Most Americans Think the US Government Would Hide Evidence of UFOs

July 17, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Jamie Ballard July 7, 2020 (yougov.com)

• In 2017, YouGov.com, an international research and analytics polling company headquartered in London, surveyed Americans whether a newly discovered alien species would more likely be friendly or hostile. 29% of US adults believed that the extraterrestrials would be friendly. Less then 19% thought that an alien species would be hostile towards us.

• In July 2019, a YouGov poll showed that 54% thought it was likely that the US government is withholding information it has about UFOs and extraterrestrials from the American pubic.

• Since the Senate Intelligence Committee recently authorized a bill that, if passed, would require US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to put together a detailed analysis on all unclassified information it has on UFOs and the extraterrestrial presence, a new YouGov survey asked American if they believe that the government would share even its unclassified information with the public. 56% of the 8,000 Americans polled said that no, they did not think that the government would be forthcoming. Only 22% said they thought the government would share unclassified information with the people. On average, women were more skeptical about the likelihood of government disclosure to the public of the extraterrestrial presence.

In recent weeks, the Senate Intelligence Committee included language in an authorization bill that if passed, would require US intelligence agencies and the Pentagon to put together a detailed unclassified analysis of all the data they have collected on “unidentified aerial phenomenon.” But Americans aren’t necessarily convinced the government will share any evidence of UFOs with the public.

A YouGov poll of more than 8,000 US adults finds most (56%) Americans believe that if the government had evidence of UFOs, this information would be hidden from the public. About one in five (22%) believes the government would share this evidence with the public.

Men (27%) are 10 percentage points more likely than women (17%) to believe the government would share this information. That said, a majority of both men (54%) and women (58%) believe the government would hide evidence of UFOs from the public.

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Three Mars Launches This Month in Hope of Finding Alien Life

July 16, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sean Martin July 7, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• The United States, China and the United Arab Emirates all have Mars launches scheduled this month.

• Between July 20 and July 25th, the China National Space Agency will launch an orbiter known as Tianwen-1, which translates to ‘the quest for heavenly truth’ to circle the Red Planet for a year. The rocket will also carry a rover vehicle that will land on the Martian surface and collect soil samples. The oribter will serve as a communications relay for the lander.

• The UAE will launch an orbiter named ‘The Hope’, which will spend two years orbiting Mars. The UAE’s primary objective is to flex its financial muscle and show the world that it is capable of in space exploration.

• On July 30th, NASA will send the Perseverance Rover to roam the Red Planet looking for signs of life – both past and present. The main instrument, the ‘Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals’ (or ‘SHERLOC’), will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms. SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground, and scientists will measure how the light scatters when it hits the ground to determine its mineral and chemical compounds. This will identify the spectral “fingerprint” of certain alien organic material for signs of past or present life. “Life is clumpy,” said NASA’s Luther Beegle. “If we see organics clumping together on one part of a rock, it might be a sign that microbes thrived there in the past.”

• Earth and Mars are currently at their closest orbital points in the solar system. So now is the optimal time to make the relatively short journey – which will still take up to six months.

THREE countries are set to launch rockets to Mars this months as the search for life on the Red Planet is turned up a notch.

China, the US and the UAE are all gearing up for historic Mars launches this month with the hopes of discovering more about Earth’s dusty neighbour. Starting with China, the new space force will be launching an orbiter known as Tianwen-1, which translates to ‘the quest for heavenly truth’ to circle to Red Planet. The orbiter will spend a year around Mars, serving as a communication relay for humanity’s eventual arrival with the launch date scheduled between July 20 and July 25.

Alongside the orbiter, China will send a rover to roam the surface of the Red Planet and collect soil samples.

China National Space Agency (CNSA) chief mission architect Zhang Rongqiao said: “Our goal is to explore and gather as much scientific data as possible.”

The UAE is also launching an orbiter named The Hope, which will spend two years orbiting Mars, following a 200-day journey.

According to The Hill, the UAE’s primary objective is to flex its financial muscle and show the world what it is capable of in the space exploration industry as the appeal of oil, which UAE has in abundance, loses its appeal.

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The Perils and Promise of LEO Constellations

July 15, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sandra Erwin July 4, 2020 (spacenews.com)

• Mike Griffin, the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, says that the Pentagon must reduce its dependence on large, billion-dollar satellites in geosynchronous orbit that are vulnerable to anti-satellite weapons. As an alternative, the DoD’s Space Development Agency plans to deploy satellites in ‘proliferated low Earth orbit’ constellations, or ‘PLEO’, to put up a communications transport layer and a surveillance and tracking layer of satellites for hypersonic missile defense.

• The smaller satellites comprising the PLEO constellations provide a resilient space infrastructure that is cheaper and easier to replace than geostationary systems, should they be destroyed by anti-satellite weapons. A key question is whether satellites and launch vehicles can be made cheap enough to make the cost of taking down a LEO system not worth it. “Changing the “cost equation” for an enemy will be a key challenge for DoD and the U.S. Space Force,” said Michael Martindale, the Director of Space Education for Space Force.

• ‘Low Earth orbit’ (LEO) satellites are easier to hit from ground-based anti-satellite weapons. Sophisticated in-space weaponry is not required for LEO satellites, as it would be to take down satellites in geostationary orbit (GEO).

• A recent study by Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and International Studies shows that China and Russia, despite their rhetoric about wanting to ban weapons in space, are building arsenals of ground-based anti-satellite weaponry. This sends a message to other countries that ground-based anti-satellite weapons are fair game. Says Harrison, “With its 2019 ASAT test, India made clear that it believes kinetic Earth-to-space ASAT weapons are a legitimate means of self-defense by deterrence.”

• In their respective space-arms control proposals, China and Russia do not prohibit ground-based weapons. “Their behavior says they’re only interested in banning the capabilities that they don’t already have,” says Martindale. With more LEO systems about to be deployed by the DoD, which are vulnerable to the ground-based anti-satellite missiles, American space superiority is now being contested.

• Space Force can’t possibly protect every satellite in Earth’s orbit, so it must figure out ways to deter countries from even attempting to take one down. The United States has more to lose than anyone else if satellites become targets in a war. The key is to make it too costly for an enemy to mount an attack. “You have to reduce the value of each individual target.” Says Martindale, “[I]f there are hundreds of targets, and the enemy knows that the U.S. can replenish those assets quickly, the cost equation changes and using missiles is not as effective.”

• Such a deterrent strategy would require a ready supply of replacement satellites and rapid access to launch services so constellations can be replenished quickly and inexpensively. Right now, it generally takes years to get a DoD satellite off the ground. Space Force needs to bring this equation down to days or weeks to launch and replace a LEO positioned satellite.

The Pentagon has already created an acronym — PLEO — for its plans to deploy satellites in proliferated low Earth orbit constellations.

DoD’s Space Development Agency is leading the way as it prepares to put up a communications transport layer and a surveillance and tracking layer for hypersonic missile defense.

The Pentagon’s staunchest proponent of PLEO, undersecretary of defense for research and engineering Mike Griffin, has argued that the Pentagon must reduce its dependence on large, billion-dollar satellites in geosynchronous orbit that are vulnerable to anti-satellite weapons.

The case for proliferated constellations in low Earth orbit is based on the idea that it provides a resilient space infrastructure. Smaller satellites would be cheaper and easier to replace than geostationary systems if they were destroyed by anti-satellite weapons. That approach should work in theory. A key question is whether satellites and launch vehicles can be made cheap enough to make the cost of taking down a LEO system not worth it.

Changing the “cost equation” for an enemy will be a key challenge for DoD and the U.S. Space Force, says Michael Martindale, a former U.S. Air Force space operator and currently the director of space education for the Space Force Association.

As much as DoD worries about GEO satellites becoming targets of China’s orbital weapons, LEO systems are much easier to hit — no sophisticated in-space weapons required. So-called direct-ascent weapon such as ordinary surface-to-air missiles and anti-ballistic missile interceptors are far more likely to be used against low-orbiting satellites than space-based weapons, Martindale says.

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NASA Astronaut Confession: ‘Noticed a Cylindrical Object’

July 14, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sebastian Kettley July 3, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• NASA’s Gemini 4 mission, in June 1965, was the tenth American spaceflight and the second crewed spaceflight. (Astronauts James McDivitt and Ed White circled the Earth 66 times in four days.) On the second day of the mission, as White was sleeping, McDivitt recalled seeing an unidentified object outside the Gemini spacecraft.

• McDivitt said in 1975, “We were in drifting flight… there was something out in front of me or outside the spacecraft that I couldn’t identify and I never have been able to identify it.” It was “a white cylindrical shape with a white pole sticking it out of one corner of it – it looked like a beer can with a smooth pencil sticking out.”

• McDivitt guessed that the object was close to the spacecraft since he could easily see it. He grabbed two cameras and took photos of the UFO. “As the sun shone on the window, I could no longer see out and the thing just disappeared,” said McDivitt. “(Later) they checked NORAD records to see what they had up on radar and there wasn’t anything within very close range of us.”

• After the astronauts returned to Earth and the mission’s photographs were processed, the pictures failed to reveal what the astronaut has seen. “I went back and went through each frame of all of the pictures that we took and there wasn’t anything in there like what I had seen,” said McDivitt. Some journalists speculated that the astronaut may have seen a secret Soviet satellite. Or it could have been ‘orbital debris’ from the Gemini 4 launch.

• Former space engineer and rocket scientist James Oberg said the Gemini 4 was the only one of 10 manned flights in which a rendezvous was attempted (and nearly accomplished) with a beer can-shaped target (ie: the upper stage of the Titan II rocket that had been floating in space for 50 hours). It is likely the astronaut witnessed the Titan’s booster stage.

• Oberg noted that McDivitt “refused to believe he could have misidentified that object – but both his degraded eyesight and different viewing angle at the time of the sighting eliminate any reliability from that claim.” “[Y]ears of UFO research have taught us the surprising lesson that pilots re, in truth, among the poorest observers of UFOs,” said Oberg, “because of their instinctive pattern of perceiving visual stimuli primarily in terms of threats to their own vehicles.”

The NASA astronaut encountered the UFO on the second day of the Gemini 4 mission in June 1965. Gemini 4 was the second crewed spaceflight in the Gemini programme and the tenth American spaceflight. On the second day of the mission, which saw Mr White perform the first US EVA or spacewalk, Mr McDivitt recalled seeing an object outside the Gemini spacecraft.

He said back in 1975: “At the time I saw it, I said there was something out in front of me or outside the spacecraft that I couldn’t identify and I never have been able to identify it, and I don’t think anybody ever will.

“We were in drifting flight and my partner, Ed White, was asleep.

“I couldn’t see anything out in front of me except just the black sky.

“And it was rotating around, I noticed something out in front that was a white cylindrical shape with a white pole sticking it out of one corner of it – it looked like a beer can with a smooth pencil sticking out.”

The astronaut then grabbed his camera and took a few photos of the object.

But he did not correctly focus or expose the photographs to properly capture the UFO.

He did, however, later guess the object was floating fairly close to his spacecraft since it was visible to him.

The astronaut said: “I grabbed two cameras and took pictures of it.

“As the sun shone on the window, I could no longer see out and the thing just disappeared.

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The Berkshires UFO Sightings

July 13, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Rebecca Patton July 1, 2020 bustle.com

• As young boys, Thomas Reed and his brother, Matthew, of the town of Sheffield in the southwestern corner of Massachusetts, encountered UFOs at least three separate times between 1966 and 1969. The September 1, 1969 encounter left a big impression. The brothers along with their mother and grandmother were driving over Sheffield Bridge when they all saw a bright light. Their station wagon came to a stop on the side of the road. Says Reed, “Everything got really calm. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane. There was like a barometric change in pressure…. Then we remember bits and pieces of being in like a hangar. Other people there. It was quite confusing.”

• Dozens of eyewitnesses reported seeing a disk-shaped flying object over Sheffield that night. Some people said that they were also taken and returned by the UFO. Episode 5 of Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries”, which explores the Berkshires UFO sighting, features other accounts of townspeople Tom Warner, Nancy Reed, Jane Green, and Melanie Kirchdorfer who corroborate the incident.

• In 2015, the Great Barrington Historical Society officially recognized the Reeds’ account as the first off-world UFO case in U.S. history. Later that year, the townspeople erected a 5,000-pound monument by the Sheffield Bridge to commemorate the Reed family’s story. But in 2019, local officials said that the monument had been erected on town property and removed it.

• While Reed has shared his story on a number of shows, including “Paranormal Paparazzi”, “Alien Mysteries”, and “Ancient Aliens”, he hasn’t always been happy with the coverage. He considers the term ‘abduction’ to be ‘cornball terminology’. “The papers and the stories have gotten so ridiculous that the truth has been lost,” says Reed. “Our family is very credible. We’re not a bunch of lunatics.”

Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, a reboot of the beloved ’80s and ’90s series of the same name, mostly focuses on murder and missing persons cases. But toward the end of the first season, things take a, uh, brief detour. Episode 5 explores the Berkshires UFO sighting that happened in Sheffield, Massachusetts on Sept. 1, 1969. And boy, is it a ride.

According to the Boston Globe, Thomas Reed claimed that he and his brother, Matthew, encountered UFOs at least three separate times between 1966 and 1969, but the last incident left the biggest impression on him. He told the radio station WAMC that he and his brother, mother, and grandmother were driving across Sheffield Bridge on that fateful evening when they all saw a bright light.

“Then that was the last thing we really remembered from the station wagon,” he said. “It came to a stop off the right side of the road. Everything got really calm. It was like being in the middle of a hurricane. There was like a barometric change in pressure…. Then we remember bits and pieces of being in like a hangar. Other people there. It was quite confusing.”

In 2015, the Great Barrington Historical Society officially recognized the Reeds’ account as the “first off-world/UFO case in U.S. history,” per WAMC. The program director at the time, Debbie Oppermann, told the Boston Globe that she knew they would get a lot of backlash, but that they’d “given it an awful lot of thought” and based on the evidence, “believe this is a significant and true event.”

The society was particularly convinced by the dozens of eyewitnesses from the same night, who reported seeing a disk-shaped flying object or else said they were also taken and returned by the UFO. Some of these accounts, including those of Tom Warner, Nancy Reed, Jane Green, and Melanie Kirchdorfer, are featured in Unsolved Mysteries.

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Space Force Details Structure of New Service

July 12, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Christen McCurdy June 30, 2020 (upi.com)

• Since the military branch’s inception in December 2019, more than 16,000 military members and civilians have been assigned to the Space Force, including over 8,500 active-duty members of the Air Force who have volunteered for Space Force. Said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett, “This is the most significant restructuring of space units undertaken by the United States since the establishment of Air Force Space Command in 1982,”

• General Jay Raymond, USSF Chief of Space Operations said in a June 30th press release, “This is an historic opportunity to launch the Space Force on the right trajectory to deliver the capabilities needed to ensure freedom of movement and deter aggression in, from and to space. How we organize the Space Force will have a lasting impact on our ability to respond with speed and agility to emerging threats in support of the National Defense Strategy and Space Strategy.”

• Under the new organizational structure, Space Force will be comprised of three field commands: the Space Operations Command (aka ‘SpOC’); Space Systems Command (aka ‘SSC’); and Space Training and Readiness Command (aka ‘STARCOM’).

• Space Operations Command is the “field command” comprised of commands, deltas and squadrons. The field organization would “consolidate and align all organize, train and equip mission execution” from space-related units formerly run by the Air Force. It will be headquartered at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado.

• Space Systems Command will be responsible for launch, developmental testing, on-orbit checkout and maintenance of USSF systems. It will also be responsible for developing and acquiring lethal space capabilities for warfighters.

• Space Training and Readiness Command will train and educate space professionals and develop combat-ready troops to address the challenges of combat in space.

• “Innovation and efficiency are driving our mission as we position the Space Force to respond with agility to protect our nation’s space capabilities and the American way of life,” said Barrett.

June 30 (UPI) — The Space Force will be comprised of three field commands, with many of the Air Force’s existing space acquisition organizations being moved into a newly created Space Systems Command, the service announced on Tuesday.

**Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett**

USSF officials said the field organization would “consolidate and align all organize, train and equip mission execution” from space-related units formerly run by the Air Force.

“This is an historic opportunity to launch the Space Force on the right trajectory to deliver the capabilities needed to ensure freedom of movement and deter aggression in, from and to space,” Gen. Jay Raymond, USSF chief of space operations, said in a press release. “How we organize the Space Force will have a lasting impact on our ability to respond with speed and agility to emerging threats in support of the National Defense Strategy and Space Strategy.”

The USSF field echelons will be called, in order of hierarchy, field commands, deltas and squadrons.

The service’s field commands will be called Space Operations Command, or SpOC, Space Systems Command, or SSC, and Space Training and Readiness Command, or STARCOM.

The first two field commands will be led by three-star general officers, and the third will be led by a two-star general.

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Japan Aims to Put Man on the Moon, Collaborate With US

July 11, 2020
ExoNews Editor

July 2, 2020 (wionews.com)
• The Japanese government announced the country’s 10-year ‘Basic Plan on Space Policy’. Japan aims to double its space industry budget from $11 billion to $22 billion by the early 2030s, and work with the United States to track missiles and use intelligence-gathering satellites during natural disasters.

• One of the key components of the plan is to put a Japanese man on the Moon by 2024, while working with NASA. Japan plans to utilize its resources to strengthen its space policy through the ‘whole-of-government’ approach, while promoting public-private collaborations.

• Japan recently inaugurated the first ‘Space Operations Squadron’ at Fuchu Air Base in Tokyo as an “Air Self-Defense Force”, which will become fully operational by 2023. The squadron will work with the US Space Command to protect the country’s satellites from damage, including armed attacks according to the ‘Basic Space Law’.

• Japan already operates the ‘Quasi-Zenith Satellite System’ to enhance the US’s Global Positioning System in the Asia-Oceania regions. Japan plans to launch a new GPS navigation system of its own in 2023 with 7 satellites. It is concerned over China’s capability to jam or attack satellites with other neighboring countries North Korea and Russia capable of upsetting the regional balance in arms technology.

• In January 2019, China became the first nation to land a rover on the dark side of the lunar surface. This month, China plans to launch a mission to remote-controlled robot on the surface of Mars. The US has already sent four exploratory vehicles to Mars, and intends to launch a fifth this summer which should arrive around February 2021.

• China recently completed its own GPS-type geolocation system which it began in the early 1990s. 120 countries including Pakistan and Thailand are using the Chinese GPS system for port traffic monitoring, to guide rescue operations during disasters and other services, according to Chinese state media.

• When Donald Trump announced the creation of the new Space Force in December, Russia accused the US of seeing space as a place to wage war. In return, the US accused China and Russia of developing tools for jamming and cyberattacks that directly threaten US satellites.

• The Pentagon has stressed that it intends to maintain superiority in space to protect its GPS satellites. In the midst of an escalating space war, the US and Japan have strengthened their “space relations” to build their joint space network and strengthen their satellite force over the next 10 years.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Japanese government for the first time in five years updated its Basic Plan on Space Policy while outlining the country’s 10-year basic space policy. It will work with the United States to not only track missiles but use intelligence-gathering satellites during natural disasters.

**Japan’s President, Shinzo Abe, and US President Donald Trump**

Japan aims to double its space industry by the early 2030s, which currently stands at $11 billion.

One of the key components of the plan is to put a Japanese man on the Moon by 2024 while working with NASA scientists.

Experts say Japan’s space policy is being led as a reaction to China’s 2013 Jade Rabbit lunar rover mission.

Public-private collaboration

“The Government of Japan, recognizing such huge potential of outer space and the severe situation that it is facing, hereby decides a basic plan on space policy for coming ten years with the view of the next two decades, and will secure sufficient budgetary allotments and other necessary resources, and effectively and efficiently utilize these resources to strengthen its space policy through the whole-of-government- approach, while promoting public-private collaborations,” the Japanse government said in a statement.

Air Self-Defense Force

Japan recently inaugurated the first Space Operations Squadron in Tokyo at Fuchu Air Base as an “Air Self-Defense Force” which will become fully operational by 2023.

It is meant to protect the country’s satellite from damage, including armed attacks while working with the US Space Command.

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How NASA Exposed Truth Behind ‘Spacecraft From Another World’

July 11, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sebastian Kettley June 30, 2020 (www.express.co.uk)

• In 1972, Apollo 16 was NASA’s fifth successful Moon landing. As astronauts John Young, Thomas Mattingly and Charles Duke were leaving the Moon, looking out of the Command Module window they saw a UFO – “saucer-shaped object with a dome top” – passing over the Moon.

• Said NASA: “The object appears momentarily near the Moon. As the camera pans, it moves out of the field of view. It reappears as the camera pans back.” The object was only seen for four seconds, but was recorded on a 16mm video camera, appearing in about 50 frames of the film.

• UFO expert Donald Ryles says, “This footage, if it is authentic, is quite amazing.” And in a 2003 article in the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Japanese engineer Hiroshi Nakamura says, “We believe that the object is a large extraterrestrial artefact. This is the only hypothesis that is consistent with the data.”

• But in a 2004 analysis report, using digitized Apollo 16 footage with high-resolution scans for a detailed analysis, NASA’s official explanation was that the object was not an alien UFO, but rather an extravehicular activity floodlight boom sticking out from the Command Module. “[T]he object appeared to move slightly with respect to the Moon, because of parallax brought about by slight camera motions and the nearness of the object to the camera. Said NASA: “All of the evidence in this analysis is consistent with the conclusion that the object in the Apollo 16 film was the EVA (spacewalk) floodlight/boom. There is no evidence in the photographic record to suggest otherwise.”

The unidentified object (UFO) was briefly filmed by the crew of NASA’s Apollo 16 mission in 1972 – the fifth successful Moon landing. Peering through the window of NASA’s Command Module spacecraft, an alien object appears to pass over the Moon. According to the US space agency, some have described the UFO as a “saucer-shaped object with a dome top”.

NASA said: “Beginning their return from the Moon to an April 27, 1972, splashdown, astronauts John Young, Thomas Mattingly and Charles Duke captured about four seconds of video footage of an object that seemed to look a lot like Hollywood’s version of a spacecraft from another world.”

The UFO was recorded on a 16mm video camera, appearing in about 50 frames of the film.

NASA said: “The object appears momentarily near the Moon.

“As the camera pans, it moves out of the field of view. It reappears as the camera pans back.”

In total, the object was only seen for four seconds through the Command Module’s window.

But the brief appearance was enough for alien enthusiasts to get excited.

UFO expert Donald Ryles said: “This footage, if it is authentic, is quite amazing.”

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Mysterious Orbs Fly in Diamond Formation Above Houston

July 11, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sofie Jackson June 30, 2020 (dailystar.co.uk)

• On June 27th, Lee Wutang was walking her dog near her home in south Houston at sunset, when her neighbor pointed out some lights moving across the sky. Wutang video recorded the UFO formation (see 2:50 minute video below).

• The video shows a group of silent, glowing spherical objects clustered together in the dark sky, moving horizontally. The objects are arranged in a vaguely diamond-shaped pattern, or like a kite that is sideways. An object on the far right appears to accelerate until it is closer to the others. “That speed rules out a drone or balloon to catch up to the others would mean, to me, someone is flying it!” write a YouTube commenter.

• “Wow! That’s nuts! Wow!” Wutang remarks in the video. “They’re kind of lining up.” A YouTube commenter notes that one of the objects “speeds up” to catch up with the others which indicates they are not merely being blown in the wind like a balloon. Another comments: “No flashing lights, so it’s not copters or planes. They look like they’re moving too fast to be drones.” “They’re definitely not balloons,” another view writes. “They very likely could be the real deal.”

• The video narrator insists that the lights are not “Starlink” (Elon Musk’s SpaceX internet communications low-earth-orbit satellite constellation). Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites fly in a straight line rather than this pattern. “Starlink is supposed to be equidistant in its coverage,” noted a YouTuber.

A strange video of white glowing orbs sailing across the night sky in Houston, Texas has sparked UFO conspiracy theories – with believers saying it’s “not Starlink”.

Footage shows a group of glowing spherical objects appear in the dark sky and move horizontally at a fair speed.

The objects are arranged in a vaguely diamond-shaped pattern, or like a kite that is sideways.

Bizarrely, an object on the far right appears to accelerate until it is closer to the others.

“Wow! That’s nuts! Wow!” says the woman filming on her phone.

“They’re kind of lining up too,” she adds.

“I was thinking they were drones,” her neighbour says.

Lee Wutang, who recorded the video, shared it with conspiracy theory YouTube channel The Hidden Underbelly 2.0 where it has been watched more than 1,000 times.

She told the paranormal channel: ”While out walking my dog, a neighbour pointed out these strange lights in the sky.”

Lee said she lives in the southern side of Houston and recorded the phenomenon about half an hour after sunset.

She added: “I didn’t observe any sounds coming from the objects.

“If you look closely at the first few seconds of the video you will see several lights clustered together (not in a singular line).

“I’m sharing this for the sake of sharing.

“Has anybody else seen anything similar?”

2:50 minute video of lights in formation over Houston (‘The Hidden Underbelly 2.0’ YouTube)

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What Happened at Roswell, the Birthplace of the Flying Saucer Legend?

July 10, 2020
ExoNews Editor

July 2, 2020 (timesnownews.com)

• On July 7, 1947, when ranch worker William Brazel, discovered unusual debris 75 miles north of the town of Roswell, New Mexico, he wouldn’t have believed that this would be the first incident in a long sequence of events, spanning over seven decades, to form a rich and mysterious conspiracy theory that continues to fascinate and bewilder UFO theorists today. The ‘Roswell Incident,’ as it has now come to be called, provided to many the proof of extraterrestrial visitation and spawned a cultural movement.

• In 1947, stories of ‘flying discs’ or ‘flying saucers’ had already been circulating in the national press. So when Brazel discovered the debris, did the previous news of flying saucers lead him to believe that this may have been of an extraterrestrial origin? Brazel informed Roswell’s sheriff, who, in turn contacted Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field. The following day saw the RAAF issue a shocking press release confirming that a “flying disk” had, indeed, crashed at a ranch near the town of Roswell.

• As scientists arrived to the area, a press conference was hastily put together to explain that debris tinfoil, sticks and rubber strips was no more than that from a fallen weather balloon. The Roswell Daily Record newspaper which initially claimed that the debris came from a UFO, corrected their story to fit the RAAF’s weather balloon narrative.

• The incident faded from the news until 1980 when authors Charles Berlitz and William Moore published a book called The Roswell Incident. This book alleged that the weather balloon story was nothing more than a cover-up. Then in 1994, the US Air Force released a report claiming that the debris actually came from a spy device designed to fly at high-altitudes over the former USSR to detect sound waves, called Project Mogul, with the purpose of monitoring the Soviet Union’s efforts to develop an atomic bomb.

• But the USAF report did not address the eyewitness accounts of bodies seen at the crash site. So a follow up report was drawn up in 1997 to debunk the theory that alien corpses were discovered and transported by the US government to a top secret facility, saying that the figures were merely parachute test-dummies.

• To many, the reaction of the US government remains suspicious. Some have contended that, in attempting to originally claim one version of events, and then immediately backtrack on it, the government’s response had the unintended effect of attracting even greater attention to, not just the incident, but the covert operation as well.

• Roswell has since become the unofficial UFO capital of the world, and houses the International UFO Museum and Research Center. Since 1996, Roswell has also been the home of an annual UFO festival that sees thousands of tourists congregate at the little town to conduct scientific experiments, workshops and seminars, perform plays, experience its planetarium and even dissect fake alien corpses as part of the spectacle.

The little town of Roswell, New Mexico has been made famous for an incident that took place in 1947 that several conspiracy theorists maintain was

**Major Jesse A. Marcel with tinfoil, sticks and rubber strip “debris”**

proof of extraterrestrial visitation.

When ranch worker William Brazel, discovered what he thought to be unusual debris 75 miles north of the little town of Roswell, New Mexico, on that fateful day of July 7, 1947, he wouldn’t have, in his wildest dreams, believed that his was to be the first incident, in a long sequence of events, spanning over seven decades, forming a rich and mysterious conspiracy theory that continues to fascinate and bewilder UFO theorists even today. The ‘Roswell Incident,’ as it has now come to be called, has spawned a cultural movement, that has defied both, reason and time.

A whole host of conspiracy theories have made their way into the mainstream over the last few decades, and, it appears that we may never actually learn the full truth, amid all the cacophony. Nevertheless, some facts of the tale remain undisputed beginning with Brazel’s discovery.

Stories of ‘flying discs’ or ‘flying saucers’ had already been circulating in the national press that year, and, perhaps, these may have been what led Brazel to believe that the tinfoil, sticks and rubber strips he uncovered, may have had extraterrestrial origins. He soon informed Roswell’s sheriff of his discovery, who, in turn, contacted Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Field (RAAF).

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NASA to Use a Steam-Powered Robot to Explore Icy Moons that Could Host Alien Life

July 9, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Chris Ciaccia June 30, 2020 (foxnews.com)

• NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory notes on its website that researchers are developing a soccer-ball sized robot known as SPARROW (Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds) that “would use steam propulsion to hop across the sort of icy terrains found on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.”

• “The terrain on Europa is likely highly complex,” said Gareth Meirion-Griffith, JPL roboticist and the lead researcher of the concept. “It could be porous, it might be riddled with crevasses, there might be meters-high penitentes” – long blades of ice known to form at high latitudes on Earth – “that would stop most robots in their tracks. But SPARROW has total terrain agnosticism; it has complete freedom to travel across an otherwise inhospitable terrain.” By using steam to power the robot, SPARROW could thrive in the “low-gravity environment” of Enceladus and Europa, hopping “many miles over landscapes that other robots would have difficulty navigating.”

• Enceladus and Europa both likely have oceans that exist under a layer of ice crust. In 2019, researchers determined Enceladus’ ocean is likely 1 billion years old. In 2018, researchers acknowledged they had found complex organic molecules, the “building blocks” for life on Enceladus.

• The SPARROW concept is dependent upon a lander to serve as a home base, which would “mine ice and melt it”, later heating it to create the steam necessary to power the SPARROW. It’s possible “many SPARROWs could be sent together, swarming around a specific location or splitting up to explore as much alien terrain as possible,” says NASA.
• In June, NASA announced the latest mission in its New Frontiers program known as Dragonfly, to explore Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, which could also potentially host extraterrestrial life. NASA has also confirmed a future mission to Europa.

NASA’s plans to explore the ice moons of the Solar System are getting more detail as the space agency is developing a robot that would use steam to power itself in deep space.

In a post to its website, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory notes researchers are developing a soccer-ball sized robot known as SPARROW (Steam Propelled Autonomous Retrieval Robot for Ocean Worlds) that “would use steam propulsion to hop across the sort of icy terrains found on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.”

“The terrain on Europa is likely highly complex,” said Gareth Meirion-Griffith, JPL roboticist and the lead researcher of the concept, in the statement. “It could be porous, it might be riddled with crevasses, there might be meters-high penitentes” – long blades of ice known to form at high latitudes on Earth – “that would stop most robots in their tracks. But SPARROW has total terrain agnosticism; it has complete freedom to travel across an otherwise inhospitable terrain.”

Both moons have been mentioned as candidates to possibly host life previously, including one study published in December 2019 that suggested they could be “indigenous.”

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Tom DeLonge Joins Ex-Government Agent to Hunt for Truth About UFOs

July 8, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Natasha Wynarczyk June 28, 2020 (dailystar.co.uk)

• Tom DeLonge, the former rock star with the band Blink-182, has teamed up with Luis Elizondo who ran the Pentagon’s UFO research program for eight years, to create a television documentary called “Unidentified”. DeLonge and Elizondo use eyewitness ¬accounts and -unseen footage to ¬reveal details of the US government’s alleged awareness – and cover-up – of extra-terrestrial life forms visiting Earth.

• “My gut tells me we are going to be able to pull this all together,” DeLonge told the Daily Star. “One of the biggest ¬misconceptions is that we are only experiencing these phenomena in modern time. There are a lot of unanswered questions about a lot of things going back thousands of years. In ancient Indian texts, for example, there’s descriptions of flying crafts with twisting -engines, similar to what people have seen in the past 60 years. I have a feeling we are going to get to a place where our ¬understanding of things such as the pyramids might change as we learn more about what these are and where they come from.”

• DeLonge has long been a believer in UFOs. In 2017, he founded the institute, ‘To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science’, and became one of America’s most prominent UFO researchers. Last September, the U.S. Navy admitted that some of the ¬declassified videos published by ‘To The Stars’ were in fact “unidentified aerial phenomena”. DeLonge says, “People have asked me…if I feel vindicated because I was out there in the front taking arrows for everybody. I actually don’t. I signed up to be that person for a little bit of time until the facts came out and started turning the tide of public opinion.” “So I don’t go around going: ‘Oh, I told you so’. I go around saying: ‘Well if you thought that was a lot to digest, just wait for the next few years’.”

• Last year DeLonge worked on the first series of ‘Unidentified’ with Elizondo. “I’ve had a long time learning about this stuff, and being around people such as Luis and my team who know a lot more about it than I do,” said DeLonge. “It’s given me the ability to look at something that is hard to digest for a lot of people.” In 2012, Elizondo sensationally quit the Pentagon to become a freelance investigator, as he believed the US government was covering up the true extent of UFOs. “This is a serious topic that affects us all,” says Elizondo. “We are now at a point where there is so much overwhelming evidence out there.”

• “UFO sightings in the U.S. picked up after the country started increasing its nuclear ¬activities during World War Two,” notes Elizondo. “There is some information that shows unidentified aerial phenomena may have interest in our nuclear capabilities.” “If something is flying over your most sensitive facilities and has the ability to interfere with them, it can be a big problem.”

• DeLonge says the ¬final episode of last year’s season of ‘Unidentified’ was “really eye-opening”. “Luis and I met with members of the Italian government… We spoke to one individual and his partner who were involved in an investigation in Sicily and the Mediterranean.” “They had photos of objects, they had some damage done to a helicopter, a lot of sightings.” “[T]here was a pattern of things that had been happening around the world that were definitely going on there.”

• “The last conversation Tom and I have on camera at the end of series one is: ‘Are the American people really prepared to handle what comes next?’” says Elizondo. “We have now taken this conversation to the point where the Department of Defense and our military apparatus has acknowledged the reality of the phenomena. I think we are beginning to accept the fact there’s things in our airspace behaving in ways we don’t understand. We know these things are real.”

EX-Blink-182 star Tom DeLonge has teamed up with a ¬former US government agent to finally uncover the truth about UFOs.

Tom and Luis Elizondo, who spent eight years running a ¬secret Pentagon programme that investigated alien sightings in America, are presenting a TV documentary series called Unidentified.

In the show the pair use eyewitness ¬accounts and ¬unseen footage to ¬reveal details of the US government’s alleged awareness – and potential cover-up – of extra-terrestrial life forms.

And Tom, 44, reckons we might one day even discover a link between ancient structures, such as the pyramids, and alien visitors.
“My gut tells me we are going to be able to pull this all together,” he tells the Daily Star.

“One of the biggest ¬misconceptions is that we are only experiencing these phenomena in modern time. There are a lot of unanswered questions about a lot of things going back thousands of years.

“In ancient Indian texts, for example, there’s descriptions of flying crafts with twisting ¬engines, similar to what people have seen in the past 60 years.
“I have a feeling we are going to get to a place where our ¬understanding of things such as the pyramids might change as we learn more about what these are and where they come from.”

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Idaho Top State for UFO Sightings in 2020

July 7, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Journal Staff June 27, 2020 (idahostatejournal.com)

• According to the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), Idaho was the top U.S. state per capita for UFO reports with 164 UFO sightings so far in 2020.

• According to a report by Satellite Internet, using the data from NUFORC, 2020 has been an especially busy period for reports of extraterrestrial activity. During the first three months of 2020, sightings are up by 112% compared with the same time period in 2019. There were 6,340 sightings in 2019, up from 3,456 sightings in 2018.

• Idaho’s 164 UFO sightings equals 9.18 sightings per 100,000 people. Other top states included Montana, New Hampshire, Main and New Mexico. UFOs apparently avoid the Texas sky, reporting only 1.29 sightings per 100,000 people, the fewest per-capita. Reports of glowing objects above the foothills of Southeast Idaho have recently made a buzz on social media. But police said they received no calls about the sightings.

• Most sightings are later identified as drones, satellites or weather balloons. But up to 5% of UFO sightings remain unexplained. The National UFO Reporting Center accepts tips via a hotline at 206-722-3000 and an online form here.

Idaho was the top U.S. state for UFO sightings per capita during the first three months of 2020, which was an especially busy period for reports of extraterrestrial activity, according to a new report by Satellite Internet.

The internet company used data from the National UFO Reporting Center and issued per-capita rankings based on state population data.

Idaho residents have reported 164 UFO sightings — or 9.18 sightings per 100,000 people — according to the study. Other top states included Montana, New Hampshire, Main and New Mexico, which is home to Roswell, renowned for an alleged UFO crash in 1947 and home to the International UFO Museum and Research Center.

Reports of a pattern of glowing objects above the foothills of Southeast Idaho, described by paranormal enthusiasts as UFOs, recently made a buzz on social media. Pocatello police said they received no calls about the sightings, however. Furthermore, in April the Pentagon reportedly released three videos of suspected UFOs captured by infrared cameras.

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Swiss Start-up ClearSpace Has Support from Microsoft to Clean Up Space

July 6, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Microsoft Schweiz June 22, 2020 (news.microsoft.com)

• With a rapidly increasing number of satellites launched every year, the population of man-made debris orbiting Earth has exploded over the last ten years. Today there are more than 3,000 failed satellites orbiting Earth. These uncontrollable objects present risks of explosions or collisions with other satellites.

• After repeated notifications by the US Air Force Space Observation Center of collision risks between the SwissCube and other Space objects, the European Space Agency selected ClearSpace to execute the first-ever capture and removal of an uncontrolled satellite orbiting at 7 Kilometers per second at more than 600 Kilometer above sea level. The mission, called ClearSpace-1, is scheduled for 2025. In the meantime, ClearSpace, based in Ecublens, Switzerland, will focus on developing state-of-the-art technologies for sensor fusion, autonomous navigation and space robotics, integrating them into an agile satellite chaser.

• Luc Piguet, CEO and founder of ClearSpace, said, “ClearSpace-1…is the first milestone on the road to a future Space debris removal service at an affordable cost. …We are honored and delighted to have been selected for the Global Social Entrepreneurship Program and look forward to taking our collaboration to the next level – benefitting from Microsoft’s deep expertise and global reach while pursuing our quest in a cutting-edge, secure environment.”

• Andrew Reid, Head of the Swiss Microsoft for Startups program is very excited about the support from Microsoft saying, “The fact that ClearSpace has been selected to join Microsoft’s Global Social Entrepreneurship Program is a well-deserved recognition of the achievements and commitment of the entire team. This enables us to support ClearSpace on a global level and with even more international resources.”

Today there are more than 3,000 failed satellites orbiting Earth. These uncontrollable objects present risks of explosions or collisions with other satellites. With a rapidly increasing number of satellites launched every year, the population of man-made debris orbiting Earth has exploded over the last ten years. Keeping space clean in order to ensure sustainable growth in the future has become a huge challenge.

ClearSpace is committed to solve this problem. The international team, which brings together many years of experience from science and research (EPFL, MIT), agencies (ESA, Nasa/JPL and DLR) and major prime integrators (Airbus, Thales, Ruag, SSTL and others), can also count on the support of a high-ranking Advisory Board, including Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier. The idea emerged from the joint work of some of the founding members of ClearSpace at the EPFL Space Center after the launch of the SwissCube satellite in 2009. The team decided to tackle the problem following repeated notifications by the US Air Force Space observation center of collision risks between the SwissCube and other Space objects.

Pioneering the capture and removal of space debris

The European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to break the ground into sustainable Space development by pioneering this landmark mission and selected ClearSpace to lead it. ClearSpace’s mission is to execute the first-ever capture and removal of an uncontrolled satellite, that is orbiting at 7 Kilometers per second at more than 600 Kilometer above sea level. The team, in collaboration with renowned industrial partners, will focus on developing state-of-the-art technologies for sensor fusion, autonomous navigation and space robotics, integrating them into an agile chaser. The mission called ClearSpace-1 is scheduled for 2025.

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The Curious Case of Crop Circles in Ngatea NZ

July 5, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Scott Bainbridge June 23, 2020 (newsroom.co.nz)

• On September 4, 1969, Bert O’Neill was walking on his farm near Ngatea, New Zealand (in the north just southeast of Auckland) and noticed that his normally green Manuka trees appeared to be silvery in color on the tips. O’Neill came to a formation of trees that were completely dead and bleached with a silvery color. They formed a perfectly round circular patch 142 centimeters in circumference. In the center of the circle were three very clear and deep V-shaped impressions in the ground, evenly spaced, giving the appearance that some object with three long tripod legs came down and landed there, apparently with such great force that it cut deep down to the roots of the trees.

• At 7.30pm on that same day, two Straits Air Freight Express pilots reported an unidentified flying object in the form of a fluorescent blue pulsating light out of the pilots’ side window.

• Several nights later, O’Neill told some friend about the strange occurrence. They told him that there had been a UFO sighting a few nights earlier in Wellington, further south, and wondered if the two events could be linked. Was it a spacecraft that landed on O’Neill’s farm? Was the damage and silver sheen on the trees caused by the spacecraft blasting off again?

• One of O’Neill’s friends phoned Harvey Cooke, president of the Tauranga Science Space Research Group, who traveled immediately to the farm. Cooke told New Zealand Geographic in 1997 that the circle had not been made by humans. The three equally spaced depressions into the Manuka formed an equilateral triangle, and was the result of an estimated 20 tons of pressure. Cooke also noted that “the toes had been moved out from the pad after the object had landed. The ground had been pushed away and the flat end cut through the roots of the Manuka.”

• The story made front page news around the country. The reporter for the Thames Star, Kingsley Field, said, “The thing I do recall quite clearly was the three triangular footmarks. They would have been the size of, say, bread-and-butter plates, and were embedded quite deeply in the ground, sort of sloping. Each of them had a cross in the center and a hole in the middle … Many believed the triangular grooves were caused by a UFO or some kind of spacecraft blasting off. There were a lot of sceptics too, but really nobody had any logical explanation.”

• Before long, reporters, UFO enthusiasts and picnicking families began to arrive in droves to see the phenomenon. For researchers like Harvey Cooke it was extremely frustrating to have thousands of people traipsing over the farm, disturbing potentially vital evidence which could prove the existence of life in outer space.

• Guy Speedy who lived near the O’Neill farm said, “The circles had a huge impact on Ngatea. The population swelled as soon as the papers wrote about it. Cars were clogging up the roads and hundreds of people just trod all over poor Bert’s farm, so he couldn’t get any work done. He would’ve made a hell of a lot of money by charging at the gate. I think it didn’t take long before he grew sick of the whole thing, the attention, and it just went on for months.”

• Cooke collected soil and vegetation samples and consulted members of the University of Auckland’s UFO research group and the New Zealand Scientific Space Research Group. Horticulturist John Stuart-Menzies, who initially suspected the cause was spray damage, changed his mind and said he couldn’t determine what had caused the dead foliage. A Geiger counter showed signs of shortwave radiation, which grew stronger in the thicker parts of the timber. New Zealand’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, however, wanted no part of it.

• Stuart-Menzies carried out his own tests on the foliage samples. On October 6, 1969, he released his findings: “Some kind of short-wave high-frequency radiation has cooked the material from the inside outwards. The effects appear to have been instantaneous. The energy received has reduced the pith to black carbon without the outsides showing any signs of burning.” “I know of no earthly source of energy which could have produced these effects. A meteorite or lightning couldn’t do this, and it has been too sudden for combustion. Some outside object appears to have landed on the spot, and in taking off emitted the energy which cooked the plants.”

• Stuart-Menzies’ conclusion caused a media frenzy. The people wanted to know why the government’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research wasn’t officially investigating the incident, but the department refused to comment.

• Shortly thereafter, cattle on a farm in Puketutu, just southwest of Ngatea, were spooked at their drinking pond. Reeds on an island in the middle of the pond had been flattened into a circular shape about 25 meters across. The reeds appeared to have been burned, pressed down and spread outwards in a spiral pattern, and there were tripod marks in the middle of the circle.

• A family near Dargaville, further south still, reported seeing what they thought was a low-flying aeroplane on fire, like a torpedo with flames shooting from the back, for a few minutes one night. The following day, four circles measuring a bit over five meters in diameter were found on a hill on a nearby farm.

• Finally, a month after the initial discovery of the Ngatea circle, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research sent scientists to take and analyze samples from the site. But the place had been ransacked by sightseers and souvenir collectors. So they relied on the material collected by Harvey Cooke. The resulting official government report claimed that the samples were consistent with death from a saprophytic fungus attack. There was no mention of the triangular grooves. The government scientists refused to provide any further explanation. Locals were angered because they knew that this fungus attacked dead trees but didn’t cause the trees’ death.

• Ngatea resident Peter Thompson was 10 years old at the time. He recalls that there were those who were absolutely certain that it was a UFO encounter. That year, in 1969, almost every float in the annual Santa parade was a UFO or had some kind of space theme. For the rest of his life, Harvey Cooke remained adamant that the Ngatea Circle was caused by visiting extraterrestrials.

**Ngatea depressed crop circle in 1969**

At 7.30pm on September 4, 1969, two Straits Air Freight Express pilots reported an unidentified flying object in the form of a fluorescent blue pulsating light out the pilot’s side window. Earlier that day, farmer Bert O’Neill had taken a walk around his farm near Ngatea (New Zealand) near Thames. He’d noticed that some of his normally green manuka trees appeared to be silvery in colour on the tips. He thought it was a bit odd, so decided to investigate. He couldn’t quite believe what he found.

O’Neill came to a formation of trees that were completely dead and had been bleached a silvery colour. They formed a circular patch, perfectly round, measuring 142 centimetres in circumference.

Within the centre of the circle were three very clear and deep V-shaped impressions in the ground. They were evenly spaced, giving the appearance of some object with three long tripod legs coming down and landing with great force. The marks were pushed into the earth with so much force that it had cut deep down to the roots of the trees.

O’Neill had never seen anything like it and could not fathom what the hell had caused it.

Several nights later, he had a group of friends over for dinner and he regaled them with tales of what he had seen. The group were stunned. Talk turned to the UFO sighting in Wellington a few nights earlier. One guest half-joked that both events might be linked, suggesting that the Martians had decided to pay us a visit. Had they landed their spacecraft at that spot on the farm? Had the craft’s legs caused the deep grooves in the earth? Was the damage caused by the spacecraft blasting off again?

The next day, one of the dinner guests phoned Harvey Cooke, president of the Tauranga Science Space Research Group, who travelled immediately to the farm.

In 1997, Cooke told New Zealand Geographic he was adamant that the circle had not been made by humans. He recalled how the three equally spaced depressions into the manuka formed an equilateral triangle, the result of an estimated 20 tonnes of pressure. He also noted that “the toes had been moved out from the pad after the object had landed. The ground had been pushed away and the flat end cut through the roots of the manuka.”

Cooke collected a number of samples and consulted members of the University of Auckland’s UFO research group and the New Zealand Scientific Space Research Group. The scientists made haste. The story had become front page news around the country. Initially, there was some suggestion that the damage had been caused by a neighbour’s weed killer. But they denied it, and a weed expert confirmed that even a high level of spraying would not cause the extent of damage seen in the paddock.

Kingsley Field, then a junior reporter for the Thames Star, reported the story. He says, “I headed out there and saw these peculiar circles. It was a strange looking formation and not easy explainable. I had absolutely no idea what caused it.

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Tom DeLonge Says the Government Has Information That Would Change the World

July 4, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Emily Brown June 29, 2020 (unilad.co.uk)

• Tom DeLonge, 44 (pictured above), former member of the rock band Blink-182 and currently a founding member of the UFO research organization ‘To the Stars Academy’, grew up in a ‘hardcore’ Christian family. But once he was touring with his band, there was ‘nothing to do but read books’ and his eyes were opened to different belief systems. He was consumed by an obsession to find out why we’re here on this planet and what it’s all about. The subject of aliens and UFOs seemed to encompass everything he wanted to know – dealing with religious beliefs systems, the potential for life out in the universe, and different ways of thinking and understanding new technologies.

• DeLonge says there are ‘thousands and thousands of documents and pieces of evidence (about UFOs) that have come out from the [US] government’, whether they be from ‘flag level (military) officers, or CIA declassification, or people that work on programs’. He is convinced that government officials are hiding information that could change life as we know it. He and fellow ‘To The Stars’ researcher, Luis Elizondo, who headed a Pentagon UFO research program, have created the History Channel show, “Unidentified”, which just began its second season. The show discusses sightings, patterns and experiences that suggest we’re not alone in the universe. “Do they have things that I think would blow it wide open and change the world in 10 seconds? Yes, I [think they] do,” says DeLonge. “But I don’t have any evidence of that myself, and I can’t prove that to the world. But I have my reasons, and I hope that one day that does happen, in a constructive way that doesn’t scare people.”

• DeLonge believes the government has its reasons for keeping information classified. It could be ’embarrassing or scary’, or even dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. But he stressed that government officials ‘don’t have a monopoly on info’. He says that his own research academy has ‘a great deal of information’ it’s hoping to release ‘when the time is right – when it makes sense and when [they] can do it respectfully and in a way where it’s not adversarial with [their] partners in the US government.’

• DeLonge says that humans are making ‘gigantic strides’ on the subject of extraterrestrial life. Through ‘To The Stars’, he hopes everyone will be ‘part of this awakening’ in a way that is ‘scientifically accurate, scientifically based, and credible.’ He points to a memo by US Air Force General Nathan Twining in the early 1950s, in which Twining states, ‘not only are these (aliens) real, but they’re not visionary, they’re not fictitious’. Said DeLonge, “I remember reading that in my early 20s and I was just floored by it, I was like ‘oh my God’. People [ask] ‘where’s the evidence?’, well (Twining) came out and said it. That’s just one of tens of thousands of documents that have come out on the stuff but… that was one particular piece that I’ve always remembered.”

• In his UFO research, DeLonge started to notice patterns emerging. Then he started to draw attention from ‘a lot of people from the government’ and found himself in ‘a little hot water’ as a result of his findings. While he couldn’t go into detail, DeLonge admitted to finding something that ‘really scared him’ during his research. “If you’re in the ocean and you saw a great white shark, does that mean everything in the ocean is a great white shark? No, it means that one particular species is pretty dangerous if you’re dealing with it in a certain environment. It doesn’t mean that blue whales are dangerous, or that dolphins are dangerous. You’ve got to think of the universe as teeming with life and different types of supernatural forces.”

• “I think that we’re dealing with multiple frequencies of existence as well as linear travel,” explains DeLonge. “So my analogy is: you’re in the ocean and you see a jellyfish, then you see a dolphin, then you see a blue whale and you think you’ve seen it all. Then, all of a sudden, a coke can drifts by and you’re like, ‘What’s that? What the hell?’, when you don’t even know there’s land and humans making cans of soda. You’ve got to think of the universe that way – it’s not just one group, it’s not just one thing, it’s everything. It’s infinite, so I just think we have to wrap our heads around that.”

• The government might have details that would blow our minds, but it’s key that those in charge understand it first. DeLonge admits that he would ‘absolutely be thinking the same thing’ when it comes to keeping information classified and making sure ‘people don’t lose control of their emotions over a subject that we don’t even understand yet’. The government is not ‘one symbiotic, perfect functioning organism. There may be some people who agree with keeping information secret while others are keen to share it. But DeLonge says that, ultimately, ‘what everyone’s after are peaceful, progressive conversations that don’t scare people [and] that can help us achieve the things we need to achieve with regards to (the extraterrestrial) subject.’ Until then, the best we can do is explore the evidence and keep an open mind.

DeLonge, 44, has long been open about his interest in aliens; a subject he first delved into while on tour with Blink-182 before the days of smartphones, when there was ‘nothing to do but read books’ during long trips.

The musician grew up in a religious household, his mother a ‘hardcore devout Christian lady’ who made the family go to church multiple times a week, so it wasn’t until he started touring that DeLonge realised his mother’s beliefs weren’t upheld by everyone.

DeLonge told UNILAD that learning about different belief systems really ‘opened his eyes’ and incited an ‘obsession’ with finding out ‘what is this all about? Why are we here? Is it really an accident?’

The UFO enthusiast was determined to discover how humans could ‘change the way we think so we can progress as a species’, and found that the subject of aliens seemed to encompass everything he wanted to know, dealing with ‘religious beliefs systems, the potential for life out in the universe, different ways of thinking and [the] potential for understanding new types of technologies.’

DeLonge ultimately put music on the backburner to focus on his research with the help of his company To The Stars Academy, and in recent years the team has made waves with their work, one of the most recent accomplishments being the release of three videos showing UFOs.

The former frontman further explores the subject alongside Luis Elizondo, who headed the US government’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) between 2007-2012, in the new series of Unidentified.

In the show, airing on BLAZE between June 29 and July 4 as part of UFO week, the researchers discuss sightings, patterns and experiences that suggest we’re not alone in the universe.

While it can be hard to wrap your head around the idea of life beyond Earth, DeLonge has stressed there’s ‘thousands and thousands of documents and pieces of evidence that have come out from the [US] government’, whether they be from ‘flag level officers or Central Intelligence Agency declassification or people that work on programmes’.

In spite of the abundance of information that’s been made public however, DeLonge is convinced officials are holding some information close to their chests; information that could change life as we know it.

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Air Force Reports on Aircrew Encounters with Unidentified Flying Craft

July 4, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Joseph Trevithick and Tyler Rogoway June 26, 2020 (thedrive.com)

• In 2019, reports emerged from US Navy pilots of UFO encounters off the East Coast and in the Middle East. (see previous ExoArticles here and here) Since then The War Zone website has collected Navy and Air Force incident reports through Freedom of Information Act requests. In this article, The War Zone has compiled 25 reports obtained through FOIA from the Air Force Safety Center.

• The UFO issue, especially involving US military aircraft, was thrust back into the public spotlight in June when the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence demanded a full accounting of matters pertaining to UFOs from the Pentagon and the US Intelligence Community. (see previous ExoArticle here) The incident reports listed below may be among the information provided to the Senate Committee.

• Only the November 1, 2017 report involves a combat jet and only the April 21, 2015 report involves ‘tactical aircraft’, which The War Zone considers “extremely odd”. Fighter jets and tactical aircraft have the most capable radars and other sensors to spot and track small, unidentified objects. Additional reports may be getting passed through separate or even classified systems, outside the normal reporting channels for military aviation safety incidents. The Black Vault received a number of internal Air Force Emails via FOIA related to this topic, including one that said, “Currently the Air Force is not working any specific guidelines for reporting UAPs.”

• The 25 reports show the steady rise of lower-end drone activity – an increasing issue for commercial air operations. Regulators around the world, including the Federal Aviation Administration, have struggled to develop rules and guidelines that are practical and enforceable. This underscores the fact that small drones present real safety concerns to U.S. military activities at home, as well as abroad. The proliferation of cheap but capable drone technology enables non-state actors, in addition to the military forces of nation-states, to increasingly employ unmanned aircraft for surveillance and actual kinetic attacks on and off the battlefield. This is a threat that the DoD was astonishingly too incurious to recognize.

• #1 June 17, 2014: 27th Special Operations Wing – The 27th Special Operations Wing at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico reported an unidentified fixed-wing aircraft flying under Visual Flight Rules intruding into the nearby R5104 range area between 11:04 and 11:22am. Communications could not be established with the aircraft.

• #2 July 2, 2014: 58th Special Operations Wing – An “unidentified helicopter” flew under the two aircraft at a distance of between 100 and 300 feet near Sorocco, New Mexico. The HC-130P’s crew first spotted a bright light near the aircraft. An accompanying HH-60G crew also saw it. The light grew brighter, blinding the pilots using night-vision goggles. No communication was established with the unidentified helicopter.

• #3 July 24, 2014: 317th Airlift Group – A C-130J Hercules airlift had a near-collision with an unidentified light fixed-wing aircraft approximately eight miles to the south of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State, during a training mission.

• #4 November 21, 2014: 121st Aerial Refueling Wing – A KC-135R tanker was given notice of a potential hazard from its Traffic Collision Avoidance System while climbing away from Wilmington Airpark near Wilmington, Ohio.

• #5 February 7, 2015: 45th Space Wing – An HC-130 Combat King combat search and rescue and tanker aircraft had an encounter with what was described as “a possible remote control aircraft” with a “flashing red light”. Personnel at Patrick Air Force Base tower spotted the remote control aircraft and contacted the Brevard Country Sheriff’s Office to investigate along with the Air Force Security Forces Squadron at Patrick. They found no further evidence of the object, which had been flying an estimated 900 to 1,000 feet in the air.

• #6 April 21, 2015: 379th Air Expeditionary Wing – A KC-135R tanker at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar visually saw an “unidentified aircraft” while conducting an aerial refueling mission over Afghanistan near Kandahar, but the object did not appear on radar with the tanker plane or air traffic control.

• #7 May 15, 2015: 100th Aerial Refueling Wing – A KC-135R Stratotanker had several near collisions with an unidentified aircraft while on approach to its home base of RAF Mildenhall, UK. When the tanker descended to 2,600 feet as part of their approach, air traffic controllers warned them about another aircraft directly below them. The crew climbed to 3,600 feet to avoid the craft. The crew never visually saw the other aircraft or received any radio calls from another plane warning of a potential collision.

• #8 May 21, 2015: 452nd Air Mobility Wing – A C-17A Globemaster III airlifter had a near-collision with an “unidentified remotely piloted aircraft” while on approach to March Air Reserve Base in California. The pilot said that the flying object came within 15 feet of the aircraft, passing it above and to the left.

• #9 July 25, 2015: 129th Rescue Wing – An MC-130P Combat Shadow search and rescue tanker aircraft had to take evasive action to avoid hitting an unidentified object during a nighttime training mission near Niagara Falls International Airport in New York State. While on approach to the airport, the pilot saw through their night-vision goggles an “object [that] appeared to be illuminated by a single external light” and that looked to “be accelerating from left to right” in front of them. The pilot took evasive action and passed directly over the object.

• #10 August 13, 2015: 452nd Air Mobility Wing – A KC-135R tanker suffered a near collision with what the crew described as a “quad-copter-type drone” 100 feet below the craft while flying a pattern around March Air Reserve Base in California. It continued on in the opposite direction from the KC-135R and “disappeared from sight.”

• #11 January 15, 2016: 45th Space Wing Wing – An American detachment at RAF Ascension Island, a territory of the United Kingdom in the South Atlantic Ocean, reported seeing an “unauthorized personal drone” at two separate locations. The RAF pilots did not see the drone nor did it interfere with their landing, but the 45th Space Wing described the incident as having a “high accident potential.”

• #12 April 21, 2016: 193rd Special Operations Wing – An EC-130J(SJ) aircraft had a near collision with a small drone flying at around 4,000 feet while in contact with aircraft controllers at Philadelphia International Airport. The crew initially thought they saw a bird, until they saw a flashing red light pass 3 feet above the left wing.

• #13 January 25, 2017: 27th Special Operations Wing – An unidentified private fixed-wing aircraft flying at around 10,000 feet intruded into restricted airspace near Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico at 4:10pm. Cannon’s Radar Approach Control lost the signal from the aircraft’s transponder by 4:37.

• #14 June 9, 2017: 12th Flying Training Wing – A T-6A Texan II trainer had a near collision with a “red unmanned aerial system” while flying south of the Mobile Bay Bridge in Alabama. “The UAS was spotted approximately one half to one wingtip away from the EA [Event Aircraft] and was co-altitude.”

• #15 November 1, 2017: 48th Fighter Wing – An F-15E Strike performed evasive maneuvers to avoid colliding with an “unidentified flying object” while flying near its home base at RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. “The object passed over the right side of the aircraft with an estimated minimal separation of 100 feet.”

• #16 January 20, 2018: 47th Flying Training Wing – A T-1 Jayhawk training jet reported a near-collision with an “unidentifiable unmanned drone” while on approach to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in Arizona, 4.2 miles from the airport’s runway. The aircraft was flying at 1,300 feet and flew right under the drone. Both pilots identified it as a UAV due to the fact it was hovering, and they saw a small white steady light emanating as they passed underneath it.

• #17 February 7, 2018: 71st Flying Training Wing – A T-38C Talon jet trainer had a near collision with a drone while on approach to Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, coming within 300 feet of the jet trainer.

• #18 February 5, 2018: 325th Fighter Wing – The pilot of a transient US Navy T-6A Texan II aircraft was on approach to Tyndall Air Force Base at 1000 feet when they spotted an unmanned aircraft 1,200 feet off his left wing. The pilot “noticed sun glint off of metal, this is when he realized the black object was not a bird and that it was moving to the southeast.”

• #19 March 26, 2018: 45th Space Wing – The pilot of a civilian helicopter flying near Patrick Air Force Base in Florida “had a model airplane come within about 100 feet.” All the other major details about this incident are redacted, but it appears to have led to the issuance of a formal Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) regarding the potentially hazardous situation.

• #20 September 10, 2018: 86th Airlift Wing – A C-130Js had a near collision with an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle while flying near Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The report describes the drone as “spherical with an approximated 6 feet diameter top mounted rotor.”

• #21 March 6, 2019: 12th Flying Training Wing – A T-1 Jayhawk training jet reported seeing “a quad copter or non-traditional aircraft” that was “silver in color” while flying in Mississippi on a low-level training flight. “The UAS was stationary or near stationary” and was seen within one nautical mile of the T-1 hovering at around 1,500 feet.

• #22 March 13, 2019: 445th Airlift Wing – A C-17A Globemaster III airlifter had to take evasive action to avoid a small drone during a training sortie on March 13, 2019. The aircraft was flying at approximately 3,500 feet over Ohio. “The pilot flying (PF) observed a white sUAS [small unmanned aerial system] with either brown or black accents or propellers just below the [Aircraft]…. within 50 feet.”

• #23 March 21, 2019: 552nd Air Control Wing – An E-3B Sentry flying at 3,000 feet reported that a “DJI style quad-copter/unmanned aerial system” passed by the aircraft approximately 20 feet below its number four engine. The crew also told air traffic controllers at Oklahoma City Approach that “they came close to one.”

• #24 July 25, 2019: 445th Airlift Wing – A C-17A Globemaster III airlifter, when departing RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, “visually acquired an orange colored small unmanned aerial system as it passed approximately 50′ below the left wing” after climbing out to an altitude of 7,500 feet. “

• #25 September 9, 2019: 109th Airlift Wing – An LC-130H Hercules airlifter reported a near-miss with a quad-copter-type drone while conducting a proficiency flight around Albany International Airport. During a climb out at 1,100 feet, the crew spotted the drone, yellow in color, approximately 300 feet away laterally and between 100 and 200 feet below.

Last year, reports emerged about Navy fighter pilots having numerous encounters with unidentified flying objects while flying in restricted airspace off the East Coast of the United States. Details remain limited, though The War Zone has been steadily collecting more and more information that could help explain many of those incidents. At the same time, curiously, there haven’t been virtually any revelations about similar encounters with other U.S. military services’ flying branches, especially the Air Force, which is the entity primarily responsible for safeguarding America’s airspace.

In May, The War Zone was first to publish details from a number of hazard reports from the Naval Safety Center, obtained via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). regarding interactions between that service’s aircraft and unknown aerial craft that offered an additional look into what might be happening, why, and how these encounters were or weren’t getting reported. We can now share information from 25 similar reports obtained through the FOIA from the Air Force Safety Center.

This whole issue, especially regarding U.S. military aircraft encountering unidentified objects when flying over or near the United States proper, was thrust back into the public consciousness just this week. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that it was looking to get a full accounting of the issue from the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Pentagon. As part of a report accompanying the latest draft of the Senate version Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the Committee members included language asking for a detailed review of exactly what information about these kinds of incidents exists now, how new data is getting collected, how this is all shared within the federal government, and what threats these aerial objects might pose, including whether they might reflect technological breakthroughs by potential adversaries. These Air Force reports, as well as the previously disclosed ones that the Navy has on file, could easily be among the information that the Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense might end up compiling for Senators to review.

The 25 reports that The War Zone obtained, which cover various types of incidents around the world and come from the Air Force Safety Automated System (AFSAS) database, came in response to a request that asked for copies of “any flight incident, hazard, or similar reports that the Air Force Safety Center received during the calendar years 2013 to 2019 that deal with encounters that any Air Force aircraft had anywhere in the world with any unidentified aerial objects.”

This date range was meant to capture a snapshot of similar experiences that the Air Force might have been having around when Navy pilots said they saw a spike in the number of encounters with unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAP, more commonly known as unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, off the East Coast of the United States through the end of the most recent complete calendar year.

Personal identifying information is redacted throughout the Air Force reports. “Safety investigation boards’ Findings, Evaluations, Analyses, Conclusions, and Recommendations are exempt from disclosure,” the Air Force Safety Center also said in a letter accompanying the release, citing various Air Force and Department of Defense regulations, as well as relevant FOIA case law, which you can read in full, with certain personal information redacted by us, here.

“All other privileged portions of the report have been withheld according to established laws,” the letter added. “Unfortunately, some pages are virtually illegible due to the quality of the microfilm record and our capability to reproduce it.”

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Virgin Galactic to Help Train Astronauts for NASA

July 3, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Paul R. La Monica June 22, 2020 (weny.com)

• On June 22nd, Virgin Galactic announced that it has signed a deal with NASA to train private astronauts and coordinate trips to the orbiting International Space Station. Virgin Galactic will develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program to identify candidates who will pay for a trip to space, arrange for their transportation and provide ground and orbital resources.

• Virgin Galactic will probably use the services of SpaceX or Boeing to actually get astronauts to the space station. Boeing has invested $20 million in Virgin Galactic. The company’s own SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane that is incapable of making it to the cislunar ISS. Virgin Galactic says it has already received about 600 reservations for suborbital flights at the approximate price of $250,000 per seat.

• Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic will continue to use SpaceShipTwo for suborbital training flights, ranging from private citizens to government-backed scientific and technological research missions, to allow passengers to become familiar with the environment in space, such as G-forces and zero-G.

• Enthusiasm for space commerce is apparent in the stock market. Virgin Galactic stock shares have soared, even though the company continues to lose money. There is even a publicly traded investment fund with a ‘UFO’ brand that invests in companies catering to the business of space travel and exploration, having Virgin Galactic at the top of the list. Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s ‘SpaceX’ and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ ‘Blue Origin’ also have space travel companies.

SpaceX won’t be the only private company bringing people to the International Space Station. Virgin Galactic announced Monday that it has signed a deal with NASA to train private astronauts and coordinate potential trips to the ISS.

Shares of Virgin Galactic soared more than 10% on the news. The stock has surged nearly 45% so far in 2020, largely due to optimism about demand for private space travel, even though it continues to lose money.

As part of Virgin Galactic’s deal with NASA, the company will “develop a new private orbital astronaut readiness program,” it said in a statement.

“This program will include identifying candidates interested in purchasing private astronaut missions to the ISS, the procurement of transportation to the ISS, on-orbit resources, and ground resources,” the company added.

Virgin Galactic will likely need the services of SpaceX or aerospace giant Boeing, which is developing the Starliner space capsule and has invested $20

million in Virgin Galactic, to actually get astronauts to the space station.

Virgin Galactic’s own SpaceShipTwo is a suborbital spaceplane that is incapable of making it to the ISS, and the company has only sent five people to space on two suborbital test flights. The company says it has already received about 600 reservations for suborbital flights at the approximate price of $250,000 per seat.

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World UFO Day – July 2, 2020

July 2, 2020
ExoNews Editor

HAPPY WORLD UFO DAY!!!!

“I want to believe.” These are the words of notorious X-Files hero Fox Mulder, who convinced an entire generation that the truth is out there – we just have to find it. But on July 2, it won’t only be sci-fi enthusiasts trying out their ET sleuthing skills, as everyone on planet earth will have to opportunity to celebrate World UFO Day.

UFOs have been the stuff of legend for centuries, but it wasn’t until the 1950s that freaky flying saucers grabbed national and international mainstream attention. Since then, UFOs have captured the minds of old and young alike, and witness’ stories have proliferated around the world.

World UFO Day serves as a way for everyone to come together and watch the skies on the same night in search of UFOs, but that’s not its only purpose. Many see the holiday as a way to spread knowledge and awareness of UFOs, making a case for their existence, and hoping to make disciples out of the dubious.

So why July 2? For many, this date represents the anniversary of the famed and all-but-confirmed 1947 incident in Roswell, New Mexico. Believers claim a UFO crash landed there, deep in the American southwest, but that the government has been covering it up ever since. What do you believe?

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My Dad Launched the Quest to Find Alien Intelligence

July 2, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Nadia Drake June 22, 2020 (nationalgeographic.co.uk)

• In the spring of 1960, with a budget of less then $2,000 and access to an 85-foot radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, a 29-year-old astronomer named Frank Drake set out to look for signs of intelligent alien life beyond Earth. For three months, the telescope scanned its targets and found nothing more than cosmic static.

• Back in the 1960s, astronomers knew of no worlds beyond our solar system. But Drake reasoned that other worlds might be populated by civilizations advanced enough to broadcast their presence to the cosmos, as we on Earth had been doing for decades. “Searching for intelligent life was considered bad science in those days,” says Drake, who just turned 90 years old.

• So Drake designed an experiment called Project Ozma, after the princess in L. Frank Baum’s Oz series. Even though Ozma failed to find evidence of extraterrestrial technologies, the project was the first step toward solving a monumental mystery. In 1961, the National Academy of Sciences asked Drake to convene a meeting at Green Bank to further discuss the search for intelligent life. While organizing that meeting, he casually came up with the now-famous ‘Drake Equation’, a framework for estimating how many civilizations might be detectable in the Milky Way galaxy.

• Project Ozma was transformed into the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, or ‘SETI’. “There were radio astronomers all over the place who wanted to do SETI searches,” says Drake. But SETI projects in the US, Australia and Europe failed to gain ground. “It still had this problem of being considered flaky stuff.”

• In the Soviet Union, however, astronomers learned of Ozma and eagerly started scanning stars for signs of life. “There were far fewer restrictions on what Soviet scientists could do. They had kind of steady budgets because of the way the centralized communist government worked. They could kind of do whatever they wanted,” said science historian Rebecca Charbonneau of the University of Cambridge.

• The Soviets and Americans would meet to exchange ideas about searching for intelligent life. While the Cold War raged, U.S. and Soviet astronomers worked congenially in competition to first detect extraterrestrial life. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the relationship morphed into friendship within a global community.

• SETI had been funded by NASA. But by the 1990s, Congress began to cut federal funding for SETI projects, calling it “Martian hunting” and a waste of taxpayer dollars. The nonprofit SETI Institute, founded in 1984 at the University of California, Berkeley, was on its own.

• But in 1995, astronomers discovered the first ‘exoplanet’ outside of our own solar system. It was a Jupiter-like world, called 51 Pegasi b, orbiting a sun-like star. But it was considered inhospitable for life as we know it. Since then, astronomers have discovered thousands of exoplanets with many having conditions favorable to life. We’ve learned that planets vastly outnumber stars in the Milky Way, providing billions of places for intelligent alien civilizations to exist.

• In 2015, a 10-year, $86 million project called Breakthrough Listen was funded by Silicon Valley tech investor Yuri Milner to harnesses the world’s sharpest radio telescopes, such as the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia and the Parkes Observatory in Australia, to search the nearest million stars for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence. Now, halfway through its tenure, it has yet to find any. It will soon add to its search the MeerKAT array of radio dishes in South Africa.

• Astronomers have expanded their search parameters beyond interstellar radio signals. They now also look for optical pulses, waste heat generated by powerful civilizations, and any other signs known as ‘technosignatures’. One of these projects is called PANOSETI, designed to scan the entire sky for fleeting but intense flashes of optical and infrared light. Led by Shelley Wright, an astronomer at the University of California, San Diego, the project will capture information about transient astronomical phenomena such as supernovae —and, just maybe, artificial transmissions.

• Today, some say that SETI is in the midst of a renaissance. Large projects are kicking off, funds are materializing, and astronomy courses now include a broader perspective on humanity’s place in the universe. If SETI can maintain its current momentum, astronomers are optimistic that future projects could be even more ambitious – maybe even installing a radio telescope on the far side of the Moon, the only place in the solar system where Earth’s constant transmissions don’t overwhelm radio signals from the cosmos.

• SETI astronomers believe that they may soon discover another extraterrestrial civilization. Or we may be the only active civilization at this moment in time. Other civilizations may have risen and fallen during the 13.8-billion-year history of the universe. It make take a few million more years for nascent lifeforms on exoplanets to evolve complex metabolisms and technological intelligence.

• In any case, the answer to Frank Drake’s question of “where are the extraterrestrials” has the potential to change the course of humanity’s future. Drake says that he didn’t anticipate how captivating the search would be, or how SETI would grow into the enterprise it is today, although it still hasn’t completely shed the “giggle factor”. Public funding is difficult. The field has relatively few dedicated practitioners, and it has yet to fully infiltrate the halls of academia. But momentum is gathering.

• [Editor’s Note] I have no doubt that Frank Drake was sincere in his initial Ozma quest to detect errant radio signals from space to try to discover other intelligent civilizations in the galaxy. Likewise, Frank’s daughter Nadia has every reason to be proud of her father. But just like the rest of us, the Drakes and other honest astronomers have been obstructed by the deep state. While from the 60s to the 80s, the deep state allowed NASA funding of SETI efforts, they knew that technology embargo and the ‘giggle factor’ which the deep state had imposed on the scientific community would prevent SETI from finding anything or being taken seriously. By the 1990s, conventional technology was rapidly developing, so the deep state government cut off funding and infiltrated these programs with counter-productive deep state operatives. Those who now run SETI are only interested in using the project for disinformation purposes – to satisfy the public that smart people are working diligently but fruitlessly to discover evidence of another intelligent civilization in our galaxy, because these extraterrestrial beings simply don’t exist. In reality, intelligent extraterrestrial worlds permeate this galaxy and the entire universe. The elite deep state hierarchy has secretly been working with these extraterrestrials since World War II. During the past seventy years, they have developed a handful of secret space programs, including bases and colonies on the Moon, on Mars, and on celestial bodies throughout the solar system and beyond. As Richard Dolan famously put it, our shadow government has created a ‘breakaway civilization’, concealed from the people on Earth who serve as unwitting slaves to generate an industrial economy for these elite ‘puppet masters’ to utilize for their own purposes, which excludes the rest of us.

In the spring of 1960, a 29-year-old astronomer with streaks of preternaturally white hair and a devil-may-care attitude set out to tackle one of humanity’s most existential questions: Are we alone in the universe?

Frank Drake, then an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, was gearing up to search for radio whispers from faraway civilizations that might be sailing the cosmic sea. For such a grand quest, he had a budget of £1,600 and access to a radio telescope thought to be sensitive enough to detect transmissions from any potentially broadcasting extraterrestrials.

“Searching for intelligent life was considered bad science in those days,” says Drake, who just turned 90 years old—and is better known to me as Dad.
At the time, looking for evidence of alien technologies was still squarely in the camp of schlocky science fiction. But for my dad, it was worth taking a risk to find out if the cosmos is as richly populated as Earth’s teeming oceans—or if humanity is adrift in a profoundly quiet interstellar expanse.

Humble and curious, with a knack for quiet mischief, Dad is committed to his science, still writing research papers and serving on committees. My early memories are full of trips to observatories and conferences, and the singular pleasure of staring through telescopes at the twinkling sky. I was never bitten by the academic astronomy bug, though.

It wasn’t until I began working as a science journalist that I realised just how risky and revolutionary Dad’s early work really was.

First light

Astronomers knew of no worlds beyond our solar system back in the 1960s, but Drake reasoned that if planets like Earth orbited stars like the sun, then those worlds might be populated by civilisations advanced enough to broadcast their presence to the cosmos. His logic made sense: For the last century, Earthlings have been making these sorts of announcements all the time in the form of TV and radio broadcasts, military radar, and other communications that leak into space.

So he designed an experiment to search for signals coming from worlds that could be orbiting the nearby stars Epsilon Eridani and Tau Ceti. He named the experiment Project Ozma, after the princess in L. Frank Baum’s Oz series—an homage to an adventure tale populated by exotic and unearthly beings.

Before sunrise on April 8, 1960, Drake climbed an 85-foot radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, jammed himself inside a trash-can-size piece of equipment, and launched humanity’s first scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence—now known as SETI. For three months the telescope scanned its targets and found nothing more than cosmic static. The stars were stubbornly quiet.

“That was a disappointment,” Dad told me a few years ago. “We’d hoped that, in fact, there were radio-transmitting civilisations around almost every star.”

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NASA Says Milky Way Could Have ‘Ocean Worlds’ All Over

July 1, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Chris Ciaccia June 22, 2020 (nypost.com)

• NASA researchers have published a study in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific saying that more than a quarter of the 53 exoplanets outside our solar system may be “ocean worlds” having significant amounts of water.

• “Plumes of water erupt from Europa and Enceladus, so we can tell that these bodies have subsurface oceans beneath their ice shells and they have energy that drives the plumes, which are two requirements for life as we know it,” said the study’s lead author Lynnae Quick, a NASA planetary scientist. “So if we’re thinking about these places as being possibly habitable, maybe bigger versions of them in other planetary systems are habitable too.” As such, Europa and Enceladus, moons that orbit Jupiter and Saturn, respectively, are icy celestial bodies that could harbor extraterrestrial life.

• Quick and the other researchers looked at exoplanets similar in size to Earth, along with exoplanets’ density, orbit, temperature, mass and distance from their star to reach their conclusions. These “ocean worlds” could release more energy than even Enceladus and Europa.

• Although studies tend to focus on exoplanets like ours that have a global biosphere so abundant it’s changing the chemistry of the whole atmosphere, NASA Goddard astrophysicist and study co-author Aki Roberge says, “(Within our) solar system, icy moons with oceans, which are far from the heat of the Sun, still have shown that they have the features we think are required for life.”

• Future missions searching for exterritorial life within our solar system include the Europa Clipper mission set to launch as soon as 2023, which will explore the surface of Europa. “If we find chemical signatures of life, we can try to look for similar signs at interstellar distances,” Quick added.

• As of June 2020. More then 4,000 exoplanets have been identified, approximately 50 of which were believed to be potentially habitable. A study published earlier this month suggested that there could be 36 alien civilizations in the Milky Way (see ExoArticle here). Another study this month suggested there could be as many as 6 billion “Earth-like” planets in the galaxy (see ExoArticle here).

A newly published study from NASA researchers suggests that there may be planets in the Milky Way galaxy other than Earth that have an ocean.

The research, published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, notes more than a quarter of the 53 exoplanets — planets outside the Solar System — that were studied could potentially be “ocean worlds,” planets that have significant amounts of water.

“Plumes of water erupt from Europa and Enceladus, so we can tell that these bodies have subsurface oceans beneath their ice shells and they have energy that drives the plumes, which are two requirements for life as we know it,” Lynnae Quick, NASA planetary scientist and the study’s lead author, said in a statement. “So if we’re thinking about these places as being possibly habitable, maybe bigger versions of them in other planetary systems are habitable too.”

Europa and Enceladus, moons that orbit Jupiter and Saturn, respectively, are icy celestial bodies that could potentially be home to extraterrestrial life.
Quick, who specializes in volcanism and ocean worlds and the other researchers looked at exoplanets similar in size to Earth, including a group of seven in the TRAPPIST-1 system, 39 light-years from Earth. A light-year, which represents distance in space, is the equivalent of about 6 trillion miles.
In addition to size, they looked at density, orbit, temperature, mass and how far the planets are from their star to come up with their conclusions.

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NASA to Fund Search for Signs of Alien ‘Technosignatures’ and Air Pollution

June 30, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Jamie Carter June 19, 2020 (forbes.com)

• In the first NASA non-radio technosignatures grant ever awarded, and the first NASA grant in over three decades connected with SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), NASA has awarded the University of Rochester (NY), Harvard University and the Smithsonian funding for a study entitled: Characterizing Atmospheric Technosignatures, to find ‘technosignatures’ that would indicate the presence of life on exoplanets within another star system.

• Technosignatures are scientific evidence of past or present technology similar to the type that we produce here on Earth. “Such signatures might include industrial pollution of atmospheres, city lights, photovoltaic cells (solar panels), megastructures, or swarms of satellites,” said Harvard’s Avi Loeb. The study will focus first on finding evidence of solar panels and chemical pollution. The presence of chlorofluorocarbons in exoplanetary atmospheres could indicate the presence of industrial activity.

• “There are only so many forms of energy in the Universe,” said Adam Frank at the University of Rochester. Any alien civilization is bound to have thought of solar power generation. “The nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, hosts a habitable planet, Proxima b. The planet is thought to be tidally locked with permanent day and night sides,” said Loeb. “If a civilization wants to illuminate or warm up the night side, they would place photovoltaic cells on the day-side and transfer the electric power gained to the night side.”

• Some astronomers believe that technosignatures may be simpler to find than evidence of microbial life—known as ‘biosignatures’ – which detect chemicals such as oxygen and methane. Says Loeb, “If another civilization had been doing it for much longer than we have, then their planet’s atmosphere might show detectable signs of artificially produced molecules that nature is very unlikely to produce spontaneously.”

• In the past five years, many thousands of exoplanets have been discovered, some of which are in their star systems’ habitable zones and could have water vapor in their atmospheres. “Now we know where to look. We have thousands of exoplanets including planets in the habitable zone where life can form,” says Frank. “The game has changed.” Loeb’s hope is that “[by] using this grant, we will quantify new ways to probe signs of alien technological civilizations that are similar to or much more advanced than our own.” The scientists eventually want to begin an online library of technosignatures that astrophysicists can use when gathering data.

• [Editor’s Note] This is just more time and money wasted by deep state-controlled institutions such as Harvard and the Smithsonian (and now add the University of Rochester to the list) who only want to hide the fact that since at least WWII, the US government and the cabal elite have known of the presence of intelligent extraterrestrial beings and civilizations permeating our galaxy and universe, and have been secretly studying and working with these beings to their own ends, which has nothing to do with elevating human development here on Earth. They have no intention of “discovering” and revealing to the public any extraterrestrial civilizations.

Space agency NASA has awarded a grant to a group of astronomers to search the Universe for signs of alien civilizations via “technosignatures”—and it will focus first on finding evidence of solar panels and chemical pollution.

Technosignatures are scientific evidence of past or present technology, which of course would indicate the presence of life in another star system. Some think that these technosignatures may be simpler to find than direct evidence of microbial life—known as biosignatures.

“Technosignatures relate to signatures of advanced alien technologies similar to, or perhaps more sophisticated than, what we possess,” said Avi Loeb, Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard. “Such signatures might include industrial pollution of atmospheres, city lights, photovoltaic cells (solar panels), megastructures, or swarms of satellites.”

Put simply, the scientists at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian, and the University of Rochester, will look for exactly the same technosignatures that we produce.

It’s believed that other civilizations would probably use solar panels to produce energy, and also probably pollute their planet’s atmosphere with artificial chemicals and gases.

How and why to find solar panels around distant planets

How does an astronomer look for sunlight reflected off solar panels around a distant exoplanet? As long as they know the wavelength band to search in—which is what this study will try to establish—astronomers training their telescopes on exoplanets may be able to spot these technosignatures.
Any alien civilisation is bound to have thought of solar power generation, think the scientists. “There are only so many forms of energy in the Universe,” said Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Rochester, and the primary recipient of the grant. “Aliens are not magic.”

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Officials Hail Rome NY Lab’s Foray Into Quantum Technology

June 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Dave Gymburch June 17, 2020 (romesentinel.com)

• On June 15-16th , the Air Force Research Laboratory headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio sponsored a 2-day event in Rome, New York wherein small tech businesses could make a 20-minute pitch to senior Air Force officials as to novel approaches to advance quantum-enabling technology and applications. The program ultimately awarded 36 contracts to 23 companies from nine states, amounting to $5.4 million to small businesses.

• Rome Lab, the Air Force’s ‘super laboratory’ for science and technology, was praised by a Pentagon official for its key role in quantum technology research. Assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, Will Roper, said during a keynote session that Quantum technology is “one of those potential game-changers.” “What we hope to do… with Rome Lab leading the way, (is to) get that quantum technology over the goal line and into the warfighter’s hands,” said Roper.

• Roper praised New York Congressman Anthony Brindisi for the work being done at Rome Lab, formally known as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate, and spoke about the importance of research for quantum development and the funding to support it.

• Quantum technology is considered an emerging field of physics and engineering, which relies on principles of quantum physics. Among potential impacts of quantum technology include GPS-like precision in locations where there is no GPS signal or it is severely degraded; ultra-secure global communication networks; high-precision sensors linked together with a quantum network; new computing paradigms for optimization of asset and resource allocations, discovery of new materials, and novel applications of artificial intelligence.

• Congressman Brindisi expressed the importance to bring together small business, industry, and academia with Department of Defense labs for “faster and more efficient development of quantum technology.”

• Rome Lab Director Colonel Timothy Lawrence said the event will hopefully be a “step in the right direction” for giving the Air Force, Space Force and the nation what is needed regarding quantum development.

Rome Lab’s key role in quantum technology research was praised by a Pentagon official during a two-day event aimed at enhancing small businesses’ involvement in the initiative.

Quantum technology is “one of those potential game-changers,” said Will Roper, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics, during a keynote session Monday for the virtual quantum collider pitch event.

“What we hope to do…the Air Force and the Space Force, with Rome Lab leading the way, is put year-after-year routine demand, routine challenges…routine funding to

bring Q-Day, the day we get that quantum technology over the goal line and into the warfighter’s hands…where we bring that early,” said Roper.

Earlier in the session after Congressman Anthony Brindisi spoke about the importance of research for quantum development and the funding to support it, Roper said “I applaud you for thinking ahead and making sure that all quantum roads lead to Rome…and really appreciate all the work the lab is doing in your district.” Rome Lab, based at Griffiss Park, is formally known as the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Information Directorate.

Roper was among several speakers at the event, which included small businesses in private 20-minute pitch sessions with senior officials for novel approaches to advance quantum-enabling technology and/or applications. The AFRL program called for awarding up to 36 contracts and up to $5.4 million to small businesses in this phase of the initiative.

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Professor Who Gave Advice on Toppling Obelisks Wants ‘Ancient Aliens’ Cancelled

June 28, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Dave Huber June 20, 2020 (thecollegefix.com)

• On June 1st, Sarah Parcak, an archaeology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who has worked with NASA and the US State Department, tweeted 13 posts instructing Black Lives Matter rioters how to topple “racist” statues and obelisks, in order to “protect the world’s shared cultural heritage”. (see here for article)

• Then, in a series of tweets on June 19th, Parcak took aim at the popular History Channel show “Ancient Aliens” demanding that it be taken off the air, calling the show “one of the most racist shows on TV”. Parcak proclaims that the show’s suggestion that monuments such as the Egyptian pyramids and Easter Island statutes were constructed either by, or with the guidance of, extraterrestrial beings – is racist.

• According to Parcak’s tweet, “It’s an entire show that exists to discredit the extraordinary artistic and architectural accomplishments of past and current peoples.” In other words, Parcak takes exception because the extraterrestrial theory fails to give ‘people of color’ credit for engineering and building these monuments. “I’ll be using my platform to get them deplatformed. I should have pushed harder before, no excuses. Time to buckle up and cancel racist trash infecting the minds of millions. — Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace)

• [Editor’s Note] The underlying strategy of ‘academia’ in our deep-state-riddled colleges and universities is to steer the public away from the true reality of an extraterrestrial influence on human development throughout Earth’s history. In the past, the deep state has relied on ridicule and media disinformation to cover-up the extraterrestrial presence and history. In this instance, Alabama professor Sarah Parcak draws upon the current public zeitgeist to accuse the show “Ancient Aliens” of racial discrimination as a motive. Parcak is so brainwashed by deep state indoctrination that she advocates the removal of any part of history which she finds objectionable. Apparently, a brain the size of a pea is not an impediment to becoming a professor of archaeology in Alabama.

The professor who recently showed protesters how to pull down obelisks during this current statue-toppling craze is now demanding the show “Ancient Aliens” be taken off the air.

**University of Alabama at Birmingham archaeology professor Sarah Parcak**

The popular History Channel offering, according to its website, “explores the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years.”

“From the age of the dinosaurs to ancient Egypt, from early cave drawings to continued mass sightings in the US,” the description continues, “each episode […] gives historic depth to the questions, speculations, provocative controversies, first-hand accounts and grounded theories surrounding this age old debate. Did intelligent beings from outer space visit Earth thousands of years ago?”

No doubt it’s the part about Egypt that ticks off University of Alabama at Birmingham archaeology Professor Sarah Parcak.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Parcak called the program “one of the most racist shows on TV” and said it needs to be “cancelled permanently.”

“It’s an entire show that exists to discredit the extraordinary artistic and architectural accomplishments of past and current peoples,” Parcak tweeted.

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Author: ExoNews Editor

HAPPY WORLD UFO DAY!!!!