Prince Philip Probing Notorious ‘UFO’ Encounters

Article by Tom Towers                             November 25, 2020 (dailystar.co.uk)

• It is no secret that royal consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (pictured above with wife, Queen Elizabeth), has long had an interest in UFOs. Philip kept a map of UFO sightings on the wall in Buckingham Palace. He asked to see top-secret MoD reports into “close encounters” and told a senior aide to study UFO cases.

• Philip, 99, got into the UFO/alien phenomenon thanks to his uncle and mentor Lord Mountbatten, who admitted to his belief in aliens after his bricklayer, Fred Briggs, had an encounter with a flying saucer in 1955. In a signed statement, Mountbatten wrote: “Mr Briggs was still dazed when I first saw him and was worried that no one would believe his story. Indeed, he made a point of saying that he had never believed in flying saucer stories before, and had been absolutely amazed at what he had seen.”

• Last summer, it was noted that Philip read The Halt Perspective, a book focusing on the Rendlesham Forest incident when two members of the US Air Force from the nearby USAF bases, stumbled upon an unknown craft displaying strange “hieroglyphic symbols”. The craft accelerated away at high speed after they touched it. One of the book’s authors received a letter from Philip’s private secretary saying: “I am certain it will be read with close interest over the summer.” Philip also reportedly received a book called Haunted Skies: The Encyclopedia of British UFOs.

• Author David Clarke claims that Prince Philip wanted to meet the infamous ET contactee, George Adamski. Adamski claimed to have met a blonde-haired alien from Venus who took him in his spaceship for a tour of the solar system. A secret meeting with Adamski was cancelled at the last minute over fears it could embarrass the Royal Family.

 

       Lord Mountbatten

The Duke of Edinburgh, 99, got into the phenomenon thanks to his uncle and mentor Lord Mountbatten, who admitted to his belief in aliens.

Mountbatten made a report on a strange encounter his bricklayer Fred Briggs had with a flying saucer back in 1955.

In a signed statement, he wrote: “Mr Briggs was still dazed when I first saw him and was worried that no one would

            George Adamski

believe his story.

“Indeed, he made a point of saying that he had never believed in Flying Saucer stories before, and had been absolutely amazed at what he had seen.”

The Daily Star previously revealed that Philip kept a map of UFO sightings on the wall in Buckingham Palace.

He also reportedly asked to see top-secret MoD reports into “close encounters” and told a senior aide to study UFO cases.

Philip read The Halt Perspective last summer, a book focusing on the notorious Rendlesham Forest incident, The Sun reports.

Two members of the US Air Force (USAF), John Burroughs and Jim Penniston from the nearby Bentwaters and Woodbridge bases, went to investigate a suspected civilian plane crash on December 26, 1980.

They stumbled upon an unknown craft displaying strange “hieroglyphic symbols”, which accelerated away at high speed after they touched it.

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America’s ‘Star Wars’ Against China

Article by Tom Fowdy                                 November 25, 2020                                  (news.cgtn.com)

• The Trump administration has announced that it is adding an additional 89 Chinese aerospace companies to the list of those prohibited from acquiring US-made components and technologies without approval, linking them to a “national security threat.” The obvious goal is protectionism – to stifle China’s own development in the aerospace sector, forcing China to rely on US firms such as Boeing.

• The Trump administration has made the decision that China represents a competitor in space exploration and technology, and that Beijing wants to militarize outer space. As China sends its Chang’e-5 lunar module to the Moon, Trump is trying to undermine China’s entire aerospace industry to gain the upper hand.

• In 2018, Trump created Space Force “to protect US and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force” including satellite-orientated warfare and missile technology. Is this not the militarization of outer space contravening the 1967 Outer Space Treaty? The United States wants to gain unchallenged military hegemony over the entire world and sees China as a “competitor.”

• The US defense community claims that it is Beijing that is militarizing space as it works on its own satellite and exploration programs. As an article from Defense News claims, “China wants to dominate space, and the US must take countermeasures.” Beijing, however, claims to uphold the consensus that space is for peaceful development only.

• In December 2019, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang condemned the US Space Force, stating, “The relevant US actions are a serious violation of the international consensus on the peaceful use of outer space, undermine global strategic balance and stability, and pose a direct threat to outer space peace and security.”

• The “China threat” narrative is about maintaining US strategic supremacy as the only major player in outer space. This view predates Trump, with the Obama administration banning coordination of China’s national space agency with NASA in 2011, and excluding China from participating in the international space station.

• More attention should be focused on America’s emerging “Star Wars” against China. Space Force is a new strategic frontier for American militarization, aimed at competitor states such as China, in contravention of international law. The development of outer space exploration and technology ought only to be for peaceful purposes for “the common heritage of mankind.”

• [Editor’s Note]   Can the Chinese Communist Party be trusted to be peaceful? The CCP has come under the control of the Deep State and President Trump knows this. As the white hat Alliance is in the process of dismantling the Deep State – in America, in China, and everywhere else in the world – the Deep State would like nothing better than to trigger a global war in order to maintain its long-standing global domination. The Deep State-controlled CCP is desperate as the Chinese people, and even President Xi Jinping himself, see the Chinese government’s corruption and are turning against the established Communist Party. So as things come to a head now in this five-dimensional chess game, Trump and the US military may have a very good reason to keep the pressure on Beijing.

 

A few days ago the news was announced that the Trump administration was preparing to add an additional 89 Chinese companies to the commerce department’s entity list, prohibiting them from acquiring U.S.-made components and technologies without approval and claiming they are linked to the military and represent a “national security threat.” The firms were noticeably all in the aerospace industry, with an obvious goal of attempting to stifle China’s own development in this sector and force Beijing to be reliant on U.S. firms such as Boeing. Given the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) (a firm being listed) is launching its own domestically made alternative to the 737, the C919, next year, it is difficult to see the move in any other light. It’s obvious protectionism.

But there is another angle, a strategic one too, of outer space. The Trump administration has long made a decision that China represents a competitor in space exploration and technology, and claimed falsely that Beijing seeks to militarize the cosmos as a pretext for their own militarization plans, contravening the 1967 Outer Space Treaty which pledges that space and “celestial bodies” may only be used for “peaceful development” and not military means.

In doing so, the administration has over the past few years put in place plans to transform space into the newest “strategic frontier” and now, as China launches Chang’e-5, seeks to undermine China’s entire aerospace industry to gain the upper hand. As a result, this is a sphere worth watching.
The U.S. “Space Force”.

In 2018, Trump announced the creation of a “U.S. space force” or “space command.” Although the idea was ridiculed for sounding like something out of a science fiction novel, it is, in fact, something serious. The strategic objectives of such a command is, as is stated on its website, “to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force.” That is the militarization of outer space. This includes things such as satellite-orientated warfare and missile technology. The United States wants to gain the upper hand in this sphere in order to maintain unchallenged military hegemony over the entire world and with that viewpoint comes the designation of China as a “competitor.”

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Mysterious Monolith Found Deep in the Utah Desert… Then Disappears

Article by Leah Asmelash, et al                               November 24, 2020                                   (cnn.com)

• On November 18th, officers from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau were flying by helicopter, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah. Suddenly, one of the biologists yelled at pilot Bret Hutchings: “’Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What?’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there — we’ve got to go look at it!'” The helicopter crew went back, and there in the middle of the red rock was a twelve foot high, shiny silver monolith sticking out of the ground, like something right out of “2001: A Space Odyssey.

• Hutchings told CNN affiliate KSL: “It didn’t look like it was randomly dropped to the ground, but rather it looked like it had been planted.” “We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears, then the rest of us make a run for it.” Hutchings thinks it was most likely placed there by an artist rather than an alien.

UPDATE

• Now the mysterious monolith has disappeared. Helicopter pilot Ryan Bacher visited the site on Friday afternoon, November 27th. But when his friend returned the next day on November 28th, it was gone. “Twenty-four hours later, my close friend, who is also a helicopter pilot, flew his family down to see as well and found it taken down,” said Bacher.

• The Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau did not disclose the monolith’s exact location. But internet sleuths were able to track down the monolith’s GPS co-ordinates, and dozens – perhaps even hundreds – of curious sight-seers flocked to the site. Several people posted images on social media posing with what remained – a pile of rocks and a small piece of metal – at the spot where the 3.7 meter high object was planted. No-one has claimed responsibility for installing the structure.

• Although the installation of artwork on public land is illegal, Utah’s Bureau of Land Management said the object had been removed “by an unknown party”, not them. As it is considered private property, its disappearance will be handled by the local sheriff’s office as a possible theft.

 

                     Utah Monolith

What started as routine wildlife assistance took an extraterrestrial turn for Utah’s Department of Public Safety after officers stumbled upon a mysterious monolith in the middle of rural Utah.

 place where monolith once stood

Officers from the Utah Department of Public Safety’s Aero Bureau were flying by helicopter last Wednesday, helping the Division of Wildlife Resources count bighorn sheep in southeastern Utah, when they spotted something that seemed right out of “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

“One of the biologists … spotted it, and we just happened to fly directly over the top of it,” pilot Bret Hutchings told CNN affiliate KSL. “He was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, turn around, turn around!’ And I was like, ‘What.’ And he’s like, ‘There’s this thing back there — we’ve got to go look at it!'”

And there it was — in the middle of the red rock was a shiny, silver metal monolith sticking out of the ground. Hutchings guessed it was “between 10 and 12 feet high.” It didn’t look like it was randomly dropped to the ground, he told KSL, but rather it looked like it had been planted.
“We were kind of joking around that if one of us suddenly disappears,

                        Bighorn sheep

then the rest of us make a run for it,” Hutchings said.

Still, Hutchings said he thinks it was most likely placed there by an artist rather than an alien.

“I’m assuming it’s some new wave artist or something or, you know, somebody that was a big (“2001: A Space Odyssey”) fan,” he said, referencing a scene in the 1968 film where a black monolith appears.

Still, it is illegal to install structures or art without authorization on public lands “no matter what planet you’re from,” said Utah DPS in a statement released Monday.

 2:41 minute video on mystery monolith in Utah (‘Good Morning America’ YouTube)


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No, Trump Isn’t Blocking UFO Disclosure

Article by Jazz Shaw                                     November 24, 2020                                   (hotair.com)

• In an article by Andrew Daniels in Popular Mechanics, Daniels accuses President Trump of jeopardizing the momentum of UFO disclosure over the past two years by threatening to veto the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that sets the budget and policies for the U.S. military, if lawmakers don’t remove a bipartisan amendment to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders. The NDAA includes language designed to bring secret military UFO information out to the public. The NDAA must be passed and signed before Congress adjourns on January 3rd.

• Nevermind that Trump has probably spent more time talking (albeit benignly) about UFOs than any President before him, and that the most stunning government revelations on the subject of UAP/UFOs in the history of our country occurred on his watch.

• Firstly, the protection of Confederate monuments and related historical notations is a pet project of Trump’s because it polls well with his base. It is unclear whether the President is even aware of the UFO/UAP language tucked in there. So it’s a bit misleading to say that the President is thinking of “blocking the public from learning” about UFOs.

• Secondly, the way this subject is being framed by Daniels assumes that the public has any realistic chance of learning “the truth about UFOs” even if the NDAA bill is passed. The Senate is calling for the UAP Task Force to better define how it collects and internally shares information, and to release a public report with any non-classified material they can provide. That sounds great on paper, but it doesn’t mean we’re actually going to learn anything. There’s no funding attached to that language so Congress has nothing to hang over the Pentagon’s head. The Pentagon could simply ignore this order, if passed.

• A Pentagon UAP spokesperson has already made it clear that the Department of Defense has no intention of discussing “details of either the observations or the examination of reported (UFO) incursions.” It’s highly unlikely that the Pentagon will be sharing any new information on UFOs any time soon, no matter what the NDAA says.

• Despite President Trump’s promise to “check into” UFOs, we have yet to see any indication that he carried through on it, or that this is really any sort of a priority for him at all. And given how the recent election court cases have been going, the President probably doesn’t have much time left to do it even if he wanted to. So there doesn’t appear to be any real move toward UFO disclosure here to block.

 

                Confederate monument

A curious article showed up at Popular Mechanics yesterday that immediately caught my attention. The title was, “Trump May Block the Public From Learning the Truth About UFOs.” That sounds like a rather ominous accusation, considering that Donald Trump has probably spent more time talking about UFOs than any president before him. I’m not saying that he’s actually revealed anything of interest beyond some hints and suggestions that he would “look into it.” But the most stunning government revelations on the subject of UAPs in the history of our country definitely took place on his watch.

   Robert E. Lee statute in Richmond VA

The article is from Andrew Daniels, and what he’s talking about is a valid concern for those interested in this subject, but the reality isn’t quite as dire as the title makes it sound. Here’s part of Daniels’ pitch.

President Donald Trump says he’ll veto the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that sets the budget and policies for the U.S. military, if lawmakers don’t remove a bipartisan amendment to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders, according to an NBC News report.

The NDAA, which must be passed and signed before Congress adjourns on January 3, covers troop pay raises and funding for new equipment, among other items. But it also includes language that could ultimately change what the American public knows about UFOs in a significant way. A Trump veto of the NDAA may stall the momentum of a movement that has rapidly captured mainstream attention over the last two years.

So it turns out that Daniels is referring to the same subject that we discussed here on Saturday. The NDAA should (though this isn’t a 100% sure thing yet) contain the language regarding the Pentagon’s UAP Task Force generated by Marco Rubio and the other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee. But the President is still threatening to veto the NDAA if provisions ordering the renaming of certain military bases named after Confederate leaders aren’t removed.

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Will Trump Block the Public From Learning About UFOs?

Article by Andrew Daniels                                 November 23, 2020                                (popularmechanics.com)

• Noting its concern “that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the federal government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on [UAP], despite the potential threat,” in June, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) authorized appropriations for fiscal year 2021 under the Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA) which included the Pentagon’s ‘UAP Task Force’ to provide a report on UFO links to “adversarial foreign governments, and the threat they pose to US military assets and installations” within 180 days. House bill H.R. 6395 is set to pass this bill into law.

• Now, President Trump is threatening to veto the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes the UAP Task Force directive in the IAA, if lawmakers don’t remove a bipartisan amendment to rename military bases named after Civil War Confederate leaders. The NDAA must be passed and signed before Congress adjourns on January 3rd.

• If Trump vetoes and the NDAA doesn’t pass before the deadline, the public will have to wait longer still for the much-anticipated disclosure of UAP/UFO secrets.

• The build-up to this point of having a publicly released report on UFOs stems from the US Navy’s confirmation in 2019 that the three Navy jet videos of separate UFO encounters that was released in 2017 were authentic, but never should have been released. In April 2020, The New York Times reported that the military has created a new UAP Task Force to continue the work of previous Pentagon programs that secretly studied UFOs.

• Then in a July New York Times article, the former US Senator from Nevada, Harry Reid, said he believes “crashes of objects of unknown origin may have occurred and that retrieved materials should be studied … actual materials that the government and the private sector had in their possession.” That same Times article quoted the astrophysicist Eric Davis, who consulted with the Pentagon’s original UFO program and now works for a defense contractor, who had come to the conclusion that “we couldn’t make [certain alien materials] ourselves.” Davis had briefed a DoD agency as recently as March 2020 about retrieving materials from “off-world vehicles not made on this Earth.”

• This prompted SSCI chair Senator Marco Rubio to ask who’s responsible for UAP/UFO spotted over American military bases, and whether it could be the Chinese or Russians having made some sort of technological leap. Or if UFOs originate from off-planet. The Senate’s SSCI appropriations bill added the IAA provision with the UAP/UFO public report language.

• In August, the DoD officially approved the UAP Task Force, which the Times had reported in April, to “improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough told Popular Mechanics at the time. “The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to US national security.”

• A Trump veto of the NDAA may stall the momentum of a UFO movement that has rapidly captured mainstream attention over the last two years.

 

President Donald Trump says he’ll veto the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual bill that sets the budget and policies for the U.S. military, if lawmakers don’t remove a bipartisan amendment to rename military bases named after Confederate leaders, according to an NBC News report.

The NDAA, which must be passed and signed before Congress adjourns on January 3, covers troop pay raises and funding for new equipment, among other items. But it also includes language that could ultimately change what the American public knows about UFOs in a significant way. A Trump veto of the NDAA may stall the momentum of a movement that has rapidly captured mainstream attention over the last two years.

In August, the Department of Defense (DoD) officially approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force (UAPTF). The task force will investigate the sightings of UAPs, also known as unidentified flying objects or UFOs.

     Senator Marco Rubio

The task force is the first official government program affiliated with UFO research since a 2000s-era unit that analyzed

                   Harry Reid

unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other UAPs lost its funding in 2012, even though multiple sources confirmed with Popular Mechanics that the unit remained active in secrecy after its shuttering.

The DoD formed the UAPTF to “improve its understanding of, and gain insight into, the nature and origins of UAPs,” Pentagon spokesperson Sue Gough told Popular Mechanics at the time. “The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze, and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security.”

In June’s Intelligence Authorization Act (IAA), the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) authorized appropriations for fiscal year 2021 for the UAPTF and supported its efforts to reveal any links that UAP “have to adversarial foreign governments, and the threat they pose to U.S. military assets and installations.”

                   Eric Davis

In the IAA, the Select Committee on Intelligence said it “remains concerned that there is no unified, comprehensive process within the federal government for collecting and analyzing intelligence on [UAP], despite the potential threat,” and so it directed the task force to report its findings on UAP, “including observed airborne objects that have not been identified,” within 180 days.

The Senate passed the NDAA, which included the IAA containing the language about the task force, in July. Though the House’s version of the NDAA, which also passed in July, did not include the IAA, the Senate re-passed a version of the NDAA just last week under the House bill number (H.R. 6395) that does include the IAA and its attendant instructions for the UAP task force.

So if Trump indeed vetoes the NDAA and the House and Senate can’t produce a new version before the deadline, it’s back to square one—and the public will have to wait even longer for the much-anticipated disclosure of UAP secrets.

And what, exactly, have we been waiting for?

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Will Traditional Launch Services Suit the Needs of Space Force?

Article by Sandra Erwin                                    November 24, 2020                                   (spacenews.com)

• The Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise (under the auspices of the US Space Force) issued a request for information on November 10th asking companies to submit details on planned investments that would support space mobility and logistics by January 15th. The director of Space Force’s launch enterprise, Col. Robert Bongiovi, said his office is trying to gain better insight into the next wave of space innovation and how the military could acquire those capabilities.

• How the Pentagon buys launch services in the future could change as the military considers emerging technologies and services. A future space ecosystem would include satellite refueling and servicing, space vehicles, space manufacturing, and space tugs that relocate satellites. This is part of a crucial space infrastructure that the military terms “space mobility and logistics”.

• One example of the future use of sub-orbital space vehicles to transport cargo and personnel to distant locations on Earth. Senior officials in acquisitions for the Department of the Air Force have shown interest in such point-to-point delivery. But Space Force and launch enterprises currently have no plans to change the structure of its national security launch program, which relies on SpaceX and United Launch Alliance to fly military and intelligence community satellites to multiple orbits, said Col. Bongiovi.

• So the Space Command will wait and see how new technologies and new uses for commercial launch systems will play out in the private sector before the Pentagon makes any financial commitments.. “I think we will watch it closely to see how effective it becomes on the commercial side,” said Lt. Gen. John Shaw.

• In the meantime, Space Force is studying the market to establish the requirements of launch providers in the next national security space launch competition in 2024. “We have to have honest conversations with industry on where they’re going and why,” said Col. Bongiovi. “We also have to talk to our satellite providers and understand the demand.”

 

WASHINGTON — SpaceX and United Launch Alliance were selected as U.S. national security launch providers

    Col. Robert Bongiovi

based on their ability to deliver spacecraft to specific Earth orbits. How the Pentagon buys launch services in the future could change, however, as the military considers using emerging technologies and services known as “space mobility and logistics.”

Col. Robert Bongiovi, the director of the Space Force’s launch enterprise, said his office is trying to gain better insight into the next wave of space innovation and figure out how the military could acquire those capabilities.

The Space and Missile Systems Center Launch Enterprise issued a request for information Nov. 10 asking companies to submit by Jan. 15 details on planned investments that would support space mobility and logistics.

Space tugs that move satellites to different orbits or within orbits, satellite refueling and servicing vehicles, and in-space manufacturing are some of the capabilities mentioned in the request for information as examples of the future space ecosystem.

           Lt. Gen. John Shaw

These are all new space missions and capabilities that the military doesn’t currently do. Bongiovi said last week at a Mitchell Institute event that the information submitted by the industry will help the Space Force decide on future investments in space access, mobility and logistics.

The Space Force in its vision document mentions space mobility and logistics as “core competencies” of the service.

Bongiovi said there are currently no plans to change the structure of the national security launch program, which relies on two launch providers to fly military and intelligence community satellites to multiple orbits. But he said the Space Force is doing market research that could inform the requirements for launch providers for the next national security space launch competition in 2024. “Industry has a view of the future that is very expansive,” he said.

 

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Secret UFO Probes Hidden from UK Government Department

Article by Berny Torre                                       November 23, 2020                                             (dailystar.co.uk)

• Dr. David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University in South Yorkshire, England took the time to read a 400-page study into 10,000 UFO sightings investigated from 1997 to 2000 by a department of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) known as the ‘Defence Intelligence Staff’. The investigations concluded that UFOs had an “indisputable” observable presence but there was no evidence to suggest they were “hostile or under any type of control”.

• Clarke noted that “[t]he (UFO reporting system) system was extremely complicated. [T]here was at various times two or three different departments of the British Ministry of Defence who were involved in investigating UFOs or responding to the public.” Any UFO incidents that were deemed to have some kind of military significance were passed along to the Defence Intelligence Staff, or ‘DI55’, to investigate.

• Military officials often kept their UFO findings secret from civil servants over fears the information would be leaked, said Clarke. DI55 investigators tasked with hunting ETs “didn’t trust” civil servants briefing ministers with their data.

• Clarke told UFO Podcast’s Martin Willis that although the famed UFO hunter, Nick Pope, often refers to his days in the 1990 working at the UFO desk in the Ministry of Defence, he was just one of dozens of different people who did that task and he didn’t actually investigate anything. “He just received reports and filed them. He was a civil servant.” said Clarke. “He might run a few checks with a local radar station but that’s as far as time allowed.”

• “I’ve interviewed most of the people who worked on this subject in DI55 at that time,” added Clarke. “They tell me, ‘well Nick Pope didn’t have any involvement in this, we did the (UFO) investigations, we didn’t share information with them because we didn’t trust them’. “(Pope) was a civilian who was briefing ministers. He was doing PR work.”

 

          Dr. David Clarke

Britain’s secret UFO investigators kept their findings hidden from the Government, an academic has claimed.

Dr David Clarke, of Sheffield Hallam University, said the Ministry of Defence team tasked with hunting ETs “didn’t trust” civil servants briefing ministers with their data.

The lecturer and investigative journalist uncovered the Defence Intelligence Staff’s 400-page study into 10,000 UFO sightings in 2005.

He has now said its military officials often kept their findings secret from civil servants over fears the information would be leaked.

               Nick Pope in the 1990s

Dr Clarke added former Government UFO investigators who have gone public over the findings such as Nick Pope “didn’t investigate anything”.

He told the UFO Podcast with Martin Willis: “There was a UFO desk where he was an incumbent for three years but he was just one of dozens of different people who did that task and he didn’t actually investigate anything.

“He just received reports and filed them. He was a civil servant, there was a body that investigated cases and it was known as the Defence Intelligence Staff, DI55, and they were the people who were tasked to investigate UFO incidents that were deemed to have some kind of military significance.”

The UFO investigator added: “The system was extremely complicated and there was at various times two or three different departments of the British Ministry of Defence who were involved in investigating UFOs or responding to the public.

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UFO Nearly Collides With Passenger Jet at UK Airport

Article by Isaac Crowson                                       November 22, 2020                                      (thesun.co.uk)

• On September 1, 2020, preparing to land a Boeing 737 packed with passengers at the Leeds Bradford airport in northern England, the jet’s two pilots “suddenly saw a bright light and an object which appeared to be moving toward the aircraft, almost head on, slightly up and to the left” according to the Airprox report. Witnesses say the UFO came within ten feet of colliding with the commercial flight arriving from Spain.

• The incident was rated a ‘Category A’ event by the UK Airprox Board – which monitors and investigates near-miss aerial events. “The object appeared without warning and there was no time to act,” said the report. After landing, the pilots were told that a police helicopter had seen lanterns flying in the area. But the report stated that “Neither of the pilots believed what they saw was a lantern.” Investigators ruled that “a definite risk of collision had existed”.

• The near miss in Leeds came three days before a drone came three feet away from striking an Easyjet Airbus A320 which had taken off from Manchester Airport carrying 186 passengers. At 8,000ft over Greater Manchester, the ‘drone’ would have been flying 20 times above the legal height. There have been more than 400 reported incidents in the past five years.

 

A UFO came within seconds of colliding with a passenger jet in a terrifying close call.

The rogue object came at the packed Boeing 737 plane “almost head on” as pilots prepared to land at Leeds Bradford airport.

The scare on September 1 was rated a ‘Category A’ event by the UK Airprox Board – which monitors and investigates near-miss events.

The unidentifiable object – which could have been a drone or lantern – was just 10 feet away from the flight arriving from Spain.

The Airprox report revealed: “Both pilots suddenly saw a bright light and an object which appeared to be moving toward the aircraft, almost head on, slightly up and to the left.

“The object appeared without warning and there was no time to act.”

After landing, the pilots were told that a police helicopter had seen lanterns flying in the area.

But the report added: “Neither of the pilots believed what they saw was a lantern.”

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Famed Puerto Rico Telescope to Close

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

                     Sean Jones

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

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

                        Ashley Zauderer

the structure would still be unstable in the long term.

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

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

          Alex Wolszczan

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

November 16, 2020                                  (satnews.com)

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

                           Jeremy Schiel

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

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

    Sherpa Orbital Transfer Vehicle

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

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

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

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

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Britain’s New Space Command

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

 

         Boris Johnson

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

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

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

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

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

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

       Will Whitehorn

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

              Virgin Orbit’s ‘Cosmic Girl’

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

         Christian de Duve

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

                           Stephen Webb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

          Barbara Barrett

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

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

      progression of orbiting space debris

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

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

         Gen. John “Jay” Raymond

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

                     Jim Bridenstine

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

                             Chang’e 5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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John Fogerty’s Lifelong UFO Fascination

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

          John Fogerty

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

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

          Creedence Clearwater Revival

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The National Space Intelligence Center Takes Shape

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

          Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond

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

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

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

     Col. Maurizio D. Calabrese

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

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

                      Col. Catie Hague

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

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

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

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

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Seeking Aliens? Look for Radioactivity on Exoplanets

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

           Francis Nimmo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

                            Russ Kellett

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

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

       Bradford, West Yorkshire

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Search for Aliens Should Begin on Venus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

       Dr. Mark A. Garlick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Mars Had Water Before Life on Earth

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

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

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

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

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

 

                  meteorite NWA 7533

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

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

        Takashi Mikouchi

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

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

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

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

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What a Joe Biden Presidency May Mean in Orbit and Beyond

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Could New Microchip Boost US Military Power?

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

                          Tom Smelker

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

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

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

                      Philip J. Corso

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

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

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

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

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

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

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A Conversation With US Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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More Damage at Arecibo Alien-Hunting Facility

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

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

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

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

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

 

                   Francisco Cordova

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

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

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

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

Luckily, nobody was hurt.

Extra Load

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

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