Evidence for large scale climate changes related to these proposed impacts or air bursts had been found already on several continents. However, a new study titled “Sedimentary record from Patagonia, southern Chile supports cosmic-impact triggering of biomass burning, climate change, and megafaunal extinctions at 12.8 ka,” argues that features remarkably similar to existing North American sites associated with the Younger Dryas Boundary (YDB) were found at the South American archaeological and paleontological site of Pilauco Bajo.

According to the new paper’s extract:

“In the most extensive investigation south of the equator, we report on a ~12,800-year-old sequence at Pilauco, Chile (~40°S), that exhibits peak YD boundary concentrations of platinum, gold, high-temperature iron- and chromium-rich spherules, and native iron particles rarely found in nature.”

As I noted elsewhere in relation to the new Chilean discoveries, “The significance of the platinum concentrations and other metallic signatures at the Chilean site presents another unique identifier, with relevance to previous studies that located an anomalous abundance of the rare earth metal at several YDB sites, as well as within ice core samples from the Greenland Ice Sheet. Christopher R. Moore, Ph.D. of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, who contributed to the recent Chilean study, was the lead author of a paper published in Scientific Reports in 2017 which first identified this platinum anomaly.”

UC Santa Barbara geology professor emeritus James Kennett, also a co-author on the new paper, says at least one of the discoveries made at Pilauco, Chile, was unique to the site. Kennett was particularly interested in an abundance of chromium found in the YD boundary at the new location, since it is an element that is not commonly found at similar sites located in the Northern Hemisphere.

However, Kennett told UC Santa Barbara’s The Current that “volcanic rocks in the southern Andes can be rich in chromium,” which he and other scientists conducting research on the site felt could explain the prevalence of the material.

“Thus, the cometary objects must have hit South America as well,” Kennett concludes. The paper appeared on March 13 in Scientific Reports and can be viewed online here.

The Younger Dryas impact hypothesis remains controversial, largely due to the fact that its deterrents feel that the Younger Dryas can be explained more simply as a climate event unto itself. Critics primarily argue that meltwater from the glaciers at the end of the Pleistocene spilled into the Atlantic as global temperatures began to naturally warm, causing a cooling effect that disrupted ocean currents that led to further cooling prevalent throughout the Northern Hemispheres. Further, it has been noted that periods of cold reversal similar to the Dryas appear in the geological record toward the end of past ice ages as well; it seems unlikely that a cosmic impact event would occur at the end of every ice age.

Nonetheless, the accumulation of new evidence over the last few years makes the once unlikely theory of a cosmic impact 12,800 years ago now something worthy of a second look. Hence, the question is perhaps not so much one of “where is the evidence,” but instead who is willing to look at it?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Residents in the city of Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, were left shocked and confused when they witnessed what they thought was a UFO in the sky. Near the border of Oman, people noticed a “whirlpool hole” in an otherwise heavily clouded sky, as if someone had punched a large hole above their heads.

Ebrahim Al Jarwan, who is an astronomer and meteorologist, was able to capture the strange phenomena on video and posted it to Twitter. This natural phenomena is known as a “hole punch cloud” or “fallstreak hole”. One user commented that it looked as though “God has thrown a stone into a lake”, while others wondered if it was made by a UFO. When a large circular patch of clear sky suddenly appears, surrounded by lots of clouds, it’s not surprising that some people believed that an unidentified flying object may have peaked through the clouds, therefore creating the hole.

Hole punch cloud

Meteorologists, however, were quick to point out that it was a hole punch cloud that is normally created in mid-to-high level clouds and made from super-cooled water droplets (water that’s below 0 degrees Celsius but is not yet frozen) and they are actually caused by aircrafts, including commercial jet airliners, private jets, military jets, and turbo props.

As planes fly through the layer of clouds, the air expands and cools off as it passes over the propeller or wings of the aircraft. This sudden change in temperature causes the super-cooled water droplets to freeze, creating ice crystals which are then heavy enough to drop from the layer of clouds. That’s what causes the large hole to form. Andrew Heymsfield, who is from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, confirmed this by telling EarthSky, “The whole idea of jet aircraft making these features has to do with cooling of air over the wings that generates ice.”

Heymsfield’s team also found that when aircrafts create the large holes in the clouds, and after the droplets of water freeze to ice, they then turn into snow as they fall to the ground. Occasionally, within an hour of a hole punch cloud appearing, it can reach up to 30 miles wide because other water droplets beside the original ones begin to freeze. In fact, hole punch clouds can keep expanding for several hours after initially forming.

Hole punch cloud

And while scientists know what hole punch clouds are and what causes them to appear, not everyone knows about them because they’re a rare occurrence. This is why so many people who haven’t seen them before often mistake them for UFOs.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Video of dramatic close encounter with the Black F-117 Nighthawk

The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is an American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft that was developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF).

The Nighthawk was the first operational aircraft to be designed around stealth technology. Its maiden flight took place in 1981 at Groom Lake, Nevada, and the aircraft achieved initial operating capability status in 1983.

The Nighthawk was shrouded in secrecy until it was revealed to the public in 1988.

The black F-117 Nighthawk was officially retired in 2008 but this incredible video recorded in February 2019 proves that some of these aircraft still remain in service today.

  

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

Cloaked UFO Hovering Over United Arab Emirates On March 17, 2019, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: March 17, 2019
Location of sighting: United Arab Emerates

This week in the UAE an eyewitness Tweeted about seeing a hole in the clouds above him and asked what it might be? Thats easy to answer, its a clocked alien craft. They are over the UAE to observe one of the richest countries in the world for their oil and wealth. 

If you look closely at the hole, you will see and inner and outer ring. This means the UFO is still there right now as this photo was taken. Thats right, it hasn't flown away, its still there. Did you also notice that the center of the circle has a pushed down lower area of clouds? Because the ships lower part shoved the clouds out of the way to make room for the UFO. UFOs can create clouds and even make holes through them, but one thing they can't do...fill in the inside of the ship with clouds. LOL, I don't think they would like that too much. 

I consider UFO observations like this to be an intrusion on the publics privacy. Much how apps on your phone can track you and record the information you look at on the net? Or how Mark Zuckerbergs' company Facebook would track your likes, comments, and personal info and sell it off to some freak company we never heard of, without our permission.  Well, the aliens are doing the same. They are watching, recording and gathering more data on you than you knew existed. All without your permission to do so. That is a crime that has continued for thousands of years on Earth and still does. I call that a crime against humanity.  
Scott C. Waring

إبراهيم الجروان@ibrahimaljarwan

شوهدت هذه الظاهرة النادرة والجميلة صباح اليوم في مدينة العين

تُسمى hole punch cloud
أو ظاهرة fallstreak hole

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6:26 PM - Mar 17, 2019

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Malik Shahzad@Shayaanputri

What was that mysterious hole in the UAE sky?

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8:44 AM - Mar 18, 2019

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

If the Space Force Won’t Fight Aliens, Who the Hell Will?

by Kyle Mizokami 

Late last week, military news site Task & Purpose confirmed a disturbing fact: the newly created U.S. Space Force has no intention of fighting aliens. Despite the recent uptick of military UFO sightings, the Pentagon appears uninterested (at least officially) in the possibility of hostile aliens. But if an alien invasion does take place, which arm of the Pentagon would respond? The answer: probably all of them.

During a recent Pentagon roundtable, Task & Purpose’s Pentagon reporter Jeff Schogol asked if the Space Force “is concerned about threats posed by extraterrestrial intelligence.” The official answer he got back? “No.” 

Schogol’s question was asked with tongue firmly planted in cheek, but the revelation last year that U.S. Navy fighter jets encountered alleged UFO craft in 2004 and again in 2015—in both instances appearing on radar and leaving behind video evidence—makes one wonder.

If the unidentified flying objects described by Navy pilots, as well as military and civilian personnel for the past seventy years, are really of extraterrestrial origin and unfriendly, how would the Pentagon deal with them?

If UFOs suddenly descended from the skies, toasting the Statue of Liberty, the Great Mall of America, and the Golden Gate Bridge with death rays, the Pentagon would need to convene some sort of study group to quickly determine what kind of threat it was dealing with. If that happens, forget the Air Force.

Ironically, the service that would most likely take the lead is the U.S. Navy.

Why the Navy? Aliens would likely come from vast distances, traveling light years in long distance voyages, to smash puny humans. The U.S. Navy is unique among the services in planning similar, though much, much shorter voyages. Both submarines and UFOs deal with pressure—in the case of submarines the pressure is on the outside, while in space the pressure is on the inside of the vehicle. From an operational and technical standpoint, aliens and sailors have a few things in common.

Would all of this firepower matter in a fight with aliens?

Image: U.S. Navy (Getty)

There are other reasons the Navy might take the lead. Seventy-one percent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, and if aliens operated from the water (remember, the 2004 sighting included reports of a 737-sized object on the surface of the ocean) the Navy is unique in having manned aircraft, surface ships, and submarines prowling above, on, and below the surface of the ocean. The Navy could also sail to the most remote locations in the world’s oceans, establishing a military presence for weeks or months, to investigate and monitor for enemy activity.

The Air Force could operate against aliens, but the service’s fighters and bombers could only remain on station for mere minutes or hours before returning to base. Against a terrestrial threat this isn’t really a big deal, but against an alien threat we know nothing about—and according to the 2004 incident, theoretically capable of traveling extraordinary distances in a blink of an eye—such a force will be less useful.

If humans could lure aliens into a set-piece battle the Air Force could bring a lot of firepower, but how one lures aliens into battle is anyone’s guess. In the meantime the Space Force, nestled under control of the Air Force, would contribute to the alien war by maintaining the U.S. military’s network of position, navigation, and timing/GPS satellites, communication satellites, and other space-based assets.

US Army Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles exercising in Estonia, 2017.

Photo: Sean Gallup (Getty)

The Army would be the service responsible if aliens attempted a landing in the United States, or presumably one of our allies. The Army’s 10 combat divisions would spring into action, attempting to destroy the aliens with fire and maneuver. It would be in many ways similar to countering an airborne landing, with the Army attempting to destroy the alien’s landing zone and prevent the flow of alien reinforcements. The Marines could also get in on the alien fighting, particularly overseas in Asia, Europe, or even the Middle East—though one would like to think aliens would be smart enough to avoid that region and the prospect of their own 18-year war altogether.

Of course, all of this is contingent on the U.S. military being on par with alien technology... which, frankly, is extremely unlikely. The universe is billions of years old, and other races could easily have a head start of a million years or more on us. And certainly, any species capable of interstellar flight is far more technologically advanced.

Consider that a handful of 21st century tanks could crush an army from the 11th century, or even the 19th century for that matter. Even a difference of a thousand years would be ample enough to ensure humanity’s defeat from even a minor alien expedition/hunting trip/bachelor party.

The entire U.S. military could have the same effectiveness against aliens as cavemen—or in this case cosplayers pretending to be cavemen at Comicon—would have against the U.S. military

Image: Daniel Zuchnick (Getty)

If aliens do exist, ultimately it may not matter if they are hostile or not. Our destruction at their hands would be about as inevitable as destruction from an extinction-level meteor impact. They could even be friendly, the combination of advanced, destructive technology and violent tendencies leading to intelligent life self-screening itself from interstellar travel. (That would be bad news for humanity.) The “UFOs” people are seeing could even be top secret U.S. government craft. The aliens could be us. In the end, maybe it doesn’t matter if the Pentagon has a plan to fight aliens after all.

{  https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/ }

Carbon monoxide detectors in our homes warn of a dangerous buildup of that colorless, odorless gas we normally associate with death. Astronomers, too, have generally assumed that a build-up of carbon monoxide in a planet’s atmosphere would be a sure sign of lifelessness. Now, a UC Riverside-led research team is arguing the opposite: celestial carbon monoxide detectors may actually alert us to a distant world teeming with simple life forms. 

“With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope two years from now, astronomers will be able to analyze the atmospheres of some rocky exoplanets,” said Edward Schwieterman, the study’s lead author and a NASA Postdoctoral Program fellow in UCR’s Department of Earth Sciences. “It would be a shame to overlook an inhabited world because we did not consider all the possibilities.”

In a study published today in The Astrophysical Journal, Schwieterman’s team used computer models of chemistry in the biosphere and atmosphere to identify two intriguing scenarios in which carbon monoxide readily accumulates in the atmospheres of living planets.

In the first scenario, the team found answers in our own planet’s deep past. On the modern, oxygen-rich Earth, carbon monoxide cannot accumulate because the gas is quickly destroyed by chemical reactions in the atmosphere. But three billion years ago, the world was a very different place. The oceans were already teeming with microbial life, but the atmosphere was nearly devoid of oxygen and the sun was much dimmer.

The team’s models reveal that this ancient version of inhabited Earth could maintain carbon monoxide levels of roughly 100 parts per million (ppm)—several orders of magnitude greater the parts-per-billion traces of the gas in the atmosphere today.

“That means we could expect high carbon monoxide abundances in the atmospheres of inhabited but oxygen-poor exoplanets orbiting stars like our own sun,” said Timothy Lyons, one of the study’s co-authors, a professor of biogeochemistry in UCR’s Department of Earth Science, and director of the UCR Alternative Earths Astrobiology Center. “This is a perfect example of our team’s mission to use the Earth’s past as a guide in the search for life elsewhere in the universe.”

A second scenario is even more favorable for the buildup of carbon monoxide: the photochemistry around red dwarf stars like Proxima Centauri, the star nearest our sun at 4.2 light years away. The team’s models predict that if a planet around such a star were inhabited and rich in oxygen, then we should expect the abundance of carbon monoxide to be extremely high—anywhere from hundreds of ppm to several percent.

“Given the different astrophysical context for these planets, we should not be surprised to find microbial biospheres promoting high levels of carbon monoxide,” Schwieterman said. “However, these would certainly not be good places for human or animal life as we know it on Earth.” 

Earth-sized, rocky planets have been discovered orbiting in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri and other similar stars, meaning they could harbor liquid water, an essential ingredient for life. Such planets are likely targets for further characterization by the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in March 2021.

The current study is one component of a broad effort to prepare for these future missions by cataloguing different combinations of atmospheric gases that might be evidence of an inhabited world—so-called biosignature gases. Some gases, such as carbon monoxide, had been proposed previously as ‘antibiosignatures’— evidence that a planet is not inhabited —if remotely detectable at sufficient abundance. But those assumptions only apply in specific cases.

“Although other studies have done exoplanet photochemical modeling that includes carbon monoxide, no one had focused on carbon monoxide on Earth-like exoplanets in such a systematic way,” Schwieterman said. “Now we have a guidebook for determining what levels of carbon monoxide are compatible with a photosynthetic biosphere.”

In addition to Schwieterman and Lyons, the paper’s authors are Christopher Reinhard from the Georgia Institute of Technology; Stephanie Olson, a former UCR graduate student now a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Chicago; Kazumi Ozaki, a former NASA Postdoctoral Program fellow at Georgia Tech now from Toho University in Japan; Chester E. Harman from Columbia University, and Peng K. Hong from Chiba Institute of Technology. This project was funded by the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

(Header photo: Hubble telescope photograph of Proxima Centauri. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA)

{  https://news.ucr.edu/ }

Koolmonoxide in de atmosfeer van exoplaneten kan wijzen op buitenaards leven

Vivian Lammerse

{ https://www.scientias.nl/ }

Welcome to Europe, Kazachok

Exomars landing platform arrives in Europe with name

The platform destined to land on the Red Planet as part of the next ExoMars mission has arrived in Europe for final assembly and testing – and been given a name.

An announcement was made by the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos of its new name: ‘Kazachok’.

The ExoMars programme is a joint endeavour between ESA and Roscosmos and comprises two missions. The Trace Gas Orbiter is already circling Mars examining the planet’s atmosphere, while the second mission – comprising a surface science platform and a rover – is foreseen for launch in 2020.

ExoMars rover

Last month, the rover was named ‘Rosalind Franklin’ after the prominent scientist behind the discovery of the structure of DNA. Now the surface platform also has a name. Kazachock literally means little Cossack, and it is a lively folk dance.

Once on the martian surface, Rosalind the rover will drive off the Kazachok platform to perform scientific investigations. Kazachok will remain stationary to investigate the climate, atmosphere, radiation and possible presence of subsurface water in the landing site.

Kazachok left Russia after being carefully packed to meet planetary protection requirements, making sure to not bring terrestrial biological contamination to Mars. It was shipped to Turin, Italy, on an Antonov plane along with ground support equipment and other structural elements.

Packed for Europe

The Italian division of Thales Alenia Space will perform final assembly and testing of the mission in close cooperation with ESA and the Russian Lavochkin Association, the developer and manufacturer of the descent module including the landing platform.

There will be more components arriving to Italy throughout the year, including avionics equipment, the carrier and rover modules and thermal protection systems for the landing platform.

Several test campaigns with ExoMars models are running in parallel in preparation for launch and landing.

Recent shock tests in Russia have successfully proved the mechanical compatibility between the spacecraft and the adapter for the Proton-M rocket that will set ExoMars on its way to Mars.

ExoMars landing platform in Italy

The ExoMars teams have also just completed the egress and locomotion tests with a full-sized model of the rover in Zurich, Switzerland.

There the rover drove off ramps and through all the terrain conditions that it might encounter on Mars: different types of soil, various obstacle shapes and sizes and all kind of slopes.

“We have now a very challenging schedule of deliveries and tests both in Italy and France. The coordination between the Russian and European teams is key to timely reach the Baikonur cosmodrome in 2020,” says François Spoto, ESA’s ExoMars team leader.

{ http://www.esa.int/ESA }

Nieuwe naam voor de ExoMars-lander bekend: Kazachok

Vivian Lammerse

Samen met Rosalind de Marsrover reist hij volgend jaar af naar de rode planeet.

Volgend jaar gaat het dan echt beginnen: dan zal de ExoMars-missie van start gaan. De missie bestaat uit zowel een Marslander (gebouwd door de Russen) en een Marsrover (gebouwd door ESA). Een maand geleden maakte ESA al de naam bekend van de marsrover: zo is deze tot Rosalind Franklin gedoopt, vernoemd naar de wetenschapper die de structuur van DNA onthulde. En nu laten ook de Russen weten met welke naam hun lander voortaan door het leven zal gaan.

Naam
De lander heeft de naam Kazachok gekregen, wat letterlijk ‘kleine kozak’ betekent. Daarnaast is Kazachok een vrolijke volksdans. De lander is ondertussen naar Italië verscheept voor de eindmontage en de laatste testen, voordat deze volgend jaar het luchtruim kiest.

De lander is heelhuids aangekomen in Italië voor de laatste puntjes op de i.

Afbeelding: Roscosmos

Missies
Het ExoMars-programma is een gezamenlijke onderneming van de Europese en Russische ruimtevaartorganisaties (ESA en Roscosmos) en bestaat uit twee missies. De Trace Gas Orbiter cirkelt op dit moment al rond Mars en onderzoekt de atmosfeer van de planeet. De tweede missie – bestaande uit Rosalind Franklin en Kazachok – zullen zich meer op het oppervlak van de rode planeet concentreren. Rosalind de rover zal tot twee meter onder het oppervlak op zoek gaan naar sporen van levensvormen die lang geleden op Mars leefden, of mogelijk tot op de dag van vandaag stand hebben weten te houden. Kozachok zal op één plek blijven om het klimaat, de atmosfeer en de mogelijke aanwezigheid van ondergrond water op de landingsplaats te onderzoeken.

Zoals gezegd wordt de missie in 2020 gelanceerd. Vervolgens komen Rosalind en Kazachok in 2021 op de rode planeet aan. De precieze landingsplek is zorgvuldig door de twee ruimtevaartorganisaties uitgezocht. Zo zullen de rover en de lander voet aan de grond zetten in een gebied dat Oxia Planum wordt genoemd. Oxia Planum bevindt zich nabij de evenaar van Mars en is een wat lager gelegen gebied. Observaties vanuit de ruimte onthullen dat Oxia Planum rijk is aan klei-achtige mineralen die ongeveer vier miljard jaar geleden zijn gevormd. Aangezien deze mineralen alleen in combinatie met water kunnen zijn ontstaan, gaan onderzoekers ervan uit dat Oxia Planum ooit behoorlijk wat water bevatte. Maar of dat ook echt zo blijkt te zijn? Rosalind en Kazachok zullen ons dat over twee jaar laten weten.

Bronmateriaal:

"Exomars landing platform arrives in Europe with name" - 
Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: ESA/ATG medialab

{ https://www.scientias.nl/ }