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Six Billion Earth-Like Planets Could Exist in Galaxy

June 25, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Sean Martin June 17, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• Searching through data from NASA’s planet hunting telescope Kepler, scientists from the University of British Columbia published a study in The Astronomical Journal estimating the likelihood of rocky Earth-like worlds which could contain water, within the Milky Way galaxy. A planet must also orbit a G-type star, like our Sun, and be positioned within the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ – the region around a star where it is neither too hot nor too cold – for life to exist.

• Astronomer Jaymie Matthews says, “Our Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with seven per cent of them being G-type. So approximately six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy.” Researcher and co-author Michelle Kunimoto uses a technique known as ‘forward modelling’. “I started by simulating the full population of exoplanets around the stars Kepler searched. I marked each planet as ‘detected’ or ‘missed’ depending on how likely it was my planet search algorithm would have found them. Then, I compared the detected planets to my actual catalog of planets. If the simulation produced a close match, then the initial population was likely a good representation of the actual population of planets orbiting those stars.”

• Kunimoto also limits the possible number of habitable exoplanets where there exists a “radius gap”, “[I]t is uncommon for planets with orbital periods [of] less than 100 days to have a size between 1.5 and two times that of Earth,” says Kunimoto. “My calculations place an upper limit of 0.18 Earth-like planets per G-type star.” Previous estimates have suggested that there could be as few as 0.02 Earth-like planets per Sun-like star.

There are as many as 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy alone, meaning there could be trillions of planets. As is evident from our solar system, the majority of these planets would be lifeless and barren, but billions could still be hospitable for life, according to new research. Scientists from the University of British Columbia (UBC) have searched through data from NASA’s planet hunting telescope Kepler to determine the likelihood of Earth-like planets – rocky worlds which could contain water.

To be considered Earth-like, the planet must also orbit a star like our Sun, known as a G-type star, according to the research published in The Astronomical Journal.

It also has to orbit the star in what is known as the Goldilocks Zone – the region around a star where it is neither too hot nor too cold for life to exist.
UBC researcher Michelle Kunimoto, co-author of the new study, said: “My calculations place an upper limit of 0.18 Earth-like planets per G-type star

“Estimating how common different kinds of planets are around different stars can provide important constraints on planet formation and evolution theories, and help optimise future missions dedicated to finding exoplanets”.

UBC astronomer Jaymie Matthews: “Our Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with seven per cent of them being G-type.
“That means less than six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy.”

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Ex-NASA Man Who Claimed Space Agency Was Covering Up ET Visitations and Alien Corpse Dies

June 20, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Katy Forrester and Emma Parry June 17, 2020 (thesun.co.uk)

• Bob Oechsler, 71, who worked as a mission specialist for NASA in the 1970s and used his expertise in robotics to study the UFO phenomena, died on June 6th. Oechsler worked on the docking collar of the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first international space mission between Russian and the US, plus several other deep space projects.

• Oechsler claimed to have been invited to be a consultant for NASA’s ill-fated ‘Cosmic Journey Project’, intended to be a traveling exhibition featuring a full-scale mock-up of a space shuttle. The exhibition was to include a ‘UFOs and extraterrestrials’ exhibit. He claimed to have had meetings with top Pentagon brass about the exhibit. One enthusiastic general suggested “showing an alien/ET corpse in a cryogenic tank.”

• “The general described the tank as a space-age looking coffin with blue tube lighting inside the clear lexan cover, propped up at an angle so it wouldn’t look so much like a casket,” Oechsler said. “It seems (the general) was concerned about using the real thing versus a mock-up…” The general asked Oechsler how it might be presented to show the public that it was a real ET corpse. Oechsler suggested that “it could be authenticated with official plaques of some sort… a companion autopsy report with color photographs” to help the credibility aspect. “As a matter of fact,” said Oechsler, “I got the impression they had a lot of (alien) bodies to choose from.” The project was shelved in the early 1990s for budget reasons.

• Oechsler said that in 1989, he spoke with former Director of Naval Intelligence and Deputy Director of the CIA, Admiral Bobby Ray Inman who informed him that the US Government had possession of technology of non-human origin. In a recorded telephone conversation, Oechsler asked the Admiral: “Do you anticipate that any of the recovered (UFO) vehicles would ever become available for technological research? Outside of the military circles?” Admiral Inman replied, “I honestly don’t know. Ten years ago the answer would have been no. Whether as time has evolved they are beginning to become more open about it, there’s a possibility.”

• Oechsler was assigned to analyze video footage of a lantern-shaped UFO. Working from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, Oechsler concluded the UFO was not a radio-controlled model. Oechsler also investigated a Canadian UFO sighting when a family watched a UFO land in their field.

• In an interview with BBC Radio 1 in 2007, he described a UFO he’d been shown as “… about a 30 foot diameter disk shaped craft. It had a small dome around the center portion. There were protruding flanges equidistant around the outer edge.”

• Directors of the shelved NASA project later denied that Oechsler ever worked for the project, and that the proposed exhibition was always planned to feature only mock-ups of aliens and flying saucers. In fact, NASA denied almost everything about Oechsler.

• Oechsler’s work in the field of UFOlogy in the 1980s and 1990s shot him to worldwide fame as he investigated a series of high-profile cases. British crop circle investigator, Colin Andrews, told The Sun, “I presented with him on several occasions in a number of countries. Bob’s research was greatly respected.”

Ex-mission specialist Bob Oechsler, who worked for the US space programme in the 1970s, used his expertise in

robotics to study the UFO phenomena and made some startling discoveries.

Oechsler, 71, died on June 6 after a two and a half year battle against lung cancer.

According to an online obituary, he “passed away peacefully surrounded by family” in Edgewater, Maryland.

He leaves behind wife Kristen and children Dan, Tracey and Skylar, along with two grandsons and siblings.

Colin Andrews, a well-known British crop circle investigator, told The Sun: “My sincere condolences to the family and friends of well known UFO researcher Bob Oechsler.

“I presented with him on several occasions in a number of countries. Bob’s research was greatly respected.”

Bob worked on the docking collar of the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first international space mission between Russian and the US, plus several other deep space projects.

But his work in the field of UFOlogy in the 1980s and 1990s shot him to worldwide fame as he investigated a series of high-profile cases.

Bob was allegedly invited to be a consultant for the Nasa-backed ‘Cosmic Journey Project’, a travelling exhibition featuring a full scale mock-up of a space shuttle and space camp.

One third of the exhibition was to feature UFOs and extraterrestrials, including a 600-seat auditorium that became a Bio-Tech spaceship and a UFO pre-show area with interactive kiosks.

Bob claimed he had meetings with top brass from the Pentagon who backed the project. Recalling an alleged discussion he had with a general in Washington, Bob claimed their talk involved an “exhibit showing an alien/ET corpse in a cryogenic tank”.

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Perseverance Rover Instruments to Search for Alien Life

June 9, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Tom Fish May 28, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• NASA plans to launch a Mars rover mission on July 17, 2020 to arrive on Mars’ surface on February 18, 2021. The space agency has provided new insights about the sensors that will be used on its 2020 Perseverance Rover while it traverses the Martian surface in search of evidence of alien life. A cutting-edge camera and a unique ultraviolet laser will work in tandem to analyze the chemical and mineral makeup of the Red Planet’s soil. Experts hope this can track down potential signs of past alien life.

• The main instrument, called ‘SHERLOC’ (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms. SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground to enable scientists to measure the way the light scatters, in order to identify a spectral “fingerprint” revealing certain organic material and to determine what kind of minerals and chemical compounds the soil is made from. “If we see organics clumping together on one part of a rock, it might be a sign that microbes thrived there in the past,” said NASA’s Luther Beegle.

• SHERLOC will work with ‘WATSON’ (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering), another instrument that will help with the light-scattering spectroscopy and allow the Mars rover’s remote pilots to identify promising areas of the ground from which to collect samples. WATSON can also be rotated to take selfies of the Perseverance and to keep track of the rover’s condition. The Perseverance 2020 Rover will also monitor the effects of radiation on samples of human space suit fabric and helmet material to determine whether it is safe to use. The rover’s robotic arm will place the samples in half-inch wide metal tubes that will be left on Mars’ surface for a subsequent Mars mission crew to retrieve and return to Earth for detailed analysis.

US-based space agency NASA has offered new insights about the sensors used on its 2020 Perseverance rover while it traverses the Martian surface in

search of evidence of basic forms of alien life. A cutting-edge powered camera and a unique ultraviolet laser will work in tandem to monitor the Red Planet’s soil to analyse its chemical and mineral makeup.

The main instrument, the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC), will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms.

SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground.

Space scientists will then measure the way the light scatters when it hits the ground to work out what kind of minerals and chemical compounds it is made from.

The technique will also identify the unique spectral “fingerprint” certain alien organic material might give off.

Extraterrestrial life experts hope this can track down potential signs of past alien life.

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Mouse on SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket, or Frozen Oxygen?

June 5, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Yash Tripathi June 1, 2020 (republicworld.com)

• On May 30th, American astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, created history by blasting off into space via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Millions of people from across the world were glued to the live stream of the ‘spectacular’ launch of US astronauts from American soil for the first time in nine years. It was a proud moment for Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, which is now the first private company to send a craft to space.

• While the world was watching, a mouse was seen walking on the carrier. One internet user posted a short clip showing the small animal walking around the fuselage. (see 41-second video below)

• The person posting the clip on Twitter said, “Looks like a mouse hitchhiked a ride on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket launch today!” “The mouse showed a truly amazing ability to withstand heat!” Many people who saw the ‘mouse’ walking on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket find it unbelievable. Some have said it is frozen oxygen dripping from an engine. Others say it is a flat-out fake. Neither NASA nor SpaceX have commented. The mouse appears to be walking around freely despite the heat and the laws of gravity.

• [Editor’s Note] If you look closely at the original footage of the image, you can see several more of these “mice” coming from the bag-like component and falling away before the mouse appears walking back and forth.

SpaceX has become the first private organisation to send a spacecraft to space. Two US astronauts, Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, created history by blasting off into space with the NASA-SpaceX Crew Dragon launch on May 30, but they are not alone in the vast space. According to reports, a mighty mouse was seen on the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule’s fuselage. A video has surfaced on the internet and has everyone shocked.

Is there a mouse on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket?

Millions of people across the world were glued to the live stream of the ‘spectacular’ launch of US astronauts from American soil for the first time in nine years. It was a proud moment for Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, which is now the first private company to send a craft to space. While the world was watching America create history, the mouse was seen walking on the carrier. One of the internet users posted the short clip showing the small animal running and walking around the fuselage.

41 second video of ‘mouse-like’ movements on the Falcon 9 launch booster (‘Salman’ YouTube)

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NASA Scientists Detect Evidence of a Parallel Universe Where Time Runs Backward

June 2, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Yaron Steinbuch May 19, 2020 (nypost.com)

• NASA scientists use a giant balloon to carry long antenna, called the ‘Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna’ or ANITA, to measure the constant “wind” of high-energy particles coming from space. They conduct these experiments high above Antarctica, where the frigid, dry air provides the perfect environment with little to no radio noise to distort its findings.

• Low-energy, subatomic neutrinos have a mass close to zero, and can pass completely through Earth. Higher-energy objects, however, are stopped by the solid matter of our planet. But ANITA has detected these heavier, ‘high-energy’ particles coming up out of the Earth.

• Principal ANITA investigator Peter Gorham, a physicist at the University of Hawaii, is the lead author of a Cornell University paper describing the odd phenomenon. He and his fellow researchers have detected several of these “impossible events”. Gorham’s research paper offers that the only way these heavy, high-energy particles could arise from the Earth is if the rules of physics were the opposite of our own. This implies that these particles are actually traveling backward in time.

• The research paper suggests that at the moment of the ‘Big Bang’, 13.8 billion years ago, two universes were formed. This means that there is a parallel universe to our own where time is running backwards. Of course, to the inhabitants of the parallel Earth, we are the ones whose time is running backwards.

• The concept of a parallel universe has been around since the early 1960s, mostly in the minds of fans of sci-fi TV shows and comics.

• [Editor’s Note] Now the scientific community is walking back the claim of a parallel universe. In a subsequent statement, ANITA investigator Peter Gorham said, “This whole parallel universe thing was not invented by us but somehow we have gotten tagged with it. A journalist got it wrong, tied it to us and it has unfortunately snowballed. We actually had nothing to do with the development of the parallel universe idea.” The particles travelling in reverse “are more likely to be explained in terms of physics, that is likely to be much less exotic.” (see inverse.com article here)

Penn State University astrophysics professor Derek Fox says that the existence of particles coming from the Earth only shows that the 50-year old ‘Standard Model’ of particle physics needs an update. Fox says that “From my perspective as an observer, it’s a dark matter decay scenario.” The anomalous neutrinos detected may have been particles of dark matter that scientists have been looking for since the 1930’s. According to Fox, heavy dark matter particles can accumulate in the core of the Earth and when they decay, they can produce highly energetic particles that sort of erupt from the Earth, producing these up-going cosmic ray showers that were detected by ANITA.

In a scenario straight out of “The Twilight Zone,” a group of NASA scientists working on an experiment in Antarctica have detected evidence of a parallel universe — where the rules of physics are the opposite of our own, according to a report.

The concept of a parallel universe has been around since the early 1960s, mostly in the minds of fans of sci-fi TV shows and comics, but now a cosmic ray detection experiment has found particles that could be from a parallel realm that also was born in the Big Bang, the Daily Star reported.

The experts used a giant balloon to carry NASA’s Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna, or ANITA, high above Antarctica, where the frigid, dry air provided the perfect environment with little to no radio noise to distort its findings.

A constant “wind” of high-energy particles constantly arrives on Earth from outer space.

Low-energy, subatomic neutrinos with a mass close to zero can pass completely through Earth, but higher-energy objects are stopped by the solid matter of our planet, according to the report.

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‘Like Fourth of July’ Space Anomaly Seen by Buzz Aldrin from Apollo 11 Exposed

May 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Callum Hoare May 19, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first two men to walk on the lunar surface during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. They and the Command Module pilot, Michael Collins, returned home to a hero’s welcome. But during the debrief, Buzz Aldrin spoke about ‘flashes of lights’ in the spacecraft’s cabin.

• During the Apollo 12 mission four months later, Alan Bean had a strange encounter while he was on the surface of the Moon. Said Bean, “I was on the backside of the Moon and looking down at a crater and I saw a flash… I thought ‘did I really see a flash?’ because there’s nothing going on down there.”

• Strange lights became a regular entry in Apollo mission logs. They appear more often on the way to the Moon rather than on the way back. Former NASA astronaut Dr Story Musgrave stated, “It’s like Fourth of July, the streak – they’re fireworks.” These strange occurrences went unsolved for years.

• The Science Channel’s show: “NASA’s Unexplained Files”, says that NASA scientists solved the anomaly by having astronauts wear night vision goggles. The flashes still occurred exactly as the astronauts describe them. “NASA’s official explanation (was) that the lights are ‘cosmic rays’ – high energy particles ripping through space near the speed of light, bombarding the astronauts and their craft.”

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first two men to walk on the lunar surface during NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. Along with

Michael Collins – who orbited in the Command Module alone for 21 hours – the trio would mark a monumental moment in history by fulfilling John F. Kennedy’s goal of putting a man on the Moon by the end of the Sixties. But there was an event during that mission – and several more in the years that followed – that did not make the front-pages, and it involves a bizarre space anomaly spotted, the Science Channel’s ‘NASA’s Unexplained Files’ revealed.

The narrator said in 2014: “Astronauts often see things their instruments don’t pick up.

“The phenomenon caused a series of secret experiments, but could the explanation be out of this world?

“In 1969, the first men on the Moon returned to a hero’s welcome, but

during the debrief, Buzz Aldrin talks about flashes of lights in the spacecraft’s cabin.

“Four months later, during the Apollo 12 mission, Alan Bean experiences a different strange encounter.”

Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean also described his first-hand experience while he was on the Moon.

He said: “The first time I saw them I was on the backside of the Moon and looking down at a crater and I saw a flash.

“I thought ‘did I really see a flash?’ because there’s nothing going on down there.”

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NASA Sets Out Its Red Lines for 2024 Moon Landing

May 28, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by John Varge May 16, 2020 (express.co.uk)

• The ‘Artemis Program’ is NASA’s project – supported by other international space programs and private companies – to establish a permanent human settlement on the Moon by 2028, beginning by landing two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2024. On May 15th, NASA officials revealed the core values underpinning its mission in a document called the Artemis Accords (see here). NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted: “Today I’m honored to announce the #Artemis Accords agreements — establishing a shared vision and set of principles for all international partners that join in humanity’s return to the Moon. We go, together.”

• NASA said its over-riding vision was to “create a safe and transparent environment which facilitates exploration, science and commercial activities for all of humanity to enjoy.” This vision is in accordance with the “peaceful purposes only” principles enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, the founding document of international space law, which has been ratified by more than 100 countries, including the US.

• The Accords seek to ensure no “harmful interference” by one nation in the off-Earth affairs of another, and to publicly disclose their exploration plans and policies as well as sharing their scientific data. Artemis partners pledge to protect historic sites and artefacts on the Moon and other cosmic locales, as well as to help minimize space-junk.

• Private Moon landers will begin to ferry NASA science and technology experiments to the lunar surface next year. The Accords also cover the space mining of resources on the Moon, Mars and asteroids conducted under the auspices of the Outer Space Treaty. Moon landers will be built by commercial companies such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX. SpaceX is currently developing its huge ‘Starship’ vehicle to help colonize Mars. Starship will launch atop a huge rocket called ‘Super Heavy’, but will land on, and launch off of, the Moon and Mars on its own. Other companies awarded contracts, worth a total of $967 million for 10 months of work, are Blue Origin and Dynetics.

• NASA’s Jim Bridenstine said, “This is the first time since the Apollo era that NASA has direct funding for a human landing system, and now we have companies on contract to do the work for the Artemis program.” “America is moving forward with the final step needed to land astronauts on the Moon by 2024,” including the first woman set foot on the lunar surface.

The US Space Agency has always recognised that international cooperation will be vital if its Artemis programme is to succeed. Artemis is the ambitious project to land two astronauts near the lunar south pole in 2024, as a precursor to establishing a permanent human lunar settlement by 2028. On Friday, NASA officials revealed the core values underpinning its mission in a document called the Artemis Accords, which stress the peaceful nature of its exploration.

In a tweet, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote: “It’s a new dawn for space exploration!

**NASA’s Jim Bridenstine and SpaceX’s Elon Musk, doing his famous ‘Zoolander’ impression**

“Today I’m honored to announce the #Artemis Accords agreements — establishing a shared vision and set of principles for all international partners that join in humanity’s return to the Moon.

“We go, together.”

In accordance with principles enshrined in the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, NASA said its over-riding vision was to “create a safe and transparent environment which facilitates exploration, science and commercial activities for all of humanity to enjoy.”

The outer Space Treaty (OST) is the founding document of international space law.

It has been ratified by more than 100 countries, including the United States and other leading space powers.

The OTS stipulates that space exploration should be carried out for peaceful purposes only.

Artemis partners will also be required to be completely transparent about their activities, which means publicly disclosing their exploration plans and policies as well as sharing their scientific data.

The Accords also cover space mining, which NASA sees as key to humanity’s exploration efforts over the long haul.

NASA officials said the ability to extract and use resources on the moon, Mars and even asteroids would be critical “to support safe and sustainable space exploration and development”.

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Scientists Claim to Have Spotted Thousands of Mushrooms on Red Planet

May 20, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Nirmal Narayanan May 7, 2020 (ibtimes.sg)

• A study-report published in the journal Astrobiology and Space Science states that mushroom-like objects oriented towards the sky can be seen on the surface of Mars. Researchers say objects show typical behaviors of mushrooms that grow on Earth. The researchers claim that the ‘puffball-shaped’ objects could be the result of a biological process and that non-biological presence could not explain the presence of the objects on Mars.

• According to the study-report: “There are no abiogenic processes that can explain the mushroom-morphology, size, colors, and orientation and growth of, and there are no terrestrial geological formations which resemble these mushroom-lichen-shaped specimens. Although the authors have not proven these are living organisms, the evidence supports the hypothesis that mushrooms, algae, lichens, fungi, and related organisms may have colonized the Red Planet and may be engaged in photosynthetic activity and oxygen production on Mars,” read the study’s abstract which is published in Research Gate.

• Initially published in 2019, study-report has been revised to make it clear that these findings are not conclusive proof of alien life, but can be considered as a stepping stone for future research.

• Chief scientist at NASA Jim Green strongly believes that alien life forms, at least in its microbial form, will be discovered on Mars by 2021. But Green says that the world is not prepared to accept the reality of extraterrestrial existence. The discovery of alien life could be revolutionary and it will open a whole new line of thinking.

• Green is one of the key personalities behind the NASA mission that will see the Mars Rover start drilling and collecting samples on the Martian surface in 2020. Green predicts that the testing of the samples will provide vital clues behind the existence of alien life on Mars.

A study report published in the journal Astrobiology and Space Science has claimed to have discovered alien life on Mars. The study report states that mushroom-like objects can be seen oriented towards the sky, and researchers believe that the alleged living beings are showing typical behaviors of mushrooms that grow on earth.

Biological causes behind these alien mushrooms

In the study report, the researchers revealed that non-biological presence could not explain the presence of the structures on Mars. They also claimed that the ‘puffball-shaped’ objects could be the result of a biological process.

Even though the study report was initially published in 2019, researchers have now revised their claims, and made it clear that their findings are not conclusive proof of alien life, but can be considered as a stepping stone for future research as humans are vigorously searching for extraterrestrial life on the Red Planet.

“There are no abiogenic processes that can explain the mushroom-morphology, size, colors, and orientation and growth of, and there are no terrestrial geological formations which resemble these mushroom-lichen-shaped specimens. Although the authors have not proven these are living organisms, the evidence supports the hypothesis that mushrooms, algae, lichens, fungi, and related organisms may have colonized the Red Planet and may be engaged in photosynthetic activity and oxygen production on Mars,” read the study’s abstract which is published in Research Gate.

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Is There Extraterrestrial Life, Has It Visited Earth?

April 28, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Jim Clash April 20, 2020 (forbes.com)

• NASA astronaut Story Musgrave has been to space six times. On one occasion, he helped to fix the Hubble Telescope. And he’s the only astronaut to have flown aboard all five Space Shuttles. But what does he think about UFOs and extraterrestrial life?

• Musgrave points out that, statistically speaking, there are billions and billions of planets that must have biological life. These biological entities have had millions of years to evolve. If so, they’ve certainly developed technology that would lead to star travel by now. They’re very likely to have been outside of their solar systems, and maybe outside of their galaxy. While here on Earth, humans have only begun to technologically develop over the past few hundred years.

• As far as UFOs and extraterrestrials visiting the Earth, “I want that to happen,” says Musgrave. “I send prayers out there for them to come and get me.” “First, you have to acknowledge that they’re there. If you turn your back, they’re not going to come.”

• For 30 years, Musgrave says, he’s been “listening to everyone’s tales.” But he feels that “there’s just not enough evidence” of extraterrestrial beings visiting our planet. Also, why would extraterrestrials want to come to Earth, he asks? “If you look at the number of wars going on, the history of humanity and its relationship to itself… there’s nothing to learn here, not yet.” “There are more promising places.”

• [Editor’s Note] Apparently, Story Musgrave is still collecting his government pension and doesn’t want to say anything to jeopardize it.

Story Musgrave has led a storied life. He is the only astronaut to have flown aboard all five of the Space Shuttles – Endeavor, Discovery, Atlantis,

**Story Musgrave saying that extraterrestrial beings have not visited the Earth, and trying not to laugh**

Challenger and Columbia, the last two of which had mishaps that destroyed the spacecraft after he had flown in them. Musgrave has also been to space six separate times, just under the record of seven held by Franklin Chang-Diaz and Jerry Ross. In addition to Musgrave’s career as an astronaut,

he has worked as a trauma surgeon and currently owns a palm tree farm. Thirty years ago, he made history by helping fix the fragile Hubble Telescope. I thought it would be interesting to talk with Musgrave now, given the important Hubble anniversary later this week. In a one-hour phone interview, he discussed many things space, including the topic of UFOs. Following are edited excerpts from a spirited chat.

Jim Clash: What is your view on the topic of extraterrestrial life in the universe?

Story Musgrave: There are millions if not billions of them out there. We think we are the center of the universe, that the whole universe revolves around Earth. But they are coming up with so many new planets now. There are like 10 to the 29th stars, a number I can hardly wrap my fingers around, and most of them have planets. A planet can be at a place that’s friendly to biological life. Statistics have it that there are billions and billions of planets that have biological life. If they’ve behaved themselves and gotten their acts together, looked after themselves, there are millions of years for these people to have evolved, to have developed a technology that would lead to star travel. They’re outside of their own solar systems, maybe outside of their own galaxies, too. But here on Earth, technology only began probably 300 or 400 years ago, with the Industrial Revolution.

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NASA Close to Finding Life on Mars

April 16, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Tewodros Kore April 10, 2020 (waltainfo.com)

• In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph discussing the March launches of both the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars rover ‘ExoMars’ and the NASA Mars rover ‘Mars 2020’, NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green was quoted as saying that he expected the rovers to find life on the red planet. “This revolutionary discovery will open a whole new way of thinking,” said Green. “But I think humans are not ready for this result.”

• During the mission, the ESA’s ExoMars will drill two meters deep for samples, and both of the Mars rovers will target rock formations in their respective searches for extraterrestrial life and organic matter. Recent data from the Martian surface collected by the “Mars Express” orbiting satellite revealed geological evidence of large-scale water resources below the Martian surface, and an “underground lake” that once existed. The rovers will take rock samples mainly in the ancient seabed area of Mars.

• Francisco Selsey of the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands stated in the journal Geophysics that 3 or 4 billion years ago, Mars was a watery world. But as the climate changed, the water receded below the Martian surface to form ponds and “groundwater.” “We have found geological evidence that Mars has widespread groundwater systems,” said Selsey.

The chief scientist of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) predicted that the Mars probe launched this year will find life on this red planet, but he warned that humans on Earth are not yet ready for this “revolutionary” discovery.

According to the British “Daily Mail” reported, the European Space Agency (ESA) Mars rover ExoMars and NASA Mars rover Mars 2020 launched

together in March this year to Mars. ESA’s Mars rover is also known as Rosalind, in honor of British chemist Rosalind Franklin. They will target rock formations and search for extraterrestrial life and organic matter. Among them, the ExoMars will drill a sample of 2 meters deep.

In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green, who participated in these two missions, said that within a few months, signs of extraterrestrial life were expected. He said, “This revolutionary discovery will open a whole new way of thinking, but I think humans are not ready for this result.”

According to reports, the two Martian rover will take rock samples mainly in the ancient seabed area of Mars. Dr. Green said, “When the environment becomes extreme, life will turn into rocks.”

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‘Racing Certainty’ There’s Life on Europa and Mars, Leading UK Space Scientist Says

February 17, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article from Liverpool Hope University February 6, 2020 (phys.org)

• Recently installed Chancellor at Liverpool Hope University and Professor of Planetary and Space Science, Monica Grady told a university audience recently that the notion of undiscovered life in our galaxy isn’t nearly as far-fetched as we might expect. It’s ‘almost a racing certainty’, says Grady.

• “[I]f there’s going to be life on Mars, ‘it’s likely to be very small bacteria’ and it’s going to be under the surface of the planet,” said Grady. Under the surface of Mars “you’re protected from solar radiation. And that means there’s the possibility of ice remaining in the pores of the rocks, which could act as a source of water.”

• “I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.” Jupiter’s moon Europa is covered by a layer of ice up to 15 miles deep, and there’s likely liquid water beneath where life could dwell. The ice acts as a protective barrier against both solar radiation and asteroid impact. The prospect of hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor – as well sodium chloride in Europa’s salty water – also boost the prospects of life.

• As for what lies beyond the Milky Way galaxy, Professor Grady says that it is ‘highly likely’ that the environmental conditions that led to life on Earth could be replicated elsewhere. “Our solar system is not a particularly special planetary system, as far as we know, and we still haven’t explored all the stars in the galaxy,” says Grady, who has worked with the European Space Agency. “I think it’s highly likely there will be life elsewhere …made of the same elements.”

• Grady notes that based purely on a statistical argument, dinosaurs killed by an asteroid impact making way for furry mammals from which humans evolved is theoretically possible to replicate in this vast universe. “Whether we will ever be able to contact extraterrestrial life is anyone’s guess, purely because the distances are just too huge.” “As for so-called alien ‘signals’ received from space, there’s been nothing real or credible.”

• At least three separate missions will be launched to Mars this year. The ExoMars 2020 mission, a joint project of the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, launches in July and is planned to reach the red planet in February 2021. The space exploration probe, the Hope Mars Mission funded by the United Arab Emirates, is set to launch in the summer.

• Grady has been studying a single grain of rock that was brought back to Earth in 2010 from the asteroid ‘25143 Itokawa’ by the Japanese Hayabusa mission. “When we look at this grain, we can see that most of it is made up of silicates, but it’s also got little patches of carbon in it,” says Grady. “[W]e can see that it’s been hit by other bits of meteorite, asteroid, and interstellar dust. “It’s giving us an idea of how complex the record of extra-terrestrial material really is.”

• In order to avoid contaminating the Earth with a Mars virus, Professor Grady described how a NASA mission will collect soil samples in tubes and leave them on Mars. Then in 2026, an ESA mission will collect those samples and put them in orbit around Mars. Then, a third mission will come and collect that orbiting capsule. Says Grady, “It’s about breaking the chain of contact between Mars and the Earth, just in case we bring back some horrendous new virus.” “[W]e don’t want to contaminate Mars with our own terrestrial bugs.”

• Professor Grady points out that space mission sterilization protocols will also prevent other planets from being contaminated by Earth viruses. Current protocol requires boiling equipment in acid or heating it to high temperatures.”We could be all there is in the galaxy. And if there’s only us, then we have a duty to protect the planet.”

• [Editor’s Note] As usual, the universities dependent on deep state funding intend to maintain the status quo, giving the public the impression that they are open to the possibility of extraterrestrial life in the universe, but limiting it to bacterial life in underground crevasses or primitive sea life hidden underneath miles of ice. They will note that there is no “real or credible” evidence of any other type of extraterrestrial life. University chancellors and professors must remain in denial of the vast amount of evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial life, the presence of ET beings here on Earth, and the existence of several secret space programs in order to keep their well-paid jobs and comfortable life styles.

It’s ‘almost a racing certainty’ there’s alien life on Jupiter’s moon Europa—and Mars could be hiding primitive microorganisms, too.

That’s the view of leading British space scientist Professor Monica Grady, who says the notion of undiscovered life in our galaxy isn’t nearly as far-fetched as we might expect.

Professor Grady, a Professor of Planetary and Space Science, says the frigid seas beneath Europa’s ice sheets could harbor ‘octopus’ like creatures.

Meanwhile the deep caverns and caves found on Mars may also hide subterranean life-forms—as they offer shelter from intense solar radiation while also potentially boasting remnants of ice.

Professor Grady was speaking at Liverpool Hope University, where she’s just been installed as Chancellor, and revealed: “When it comes to the prospects of life beyond Earth, it’s almost a racing certainty that there’s life beneath the ice on Europa.

“Elsewhere, if there’s going to be life on Mars, it’s going to be under the surface of the planet.

“There you’re protected from solar radiation. And that means there’s the possibility of ice remaining in the pores of the rocks, which could act as a source of water.

“If there is something on Mars, it’s likely to be very small—bacteria.

“But I think we’ve got a better chance of having slightly higher forms of life on Europa, perhaps similar to the intelligence of an octopus.”

Professor Grady isn’t the first to pinpoint Europa as a potential source of extraterrestrial life.

And the moon—located more than 390 million miles from Earth—has long been the subject of science fiction, too.

Europa, one of Jupiter’s 79 known moons, is covered by a layer of ice up to 15 miles deep—and there’s likely liquid water beneath where life could dwell.

The ice acts as a protective barrier against both solar radiation and asteroid impact.

Meanwhile, the prospect of hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor—as well sodium chloride in Europa’s salty water—also boost the prospects of life.

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Global Superpowers Teaming Up To Build Bases On The Moon

February 15, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Zero Hedge February 6, 2020 (safehaven.com)

• One year ago, China’s Chang’e 4 probe and the Yutu-2 rover it carried onboard have been busy photographing and scanning minerals, growing yeast, hatching fruit-fly eggs, and cultivating cotton, potato, and rapeseeds on the dark side of the moon. Last summer, NBC News reported that the Yutu-2 rover had come across a strange “gel-like” substance which the Chinese began to study. (see article here)

• China’s National Space Administration has continued to work on its Tiangong 3 space station and is planning on testing a new manned spacecraft for deep-space missions. That permanent station will reach orbit aboard China’s new Long March 5B rocket in the first half of 2020. The Chinese space agency plans to launch the Chang’e 5 probe into space as early as this year. Wu Yanhua, deputy chief commander of China’s Lunar Exploration Program said, “China, the United States, Russia and Europe are all discussing whether to build a research base or a research station on the moon”.

• But not so fast. Back in 2017, China and Europe made plans to build a moon base together in a move of “international collaboration”. Now, Europe and Russia plan to send a probe to the dark side of the moon and are ‘eyeing’ plans to build a joint moon base on the far side of the lunar surface. Even NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities announced plans in 2017 for a joint moon base as part of NASA’s “deep-space gateway” concept . In 2019, it was leaked that NASA had plans of its own to develop the “Artemis” lunar surface base, which is now being threatened by a U.S. House panel. (see article here)

• These types of discussions have been going on since the 1950’s with a US government project called ‘Horizon’ which sought to establish a moon base by 1966. The idea never materialized. In 1963 at the height of the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union formed a joint project to study and develop a ‘Manned Orbiting Laboratory’. More of a US spy mission than a scientific one, the ‘MOL’ project was canceled in 1969. But now Russia and the US may revive that plan with a base that will orbit the moon similar to how the International Space Station orbits the Earth.

• The status of any plans between Russia, the U.S., China and Europe could be suddenly canceled for political reasons or something else before they ever see the light of day. But it is all good so long as it is done in the spirit of joint exploration, and not weaponization. The last thing we need is another resource-draining arms race in space or a space war.

• [Editor’s Note] How long will this charade go on? All of this is nothing more than a stall – a song and dance played out by puppet space agencies to continue the cover up of scores if not hundreds of bases throughout our solar system, mostly on Mars and the ‘dark side’ of the moon, built and occupied by a variety of secret space programs. Except these bases generally are not “surface bases” but elaborate underground facilities. In fact, the moon itself is a carved out super-base brought here by a race of refugees from the planet Maldek at the time of its explosion (now known as the asteroid belt). These space agencies must know all of this and are now positioning themselves for the inevitable disclosure of the true extent of the vast secret space programs that have been constructed since World War II, and the dawn of a new Era of Space.

One year ago in January, a Chinese robot landed on the dark side of the moon. Since then, the Chang’e 4 probe and the Yutu-2 rover it carried onboard have been busy photographing and scanning minerals, growing yeast, hatching fruit-fly eggs, and cultivating cotton, potato, and rapeseeds in the moon’s low gravity, according to the Daily Beast.

Now, China’s National Space Administration is quietly planning to launch yet another probe into space. Chang’e 5 could blast off as early as this year.

Last year, TMU reported that the Yutu-2 rover came across a strange “gel-like” substance which the Chinese began to study extensively.

The Chinese space agency has continued to work on its Tiangong 3 space station and is planning on testing a new manned spacecraft for deep-space missions. That permanent station will reach orbit aboard the country’s new Long March 5B rocket in the first half of 2020, AFP reported. The mission will not be associated with the International Space Station.

It is worth noting that China and Europe both planned on building a moon base together in a move of “international collaboration” back in 2017. Europe and Russia are also eyeing plans to send a probe to the dark side of the moon to determine if they should build a moon base on the far side of the lunar surface.

And the U.S. hasn’t been quiet when it comes to the space race either with the introduction of Space Force and plans of its own for a joint base with Russia.

For the U.S., this space race to build a moon base is nothing new. A project known as Horizon was supposedly a plan drawn up in the 1950s that seemingly depicts the blueprints for a base on the moon. Project Horizon sought to establish a stationary Army control base on the moon by 1966 but the operation was allegedly shut down and canceled and the idea never materialized further.

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Breathing New Life Into Colonizing the Moon? ESA to Produce Oxygen From Lunar Dust

January 30, 2020
ExoNews Editor

January 20, 2020 (rt.com)

• NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are working together towards “a sustained human presence on the Moon and maybe one day Mars.” Toward that end, the ESA has built a prototype oxygen plant in Noordwijk, Netherlands that extracts breathable oxygen from moon rocks, or “lunar regolith”. The space agency’s goal is to create a functional, portable version of the system, ready for testing by the mid-2020s, that could one day be flown to the Moon .

• “Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the Moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers, both for breathing and in the local production of rocket fuel,” says Beth Lomax of the University of Glasgow, a researcher working on the prototype at the European Space Research and Technology Centre.

• It turns out that lunar regolith (moon rock) is made up of 40 to 45 percent oxygen by weight, making it the Moon’s single most abundant element. Lunar rocks are placed in a metal basket with calcium chloride salt and then heated to 950 degrees Celsius (or 1742 degrees Fahrenheit). Then, by passing an electric current through the heated rock it releases the oxygen contained within.

• With this process, the regolith becomes a usable metal alloy which may also have uses beneficial to a future colony on the Moon, such as raw material for lunar-based 3D printers to construct parts for lunar bases or even spacecraft.

The European Space Agency (ESA) has fired up its prototype oxygen plant to begin producing the element out of

simulated moondust, with a view to creating a sustainable breathable air production facility on the Moon.

“Being able to acquire oxygen from resources found on the Moon would obviously be hugely useful for future lunar settlers, both for breathing and in the local production of rocket fuel,” says Beth Lomax of the University of Glasgow, a researcher working on the prototype at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC).

The current prototype is set up in a lab in Noordwijk in the Netherlands, but the next step is to begin fine-tuning, reducing the operating temperature and streamlining the design to create a portable version of the system that could one day be flown to the Moon.

Based on samples brought back from the Moon over the years, it turns out that lunar regolith (moon rock) is made up of 40 to 45 percent oxygen by weight, making it the satellite’s single most abundant element, which is incredibly fortunate for future human colonization plans.

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Planet Venus May Have Been Habitable For Billions of Years, NASA Says

January 19, 2020
ExoNews Editor

EXONEWS FLASHBACK Article by Sarah Knapton September 22, 2019 (telegraph.co.uk)

• New computer modelling by NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science presented at the European Planetary Science Congress suggests that the planet Venus may have been habitable for billions of years. “Our hypothesis is that Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years,” said lead researcher Dr Michael Way.” “Our models show that there is a real possibility that Venus could have been habitable and radically different from the Venus we see today.”

• Computer models of the climate history of Venus, the second planet from the Sun, show that until around 700 million years ago temperatures ranged from 68F to 122F, cool enough for liquid water. Venus’ oceans may have lasted for two or three billion years. However, Dr Way says that “in all of the modelled scenarios, we have found that Venus could still support surface temperatures amenable for liquid water.”

• 715 million years ago, the atmosphere of Venus would have been dominated by nitrogen with trace amounts of carbon dioxide and methane – similar to the Earth’s today – and these conditions could have remained stable up until present times. But Dr Way believes that intense volcanic activity around 700 million years ago transformed Venus by releasing carbon dioxide from molten rocks into the atmosphere. The magma solidified before reaching the surface, creating a barrier that prevented the gas from being reabsorbed, causing runaway global warming.

• In the 1980s, NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission found hints that the planet once had a shallow ocean. Because the planet receives far more sunlight than Earth, scientists believed it evaporated before life could be established. With no water on the surface, carbon dioxide rose in the atmosphere, triggering a runaway greenhouse effect that created a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere 90 times as thick as Earth’s, and temperatures at the surface reaching 864 degrees Fahrenheit, making life impossible.

The planet Venus may have been habitable for billions of years, Nasa scientists have calculated.

New computer models of the climate history of the second planet from the Sun, show that until around 700 million years ago temperatures ranged from 68F (20C) to 122F (50C), cool enough for liquid water.

In the 1980s, Nasa’s Pioneer Venus mission found hints that the planet once had a shallow ocean, but because it receives far more sunlight than Earth, scientists believed it had quickly evaporated before life could become established.

With no water left on the surface, carbon dioxide rose in the atmosphere, triggering a runaway greenhouse effect that created current conditions.

Today Venus has a crushing carbon dioxide atmosphere 90 times as thick as Earth’s and temperatures at the surface reach 864 degrees Fahrenheit (462C), making life impossible.

But new computer modelling by Nasa Goddard Institute for Space Science suggests that the ocean may have lasted for two to three billion years.

Not only does it suggest that life could have once evolved on Venus, but it opens up new possibilities about where aliens may exist outside of our Solar System.

“Our hypothesis is that Venus may have had a stable climate for billions of years,” said lead researcher Dr Michael Way.

“It is possible that the near-global resurfacing event is responsible for its transformation from an Earth-like climate to the hellish hot-house we see today.

“Our models show that there is a real possibility that Venus could have been habitable and radically different from the Venus we see today.

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Mars Helicopter is Ready for Extraterrestrial Flight

January 14, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E221 Mars Helicopter is Ready for Extraterrestrial Flight” on Spreaker.

Article by NASA January 4, 2020 (lakeconews.com)

• When NASA’s next Mars rover sets out for the Red Planet in 2020, it will bring along a Mars Helicopter. It is touted as another “first” for Mars. NASA wants to expand its exploration capabilities to include an aerial dimension, new areas for exploration, faster reconnaissance, and access to terrain not reachable by rovers or astronauts.

• The Mars Helicopter’s unique design is driven by the harsh realities of Mars’ environment. The Martian atmosphere is extremely thin and cold, with only 1 to 2 percent the density of sea-level air. With temperatures down to -130˚ F it resembles Earth’s atmosphere at 100,000 feet – an altitude far beyond the capabilities of regular helicopters.

• Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center and AeroVironment Inc., worked together over several years to develop a viable vehicle design that is part aircraft and part spacecraft. A crucial aspect of the design is to keep the mass as low as possible, but to carry enough power and energy to sustain the helicopter during flight. With two four-foot rotors that spin in opposite directions at approximately 2500 revolutions per minute, the Mars Helicopter weighs only four lbs.

• The Mars Helicopter is designed to operate at a height of 16 feet for only about 90 seconds at a time. Between flights, the helicopter recharges its batteries with an onboard solar panel. The helicopter navigates utilizing a vision-based navigation system, unassisted by humans, GPS or other navigation aids. A 12-megapixel camera takes pictures during flight, which are beamed back to the rover for relay to Earth. During the cold Martian nights, the batteries and sensitive electronics are kept warm inside a heated and insulated fuselage.

• The research team replicated the conditions of the Martian atmosphere in a 25-foot vacuum chamber ‘Space Simulator’ complete with emulated Martian winds. The team performed extensive modeling and simulation, as well as low-density experiments to determine how the helicopter would respond to the thin atmosphere, wind gusts, temperature and radiation. Controlled flight of a test vehicle was achieved in May 2016. The actual Mars Helicopter Flight Model which will be sent to Mars performed its maiden hover flight in early 2019. It will now be integrated with the rover with its next flight over the Red Planet.

• [Editor’s Note] Once again, NASA is depicting the Martian atmosphere as extremely thin, cold and inhospitable. But we know from Mars insiders such as Andrew Basiago, Randy Cramer, Tony Rodrigues, and Corey Goode that the Martian air is breathable. The air isn’t as thin as NASA claims. The planet is cold primarily at the poles, and electric storms pervade the equatorial region.

NASA wants to appear as if it is exploring the surface of Mars without really exploring it, because they don’t want to reveal the extensive presence already on the planet by secret space programs and indigenous beings, mostly underground. But not to worry. This Mars Helicopter only travels in 90-second spurts, 16 feet off of the ground before needing to recharge. How much ‘exploring’ can it accomplish?

The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration for the Mars 2020 rover mission, intended to show the feasibility and utility of using helicopters for Mars exploration.

This technology may enable future missions to perform reconnaissance or independent science, and to access terrain not reachable by rovers and astronauts.

When NASA’s next Mars rover sets out for the Red Planet in 2020, it will bring along a passenger. Nestled under the belly of the rover, the Mars Helicopter will be on a mission to notch a “first” for humankind: flying a helicopter on another planet.

By sending the helicopter to Mars as a technology demonstration, NASA aims to expand its exploration capabilities to include an aerial dimension, potentially opening new areas to exploration, and enabling faster reconnaissance for the benefit of future rovers or astronauts.

With a four-foot rotor and a weight of only four lbs, the Mars Helicopter’s unique design is driven by the harsh realities of the Mars environment.

The Martian atmosphere is extremely thin and cold; at only 1 to 2 percent, the density of sea-level air and with temperatures down to -130˚ F, it resembles Earth’s atmosphere at 100,000 feet – an altitude far beyond the capabilities of regular helicopters.

To make the Mars Helicopter a reality, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Langley Research Center and AeroVironment Inc., worked together over several years to understand the unique challenges of flying on Mars, and to develop a viable vehicle design that is part aircraft and part spacecraft.

A crucial aspect of the design is to keep the mass as low as possible, but to carry enough power and energy to sustain the helicopter during flight. Recent technological advances in areas such as batteries and solar cells, miniaturized sensors and computers, and lightweight materials are key to achieving this goal.

Many components of the Mars Helicopter were developed for the commercial cell phone and drone markets. They were qualified for the Mars Helicopter mission through testing in Mars-like temperatures and by subjecting them to radiation levels that would be experienced in space.

The Mars Helicopter is designed to operate independently on Mars, performing flights of about 90 s in duration at a height of 16 feet. The two rotors spin in opposite directions at approximately 2500 revolutions per minute.

1:22 minute Mars Helicopter demonstration (‘NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory’ YouTube)

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Bizarre Blinking Space Lights ‘Could be Evidence of Extraterrestrials’

December 30, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E206 Bizarre Blinking Space Lights ‘Could be Evidence of Extraterrestrials’” on Spreaker.

Article by Tom Fish December 17, 2019 (express.co.uk)

• Beatriz Villarroel of Stockholm University in Sweden is one of the authors of a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal about the discovery of a hundred or so blinking lights in space as well as number of vanishing and reappearing objects spotted among the stars which are puzzling researchers. According to the study paper, “The implications of finding such objects extend from traditional astrophysics fields to the more exotic searches for evidence of technologically advanced civilizations”.

• The scientists examined images of the sky dating as far back as the 1950s. They compared them with modern sky surveys looking for physical indicators including stars that apparently vanished from the Milky Way. Villarroel noted that, “Finding an actually vanishing star – or a star that appears out of nowhere would be a precious discovery and certainly would include new astrophysics beyond the one we know of today.”

• Dying stars will change very slowly to become a white dwarf, or will die with a sudden explosion as a supernova. A “failed supernova” is what happens when a very massive star collapses into a black hole without sending out any kind of explosion and vanishes. But failed supernovas are very rare. A vanishing star would likely indicate some other process entirely.

• Non-natural explanations include intelligent alien lasers for communication between stars, or a Dyson sphere which is a structure that alien civilizations build around a star to harness its energy. The scientists believe the anomalies likely originate from “natural, if somewhat extreme, astrophysical sources.”

Astronomers are investigating bizarre blinking lights in space for indications they are evidence of alien super-structures or ”interstellar communication lasers”. A

number of vanishing and reappearing objects have been spotted among the stars are puzzling the researchers attempting to understand what they are.

Scientists believe the lights likely originate from “natural, if somewhat extreme, astrophysical sources”.

However, have yet to find any explanation after discovering one hundred of the strange lights.

Whatever scientists find it likely to change our understanding of space, with astronomers announcing the research could potentially usher in a “new astrophysics”.

The study’s authors wrote in The Astronomical Journal: “The implications of finding such objects extend from traditional astrophysics fields to the more exotic searches for evidence of technologically advanced civilisations”.

The scientists examined publicly available images of the sky dating as far back as the 1950s, such as old military sky catalogues.

They compared those historical observations with modern sky surveys looking for physical indicators including stars that apparently vanished from the Milky Way.

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Inside The Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Light Years Of Earth

December 7, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Listen to “E183 Inside The Search For Another Habitable Planet Within 100 Light Years Of Earth” on Spreaker.

Article by Jamie Carter November 25, 2019 (forbes.com)

• The Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project is a global attempt to discover potentially habitable exoplanets within 100 light years, involving a network of over 25 amateur astronomy observatories around the globe. It will focus on ten stars within 100 light years of Earth, all of which have confirmed transiting exoplanets within the so-called “habitable zone”.

• The exoplanet known as Kepler 442b, which orbits a K-type star and could be even more habitable than Earth. M-type stars, or ‘red dwarfs’, are small, cool stars that are impossible to see with the naked eye, but they are by far the most common type of star in our region of the Milky Way. G, K and M-type stars are “the stars that are most likely to host exoplanets with water on their surface because they don’t flare,” says Alberto Caballero, an amateur astronomer at The Exoplanets Channel and the coordinator of the ‘Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project’. “If a star flares, it can damage the atmosphere of the exoplanets.”

• The ideal exoplanet is a dense and rocky “super Earth” planet, almost seven times bigger than Earth, called LHS 1140 b, orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star LHS 1140 about 40 light years distant in the constellation of Cetus. Three other prime candidates would be:
Proxima Centauri b – an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 4.24 light years away in the constellation of Centauri;
Tau Ceti e – an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 11.9 light years away in the constellation of Cetus;
Teegarden b -an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 12 light years away in the constellation of Aries.

• Tau Ceti e is a “super Earth” exoplanet almost four times the mass of Earth. It is so massive that you can see Ceti in the constellation Cetus with the naked eye, level with Orion’s Belt in the northern hemisphere.

• The Project has been careful to ignore stars that have Jupiter-sized gas giant exoplanets in their habitable zones unless the star is so big that it may not adversely affect other exoplanets in the star’s orbit. “We’re trying to monitor the stars 24/7 for about two months,” says Caballero, “so it’s easier for us if we focus on M-type stars because any exoplanets would have really short orbital periods. But the most ideal ones are K-type stars.”

• NASA’s orbiting space telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or ‘TESS’ has already found 29 confirmed exoplanets. Caballero says, “So far (TESS has) not detected any potentially inhabited planets, but it’s only just starting on the northern hemisphere.” In the long term, Caballero thinks that studying an exoplanet’s ‘biosignature’ from its light spectrum with better instruments will yield the most potentially habitable exoplanets. Says Caballero, “[I]t’s all about having better technology.”

• [Editor’s Note] The Habitable Hunting Project might need to strike Proxima b off of their list. In March 2018, the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the Chilean Andes, reported that the red dwarf star, Proxima Centauri, fired off a powerful “superflare” which could be seen from the Earth. (see Space.com article here) It briefly boosted the star’s brightness by a factor of 68. The astronomy team noted that “life would struggle to survive in the areas of Proxima b exposed to these flares.”

The search for extraterrestrial life is easily the most profound question in modern astronomy, but it’s hampered by a lack of both technology and time.

Is life possible beyond the solar system? If we’re ever to find out, we must study and categorise the stars to answer this one, simple question: if we had a spaceship we could send to the nearest Earth-like planet, which one would we send it to?

When astronomers find exoplanets, they put them on a list marked “potentially habitable” or else use them as clues that habitable exoplanets may lurk in their star system. Most of them are exceptionally far away. So far we’ve found three close exoplanets that orbit within a star’s so-called “habitable zone” where liquid water could exist on its surface.

If astronomers had to choose a planet in another star system to send a spaceship, these three would be prime candidates:

• Proxima Centauri b: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 4.24 light years away in the constellation of Centauri.

• Tau Ceti e: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 11.9 light years away in the constellation of Cetus.

• Teegarden b: an exoplanet orbiting an M-type red dwarf star 12 light years away in the constellation of Aries.

Where will we most likely find others? Though the vast majority of star systems remain unexplored, we know of plenty that contain planets not in the star’s habitable zone. These star systems are surely the best places to look.

Cue the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project, a global attempt attempt to discover potentially habitable exoplanets within 100 light years, and involving over 25 observatories.

What is the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project?

It’s a network of amateur astronomy observatories around the globe—from the U.S. and Uzbekistan to South Africa and Australia—that is studying 10 stars within 100 light years for signs of new, as yet unfound exoplanets. All of the stars that will be studied already have confirmed transiting exoplanets outside the so-called “habitable zone”. “We’ve chosen observatories in deserts or high regions or mountains because weather is always the main problem with projects like this,” says Alberto Caballero, an amateur astronomer at The Exoplanets Channel and the coordinator of the Habitable Exoplanet Hunting Project. “But we will need to find more observatories in the southern hemisphere.”

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NASA Alien Sighting: Astronaut Confirms UFO In Surprise Recording

December 7, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Article by Lorraine Lorenzo November 25, 2019 (ibtimes.com)

• Scott Waring at the ET Database has reported that a Russian astronaut on the International Space Station (shown above) was conducting a regular ‘check-in’ with NASA ground control when he pointed out a spaceship just as two unusual blips showed up on the live feed from the space station’s live camera feed. (see 5:06 minute video below) Waring says that at around two minutes into the video, the astronaut says “…a ship…” just as the blips showed up on the video. The ground control crewman then responds with “Copy all. We just clarified. It’s with you…thank you.”

• Waring thinks this was an alien sighting from the deck of the ISS. And Waring asserts that it sounded like NASA was already aware of the existence of this alien spaceship -cutting off further mention of it in the recorded conversation.

• Were the two blips truly spaceships or just a trick of the light reflecting off a surface, perhaps even off the surface of the earth at night time? And while it did sound like the operator from NASA was cutting off the astronaut in order to keep him from going further, that might not have been the whole story.

Did a Russian astronaut confirm a UFO sighting during a recorded conversation with ground control staff from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)? According to a fringe website following unusual, possible extraterrestrial phenomenon, this was quite a convincing possibility.

ET Database released a report of what it says sounds like an astronaut pointing out a ship during one of the regular check-ins between ground control and the International Space Station (ISS). The conversation, which sounded like ground control staff from NASA checking in on a report from the ISS, heard the Russian make the mention of “a ship” just as two unusual blips showed up on the live feed from the space station’s live camera feed.

Report author Scott Waring finds it hard to believe that this was anything less than an affirmation of the possibility of an alien sighting from the deck of the ISS.

In a video, Waring outlines the important bits of the recording. Waring says that at around two minutes into the video, the astronaut says “…a ship…” just as the blips showed up on the video. The ground control crewman then responds with “Copy all. We just clarified. It’s with you…thank you.”

Perhaps even more amazing than the possibility of aliens, however, is Waring’s additional assertion that it sounded like NASA was already aware of the existence of this and similar phenomena–and cutting off the further mention of the same in a recorded conversation.

5:06 minute video of exchange between Russian astronaut and mission control
on 11-21-19 (ET DATA BASE YouTube)

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Aliens Smell Like a Fart

December 6, 2019
ExoNews Editor

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Article By Eric Spitznagel November 25, 2019 (popularmechanics.com)

• NASA’s roving Martian science lab, Curiosity, has detected dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, and trace amounts of oxygen on Mars, along with the compounds we already know about, like nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. This is the same chemical composition as flatulence.

• Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysics postdoctoral associate at MIT, agrees. “Most of my work in astrobiology looks at anaerobic environments, which have a lot in common with the environments that produce farts. So, yes, aliens are reasonably likely to smell like farts.”

• There are other examples of planets and other celestial bodies with theoretically pungent life forms. For instance, Saturn’s icy moon Titan holds lakes of liquid methane. Using data from the Cassini space probe, NASA was able to replicate the mixture of nitrogen, methane, and benzene found on Titan to learn that Titan smells like farts and gasoline.

• Sousa-Silva points out that the molecule phosphine could be the key to detecting life on other planets. Phospine needs to be manufactured by a process associated with biological life on the earth, because it won’t exist naturally in a mild climate. So if phospine is detected on a habitable planet, there is likely to be life there.

• Carrie Paterson, an LA-based artist and expert in the “cosmology of the senses” points out that there are olfactory receptors not only in our nose but in our skin and internal organs. She thinks there is a “distinct possibility that we might be able to communicate with aliens through our sense of smell”. “A ‘moldy’ smell is not just a smell”, Paterson says, “it’s a sensation our bodies have in the presence of fungus. Fresh’ isn’t just about air without pollution, but rather, how a clean environment is sensed by our skin.” What might smell ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to an alien would depend on their particular ‘corporeal composition’.

• In 1996 in Varginha, Brazil, sisters Liliane and Valquíria encountered a creature they thought might be the devil. When their mother went to investigate, she noticed a putrid odor of ammonia hanging in the air. Ammonia is a sulphurous gas, similar to a fart. And it is the predominant odor on the planet Uranus.

• Michael Menkin, a former technical writer for NASA, has heard firsthand from extraterrestrial abductees that aliens “really smell.” Menkin says that “their alien-human hybrids (also) stink because they never bathe.” But as much as an alien’s odor may offend us, our human scent, and the scents we find appealing, might be just as offensive to them. “Right now I have an abductee who stops aliens by spraying Lysol all over her house,” said Menkin. “So Lysol works as well as perfumes.”

• [Editor’s Note] I recall Stewart Swerdlow saying that reptilians smelled horrible, like ammonia and sulfur. And it felt good to the reptilians to spray Lysol disinfectant spray on their body’s skin. Maybe that helped a little with the smell?

But something doesn’t ring true here. NASA is said to have detected dimethyl sulfide and methanethiol on Mars, supporting the flatulent atmosphere theory. But they found only “trace amounts of oxygen on Mars”. Those who claim to have been on Mars have all said that that there is enough oxygen in the atmosphere for light breathing without an oxygen tank. I have never heard anyone who has been on Mars say that the air smelled like farts.

Is NASA feeding universities such as MIT data to make people think that the Mars atmosphere is not only uninhabitable but disgusting, to discourage anyone from wanting to go there?

Sometimes it takes a child to point out the important questions.

My 8-year-old is a burgeoning amateur scientist, so he keeps up with the latest science news a little more closely than I do. He learned recently that Curiosity, NASA’s roving Martian science lab, has been detecting some rather interesting organic and chemical molecules on the red planet, some of which could be clues of life. So far it’s discovered dimethyl sulfide, methanethiol, and most surprisingly, trace amounts of oxygen.

Along with the compounds we already know about, like nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide, Mars has the same chemical composition of flatulence. Which led my son to one inescapable conclusion: If aliens exist, they probably smell like farts.

I don’t know enough about farts, Mars, or aliens to refute him, so I reached out to somebody who does: Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysics postdoctoral associate at MIT.

“Your son is absolutely correct in his inference,” she told me. “Most of my work in astrobiology looks at anaerobic environments, which have a lot in common with the environments that produce farts. So, yes, aliens are reasonably likely to smell like farts.”

And at least according to Sousa-Silva, the answer to that question is: not especially pleasant. Even if Martians denied it, they most definitely supplied it.

But we don’t need to single out Mars. There are other examples of planets and other celestial bodies with theoretically pungent life forms.

Saturn’s icy moon Titan has gotten a lot of attention of late, thanks to data collected from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft over a 14-year mission. Its lakes of liquid methane, which may be filled with alien crystals, have raised questions about the “possibility of life,” as NASA planetary geologist Rosaly Lopes phrased it to Reuters last week.

A few years back, some of the gases and hydrocarbons collected by Cassini were used to create a recipe that replicated the “aromatic flavors” of Titan. Composed mostly of nitrogen, methane, and benzene (and a few other aromatics), NASA researchers were able to create in the lab what could be dubbed Eau de Titan, the cologne of choice for Titan aliens (should they exist).

What they discovered: Titan smells like farts and gasoline.

Does that mean Titan aliens could conceivably share the hearty stench of a garage filled with flatulent auto mechanics? Possibly … but probably not, says Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT.

“If the alien life was producing hydrocarbons, that life would smell like gasoline,” she says. “Right now it sounds like the Titan atmosphere at large smells like gasoline, independent of life.”

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Alien Life Will Be Found ‘Within the Next Few Decades’, Claims NASA Study

December 3, 2019
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Article by Jasper Hamill November 23, 2019 (metro.co.uk)

• A NASA-backed study (see here) proposes that a 126 antennae array observatory be established on the far side of the Moon that would scan the sky and look for habitable planets capable of sustaining extraterrestrial life. The FARSIDE array, which stands for Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark Ages and Exoplanets, would scour the sky for planets having a magnetic field like our own, which is considered ‘a key ingredient for planetary habitability’, as well as looking for gases and other ‘biosignatures’ indicating the presence of alien organisms.

• In addition to searching for exoplanets within the ‘habitable zone’ of distant star systems, the Moon observatory could also aid in the search for ‘Planet 9’, a mysterious and as-yet-undiscovered world believed to be lurking in the furthest reaches of the solar system. It could also aid in trying to find ‘dark matter’, a substance believed to make up a large proportion of all the matter in the universe. The FARSIDE array can also study ‘coronal mass ejections’ from the surface of distant stars and explore the evolution of the universe itself.

• The placement of the FARSIDE observatory on the back of the Moon would shield it from both radio frequencies from the Earth and ‘noise’ created by the Sun’s solar wind.

• Authors of the FARSIDE observatory proposal include scientists from NASA as well as academics from various American universities. They write that: “The discovery of life on a planet outside our solar system is at the heart of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. … Such a discovery may arrive within the next few decades and is the focus of a number of planned and concept NASA missions.”

• While NASA has not actually committed to building FARSIDE,optimistic scientists have claimed that alien life could be found on an ‘exoplanet’ outside our own system ‘within a few decades’.

• [Editor’s Note] Considering that a previous report titled: ‘Final Report: Design of a Lunar Far Side Observatory’ was written in 1989, NASA hasn’t put a lot of effort into making an observatory on the far side of the Moon a reality. It is likely that NASA has never had any real intention of establishing a public presence on the far side of the Moon. For if they did, it would expose that the back of the Moon is a veritable beehive of activity, with spacecraft flying to and from a number of lunar bases occupied by a variety of extraterrestrial species, including the Lunar Operations Command – a large base located on the back of the Moon at the ten o’clock position (from our point of view), that serves as US military alliance headquarters with many subsurface levels. The LOC was originally built by German Nazis in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, and was then modernized and expanded through a formal alliance of the American military industrial complex with the Nazis in the 1950’s, which continues to the present day.

Humanity could be on the verge of answering the biggest question in the universe.

A Nasa-backed study has claimed that alien life could be found on an ‘exoplanet’ outside our own system within a few decades.

Researchers have just published a proposal paper calling for an observatory to be placed on the dark side of the moon.

The proposed FARSIDE instrument (Farside Array for Radio Science Investigations of the Dark ages and Exoplanets) would scan the sky and look for habitable planets capable of sustaining extraterrestrial organisms.

It would also search for Planet 9, a mysterious and as-yet-undiscovered world believed to be lurking in the furthest reaches of the solar system, as well as trying to find dark matter, a substance believed to make up a large proportion of all the matter in the universe.

As well as these impressive ambitions, the overachieving instrument would ‘explore how the universe began and evolved’ and look for ‘coronal mass ejections’ – outbursts from the surface of stars.

But the goal which is likely to get the most attention is the search for exoplanets capable of sustaining life.

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Expert Claims Aliens Predicted End of World in Terrifying Encounter

December 2, 2019
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Article by Gerrard Kaonga November 20, 2019 (express.co.uk)

• The Apophis asteroid, (a 1,210 foot-diameter rock) is due to arrive in the vicinity of the Earth in 2029. NASA has deemed it a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’, but is confident that it is ‘highly unlikely’ that the asteroid will hit the planet.

• The famed Swiss extraterrestrial contactee, Billy Meier, was warned by his alien friends in 1981 of the destruction that will occur with the passing of the Apophis ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid, according to Meier’s representative, Michael Horn, including a ‘split’ in the earth’s crust from the North Sea down to the Black Sea (in Eastern Europe), spewing forth hot lava and resulting in the creation of a new continent. The lava and gasses coming from within the earth will create a “deadly sulfurous wall, which, drifting westward, will cover the land and with that create an additional death-zone,” says Horn.

• Horn noted that Meier’s ‘space travelers’ have far more knowledge on the subject than does NASA. “To prove it, they gave Meier more than 250 specific examples of prophetically accurate scientific information decades before our own scientists discovered it,” he said. Horn also referenced the 2013 graphic novel “The Adventures of Billy Meier” in which Meier discovers the Apophis asteroid before NASA does (in 2004).

• In an interview with Express,co,uk, Horn related that extraterrestrial beings told Meier how to deflect the asteroid and save the planet: “The most highly recommended means is to detonate a nuclear charge in the proper proximity as to just deflect and nudge the ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis off its trajectory.”

• Asteroid researches, spacecraft engineers, and asteroid specialists from the NASA, the European Space Agency, and around the world gathered in Rome this past September to discuss how to best deal with asteroids heading towards earth. They came up with a project called HERA that would use two spacecraft to physically push the asteroid off of its deadly trajectory. They plan to test their technique on an unsuspecting asteroid.

Michael Horn, research scientist and representative for ufologist Billy Meier, said Mr Meier believed he was contacted by aliens to warn of the dangers of the ‘God of Chaos’ Apophis asteroid. During an interview with Express.co.uk, Mr Horn revealed the claims of alien life wanting the world to come together to deflect the asteroid. NASA has insisted the space rock is highly unlikely to strike the planet in its next flyby.

Although NASA remains confident that the asteroid will not hit the planet in its next fly by the planet in 10 years time, they have deemed it a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).

Mr Horn said: “Fortunately as far back as 1981 when Meier was given this information by these people and he documented it.

“They said here is the recommended means of averting impact.

“They said look there are things such as solar sales and other means they might want to try.

“They may also want to try to blow up the asteroid but that is not recommended.

“The most highly recommended means is to detonate a nuclear charge in the proper proximity as to just deflect and nudge ‘God of Chaos’ asteroid Apophis off its trajectory.”

When asked why Mr Horn’s team and Billy Meier’s conclusions differ from NASA’s he said: “The space travellers’ technologies greatly exceed NASA’s.

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There’s Water on Jupiter’s Moon Europa

December 1, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Article by Mihai Andrei November 19, 2019 (zmescience.com)

• NASA has confirmed that Jupiter’s moon Europa contains liquid water, making it one of the most promising places we know for extraterrestrial life. Astronomers have previously observed plumes of water emerging from Europa reaching hundreds of kilometers high.

• More recently, researchers at the W. M. Keck Observatory, atop the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, found a clear signature of water molecules on the moon. Its earthbound spectrograph was able to detect water on Europa by meticulously removing the signatures of water molecules and other “contaminants” within the earth’s atmosphere.

• While “Essential chemical elements…are found all over the solar system,” says NASA scientist Lucas Paganini, liquid water is somewhat hard to find beyond Earth.” Forty years ago, the Voyager snapped a photo of a cracked and shifting geology on Europa, indicating tectonic drifts or even a sub-surface ocean with slabs of ice moving on top of it.

• Avi Mandell, a Goddard planetary scientist on Paganini’s team, said, “[E]ventually, we’ll have to get closer to Europa to see what’s really going on.” In 2025 he and his fellow astronomers will get their wish. NASA’s Clipper mission will launch toward Jupiter to analyze Europa’s habitability, chemistry, and geology. The mission will also help NASA select a landing site for its future Europa lander. The European Space Agency plans to launch its ‘Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (or “JUICE”) in 2022 to analyze Jupiter’s Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. Might these explorers detect life in a moon’s slushy ocean?

NASA has confirmed that Jupiter’s moon Europa contains liquid water, making it one of the most promising places we know for extraterrestrial life.

At first glance, not much is happening on Europa. A small, frozen world orbiting Jupiter doesn’t seem like the most interesting place out there. But 40 years ago, the Voyager snapped an intriguing photo of the satellite: its frozen surface wasn’t stale and monotonous, it was cracked and sliced by different features, suggesting active and recent phenomena. Subsequent missions showed even more exciting things.

Despite being undoubtedly bombarded by meteorites, Europa’s surface is largely devoid of craters. This means that something must have erased or eroded them, suggesting some active geology. Not only is Europa active — it has some form of tectonics, and more impressively, it seems to have liquid water. The liquid water isn’t on the surface but rather beneath the frozen surface. The pattern of the cracks observed on Europa’s surface suggest that the frozen surface of the planet is not locked to the rest of the interior, which is exactly what you’d expect to happen if a layer of liquid were to exist beneath the surface.

To make things even more tantalizing, astronomers have observed something which seems to be plumes of water emerging from Europa. Some of the plumes are hundreds of kilometers high, adding even more evidence to the case for water on Europa.

Now, that case is essentially proven. Researchers looking from the W. M. Keck Observatory, atop the dormant Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii, found a clear signature of water molecules.

“Essential chemical elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) and sources of energy, two of three requirements for life, are found all over the solar system. But the third — liquid water — is somewhat hard to find beyond Earth,” said Lucas Paganini, a NASA planetary scientist who led the water detection investigation. “While scientists have not yet detected liquid water directly, we’ve found the next best thing: water in vapor form.”

1:46 minute video on ‘Water Plumes on Europa” (NASA Goddard youTube)

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SpaceX’s Starship Might Start Flying Moon Missions in 2022

November 30, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Article by Mike Wall November 19, 2019 (space.com)

• In order to pass the costs of space travel to the private sector, 14 companies have been selected by NASA to participate in the space agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. Buying a ride on a private craft, rather than developing and building its own landers, will theoretically save the agency big bucks. Of these 14 companies, five have been invited to make a contract bid on a NASA payload scheduled for 2022.

• One of these five selected companies is Elon Musk’s ‘SpaceX’. Musk would rely on SpaceX’s reusable spaceship-rocket duo known as ‘Starship’ and ‘Super Heavy’. Starship is capable of carrying 110 tons (100 metric tons) to the moon’s surface. So there will be plenty of room to ferry gear for a variety of customers in its primarily unmanned cargo ships to the moon and Mars. The Starship and the Super Heavy are equipped to accommodate a manned crew as well.

• SpaceX does have one crewed Starship mission on its docket already. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has booked a flight around the moon for himself and a handful of artists in 2023.

• The other four companies that are eligible for lunar payloads are California-based Ceres Robotics and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems Inc.; Sierra Nevada Corp. of Colorado; and Washington-based Blue Origin, which will use its Blue Moon lander. Among the rest, ‘Astrobotic’ and ‘Intuitive Machines’ are already scheduled to deliver NASA science gear and a variety of other payloads to the lunar surface in July 2021.

• NASA views the privatization of space transport as a key to its Artemis program which aims to put two astronauts, including the first woman, on the moon by 2024 and establish a long-term human presence there by 2028. In May, NASA selected 11 private companies to build a prototype crewed Artemis lander. The companies submitted detailed proposals on November 8th. NASA is expected to pick the four finalists by early next year. In the meantime, unmanned commercial spacecraft will transport a variety of NASA experiments and hardware to the lunar surface that will pave the way for the astronaut pioneers. (see 1:11 minute NASA promo video for the Artemis Program below)

SpaceX’s huge Mars-colonizing Starship vehicle could make its first extraterrestrial touchdown just three short years.

SpaceX is one of five companies that are newly eligible to deliver robotic payloads to the lunar surface for NASA, via the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. SpaceX proposes to do this work with Starship and Super Heavy, the reusable spaceship-rocket duo that the company is developing primarily to help humanity become a multiplanet species.

And Starship could start putting NASA payloads down on Earth’s nearest neighbor quite soon, if all goes according to plan.

“We are aiming to be able to drop Starship on the lunar surface in 2022,” SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said during a NASA-organized CLPS teleconference Monday (Nov. 18).

SpaceX is not guaranteed to fly a CLPS mission that year, or any year. SpaceX is just eligible now to bid on NASA lunar delivery services; it will still have to beat out the rest of the CLPS pool, which is now 14 companies strong, for each moon contract.

And each mission that Starship flies under the CLPS banner will almost certainly ferry gear for a variety of customers. Starship is capable of carrying 110 tons (100 metric tons) to the moon’s dusty gray surface on each trip, Shotwell said, and it’s hard to imagine NASA filling out that manifest by itself.

NASA views CLPS as a key enabler of its Artemis program of crewed lunar exploration, which aims to put two astronauts, including the first woman, on the moon by 2024 and establish a long-term human presence there by 2028.

1:11 minute NASA promo video on the Artemis Generation (NASA YouTube)

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Expert Claims Aliens Predicted End of World in Terrifying Encounter

November 29, 2019
ExoNews Editor

Article by Gerrard Kaonga November 20, 2019 (express.co.uk)

• NASA has deemed the asteroid called the ‘God of Chaos’ Apophis asteroid, which is due to approach the Earth in ten years, as a ‘Potentially Hazardous Asteroid’, although NASA is confident that it will not strike the Earth. (see 1:07 minute video below)

• Michael Horn was interviewed by Express as the representative of the Swiss Ufologist and ET contactee Billy Meier. Horn says that Meier claimed that in 1981, extraterrestrial beings warned Meier of the dangers of the ‘God of Chaos’ Apophis asteroid. Meier was told that the world needs to come together to deflect the asteroid before it hits the Earth.

• The extraterrestrials told Meier that rather than blowing up the asteroid, a nuclear charge should be detonated near the asteroid to nudge it off of its Earth-bound trajectory. When asked why his space friends’ predictions for the asteroid differ so much from NASA’s, Meier explained that the “space traveler’s technologies greatly exceed NASA’s”. As proof of the extraterrestrials’ foreknowledge, the ET beings gave Meier over 250 specific examples of scientific information that were discovered and verified by scientists decades later as accurate. A comic book illustration entitled: The Adventures of Billy Meier proved that he knew of the deadly asteroid before NASA did.

• The aliens gave Meier specific information regarding the devastating impacts of the Apophis asteroid if it continued its dangerous trajectory. Said Horn, “They gave information on (resulting) climatic and tectonic changes, and also additional changes that will threaten to split the crust of the Earth from the present-day North Sea down to the Black Sea” from which red hot lava will spew and eventually form a new continent. A wall of sulpher will drift westward to create an additional ‘death-zone’.

• Asteroid researchers and spacecraft engineers from NASA, the European Space Agency and other asteroid specialists around the world gathered in Rome this past September to discuss a viable method to deal with asteroids heading towards Earth. Their current plan, named ‘HERA’ (would have an unmanned craft to first study and then collide with the asteroid) to deflect its trajectory away from the Earth. (see European Space Agency description here)

NASA has insisted the space rock is highly unlikely to strike the planet in its next flyby.

Although NASA remains confident that the asteroid will not hit the planet in its next fly by the planet in 10 years time, they have deemed it a Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA).

Mr Horn said: “Fortunately as far back as 1981 when Meier was given this information by these people and he documented it.

“They said here is the recommended means of averting impact.

“They said look there are things such as solar sales and other means they might want to try.

“They may also want to try to blow up the asteroid but that is not recommended.

“The most highly recommended means is to detonate a nuclear charge in the proper proximity as to just deflect and nudge ‘God of

Chaos’ asteroid Apophis off its trajectory.”

When asked why Mr Horn’s team and Billy Meier’s conclusions differ from NASA’s he said: “The space travellers’ technologies greatly exceed NASA’s.

1:07 minute video of Apophis asteroid’s 2029 trajectory (VideoFromSpace YouTube)

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