US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has finally addressed the president's announcement to release all government files related to UFOs and aliens.

Speaking at an event for the Department of War’s 'Arsenal of Freedom' tour on Monday, Hegseth, 45, said he intends to find out if aliens really exist, and the American people will learn the truth at the same time.

Although he admitted he never envisioned being the person put in charge of potentially revealing alien life to the world, Hegseth declared that the Department of War would fully comply with the president's orders.

'I did not have that on my bingo card at all,' Hegseth said.

'We've got our people working on it right now. I don't want to oversell how much time it will take, right? We're digging in. We're going to be in full compliance with that executive order, eager to provide that for the president.'

Hegseth didn't have an estimate of how long it would take for the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies to release every piece of information on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), which have been widely reported throughout the US since the 1940s.

Asked if he believes aliens exist, Hegseth replied: 'We'll see. I get to do the review and find out along with all of you.'

Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, who was put in charge of the House Oversight Committee's task force on declassifying secret records on UAPs, revealed that all of the incoming documents will be housed on the US National Archives' website.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (Pictured) said the Pentagon plans to be in 'full compliance' with President Trump's order to release all UFO-related files

Trump's February 19 order to disclose any and all information on alien life came hours after he scolded former President Obama for saying in an interview that aliens were real

Until now, the Pentagon has maintained for decades that no physical evidence of extraterrestrial life has ever been found by the US, and videos capturing suspected UFOs have never been confirmed to be of a non-human origin. 

Hegseth's comments came after a whirlwind week of stunning UFO-related claims made by Trump and former President Barack Obama.

On February 14, a podcast interview between Obama and Brian Tyler Cohen sent shockwaves through the US after the 44th president declared aliens were real, but they weren't being kept at Area 51.

Obama tried to walk back the comments a day later, posting on social media that he gave a short and direct answer to Cohen's rapid-fire questions 'to stick with the spirit of the speed round.'

'Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there,' he wrote on February 15.

However, President Trump seized on the comments, declaring that Obama had actually committed a serious violation by speaking on the matter, calling the topic 'classified information.' 

'I don't know if they're real or not,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on February 19 when asked about alien life and his predecessor's comments.

'I can tell you he gave classified information. He made a big mistake,' the president added.

President Trump (Pictured) allegedly has a speech written which discusses the existence of UFOs and extraterrestrial life, a claim later confirmed by his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump

The US government has claimed there is no physical proof extraterrestrial spacecraft or alien life exist and have visited Earth, despite countless videos capturing UFOs

Read More

• Top UFO experts reveal 'whistleblower activity' will finally bring disclosure in 2026 

Just hours later, Trump became the first president in history to issue a broad executive directive ordering government agencies to make any information on unidentified spacecraft and non-human life public information.

The president has also reportedly granted a key US congressman access to the most famous military base - Area 51.

In a recent interview, Representative Eric Burlison of Missouri claimed his request to visit the top-secret Nevada facility and other locations allegedly connected to UFOs was approved by the White House.

Burlison is a member of the congressional oversight committee involved in the ongoing investigation into UAPs, more commonly known as UFOs.

Although the US government has continued to deny that crashed UFOs and alien bodies have been recovered, Congress has heard from multiple whistleblowers claiming secret programs have covered up the truth for 80 years.

Seeking physical evidence of these encounters, Burlison told the ALN Podcast that the Trump Administration has ordered Hegseth and the Department of War (formerly the Department of Defense) to 'make it happen.'

'The extent to which they've been involved is literally just saying to the Department of Defense that "we're backing his request. Do what you can to make it happen,"' Burlison explained during the January 30 interview.

Trump has previously said he didn't believe UFOs or aliens exist, but revealed that military pilots have personally told him about their mid-air encounters with unexplainable craft which defied the laws of gravity.

When asked if he would declassify the files about aliens on the Lex Fridman Podcast in September 2024, then-candidate Trump said: 'Sure, I’ll do that. I would do that. I’d love to do that. I have to do that.'

The president's daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has claimed he already has a written speech prepared, which discusses the topic of UFOs and alien life visiting Earth.

White House insiders and UFO researchers have claimed this speech is scheduled to be given this year, possibly coinciding with the Roswell UFO incident's 79th anniversary on July 8 or at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/index.html }

Coordinated by AARO and hosted by Associated Universities, Inc. (AUI), the workshop marked a significant step in AARO’s engagement with civilian and independent research groups. The meeting sought to establish a more collaborative and professional process for standardizing the study of UAP within the Department of War (DoW), while potentially increasing transparency compared with previous years.

Topics discussed at the 2025 Workshop

Traditionally, many UAP gatherings involving academics or government officials have focused on presenting findings, historical analysis, or scientific data. The AARO workshop took a different approach, forming breakout groups to address a foundational challenge: how to collect, manage, integrate, and analyze UAP data using rigorous scientific methods—both internally at AARO and in collaboration with civilian datasets.

Areas that the August 2025 workshop focused on included:

• Assessing the current landscape of UAP reporting systems and data repositories;
• Identifying key challenges and gaps in UAP data collection, standardization, and accessibility;
• Exploring methodologies for data analysis and pattern recognition in UAP reports.
• Nurturing trust and collaboration among researchers, government agencies, and civilian organizations; and
• Proposing recommendations for developing a robust UAP data infrastructure.

UAP Report Collection

UAP reports originate from a wide array of sources, including military logs, pilot reports, civilian testimony, archival records, social media posts, and sensor-based systems such as radar and imagery platforms.

In the past, challenges with UAP data collection have ranged from fragmentation and inconsistent formatting to the lack of standardized metadata and limited cross-correlation between datasets. Classification restrictions, language differences, social stigma, and inconsistent retention policies have further complicated access for both government and civilian researchers.

According to the report, participants in the 2025 workshop emphasized that progress in UAP research depends on building a shared data infrastructure between government and civilian researchers. One major recommendation was the development of standardized metadata templates that combine human expertise with AI tools, leverage existing infrastructure, support case triage, and integrate interviews and historical reports, while prioritizing new high-quality data.

These templates would record contextual information such as time, location, morphology, provenance, and environmental conditions.

Clear metadata standards would also make it easier for agencies and independent researchers to share datasets while protecting sensitive information and privacy. The white paper notes AARO seeks a “multi-disciplinary and community-engaged approach to UAP narrative data,” which may influence future sensor deployment strategies.

The white paper identifies artificial intelligence as both a potential solution and a potential hazard. AI could assist with transcription, clustering, and large-scale pattern detection, but also risks introducing bias, amplifying hoaxes, or producing inaccurate results—the classic “garbage in, garbage out” problem. The workshop strongly endorsed a hybrid human-AI model with human oversight.

Privacy First

The AARO whitepaper emphasizes that privacy was a central priority for the workshop. “Participant privacy was an important consideration throughout workshop planning, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval governed data collection and security for the workshop,” the report states.

Workshop participants were asked to adhere to the “Chatham House Rules,” and not to take photos or attribute statements to individuals without permission. Given these circumstances, civilian participants who attended the workshop and later spoke with The Debrief did so on background.

“Civilian participants were given genuine opportunities to contribute perspectives and technical insights, and there appeared to be a shared commitment—on the part of both AARO personnel and external researchers—to improving the quality and rigor of UAP data collection,” one participant told The Debrief. “The discussions and presentations were conducted in a constructive, solutions-oriented atmosphere that encouraged collaboration on best practices for future observational and analytical efforts.”

The breakout sessions also emphasized balancing quantitative data with qualitative witness narratives and incorporating cultural and experiential perspectives while allowing multiple analytical approaches to coexist.

“I was pleasantly surprised that AARO did a good job of getting a cross-section, not only of the UAP community, right, but also of people from other federal groups or agencies that attended. None of the three-letter agencies, at least none that I knew of, were represented,” said one participant who spoke with The Debrief.

“There was definitely more transparency compared to their public statements and postings,” another participant said. “I think that was attributed to the level of trust they had with their select invitees in a private session. ”

The Importance of Public Reporting 

Improving reporting systems was another major priority discussed at the workshop. Recommendations included open-ended narrative submissions followed by AI-assisted structuring that witnesses could review; improved geolocation tools; standardized time inputs; flexible units; and optional metadata fields. Participants also encouraged the release of de-identified public data to build public trust and reduce stigma.

Following the report’s publication, The Debrief reached out to the Pentagon for comment on how AARO’s mission may incorporate public reports going forward.

“AARO anticipates using public reports to enhance overall UAP trend analysis and, when possible, to enrich open UAP cases from government and law enforcement sources,” said Sue Gough, a Department of War spokesperson, in an email to The Debrief.

According to AARO’s official website, it currently accepts UAP-related information from military and Department of War civilian personnel, although it adds that “AARO will announce when a reporting mechanism is available to the public.”

Asked about the potential timeline for completing this civilian-accessible UAP reporting mechanism, Gough told The Debrief that “We have nothing to announce at this time.”

A Change in Direction

Sean M. Kirkpatrick, a laser and materials physicist and inaugural director of AARO, presided over the office during the initial phase of its development. At that time, engagement with civilian UAP researchers had been limited and often viewed through a more cautious, security-focused lens. That approach appeared to reflect broader government concerns about data reliability, classification, and the challenges of integrating independent research into official investigative frameworks; however, it also left some outside researchers feeling excluded from the process, and at times drew criticism from some in the broader UAP research community.

Under its current director, Dr. Jon T. Kosloski, AARO appears to be moving toward a more collaborative model. The recent workshop brought together representatives from academia, government, and civilian research communities, offering participants an opportunity to contribute perspectives on data collection practices, reporting standards, and analytical methods. For many independent researchers, the possibility of participating in discussions about government UAP data infrastructure and national security implications marks a notable shift from previous engagement.

Overall, the workshop concluded that continuous collaboration and community-building are needed to establish a sustainable “community of practice” across disciplines. 

“AARO recognizes that input from the scientific and academic community is critical to its work and hopes to convene future workshops and collaborative opportunities, as needed, to foster an interdisciplinary community for UAP analysis,” Gough told The Debrief.

“The long-term success of these efforts will be measured by higher-quality UAP reporting, the use of new analytical tools, and improved understanding of UAP sightings, drawing on the expertise of a wide range of stakeholders,” Gough added.

• Chrissy Newton is a PR professional and the founder of VOCAB Communications. She currently appears on The Discovery Channel and Max and hosts the Rebelliously Curious podcast, which can be found on YouTube and on all audio podcast streaming platforms. Follow her on X: @ChrissyNewton, Instagram: @BeingChrissyNewton, and chrissynewton.com. To contact Chrissy with a story, please email chrissy @ thedebrief.org.

{ https://thedebrief.org/category/science/ }

Artemis II – NASA says it's fixed the fuel leak, putting the Moon mission on course for a March launch

The next mission to the Moon could now be weeks away

BY Iain Todd

A previous Artemis II wet dress rehearsal that concluded on 2 February found a leak in the system that provides liquid hydrogen fuel for propulsion of the Space Launch System (the rocket).

But it seems NASA engineers have completed the second wet dress rehearsal with the problem fixed, and the Artemis II crew are preparing to enter a 14-day quarantine ahead of the first potential launch on 6 March.

Prep for a mission to the Moon

NASA's Artemis II mission will see astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen launch to the Moon and back.

The 10-day mission will take the crew to the Moon, further into space than any human has ever travelled before, then slingshot around the Moon and return to Earth.

Part of preparations for the launch of Artemis II include a wet dress rehearsal, where the ground team run through all the steps to launch, but without the astronauts onboard.

The first wet dress rehearsal for Artemis II concluded on 2 February 2026.

Engineers discovered issues with the system providing fuel to the Space Launch System, but also problems with a valve involved in the pressurisation of the Orion crew module hatch, which is where the astronauts will be situated during their journey around the Moon.

The second dress rehearsal concluded on 19 February 2026.

NASA says the ground team successfully fuelled the Space Launch System rocket and demonstrated the launch countdown for Artemis II during the rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Engineers loaded over 700,000 gallons of liquid fuel, practiced closing the Orion capsule's hatches and completed two runs of the final phase of the launch countdown.

The Artemis II crew were present, but observing the wet dress rehearsal from the Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center.

Previously-known issues around maintaining communications between ground teams seem to have re-surface, however.

NASA says teams experienced a loss of ground communications in the Launch Control Center.

However, backup communications kicked in so the fuelling could continue before engineers restored main communications and isolated what had caused the issue.

While no launch date has been confirmed, the Artemis II crew are preparing to enter quarantine again, having been released from earlier quarantine after issues with the first wet dress rehearsal became apparent.

Quarantine is a standard practice for the crewed Artemis missions, and sees the astronauts isolated in order to ensure they remain fit and healthy for the mission ahead.

NASA's earliest potential launch date for Artemis II is 6 March 2026.

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

What came before the Big Bang? These are the best theories we have about the origin of the cosmos

We explore the theories about one of the most mind-boggling questions about the Universe.

Even Isaac Newton believed that God created the Universe, some 6,000 years ago.

Later, many scientists, including young Albert Einstein, assumed the Universe itself to be eternal and everlasting.

The beginning of the Universe

But when cosmic expansion was discovered, Belgian cosmologist (and Jesuit priest) Georges Lemaître realised there must have been a beginning – a scientific version of Genesis, so to speak.

Not that everyone immediately agreed.

Well into the 1960s, Fred Hoyle’s steady-state theory was quite popular among iconoclastic scientists as well as lay people.

Hoyle accepted the expansion of the Universe, but he didn’t believe in the Big Bang.

Instead, he assumed that a slow, continuous creation of new matter could keep the average density and the general properties of the Universe constant over time.

The 1964 discovery of the cosmic microwave background was the major nail in the coffin of the steady-state theory.

Ever since, supporting evidence for the Big Bang origin of our Universe has accumulated to a point where there’s hardly any doubt left.

Still, no one has the final answer to the question "what happened before the Big Bang?".

Could there have been a Universe before the Big Bang?

Most scientists simply ignore the question, as it seems to be too hard a nut to crack.

Beginning of time

When astronomers talk about the Big Bang, they usually do not refer to the very beginning of the Universe (time zero), but to the incredibly hot and compact state of the Universe in the first couple of minutes of its existence.

To some extent, this is because no one has a real clue about the true nature of time, let alone about the beginning of time.

British physicist Julian Barbour, for one, has argued that time doesn’t even exist, except as an illusion in our minds.

According to others (including Stephen Hawking), time came into existence together with the Universe, rendering the whole concept of the word ‘before’ meaningless.

Asking what happened before the Big Bang would be like asking what lies north of the North Pole, or what distance is shorter than zero.

Alternative theories

Then again, we simply don’t know whether or not there was time before the Big Bang.

According to the once-popular idea of the cyclic (or oscillatory) Universe, the current expansion of space could one day revert into a contraction, and the resulting Big Crunch could bounce into a new Big Bang, starting the next cycle of an eternal sequence.

For more on this, read our interview with Katie Mack about the end of the Universe.

It’s just one of many hypotheses in which our Universe is not unique, but part of a possibly infinite multiverse, one way or another.

And if the multiverse is also infinite in time, we’re back to the idea that everything has existed forever, conveniently circumnavigating the nagging question of a beginning.

Finally, South African physicist Neil Turok thinks the Big Bang not only spawned our Universe, but also an anti-Universe, composed of anti­­​­matter and running backward in time.

Again, an intriguing idea, but there’s also no chance of confirmation (or rejection!) via observations.

In the end, we have to admit we’re ignorant about the true beginning of the Universe.

And even if we lean towards an eternal multiverse with no real beginning at all, we don’t know why there is something (or, more to the point, why there is everything) instead of nothing.

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

This moss just survived months in space. Here's why it could one day help humans live on Mars

More spaceflight

• What astronauts eat in space
• How astronauts survive in space
• How will astronauts survive solar storms on Mars?

NASA

A study found more than 80% of moss spores survived 9 months outside the International Space Station – and returned to Earth still capable of growing.

This is the first demonstration that moss can withstand long-term exposure to the extreme elements of space, and could have implications for humans' ability to develop ecosystems on barren planets like Mars.

Why moss?

The study was led by Tomomichi Fujita of Hokkaido University, Japan, who was inspired by moss’s ability to survive among the harshest conditions on Earth.

His question was simple: if moss can survive glaciers, deserts and volcanoes, could it also survive space?

"Most living organisms, including humans, cannot survive even briefly in the vacuum of space," says Fujita.

"However, the moss spores retained their vitality after nine months of direct exposure."

The results, he says, suggest that life on Earth contains "intrinsic mechanisms" that can endure conditions far beyond our planet.

Putting moss to the test

Before sending moss to space, the researchers simulated space-like stresses on Physcomitrium patens, a well-studied moss known as spreading earthmoss.

They evaluated three moss structures:

• Protonemata – juvenile moss
• Brood cells – stress-induced stem cells
• Sporophytes – reproductive capsules containing spores

The team exposed them to extreme temperatures, vacuum conditions and intense ultraviolet (UV) radiation.

UV radiation proved the most damaging. Juvenile moss died under high UV exposure or severe temperatures.

Brood cells fared better, but the real champions were the encased spores, which tolerated UV radiation roughly 1,000 times better than the other structures.

The spores also survived freezing at –196°C (–320°F) for over a week and withstood 55°C (131°F) heat for a month.

The researchers suggest the sporophyte’s protective outer casing shields the spore from radiation and physical damage.

This is likely an evolutionary feature dating back 500 million years, when early bryophytes first moved from water onto land.

The ultimate test: a trip beyond Earth

To test these structures under real cosmic conditions, the team launched hundreds of sporophytes to the International Space Station in March 2022.

Astronauts mounted them on the Space Station's exterior, where they endured vacuum, cosmic radiation, microgravity and temperature extremes for 283 days.

In January 2023, the spores returned to Earth.

"We expected almost zero survival," Fujita says. "But the result was the opposite: most of the spores survived.:

More than 80% survived, and of those, all but 11% successfully germinated in the lab.

The team checked chlorophyll levels as well – essential pigments for photosynthesis – and found normal levels across the spores, aside from a 20% drop in chlorophyll a.

But even that reduction did not appear to harm the spores’ overall health.

How long could moss survive in space?

Using their experimental data, the researchers built a model to estimate long-term survival.

Their rough prediction: up to 5,600 days (around 15 years) in space.

This estimate is preliminary, they caution, and more data will be needed to refine it.

Still, the finding underscores the astonishing durability of early land plants, and raises new possibilities for space exploration.

The researchers hope their results will guide future work on how plants interact with extraterrestrial soils and how hardy species like moss might support agricultural systems beyond Earth.

"Ultimately, we hope this work opens a new frontier toward constructing ecosystems in extraterrestrial environments such as the Moon and Mars," says Fujita.

"I hope that our moss research will serve as a starting point."

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

“What I Saw Was Not Our Technology”: A Navy Officer Breaks the Silence on Mysterious Underwater UFOs

From the depths of the ocean, UFOs surface as a Navy officer warns of a threat too real to be ignored.

Written by Ashley Morgan

© Credit: Shutterstock

An extraordinary new investigation, originally published by Popular Mechanics is drawing fresh attention to a string of unexplained encounters between U.S. Navy personnel and unidentified submerged objects (USOs). These sightings—recorded over decades and across multiple oceans—are now being described by former officers as a legitimate threat and part of a global pattern that defies conventional physics.

Unexplained Encounters During Training Missions

In 2014, Lieutenant Ryan Graves, a U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot stationed off the coast of Virginia Beach, began to detect anomalies during flight training missions. Initially dismissed as radar glitches, the signals reappeared repeatedly—only this time, they were backed by infrared and optical confirmation.

According to Graves, these unidentified objects could hover completely still or accelerate to supersonic speeds. They were seen across all altitudes, always above or near the ocean. Graves reported seeing a particularly strange object: a black or dark gray cube enclosed in a clear sphere, estimated to be 5 to 15 feet in diameter. It passed within 50 feet of one of the jets. That incident, he later explained, “was the turning point.”

When Graves later spoke with pilots stationed on the USS Nimitz and USS Princeton off the West Coast, he discovered that similar sightings had occurred for years.

Craft That Travel Between Air And Sea

The military has since adopted the term unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) to describe objects like those witnessed by Graves. A growing number of them appear to be transmedium—able to travel from air to sea without slowing down, splashing, or generating turbulence. These transitions contradict what we know about aerodynamics and hydrodynamics.

Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet, a retired oceanographer and Navy commander, was among the first to review footage of these transmedium encounters, captured in 2015 by jets from the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The craft shown in those videos moved at extraordinary speeds, rotated midair, and left no propulsion trail.

“What I saw was not our technology,” Gallaudet said. “No nation has craft that can move like that.” For him, these phenomena represent a national research priority. He now collaborates with Graves and former Pentagon officials to push for transparency and investigation.

Four Major Incidents Still Unexplained

Several high-profile military encounters continue to raise questions about unidentified submerged objects. In 2004, Navy pilots aboard the USS Nimitz witnessed a Tic Tac–shaped craft that dropped from 80,000 feet to sea level in under one second, with no wings or engines.

In 2013, infrared footage from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico captured a spherical object entering the ocean without a splash, resurfacing, then splitting into two before submerging—defying known flight and fluid dynamics.

A 1990s incident involved a CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopter crew near Puerto Rico. As they retrieved a drone, a massive dark object rose from below and pulled it back underwater, leaving the pilot stunned.

In 2019, the USS Omaha recorded a spherical object hovering over the Pacific before it dropped into the water without any visible splash. A sailor later confirmed similar sightings aboard the USS Jackson in 2023.

{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/news/ }

Curiosity Rover Navigates Mars’ Spiderweb-Like Formations, Here’s What Scientists Are Finding

Mars’ mysterious ‘spiderwebs’ hold ancient clues, could they be signs of past water flow?

© Credit: Shutterstock

NASA’s Curiosity rover has unveiled an incredible feature on Mars: intricate geological formations resembling giant spiderwebs, known as boxwork ridges, that stretch across the Martian surface. For the past six months, Curiosity has been carefully exploring this region, and its findings are raising some very interesting questions about the possibility of life on Mars long before it became the dry, desert world we see today.

These boxwork formations, with ridges ranging from three to six feet tall, aren’t just a weird visual anomaly. They tell a story about Mars’ watery past. The discovery comes at a time when scientists are trying to piece together the history of water on Mars and how it may have supported life, or at least provided the conditions that could have.

What the Ridges Might Reveal?

Curiosity’s mission on Mars is focused on one big question: Did water ever flow on Mars in a way that might have supported life? According to NASA, Curiosity has been exploring an area of Mount Sharp where these boxwork formations can be found, and the data it’s collecting is helping answer that question in unexpected ways.

“The formations suggest ancient groundwater flowed on this part of the Red Planet later than scientists expected. This possibility raises new questions about how long microbial life could have survived on Mars billions of years ago.”

Curiosity’s detailed exploration of these ridges has added some important evidence.

“Seeing boxwork this far up the mountain suggests the groundwater table had to be pretty high,” said Tina Seeger, one of the scientists leading the investigation. “And that means the water needed for sustaining life could have lasted much longer than we thought looking from orbit.”

This image of boxwork formations was captured by NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Rover Exploration: Navigating the Tight Ridges

But getting to the bottom of this discovery isn’t exactly easy. Curiosity, an SUV-sized rover, is rolling across a landscape with ridges just a few feet wide. For the team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, navigating this terrain is a bit like threading a needle.

“It almost feels like a highway we can drive on. But then we have to go down into the hollows, where you need to be mindful of Curiosity’s wheels slipping or having trouble turning in the sand,” explained Ashley Stroupe, an operations systems engineer.

It’s a constant balancing act to make sure the rover doesn’t get stuck or damaged, all while trying to collect as much data as possible from these fascinating Martian features.

Despite the challenges, the rover has been able to gather rock samples and analyze them with some seriously sophisticated equipment.

What the Boxwork Reveals?

As Curiosity ascends the mountain, it’s uncovering signs of a climate that fluctuated between wet and dry conditions. The boxwork formations themselves are evidence of a time when water was more abundant, even if it wasn’t around in the way we see it on Earth today. By analyzing the mineral content and the structure of the boxwork ridges, scientists are starting to put together a more nuanced timeline of Mars’ climate history.

The minerals that the rover has found in the ridges, such as clay and carbonate, suggest that groundwater may have been active for much longer than researchers initially thought.

“We can’t quite explain yet why the nodules appear where they do.” As Seeger suggested. “Maybe the ridges were cemented by minerals first, and later episodes of groundwater left nodules around them,” hinting at the possibility of multiple wet periods across Mars’ history.

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{ https://dailygalaxy.com/category/space/ }

Getty / Futurism

Interstellar object 3I/ATLAS provided scientists with an exceptionally rare opportunity to study the nature of other planetary systems beyond our own. It was first discovered in July of last year, heading straight past the Sun and making its closest approach to our star in late October.

It’s been speeding out of the solar system ever since, releasing copious amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapor that potentially date back billions of years.

But scientists think it’s technically still possible to send a probe and have a closer look, as Space.com reports. It’s admittedly a long shot: the mission would have to launch by 2035 to catch up with 3I/ATLAS by 2085, at which point it will be over 700 times the distance between the Sun and Earth away from us, or over four times the distance NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has covered over the last 48 years.

To gain enough speed, such a probe would have to perform close flybys of the Sun, making use of the Oberth effect to borrow energy from the star’s extreme gravitational field. As former NASA staffer and Space Initiatives chief scientist Marshall Eubanks told Space.com, it’s common for spacecraft to use the effect. However, as detailed in a new yet-to-be-published paper, he and his colleagues proposed performing a major burn during the closest approach to reach massive levels of acceleration — a delta-V, or a change in velocity, of over five miles per second.

Besides reaching potentially record-breaking speeds for any spacecraft, it would also have to endure searing temperatures as it brushes by the Sun.

After its daring solar flyby, the spacecraft would then need to perform several flybys of Venus to speed up even more, not unlike NASA’s Parker Solar Probe. In their paper, the researchers propose using a “refueled Starship Block 3” in low-Earth orbit, referring to SpaceX’s enormous launch platform, which would have “sufficient performance for such a mission.”

But whether it would be worth the effort to careen after 3I/ATLAS for decades remains debatable. The interceptor would also only be able to perform a flyby some 50 years from now due to the difference in velocities, greatly undermining the usefulness of such a major undertaking.

Fortunately, as more powerful space telescopes like the Vera C. Rubin Observatory come online, 3I/ATLAS probably won’t be the last interstellar object to be detected cruising by in the near future.

“We’ll just have to see,” Eubanks told Space.com. “Maybe after, say, ten interstellar objects have been found, 3I will seem commonplace and it won’t seem worthwhile to mount an expedition to chase it.”

However, any future interstellar objects should be chased by spacecraft that are already in orbit, Eubanks and his colleagues argued.

“There are better mission architectures, using a probe already in orbit in space, which would intercept an interstellar object around perihelion in much less time, rendering an Oberth unnecessary,” Adam Hibberd, Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software creator and coauthor of the latest paper, told Space.com.

Conveniently, the European Space Agency is already planning to launch its Comet Interceptor mission as soon as late 2028 and “park” it while it awaits its target, opening the door for studying future interstellar visitors.

“I feel quite confident that when we develop the ability to reach these interstellar objects, there will be a strong desire to directly explore at least some of them,” Eubanks told the outlet.

More on 3I/ATLAS: 

• 3I/ATLAS Spraying Material as It Exits the Solar System

 Victor Tangermann - Senior Editor

{ https://futurism.com/category/space }

The Curiosity rover has studied a network of Martian “webs” — structures formed by ancient underground water. This raises the question once again of whether life could have existed on the Red Planet.

Panorama showing the Boxwork ridges on Mars. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

One of the distinctive features of Mars are geological formations called “boxworks,” which look like giant spider webs from space. They are low ridges stretching for many kilometers, with heights ranging from 1 to 2 meters, with sandy depressions between them.

To explain their shape, scientists have hypothesized that underground water once flowed through large cracks in the bedrock, leaving minerals behind. These minerals then reinforced the areas that became ridges, while other areas that did not have mineral reinforcement were eroded over time.

Martian “highway”

However, until recently, this was only a hypothesis. Although boxwork ridges also exist on Earth, they rarely exceed a few centimeters in height and are usually found in caves or dry sandy environments. To reveal the nature of these formations, it was necessary to examine them closely.

Selfie taken by the Curiosity rover. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The Curiosity rover was used to solve this problem, which proved to be a real challenge for the team controlling it. They needed to plan the route for the 900-kilogram rover so that it could travel along the tops of ridges whose width was not much greater than the rover’s own width. 

“It almost feels like a highway we can drive on. But then we have to go down into the hollows, where you need to be mindful of Curiosity’s wheels slipping or having trouble turning in the sand,” said Ashley Stroup, an operations systems engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “There’s always a solution. It just takes trying different paths.”

Water on Mars

Orbital images of the boxwork showed characteristic dark lines. In 2014, it was suggested that there were cracks in the rocks where groundwater seeped in and allowed minerals to concentrate. After examining the ridges up close, Curiosity confirmed that these lines are indeed cracks.

These bumpy nodules formed from minerals left behind after groundwater on Mars dried up billions of years ago. Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

The rover also discovered irregular formations called nodules, which are a clear sign of the presence of underground water in the past. Unexpectedly, these nodules were found not near the central cracks, but along the walls of the ridges and in the depressions between them.

This discovery is particularly important given the geography of the region. Curiosity is climbing the slope of the 5-kilometer-high Mount Sharp. Each layer was formed during different geological eras. The higher Curiosity climbs, the more signs of alternating periods of water drying up and wet periods with rivers and lakes appear in the landscape.

“Seeing boxwork this far up the mountain suggests the groundwater table had to be pretty high,” said Tina Seeger of Rice University in Houston, one of the mission scientists leading the boxwork research. “And that means the water needed for sustaining life could have lasted much longer than we thought looking from orbit.”

Sometime in March, Curiosity will leave the boxwork and begin studying the sulfate layer covering Mount Sharp. It consists of salt minerals formed as a result of water drying up. Studying it will help us learn even more about what the climate of the Red Planet was like billions of years ago.

• According to NASA
• Posted in News, Science

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