Chinese scientists develop AI ‘prosecutor’ that can press its own charges

By STEPHEN CHEN * SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

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Researchers in China say they have achieved a world first by developing a machine that can charge people with crimes using artificial intelligence.

The AI "prosecutor" can file a charge with more than 97 per cent accuracy based on a verbal description of the case, according to the researchers.

The machine was built and tested by the Shanghai Pudong People's Procuratorate, the country's largest and busiest district prosecution office.

The technology could reduce prosecutors' daily workload, allowing them to focus on more difficult tasks, according to Professor Shi Yong, director of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' big data and knowledge management laboratory, who is the project's lead scientist.

"The system can replace prosecutors in the decision-making process to a certain extent," said Shi and his colleagues in a paper published this month in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Management Review.

The application of AI technology in law enforcement has been increasing around the world.

Some German prosecutors have used AI technology such as image recognition and digital forensics to increase case processing speed and accuracy.

China's prosecutors were early adopters when they began using AI in 2016. Many of them now use an AI tool known as System 206.

The tool can evaluate the strength of evidence, conditions for an arrest and how dangerous a suspect is considered to be to the public.

But all existing AI tools have a limited role, because "they do not participate in the decision-making process of filing charges and [suggesting] sentences", Shi and colleagues said.

Making such decisions would require a machine to identify and remove any contents of a case file that are irrelevant to a crime, without removing the useful information.

The machine would also need to convert complex, ever-changing human language into a standard mathematical or geometric format that a computer could understand.

China's internet companies have developed powerful tools for natural language processing, but their operation often requires large computers that prosecutors do not have access to.

The AI prosecutor developed by Shi's team could run on a desktop computer.

For each suspect, it would press a charge based on 1,000 "traits" obtained from the human-generated case description text, most of which are too small or abstract to make sense to humans. System 206 would then assess the evidence.

The machine was "trained" using more than 17,000 cases from 2015 to 2020. So far, it can identify and press charges for Shanghai's eight most common crimes.

They are credit card fraud, running a gambling operation, dangerous driving, intentional injury, obstructing official duties, theft, fraud and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" — a catch-all charge often used to stifle dissent.

Shi and colleagues said that the AI prosecutor would soon become more powerful with upgrades. It would be able to recognise less common crimes and file multiple charges against one suspect.

It was unclear when or whether the technology would find applications in other fields. The team could not be reached for comment when the report was published.

A prosecutor in the southern city of Guangzhou said he had some concerns about the use of AI in filing charges.

"The accuracy of 97 per cent may be high from a technological point of view, but there will always be a chance of a mistake," said the prosecutor, who requested not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"Who will take responsibility when it happens? The prosecutor, the machine or the designer of the algorithm?"

Direct involvement of AI in decision-making could also affect a human prosecutor's autonomy. Most prosecutors did not want computer scientists "meddling" in a legal judgment, the Guangzhou-based prosecutor said.

Another issue is that an AI prosecutor could file a charge based only on its previous experience. It could not foresee the public reaction to a case in a changing social environment.

"AI may help detect a mistake, but it cannot replace humans in making a decision," the prosecutor said.

Nonetheless, China is making aggressive use of AI in nearly every sector of the government to try to improve efficiency, reduce corruption and strengthen control.

Some Chinese cities have used machines to monitor government employees' social circles and activities to detect corruption, according to researchers involved.

Many Chinese courts have been using AI to help judges process case files and make decisions such as whether to accept or reject an appeal.

Most Chinese prisons have also adopted AI technology to track prisoners' physical and mental status, with the goal of reducing violence.

• This article was first published in South China Morning Post.

Chinese prosecutors have been using AI since 2016.

Photo: Shutterstock

{ https://www.asiaone.com/ }

Scientists Have Discovered 40,000-Year-Old Star Maps Containing “Complex Constellation Knowledge”

The 40,000-year-old rock carvings attest to the use of complex astronomy. Ancient drawings, which were previously thought to be symbols of prehistoric animals, are ancient star charts, experts recently discovered.

“Early cave art shows that humans had advanced knowledge of the night sky during the last ice age.”

Scientific research has shown that humans possessed complex knowledge of the stars and constellations over 40,000 years ago. Scientists have found that ancient people kept track of time by observing how the stars change their position in the sky.

As previously thought, ancient works of art found in many places in Europe are simple depictions of wild animals. However, instead, the animal symbols represent the constellations of stars in the night sky. They mark dates by marking events such as asteroid strikes, a new study published by the University of Edinburgh explains.

Scientists assume that ancient people perfectly understood the effect caused by a gradual change in the Earth’s axis of rotation. The discovery of this phenomenon, called the precession of the equinoxes, was previously attributed to the ancient Greeks.

“These findings support the theory of numerous cometary impacts throughout human history and could revolutionize the study of prehistoric populations.”

Experts from the Universities of Edinburgh and Kent have studied ancient cave art in Turkey, Spain, France and Germany.

Scientists have determined the age of cave art by chemically dating the paints used by ancient people.

Then, using computer programs, the scientists predicted the position of the stars at the time the paints were made. This showed that what used to be considered abstract representations of animals can be interpreted as constellations, as they looked in the distant past.

Scientists have concluded that these incredible cave paintings show that ancient people practiced a sophisticated timekeeping method based on astronomical calculations, despite the fact that the cave paintings are separated in time by tens of thousands of years.

“The world’s oldest sculpture, the Hochlenstein-Stadel Cave Lion Man, dating from 38,000 BC, has also been found to fit this ancient timekeeping system,” experts reveal in a statement from the University of Edinburgh.

It is believed that the mysterious statuette is dedicated to the catastrophic asteroid impact that occurred about 11,000 years ago and marked the beginning of the so-called Younger Dryad event – a period of sharp cooling of the climate.

“The date carved on the statuette is interpreted as 10,950 BC, with an accuracy of 250 years,” the scientists explain in their study.

“This date is written using the precession of the equinoxes, and the animal symbols represent the stellar constellations corresponding to the four solstices and equinoxes of this year.”

“Intellectually, these ancient people were no different from us today,” says Dr. Martin Sweetman of the University of Edinburgh.

Where did these ancient people get such knowledge about space and the sky?

• The study was published in the Athens Historical Journal.

{ https://anomalien.com/ }

Is the Rendlesham UFO Incident UK’s Biggest Military Cover-Up of an Alien Encounter?

“The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England in late December of 1980 which became linked with claims of UFO landings.” – Wikipedia

“In late December 1980, there was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England which have become linked with claims of UFO landings.

The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF). USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, claimed to see things they described as a UFO sighting.

The occurrence is the most famous of claimed UFO events to have happened in the United Kingdom, ranking among the best-known reported UFO events worldwide. It has been compared to the Roswell UFO incident in the United States and is sometimes referred to as “Britain’s Roswell”.

Channel 5
YouTube

{ https://bendedreality.com/ }

2022 will start with a bus-sized asteroid approaching Earth

A strange Alien medallion was discovered in an Egyptian tomb (video)

{ https://galaxy4ktimes.com/ }

Underground Atlantis: Did Ancient Civilization Take Refuge In Advanced Underground Tunnels?

Several of the impressive megalithic buildings around the world were erected by the A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ Atlantean c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳. But not only that, in times so immemorial when the world was physically unstable, this race built fantastic tunnel systems in which to take refuge if necessary, both from the onslaught of nature and from attacks from outer space.

At least that is how the U̳F̳O̳logist William Francis Brinsley Le Poer Trench (1911-1995), 8th Earl of Clancarty, 7th Marquis of Heusden believed, who in 1974 wrote the book The S̳e̳c̳r̳e̳t̳ of the Ages: U̳F̳O̳s from the interior of the Earth, elaborating on this and other topics related to the Hollow Earth hypothesis.

To begin with, in his book Le Poer Trench quotes the famous Erich von Däniken and his Gold of the Gods to refer to “a gigantic system of tunnels, thousands of kilometers long” that stretches below Ecuador and Peru. This interconnected cave and tunnel system was discovered by Juan Moricz in 1965.

Von Däniken related that a tunnel led to a large room where there were stone and metal objects, including statues of many types of animals made of solid gold. Additionally, there was a metal library consisting of metal plates (sheets) with writing in an unknown language, which Moricz believed contained a history of mankind and details about a vanished c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳.

Erich von Dániken with the discoverer of the tunnels, Juan Moricz, at the entrance to the mysterious underground world.

According to the quoted author, “the tunnels under Ecuador and Peru have smooth walls and often appear polished”, which would suggest that they had not been cut with rudimentary tools, but with much more sophisticated means. In Von Daniken\’s words:

“… If the drill hits exceptionally hard geological strata, these could be destroyed with a few well-aimed shots from the weapon. The thermally shielded drill would attack the resulting blocks and heat the debris mass to a liquid state. As soon as the liquid rock cooled, it would form a diamond-hard enamel. The tunnel system would be safe against water infiltration and the camera supports would be superfluous. ”

Atlantis: The Refuge of War?

Towards the end of El Oro de Los Dioses, the Swiss author proposed a very interesting theory about a specific reason why A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ c̳i̳v̳i̳l̳i̳z̳a̳t̳i̳o̳n̳s̳ like the Atlantean, direct descendants of A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ astronauts, built the tunnels. This is quite apart from the dangers of seismic activity that Le Poer Trench himself also mentions as a threat.

Von Däniken suggests that in A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ times a cosmic battle took place between human beings. The losers apparently escaped in a spaceship, although the count attributes more than one spacecraft to them, and took refuge on Earth, where they were forced to wear “gas masks” to resist and adapt to the new atmosphere, hence the rock art. representing beings with “helmets” and “respiratory apparatus” -.

The author then claims that these fugitives, gifted with all the technological advances, “dived deep into the earth and made the tunnel systems” out of fear of their pursuers.

Later, and to hide their position even better, they established transmission stations on the fifth planet of our solar system, which then existed between Mars and Jupiter. The enemy, deceived by this ruse and believing that the signals betrayed the fugitives, bombards the mentioned planet until its complete destruction. Debris from the exploded world spread across what is now called the asteroid belt. This area is made up of thousands of asteroids and small pieces of stones. “P̳l̳a̳n̳e̳t̳s̳ don\’t explode by themselves, someone makes them explode!” Däniken says

Le Poer Trench adds in his book that, if this really were the case, the weapons used in those A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ times were even more lethal than those of today and would explain the withering “bolts” of Zeus and other “gods” with truly destructive effects. capabilities.

Furthermore, he points out that the gravitational disruptions generated in the solar system by the loss of the fifth planet were responsible for a tilting of the Earth\’s axis and the universal flood described by so many A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ cultures.

Underground tunnels in South America

The U̳F̳O̳logist of the last century then quotes the Italian journalist Peter Kolosimo and his work Timeless Land, where he mentions a system of tunnels that connects Lima with Cuzco, and from there continues to the Bolivian border.

According to the Kolosimo, these tunnels present a fascinating archaeological problem. “Scholars agree that they were not manufactured by the Incas themselves, who used them but ignored their origin. In fact, they are so imposing that it does not seem absurd to conjecture, as some scientists have done, that they are the work of an unknown race of giants, ”he writes.

On the other hand, the British Harold T. Wilkins, in his book Mysteries of Ancient South America, was probably describing the same tunnel system when he stated:

«One of the entrances to the great tunnels was, and still is, near the old Cuzco, but it is masked so as not to be discovered. This hidden path leads directly to a huge “subway”, which goes from Cuzco to Lima, in a straight line, a distance of 380 miles! Then, turning south, the great tunnel stretches out into what, until about 1868, was modern Bolivia, some 900 miles! ”

Wilkins also referred to some tunnels in the West Indies:

«Strange tunnels of incredible antiquity and unknown origin caught the attention of Christopher Columbus when he visited Martinique, in the West Indies. To be sure, the Atlantean white race built splendid cities on what are now islands of the West Indies, but which, at that distant date, may have been part of the now submerged American continent, whose name is commemorated in the word: “Antilles. ”

A curious old world Asian tradition is that A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳ Atlantis had a network of tunnels and labyrinthine passages that ran in all directions, the day the land bridge existed between the submerged land and Africa on one side and old Brazil on the other. . In Atlantis, the tunnels were used for necromantic and black magic cults.

Kolosimo, for his part, noted that tunnel systems are found all over the world. In addition to South America, he listed California, Virginia, Hawaii, Oceania, and Asia. In Europe, there are tunnels in Sweden, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; and, in the Mediterranean area, in the Balearic Islands and Malta.

“A huge tunnel, of which some thirty miles have been explored, runs between Spain and Morocco, and many believe that this is how the‘ Barbary monkeys ’, otherwise unknown in Europe, arrived in Gibraltar,” wrote the Italian. “It has even been suggested that these cyclopean galleries form a network connecting the most distant parts of our planet.”

Agartha

Wilkins has more to tell us about the old tunnel systems:

“Among the tribes of Inner Mongolia, even today, there are traditions about tunnels and underground worlds that sound as fantastic as anything in modern novels. A legend, if so! – says the tunnels lead to an underworld of antediluvian descent, somewhere in Afghanistan or in the Hindu Kush region.

They even give it a name: Agharta. Legend adds that a maze of tunnels and underground passages extends in a series of links that connect Agharta with all the other underground worlds. The underworld, it is said, is illuminated by a strange green luminescence that favors the growth of crops and favors the length of days and health.

This last story is of special interest to Le Poer Trench, who draws a parallel with another Kolosimo writing that speaks of a similar fluorescence in another part of the world.

In Timeless Earth it is read that “a strange bottomless pit in Azerbaijan” has walls where “a bluish light comes out and strange noises are heard”, adding that after investigating and exploring, “scientists found a complete system of tunnels that connected with others in Georgia and throughout the Caucasus. ”

After describing these tunnels, which are on a regular basis and, he claimed, almost identical to others in Central America, Kolosimo goes on to say that they are part of a huge system that even connects with Iran and, furthermore, with the tunnels in C̳h̳i̳n̳a̳, Tibet and Mongolia.

Now, as for Wilkins\’ account of an underworld named Agharta, which was said to be illuminated by a strange green luminescence, Kolosimo has this to say:

“Tibetans believe that the tunnels are citadels, the last of which still offers refuge to the survivors of an immense cataclysm. This unknown town is said to make use of an underground energy source that replaces that of the sun, causing plants to reproduce and prolong human life. It is supposed to emit a green fluorescence, and it is curious that we also find this idea in American legends.

conclusion

Thus, Le Poer Trench concludes that the Atlanteans and their descendants built tunnel systems around the world for various purposes. In the first place, to protect against attacks from nature, then very common, in the form of seismic activity and floods, and secondly, as protection in case of being attacked from outer space:

“Most of these fantastic tunnels were built in ways that exceed our current capabilities. For years England and France have been talking about the idea of ​​a Channel Tunnel. However, it seems that the A̳n̳c̳i̳e̳n̳t̳s built the amazing tunnels of their time as something natural, and on a grand scale, for good and imperative reasons.

{ https://new.todaypressworld24.com/ }

The World's Fastest Plane's Successor Will Reach Over 4,600 Miles

Lockheed Martin’s new hypersonic plane is expected to travel at Mach 6.

 By  Can Emir

A render of Lockheed Martin's SR-72.

Lockheed Martin/Wikipedia

The Lockheed Martin SR-72, which is rumored to be the world’s fastest plane, is expected to make a test flight in 2025, eight years after its private proposal in 2013.

SR-72 will be the successor of the SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest manned aircraft which smashed speed records in 1974 and was retired by the U.S. Air Force back in 1998. 

The SR-72, or “Son of Blackbird” is envisioned as an unmanned, hypersonic and reusable, reconnaissance, surveillance, and strike aircraft. The striking ability of the aircraft comes to the fore as it will, reportedly, support Lockheed Martin’s novel High-Speed Strike Weapon (HSSW). The aircraft's combat capabilities enable it to strike its target in dangerous environments that are deemed risky for slower manned aircraft.

Since the technology to build the aircraft was overly ambitious when the project was announced in 2013, the project had to wait for several years.

The SR-72 is estimated to have a top speed of Mach 6 or 4,603 mph (7.400 kph), making it roughly twice as fast as its predecessor, and could theoretically evade current fighter jets with its killing pace. 

This massive speed boost is hypothetically thanks to a new turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) propulsion system. This, combined with an existing dual-mode ramjet would have allowed it to travel far faster than any other plane, circling the globe in a few hours.

While the alleged progress, development, and production timelines are still blurry, Lockheed said in late 2018 that an SR-72 prototype will fly by 2025, with the aircraft possibly entering service into the 2030s.

Since this is exciting news for Lockheed Martin, hypersonic technology in aircraft has been making headlines all over the globe. Most notably, China's hypersonic weapon launch in July caught intelligence services off guard, including the U.S. Space Force. The Chinese hypersonic technology is more advanced than any other country even though it missed its intended target. It looks like China is in the lead but still has a long way to go to win the race.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://interestingengineering.com/ }

As the countdown to 2022 begins, the looks back at 2021 start with celebrity deaths and major news events, then move to Best of, Worst of, Most improved and Biggest Increase. In that last category, Northern Ireland is in the running for Biggest Increase in UFO sightings. What do ETs see in Northern Ireland?

“From mysterious discs over Slemish Mountain in Co Antrim to strange images spotted on CCTV, unexplained sightings increased in Northern Ireland again last year. Police received eight sightings in Northern Ireland during 2021, an increase from six such reports in 2020 and four in 2019.”

They don’t think I’m a leprechaun anymore?

That may not seem like a lot, but what does YOUR area have to brag about for 2021? The Belfast Telegraph and other UK media sources picked up on these statistics from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) database, which keeps track of reports on “Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO), Ariel Phenomena, Unidentified Ariel Phenomena, Lights In The Sky, Aliens and Extra-Terrestrial.” Despite this unusual and noteworthy increase in sightings, a PSNI spokesperson said no investigations were carried out in relation to these incidents.

“UFO investigators are seeking to explain this mysterious object spotted in the sky over Co Fermanagh. The grey shape was photographed by local Sinn Fein councillor Sheamus Greene while walking a remote area shortly before Christmas.”

January appeared to be a big month for UFOs in Northern Ireland, as a local politician reported seeing them twice in one week in County Fermanaghone, while The Belfast Telegraph says there was “a report of a space ship and flashing lights in the Downpatrick area on January 17.” In May, PSNI was called on two sightings — white lights following a helicopter in the Maghaberry area and a disc in the sky in the Slemish area of County Antrim. In July, there was a report of “strange images” on closed-circuit television (CCTV) in a house in the Newtownabbey area and a dome-shaped object with eight lights in the sky reported in the Saintfield area, and in November someone reported “unusual bright lights in the sky.” While those sounded like typical UFO sightings, the next two may have been something else.

“In September, a report was received in the Lisburn area of “aliens in bedroom”, while in October a detained patient reported having been abducted by aliens.”

“Aliens in the Bedroom” sounds like a tabloid headline, but perhaps it should be taken seriously since Lisburn was also the location of a strange UFO sighting in 2020 when “there was a report of a UFO “with many flashing lights making no noise” hovering in the skies above Dunmurray on the outskirts of Lisburn for around 30 minutes.” That comes from a report at the end of 2020 touting “Number of UFO sightings in Northern Ireland rose in 2020.”

I hear Scotland is nice.

Does it sound like Northern Ireland is concerned about UFOs … or proud of their interest in the area? The Belfast Telegraph reported this year on both the UFO report by the Pentagon to the US Congress, and the British Government’s lack of interest in unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) “because in over 50 years no such reporting had indicated the existence of any military threat to the United Kingdom.” Perhaps that’s the problem – Northern Ireland wants the government to investigate its peculiar annual increase in UFOs and 10 Downing Street is not interested.

It’s too bad they didn’t approach the royals before the passing of UFO fan Prince Philip.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/}

Just a few days ago I was asked about my research into the planet Mars. As you may know, I have a deep interest in all of the various mysteries and anomalies that can be found on the Red Planet. And, there’s no doubt there are plenty of them. Now, many might say – and justifiably in some cases – that all of those aforementioned anomalies fall into the category of pareidolia. It’s described as follows by EarthSky: “Maybe you’ve seen the proverbial bunny in the clouds on a warm summer day, or the face of a clown in a mud splatter on the side of your car? Seeing familiar objects or patterns in otherwise random or unrelated objects or patterns is called pareidolia. It’s a form of apophenia, which is a more general term for the human tendency to seek patterns in random information. Everyone experiences it from time to time. Seeing the famous man in the moon or the canals on Mars are classic examples from astronomy.” In a moment, we’ll take a look at a certain “thing” that I don’t believe is down to pareidolia. Of course, many reading this article may disagree with me – and vehemently so, too. But, that’s how it goes. It’s called “debate.”

Certainly, if you look at multiple photos of the surface of Mars you’ll find something that looks like this or that looks like that. But, it’s just a random piece of rock. So, in other words, I don’t go around thinking every presumed anomaly is exactly that. That said, however, there are some that really make me wonder. One particularly. And that’s the one I’m going to focus on today. It’s referred to as “The Crowned Face.” In some respects it mirrors the highly controversial “Face on Mars” that caused so much debate and argument in the 1970s and 1980s. In a photo of the Crowned Face, it seems to show a large face, with a pointed chin, a pair of eyes and a nose. Also, what appears to be crown-like headgear – hence the name that has been attached to it. Not only that, the eyes really do look like eyes. There also appears to be lips and a nose with nostrils, too. We should not dismiss the fact that if we turn the photo on its side – or upside down – it looks like something else, entirely. But, it still makes me think. And there’s that crown-like headgear, too. Collectively, it looks decidedly eerie.

(NASA) This photo of the Crowned Face is public domain in the U.S. The picture was taken by NASA. The space agency has specifically said that “NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted.” In this case, the photo of the Crowned Face is free to use.

Whether or not you believe that the Crowned Face phenomenon was created by nature, by ancient Martians, or by advanced beings in times long gone, it’s still a subject that has a devoted following. Greg Orme’s excellent paper – “Possible Alien Artifacts in the King’s Valley, Libya Montes, Mars” – makes for fascinating reading. In part, Greg’s paper says: “While the Crowned Face is best known, there are many other unusual formations in the King’s Valley. In some areas it is difficult to find any part of the valley wall without a face of some kind on it. This paper shows some of these other features, artificiality is not proven with all of them as with the Crowned Face, but their proximity to each other makes them hard to explain. Other valleys in Libya Montes have no possible artifacts in them, these are all concentrated within five kilometers in one valley.”

(Nick Redfern)

From Mars to the London Underground

Pareidolia? The remains of an ancient civilization? Shades of the final moments of the 1968 movie, Planet of the Apes? I don’t know. In fact, none of us do. But, I do think that the whole thing warrants ongoing study.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/}

NASA 'looks to the heavens' for help: Agency enlisted 24 theologians to assess how the world would react to the discovery of alien life on distant planets and how it might change our perception of gods and creation

• NASA enlisted 24 theologians to take part in its program the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University 

• The group assed how humans will react if alien life is found on other planets and how the discovery will impact our ideas of gods and creation

•  Dr Andrew Davison, a priest and theologian at the University of Cambridge with a doctorate in biochemistry from Oxford, is one of the theologians

• Davison believes we are getting closer to finding life on other planets

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

NASA is looking to the heavens for help with assessing how humans will react if alien life is found on other planets and how the discovery could impact our ideas of gods and creation.

The agency hired 24 theologians to take part in its program at the Center for Theological Inquiry (CTI) at Princeton University in New Jersey, which NASA gave a $1.1 million grant to in 2014.

CTI is described as building 'bridges of under understanding by convening theologians, scientists, scholars, and policymakers to think together - and inform public thinking - on global concerns.' 

The program, which started in 2016, aimed to answer questions that have baffled us since the begging of time such as what is life? What does it mean to be alive? Where do we draw the line between the human and the alien? What are the possibilities for sentient life in other places?

Now that NASA has two rovers on Mars, several probes orbiting Jupiter and Saturn and is set to launch the James Web Telescope tomorrow that study galaxy, star and planet formation in the universe, it seems that the agency is hopeful it is on the right path to discovering life outside of Earth.

And it needs a little help from above to help those of us living below to understand if that happens.

Scroll down for video 

The Rev Dr Andrew Davison, a priest and theologian at the University of Cambridge with a doctorate in biochemistry from Oxford, is among 24 theologians enlisted by NASA to assess how humans will react if alien life is found on other planets and how the discovery will impact our ideas of gods and creation

NASA held the program, titled Societal Implications of Astrobiology, which started in 2015 and ran to 2018.

The Rev Dr Andrew Davison, a priest and theologian at the University of Cambridge with a doctorate in biochemistry from Oxford, was among 24 theologians who participated in Societal Implications of Astrobiology from 2016 to 2017, The Times reports. 

'Religious traditions would be an important feature in how humanity would work through any such confirmation of life elsewhere,' Davidson shared in a blog post on the University of Cambridge site.

'Because of that, it features as part of NASA's ongoing aim to support work on 'the societal implications of astrobiology', working with various partner organizations, including the Center of Theological Inquiry at Princeton.'

Davison is  publishing a book next year, titled Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine, which notes he believes we are getting closer to finding life on other planets.

Davison wrote in his book: 'Non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people . . . would experience if faced with evidence of alien life'

Davison's book notes: 'The headline findings are that adherents of a range of religious traditions report that they can take the idea in their stride.

'Non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people . . . would experience if faced with evidence of alien life.'

Studies and surveys have shown that US Christians are less likely to believe life exists on other planets, but Davison is not the only 'believer' who does not think the idea of extraterrestrials is impossible.

Duilia de Mello, an astronomer and physics professor at Catholic University, said she has several seminarians in her classes who often bring up theoretical questions about intelligent life in the universe.

'If we are the products of creation, why couldn't we have life evolving in other planets as well? There's nothing that says otherwise,' de Mello told The Washington Post in August.

Now that NASA has two rovers on Mars (pictured is the Perseverance rover), several probes orbiting Jupiter and Saturn and is set to launch the James Web Telescope tomorrow it seems that the agency is hopeful it is on the right path to discovering life outside of Earth

Studies and surveys have shown that US Christians are less likely to believe life exists on other planets, but Davison is not the only 'believer' who does not think the idea of extraterrestrials is impossible. Pictured is an artist impression of NASA's Juno probe orbiting Jupiter

In 2008, the Vatican's chief astronomer says there is no conflict between believing in God and in the possibility of 'extraterrestrial brothers' perhaps more evolved than humans.

'In my opinion this possibility (of life on other planets) exists,' said Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, a 45-year-old Jesuit priest who is head of the Vatican Observatory and a scientific adviser to Pope Benedict.

'How can we exclude that life has developed elsewhere,' he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano in an interview in its Tuesday-Wednesday edition, explaining that the large number of galaxies with their own planets made this possible.

Asked if he was referring to beings similar to humans or even more evolved than humans, he said: 'Certainly, in a universe this big you can't exclude this hypothesis'.

The James Web Telescope (pictured), which is set to launch Christmas Day, could however change the way we look at the universe and maybe what is written in scriptures of all religions 

However, not all theologians are on board with the idea of life on other planets.

Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said in a 2008 interview when asked if there are such thing as aliens: 'The answer is no; that’s speculative. 

'We have no reason to believe there is any other story out there. There is nothing in Scripture that says there can’t be some form of life somewhere. But what we are told is that the cosmos was created in order that on this planet Jesus Christ, in space and time and history, would come to save sinful humanity.' 

The James Web Telescope, which is set to launch Christmas Day, could however change the way we look at the universe and maybe what is written in scriptures of all religions.

It has been described as a 'time machine' that could help unravel the secrets of our universe, with distant objects emitting light from further back in time.

The telescope will be used to look back to the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago.

 The goal of this powerful device is to unravel the mysteries of supermassive black holes, distant alien worlds, stellar explosions, dark matter, and more.

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE: THE NEXT BIG ORBITAL OBSERVATORY DEPLOYED TO SEARCH FOR ALIEN LIFE 

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Would it surprise you to learn that NASA has a priest on staff who is also a scientist? Would you be even more surprised to learn his function is not to minister astronauts but to help prepare the religious world for possible encounters with alien life forms? Meet Reverend Dr. Andrew Davison, a priest, a theologian and a scientist who has that unique job description and who is getting a preliminary 15 minutes of fame until the aliens arrive.

“Dr. Davison works at the intersection of theology, science and philosophy. His recent work has addressed astrobiology, inter-species cooperation (or mutualism) in biology, and the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis.”

From his Cambridge University biography, Reverend Dr. Davison sounds like a priest whose homilies would keep those interested in space travel and SETI wide awake. He has BA in Chemistry with Biochemistry and Biophysics and a DPhil in Biochemistry from Oxford, and a BA in Theology and Religious Studies and a PhD in Theology from Cambridge. Since 2014, he’s been the the Starbridge Associate Professor in Theology and Natural Sciences at Cambridge. Sounds like the perfect candidate to help NASA decide the religious aspects of dealing with aliens … and the religious people on Earth who may be in a dilemma over it. NASA thought so too.

“In the 2016-17 academic year, he was a fellow at the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, New Jersey, on a NASA-sponsored programme to consider the implications for human society and self-understanding of life elsewhere in the universe.”

It’s that somewhat controversial position, plus his recent monograph on the significance of ‘exobiology’ for the main aspects of the Christian faith, that likely won him his latest job, which the British press is making a big to-do about.

“The headline findings are that adherents of a range of religious traditions report that they can take the idea in their stride. Non-religious people also seem to overestimate the challenges that religious people . . . would experience if faced with evidence of alien life.”

That quote from one of his books points out that people of various faiths disagree on how to react to the discovery of life on other planets, especially if it is similar to life on Earth. However, non-religious people have had an objection to the mixing of space science, religion and government funding before – specifically, in that NASA-sponsored program at Princeton that Davison was part of.

“The principal thrust of the grant was theological — and therefore religious. And though ostensibly ecumenical, the Center is “rooted in Christian theology,” according to its website. The grant was patently unconstitutional, FFRF asserted, since government-funded scientific studies of theology create state-church entanglements.”

in 2017, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) protested NASA granting $1.108 million in taxpayer money to the Center of Theological Inquiry for what it deemed religious purposes. That obviously didn’t stop NASA in 2017 and will undoubtedly not stop it today.

While the funding may be controversial, the idea is worthy. Let’s hope Reverend Dr. Andrew Davison opens the discussion up to all religions and to the non-religious … we will all be under stress the day the aliens arrive – if they’re not here already.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Why Have the Giant Nephilims Been Wiped from History?... One Giant Secret

Why Have the Giant Nephilims Been Wiped from History?… One Giant Secret

Andre the Giant, Goliath, Gulliver. We are familiar with so-called giants of screen and mythology – but what if there was a real-life race of human giants that once walked the earth? And we don’t just mean you Big and Tall fellas out there. It is a very odd theory indeed, and one that understandably draws sniggers upon first hearing it – until you look at the evidence. Quite clearly there is a global effort to keep the evidence of giants since ancient days buried away from public eyes.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

What They Discovered in Antarctica Shocked the Whole World via The Supreme

Antarctica is a long way away from where you live, wherever you live. Not many people have been to this frozen continent; it’s difficult to get there, and it seems like some place out of a sci-fi movie – otherworldly… And that’s what makes these unbelievable finds even more thrilling!

We’re taking you to places that no human – or animal – has ever been, lakes concealed by millions of years of ice, deserts in the middle of a city-sized glacier, and to icebergs’s as big as New York City… 15 Unsettling Discoveries In Antarctica Nobody Can Explain.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{  https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

{ https://nationalufocenter.com/ }

The Most Important Alien Story NEVER Told

What is the alien agenda? Are UFOs real? And why has the government gone to such great lengths to stifle the overwhelming evidence that there is life outside of Earth that exists? Some of our greatest minds on the planet share the truth behind this massive cover-up. Stanton Friedman is one of these people, he is a top nuclear physicist who has appeared in countless documentaries and tv programs talking and sharing his expertise. Jim Mars also speaks on this matter, he is an author of the top-selling non-fiction UFO book in the world, Alien Agenda.

Absolute Documentaries brings you the best of entertaining and fascinating documentaries for free. Whether you’re into true crime, stories from around the world, family and social life, science or psychology, we’ve got you covered with must-see full-length documentaries every week.

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

UFO Sightings in the United States

Sightings are from MUFON CMS

Arizona Light

Phoenix– on November 30, 2021, was outside when I saw a zig zag star at 5:01 AM near Aurigas and Taurus. I saw at quick flash downward. This was strange e and looking up on the south sky at the stars and I saw an airplane. moving pretty fast turning west. I was following the plane, but mainly focused beyond looking at the stars.

The light flew down and maneuvered. The light was a bit brighter than the stars and bigger than the biggest star. Thanks to Will Pucket/www.ufosnw.com/newsite/

California Object

Ranch Mirage – on December 2, 2021, seemed to be composed of 4-5several lights and moved fairly slowly, north to “dissolve.” It was 30,000 feet four times bigger than airliner.

Florida Lights

Big Coppitt – on November 25, 2021, my friend and I were on stairs to her house and noticed a roundish orange/yellow object with no tail. I live on the space coast and have seen hundreds of rocket launches.

Kentucky Lights

Jackson – on December 7, 2021, could see the craft was triangular, but the video doesn’t pick that up and the front light doesn’t show up. Have seen this before, but never captured video until now

Maine Light

Augusta – on November 10, 2021, upon looking up at 4:10PM, in parking lot, saw dark needle-like large object headed north emitting a light contrail. Observed for5 minutes and took two photos at 4:19PM, for 15 minutes then lost it.

Nevada Light

Las Vegas – on December 7, 2021, I was starting my work when I noticed a small dark object hovering in the western sky and videoed with my iPhone 8S. It had no wings, didn’t look like any known aircraft. My job is across the street from Nellis AFB.

New Jersey Lights

Beachwood – on December 4, 2021, saw two objects flying next to each other over the Parkway. We got off the exit and one disappeared. We followed one to the Beachwood School where it made a 180 turn. White light changed to a flashing red light and then disappeared. Later, I videoed four flashing red lights on each corner of a rectangular object.

Pennsylvania Object

Philadelphia – on November 14, 2021, my husband and I observed two segment vertically stacked object hover in the sky. It moves forward, hovered, then forward for ten minutes at 3:34pm, lost it.

Texas Object

San Angelo on October 16, 2021, f fishing at Lake Newsworthy, 5 transport planes heading north from airport. Took pictures and C-130 made 180-degree evasive move with Tic-tac with halo around center. Note: May be another plane at higher altitude.

 Wisconsin Lights

Green Bay – December 3, 2021, A woman was driving in downtown Green Bay, WI. It was a very foggy night and visibility was poor. She saw five blue-purple lights moving in different directions that merged into one light. She then saw 3 oval lights and green lights swirling rapidly for 45 minutes.

Note: The three above photos have been sequenced in ascending chronological order from top to bottom. The third photo was taken over 40 minutes after the first photo. Thanks to Will Pucket/www.ufosnw.com/newsite/

Wyoming Light

Green River – on December 1, 2021, I was taking several photos of the sunset. Later, looking at one photo upon zooming in, it was 3 lights around a circular shaped craft.

Worldwide UFO Sightings

 Australia Light

Adelaide – on December 1, 2021, photographed Qantas jet and an unknown object.

Croatia Light

Podravske Sesvete — on February 10, 202, glowing orb that would appear and hover a bit then change direction and disappear and then appear again few times in a row. Seen it few times this year at the same time of day. Every time it would hover, then quickly change direction disappear and appear few times in a row.

UK/England  Object

Manchester – on November 27, 2021, triangle craft no sound 3 lights. not a plane.

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Filer’s Files is copyrighted 2021 by George A. Filer, all rights reserved. Readers may post the COMPLETE files on their Web Sites if they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue. These reports and comments are not necessarily the OFFICIAL MUFON viewpoint. Send your letters to Majorstar@verizon.net

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Scientists Are Building A “Black Box” To Record The Collapse Of Civilisation

By Mayukh Saha

A black box is something that we have all been familiarised with- with every single commercial flight being recorded on the device. Every single tug on the yoke and every single adjustment made by the pilot on the throttle gets logged dutifully by this little recording device that has been tucked away in the tail of the aircraft. This is the famous box that is used for searching and rescuing in the event of a plane crash- something the crews use to scan the crash site for any time an incident takes place in the aviation sector. The observations that this box record makes it extremely clear as to how the whole thing went down.

A Black Box To Document The Earth’s Demise

Interestingly, our planet will also be getting one of these disaster recorders too. This will be called the Black Box of the Earth, and the project is meant to record every single step on the way to the demise of the planet. The website for this contraption reads that unless humanity dramatically changes the way they live, climate change and other catastrophes will definitely lead to the extinction of our civilization.

The box will be stored in a solar-powered vault which has the length of a school bus and the shape of an upside-down curb stop, with the thing getting encased in a steel shell – which would be three inches thick – all designed to withstand any major catastrophe, quite similar to how the box functions in an aircraft.

Similar to how a black box is usually tucked inside the safest part of an airplane, the Earth’s contraption will be located in the most secure location on Earth, which is in Tasmania, apparently. When the website goes online, the box will be filled with recordings of hard drives, all storing information that is climate-related. This was reported by ABC News Australia. This project has been the brainchild of a collaboration between the University of Tasmania, an art collective referred to as the Glue Society, and a communications firm called Clemenger BBDO, and the project will start its construction in early 2022.

How Will The Black Box Work?

The black box will be collecting the measurements of temperature, the data of ocean acidification, land use data, military expenditure, growth in human population, and energy consumption. It would also be scraping forth social media posts, news headlines, and information scoured from key climate change conferences that have taken place between the different heads of state. Now, as just a piece of art, it is definitely quite marvelous. The concept image projects a sharp, angular structure that is lined with solar panels and finds itself situated on a rocky outcrop in the remotest corner of the Tasmanian desert.

The main objective of the Black Box is to be just a silent observer, where it would be constantly retaining information, in order to provide an unbiased account of the very events that led to the end of this plant. This will make it very easy for humanity to hold itself accountable for the cost that is being generated every single second, all the while inspiring urgent action. The website further states that the idea is if the Earth does end as a result of climate change, then this recording device will serve as a memoir for anyone who is left.

All Image Credits: 

• Earth’s Black Box

Source: 

• Truth Theory

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

La Nasa a-t-elle vraiment photographié le crash d’un ovni sur Mars ?

Un Youtubeur est tombé sur un cliché troublant de la sonde Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. On y voit ce qui ressemble à un crash de soucoupe volante dans un canyon de la planète Mars.

 Publié Par Romain Pomian-Bonnemaison

© Jean Ward via YouTube

Vous pouvez le constater par vous-même dans l’image de Une : on a aucun mal à s’imaginer un vaisseau extraterrestre s’écraser sur la planète rouge, laissant cette profonde balafre dans le sol. Les images ne sont pourtant pas trafiquées. Elles proviennent directement de la Nasa et du JPL. En fait ces clichés ne sont même pas nouveaux.

Personne n’avait relevé cette trainée étrange à la surface de Mars dans cette photo de 2006

Puisque les images datent en réalité de 2006. Néanmoins personne n’avait repéré cette étrange caractéristique du terrain jusqu’à ce youtubeur. La photo a été prise au sud de Candor Charma, une énorme carrière du système de canyons Valles Marineris. Bien sûr, il est difficile d’affirmer catégoriquement quoi que ce soit juste à partir de ces images.

Pourtant, selon Youtubeur, tout indique “qu’un vaisseau en forme de disque ou objet a atteint la surface à un angle d’incidence très faible avant de s’écraser sur la surface de Mars, laissant derrière lui cette trace étrange. On dirait un disque partiellement élevé sur un de ses côtés”. Ce dernier explique avoir calculé que l’objet mesure entre 12 et 24 mètres de diamètre – et que ce diamètre correspond aussi à la largeur de la tranchée laissée derrière lui.

Et à lire les commentaires de la vidéo, on se rend compte que de nombreux internautes semblent plutôt d’accord avec Jean Ward. L’un d’entre eux va même jusqu’à dire : “il n’y a vraiment rien d’autre que cela puisse être, à part un objet en forme de soucoupe qui s’est écrasé. Je sais qu’ils ont peur de contaminer Mars, mais j’aimerais quand même que la NASA enquête”. Ce qui a pour des raisons évidentes peu de chances d’arriver dans un futur proche.

Or, les roches, dunes, et autres caractéristiques du terrain modelées par des millions d’années peuvent aussi adopter des formes étrangement familières. Alors même qu’une observation plus précise démonte généralement le plus gros des signalements d’ovni, et l’espace est en la matière un terrain très fertile. On a en effet annoncé de nombreuses fois la découverte de caractéristiques géologiques étonnantes, comme par exemple le cas d’une dune en forme de visage. Ou encore ce cube découvert à la surface de la Lune.

Lire aussi 

•  Il y a eu de la vie sur Mars on en est (presque) sûr

D’ailleurs d’autres internautes vont d’ailleurs plutôt dans ce sens. L’un d’entre eux estime ainsi par exemple que le demi-cercle à la fin de la trainée “ressemble à une forme de dune en croissant ou dune de barchand, qui est une dune de sable qui se forme lorsque les vents soufflent dans une certaine direction et sont canalisés par le terrain”. Et vous, pensez-vous que la Nasa a immortalisé pour la première fois le crash d’un vaisseau extra-terrestre sur Mars, ou simplement une énième caractéristiques du terrain troublante qui stimule notre tendance à la paréidolie ?

{ https://www.presse-citron.net/ }

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For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there.
Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Joy Ng

Into the Eye of the Storm 

During the flyby, Parker Solar Probe passed into and out of the corona several times. This is proved what some had predicted – that the Alfvén critical surface isn’t shaped like a smooth ball. Rather, it has spikes and valleys that wrinkle the surface. Discovering where these protrusions line up with solar activity coming from the surface can help scientists learn how events on the Sun affect the atmosphere and solar wind.

As Parker Solar Probe passed through the corona on encounter nine, the spacecraft flew by structures called coronal streamers. These structures can be seen as bright features moving upward in the upper images and angled downward in the lower row. Such a view is only possible because the spacecraft flew above and below the streamers inside the corona. Until now, streamers have only been seen from afar. They are visible from Earth during total solar eclipses.

Credits: NASA/Johns Hopkins APL/Naval Research Laboratory

At one point, as Parker Solar Probe dipped to just beneath 15 solar radii (around 6.5 million miles) from the Sun’s surface, it transited a feature in the corona called a pseudostreamer. Pseudostreamers are massive structures that rise above the Sun’s surface and can be seen from Earth during solar eclipses.

Passing through the pseudostreamer was like flying into the eye of a storm. Inside the pseudostreamer, the conditions quieted, particles slowed, and number of switchbacks dropped – a dramatic change from the busy barrage of particles the spacecraft usually encounters in the solar wind. 

For the first time, the spacecraft found itself in a region where the magnetic fields were strong enough to dominate the movement of particles there. These conditions were the definitive proof the spacecraft had passed the Alfvén critical surface and entered the solar atmosphere where magnetic fields shape the movement of everything in the region.

The first passage through the corona, which lasted only a few hours, is one of many planned for the mission. Parker will continue to spiral closer to the Sun, eventually reaching as close as 8.86 solar radii (3.83 million miles) from the surface. Upcoming flybys, the next of which is happening in January 2022, will likely bring Parker Solar Probe through the corona again.

“I’m excited to see what Parker finds as it repeatedly passes through the corona in the years to come,” said Nicola Fox, division director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters. “The opportunity for new discoveries is boundless.”

The size of the corona is also driven by solar activity. As the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle – the solar cycle – ramps up, the outer edge of the corona will expand, giving Parker Solar Probe a greater chance of being inside the corona for longer periods of time.

“It is a really important region to get into because we think all sorts of physics potentially turn on,” Kasper said. “And now we're getting into that region and hopefully going to start seeing some of these physics and behaviors.”  

Narrowing Down Switchback Origins

Even before the first trips through the corona, some surprising physics was already surfacing. On recent solar encounters, Parker Solar Probe collected data pinpointing the origin of zig-zag-shaped structures in the solar wind, called switchbacks. The data showed one spot that switchbacks originate is at the visible surface of the Sun – the photosphere. 

By the time it reaches Earth, 93 million miles away, the solar wind is an unrelenting headwind of particles and magnetic fields. But as it escapes the Sun, the solar wind is structured and patchy. In the mid-1990s, the NASA-European Space Agency mission Ulysses flew over the Sun’s poles and discovered a handful of bizarre S-shaped kinks in the solar wind’s magnetic field lines, which detoured charged particles on a zig-zag path as they escaped the Sun. For decades, scientists thought these occasional switchbacks were oddities confined to the Sun’s polar regions.  

In 2019, at 34 solar radii from the Sun, Parker discovered that switchbacks were not rare, but common in the solar wind. This renewed interest in the features and raised new questions: Where were they coming from? Were they forged at the surface of the Sun, or shaped by some process kinking magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere?

The new findings, in press at the Astrophysical Journal, finally confirm one origin point is near the solar surface. 

The clues came as Parker orbited closer to the Sun on its sixth flyby, less than 25 solar radii out. Data showed switchbacks occur in patches and have a higher percentage of helium – known to come from the photosphere – than other elements. The switchbacks’ origins were further narrowed when the scientists found the patches aligned with magnetic funnels that emerge from the photosphere between convection cell structures called supergranules.

In addition to being the birthplace of switchbacks, the scientists think the magnetic funnels might be where one component of the solar wind originates. The solar wind comes in two different varieties – fast and slow – and the funnels could be where some particles in the fast solar wind come from. 

“The structure of the regions with switchbacks matches up with a small magnetic funnel structure at the base of the corona,” said Stuart Bale, professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and lead author on the new switchbacks paper. “This is what we expect from some theories, and this pinpoints a source for the solar wind itself.”

Understanding where and how the components of the fast solar wind emerge, and if they’re linked to switchbacks, could help scientists answer a longstanding solar mystery: how the corona is heated to millions of degrees, far hotter than the solar surface below.

While the new findings locate where switchbacks are made, the scientists can’t yet confirm how they’re formed. One theory suggests they might be created by waves of plasma that roll through the region like ocean surf. Another contends they’re made by an explosive process known as magnetic reconnection, which is thought to occur at the boundaries where the magnetic funnels come together.

“My instinct is, as we go deeper into the mission and lower and closer to the Sun, we're going to learn more about how magnetic funnels are connected to the switchbacks,” Bale said. “And hopefully resolve the question of what process makes them.”

As Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the Sun, it’s crossing into uncharted regimes and making new discoveries. This image represents Parker Solar Probe's distances from the Sun for some of these milestones and discoveries.

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mary P. Hrybyk-Keith

Now that researchers know what to look for, Parker’s closer passes may reveal even more clues about switchbacks and other solar phenomena. The data to come will allow scientists a glimpse into a region that’s critical for superheating the corona and pushing the solar wind to supersonic speeds. Such measurements from the corona will be critical for understanding and forecasting extreme space weather events that can disrupt telecommunications and damage satellites around Earth.

“It’s really exciting to see our advanced technologies succeed in taking Parker Solar Probe closer to the Sun than we’ve ever been, and to be able to return such amazing science,” said Joseph Smith, Parker program executive at NASA Headquarters. "We look forward to seeing what else the mission discovers as it ventures even closer in the coming years."

Parker Solar Probe is part of NASA’s Living with a Star program to explore aspects of the Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. The Living with a Star program is managed by the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, manages the Parker Solar Probe mission for NASA and designed, built, and operates the spacecraft.

Related Links

• Learn more about Parker Solar Probe
• Switchbacks Science: Explaining Parker Solar Probe’s Magnetic Puzzle
• NASA's Parker Solar Probe Sheds New Light on the Sun
• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe and the Curious Case of the Hot Corona
• NASA Scientist Kelly Korreck on the Journey to the Sun, and What It Takes to Get There

{ https://www.nasa.gov/ }

MoD won’t investigate UFOs but admits not seeing classified US report on safety threats

James Hockaday

The UK refuses to re-open its investigations into UFOs, despite not having had sight of a classified US intelligence report warning of dangers they pose to aeroplanes.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials say it’s pointless, as they’ve never observed any kind of military threat to the country from unidentifiable flying objects.

The US is taking the issue much more seriously, with the Pentagon launching a special taskforce to investigate reports of UFOs in restricted airspace.

A highly anticipated military report in June said there were still lots of unanswered questions about UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena). It warned they ‘threaten flight safety’ and may pose a challenge to US national security.

Five days later, the House of Lords had a discussion, in which Baroness Goldie, a Minister of State at the MoD, declined to re-open investigations, with the department having closed its UFO desk in 2009.

She told peers she noted the contents of the US intelligence report but said the phenomenon poses no threat and that UK air defences are adequate.

But now, Metro.co.uk can reveal the MoD never actually got a chance to see the classified version of the report. It is not clear if officials asked their US counterparts for a copy.

Nick Pope, who worked for the British Government for 21 years and ran the Ministry of Defence’s now defunct UFO desk, lifted the lid after sending a Freedom of Information Act request.

He says the report could contain important details relevant to the UK and says it’s ‘baffling’ how quick Britain is to dismiss this topic.

Mr Pope suspects the MoD is put off by the ‘pop culture baggage’ of flying saucers and little green men, when the scope of UFOs is far wider and could include military-grade drones.

The former civil servant told Metro.co.uk: ‘The report concludes by saying there is a flight safety issue here and a possible national security challenge.

‘So you would think that the Ministry of Defence would say “Gosh, we’d better see the classified version”, but no.

‘One would expect, for example, that there would be more technical data in the classified version and details about how they’ve reached these conclusions.

‘But anyone in the Ministry of Defence who was looking at this properly, their first ports of call should be to say, “Well, let’s see the full classified version and then maybe we can bring our own expertise to the table”.

‘At the very least, this sounds like amateur hour with the MoD looking at unclassified material on the Internet where they know there’s a classified version.

‘Why wouldn’t they want the fullest data available to make a better decision about whether they should or shouldn’t re-engage on this subject?’

Mr Pope, who has been living in Tucson, Arizona for the past 10 years, accused the MoD of a ‘lazy philosophy’ of not investigating because UFOs are yet to present any ‘overt hostility’.

He added: In military terms, threat is not defined that way. it is defined as capability times intent.

‘The capability, judging by what the US is dealing with, looks pretty impressive. The intent is unknown, therefore, one can’t solve the threat equation.

MORE: UFOS

• 

  UFO sightings double in three years in Northern Ireland

‘There’s the the old adages that it’s better to assume there’s a threat and be relieved. If it doesn’t materialise, and you assume everything’s fine, you could get caught out if one does suddenly emerge.’

The US report, compiled by the Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force, could not explain 143 UFO incidents and said 18 of them appeared ‘to demonstrate advanced technology’.

Mr Pope added: ‘I don’t know what the US is dealing with. It could be Russia, it could be China, it could be something else.

‘But the government, the military and Congress have have clearly said the time has come to take this seriously and find out the answer to that question.’

He said footage declassified by the Pentagon showing US pilots chasing UFOs was a ‘big wake up call for people’.

Nick Pope has said the British military should be working far more closely with the US on this issue

(Picture: File images)

Another video from June 2019 shows a Navy ship being swarmed by as many as 14 unidentified aircraft flying as fast as 160mph.

Mr Pope added: ‘This isn’t just some silly season topic. Their pilots are seeing these things, and their radar operators are tracking them. Their infrared camera systems are filming them, and I’m I’m pretty darn sure the same is going on in the UK.’

UFO provisions have been put into the National Defense Authorization Act, which which the Congress passed just a few days ago.

Mr Pope added: ‘They don’t seem they don’t have a problem with it. People like Senator Marco Rubio, they have put their reputations on the line, but nobody’s laughing at it.

‘Evidently, we need to find out if it’s in our airspace, and if we’re tracking it and seeing it, of course, we need to find out what it is.

‘Normally the special relationship would kick in and the UK and the US would be seamless on this.

The US report said it could not explain 143 UFO incidents and said 18 of them appeared ‘to demonstrate advanced technology’

(Picture: Jeremy Corbell)

‘We could take a look, because the UK has got all sorts of resources and capabilities that it could bring to the table on this, in specialist areas like imagery analysis. Maybe we could try things that the US hasn’t thought of.’

Mr Pope said UFOs spotted in restricted training areas and off-shore facilities suggest the matter could be more serious than a hobbyist flying a drone.

He added: ‘The commercial drones wouldn’t cut it, which, which poses the question – Are we dealing with something at the higher end of the spectrum?’

‘If the world’s preeminent superpower is concerned about this, we should be, too. The US has got plenty of other things to be getting on with too. If there, if they’re doing this, they’re doing it for a reason. It’s not just on a whim.

Mr Pope, 56, who now works as a journalist and broadcaster, says criticising his former employer gives him no satisfaction at all.

He added: ‘I speak out on this issue because I think it’s important, and because it concerns me when I see a potential national security issue not being properly addressed.’

The MoD says it continues to have ‘no opinion’ on the existence, or otherwise, of extra-terrestrial life and does not investigate reported unidentified flying object sightings.

A spokesperson for the department told Metro.co.uk: ‘Since 2009 the MOD no longer responds to reported UFO sightings, or investigates them as in over 50 years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom.’

{ https://metro.co.uk/ }

World's first supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle that reaches speeds of Mach 2.1 officially launches with a $16 million price tag

• A Singapore aviation company has launched the world's first supersonic drone

• Arrow is an  unmanned combat aerial vehicle used in reconnaissance missions

• It can launch autonomously, but be controlled by a manned vehicle

• Arrow can be fitted with different weapons sets to perform a variety of tasks 
• The starting price is $9 million but goes up to $16 million with different features

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Singapore-based Kelley Aerospace has officially launched the world's first supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV).

Called 'Arrow,' the drone is designed with a single-shell made of lightweight carbon fiber that allows it to reads speeds up to Mach 2.1 – exceeding the speed of sound.

The UCAV is fitted with a reduced radar cross-section and infra-red signature, and is designed for multiple combat or reconnaissance roles.

The firm says it has already received more than 100 pre-orders for the war machine, which costs between $9 million to $16 million.

Scroll down for videos 

Singapore-based Kelley Aerospace has officially launched the world's first supersonic unmanned combat aerial vehicle

'The Arrow is designed to complement manned aircraft and be a force multiplier in the aerial battlefield,' Kelley Aerospace shared on its website.

A manned combat aircraft would control 'multiple' Arrow UAVs, tasking 'each with a different missions.'

This would allow military officials to add a variety of weapons depending on the mission.

Kelley also says that Arrow can launch autonomously or be remotely controlled by two ground station controllers.

Called 'Arrow,' the drone is designed with a single-shell made of lightweight carbon fiber that allows it to reads speeds up to Mach 2.1 – exceeding the speed of sound

The firm says it has already received more than 100 pre-orders for the war machine, which costs between $9 million to $16 million

Arrows maximum weight is 37,038 pounds, but its monocoque design 'endows the Arrow with outstanding strength and stiffness,' the firms shared in a statement.

However, what makes this machine so special is that it is the first to travel faster than the speed of sound, which is Mach 1 – but Arrow can reach Mach 2.1.

It is estimated that it will not cost more than $16 million with prices going as low as $9 million.

Kelley notes that this 'allows more airframes to be purchased and yet, have a multi-role supersonic UCAV to perform high-risk missions as it does not necessarily need to return home.'

The firm conducted the first scale prototype test flights in 2014, Flight Global reports.

Kelley Aerospace plans to be a big player in the supersonic area, and its Arrow UCAV may be the push it needs to take over the space.

A manned combat aircraft would control 'multiple' Arrow UAVs, tasking 'each with a different missions.' This would allow military officials to add a variety of weapons depending on the mission

At a launch event in Singapore in December 2020, the company disclosed it was also developing a supersonic business jet. 

And two prototypes are reporting undergoing testing in the USA and Sweden.

Kelley Aerospace chief executive Ian Lim says: 'UAVs are known for their persistence…loitering, [but] are never known for their speed. So with the Arrow supersonic UAV, you will overcome the issues of speed and reach.'

Other fighter jets do have the ability to reach supersonic speeds, but most are only capable of doing so for short bursts.

Last year, the Pentagon announced plans to commission a prototype for prototype of a new supersonic Air Force One that could one day ferry the president around the world at nearly twice the speed and half the time currently required to travel

And new F-35 fighter jets is one of them.

The jets, which have also been bought by the US Navy and Marine Corps, are at risk of 'structural damage' when hitting their top speeds of around 1,200mph, potentially hindering their ability to intercept other planes, according to a report by the US Department of Defense.

Last year, the Pentagon announced plans to commission a prototype for prototype of a new supersonic Air Force One that could one day ferry the president around the world at nearly twice the speed and half the time currently required to travel – but the innovation is still in early developmental phases.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

Former worker of Area 51 Talks about the Extraterrestrials, Stargate and the Cube of Orion

Dan Burisch, born in California in 1964, studied microbiology and psychology at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. He graduated in 1986 and did a Ph.D. in microbiology in 1989 in the state of New York.

Source:

• https://www.ufo-spain.com/2017/11/07/...

{ https://www.youtube.com/ }

Five Movies Worth Watching About UFOs

Summer is back! Thankfully, the United States is slowly reopening. At this time last year, most of us were hunkered down in our homes hoping that vaccines would arrive to save us from the COVID-19 pandemic. They did, and in record time. It’s possible—at least for now—to again eat at a restaurant, visit the movie theater, and go to the ballpark. But even though we have more choices for what to do this summer than last, the heat and humidity of the season guarantee that most of us will still be spending plenty of time indoors. So we decided to revive the series of summer film recommendations we started last year. We’ll post a new list every Friday until Labor Day. 

The same rules from last summer’s series apply: First, we are limiting our choices to English-language films. Yes, many great foreign-policy movies have been made in languages other than English. But we won’t pretend to know what the best movies are in Italian, Japanese, or Spanish. Second, we will only pick a movie for these summer lists once. So you won’t see 2016’s Arrival today because we recommended it last year. Third, each movie must be available to stream or rent online. 

Why start with films about UFOs and aliens? Two reasons. First, filmmakers often use stories about UFOs and aliens as metaphors for personal and political relationships, showing how fear of the “other” can tear the world apart or bring it together. Second, UFOs—or if you prefer, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP)—are in the news. Late last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a nine-page report revealing that, indeed, many flying objects can’t be explained. The report, however, didn’t take a stand on whether aliens exist. Regardless, most Americans look to have made up their minds on the matter. A recent Pew Research poll found that 51 percent of them believe that the military’s UFO/UAP sightings are likely evidence of extraterrestrial life. 

We don’t have a position on whether humanity has been visited by other residents of the universe. We do have five great movies to recommend about how UFOs and alien visitors could reshape the world as we know it. We are also throwing in a bonus pick from a colleague. 

1. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).

An alien named Klaatu (Michael Rennie) lands behind the White House. He is carrying a message from an interplanetary organization: Humans cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons, and Earth must submit to the organization’s supervision or “face obliteration.” When the U.S. government rejects Klaatu’s demand to address world leaders, he escapes into Washington to learn about humans. Based on Harry Bates’s 1940 short story, “Farewell to the Master,” and directed by Robert Wise, The Day the Earth Stood Still depicts benevolent aliens and heroic scientists, unlike 1951’s other popular sci-fi horror flicks, The Man from Planet X and The Thing from Another World. Producer Julian Blaustein said the movie advocated for a “stronger United Nations” as the nuclear arms race heated up. The Day the Earth Stood Still was awarded the now-retired Golden Globe for “promoting international understanding.” The American Film Institute ranked it the fifth best sci-fi movie of all time. You can watch it on Apple TV, Google Play, or YouTube. 

2. The War of the Worlds (1953).

A UFO crashes in a small California town. It’s not, however, carrying friendly aliens. Rather, it is part of the first wave of a Martian invasion. World capitals are quickly overwhelmed, and defeat seems imminent. Taking the premise of H.G. Wells’s superb 1898 novel, director Byron Haskin follows a scientist and suburbanite, played by Gene Barry and Ann Robinson, as they frantically search for the Martians’ weakness. The movie’s implicit theme is the Cold War fear of the “other” and of global conflict. At least moviegoers in 1953 knew that The War of the Worlds was fiction: When Orson Welles adapted Wells’s novel for radio in 1938, many listeners believed it was a real broadcast announcing a Martian invasion. The film’s “soul-chilling” special effects won an Oscar, and the American Film Institute ranked the Martians the twenty-seventh greatest movie villain of all time. You can watch The War of the Worlds on Amazon Prime, HBO Max, or YouTube.

3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

The life of Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is upended when UFOs fly over him in Muncie, Indiana. They leave him with a story no one believes and an inexplicable mental image of a mountain. Meanwhile, the U.S. military and researchers across the globe investigate a sudden surge in UFO sightings and mysterious incidents. Director Steven Spielberg said the U.S. Air Force and NASA refused to cooperate in the filming of Close Encounters—perhaps worrying the movie would spark public paranoia around UFOs as Jaws did with sharks. However, President Jimmy Carter, and a lot of movie-loving Americans, were big fans. The American Film Institute ranked Close Encounters of the Third Kind the thirty-first most thrilling movie of all time. It won two Oscars, one for cinematography and the other for sound effects, while being nominated for seven others. You can find it on Amazon Prime, Google Play, or YouTube. 

4. Independence Day (1996).

When summer blockbusters are being ranked, Independence Day almost always makes the list. The Earth comes under devastating attack from alien invaders. Professional armies and air forces are swept aside. A motley crew emerges as heroes as the United States rallies the world for a counterattack on that begins on, you guessed it, the Fourth of July. With explosions, rousing presidential speeches, and an all-star cast featuring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, and Jeff Goldblum, Independence Day carried an optimistic message of global unity under the banner of U.S. leadership. It’s perhaps no surprise that the movie was filmed in an era of unquestioned U.S. unipolar power—perhaps making its message sound heartbreakingly naïve a quarter century later in an age of great power competition. (Independence Day also introduced the Hollywood tradition of massive movie advertising campaigns.) Directed by Roland Emmerich, Independence Day won the Oscar for best visual effects and was nominated for best sound. You can watch it on Amazon Prime, HBO Max, or YouTube.  

5. District 9 (2009).

A spaceship arrives above Johannesburg in 1982. It’s not filled with either benevolent messengers or hostile invaders. Instead, it is full of malnourished aliens. Under international pressure, South Africa confines the aliens to a slum called District 9. Twenty years later, during a forced relocation of the aliens outside the city, extraterrestrial tinkerer Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope) is planning his escape from Earth when Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), a human, comes into contact with alien fuel in his lab and begins mutating. Director Neill Blomkamp highlights the brutality and inequality of the aliens’ lives in a clear comparison to apartheid, with particular similarities to the forced relocation of Black residents from Cape Town’s District 6 in 1966. District 9 remains relevant today in the conditions faced by refugees in dangerously crowded camps and international tensions over rising global migration. You can stream it on Amazon Prime, Starz, or YouTube.

This week we turned to our colleague Terry Mullan for a bonus pick. Terry is the assistant director of CFR’s International Institutions and Global Governance program. He seconded our recommendation last year of Arrival. He also suggested:

The Phenomenon (2020).

If you want to brush up on the history of UFO sightings, The Phenomenon is for you. The documentary examines reports from the 1940s until now. Director and longtime “UFOlogist” James Fox uses archival footage and interviews from eyewitnesses and officials to make the case that the government knows more than it has told us. Terry said: “Though it takes some leaps from the existence of a government program on unidentified aerial phenomenon to the existence of extraterrestrial encounters, The Phenomenon includes intriguing new testimony from Navy pilots and former high-ranking government officials—including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta, and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Christopher Mellon.” You can watch The Phenomenon on Amazon Prime, Google Play, or YouTube. 

 RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

Alien Base On Planet Mercury, Dec 26, 2021, Photos, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: 

Location of discovery: Mercury

Source: Keeping secret for while 

 

Was using a old NASA index so old that even I have never heard of it. Been exploring different parts of it, learning about things I go. Posting a few things I thought you may be interested in. Here I found an alien city or base in the center of a huge crater. The map ruler says this structure is 15km across. Thats big enough to house 100,000+ people easy. I guess I should be surprised, but...I've been doing this for decades and after the first decade, very little surprises me anymore. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

Scientists have suggested there are places on Mercury that are dark enough, and thus cold enough, to sustain water ice. 

Photo: NASA/JPL

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

On December 17, the Farsight Institute released the results of multiple remote viewing sessions investigating the alleged existence of an “Ashtar Command” and whether it had a floating base hidden in the clouds of Jupiter.

The results of the remote viewing sessions, conducted using blind scientific protocols, support the claims of several recent ‘contactees’ that the Ashtar Command existed, and that its Jupiter facility was used as a meeting place for secret agreements reached between 14 spacefaring nations and several extraterrestrial organizations in July 2021.

  

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

Credible encounters of the third kind

After searching for the best examples of face to face interactions with aliens I came up with these 3 cases. Stay open minded, the cases haven’t been debunked and the credibility of the people involved remain intact.

• Jessie Roestenberg UFO case
• The Pascagoula Alien Abduction
• Ariel School UFO incident

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

PERFECT BEWAARD GEBLEVEN EMBRYO VAN EEN DINOSAURUS ONTDEKT

Caroline Kraaijvanger

Het embryo onthult de verrassende wijze waarop piepkleine dinosaurussen in hun ei opgevouwen zaten.

In de afgelopen eeuw zijn behoorlijk wat gefossiliseerde dinosauruseieren teruggevonden. Maar slechts zelden herbergden die eieren tevens een goed bewaard gebleven dinosaurusembryo. Geen wonder dat wetenschappers bijzonder in hun nopjes zijn met een dinosaurusei dat enkele jaren geleden in het zuiden van China is teruggevonden en nu uitgebreid is geanalyseerd. Het ei blijkt namelijk een bijna perfect bewaard gebleven dinosaurusembryo te herbergen.

Baby Yingliang
Het ei – dat zo’n 72 tot 66 miljoen jaar oud is – werd al in 2000 in de Chinese provincie Jiangxi teruggevonden. Even dreigde het in de vergetelheid te raken, tot museummedewerkers het ei tijdens het samenstellen van een nieuwe museumcollectie weer tegenkwamen. Het ei trok de aandacht, omdat het reeds dwars doormidden was gebroken en de museummedewerkers enkele botjes in het ei dachten te ontwaren. Nader onderzoek en preparatie van het fossiel onthulde vervolgens dat het een goed bewaard gebleven dinosaurusembryo herbergde, dat onderzoekers inmiddels ‘Baby Yingliang’ hebben gedoopt.

Oviraptorosaurus
Afgaand op de diepe, tandenloze schedel van het embryo denken onderzoekers dat het ei een jonge Oviraptorosaurus herbergt. Dit waren gevederde, tweebenige dino’s die nauwverwant zijn aan moderne vogels en miljoenen jaren geleden in Azië en Noord-Amerika leefden.

De vondst zorgt voor enige opwinding, omdat het embryo bijna perfect bewaard is gebleven en dus meer inzicht kan geven in hoe kleine dinosaurussen in hun ei zaten opgevouwen. “We zijn heel opgewonden over de ontdekking van ‘Baby Yingliang’ – het embryo is uitstekend bewaard gebleven en kan ons helpen om een groot aantal vragen over de groei en voortplanting van dinosaurussen te beantwoorden,” aldus onderzoeker Fion Waisum Ma.

Hier zie je het gefossiliseerde dinosaurusembryo in het ei.

Afbeelding: Xing et al. / iScience.

In de vogel-houding
Zo zit het embryo – en dat is heel verrassend – ongeveer op dezelfde wijze in het ei gevouwen als moderne vogels. “We waren verrast toen we dit mooi bewaard gebleven embryo, liggend in een vogel-achtige houding, in een dinosaurusei aantroffen,” erkent Waisum Ma. “Deze houding hebben we nog niet eerder gezien bij niet-vliegende dinosaurussen.”

Een reconstructie van de dinosaurus in het ei. Het ei is 17 centimeter lang. Het embryo is naar schatting 27 centimeter lang.

Afbeelding: Lida Xing.

De dinosaurus ligt als het ware dubbelgeklapt in het ei, waarbij de kop net onder de buik uitkomt. De pootjes liggen aan weerszijden van het lijf. Het is grofweg vergelijkbaar met de houding die vogels kort voor ze uit het ei kruipen, aannemen. Dat ook dinosaurussen met die houding bekend waren, suggereert voorzichtig dat deze al onder niet-vliegende dinosaurussen geëvolueerd is. “Het is interessant om te zien dat dit dinosaurusembryo en een kipembryo op vergelijkbare wijze in hun ei liggen,” vindt Waisum Ma. “Dit dinosaurusembryo in het ei is één van de mooiste fossielen die ik ooit heb gezien,” aldus onderzoeker Steve Brusatte. “Dit kleine prenatale dinosaurusje ziet er net zo uit als een babyvogel die opgekruld in zijn ei zit en dat is nog meer bewijs dat veel kenmerken die we vandaag de dag bij vogels zien, geëvolueerd zijn onder hun dinosaurus-voorouders.”

De wetenschappers zijn voornemens om nog meer gefossiliseerde dinosaurusembryo’s onder de loep te nemen en zo met meer zekerheid vast te stellen dat de houding van vogelembryo’s zijn oorsprong vindt onder dinosaurussen. Daarnaast mag ook Baby Yingliang zich in de toekomst in de aandacht van wetenschappers verheugen; wetenschappers willen dit zeldzame embryo graag nader verkennen. Daarbij zal gebruik worden gemaakt van verschillende beeldtechnieken om bijvoorbeeld de nog niet blootgelegde botjes in de schedel nader te onderzoeken.

Bronmateriaal:

• "Exquisitely preserved embryo found inside fossilised dinosaur egg" - University of Birmingham

• "Rare dinosaur embryo exquisitely preserved inside the egg suggests bird-like pre-hatching posture" - Cell Press
• Afbeelding bovenaan dit artikel: Lida Xing

ALLE GERELATEERDE VIDEO'S, gekozen en gepost door peter2011

{ https://www.scientias.nl/ }

Tien feiten over de James Webb ruimtetelescoop, het nieuwe paradepaardje van de astronomie

James Webb werd gelanceerd vanop de basis in Frans-Guyana.  

Foto:  EPA-EFE

{ https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/ }

Amazing Alien Bases In Craters On Mars, Dec 25, 2021, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Dec 25, 2021

Location of discovery: Mars

Google URL on Map: 

• https://www.google.com/mars/#lat=30.048596&lon=-627.474598&zoom=9&map=infrared 

(after clicking this link, please hit the INFRARED button on the upper left to see this structure)

Clearly there is some buildings in these three craters on Mars. First is a rectangle structure with a round structure on its roof. Then there is a tall white tower structure. And third there is a thin grey tower structure. All of which should be impossible, and yet we have three impossible things within 60km of each other. This close proximity to each other creates a higher chance of this being authentic and created by intelligent life. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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

Ancient Carving Found On Mars, hieroglyph, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Dec 25, 2021

Location of discovery: Mars

Source photo: 

• http://www.gigapan.com/gigapans/228095

I was looking over a Mars photo when found a carving on a large boulder along a hillside. The carving is of a person standing in a short dress, with bent arm, and a pointed hat. The feet are pointing to the right, the face and and are also pointed right. This looks just like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs that we have all seen. The rover has tire tracks going very close to this location, so either the NASA scientists missed it totally or they didn't want to share their discovery.  So intelligent life did exist on Mars long ago. They looked like us in many ways, yet for some unknown reason, they went extinct. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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

Unknown Glowing Objects Over Fort Worth, Texas On Dec 23, 2021, Video, UFO Sighting News.

Date of sighting: Dec 23, 2021

Location of sighting: Fort Worth, Texas, USA

 

Watch as this bewildered eyewitness record many glowing objects falling from the sky. Even the comments below the video are trying to take best guesses at what they may be....from meteors to flares, to sky divers and yet nothing came out in news about any such event. Very interesting footage of an unknown phenomenon falling over Fort Worth. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

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

Astronauts on UFOs (Includes RARE footage)

Here is a UFO testimony compilation from astronauts and cosmonauts. Some of these clips are starting to be difficult to find. I kept it short and excluded ambiguous stories where there could be mundane explanations.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

De mens is tot uitsterven gedoemd

{ https://www.eoswetenschap.eu/ }

Inside ancient UFO sightings from Bible ‘sky chariot’ to ‘alien’ cave paintings that show Pentagon report is nothing new

The earliest records could even be in the form of paintings by our caveman ancestors - perhaps showing that the UFO sightings now subject to official probes in Washington and Beijing are really nothing new.

Earlier this year, a long-awaited Pentagon report admitted experts could not explain some 144 reports of "unidentified aerial phenomena".

It was slammed as a "whitewash" by believers even though top brass said they could not rule out an alien origin for the sightings.

Meanwhile the Chinese government has reportedly launched its own UFO investigation after a rush of excitement there.

Military researchers are said to have dubbed them "Unidentified Air Conditions" or UACs.

China and Russia reportedly hope to take the international lead in studying encounters, sparking a bizarre new arms race with the US.

But as these examples show, people have been looking up in wonder for thousands of years.

Stone age 'astronauts'

Cave paintings and carvings dating back to 8,000BC have sparked great interest among alien watchers.

Stone age tribes created thousands of artworks called petroglyphs at Val Camonica in northern Italy.

Some have claimed them as proof that visitors from outer space made contact and were worshipped as gods.

Meanwhile other cave paintings in Siberia from 5,000 years ago are said to show "heavenly" figures with horns and feathers on their heads.

Experts say the dyes used were made with a sophisticated scientific understanding far beyond what we might expect of Neolithic man.

UF-pharoahs

Carvings from pharoahs' tombs show shining globes in the sky over awed crowds.

Archaeologists say this is because the ancient Egyptians worshipped the sun.

This has not stopped alien watchers from seeing it as evidence of flying saucers.

And there have long been theories that great monuments such as the Pyramids of Giza were built by aliens.

They claim the pyramids form a map of the stars, and it would have been impossible for humans to have built them so precisely.

Last year the Egyptian government officially denied any extraterrestrial link after Elon Musk tweeted support for the theories.

China's 'alien' civilisation

Bizarre bug-eyed statues found in south-west China have fuelled theories that aliens invaded the country in the Bronze Age.

More than 500 relics made of jade have been unearthed at the site of the former capital of the Xia Dynasty which ruled from 2070BC-1600BC.

The green colour and pointy ears are said to be evidence of contact with another civilisation.

The growing popularity of the theory even led to an official denial of any alien link.

"Some artistically exaggerated goddess statues cannot be said to be 'aliens,'" said Lei Yu, an archaeologist at the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.

Ezekiel's vision

The Bible's Book of Ezekiel describes how the prophet saw a flying chariot emerging from a whirlwind and a cloud of fire.

The chariot was carried by four human-like angels each with four faces, and below it were four mysterious wheels.

Scholars claim it was around 593BC in modern day Kuwait. But there has been fierce debate on how to interpret the verses.

Famed Swiss Ufologist Erich von Däniken claimed it was evidence of an alien visitation, rather than a vision from God.

He was so convincing that Nasa scientist Josef Blumrich later wrote a book explaining how such a craft would have operated.

Classical history

Roman chronicler Livy left a fascinating account of "many prodigies" spotted in 214 BC, including "phantom ships" that were "seen gleaming in the sky".

The historian Plutarch wrote about an even more remarkable event during a battle in 74BC.

He said "with no apparent change of weather, the sky burst asunder and a huge, flame-like body was seen to fall between the two armies.

"In shape it was most like a wine-jar, and in colour like molten silver."

Thousands of onlookers, including enemy leader King King Mithridates VI, apparently confirmed the truth of the story.

Another eminent scholar, Titus Flavius Josephus, wrote about a "miraculous phenomenon defying belief" in the first century AD.

It involved "chariots and armed battalions hurtling through the clouds and encompassing the cities".

Princess from the Moon

One of Japan's most famous legends dating from around 1,000 years ago tells the story of “The Shining Princess”.

But she rejects him explaining she is not from the Earth, and a craft arrives to take her home to the Moon.

Official records tell how a woman did arrive in Japan in a round vessel which some claim is a classic flying saucer shape.

The Nuremberg 'UFO battle'

In 1561, witnesses said they saw the sky filled with bright shining objects in Nuremberg, Germany.

They ranged from "blood-red semi-circular arcs" to dark balls of "black ferrous colour".

They rushed back and forth and "fighting among themselves", according to contemporary newsletters.

Eventually they fell onto the earth and "wasted away" with "immense smoke".

A similar UFO battle was reported five years later in Basel, Switzerland.

ET renaissance

Famous artworks are littered with aliens and UFOs, theorists claim.

One of the most convincing theories surround a painting called The Baptism Of Christ by Flemmish artist Aert De Gelder.

It shows a saucer in the sky shining down beams of light.

Leonardo's John The Baptist and the Mona Lisa are both said to show alien faces when a filter is applied.

A monastery mural in Kosovo from 1350 showing the Crucifixion is said to show two alien spaceships present.

And a Nativity scene has left Ufologists convinced it shows alien visitors.

The Madonna And Child With The Infant St John, by an unknown Florence artist has a shining eye-shaped saucer over Mary's shoulder.

Scholars are split over whether it is meant to be an angel.

The Madonna And Child With The Infant St John is said to show a UFO over Mary's shoulder

The Annunciation with Saint Emidius, from 1486, shows a mysterious saucer in the sky

This monastery mural is said to show two UFOs

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{ https://www.thesun.co.uk/ }

THEIR ANCESTORS ARRIVED FROM THE STARS

{ https://www.youtube.com/ }

In the world of psychics, Nostradamus is a tough comparison to live up to, but Athos Salomé seems ready for the challenge. The Brazilian psychic and paranormal investigator has also been compared to Baba Vanga, and some go so far as to suggest he’s a direct descendant of Nostradamus. Is he any of these or just another spoon-bender with a good publicist?

On the 2803/2021th at 21:18 pm I left it registered via email encoded with password 2 PDF / Word files for two people I have confidence in, information about new events, in the same report about the new variant and that it was to pay attention guess where? Africa”

On his Facebook page, Athos Salomé gives two of his predictions which came true this year as proof he’s a real psychic – he even adds a flair of drama by recording the predictions beforehand. Not much is known about him. MarketWatch reports he’s a self-taught psychic and a parapsychologist, but he’s also known for his work as a model scouter helping people start modeling careers and as producer of the “Beleza Mundial Contest,” the “Look of The Year” and “Mister Earth Brazil” he’s obviously dedicated to modeling, so how did Athos Salomé become known as the next Nostradamus?

“Athos is recognized for constantly employing historical research in his paranormal investigations to give step-by-step recommendations on a specific paranormal analysis; he comprehended the significance and the usage of paranormal analysis using his expertise in KABALLA. He is well-known for conducting paranormal studies into unexplainable parts of human experience.”

Sypstudios.com recently pursued the question and found that Athos has predicted also claimed to have predicted terrorism outbreaks, China’s rise as the world’s most powerful economic power, vaccines are becoming obsolete, the virus becoming incurable, a phony peace deal involving China, the advancement of robotics technology, and signs of a third world war. These are pretty general, but he also predicted the death of another member of the English Royal Court besides Prince Philip and he still has a few days left — Queen Elizabeth II has been ill recently.

That doesn’t seem like enough evidence to warrant comparisons to Nostradamus and Baba Vanga, let alone implying he is a direct descendent of Nostradamus. One account says Salomé prefers to compare himself to a 90-year-old “witch and Parapsychologist Marripe Faul Abeilice (RAMA 4)” who is claimed to be “very known and respectful worldwide” but doesn’t seem to come up in any searches.

What should we make of Athos Salomé? He seems to be a good-looking guy (photo here), the kind you find in the modeling business more than in the psychic trade. He doesn’t seem to have any predictions for 2022 – does he have them sealed in an envelope that he mailed to someone else? That’s more of a trick of the spoon-bending kind, which a legitimate psychic would not want to be associated with.

Let’s see some more recent and accurate predictions from Athos Salomé before we link him to Nostradamus, Vanga or possibly Geller.

{  https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

Project Camelot: Rebel Gene: Secret Space and the Future of Humanity

Rachael continues her interview of Kerry Lynn Cassidy of Project Camelot.

Kerry Lynn Cassidy of Project Camelot and Rachael discuss Kerry’s book REBEL GENE: Secret Space and the Future of Humanity. The conversation centers around Kerry’s own life experiences, how she started researching UFO’s and became CEO of one of the largest online niche networks on the topic.

Kerry shares not only the names and her opinions of famous people she has interviewed over her 17 year career with Project Camelot, but also her deeply personal dream and psychic experiences as well as spiritual journeys via mediation. Kerry maintains that human DNA is a result of a mixture of various alien races and alien artificial intelligence.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

 3 km Tower Found On Earths Moon In ISRO archives, Dec 24, 2021, UFO Sighting News.

Date of discovery: Dec 24, 2021

Location of discovery: Earths moon, near Summerfeld crater
Source photo: 

• https://www.isro.gov.in/gslv-mk-iii-m1-chandrayaan-2-mission/chandrayaan-2-mission-gallery

I found a tower that has the reflectivity of a metallic structure on Earths moon. I was searching through the ISRO archives...thats the Indian Space Research Organization. They often post photos without totally editing out all the alien artifacts, so I like to visit them every now and then. The tower sits in a crater to the left of Summerfeld crater. Since we know Summerfeld crater is 169km in diameter, I can safely estimate that the crater this tower is in is 70km across. The crater is about 4km deep and this tower at its bottom is 3km tall. If thats not alien then I don't know what is. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan 

 

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

Lynnwood, WA UFO sighting – December 2021

These unidentified flying objects were filmed in the night sky above Lynnwood, Washington on 19th December 2021.

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

Making Contact – Neil deGrasse Tyson on Alien Life

How would scientists tell the world if they found evidence for alien life? According to SETI, the probability of finding alien life somewhere in the Milky Way is high, based on a number of studies showing that our galaxy contains countless Earth-like planets that orbit sun-like stars. Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks we are probably not alone given the fact how many stars there are in the galaxy not to mention the entire universe. Other prominent scientists also think we will most likely find compelling evidence for extraterrestrial life relatively soon. Undoubtedly evidence for alien life would be the biggest discovery in human history.

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

NASA’s 2021 Included Mars Landing, First Flight, Artemis, More - PART I

In 2021, NASA completed its busiest year of development yet in low-Earth orbit, made history on Mars, continued to make progress on its Artemis plans for the Moon, tested new technologies for a supersonic aircraft, finalized launch preparations for the next-generation space telescope, and much more – all while safely operating during a pandemic and welcoming new leadership under the Biden-Harris Administration.

“At NASA, we turn science fiction into science fact, and we do it daily. From continuing to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil to landing the Perseverance rover on Mars and logging the first flight on another planet, 2021 was a banner year for the world's premier space agency and all of humanity,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who was sworn into office May 3 by Vice President Kamala Harris. “Next year, NASA will accomplish more daring feats with new discoveries and technological advancements, especially as our Artemis I mission paves the way for future crewed missions to the Moon – and beyond.”

Among the many science accomplishments for the year, NASA continued preparations to launch the James Webb Space Telescope on Dec. 24 from French Guiana, successfully landed the Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, and piloted the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter – the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

NASA welcomed back to Earth the first two sets of commercial crew astronauts to complete expedition missions aboard the International Space Station and launched Crew-3 to the orbiting laboratory. During the Crew-2 mission, astronauts spent a U.S. record-setting 199 days in orbit, surpassing the 168 days set by Crew-1 mission earlier this year. 

The agency advanced plans to explore more of the Moon through Artemis, pledging to send the first woman and first person of color to the lunar surface. To pave the way for future lunar missions with crew, NASA completed stacking of its Space Launch System rocket, with its Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I mission launching in spring 2022. In addition to other highlights, NASA also picked SpaceX to continue the development and demonstration of the first commercial human lunar lander.

This year, the Biden-Harris Administration tapped NASA to join the White House Climate Task Force. The agency also established a new position of senior climate advisor and released a climate action plan aimed at averting mission impacts due to climate change.

NASA also took action to roll out aviation technology to more airports to help save time for passengers, pushing the boundaries of making aeronautics more green and more efficient.

Solar System and Beyond

Prior to the targeted Dec. 24 launch of the Webb Telescope, NASA this year completed testing and sent the telescope on a 5,800 mile journey by sea to its launch site in French Guiana.

• Webb is the agency’s final launch this year, and was preceded by several other scientific missions launches, including the cosmic X-ray studying Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), the asteroid-studying Lucy spacecraft, the world’s first planetary defense test mission – the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) – and two CubeSat missions.

NASA selected multiple new missions for development, including two to Venus, Earth’s nearest planetary neighbor: DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging) and VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography, and Spectroscopy). The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) mission will study gamma rays to chart the evolution of the Milky Way galaxy.

Spacecraft and rovers already in space continued to help advance our understanding of the universe, providing a variety of new findings.

• NASA’s Perseverance rover’s two-year science investigation of Mars’ Jezero Crater is studying the rock and sediment of Jezero’s ancient lakebed and river delta and aiding in the search for signs of ancient microbial life. Actions included:
  • The Perseverance rover drilled, extracted, and sealed its first rock core into its sampling tube. The core now is enclosed in an airtight titanium sample tube, making it available for retrieval in the future.
  • The mission is the first step in the round trip Mars Sample Return campaign, being planned by NASA and ESA.

• Ingenuity became the first aircraft to make a powered, controlled flight on another planet, and recently completed more than 30 minutes of cumulative flight time.
• In April, Perseverance’s Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument converted the Red Planet’s thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere into oxygen for the first time.
• NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission touched the Sun to provide us the first ever direct observations of the solar atmosphere, the corona, as well as traveling by Venus, where it gave scientists the first complete look at Venus’ orbital dust ring, detected a bright rim around the edge of the planet that may be nightglow, and discovered natural radio emission.
• The Juno probe provided a fuller picture of how Jupiter’s distinctive and colorful atmospheric features offer clues about the unseen processes below its clouds.
• NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory detected evidence of a possible planet transiting a star in another galaxy, and, for the first time, it detected X-rays from Uranus. 
• A small near-Earth asteroid (NEA) made history, becoming the 1,000th NEA to be observed by planetary radar in just over 50 years.
• The retired Spitzer Space Telescope continued to offer new insights into the universe. Using Spitzer data, astronomers identified the three fastest-spinning brown dwarfs ever found and discovered a previously unrecognized “break” in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms. 
• Using Hubble and Swift data, scientists identified a new type of supernova. Hubble data also helped astronomers trace the locations of five brief, powerful radio blasts to the spiral arms of distant galaxies. 
• Using observations from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers discovered a trio of hot worlds larger than Earth orbiting a much younger version of the Sun. 

NASA researchers, facilities, instruments, and spacecraft were involved in many more scientific activities in 2021. Highlights this year included:

• Highlighted two solar eclipses this year including a partial solar eclipse in June and a total solar eclipse in December visible to people in Antarctica. Observations of total solar eclipses revealed the Sun’s corona maintains a fairly constant temperature despite its solar cycles.
• Provided a closer look at a nearby star, which allows scientists to better understand what our Sun may have been like when it was young, and how it may have shaped the atmosphere and development of life on Earth.
• Set up the infrastructure for a 2022 sounding rocket launch in Australia. This progress represents a return to launches for Australia and the first time NASA will launch a sounding rocket from a non-U.S. commercial launch pad.
• NASA’s Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft fired its main engines full throttle and departed the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and set its course back to Earth with an abundance of rocks and dust sample.
• Selected SpaceX to provide launch services for its Europa Clipper mission in October 2024. Clipper is Earth’s first mission to conduct detailed investigations of Jupiter's moon Europa.
• NASA’s InSight lander celebrated its 1,000th Martian day, or Sol, and measured one of the biggest, longest lasting marsquakes the mission has ever detected.
• Developed new visualizations to show how binary black holes distort and redirect light emanating from the hot gas that surrounds them. 
• Proposed creating a scale for evaluating and combining different lines of evidence that would ultimately lead to answering the ultimate question: Are we alone in the universe? 
• More than 28,000 participants from 162 countries and territories participated in the virtual Space Apps Challenge in October – the largest such event in its 10-year history. 
• A solar “Rosetta Stone” explosion that contained components of three different types of eruptions revealed new clues that could help scientists solve the long-standing mystery of what causes the Sun’s powerful and unpredictable eruptions.
• The U.S. Postal Service issued a set of stamps highlighting views of the Sun from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, celebrating a decade of the mission.
• Using combined data from three NASA satellites, scientists found that parts of the upper atmosphere are gradually contracting in response to rising response to rising human-made greenhouse gas emissions.
• Research conducted by NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division contributed to scientific discoveries that will both enable humans to thrive in deep space and benefit life on Earth. This past year, researchers made significant discoveries in quantum science using the International Space Station’s Cold Atom Lab, examined the underlying causes of muscle loss, advanced the knowledge needed to grow plants in space, and continued soft matter investigations on colloids, which could have myriad benefits in the development of household products and drug treatments.

NASA Climate, Earth Science

In 2021, NASA’s climate research continued to show how the planet is changing as the agency maintained its role as a leader in understanding climate change. Among the accomplishments in this area, the agency:

The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket with the Landsat 9 satellite onboard launches, Monday, Sept. 27, 2021, from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Credits: NASA/Bill Ingalls

• Announced a new Earth System Observatory that will provide key information to guide efforts related to climate change, disaster mitigation, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes.
• Selected the Investigation of Convective Updrafts mission to launch in 2027. The mission will study the behavior of tropical storms and thunderstorms. 
• Worked with communities to support climate resilience and mitigate the effects of climate change, taking measurements of sea ice, global surface temperatures and ozone levels.
• Announced a sea level rise tool, which shows how sea levels will change on a local level.
• With the U.S. Geological Survey, launched Landsat 9, a satellite built to monitor Earth’s changing landscapes. It will continue a 50-year satellite data record.
• Conducted or participated in a series of climate change studies related to high-tide floods, Earth’s energy imbalance, and how human activities are changing Earth’s energy budget.
• Worked with national and international partners to lead and support a global response to climate change, with actions including:
  • Participating in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26).
  • Co-hosting the Alliance for Climate Action Series with FEMA.
  • Forming a strategic partnership with ESA to observe Earth and its changing environment through a joint statement of intent.
  • Providing opportunities for researchers to experiment with NASA’s ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station data as part of a new tool for wildfire first responders, such as the U.S. Forest Service.

• Coordinated with researchers in developing and supporting dashboards on the spread and effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including tracking any changes to worldwide air pollution.
• Expanded access to Earth imagery data for federal science agencies through contracts with space-based imagery companies, enhancing scientific research across the federal government.
• Launched an online platform called OpenET to give farmers and water managers in 17 western U.S. states daily measurements of evapotranspiration, the process through which water moves into the atmosphere from soil and plants.

Humans in Space

This was the 21st continuous year of human presence aboard the International Space Station, and the busiest yet. NASA continues to send astronauts to the orbiting laboratory using commercial spacecraft launched from the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as well as Russian Soyuz capsules launched from Kazakhstan. Among the accomplishments this year, the agency:

NASA announced its 2021 astronaut candidate class on Dec. 6, 2021.
Credits: NASA/James Blair

• Introduced 10 new astronaut candidates, selected from more than 12,000 applicants. NASA provided resources and crew opportunities in English and Spanish.
• Sought recruits for the next class of flight directors and announced plans for the agency’s first two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station. The Axiom Mission 1 crew has been training at NASA facilities in advance of the first flight, targeted for February 2022.
• NASA astronauts Kate Rubins, Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, Mark Vande Hei, Shane Kimbrough, Megan McArthur, Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron lived and worked aboard the station. 
• NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission successfully completed its first expedition flight, carrying astronauts to and from the space station. The mission included the first space port relocation of a Crew Dragon spacecraft. Its nighttime splashdown was the first for a U.S. crew spacecraft since Apollo 8. The crew also:
  • Enabled more science and research to prepare humanity for missions to the Moon and Mars and benefit humans on Earth
  • Conducted experiments in areas such as protein crystal growth, harvested radishes grown in space, and contributed many other science investigations 

ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet, left, NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Aki Hoshide, right, are seen inside the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft onboard the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship shortly after having landed in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.
Credits: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani

• NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 joined Crew-1 for the first commercial crew handover between astronauts on the space station. Crew-2 spent time studying how gaseous flames behave in microgravity, growing hatch green chiles, and installing free-flying robotic assistants. They also were the first commercial crew mission to fly two international partner countries’ astronauts, and the first to reuse a Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket for a crew mission.
• NASA astronaut Kate Rubins returned to Earth in April aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, following six months living and working in space. Among the science she supported was the Cardinal Heart experiment, which studies how changes in gravity affect cardiovascular cells at the cellular and tissue levels.
• NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei’s mission was extended. After returning to Earth in 2022, he will hold the record for longest single spaceflight for an American.
• NASA astronauts and Russian cosmonauts completed 13 spacewalks, the most in a year since 2010, to upgrade and conduct maintenance at the orbiting laboratory. They installed the first pair of six new solar arrays to augment the station’s power supply. 
• Five commercial cargo missions delivered more than 33,100 pounds of science investigations, tools, and critical supplies to the space station, and returned about 14,300 pounds of investigations and equipment to researchers on Earth. Hardware among the deliveries included an upgraded toilet, urine processor, and water processor assemblies.
• NASA signed agreements with three companies to develop designs for space stations and other commercial destinations.

Moon to Mars

The agency is targeting launch of Artemis I, an uncrewed flight test of NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft that will travel around the Moon in March or April 2022. NASA took critical steps in 2021 to prepare for this historic milestone:

NASA completed stacking Oct. 21, 2021, of the agency's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis I uncrewed mission around the Moon. The stacking operations were conducted inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credits: NASA

• Announced a partnership to help share first Artemis flight crew with the world.
• Completed welds on the rocket core stage for the first Artemis mission.
• Delivered the Orion spacecraft’s European service module and first rocket component to Florida, and completed a series of Orion water impact testing.
• Delivered the Orion pressure vessel for Artemis III.
• Selected five U.S. companies to advance sustainable human landing system concepts, conduct risk-reduction activities, and provide feedback on NASA’s requirements to cultivate industry capabilities for crewed lunar landing missions.
• Completed a new series of RS-25 testing, compression testing for the universal stage adapter on next configuration of SLS rocket, testing for upgraded boosters.
• Completed the first of many propulsion system ground tests with its commercial partner to ensure the Power and Propulsion Element for Gateway is ready for flight, and egan primary structure assembly of the Habitation and Logistics Outpost, Gateway’s initial crew cabin.
• Japan committed to Gateway, becoming the third nation to support development of the lunar outpost.
• Announced the landing site for the PRIME-1 lunar drill, an ice mining experiment that will land near the Moon’s South Pole in 2022.
• Worked to advance commercial partnerships to develop next-generation spacesuits, recruiting for a Mars simulation mission, and input to position SLS for long-term success, and is working with American companies to refine the future of a lunar terrain vehicle.
• As part of advancing international cooperation on and around the Moon, added new signatories to the Artemis Accords. Australia also signed a new agreement to further support human and robotic lunar exploration efforts.
• Delivered the ShadowCam instrument that will photograph permanently shadowed regions of the Moon to the Republic of Koreas Korea’s Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter mission and provided nine scientists for its mission team.
• Awarded Firefly Aerospace a task order to send 10 science and technology demonstrations to the Moon’s Mare Crisium basin in 2023.
• Selected three new science investigations as part of the Payloads and Research Investigations on the Surface of the Moon (PRISM).
• Selected Intuitive Machines to deliver one PRISM demonstration and three other demonstrations to Reiner Gamma.
• Announced the creation of two new NASA mission directorates to best position the agency for the next 20 years of human spaceflight.
• Added new antenna to the Deep Space Network and upgraded NASA’s space communications infrastructure.
• Crowdsourced to gather nearly 190 designs for a mobile lunar heliostat or “Sun reflector,” a device that could be used to redirect sunlight to power technologies on the lunar surface.
• Completed a full-scale assembly in a new clean room for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) plus two rounds of VIPER practice exiting the lander and rolling onto the rocky surface of the Moon as well as the rover’s critical design review, turning the mission’s focus toward construction of the rover beginning in late 2022 for a launch in 2023.Announced 18 winners for phase one of the Deep Space Food Challenge, conducted a 45-day mission simulation to Mars’ moon Phobos and recruited crew members for a one-year Mars mission simulation to begin in 2022.
  • Also announced the landing site selection for the rover, which will be delivered to the Nobile region of the Moon’s South Pole as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. 
• Announced 18 winners for phase one of the Deep Space Food Challenge, conducted a 45-day mission simulation to Mars’ moon Phobos and recruited crew members for a one-year Mars mission simulation to begin in 2022.

Flight

NASA launched the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, teaming up with industry, academia, and other government agencies to achieve net-zero carbon emissions from aviation by 2050. NASA also continues to validate unique airframe design technologies that will one day allow future supersonic planes to fly quietly. Among the accomplishments this year in this area, the agency:

Artist illustration of the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft, which will soon take skies as NASA’s first purpose-built, supersonic experimental plane in decades
Credits: Lockheed Martin

• NASA’s X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology aircraft continued assembly at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility, reaching milestones such as the final testing of its eXternal Vision System and the vehicle’s airframe supporting its own weight. Other equipment needed to test the vehicle’s noise production, such as a shock-sensing probe and ground recorders, are being prepared. The aircraft also completed air data probe and boom testing in the agency’s 8’ x 6’ Supersonic Wind Tunnel at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
• The Transonic Truss-Braced Wing aircraft concept, one of the promising technologies being matured under the Sustainable Flight National Partnership, underwent wind-tunnel testing this year.
• With the goal of creating hybrid-electric aircraft, NASA researchers are developing a small-core jet engine. By shrinking the size of an engine’s compressor and turbine, more thrust and electrical power can be achieved for the same amount of fuel, therefore making the engine more fuel-efficient.
• Completed its Airspace Technology Demonstration 2, which will help reduce flight delays, streamline airport operations, and curb emissions, and saving more than one million gallons of jet fuel during the course of its research.
• Research by the Air Traffic Management – eXploration project continued to advance the use of unmanned aircraft systems in U.S. skies. This year, for example, the project conducted Integrated Dry Run tests using a helicopter and launched a new activity, Upper Class E Traffic Management.
• As part of the Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign, NASA and Joby Aviation conducted flight tests of Joby’s all-electric aircraft. NASA researchers collected data on the vehicle’s performance, acoustics, and communications critical to achieving the goal of Advanced Air Mobility mission.
• Continued work on the X-57 Maxwell, NASA’s first fully-electric aircraft, with the completion of high-voltage testing, in which the vehicle’s electrical systems were powered-up and tested.
• NASA’s Scalable Traffic Management for Emergency Response Operations activity, or STEReO, held a wildfire management workshop. Researchers from the activity also worked on-site with firefighting organizations in California.
• The Systems Integration and Operationalization demonstration activity concluded its research into potential commercial applications of unmanned aircraft systems. In the final demonstration, an unmanned aircraft simulated the aerial inspection of a gas pipeline.
• Software developed by the Resilient Autonomy activity successfully saved a simulated aircraft from crashing. This new technology is based off a NASA innovation called the Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System, which currently is used in U.S. military aircraft.
• The University Leadership Initiative selected new participants, and researchers and students in the initiative have continued to include and inspire the next generation of aeronautical innovators.

 { https://www.nasa.gov/ }

• NASA’s 2021 Included Mars Landing, First Flight, Artemis, More - PART II

In 2021, NASA completed its busiest year of development yet in low-Earth orbit, made history on Mars, continued to make progress on its Artemis plans for the Moon, tested new technologies for a supersonic aircraft, finalized launch preparations for the next-generation space telescope, and much more – all while safely operating during a pandemic and welcoming new leadership under the Biden-Harris Administration.

“At NASA, we turn science fiction into science fact, and we do it daily. From continuing to launch astronauts to the International Space Station from American soil to landing the Perseverance rover on Mars and logging the first flight on another planet, 2021 was a banner year for the world's premier space agency and all of humanity,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who was sworn into office May 3 by Vice President Kamala Harris. “Next year, NASA will accomplish more daring feats with new discoveries and technological advancements, especially as our Artemis I mission paves the way for future crewed missions to the Moon – and beyond.”

Space Technology

This year, NASA advanced technology for exploration, with new concepts that can drive exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond – and benefit people here on Earth. Highlights included:

This illustration shows NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock technology demonstration and the General Atomics Orbital Test Bed spacecraft that hosts it. Spacecraft could one day depend on such instruments to navigate deep space.
Credits: NASA

• The agency embarked on a new paradigm for space communications with the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration, which launched Dec. 7, along with preparations to launch another optical communications payload aboard Psyche.
• NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock concluded a successful two-year mission to advance precise timekeeping in space, and a version of the instrument was selected to fly to Venus aboard the VERITAS mission.
• Cutting-edge technology, such as Terrain-Relative Navigation, helped land Perseverance safely on Mars, where the rover provided the first weather report from Mars’ Jezero Crater and tested new technology to produce oxygen on the Red Planet.
• With the Department of Energy, advanced the next generation of space exploration with awards for nuclear spacecraft propulsion and a call for fission surface power concepts.
• The agency spurred innovation from students and the private sector with prizes and challenges on problems ranging from energy production on the Moon to creating food for deep-space missions. NASA awarded final prizes for teams who grew human tissues in the lab, developed code for autonomous space robots, and demonstrated concepts for converting carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere into useful sugars.
• A series of awards through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program encouraged out-of-the-box early-stage ideas, like a radio telescope in a lunar crater and a method for growing space habitats from fungi.
• Established two new university-led Space Technology Research Institutes to advance crucial propulsion and atmospheric entry technologies for exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
• The Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative drove technology development for living and working on the Moon, awarding six teams for lunar surface technology concepts and continuing collaboration with more than 500 participants in the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium. 
• Awarded more than $200 million to hundreds of U.S. small businesses for technology development, supporting the U.S. economy and bringing technology like metal 3D printing closer to use for exploration of the Moon and beyond.
• To light the way for lunar exploration, NASA selected five companies to develop vertical solar array technology that would provide reliable, stable power on the rocky, often shaded lunar surface.
• An inflatable heat shield technology that could one day help land humans on Mars advanced closer to its test flight in 2022.
• NASA’s Flight Opportunities conducted 95 tests of technology payloads across 34 commercial suborbital spacecraft, rocket, high-altitude balloon, and reduced gravity aircraft flights, including a Moon-bound computer system, a delivery system to carry small payloads back to Earth from the space station, and several technologies aboard a Blue Origin flight.
• A NASA Glenn study exploring potential lunar Wi-Fi infrastructure concepts for Artemis is helping to address digital inequality on Earth. The study applied lunar network approaches to address technical challenges to Wi-Fi connectivity in Cleveland.

Diversity, Equality, Inclusion, and Accessibility

As part of its response to an executive order aimed at advancing racial equity and support for historically underserved and underrepresented communities in federal government, NASA launched its Mission Equity initiative. The agency is reviewing nearly 200 public comments about how the agency can better engage untapped communities. NASA also:

• Appointed its first diversity and inclusion advisor to advance the administration’s commitment to advance racial equity.
• Named the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters Building in Washington. Jackson was the first African American female engineer at NASA, whose work was critical to sending the first Americans to space. She went on to lead programs influencing the hiring and promotion of women in NASA's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
• Developed a standard internal community of practice for agencywide observances of heritage month events planning, integration, and communications to advance White House Administration Observance objectives.
• Continued to expand its Spanish-language communication activities:NASA also launched “Los Martes de Marte” (Mars’ Tuesdays), a web series for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission from landing to Ingenuity’s first flight on Mars and completed the second season of Hispan@s de la NASA.NASA also launched “Los Martes de Marte” (Mars’ Tuesdays), a web series for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission from landing to Ingenuity’s first flight on Mars and completed the second season of Hispan@s de la NASA
  • Conducted NASA’s first live Spanish-language broadcast of a planetary landing, Juntos Perseveramos. That show has surpassed 2.6 million views and is the top video on the agency’s Spanish channel.
• NASA also launched “Los Martes de Marte” (Mars’ Tuesdays), a web series for the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission from landing to Ingenuity’s first flight on Mars and completed the second season of Hispan@s de la NASA.
• The NASA en español social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram grew their total followers by over 30% in 2021 to more than 1.7 million. They shared over 50% more content, and saw engagements grow by nearly 160%
• Translated NASA’s first graphic novel into Spanish: La primera mujer, aired the first NASA podcast episode in Spanish, focused on the Webb telescope, and hosted a Spanish-language broadcast of the Webb launch.
• Named a Diversity Champion winner as part of the LinkedIn Talent Awards for recruitment
• efforts. NASA was the only federal agency nominated in any category.In May, students who are deaf, blind, or hearing or visually impaired, and their mentors had an opportunity to connect with astronauts serving aboard space station to promote inclusion in space and help pave the way for space explorers with disabilities.

STEM Engagement

NASA’s STEM engagement accomplishments this year included:

• Collaborated with Future Engineers to create the Artemis Moon Pod Essay Contest. Nearly 14,000 students from every state entered the contest and the three grand prize winners were announced in May.
• Awarded approximately $3.82 million in cooperative agreements to 39 research and development projects through the agency’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Rapid Response Research program.
• Engaged more than a million students through the Mars Student Challenge as part of NASA’s #CountdownToMars and connected with a diverse public with the Webb Space Telescope’s #UnfoldTheUniverse art challenge, featured on the Webb STEM+Arts virtual platform.
• Published “First Woman,” the agency’s first digital, interactive graphic novel.
• Launched two new student challenges. The TechRise Student Challenge invites teams of sixth to 12th-grade students to design, build, and launch climate, remote-sensing, and space exploration experiments on suborbital rockets and high-altitude balloon flights. The Lunabotics Junior Challenge invites K-12 students to design a robot that digs and moves regolith from the Moon’s South Pole to a holding container for Artemis astronauts.
• Awarded a total of approximately $18 million to Minority Serving Institutions, with funding to study Earth, develop space technology, and expand participation in engineering and NASA’s small business awards. 
• Awarded nearly $1 million to seven teams of university students for the 2021 BIG Idea Challenge.

Public Engagement

Inspiration is the foundation of NASA’s public engagement program. As the COVID-19 pandemic continued to limit in-person events around the world, NASA’s virtual events and digital communications provided new opportunities to connect people around the world with agency content. Highlights in 2021 included:

• Grew the agency’s social media following to 277 million so far in 2021 – up 14% from 240 million in 2020.
• Shares on social media posts across the agency reached 8.3 million in 2021, matching the pace of 2019 (8.5 million shares) and lower than 2020’s record of 12.7 million shares.
• Three flagship NASA accounts reached follower milestones this year, passing 50 million (Twitter) and 70 million (Instagram), while our Tumblr blog reached one million followers. 
• On Feb. 18, 4.2 million peak viewers watched live as our Perseverance rover landed on Mars, and nearly 370K live viewers tuned in Feb. 22 to view images and video of the landing. Our top three most-viewed videos of 2021 all featured Perseverance, with the live landing broadcast now the most-watched video of all time on NASA’s flagship YouTube channel (23 million views).
• On Nasa.gov, the “Send Your Name to Mars” feature was the fourth most-visited page due to interest in the Perseverance landing, with 16.9 million members of the public signing up for a boarding pass on future Mars missions, and millions also opting to receive our weekly NASA Explore newsletter, which more than doubled its signups and is near seven million total subscribers. 
• NASA hosted our first-ever Twitter Spaces Sept. 29, focusing on the James Webb Space Telescope, with 68,000 unique listeners joining to learn about the mission.
• To date in 2021, NASA livestreamed 148 events to agency flagship channels. The 13 Virtual NASA Socials on Facebook have a total of 363,000 respondents.
• NASA won three Webby Awards and two People’s Voice Webbys in 2021 and was nominated for six (plus one honoree).
• On nasa.gov, nine out of 10 most-viewed agency news releases in 2021 were about Perseverance or the Ingenuity helicopter, with the release announcing the first audio from the rover taking the top spot. Nineteen new special features were launched on nasa.gov, including the Value of NASA, the "First Woman" graphic novel, and the "You Are Going" storybook.

NASA collaborates with a variety of partners, organizations, and stakeholders to highlight milestones and inspire the public about the agency’s missions:

• NASA partnered with LEGO Education for a 10-week STEM engagement series. The Artemis Build to Launch STEM series primarily highlights the NASA Artemis I mission and NASA careers, but also includes features about the ISS, James Webb and other NASA missions. More than 4,000 educators across 90 countries signed up to participate. NASA also announced four minifigures will fly on the Artemis I mission in the Official Flight Kit as part of this collaboration.
• NASA announced Snoopy will serve as the zero-gravity indicator on the Artemis I mission around the Moon. Snoopy will be outfitted in a custom orange flight suit, and Peanuts released a new suite of curriculum and short videos with its partners, GoNoodle and Young Minds Inspired, to encourage kids to learn about gravity, teamwork, and space exploration while they follow Snoopy along on his Artemis I journey.
• In addition to the doll and Sliver Snoopy pins, a pen nib from Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts studio will make the trek on Artemis I wrapped in a space themed comic strip as part of a collection of mementos selected by NASA to fly aboard the Orion spacecraft.
• NASA collaborated with several commercial entities to support NASA themed merchandise, including: a LEGO Space Shuttle Discovery and Hubble model; a Hot Wheels Mars Perseverance Rover with link to more NASA information; Lucky Charms Galaxy Edition that included Artemis box content; Frito-Lay Artemis snack packs with related educational content and scholarships for underserved children; and a Krispy Kreme Mars doughnut marking landing day for the Perseverance Mars rover.
• NASA also collaborated with screens in Times Square and Piccadilly Circus, as well as other locations across the globe, to feature the Mars Perseverance landing and Webb Space Telescope. In addition to Mars and Webb Space Telescope content on Google’s Arts & Culture page, Google created special search features to include Mars Perseverance fireworks and a simulated Ingenuity helicopter flight against a Mars background during the first test flight.
• At the request of the administration, NASA loaned a Moon rock from the 1972 Apollo 17 mission – the last crewed mission to the lunar surface – to be displayed in the White House Oval Office.
• Collaborations to spotlight agency events included sending congrats to Scripps National Spelling Bee winner and aspiring NASA team member Zaila Avant-garde, and a message from astronauts on the space station appearing at the MTV Video Music Awards.
• Among the many other talent engagements with the agency this year, NASA worked with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sia, William Shatner, Yo-Yo Ma, Jo-Jo Siwa, Kehinde Wiley, Shawn Mendez, and others.
• A few highlights of the agency’s collaborations with the film and television industry included Moonfall, War of the Worlds, Don’t Look Up, and Million Miles Away.
• The agency’s merchandise team worked with a variety of brands including Balenciaga, Target, Omega, H&M, Proctor & Gamble/Tide, and more.

The agency is streamlining its guest operations processes and continued to provide a hybrid model of both in-person and virtual guest opportunities for launches:

• NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 completed the agency’s first post-flight visit to Washington in nearly two years. The astronauts met with members of Congress, presented a flag to U.S. Space Force Gen. John Raymond, participated in local STEM activities, and more.
• More than 458,000 people around the world registered to take part in NASA’s virtual launch experiences, up 11% from 2020. This initiative has continued as an alternative launch-viewing opportunity in response to COVID-19.
• Returned to in-person events with exhibits at both Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the International Astronautical Congress in Dubai.
• NASA Glenn held a dedication ceremony for its Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky, Ohio, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston renamed its Rocket Park to honor former Director George Abbey.

For more about NASA’s missions, research, and discoveries, visit:

• https://www.nasa.gov

{ https://www.nasa.gov/ }

SCIENTISTS INCREDIBLY ANXIOUS ABOUT SPACE TELESCOPE LAUNCH

"THAT FIRST MONTH IS GOING TO BE ROUGH."

ESA

RELATED VIDEOS,selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://futurism.com/the-byte }

Gen. Douglas Macarthur In 1958: UFOs Are Real And Something Needs To Be Done With Them

An elite group of scientists and military officers gathered for a very private meeting in New York City in 1958. Their purpose was to discuss UFOs and the principal speaker at the meeting was none other than Gen. Douglas MacArthur, perhaps the greatest military leader of modern times.

His record as the Supreme Commander in the Pacific theater during World War II, and his conflict with Pres. Harry Truman during the Korean War, have been the subjects of several books, TV dramas, and a recent motion picture.

Less well-known is the fact that the General was an avid student of the UFO phenomenon. He was even obsessed with the subject and he feared that UFOs were hostile invaders from some other planet.

In the wake of the massive UFO wave of 1957, there were many quiet meetings all across the country. The U.S. Air Force, which had tried to get out of the flying saucer business in 1955 with the release of the Project Blue Book Report Number 14, a debunking attempt, found itself once more embroiled in controversy.

The CIA’s Project Windfall, a covert investigation of UFO contactees, was enmeshed in bureaucratic bumbling and confusion. Maj. Donald Keyhoe’s new organization NICAP was tilting at governmental windmills, trying to force the issue and alert an apathetic Congress. The news media and the general public regarded the whole UFO affair as a carnival.

But General MacArthur knew better. In his deep, articulate voice he told the 1958 meeting that he believed an extraterrestrial military force was scouting this planet preparatory to a massive invasion. He felt that we should be working to develop weapons and plans to combat the invaders. As an initiator years, until after MacArthur’s death in 1964. Details of the meeting were kept secret for years, until after MacArthur’s death in 1964.

In an interview with columnist Henry Taylor in 1955, MacArthur had already publicly revealed his concern over unidentified flying objects and their possible impact on our civilization. He was then living in retirement in the Waldorf Towers in Manhattan and felt free to express his conclusions that UFOs were real and posed a horrible threat. An arrogant, self-assured man, MacArthur was not afraid to speak his mind.

He had crossed swords with Truman when he had blatantly ignored presidential orders during the Korean War. He had graduated at the top of his class at West Point and worked his way up to the post of Army Chief of Staff in 1930, at the age of 50.

He was not at all reluctant to assume responsibility, and he didn’t hesitate to stomp on the less competent people around him. During World War ll he built a military empire in the Pacific, and after the war he directed the conversion of Japan to a democracy.

So it didn’t bother him that the official U.S. Air Force position was that UFOs were weather balloons, hoaxes, and falling stars. He thought the public should know the truth … at least the truth as he saw it.

What were his conclusions based upon? Military men, particularly generals, are pragmatists. They act on facts, not theories. General MacArthur began to collect facts about UFOs during World War ll. The mysterious “foo fighters” appeared in the European theater in 1943, but reports of their appearances were at first suppressed by military intelligence because they were thought to be secret German devices.

German pilots were also seeing the strange objects and thought they were some Allied secret weapon. By 1944, the phenomenon had spread to the Pacific. American ships and planes saw the objects, even shot at them. Incredible “flying submarines,” huge cylindrical objects, rose up from the water and flew away in full view of the entire crews of ships. As in Europe, reports of these incidents were stamped Top Secret and shuffled all the way to MacArthur’s headquarters.

McArthur took a personal interest in these puzzling reports and, thinking they could relate to some Japanese development, he set up a small group of intelligence officers to collect and study them. As the pile of reports grew, the team realized they were dealing with a totally unknown technology.

In some cases, American radar had detected gigantic objects, larger than any known aircraft, flitting about the Pacific. Several military planes sent up in pursuit of these things either crashed inexplicably or disappeared altogether

Radio transmissions and radar were frequently jammed in areas where the UFOs were active. By 1945, the intelligence men were convinced-and they convinced MacArthur-that the mysterious aerial objects were of extraterrestrial origin and were hostile.

Paradoxically, other unrelated intelligence teams operating in Europe came to a different conclusion. The RAF’s Foo Fighter investigation, launched by General Massey in 1943. decided the objects were harmless and were probably natural phenomena of some sort. The director of the RAF’s intelligence branch, R. V. Jones, became steadfastly anti-UFO. American intelligence in Europe fared even worse.

The reports of American pilots were never centralized and studied, but were simply scattered throughout the massive files. Only General MacArthur and his men in the Pacific had undertaken a systematic investigation, and their findings were jealously isolated from their European counterparts, and even from the Pentagon.

When the war ended in 1945, the European Foo Fighters were all but forgotten, but the phantom fliers continued to be seen around the Pacific, particularly around Okinawa and the islands where the U.S. was installing its first atomic age air bases. And those Top Secret reports continued to pile up on General MacArthur’s desk.

A five-star general has considerable power, and MacArthur not only ruled his empire with an iron hand, the tentacles of his intelligence service spread around the world. This was proven by a curious incident in Britain in the fall of 1946.

That summer, northern Europe was inundated with “ghost rockets,” unidentified cigar-shaped objects which appeared over Norway, Sweden, Finland, and even as far south as Greece and Morocco. The Scandinavian countries launched full-scale investigations, fearing the “rockets” were of Russian origin. (The Russians had no rockets at that time and most of the top German rocket scientists hap been captured by the Americans.)

Soon after the “ghost rocket” wave subsided, RAF lntelli_gence received a report that a rocket had crashed outside of London. It proved to be a complete hoax and was never revealed to the press .. . or anyone else. The intelligence officers who had investigated it were so embarrassed they tried to keep the whole thing secret. But within a few days a telegram reached the RAF Commander. It was from Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Japan and he asked for details on the unidentified rocket that had crashed in England!

Obviously, General MacArthur was tuned into everything happening everywhere, and he was particularly in­terested in reports about unidentified flying objects.

Twenty years later, R. V. Jones re­vealed the story of MacArthur’s telegram in a public speech. Wartime witnesses of UFOs in the Pacific and Europe eventu­ally told their stories to civilian UFO organizations and professional writers compiling books on the subject.

The Korean War brought a new surge of UFO sightings in the Pacific, and many of these reports found their way into print. Even Life magazine devoted con­siderable space to them. The great American UFO wave of June-July 1947 had stirred public and press interest in flying saucers and they had become a human interest subject like sea serpents and Abominable Snowmen. But to Gen. Douglas MacArthur, who had been col­lecting reports since 1944, there was nothing amusing to the endless sightings.

When he retired into civilian life (actu­ally, he was fired by President Truman), MacArthur maintained his interest in UFOs. He collected books and magazines about them and, according to a person who was close to him in the last years of his life, he talked for hours about the threat from outer space to anyone who would listen.

In 1962, Pres. John F. Kennedy invited the aging general to the White House and they spent two hours together in private discussion. We don’t know if UFOs were ever mentioned in that talk. Kennedy later said they had talked about Vietnam and MacArthur had outlined why we should never get into a land war in the Orient (whatever hap­pened to that excellent piece of advice?).

Soon afterward, President Kennedy announced that he was going to pour billions of dollars into a space program designed to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

One of General MacArthur’s final pub­lic appearances was a speech he delivered at West Point in which he told the young cadets that “the next war” would be fought in space when a united man­kind would battle “evil beings” from some other planet.

The speech was widely quoted in the press at the time, but there was no discussion of it and it had no impact. To some, it was just the harmless babbling of an old man (he was 84 when he died). To others, it was a sober warning from a man who had had access to information denied ordinary ufologists, a man not given to uttering casual, unsub­stantiated admonishments. We ignored his advice about Vietnam. Can we afford to ignore this?

By John A. Keel, Originally Published in UFO Report Magazine,

source: 

• www.paranoiamagazine.com

{ https://anomalien.com/ }

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article on why it is so difficult to solve the Roswell affair of July 1947. I pointed out that in all likelihood Roswell was covered by what is known as a Special Access Program. An SAP would be the ideal operation to keep the Roswell mystery hidden. And, potentially, forever. Does that mean we are never going to solve the puzzle? No. It just means we have to come up with even more alternative ways to get the answers. Could that be done? Well, yes, to some degree. For example, as you’ll see, I know the names of some very obscure military people (and government people, too) who were out at the crash site on the Foster Ranch, Lincoln County, New Mexico when the crash occurred, and whose names have seldom been discussed or investigated. They are in this article. So, my approach – if we can’t access the material in the SAP – is that we should go after just about every single military document that is relative to anyone and everyone who we know, for sure, was at the site and saw what it was that we want to know. It’s not an impossibility. Going through every bit of their military documentation might prove to be daunting – and it may annoy, or even anger, the families of those who were on-site back in 1947. But, the important thing is that a really big, widespread research project on the part of the UFO research community is not impossible. With that said, now onto some of those who went to their graves knowing the truth of Roswell and whose military files just might give us at least something; even if it’s just a finger-point in a certain direction or two. And, then, we need to dig deeper than we ever have before.

(Nick Redfern)

My first trip to the area where everything went down

Around twenty years ago, I began working full-time – for about five years – for Ryan Wood doing a lot of research to try and solve various aspects of the UFO phenomenon in 1947 – and not just Roswell, but other UFO events in that era too. And also claims of dead aliens and so on. This project led me to undertake a number of trips to the National Archives, Maryland that, collectively, covered a period of around two or three weeks, 9 to 5. In doing the work I came across several interesting figures. One was a man named Frederick Hauser, a military doctor at the time of the Roswell affair. Hauser knew of Roswell. Another one who knew a great deal – and who may have seen the bodies – was a man named Conrad Zerbe. He certainly saw a great deal of photographic material of an “interesting” type. Much of the research that led to names like the ones you’ll see in the next paragraph came about due to National Archives-based research. Not just by phoning family members. I also know, as a result of all this research, that at one point – in the very early 1980s –  the U.S. Air Force approached Zerbe to try and help them figure out what really happened at Roswell – because the Air Force of the 1980s didn’t know…but they most assuredly wanted to know. That’s right: even the U.S. Air Force of the 1980s was out the loop of Roswell.

(Nick Redfern)

From outside to inside

Zerbe was a deeply worried man. Particularly so when he got at least several visits from Air Force Intelligence across a period of three weeks. And, he finally clammed up; filled with fear. That’s not quite the end of it though: I have heard fascinating rumors that Zerbe – who was definitely at the crash site – took certain photos with him and did not hand them over to those in the military who were running the containment of the ranch in the hours and days after the crash. Zerbe’s link to the Roswell saga revolves around the matter of a certain, large number of photographs taken out at the crash site of the whatever-it-was that came down on the ranch in the summer of ’47. A Roland Cliff, a military man named Loomis, a civilian in the program named Bohanon, and an Ed Guill, were in the know, when it came to (A) the matter of what happened and (B) who knew what the photos really showed. Should we go after the photos? Of course, we should! But, of equal importance, for example, we should follow some of the more obscure files of 1947 that are available at the National Archives. There are some fascinating ones. And, I’ll share one example with you.

On my very first trip to the National Archives in 2001 I found a fascinating, but brief, document that reads as follows, and prepared by a Mr. Roddy: “Investigation of the unknown missile which landed near Guadeloupe on 12 October 1947 has failed, so far, to identify it as a V-2, GAPA or other type of guided missile. Careful check by USAF, Ordnance, and Navy indicates that no missiles were fired from Alamogordo Special Range or White Sands Proving Ground on 12 October 1947. Army Ground Forces has eliminated possibility of an anti-aircraft target having gone astray. Negotiations with the Mexican Government for the Long Range Proving Ground for guided missiles, which have been started through the State Department, may be jeopardized if Mexico is dissatisfied with the investigation. It is understood that newspaper statements that fragments of a V-2 have been identified are disturbing the Mexican Government.”

(Nick Redfern)

Driving by the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico

Now, from the available material above, I don’t think – at all – this story tells of a crashed alien spacecraft. I’m absolutely sure that what was found was a missile. But, whose missile? A German V-2 from the very seedy Paperclip program? From the document it didn’t seem that’s what it was. I don’t know what it was. Neither did the U.S. military: the document specifically calls the finding an “unknown missile.” That document was not found in any early UFO files. I found it while searching around a couple of hefty files concerning 1947-era activity on what, back then, was called the White Sands Proving Ground. On so many occasions I found UFO-themed documents in the National Archives that weren’t in any the old Project Sign or Project Grudge files, but that were deep in files from White Sands. What this all means is that we need to take the approach that was taken when I spent around five years going all across the U.S. chasing down people, places and documents. Keep pushing – and do so for years, if needed. Take alternative ways. Look into files that, at first glance, might seem to be irrelevant, but that may send us to the next part of the story. Of course, not everyone has the funding to run a nationwide Roswell research program for five years. But, that might be exactly what is needed. And, it just might solve the enigma of what really came down in New Mexico in July 1947. It worked for five years. It can work again. It might find the answers.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

High in the Russian Arctic, at a remote field station on the shores of the White Sea, biologist Vera Emelianenko set out for a walk on a frigid December night. With her were Mikhail Neretin, the son of the station’s molecular biologist, and a couple dogs: a giant schnauzer and soft-coated Wheaten terrier.

Trudging along the icy embankments of the tidal zone in fierce Arctic winds, Neretin spotted a blue illumination in a snowbank. Had Emelianenko dropped her phone?

As they walked over to investigate, their footsteps created streaks of ethereal blue. “They were like blue Christmas lights in the snow,” Emelianenko says.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEXANDER SEMENOV / WHITE SEA BIOLOGICAL STATION (WSBS MSU)

She bent down to scoop up a handful. With a gentle squeeze, the snowball glowed brighter. The dogs left a glowing trail as they raced ahead, as though the Northern Lights had seeped from sky to snow.

After a flurry of phone calls and texted photographs, the station’s biologists and a group of marine scientists across Russia were buzzing over the find. Emelianenko and Neretin took the station photographer, Alexander Semenov, out to document the lights. “We stomped the ground all together for maybe two hours” to get the spots to shine, Semenov says.

The next day, Emelianenko slipped a glowing snowball under a stereo microscope to try to identify the bioluminescent culprit. As she waited for the ice to melt away, she prodded miniscule detritus with a needle to no avail. But then Emelianenko spotted some copepods, tiny aquatic crustaceans, in the slushy petri dish. When she poked them, they shone a faint blue.

This may be the first documented explanation for glowing snow in the Arctic, which has been observed occasionally by researchers over the years but not been rigorously tested.

Copepod life history 

 Copepods are miniscule crustaceans just a few millimeters long, about the size of several grains of sand in a row. “They’re the bugs of the sea,” explains Steven Haddock, a marine biologist studying deep-sea zooplankton at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. “They’re small and numerous, they’re eaten by a lot of things.”

While they don’t exactly get a lot of press or cultural representation (with the notable exception of Plankton, a copepod in SpongeBob SquarePants), copepods make up the plurality of biomass in the ocean, according to some estimates. They’re passive swimmers, meaning they can’t resist the currents. This particular species of copepod—Metridia longa—is tossed around the oceans from Canada’s Hudson Strait to the waters of Maine and all across the Arctic.

Even so, Metridia have no business on the shores of the White Sea, says Ksenia Kosobokova, an expert on Arctic marine zooplankton at Russia’s Academy of Science in Moscow. They’re usually found farther out in the ocean, migrating to depths of 80 to 300 feet during the day and ascending to a few feet from the surface during the darkness of night (which, in the winter, is most of the time), Kosobokova explains.

What must have occurred, Kosobokova says, is that the copepods were caught in a powerful current. Twice a day when the White Sea’s rising tide sweeps ashore, the frigid water and everything in it is sluiced through cracks in the ice and snow. For weak swimmers like copepods, there’s no escape.

It could be that tides were particularly strong on the day of the first sighting, December 1—the moon was almost new and three days away from 2021’s closest perigee, the time when the moon is nearest to the earth. Both conditions make for stronger tides. But a second round of sightings on December 16 suggest that it may not take a once-in-a-year lunar cycle to create conditions for the glowing snow.

How the copepod got its glow 

 Most bioluminescence is produced when a small energy-storing molecule called luciferin is oxidized. On its own, luciferin produces a very faint, steady glow. But combined with the enzyme luciferase, the reaction is sped up, and that glow becomes a dramatic burst.

“So we have these two molecules inside of them, a light emitter and an accelerator,” Haddock explains. For some copepods, the luciferin and luciferase react internally, but Metridia longa has glands on its head and body to secrete its incandescence into the world. “They’ll shoot out those two molecules at the same time and form a little puff of light in the water.” (Learn more: How bioluminescence works in nature.)

Scientists believe Metridia and other copepods use bioluminescence as a defense. “One idea is that the light could startle predators and cause them to spit out the copepod” or distract them long enough for the copepod to escape, says Todd Oakley, a professor of evolutionary ecology and marine biology at the University of California Santa Barbara.

Ghostly lights 

Kosobokova figures the copepods nestled in the snow were fading but alive—after all, Arctic plankton are no strangers to freezing temperatures. But bioluminescence experts say they may well have been dead—making their blue glow somewhat ghostly. 

As many ham-handed children are sad to learn, fireflies still glow if you accidentally squish them.

“It happens for us with our scientific specimens,” Haddock adds. “You collect an organism and you put it in the freezer for later study. And then when you pull it out, it will slowly start to glow—the chemicals that are inside of their bodies are still perfectly capable of reacting.”

Emily Lau, a graduate student at UCSB, studies the biochemistry of bioluminescence in fishes and the copepod’s crustacean cousin the ostracod. They look like sesame seeds with eyeballs. “People can dry them, and then you can still crush them in the water after they’re dead and they will produce bioluminescence,” she explains.

“As long as that small molecule luciferin is present, then the bioluminescence is going to occur,” Lau says.

Jørgen Berge, a professor at the Arctic University of Norway who studies polar night and arctic marine ecosystems, says it may be too early to give copepods credit for the light show. Berge has observed similar deposits in the snow on the shores of the Norwegian archipelago Svalbard, which he believes are better explained by clumps of dinoflagellates, single-celled algae that also bioluminesce (although he hasn’t tested the spots to identify their composition.)

Dinoflagellates are behind many spectacular marine displays of bioluminescence—like the “phosphorescent bays” of Puerto Rico, where bathers can splash each other with light, or the dolphins that leave ethereal glowing trails off the coast of California. (Related: This deep-sea shark is one of the world’s largest glowing animals.)

“It’s very easy to direct your attention to the larger organisms [in a sample],” Berge explains. But identifying a creature capable of bioluminescence in the sample doesn’t mean another, less obvious creature isn’t responsible. However, Berge agrees that the lights are particularly bright, even for dinoflagellates.

Perhaps what’s most surprising is that glowing snow had not been seen before at a biological station that’s been active for over 80 years—only to be spotted by Emelianenko, 24, and Neretin, 18. That could be because most folks don’t go for leisurely December strolls in the Arctic night, Kosobokova says. It’s not very hospitable. “We also get bears and wolves up here,” Semenov adds.

But the young biologists’ keen eyes and tolerance for cold was rewarded. “There’s so many mysteries out there if you’re willing to have a childlike curiosity,” Haddock says.

Semenov agrees. “You never expect that there will be beauty right under your nose that you haven’t realized can exist.”

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