Month: November 2020

Famed Puerto Rico Telescope to Close

Article by the Associated Press                               November 20, 2020                                 (nypost.com)

• On November 19th, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced that it will close the renowned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (pictured above), in a blow to astronomers worldwide who depend on it to search for planets, asteroids and extraterrestrial life. The independent, federally funded agency said it’s too dangerous to keep operating the single dish radio telescope after the significant damage it sustained in August when an auxiliary cable broke and tore a 100-foot hole in the reflector dish and damaged the dome above it. Then on November 6th, one of the telescope’s main steel cables snapped, leading officials to warn that the entire structure could collapse.

• Ralph Gaume, director of NSF’s Division of Astronomical Sciences, said, “The telescope is currently at serious risk of unexpected, uncontrolled collapse. Even attempts at stabilization or testing the cables could result in accelerating the catastrophic failure.” “This decision is not an easy one for NSF to make, but the safety of people is our number one priority,” said Sean Jones, the agency’s assistant director for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. “We understand how much Arecibo means to this community and to Puerto Rico.” “[But] we have found no path forward to allow us to do so safely.”

• The 1,000-foot-wide Arecibo Observatory telescope was built in the 1960s with money from the Defense Department amid a push to develop anti-ballistic missile defenses. It has endured hurricanes, humidity, and a string of strong earthquakes. The world’s largest radio telescope (until the Chinas’ FAST telescope went operational in 2016), it was featured in the Jodie Foster film “Contact” and the James Bond movie “GoldenEye.” In recent years, the NSF-owned facility has been managed by the University of Central Florida.

• Officials suspect a manufacturing error is to blame for the auxiliary cable that snapped after a socket failed. But they were surprised when a main cable broke about three months later given that it was supporting only about 60 percent of its capacity. “It was identified as an issue that needed to be addressed, but it wasn’t seen as an immediate threat,” said Ashley Zauderer, program officer for Arecibo Observatory at NSF.

• Scientists worldwide have used the telescope to track asteroids on a path to Earth, and to conduct research into habitable planets that led to a Nobel Prize. Pennsylvania State University astronomer and professor Alex Wolszczan, who worked at the observatory in the ’80s and early ’90s, called this a “sadly emotional moment”.

• More than 250 scientists have used the telescope, but it is also considered one of Puerto Rico’s main tourist attractions, drawing some 90,000 visitors a year. The observatory has long served as a training ground for hundreds of graduate students. Universities Space Research Association scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Texas, Edgard Rivera-Valentín described the Arecibo telescope as “beyond an icon.” Professor Wolszczan noted that many scientists are still working on projects based on observations and data taken from the observatory. “The process of saying goodbye to Arecibo will certainly take some years.”

 

                     Sean Jones

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The National Science Foundation announced Thursday that it will close the huge telescope at the renowned Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico in a blow to scientists worldwide who depend on it to search for planets, asteroids and extraterrestrial life.

The independent, federally funded agency said it’s too dangerous to keep operating the single dish radio telescope — one of the world’s largest — given the significant damage it recently sustained. An auxiliary cable broke in August and tore a 100-foot hole in the reflector dish and damaged the dome above it. Then on Nov. 6, one of the telescope’s main steel cables snapped, leading officials to warn that the entire structure could collapse.
NSF officials noted that even if crews were to repair all the damage, engineers found that

                        Ashley Zauderer

the structure would still be unstable in the long term.

“This decision is not an easy one for NSF to make, but the safety of people is our number one priority,” said Sean Jones, the agency’s assistant director for the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. “We understand how much Arecibo means to this community and to Puerto Rico.”

He said the goal was to preserve the telescope without placing people at risk, but, “we have found no path forward to allow us to do so safely.”

          Alex Wolszczan

The telescope was built in the 1960s with money from the Defense Department amid a push to develop anti-ballistic missile defenses. In its 57 years of operation, it endured hurricanes, endless humidity and a recent string of strong earthquakes.

The telescope boasts a 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) dish featured in the Jodie Foster film “Contact” and the James Bond movie “GoldenEye.” Scientists worldwide have used the dish along with the 900-ton platform hanging 450 feet above it to track asteroids on a path to Earth, conduct research that led to a Nobel Prize and determine if a planet is potentially habitable.

In recent years, the NSF-owned facility has been managed by the University of Central Florida.

Alex Wolszczan, a Polish-born astronomer and professor at Pennsylvania State University who helped discover the first extrasolar and pulsar planets, told The Associated Press that while the news wasn’t surprising, it was disappointing. He worked at the telescope in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“I was hoping against hope that they would come up with some kind of solution to keep it open,” he said. “For a person who has had a lot of his scientific life associated with that telescope, this is a rather interesting and sadly emotional moment.”

 

1:38 minute video of the Arecibo Telescope collapse (‘ABC News’ YouTube)

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Orbit Fab’s Plan is to Fill Them Up in Space

November 16, 2020                                  (satnews.com)

• Orbit Fab is expected to launch the first operational fuel depot, or “gas station” in Earth’s orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than in June 2021. ‘Tanker 001 Tenzing’ (pictured above) will store readily accessible fuel propellant to satellite servicing vehicles and other spacecraft the fast growing in-orbit servicing industry. (see 7:10 minute demonstration video below)

• The tanker is one of several payloads to launch on a Spaceflight Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), which is capable of multiple deployments. Spaceflight’s first OTV, Sherpa-FX, is scheduled to debut in December 2020 on a SpaceX rideshare mission, and provides independent and detailed deployment telemetry and flexible interfaces, all at a low cost.

• Orbit Fab’s ‘Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface’ (RAFTI) provides reliable propellant transfer both on the ground and in orbit with a self-driving satellite kit for docking and attachment of two spacecraft without the need for complex robotic arms. The RAFTI interface has been adopted by multiple spacecraft manufacturers to extend the life of their satellites. RAFTI, which is also known as a “Satellite Gas Cap™,” was developed in cooperation with 30 companies and organizations and it is expected to become the industry’s common refueling interface.

• Orbit Fab successfully demonstrated its propellant storage and delivery systems in an unprecedented private transfer of water to the International Space Station. Earlier in 2020, Orbit Fab received a $3 million contract from the US Air Force to fully flight qualify the RAFTI service valve. Orbit Fab also received a National Science Foundation grant to test its docking system.

• RAFTI will support the rapidly proliferating in-orbit servicing industry which saw a five-fold increase since 2018. Gas stations in space are an essential resource to fuel this industry and support the infrastructure in space that enables projected commerce, exploration and national security.

• RAFTI will also support the Air Force and Space Force’s need for space combat logistics capabilities said  Orbit Fab CDO, Jeremy Schiel. “Refueling is a requirement in the emerging Space Force architecture and for good reason. You don’t want to run out of fuel in the middle of a confrontation.”

 

                           Jeremy Schiel

Orbit Fab has signed an agreement with Spaceflight Inc. to launch the company’s first operational fuel depot to orbit. Tanker 001 Tenzing, which will provide fuel for the fast growing in-orbit servicing industry, is expected to launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than in June 2021.

Once launched, Tanker 001 Tenzing will store propellant in sun synchronous orbit, where it will be available to satellite servicing

    Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle

vehicles or other spacecraft that need to replenish fuel supplies. The tanker is one of several payloads to launch on a Spaceflight Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle, which is capable of executing multiple deployments. Spaceflight’s first OTV, Sherpa-FX, is scheduled to debut no earlier than December 2020 on a SpaceX rideshare mission and provides independent and detailed deployment telemetry, and flexible interfaces, all at a low cost.

Orbit Fab’s fuel depots are designed to support more sustainable spacecraft through the use of the Rapidly Attachable Fluid Transfer Interface (RAFTI), which has been adopted by multiple spacecraft manufacturers to extend the life of their satellites. RAFTI, which is also known as a “Satellite Gas Cap™,” was developed in cooperation with 30 companies and organizations and it is expected to become the industry’s common refueling interface.

In today’s contested space domain RAFTI provides reliable propellant transfer both on the ground and in orbit with a self-driving satellite kit for docking and attachment of two spacecraft without the need for complex robotic arms.

7:10 minute ‘Orb Fab Story’: gas stations in space (‘Altium Stories” YouTube)

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Britain’s New Space Command

Article by James Bickerton                               November 22, 2020                               (express.co.uk)


• Will Whitehorn, president of UK space industry trade association UKSpace, argues: “If we’re going to put billions and billions of pounds of assets into space, which secure the future of this country, then we’re going to have to defend those assets.” It’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.” Whitehorn even predicted that “… there will come a time when we will have a Royal Space Force…”.

• On November 18th, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernization” of Britain’s armed forces, with massive funding in military research and development, new warfare technologies, and space and cyber capabilities, and the official launch in 2021 of the UK Space Command.

• A Space Command Center, likely based at RAF High Wycombe (which currently houses Headquarters Air Command), will be rededicated to the new RAF space command, artificial intelligence, launching British satellites, and to“further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”. The Space Command plans to launch its first rocket from Scotland in 2022.

• UKSpace’s Will Whitehorn commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space. An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall. We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

• There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands on the short list. A new spaceport in Newquay, Cornwall is also under development with the support of Virgin Orbit. The plan is for ‘Cosmic Girl’, a Virgin Orbit Boeing 747, to take off from Newquay airport then launch an attached rocket which will carry satellites into space.

• The UK Government wants Britain to account for 10 percent of the global space economy by 2030.

 

         Boris Johnson

On Wednesday Boris Johnson announced a “once in a generation modernisation” of Britain’s armed forces with an additional £16.5bn in funding over the next four years. This money will be invested in space and cyber capabilities as well as conventional forces.

As part of this programme a UK Space Command will be launched next year, potentially based at RAF High Wycombe.

The move was welcomed by UKSpace, an umbrella group which represents the British space industry.

The body said it will “further enhance coordination of the UK military and commercial space operations”.

Will Whitehorn, president of UKSpace, argued it’s vital Britain is able to defend its commercial assets in space.

He commented: “I am delighted Space Command is to be established and have long argued for it in order to bolster

       Will Whitehorn

the UK’s ability to defend both the freedom of space and our sovereign assets in space.

              Virgin Orbit’s ‘Cosmic Girl’

“An important part of that ability will include a sovereign launch capability in the UK, and UKspace will work closely with the government to play our part in achieving launch capability in the north of Scotland and Cornwall.

“We will also work to ensure that our country becomes the global centre of excellence for the satellites and other space industrial assets of the future.”

Mr Johnson also said plans are in place for a British rocket to be launched into space from Scotland in 2022.

There are a number of proposals to build the UK’s first vertical launch space port in Scotland with sites in Sutherland, North Uist and the Shetland Islands being considered.

These will launch satellites, and potentially one day people, into space from British soil.

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Capitalism Explains Why We Haven’t Made Contact With Intelligent Aliens

Article by Charles Mudede                                 November 19, 2020                                (thestranger.com)

• As a boy, British physicist Stephen Webb was certain that solar systems in the Milky Way galaxy were teeming will all kinds of intelligent life forms. Then in the 1980s, Webb discovered “The Fermi Paradox” based on the Italian American physicist Enrico Fermi’s famous question, “Where is everybody?” In a galaxy with billions of stars that are similar to our star, there must be many planets in the ‘habitable zone’. So where are the aliens? Why haven’t we meet them yet?

• Webb decided to collect solutions to the Fermi paradox: Aliens live where we’re not looking; talk how we’re not listening; resemble something we don’t recognize. Perhaps aliens use radio or optical transmissions at a different frequency or form. Maybe a signal is sitting on data server right now and we haven’t noticed. Maybe the extraterrestrials alter the emissions of their stars to hide themselves from us. Maybe they don’t care about astronomy or space exploration. Or maybe they are here already and we just don’t take them seriously.

• It is almost certain that there is other life in the universe. Belgian biochemist Christian de Duve called it a ‘cosmic imperative’ that – with the right chemical and energetic conditions – life will emerge. And since the first exoplanet was discovered nearly 30 years ago, many others have been found virtually everywhere. Soon we’ll spot a planet with a biosphere. Will there be technologically advanced life forms there?

• An examination of Earth’s history provides the answer to Fermi’s paradox. Capitalism holds the key to the universe’s apparent dearth of intelligent life. A civilization on a distant exoplanet may be locked in a class struggle that has stalled the progress of their means of production. The same happened here on Earth. Our early history shows that human progress often stalled as socially complex societies would arise and collapse. Good ideas would come and go. Technologies would emerge and vanish. This was the state of things until only 300 years ago.

• Since the 17th century, the Dutch brought a ‘progressive’ pattern of development to Western society. Its motive was not technology itself, however, but market-share competition between capitalists and the wage-profit struggle with their employees. Improvements in machine technology in the 19th century were only due to increased political power of the worker. Today, robots are tasked with exploring planets and moons, building cars or monitoring stores.

• An alien in a spaceship will most likely not be operated by enlightened beings, but rather capitalists scouring the galaxy for cheap labor.

•  [Editor’s Note]   This article is right on the money. We are told that we have not made ET contact, and mainstream scientists and academics cling to that belief. The rest of the population seems too self-absorbed (or mind controlled) to even contemplate interaction with extraterrestrials. But in reality, a capitalist elite and the military industrial complex have participated in the development of a handful of secret space programs operating within and beyond our solar system since the 1950s.

These space programs were not created for the advancement of mankind. They were created to give the capitalist elite access to extraterrestrial technology that is denied to the rest of us, thereby giving them a commercial advantage. This elite class who own and operate vast space programs are determined to keep us from knowing anything about these programs or the multitude of extraterrestrial beings with whom they regularly interact.

By all accounts, these secret space programs are driven purely by capitalism in a barter and trade economy with other extraterrestrial civilizations. Corey Goode estimates that the deep state-controlled Interplanetary Corporate Conglomerate SSP trades with at least 900 extraterrestrial species. Humans themselves are being bred and traded as a space commodity for cheap (free) labor, household slaves, sex slaves, and even for food.

It is apparent that the arc of Earth-human expansion into space so far has been based on intergalactic commerce, just as commerce played a central role in the expansion of humankind around our planet over the past few millennia. But in a capitalist mercantile system, the rich are only interested in getting richer. Ultimately, these selfish motives have greatly hindered our overall progress as space-faring civilization. It has rendered those of us here on the ground economic slaves to the elite. And it has actively kept us from knowing that the galaxy is indeed teeming with intelligent life waiting for our scheduled collective leap in consciousness so we can deal with the dark forces that have controlled us and allow this planet to become part of a galactic community.

 

         Christian de Duve

“Is life on Earth just a lucky fluke?” According to the website Astronomy, this question has preoccupied the mind and work of a British physicist named Stephen Webb since his childhood, which was shaped by the Space Age of the 1960s. As a boy, he was certain that by the time he became a man humans would live in a universe that looked much like the one in the popular Disney TV show, The Mandalorian—solar systems teeming will all kinds of intelligent life forms, from froggish women to gambling ants to what have you.

                           Stephen Webb

Webb, however, was brought straight back down to earth in the final decade of the Cold War, the 1980s, by an article that appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction magazine titled, “The Fermi Paradox.” The author of the article, the geologist Stephen L. Gillett, returned to a basic question that the Italian American physicist Enrico Fermi made famous in the middle of the 20th century: “Where is everybody?” Meaning, where are the aliens? Why haven’t we meet them yet? Our galaxy has billions of stars that are similar to our star, the sun. Many of these stars have planets. Many of these planets must be in a habitable zone. And yet, we have heard nothing from the galaxy or from universe that sounds intelligent. Why are we so alone?

Sixty-five million years ago, a comet hit planet Earth and killed all of the large and loud animals of that time. Gillett’s Fermi Paradox article did something similar to the large population of aliens in Webb’s imagination. They all vanished in an instant, and he began to wonder about the awesome silence of the universe. Are we really alone? Is the extremely thin layer of life, our biosphere, all there is? Webb decided “to collect solutions to the so-called Fermi paradox.”

Here are some of the solutions that Webb gathered and presented in a 2002 book If the Universe Is Teeming With Aliens … Where Is Everybody? 75 Solutions to the Fermi Paradox:

Aliens live where we’re not looking, talk how we’re not listening or resemble something we haven’t sought out. Maybe the aliens like to send messages or signals using neutrinos, nearly massless and barely-there particles that don’t interact with normal matter much, or tachyons, hypothetical particles that fly faster than light. Maybe they use the more-conventional radio or optical transmissions but at frequencies, or in a form, astronomers haven’t sought out. Maybe a signal is sitting on data servers already, escaping notice. Maybe the extraterrestrials subtly alter the emissions of their stable stars, or the blip-blip-blip pulsations of variable stars. Maybe they put something big — a megamall, a disk of dust — in front of their sun to block some of its light, in a kind of anti-beacon. Maybe their skies are cloudy, and they consequently don’t care about astronomy or space exploration. Or — hear Webb out — perhaps they drive UFOs, meaning they are here but not in a form that scientists typically recognize, investigate, and take seriously.

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Air Force Secretary Barrett Calls for Clean-Up of Space Debris

Article by Frank Wolfe                                 November 16, 2020                                   (defensedaily.com)

• On November 16th, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett called on industry to help the US Space Force with cleaning up space debris to help avoid collisions in space. Barrett told the ASCEND 2020 forum sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “What we’d like to see in the future is not just tracking, but cleaning up that litter–figuring ways how do you consolidate, how do you get that hazard–17,500 miles per hour rocketing through space, it is a great hazard.”

• “Just think about the GPS system alone,” Barrett said. “Consider how much we depend upon the GPS system. It’s free and accessible to everyone globally, and it’s operated by just eight to 10 people on a shift. So a total of 40 people operate this extraordinary system upon which so much of our current economy depends. It’s broadly used. It’s transformative, but it’s fragile. So that space debris is really a danger to things like our GPS systems. We’ve got to replace those. We’ve got to minimize their vulnerability, and we have to have, as the Space Force will do, space capabilities that will deter others from doing damage to that system upon which so much depends.”

• According to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO), there are 23,000 large pieces of debris greater than 10 cm tracked by the Space Force’s US Space Surveillance Network. Prior to 2007, the principal source of debris was from explosions of launch vehicle upper stages and spacecraft. But the intentional destruction of a weather satellite by China in 2007 and the accidental collision of the American communications satellite with a retired Russian spacecraft in 2009 greatly increased the number of large debris in orbit and now represent one-third of all cataloged orbital debris.

• US Space Command’s 18th Space Control Squadron at Vandenberg AFB, California monitors 3,200 active satellites for close approaches with approximately 24,000 pieces of space debris, and issues an average of 15 high-interest warnings for active near-Earth satellites, and ten high-interest warnings for active deep-space satellites, every day.

• NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine recently suggested that nations that damage satellites are risking a legal challenge under the 1972 Liability Convention to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty. In the only claim under the Liability Convention, the Soviet Union paid Canada $2 million after a Soviet nuclear-powered reconnaissance satellite crashed in western Canada in 1978, scattering radioactive debris.

• The US Space Force and the UK are working together to reduce orbiting space debris. Last year, the UK became the first nation to join the US-led Operation Olympic Defender to deter “hostile” space actors, such as China, Russia, and Iran, and decrease the spread of on-orbit space debris. The White House has noted that private companies are developing ‘on-orbit robotic operations’ for active space debris removal. Last March, Space Force chief General John ‘Jay’ Raymond announced that Lockheed Martin‘s ‘Space Fence radar system’ had achieved initial operational capability track smaller objects in low Earth orbit and in Geostationary orbit.

 

          Barbara Barrett

Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett on Nov. 16 called on industry to help the Air Force and U.S. Space Force with cleaning up space debris to help avoid collisions in space.

“For a long time, the United States Air Force has been tracking space debris, but there’s a lot more to be done,”

      progression of orbiting space debris

Barrett told the ASCEND 2020 forum sponsored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). “What we’d like to see in the future is not just tracking, but cleaning up that litter–figuring ways how do you consolidate, how do you get that hazard–17,500 miles per hour rocketing through space, it is a great hazard.”

“Just think about the GPS system alone,” she said. “Consider how much we depend upon the GPS system. It’ s free and accessible to everyone globally, and it’s operated by just eight to 10 people on a shift. So a total of 40 people operate this

         Gen. John “Jay” Raymond

extraordinary system upon which so much of our current economy depends. It’s broadly used. It’s transformative, but it’s fragile. So that space debris is really a danger to things like our GPS systems. We’ve got to replace those. We’ve got to minimize their vulnerability, and we have to have, as the Space Force

                     Jim Bridenstine

will do, space capabilities that will deter others from doing damage to that system upon which so much depends.”

Barrett said that processes and doctrines to outline rules of the road in space and aid space traffic management are underway.
According to NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office (ODPO), there are 23,000 large pieces of debris greater than 10 cm tracked by the Space Force’s U.S. Space Surveillance Network.

“Prior to 2007, the principal source of debris was from explosions of launch vehicle upper stages and spacecraft,” per ODPO. “The intentional destruction of the Fengyun-1C weather satellite by China in 2007 and the accidental collision of the American communications satellite, Iridium-33, and the retired Russian spacecraft, Cosmos-2251, in 2009 greatly increased the number of large debris in orbit and now represent one-third of all cataloged orbital debris.”

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China’s Chang’e 5 Mission to Collect First Moon Samples Since 1976

Article by Mike Wall                                         November 23, 2020                                       (space.com)

• On November 23rd, China’s robotic Chang’e 5 mission launched to land on the Moon and retrieve lunar rocks, and bring them back to Earth in mid-December. The last time Moon rocks were brought back to Earth was the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976. Chinese officials have been characteristically vague about the details.

• The Chang’e 5’s will arrive in lunar orbit around November 28th, then send two of its four modules — a lander and an ascent vehicle — to the lunar surface a day or so later. The landing target is the Mons Rumker area of the Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”) volcanic plain. This area has been extensively explored by a number of other missions, including NASA’s Apollo 12 in 1969.

• Over the course of two weeks, the stationary lander will use cameras, ground-penetrating radar, and a spectrometer to study the area. It will collect about 4.4 lbs of lunar material, some of which will be dug from up to 6.5 feet underground. The timeline is tight given that it needs to accomplish its objectives before the sun light turns to shadow in two weeks, as the lander is solar powered.

• The rocks at Mons Rumker were formed 1.2 billion years ago. The 842 lbs of Moon rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts between 1969 and 1972 are considerably older, providing a window in the deeper lunar past. Chang’e 5 “will help scientists understand what was happening in the more recent past of the Moon’s history.

• The Chang’e 5 lander will transfer its rock samples to the ascent vehicle, which will launch them to lunar orbit for a meetup with the other two mission elements, a service module and an attached Earth-return capsule. Loaded into the return capsule, the rocks will be brought back to Earth by December 16th or 17th. Rather than relying on strong heat shielding to blast through the atmosphere on re-entry, as the Apollo capsules did, Chang’e 5 will perform a ‘skip reentry,’ bouncing off the atmosphere once to slow down before plummeting to a landing in Inner Mongolia.

• Chang’e 5 is the sixth mission in the Chang’e program of robotic lunar exploration, which is named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology. China launched the Chang’e 1 and Chang’e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and the Chang’e 3 lander-rover duo touched down on the Moon’s near side in December 2013. The Chang’e 5T1 mission launched a prototype return capsule traveling around the Moon in October 2014, to help prepare for Chang’e 5. And in January 2019, Chang’e 4 became the first mission ever to ace a soft landing on the Moon’s far side. Chang’e 4’s lander and rover are still going strong, as is the Chang’e 3 lander. (The Chang’e 3 rover died after 31 months of work on the lunar surface.)

• Chang’e 5 is part of a recent surge in ‘sample-return missions’. On December 6th, for example, pieces of the asteroid Ryugu collected by Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission are scheduled to touch down in Australia. And NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe gathered a hefty sample of the asteroid Bennu last month. That material will return to Earth in September 2023.

 

                             Chang’e 5

The first lunar sample-return mission since the 1970s is underway.

China’s robotic Chang’e 5 mission launched today (Nov. 23) from Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, rising into the sky atop a Long March 5 rocket at about 3:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT; 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 24 local time in Hainan).

If all goes according to plan, the bold and complex Chang’e 5 will haul pristine moon samples back to Earth in mid-December — something that hasn’t been done since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.

Chang’e 5’s short mission will be action-packed. The 18,100-lb. (8,200 kilograms) spacecraft will likely arrive in lunar orbit around Nov. 28, then send two of its four modules — a lander and an ascent vehicle — to the lunar surface a day or so later. (Chinese officials have been characteristically vague about Chang’e 5’s details, so timeline information has been pieced together from various sources by China space watchers like Space News’ Andrew Jones, who also provides articles for Space.com.)

The mission will land in the Mons Rumker area of the huge volcanic plain Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”), portions of which have been explored by a number of other surface missions, including NASA’s Apollo 12 in 1969.

The stationary lander will study its environs with cameras, ground-penetrating radar and a spectrometer. But its main job is to snag about 4.4 lbs. (2 kg) of lunar material, some of which will be dug from up to 6.5 feet (2 meters) underground. This work will be done over the course of two weeks, or one lunar day — a firm deadline, given that the Chang’e 5 lander is solar-powered and won’t be able to operate once night falls at its location.

Mons Rumker harbors rocks that formed just 1.2 billion years ago, meaning that Chang’e 5 “will help scientists understand what was happening late in the moon’s history, as well as how Earth and the solar system evolved,” as the nonprofit Planetary Society noted its description of the mission. (The 842 lbs., or 382 kg, of moon rocks brought home by the Apollo astronauts between 1969 and 1972 are considerably older, providing a window in the deeper lunar past.)

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John Fogerty’s Lifelong UFO Fascination

Article by George Knapp                                  November 18, 2020                                 (wrbl.com)

• In his songs, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival fame often refers to ‘chasing down a hoodoo’, sensing a ‘bad moon rising’, casting spells and watching the skies. In a recent interview with Las Vegas’ George Knapp, Fogerty confirms his belief in extraterrestrial/paranormal phenomena.

• Fogarty says that he is a “fan” of the UFO/extraterrestrial phenomenon, including Bob Lazar, Area 51 and Roswell. “I’m up on it in a sense,” says Fogarty. “I started quite young. In the ‘50s, it was a great time for a kid growing up to experience the flying saucer phenomenon and the green men from outer space and all that. I saw every science fiction movie that was made, and a lot of the horror ones too.’ Fogerty estimates that he’s watched the sci-fi classic “The Day the Earth Stood Still” about 250 times.

• Classic alien invasion movies inspired him to write “It Came Out of the Sky”, his own prediction of how humans might react to an E.T. landing. (see music video below) It raises the question of whether he has had a personal experience. “I’ve never seen a UFO that I know about, nor have I seen an alien that I know about,” Fogerty says.

• As a youngster, Fogerty had a recurring dream which he wrote about in his autobiography, Fortunate Son. “I was up over the neighborhood, just flying around, you know,” Fogerty recalls, “I had this dream from the time I was 6 until I was about 12. I had the dream over and over and over, and there was always seemed to be a presence, like a person that I was aware of, that I knew, a guide, if you will. I didn’t know what to call it.”

• Another time, Fogerty had an eerie spiritual epiphany at the gravesite of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. It was a life-changing moment, and resulted in Fogerty and some other famous musicians digging into their pockets to put headstones at the otherwise unmarked graves of several blues artists who had been forgotten.

• During the pandemic, Fogerty has been recording updated versions of his classic Creedence songs and has performed with his family at their home.

 

          John Fogerty

MYSTERY WIRE — One of the most successful singer-songwriters of all time is in coronavirus lockdown, like the rest of us. But a year ago this week, he was in Las Vegas to perform a series of concerts, unaware that the concert industry was about to be shut down.

In 2019 John Fogerty performed sold out shows all over the country, unveiled a new concert film, and was slated to

          Creedence Clearwater Revival

headline a show marking the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, which didn’t happen.

If you think about some of the most famous lines in his best-known songs, he’s chasing down a hoodoo, he senses a bad moon rising and all the calamity that might follow, he casts spells and watches the skies. We suspected there might be more to the story.

Fogerty calls his music “swamp rock.” Dating back to his Creedence Clearwater Revival days, his themes and lyrics are populated with spooky, swampy folklore, whether its chasing hoodoos, dark premonitions, voodoo spells and a zombie or two. Is he a student of the paranormal?

George Knapp: You know about this stuff. You’re knowledgeable. Bob Lazar, Area 51, Roswell. You’re up on it.

Fogerty: Yeah, I’m up on it in a sense. I guess you’d call me a fan. I started quite young. In the ‘50s, it was a great time for a kid growing up to experience the flying saucer phenomenon and the green men from outer space and all that. I saw every science fiction movie that was made, and a lot of the horror ones too.

2:54 minute CCR “It Came Out of the Sky” (‘Creedence Clearwater Revival’ YouTube)

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The National Space Intelligence Center Takes Shape

Article by Rachel S. Cohen                                     November 16, 2020                                    (airforcemag.com)

• As part of the Department of the Air Force’s review of which units should transfer to the Space Force, two pieces of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base – the Space Analysis Squadron and Counter-Space Analysis Squadron – will be turned over to Space Force to form the basis of a new National Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).

• NASIC, whose roots date back to analysis of a Soviet space launch in the 1950s, is tasked with identifying air, space, missile, and cyber threats facing the Air Force and Space Force. Threats run the gamut from projectile attacks in space or anti-satellite missiles from the ground, to signal jamming and other electronic interference, to intelligence-gathering on US assets in the cosmos.

• “The need for space domain intelligence continues to increase in the face of changing missions and emerging threats,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said in the Space Force’s planning guidance. “We will develop and expand shared strategies [with the Intelligence Community] … to detect and characterize threats, defeat attacks, and respond to aggression.”

• Former Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper raised questions about whether a space-focused center would unnecessarily duplicate work already underway at NASIC. “The National Space Intelligence Center will be an independent organization manned by highly trained space subject matter experts capable of providing quality intelligence support to space warfighters, senior leadership, and policymakers through independent and collaborative work with the National Air and Space Intelligence Center,” said Space Force spokesperson Col. Catie Hague.

• Still, it’s unclear when NASIC would come to fruition. “The Intelligence Community, through a deliberate analytical process, determined the need to establish the NASIC to provide dedicated foundational intelligence support to the USSF, senior leadership, and policy makers to increase unity of effort and effectiveness of space operations between the Department of Defense and the IC,” said Hague. “We need to think differently so we can drive things differently,” said NASIC boss Col. Maurizio D. Calabrese.

 

          Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond

The Space Force is planning its first steps toward a new intelligence center to make the great unknown a little less mysterious.

Two pieces of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, will form the basis of a new National Space Intelligence Center, Space Force spokesperson Col. Catie Hague said. Those units are the Space Analysis Squadron and Counter-Space Analysis Squadron.

The Space Force is taking custody of the two squadrons as part of the Department of the Air Force’s broad review of which units should join the new service. Air Force Magazine reported Nov. 10 that recent Space Force guidance included a plan for a National Space Intelligence Center.

     Col. Maurizio D. Calabrese

“Their designation for realignment into the Space Force is driven by their performing direct support to the space intelligence mission,” Hague said.

NASIC is tasked with offering the scientific and technical know-how to find and describe new air, space, missile,

                      Col. Catie Hague

and cyber threats facing the Air Force and Space Force. The services use that information to decide which technologies to pursue and tactics to adopt. Last year, the organization released an unclassified report, entitled “Competing in Space,” to discuss trends and challenges posed by foreign countries in that arena.

NASIC says its space roots date back to its analysis of a Soviet space launch in the 1950s. Now, some military space watchers argue a specialized NSIC would offer more comprehensive operational support to troops who need to know what challenges they face from global adversaries and objects on orbit.

Threats run the gamut from projectile attacks in space or anti-satellite missiles from the ground, to signal jamming and other electronic interference, to intelligence-gathering on U.S. assets in the cosmos.

“The need for space domain intelligence continues to increase in the face of changing missions and emerging threats,” Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond said in the Space Force’s planning guidance. “We will develop and expand shared strategies [with the Intelligence Community] … to detect and characterize threats, defeat attacks, and respond to aggression.”

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Seeking Aliens? Look for Radioactivity on Exoplanets

Article by Elizabeth Rayne                                     November 16, 2020                                     (syfy.com)

• By utilizing ‘spectroscopy’, astronomers can measure elements and chemical interactions in distant exoplanets. One of the things astronomers look for is the presence of thorium and uranium, which indicates “radiogenic heating” of the exoplanet to create a magnetic field around a rocky ‘Earth-like’ planet.

• “Thorium and uranium are radioactive and decay to other elements,” notes scientist Francis Nimmo. “As they do so, they give off heat, and that is what keeps the Earth warm.” This heat, or ‘geodynamo’, causes liquefied iron to internally push plate tectonics to create a ‘convection’ in the Earth’s outer core, which sparks an electric current to create not one but two magnetic fields. This dual magnetic field sustains an atmosphere that shields the Earth from harsh stellar winds and cosmic radiation, thereby allowing life to exist.

• But thorium and uranium are difficult to detect, as they tend to be in the crust or interior of a planet with only ‘hints’ of it in the atmosphere from volcanic activity. These heavy elements are originally formed during rare collisions of neutron stars. Neutron stars themselves are formed from the collapsed core of stars that went supernova. These cores are so dense that they can be up to twice the mass of our Sun. The amounts of thorium and uranium in a planet depend on how close it was formed to a neutron star merger.

• The element ‘europium’ is also produced during neutron star mergers. As europium is much easier to detect through spectroscopy, astronomers look for europium to discover traces of thorium and uranium in a star and an exoplanet. The greater amount of thorium and uranium in an exoplanet, the greater the likelihood that the planet is heated and producing an electromagnetic field, which is believed to be necessary for sustained alien life. Too little of these radioactive elements could indicate a weak or nonexistent magnetic field. Too much could mean intense plate tectonics that fuel too much volcanic activity for any life-forms to survive.

• The presence of an atmosphere without an active magnetic field is how mainstream science explains what happened to Mars.

 

Radioactive sludge is probably the last place you would expect to find life (except maybe the Toxic Avenger), but if you’re looking for signs of extraterrestrial life, seek out planets with radioactive elements beneath the surface.

Radioactive anything sounds like the opposite of life-giving. Most life as we know it isn’t going to survive

           Francis Nimmo

on a planet that could pass for another Chernobyl, though there are exceptions. Disaster zones aside, the amount of long-lived radioactive elements that went into the formation of a rocky planet may determine how habitable it is. Radiogenic heating from thorium and uranium in our planet — and rocky exoplanets like it — internally pushes plate tectonics and acts as one of the forces that power a magnetic field, which helps maintain an atmosphere.

Planets are protected from harsh stellar winds and cosmic radiation by their atmospheres. Mars once had an atmosphere but no magnetic field. What happened there is obvious.

“Thorium and uranium are radioactive and decay to other elements,” scientist Francis Nimmo, who recently led a study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, told SYFY WIRE. “As they do so, they give off heat, and that is what keeps the Earth warm.”

Earth’s geodynamo generates our magnetic field, which prevents us from turning into Mars. Earth’s liquid outer core experiences convection that creates this dynamo. In the outer core, fluid motion, which is thought to be brought on by heat from radioactive decay, moves hot liquefied iron across a magnetic field that is barely there. This process sparks an electric current that not only creates a magnetic field but also a second magnetic field when it interacts with the radioactive decay-induced motion. Double magnetic fields sustain an atmosphere that keeps us from getting burned.

Heavy elements that heat a planet as they degrade are formed during rare mergers of neutron stars, which are the exposed, super-dense collapsed cores of stars that go supernova. These cores are so dense that they can be up to twice the mass of our Sun. The amounts of thorium and uranium in a planet depend on how close it formed to a neturon star merger.

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Robbie Williams Abducted by 10ft Tall Aliens Says Man ‘Who Met Him on a Spaceship’

Article by Amanda Devlin                                    November 15, 2020                                    (thesun.co.uk)

• For the past two decades, popular British singer Robbie Williams (pictured above) has been intrigued by the paranormal. He claims to have spoken to ghosts, been visited by aliens, and seen strange orbs of light which he was convinced were extraterrestrial life forms. “I’ve experienced phenomena I can’t explain,” said Williams. “I’ve seen one right above me. I could have hit it with a tennis ball.” He even turned into an alien hunter in a film and visited a ranch plagued by paranormal events.

• But since he’s had his four children, Williams says the paranormal isn’t interested in him anymore. “[S]ince I’ve had kids,” said Williams, “the phenomena has ceased to happen. I’m guessing that once you have kids they just take up all of your energy and your thoughts.”

• Russ Kellett, (now 57), of the city of Bradford in West Yorkshire, northern England, claims to have been abducted in 1999 by ten foot tall aliens wearing uniforms. “Obviously I was thinking, ‘where the hell am I?’” said Kellet. “I looked around and there was someone waiting behind me. I looked at this young man and recognized him. I said, ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know.’ Then I was told, ‘Get back in line’. I didn’t see him again after that, but I am sure it was Robbie Williams. We only spoke briefly, but it was definitely him.”

• 1999 would have been just before the time that Williams began to show an interest in extraterrestrial life and the paranormal.

 

A MAN has claimed he saw Robbie Williams on a spaceship after being “abducted by aliens” that were 10ft tall and wearing a uniform.

                            Russ Kellett

Russ Kellett, 57, has told how the pair were taken from Bradford in 1999 – just before singer Robbie showed an interest in extraterrestrial life.

Russ told the Daily Star said: “Obviously I was thinking, ‘where the hell am I?’

       Bradford, West Yorkshire

“I looked around and there was someone waiting behind me. I looked at this young man and recognised him.

“I said, ‘Don’t I know you from somewhere?’ He replied, ‘I don’t know.’ Then I was told, ‘Get back in line’.

“I didn’t see him again after that, but I am sure it was Robbie Williams. We only spoke briefly, but it was definitely him.”

For the past two decades Angels singer Robbie has been intrigued by the paranormal.

The Angels singer claims to have spoken to ghosts, been visited by aliens and seen strange orbs of light which he was convinced were extraterrestrial life forms.

And Robbie, previously treated for prescription drugs addiction, joked the incident had nothing to do with any pills.

He said: “I’ve experienced phenomena I can’t explain. I’ve seen one right above me. I could have hit it with a tennis ball. No substance was involved.”

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Search for Aliens Should Begin on Venus

Article by Joel Day                                    November 14, 2020                                  (express.co.uk)

• The search for microbial life has largely been focused Mars and Jupiter’s moons, for example, Europa, which is thought to have stores of frozen lakes and freshwater. Venus had rarely crossed the minds of scientists. Then a few months ago, Researchers at Cardiff University announced that they’d found traces of phosphine – a key biological signature of life – in Venus’ atmosphere.

• The discovery was a paradox. Venus’ surface is extremely inhospitable: hot enough to melt lead. Sulphuric acid makes up most of the planet’s atmosphere. W such high temperatures and lack of oxygen, the phosphine gas should technically disappear within minutes of popping into existence.

• It is widely accepted that billions of years ago Venus, Earth and Mars had similar genetic makeup, formed from the same rocks and metals. However, it is presumed that ‘climate catastrophes’ devastated Venus and Mars. Today, Venus appears to be the antithesis to everything that sustains life. The atmospheric ground pressure in Venus is as if you were beneath 900m of water on Earth. The atmosphere acts more like a fluid than a gas. It is so dense that winds can move small rocks with ease.

• “Venus is an extremely cloudy world: only 20 percent of incident sunlight percolates down to the surface,” notes British astronomer Dr. Mark A. Garlick. The presence of dark patches or bands, so-called ‘unknown absorbers’, discovered more than a century ago, block most ultraviolet light and a portion of visible light, rendering these regions comparatively dark.

• Despite its soaring temperatures, Venus is only a heat trap on its surface. At an altitude of 50km, the atmospheric pressure drops to a temperature comparable to a temperate day on Earth. This is Venus’ habitable zone.

• Dr. Garlick is calling for endeavors into the search for alien life to change tack and focus on Venus, as it “is the easiest to reach”. “At an altitude of 50km, floating habitats would be the ideal launch pad from which to search for signs of life in the clouds,” said Dr. Garlick. “Perhaps our search for extraterrestrial cousins among the planets should begin there.”

• Bacteria swept up in water particles into the Earth’s atmosphere can survive at altitudes as high as 4km. Thus, the proposition that bacteria could survive the higher reaches of Venus’ atmosphere isn’t as ludicrous as it might first seem. The phosphine on Venus could be produced by a process that humans have not yet discovered. This gap in knowledge is the most “exciting” element of the discovery, says Dr. Garlick. “Phosphine, and the unknown substances absorbing ultraviolet light, taken together make a good case for studying (Venus) more closely.”

• Life in these conditions would be “undoubtedly very hardy”, says Dr. Garlick. “But, vitally, not impossible.”

 

Venus’ surface is extremely inhospitable: hot enough to melt lead, sulphuric acid lingers and makes up the best part of the planet’s atmosphere. Yet, only a few months ago, scientists for the first time found evidence for life on Earth’s scorching neighbour. Researchers at Cardiff University shocked the astronomical community after they identified traces of phosphine – a key biological signature of life – in Venus’ atmosphere.

       Dr. Mark A. Garlick

The discovery was nothing short of a paradox: with soaring temperatures and lack of oxygen the gas should technically disappear within minutes if it ever pops into existence.

Thus, the search for life on Venus had rarely crossed the minds of scientists.

Efforts had largely been focused on Mars and Jupiter’s moons, for example, Europa, which is thought to have stores of frozen lakes and freshwater.

Now, researchers are calling for endeavours into alien life to change tack, and begin closer to home.

Dr Mark A Garlick noted that there are several other places in the Solar System touted as potential abodes of life, but are as of yet undiscovered.

He reasoned: “But among these worlds, it’s Venus that is the easiest to reach.

“At an altitude of 50km, floating habitats would be the ideal launch pad from which to search for signs of life in the clouds.

“Perhaps our search for extraterrestrial cousins among the planets should begin there.”

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Mars Had Water Before Life on Earth

Article by Chris Ciaccia                                      November 11, 2020                                        (foxnews.com)
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• It was previously estimated that water existed on Mars 3.7 billion years ago. Now, a new study published in Science Advances shows that there actually was water on Mars 4.4 billion years ago (before life appeared on Earth).

• Scientists made the determination by examining a meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2012 called NWA(NorthWest Africa) 7533, which they believe originated on Mars. Levels of oxidation inside the space rock that suggests there was water on Mars long before there was life on Earth.

• “This oxidation could have occurred if there was water present on or in the Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of the crust,” said the study’s co-author and University of Tokyo planetary scientist Takashi Mikouchi. “Our analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of hydrogen, which would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide.”

• In the last few years, scientists have discovered large underground lakes – 6 miles across and a mile deep – at the South Pole of Mars. Researchers in 2020 suggested that the water on Mars once contained the right ingredients to support life.

• NASA’s Perseverance rover is on its way to Mars where it will perform a variety of functions, including looking for evidence of ancient life.

 

                  meteorite NWA 7533

NASA is on its way to figuring out whether Mars contains fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial life, but a new study suggests the Red Planet had water billions of years earlier than previously believed.

The research, published in Science Advances, notes there was water on Mars’ surface 4.4 billion years ago.

        Takashi Mikouchi

The experts looked at meteorite NWA 7533, believed to have originated on Mars, and found levels of oxidation inside the space rock that suggests there was water on Mars long before there was life on Earth.

“This oxidation could have occurred if there was water present on or in the Martian crust 4.4 billion years ago during an impact that melted part of the crust,” study co-author and University of Tokyo planetary scientist Takashi Mikouchi said in a statement. “Our analysis also suggests such an impact would have released a lot of hydrogen, which would have contributed to planetary warming at a time when Mars already had a thick insulating atmosphere of carbon dioxide.”

Previous estimates put the presence of water on Mars at approximately 3.7 billion years ago, roughly 700 million years later than the new study suggests.

Mikouchi, who said this is the first time he has studied NWA 7533 (discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2012), noted that the team’s analysis of it “led … to some exciting conclusions.”

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What a Joe Biden Presidency May Mean in Orbit and Beyond

Article by Ian Whittaker and Gareth Dorrian                                 November 11, 2020                                       (theconversation.com)

• Donald Trump set bold goals for space exploration during his time in office – from crewed missions to the Moon and Mars to a Space Force. Joe Biden has pledged to sign Executive Orders that will undo most of the Trump administration’s work – in the same way that Trump undid most of Obama’s work. But Biden has been relatively quiet on space policy. So how is space exploration likely to change going forward?

• During the Trump administration, NASA committed to the return of astronauts to the Moon in 2024 under the Artemis program. This builds on the Constellation program which was implemented by Republican president George W Bush in 2005 but was subsequently cancelled by Democratic president Barack Obama due to its high cost and difficulty.

• In a document released by the Democratic Party entitled “Building a Stronger, Fairer Economy”, the Democrats “support NASA’s work to return Americans to the Moon and go beyond to Mars, taking the next step in exploring our solar system.” Canada, the European Space Agency and Japan are all formal partners in the construction of the Lunar Gateway – a lunar orbiting outpost designed to support multiple expeditions to the Moon’s surface. It would be difficult for a Biden administration to unilaterally withdraw from the project.

• The Trump administration also pushed for a first crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s. An independent report by the Science and Technology Policy Institute in 2019 stated that a crewed Mars mission in the 2030s is currently unfeasible. It is unlikely Biden will try to resurrect this any time soon, especially since confronting the COVID-19 pandemic will likely drain discretionary funding.

• Viewing space as a potential war zone, the Trump administration formed Space Force. With a public approval rating of only 31%, Americans aren’t too impressed with the Space Force. But there are doubtlessly many difficulties of reintegrating Space Force back into the US Air Force. It is therefore likely that Space Force will remain in a Biden administration, possibly with reduced focus.

• US human spaceflight policy rarely survives a change in a Presidential administration. NASA’s chief, Jim Bridenstine, appointed by Trump, has already announced he is stepping down, saying that he wanted to let somebody with a “close relationship with the president” take over. Still, the success of the crewed SpaceX launch to the International Space Station means the commercial crew program is likely to keep running – taking the burden off NASA.

• Biden has made it clear that tackling climate emergency is a priority. While this is likely to be focused on industrial pollution limits and renewable energy sources, it does suggest that space policy could be more focused on Earth environmental observation satellite missions such as oil spills, deforestation and carbon emissions.

• Changes notwithstanding, many scientists will breath a sigh of relief at the prospect of not having to fight the kind of anti-science position that we have seen from Trump during his time in office.

 

Donald Trump set bold goals for space exploration during his time in office – from crewed missions to the Moon and Mars to a Space Force. By contrast, his successor Joe Biden has been relatively quiet on space policy. So how is space exploration likely to change going forward?

It is clear is that there will be change. NASA’s current chief, Jim Bridenstine, has already announced he is stepping down. And we know that US human spaceflight policy rarely survives a change in presidency.

That said, the amazing success of the crewed SpaceX launch to the International Space Station (ISS), however, means the commercial crew programme is likely to keep running – taking the burden off NASA. Indeed, the first operational flight of the Crew Dragon by commercial company SpaceX is due for launch on November 15, with four astronauts bound for the ISS.

During the Trump administration, NASA also committed to the return of astronauts to the Moon in 2024 under the Artemis program. This is due for its first test launch (uncrewed) next year with Artemis-1. This builds on the Constellation program which was implemented by Republican president George W Bush in 2005 but was subsequently cancelled by Democratic president Barack Obama due to its high cost and difficulty.

The only substantial clue as to the direction of a Biden presidency with regard to astronaut flights to the Moon can be found in a document by the Democratic Party entitled “Building a Stronger, Fairer Economy”. In one paragraph, the Democrats state that they “support NASA’s work to return Americans to the Moon and go beyond to Mars, taking the next step in exploring our solar system.”

No detail is offered on possible timelines. But, with international cooperation now a major feature of the Artemis program, it would be difficult for a fledgling Biden administration to unilaterally withdraw from the project. For example, Canada, the European Space Agency and Japan are all formal partners in the construction of the Lunar Gateway – a lunar orbiting outpost designed to support multiple expeditions to the surface.

The programme is also rapidly advancing research, particularly in terms of building materials, power supplies and food production. Just this week, the European Space Agency awarded a contract to the British company Metalysis to develop techniques to simultaneously extract oxygen and metals from lunar soil.

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Could New Microchip Boost US Military Power?

Article by Dave Makichuk                                   November 13, 2020                                    (asiatimes.com)

• A Massachusetts-based aerospace and defense company, Mercury Systems Inc. has developed a new radio frequency processing microchip that will give the Pentagon the ability to reduce the processing time for radar, electronic warfare and 5G communication applications. The technology comes at a time when microelectronics is the Defense Department’s top research-and-development priority, National Defense reported.

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning prototypes are being inserted into electronic warfare systems and will soon be in the hands of select operational units. “Every soldier is holding a device that is enabled by microelectronics,” said Tom Smelker, vice president and general manager for microsystems at Mercury Systems. “It’s imperative to keep our technology advantaged against our adversaries.”

• Advancements in hypersonics and stealth by adversarial countries (China, Russia) are driving the need for new radar capabilities, Smelker noted. Driving down processing times will help the Pentagon counter enemy electronic warfare systems. Increasing processing speeds “where we can process a lot of signals quickly and respond is going to really drive the electronic warfare market and really be a game changer for defense systems,” Smelker said. The microchip can enable real-time spectrum processing for 5G communications, which is expected to be up to 20 times as fast as 4G.

• In July, Mercury Systems received a US$11.7M order to deliver advanced digital RF Memory (DRFM) Jammers to the US Navy. The DRFM jammers are designed to be used in airborne pod-based solutions to validated electronic attack techniques and custom RF components supporting advanced electronic warfare test and training capabilities.

• Col. Philip J. Corso was a member of President Eisenhower’s National Security Council and former head of the Foreign Technology Desk at the US Army’s Research & Development. In his groundbreaking 1997 book, The Day After Roswell, Corso claims to have distributed extraterrestrial technology to US corporations that were retrieved from UFO crashes, such as at Roswell in 1947. The corporations were permitted to register the patents for themselves. These reverse-engineered technologies include fiber optics, integrated circuits (microchips), Kevlar material and particle beams. The microchip went on to change the world.

 

In his groundbreaking 1997 book — The Day After Roswell — Col. Philip J. Corso claims that during his service he distributed to corporations foreign technology which was actually extraterrestrial in origin.

Corso, a member of President Eisenhower’s National Security Council and former head of the Foreign

                          Tom Smelker

Technology Desk at the US Army’s Research & Development, claims that such artifacts were retrieved from UFO crashes, such as that which reportedly happened at Roswell in 1947.

According to Corso, the corporations involved were permitted to register the patents.

He also said that technologies such as fiber optics, integrated circuits (microchips), kevlar material and particle beams were all reverse engineered from extraterrestrial spacecraft.

                      Philip J. Corso

Whether you want to believe that or not, there is one thing we do know — the microchip has changed the world. Dramatically.

Case in point, a Massachusetts-based aerospace and defense company says it has developed a new radio frequency processing microchip that could give the Pentagon the ability to reduce the processing time for radar, electronic warfare and 5G communication applications, National Defense reported.

Mercury Systems Inc. recently introduced its RFS1080 RF systems package, a high-frequency processing compact chip.
The technology comes at a time when microelectronics is the Defense Department’s top research-and-development priority, National Defense reported.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) prototypes are being inserted into electronic warfare systems and will soon be in the hands of select operational units.

“Every soldier is holding a device that is enabled by microelectronics,” said Tom Smelker, vice president and general manager for microsystems at Mercury Systems.

“It’s imperative to keep our technology advantaged against our adversaries. How do we do that? Through microelectronics advancement.”

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A Conversation With US Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett

Article by Steve Forbes                                      November 13, 2020                                 (forbes.com)

• Space is a far cry from the peaceful region it was when we landed a man on the Moon over 50 years ago. China and Russia have become aggressive and space has become a theater of power politics. In response, the US created the Space Force almost a year ago, the first new military branch since the creation of the Air Force in 1947. It was Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett (pictured above) who oversaw the launch of Space Force.

• Barrett points out that the US and the global economy are totally dependent on satellites, especially the GPS. But as China has demonstrated, those satellites are vulnerable to attack. “It is a remarkable thing how completely dependent most Americans and people around the world are in our day-to-day lives on space (assets – i.e.: satellites),” said Barrett. She pointed out things that we take for granted that depend on GPS and other satellites. The time on our clocks are set by a satellite. Likewise our ATM machines and gas pumps. Weather predictions, crop monitoring, and environmental monitoring all depend on satellites.

• “[W]e built a glass house before we knew about stones, in that we have a vulnerable system,” says Barrett. “[W]e built it without consciousness of that vulnerability. So now … [w]e need to be able to protect that capability, and we need to deter others from attacking our GPS satellites. …[W] need to replace the current satellites with less vulnerable, more jam-resistant and protected satellites.”

• Forty people at a base in Colorado run the entire GPS system – free to the world. “I would put forward the GPS system… has had a bigger impact in a shorter time on all of mankind than any other invention in mankind’s time. I mean, think of fire, or the wheel, or the printing press — what would compete with the GPS system that has been fully operational just 25 years and is used by so many people around the world with so few people managing it?” asks Barrett. “It’s a remarkable reality of our time.”

• At age 13, Barrett become her family’s bread-winner for five siblings and her incapacitated mother, after the sudden death of her father. In the 1950’s, she trained as an astronaut in Kazakhstan and Russia where she learned the Russian language. She was the first civilian woman to land in an F-18 fighter aircraft on a moving aircraft carrier. She’s held executive positions in both the private and public sectors. She served as our ambassador to Finland, where she engaged in a war game dog fight in the air in an F-18 against the head of the Finnish Air Force. The joust was a draw.

• “[S]cience (and) technology, these are moving very rapidly right now, with artificial intelligence, machine learning, hypersonics, biological, nuclear, and chemical developments and training,” notes Barrett. “[W]e have to be fast and nimble… [a]nd that’s why the Space Force is being designed to be innovative, bold and agile.”

 

Almost a year ago, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett oversaw the launch of a new branch of our military, the U.S. Space Force, the first new service since the creation of the Air Force itself in 1947.

In this sobering, eye-opening segment of What’s Ahead, Barrett persuasively explains the crucial need for a service totally focused on our needs in

There are currently 1,100 active and 2,600 inactive satellites orbiting the Earth.

space. Like it or not, space has become a cockpit of power politics, a far cry from the peaceful area it was when we landed a man on the moon over 50 years ago. China and Russia have become aggressive. Beijing, for instance, used a missile to blow up one of its satellites to show what it could do to the thousands of satellites that now populate space. Barrett describes two hair-raising, space-based incidents that occurred with Russia.

We are vulnerable. For example, the U.S. and the global economy are totally dependent on satellites, most especially the GPS, which is operated by the Space Force.

Barrett is the perfect person to get this mission off the ground. She trained in her late 50s as an astronaut in Kazakhstan and then in Russia. She had to learn Russian while simultaneously undergoing intense training. She was the first civilian woman to land in an F-18 fighter aircraft on a moving aircraft carrier. She has successfully held executive positions in both the private and public sectors. She served as our ambassador to Finland, where she engaged in a war game dog fight in the air in an F-18 against the head of the Finnish Air Force (the joust was a draw).

At age 13 Barrett had to become her family’s bread-winner—for five siblings and her incapacitated mother—after the sudden death of her father.
You’ll leave our conversation wanting to learn even more about the Space Force and about Barbara Barrett herself.

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More Damage at Arecibo Alien-Hunting Facility

Article by Vistor Tangermann                                    November 9, 2020                                       (futurism.com)

• A second cable has fallen, crushing the intricate reflector dish at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. A first auxiliary cable failed on August 10th, crushing a portion of the dish and resulting in a significant setback for the observatory. The massive dish was mainly used by SETI to hunt for extraterrestrial life. But research had to be put on pause for several months following the August event.

• Now, a main cable connected to the same support tower as the auxiliary cable failed this week, causing additional damage to both the dish and other nearby cables, according to a statement by the University of Central Florida, which co-manages the facility.

• Officials suspect the break may have been caused by the extra load the cables had to carry since the first cable failure. “This is certainly not what we wanted to see, but the important thing is that no one got hurt,” said observatory director Francisco Cordova. “We have been thoughtful in our evaluation and prioritized safety in planning for repairs that were supposed to begin Tuesday. Now this.”

• Engineers are hoping to support the structure with steel reinforcements to alleviate some of the additional load. Two replacement cables are already on their way to the observatory. The aging Arecibo radio telescope dates back to the early 1960s and has been in operation for over half a century. The reflector dish alone is 1,000 feet in diameter and is composed of 38,778 perforated aluminum panels.

 

                   Francisco Cordova

More bad news for the alien-hunting Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. A second cable has fallen, crushing the intricate reflector dish below.

A first auxiliary cable failed over the massive dish on August 10, crushing a portion of the dish and representing a significant setback for the observatory.

The dish was mainly used to hunt for extraterrestrial life — but research had to be put on pause for several months following the event.

Compounding the problem, a main cable — which was connected to the same support tower as the auxiliary cable — failed this week, causing additional damage to both the dish and other nearby cables, according to a statement by the University of Central Florida, which co-manages the facility.

Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Extra Load

The cause of the break has yet to be identified. Officials suspect it may have been caused by the extra load the cables had to carry since the first cable failure.

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Bentwaters UFO Caught on Radar Travelling 120 Miles in Eight Seconds

Article Mike Williams                                    November 9, 2020                                       (unilad.co.uk)

• In Robert Hasting’s 2016 documentary film, UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed, Hastings cites key witnesses like Lt Colonel Charles Halt, where a UFO shaped like a basketball was recorded as having travelled 120mph in less than eight seconds during the Rendlesham Forest incident of 1980.

• The night of December 27, 1980, a team of security officers noted a bright beam coming from the depths of the Rendlesham Forest near to the base. Two days later, on the night of December 29, then Deputy Base Commander Halt, and colleagues, saw flashing lights darting across the forest, before the glowing object shot beams of light into the ground and disappeared.

• Lt Colonel Halt documented the entire incident in early 1981 for the UK’s Ministry of Defence. It stated how he and other witnesses saw a glowing object in the forest and a ‘red, sun-like’ pulsing light in the trees, and that a quick-moving, metallic-like triangular-shaped object was spotted acting erratically. Later, reports came in that the UFO had targeted the base’s storage facility of nukes – the largest in Europe at the time – and began pinging beams into the nuclear missile bunker. Hastings believes that the incident was a warning to humanity.

• Ike Barker and Jim Carey, who are featured in the documentary, were radar operators with the 2164th Communications Squadron at RAF Bentwaters in in Suffolk, England in the early 1980s. Barker and Carey say the object flew over the base during the incident. Several other eye-witnesses confirmed seeing the speeding ball during the series of unexplained encounters.

• Barker described it as ‘basketball-like object’, orange in color and “it popped into my mind that somebody was flying a basketball out here. There were lights around the center (of the orange sphere) but not like navigation lights. …[T]he lights were ‘more like portholes, as if you were seeing the lights from the inside coming out. It hovered momentarily, reversed its course and went back out a high rate of speed.” Prior to the object speeding off, it made an unnatural right angle shift. “It was just phenomenal to see it go that fast. I said that can’t be one of ours,” recalled Carey. “No jet can make an immediate right-hand turn.”

• While some have tried to debunk the strange sightings as military satellites, secret weaponry, a meteor, or the nearby shine from the Orfordness lighthouse, radar operator Barker is convinced in what he saw, saying, “It wasn’t like any radar target I’ve ever seen.” “It was traveling at an extremely high rate of speed,’ he recalled. ‘It passed over the control tower and then it stopped. I’ve never seen anything like the maneuverability that happened with this object.”

• Like many military personnel, Barker and Carey chose not to immediately come forward to their superiors with this information, for fear of a military discharge. Declassified documents from both the US and Russian governments have since emerged to reveal similar strange occurrences during the Cold War period. There are around 150 military witnesses to such unexplained phenomenon.

• [Editor’s Note]   Unfortunately, this is the same Robert Hastings who is accused by the son of an Air Force officer, a witness to the incident, of fabricating the story that the inexplicable shutdown of ten nuclear missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana on March 16, 1967 was due to a UFO hovering directly over the base. (see previous ExoArticle here)

 

A documentary has attempted to shine new light on the infamous Rendlesham Forest incident from 1980, involving UFOs and nuclear weapons.

                      Robert Hastings

With UFOs and Nukes: The Secret Link Revealed, the latest feature to offer new and compelling details on the decades-old incident, the feature, produced by US researcher Robert Hastings, cites key witnesses like Lt Colonel Charles Halt, where a UFO shaped like a basketball was recorded as having travelled 120mph in less than eight seconds.

Ike Barker and Jim Carey, who were radar operators at the RAF Bentwaters, Suffolk, in the early 1980s, say the object flew over the base during the much debated incident in December of 1980.

The speeding ball happened during a series of unexplained encounters that amounted to several eye-witnesses saying they’d seen it. Filmmaker Hastings, who has investigated the event, believes it was a warning to humanity, as the UFO appeared to target the base’s nuclear arsenal.

                Lt Colonel Charles Halt

On Boxing Day of 1980, a team of security officers noted a bright beam coming from the depths of the forest near to the base. Two days later, on the night of December 29, then Deputy Base Commander Halt, as well as other colleagues, saw flashing lights darting across the forest, before the glowing object shot beams of light into the ground and disappeared.

Reports later came in that the same UFO had targeted the base’s storage facility of nukes – which were the largest in Europe at the time – and began pinging beams into the bunker.

                         Jim Carey

Halt’s report, dubbed the ‘Halt memo’, documenting the entire thing written in early 1981, was sent to

                             Ike Barker

the UK’s Ministry of Defence. It stated how he and other witnesses saw a glowing object in the forest and a ‘red, sun-like’ pulsing light in the trees, and that a quick-moving, metallic-like triangular-shaped object was spotted acting erratically.

While some have tried to debunk the strange sightings as military satellites, secret weaponry, a meteor, or the nearby shine from the Orfordness lighthouse, those who were there say different.

Ike is convinced in what he saw, saying, ‘It wasn’t like any radar target I’ve ever seen.’

‘It was travelling at an extremely high rate of speed,’ he recalled. ‘It passed over the control tower and then it stopped. I’ve never seen anything like the manoeuvrability that happened with this object.’

Describing it as basketball-like object, he said it was ‘orange in colour and it popped into my mind that somebody was flying a basketball out here. There were lights around the centre but not like navigation lights.’

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Are Drones the Worst Thing to Happen to UFOs Since Orson Welles?

Article by David MacQuarrie                                   November 10, 2020                                     (dronedj.com)

• In 1938, actor/ director Orson Welles frightened listeners with his Halloween prank radio broadcast of a Martian invasion in War of the Worlds. For years after that, the skies remained more or less clear of extraterrestrial menace. Then in 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold says he spotted flying objects skipping like saucers over the Cascade Mountain Range near Seattle. This time there was no Orson Welles to blame it on. UFOs became part of the cultural landscape. When we see lights in the sky, they’re usually blamed on the planet Venus, aircraft, oddball reflections or swamp gas (uh, swamp gas?) Still, there is a minority of reports that defy easy explanation.

• Drones have become the go-to explanation for any mysterious lights in the sky. This month, people were startled to see mysterious lights in the skies over Milwaukee, Wisconsin. But they turned out to be drones practicing for a Christmas Pageant light show over a festival park. People in New Jersey reporting a UFO were told it was a police drone. Factories in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China have filled the skies with hundreds of thousands drones.

• “A significant amount of UFOs that we investigate are hobby drones,” said Ken Jordan, Texas’ chief of investigations for the international Mutual UFO Network. A high-flying aircraft moving at impossible speeds can be mistaken for a low-flying drone puttering along at 20 k/h. Acrobatics that seem to defy the laws of physics are now on routine display at drone airshows, no extraterrestrial technology needed.

• Even when the New York Times published US Navy videos of strange objects flying off the East Coast of the US, the Navy pilots assumed they were drones. They didn’t especially look like drones, but really what else could they be? Perhaps the mothership is parked ominously just behind the Moon and is sending its vile horde of drone-shaped legions toward our unsuspecting planet. Perhaps we should be vigilant like the character Ned Scott in The Thing from Another World: “Keep watching the skies”. But if you do see something up there, it’s probably just a drone.

 

This month, mysterious lights startled some people looking to the skies in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Readers of this

               TX MUFON’s Ken Jordan

website will already know there is no mystery; the UFO lights at Maier Festival Park were just drones practicing for a Christmas Pageant light show.

But there’s a long history of alarming lights in the sky and earthlings assuming it just can’t be good.

Actor/ Director Orson Welles frightened many listeners in 1938 with his Halloween prank radio broadcast of War of the Worlds. It’s controversial just how many people actually feared Martian invasion. But a lot of listeners felt silly once the hoax was revealed, and CBS fought at least one lawsuit. For years after that, the skies remained more or less clear of extraterrestrial menace.

Until 1947. That’s when pilot Kenneth Arnold says he spotted flying objects skipping like saucers over the Cascade Range near Seattle. This time there was no Orson Welles to ‘fess up. UFOs were with us and became part of the cultural landscape.

Most turn out to be sightings of the planet Venus, aircraft, oddball reflections or swamp gas. (Really? Who’s fooled by swamp gas?)
Still, there was always a tiny minority of reports that defied easy explanation.

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Video – American Lions – JFK & Trump’s War with the Deep State over UFO Secrecy

The key to understanding what is happening today in America is to identify the mysterious group behind the Kennedy Assassination, and how its modern-day manifestation is covertly attempting to remove Donald Trump from the presidency for his efforts to similarly build international cooperation around a number of space-related initiatives. If successfully implemented, these Presidential initiatives will lead to the disclosure of incredibly advanced life changing technologies.  November 22 will mark the 57th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination where he similarly tried and failed to disclose the existence of such technologies. The real perpetrators skillfully remained in the shadows and were never prosecuted for their heinous crime.

In this four-hour webinar you will learn the dramatic and long hidden truths behind the Kennedy Assassination, including damning evidence only declassified in 2017/2018 by the National Archives.

Webinar: November 22, 2020 (Sunday)
12 noon – 4.30 pm PST/ 3 – 7.30 pm EST USA (Includes Q&A at the end)

To Register click here.

More info here.

Half of Sun-Like Stars in Galaxy Could Host a Habitable Planet

Article by Mike Williams                                   November 3, 2020                              (unilad.co.uk)

• A new study claims that the Milky Way galaxy could in fact be home to many other inhabitable planets just like ours, within the ‘habitable zone’ of its star – just the right orbital distance where water has the potential to be stable on a planet’s surface. There are around 200 billion G dwarf stars just like our sun, so the chances of some of these solar systems having a planet like Earth is conceivable.

• To illustrate how vast space is, 200 billion stars is only 7% of the Milky Way. Says the study’s co-author, Jeff Coughlin, “This is the first time that all of the pieces have been put together to provide a reliable measurement of the number of potentially habitable planets in the galaxy.” Coughlin is an exoplanet researcher at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California. “We’re one step closer on the long road to finding out if we’re alone in the cosmos.”

• Building upon NASA’s Kelper’s science studies conducted between 2009 and 2018, a 2020 team, led by Steve Bryson of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, has worked hard to discover more than 2,800 exoplanets to date. Bryson and his crew have also examined the European Space Agency’s Gaia spacecraft’s stellar properties which maps out billions of Milky Way stars.

• With all that data, the researchers have been able to predict the occurrence rates of potentially habitable Earth-sized rocky planets along with a sun-like star of similar temperatures. And the chance of there being other life forms on planets like ours is becoming more and more likely.

• [Editor’s Note]   What a waste to have these scientists spend their sad careers focused on deep state red herrings, just to give the public the impression that they are diligently looking for intelligent extraterrestrial life but cannot find any, when ETs currently reside throughout our solar system and extraterrestrial civilizations permeate the galaxy and the universe. They just don’t want us to know about it.

 

                        Jeff Coughlin

A new study suggests there are plenty more planets just like ours out there, suggesting we aren’t alone after all.

Having barely touched the tip of space exploration, we are still largely unaware of what is out there – let alone what’s beyond the power of any NASA probe, satellite, or telescope at our disposal.

However, recent research claims the Milky Way could in fact be home to many other inhabitable planets

             Steve Bryson

just like ours, when it comes to exploring the sun-like stars that could have small planets within each’s so-called ‘habitable zone’. The breakthrough claims these zones are just the right orbital distance where water has the potential to be stable on a planet’s surface.

The findings give a glimmer of hope to that age old question of whether it’s just us in the universe; reminding us that there are around 200 billion G dwarfs, aka balls of burning gas just like our sun, so the chances of some of them lighting up planets just like Earth is conceivable, Space.com reports.

But, just to illustrate how vast space is, the figure of 200 billion is only 7% of the Milky Way, as co-author of the study, Jeff Coughlin, shared the significant news, saying, ‘This is the first time that all of the pieces have been put together to provide a reliable measurement of the number of potentially habitable planets in the galaxy.’

Coughlin, an exoplanet researcher at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, California, also said, ‘This is a key term of the Drake Equation, used to estimate the number of communicable civilizations.’

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Biden Not Seen as a Threat to Space Force

Article by Sandra Erwin                                 November 9, 2020                                 (spacenews.com)

• President-elect Joe Biden has said he plans to reverse a number of Trump policies but he is expected to continue to support the US Space Force. “If Space Force did not already exist, I think Joe Biden probably would not create it. However I think it’s pretty unlikely that Biden would seriously try to eliminate Space Force at this point,” said David Burbach, associate professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College. Burbach’s views are his own and he does not speak for the government.

• The Space Force is enshrined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed services so any move to dismantle it would require congressional legislation. And the Republicans are poised to control the Senate. “No way the Republican Senate would go along with undoing that accomplishment for Trump,” said Burbach. “Things get institutionalized pretty quickly in Washington,” Burbach said. “I think it would be very difficult to roll back Space Force. We now have officers and enlisted personnel in the Space Force even if they haven’t figured out what to call them.”

• Burbach noted that there is broad consensus in Washington that space is a “contested domain.” Many Democrats agree that the Pentagon needed to do more to address threats to US space assets. “Space Force is not the solution that Democrats would have preferred but given that it’s been done, I think the focus will be on trying to make it work effectively.”

• Joshua Huminski, director of the Mike Rogers Center for Intelligence and Global Affairs’ National Security Space Program, said it is too early to tell how President Biden will view Space Force. “I think the important thing to consider is that the intellectual foundation of the Space Force existed well before President Trump — the need for a separate culture, space as a warfighting domain, and the threat from Russia and China on orbit. That foundation, those needs, and the mission and threat will continue on and perhaps accelerate into President Biden’s administration, so you may see more constancy than immediate change.” “President Biden can set the tone, for sure,” says Huminski. “But Congress will ultimately have the final say.”

 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force was a signature initiative of the Trump administration. President-elect Joe Biden has said he plans to reverse a number of Trump policies but he is expected to continue to support the U.S. Space Force, experts told SpaceNews.

             David Burbach

“If Space Force did not already exist, I think Joe Biden probably would not create it. However I think it’s pretty

                       Joshua Huminski

unlikely that Biden would seriously try to eliminate Space Force at this point,” said David Burbach, associate professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College.

Burbach said his views are his own and he does not speak for the government.

The Space Force is enshrined in Title 10 of the U.S. Code as the sixth branch of the U.S. armed services so any move to dismantle it would require congressional legislation.

With Republicans poised to control the Senate, that would be a non-starter, Burbach said. “No way the Republican Senate would go along with undoing that accomplishment for Trump.”

Burbach said the Space Force would not be targeted even if Democrats gained control of the Senate. “Things get institutionalized pretty quickly in Washington,” he said. “I think it would be very difficult to roll back Space Force. We now have officers and enlisted personnel in the Space Force even if they haven’t figured out what to call them.”

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Skinwalker Ranch: The Spookiest Place on Earth

Article by George Knapp                                 October 31, 2020                                   (wjhl.com)

• The picturesque property located in the Uinta Basin in northeastern Utah, known around the world as the Skinwalker Ranch, is easily the spookiest and most intensely studied paranormal hotspot in history. For as long as humans have lived, they’ve been seeing strange things in the sky there.

• In the 1970s, Utah State University professor Frank Salisbury wrote about the hundreds of UFO sightings in the basin. But beyond mystery aircraft, for 15 generations, indigenous tribes such as the Utes have referred to this area as being “in the path of the skinwalker” – a malevolent spirit and a shapeshifter.

• Retired from Army intelligence colonel, Dr. John Alexander was part of the first scientific study of the ranch under the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS). Alexander was directly involved with the U.S. Army’s psychic warrior research program, and continues to work as a consultant to the Department of Defense.

• NIDS was a think tank created and funded by Las Vegas aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. After learning about the UFO activity at the ranch, Bigelow flew to Utah, bought the property and assigned a team of professionals to study the ranch and the basin. The rancher and his neighbors told the NIDS team about a litany of bizarre activity – ‘shadow people’ appearing in and around the ranch house; poltergeist-type events where physical objects moved on their own; strange animals including huge wolves and sasquatch; and holes in the sky.

• The scientists witnessed much of this for themselves, including animals carved up with surgical precision and ghostly images that appeared on camera. They documented hundreds of paranormal events.

• “Something else is in control,” says Dr. Alexander. “[I]f it wants you to find out, it may allow that. But if it doesn’t, this thing keeps morphing and changing into …new shapes and forms. We had cameras there and things that happened just off camera, sometimes in front of the camera, but you wouldn’t see them.”

• A 2005, details about the ranch came to the attention of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). With the support of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the DIA launched its own study of weird activity at the ranch and the larger issue of UFOs under the$22 million Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP). Reams of documents and reports were generated, but have never been made public.

• In December 2017 the New York Times revealed the Pentagon’s secret AATIP study of UFOs, but that article made no mention of the far more mysterious encounters at the ranch that may affect national security. “Let’s take the nature of Skinwalker Ranch out of the equation and just look at it from an intelligence problem,” said the former AATIP chief, Luis Elizondo. “You have to ask yourself, ‘is this something that is occurring naturally? Is it something that is being deliberately done? Is it something that another nation could be behind trying to influence us?’”

• Currently, the new owner, Utah businessman Brandon Fugal, is financing his own scientific study of the Skinwalker Ranch.

 

                Dr. John Alexander

Now that you’re in the Halloween spirit, the spookiest place in the country might be in Utah. Scientific studies suggest that place is Skinwalker Ranch in the rural northeastern part of the state.

For as long as humans have lived in the Uintah Basin, they’ve been seeing strange things in the sky. In the 1970s, Utah State professor Frank Salisbury wrote a well documented book about hundreds of UFO sightings in the basin.

But the strangeness goes way beyond mystery aircraft. For 15 generations, indigenous tribes, including the Utes, have referred to this sandstone ridge as being “in the path of the skinwalker.” They consider the skinwalker a malevolent spirit and a shapeshifter.

                     Brandon Fugal

The Navajo Skinwalker gains new interest

    Frank Salisbury

The ridge overlooks a picturesque property now known around the world by its nickname — Skinwalker Ranch. It easily ranks as the most intensely studied paranormal hotspot in history.

Dr. John Alexander retired from Army intelligence as a colonel and was part of the first scientific study of the ranch under the umbrella of NIDS, the National Institute for Discovery Science.

                     Robert Bigelow

Alexander was a colonel in Army Intelligence and continues to work as a consultant to the Department of Defense. After earning a PhD, Alexander was directly involved with the U.S. Army’s psychic warrior research program and then became one of the first employees of NIDS.

                        Luis Elizondo

NIDS was a think tank created and funded by Las Vegas aerospace entrepreneur Robert Bigelow. After reading a Deseret newspaper story about UFO activity at the ranch, Bigelow flew to Utah, bought the property and assigned a team of professionals to study the ranch and the basin.

The rancher and his neighbors told the NIDS team about a litany of bizarre activity from shadow people appearing in and around the ranch house, poltergeist-type events where physical objects moved on their own, strange animals including huge wolves and sasquatch, and holes in the sky.

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I Am Excited and Vindicated by Talk of UFOs

Article by AJ Vicens                                       November 2, 2020                                     (motherjones.com)

• Before the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton and her key staff were talking about UFOs. The issue was treated as a joke on late-night television. But time has shown that clearly there was something afoot.

• In December 2017, the New York Times published a groundbreaking story which included DoD videos of unexplained aerial objects. While credible UFO reports go back decades, the Times story advanced the UFO discussion into the mainstream media. (see previous ExoArticle) Since then, the Times has published a series of additional pieces, as have a host of other respected publications.

• In April 2019, the US Navy announced it was updating its procedures for pilots to report encounters with UFOs – to destigmatize the issue and collect better data. (see previous ExoArticle) By September, the US Navy confirmed to John Greenewald Jr. of The Black Vault website that the published UFO videos were officially “unidentified aerial phenomena”. In February 2020, Popular Mechanics published a piece concluding that “unidentified flying objects are neither myth nor figment of overactive imagination,” elaborating that evidence suggests UFOs are real.

• In June, the Senate Intelligence Committee tasked the director of national intelligence with submitting a public report outlining the government’s work on UFO/UAPs. Senator Mark Warner, the vice chair of the committee, confirmed that he had been given a classified briefing on UAPs. “The military and others are taking this issue seriously,” Warner said, “which, I think in previous generations may not have been the case.” A month later, Senator Marco Rubio, acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, characterized it as a national security issue. “We have things flying over our military bases and places where we’re conducting military exercises and we don’t know what it is, and it isn’t ours,” Rubio said. “[F]rankly, if it’s something from outside this planet, that might actually be better” than the possibility novel aerial technology is being used by a foreign power. (see previous ExoArticle)

• The fact that two powerful senators are saying these sorts of things in public, with total earnestness, is huge. Greenewald, who has used the Freedom of Information Act to pry UFO documents from government vaults, agrees there is reason for optimism about further disclosures, but offered a note of caution. “The last two years have been fascinating in UAP world.” The Navy’s revelations provided renewed hope of transparency, and its acknowledgement that the objects on those famous videos were, in fact, UAPs, “was huge,” he said. “I never expected that.”

• However, Greenewald says a string of recently denied FOIA requests he filed indicates “that that door has shut,” and he warns that indications the government is taking UFOs as a serious potential threat could ultimately mean it will refuse to honestly disclose what it knows. “Whether or not we’re talking about a foreign adversary that has technology that we haven’t mastered yet, whether it’s one branch that’s being tested on by another branch of the military—which I think is a big possibility—or, what everybody wants, which is extraterrestrials, regardless, all of the above would be a national security risk,” said Greenewald.

• Greenewald is probably right. The government is not likely to tell us all it knows about these objects that can seemingly toy with the most advanced and sophisticated military equipment on the planet. But at least it’s now okay to talk about them in public. We must appreciate the wins where we can find them.

 

           Senator Marco Rubio

Over the last few years, amid the daily avalanche of scandal, corruption, and intrigue, one could be forgiven for tuning it all out in favor of something else. Anything else. One storyline I’ve found intriguing and exciting: the US government and UFOs.

               Senator Mark Warner

Before the 2016 election, I wrote a series of pieces about how Hillary Clinton and her key staff were saying interesting things about UFOs. Most laughed. The issue was treated as a joke on late-night television. But time has shown that clearly there was something afoot.

In December 2017, the New York Times published a groundbreaking story: “Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program,” which included Department of Defense videos of aerial objects the government could not explain. While credible UFO reports go back decades, the Times story increased the latitude for discussion of the issue under mainstream mastheads. Since then, the Times has published a series of additional pieces, as have a host of other respected publications.

                  John Greenewald Jr.

In April 2019, the US Navy announced it was updating its procedures for pilots who wish to report encounters with UFOs to destigmatize the issue and collect better data. By September, the US Navy confirmed to John Greenewald Jr., the founder of a repository of publicly available government documents called the Black Vault, that the videos published by the Times were officially “unidentified aerial phenomena,” a the term used for “unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges.” In February 2020, Popular Mechanics published a deeply reported piece concluding that “unidentified flying objects are neither myth nor figment of overactive imagination,” elaborating that documentary evidence and people who would know both suggest “UFOs are real.”

In June, the Senate Intelligence Committee tasked the director of national intelligence with submitting a public report, with a classified annex, outlining the government’s work on “unexplained aerial phenomena.” Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the vice chair of the committee, confirmed that he had been given a classified briefing on UAP. “The military and others are taking this issue seriously,” Warner said, “which, I think in previous generations may not have been the case.” A month later, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), acting chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, characterized it as a national security issue. “We have things flying over our military bases and places where we’re conducting military exercises and we don’t know what it is, and it isn’t ours,” Rubio said, adding that “frankly, if it’s something from outside this planet, that might actually be better” than the possibility novel aerial technology is being used by a foreign power.

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Speculation That Donald Trump Will Declassify UFO Files

Article by Tyler MacDonald                                 November 7, 2020                                 (inquisitr.com)

• In the wake of media outlets calling the 2020 presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden, and since Donald Trump appears on track to be leaving the White House in January, many are pointing to the possibility that the president will declassify intelligence files on many mysterious issues, including UFOs.

• “Trump is still POTUS (until January 20th). He can release any information he wants via Twitter. Literally it’s legal for him to drop anything – UFO files, Russia stuff, total discretion,” tweeted conservative commentator Mike Cernovich.

• Trump has touched on the topic of UFOs on multiple occasions. He spoke about the Roswell UFOs during a Father’s Day interview with his son, Don Jr. “I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting,” the president said.

• During an October interview on Fox News, Maria Bartiromo pressed Trump on the existence of UFOs. Trump suggested that he would harness the U.S. military to examine the existence of extraterrestrial life. But in an interview with George Stephanopoulos in June of 2019, Trump acknowledged Navy pilot UFO sightings but did not appear convinced.

• Last month, Tucker Carlson claimed that there is a wealth of evidence that proves the existence of UFOs – including former Senator Harry Reid’s claim that UFOs have been interfering with American nuclear capabilities throughout history, and Christopher Mellon touting the research of Dr. Jacque Vallee, who collected metal debris from a UFO.

• In April, the Pentagon declassified three UFO videos that were captured by U.S. Navy infrared cameras and first released unofficially in December of 2017 and March of 2018.

 

       Mike Cernovich

Now that Donald Trump appears on track to be leaving the White House in January, many are pointing to the possibility

          Maria Bartiromo

that the president will declassify intelligence files on many mysterious issues, including UFOs.

“Trump is still POTUS. He can release any information he wants via Twitter. Literally it’s legal for him to drop anything – UFO files, Russia stuff, total discretion,” tweeted conservative commentator Mike Cernovich.

The possibility appears to be on the minds of many people in the wake of various media outlets calling the 2020 presidential election for Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump has touched on the topic of UFOs on multiple occasions. As reported by ABC News, he spoke about Roswell during a Father’s Day-themed interview with his son,

  George Stephanopoulos

who pressed him on the New Mexico city that is known for its proximity to one of the most famous UFO events in

           Tucker Carlson

popular culture.

“I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting,” the president said of the region.

Trump was also pressed on the existence of UFOs during an October interview with Mario Bartiromo on Fox News, Insider reported.

Trump pointed to the U.S. military and suggested that he would harness it to examine the existence of extraterrestrial life.

Elsewhere, Trump has been skeptical. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos in June of 2019, he pointed to pilot sightings but did not appear convinced.

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FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

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