MUFON Sets Up Permanent Headquarters in Cincinnati

Article by Maija Zummo                                        March 23, 2021                                         (citybeat.com)

• Launched in 1969, today MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) has more than 600 trained investigators and 4,200 members across the world to investigate UFO sightings, collect research data in the worldwide MUFON database, educate the public on the UFO phenomenon, and promote research on UFOs with an eye towards scientific breakthroughs and improving life on our planet.

• Historically, MUFON has moved to wherever its executive director is located. In 2012, MUFON headquarters moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to Irvine, California. Current executive director David MacDonald is based out of Cincinnati. So MUFON is returning to the Queen City permanently.

• “Cincinnati is within a six-hour drive to 80% of the nation. It is also highly valued due to its many advantages to business,” says MacDonald. “Cincinnati is remarkably less expensive to live in as well as do business in than Southern California. One of Cincinnati’s largest corporate headquarters once said, ‘We have two problems to being in Cincinnati — one is to get people to move here, the second is getting them to leave.’”

• The Cincinnati area has a special connection to UFOs. “Wright Patterson is 45 minutes away,” MacDonald says. “There are quite a few (UFO) sightings in the Tri-State area, and it was the home of one of the most famous UFO pioneers in the world, Len Stringfield.”

• MacDonald says investigators are “the foundation of MUFON.” MUFON is actively recruiting more UFO hunters. But being a field investigator takes more than mild curiosity. Ideal candidates are stable, dependable and objective with hours of volunteer time available, and have “an above-average interest in the UFO phenomenon.” Each candidate has to pass a background check, attend MUFON University training online and take an exam before becoming an official trainee. After that, the trainee must shadow a professional investigator before they’re allowed out in the field alone.

• “This is one of the most exciting times for MUFON,” says MacDonald. “For 52 years, we’ve searched for the truth about UFOs and now it is breaking.” “Around 2018, the now-famous ‘Tic Tac’ videos were released. Recently, the United States government is being directed to release their classified information where it has been confirmed that a UFO (not a missile) flew over a commercial airliner near White Sands. An Israeli professor who was a high-ranking intelligence officer, publicly disclosed that UFOs are not only real, but they are here. But the blockbuster came a few weeks ago when the Pentagon acknowledged that they do in fact have crash debris from UFOs.”

• [Editor’s Note]  MacDonald replaces former MUFON executive director Jan Harzan after Harzan was arrested for soliciting a 13 year old girl for sex online last summer in Huntington, California.

 

      David MacDonald

The truth is out there.

And possibly literally right here in the Queen City, as Cincinnati is once again home to nonprofit UFO investigation organization Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON.

Launched in 1969, MUFON has three goals, which its more than 600 trained investigators and 4,200 members across the world enact:
1. Investigate UFO sightings and collect the data in the MUFON Database for use by researchers worldwide.
2. Promote research on UFOs to discover the true nature of the phenomenon, with an eye towards scientific breakthroughs, and improving life on our planet.
3. Educate the public on the UFO phenomenon and its potential impact on society.

             Jan Harzan

Although the organization has moved several times since its founding, it left Cincinnati in 2012 to relocate to Irvine, California. Now, its board of directors has declared MUFON is permanently returning to the Queen City, setting up headquarters near Lunken Airport.

Historically, MUFON has moved to wherever its executive director is located; current executive director David MacDonald is based out of Cincinnati. (MacDonald also previously served as director, hence MUFON’s former stint in the city.)

“Cincinnati is within a six-hour drive to 80% of the nation. It is also highly valued due to its many advantages to business,” MacDonald tells CityBeat. “Cincinnati is remarkably less expensive to live in as well as do business in than Southern California. One of Cincinnati’s largest corporate headquarters once said, ‘We have two problems to being in Cincinnati — one is to get people to move here, the second is getting them to leave.’”

But besides the logistics, MacDonald says making the move to Cincinnati permanent is valuable because the area has a special connection to UFOs.

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15% of Brits Think Aliens Will Dominate the Earth by 2040

Article by Cameron Frew                                       March 23, 2021                                            (unilad.co.uk)

• Kicking off ‘UFO Week’, BLAZE pay television did a survey of 2,000 UK adults on matters concerning extraterrestrials and UFOs. According to the results, 15% of the Brits think the Earth may be ruled by a species from another world by 2040.

• Former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope called it ‘the single-most astounding figure’ in the study. Said Pope, “This is not just the latest probe on Mars finding microbial life, this is full on alien invasion – that’s big.”

• Philip Mantle, director of investigations for the British UFO Research Association, said that contrary to sci fi movies and pop culture, he couldn’t find any information which would supporting an impending alien invasion. Mantle mused philosophically as to why another species would travel all that way to dominate our lowly planet. Or perhaps life on Earth evolved from ancient bacteria brought here from Mars via a meteorite, and the we humans are in fact the aliens from Mars dominating this planet.

• As such, Mantle believes that we would be better served looking at potential meteorite impacts on earth, such as the Tunguska meteor of 1908 in Siberia more than studying NASA’s database of Mars images. “It’s not if we’ll get struck again, it’s when,” says Mantle. “[I]t may be a long time coming, but that’s the kind of thing we should be looking for.”

 

                       Philip Mantle

Earth will be invaded and dominated by aliens in the next 20 years, according to 15%

                           Nick Pope

of Brits.

Ahead of UFO Week kicking off today on BLAZE, the channel carried surveyed 2,000 UK adults on matters concerning extraterrestrials and unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP).

There’s no evidence to suggest the White House will be blown up by aliens anytime soon, nor will we be visited by the shells like those in Arrival. However, come 2040, a large portion of Brits believe we may be ruled by a species from another world.

According to the results, 15% think aliens will dominate the Earth over the next 20 years. Nick Pope, a former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator called it ‘the single-most astounding figure’ in the study.

He told UNILAD: ‘This is not just the latest probe on Mars finding microbial life, this is full on alien invasion – that’s big.’

While accepting the rising interest in UFOs and the surrounding theories could be indebted to pop culture, Pope urged: ‘Let’s get beyond the idea that this is just sci-fi, let’s realise and acknowledge [UAP] for the serious defence issue that it is.’

This was echoed by Philip Mantle, director of investigations for the British UFO Research Association, who said: ‘It does reflect the interest in this thing in popular culture,’ with countless action sci-fi movies, whether it’s Alien, Life, Predator, Cloverfield, Edge of Tomorrow or even the Marvel Cinematic Universe and beyond. ‘There’s not very many nice ones like E.T. and things like that,’ he said.

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Luxembourg Petitions Parliment to Disclose UFOs

Article by Emery P. Dalesio                                      March 21, 2021                                        (luxtimes.lu)

• Under the laws of Luxembourg, if a petition approved for circulation collects more than 4,500 signatures, then the parliament must debate the petition’s proposal with the minister in charge, although it is not required to take further action.

• On March 19th, fifteen petitions were approved for circulation. One of them calls on government agencies to disclose any information they have on UFOs. Some believe that Luxembourg government X-Files may contain evidence of extraterrestrial life and UFOs.

• “Although the (UFO/ET) subject is still often ridiculed or treated with contempt and derision by those who defend it, there have been an increasing number of serious attempts in recent years to persuade governments of various countries to publish the information collected on this subject”, petition supporters said.

• The request for transparency about alien visitations in Luxembourg comes as the US government has begun releasing some of its presumed trove of reports about UFOs. In January, the CIA released what it says are all its 2,700 pages of UFO files. In December, the US Congress ordered national intelligence and defense chiefs to release a report on UFOs by the middle of this year.

• Other Luxembourg petitions include: a bronze statue of Napoleon Bonaparte; a prohibition on landlords to pass marketing costs on to tenants; security guards positioned in front of schools and day care centers; basic income for all adults; a ban against special advantages for COVID vaccinated people; and a tax break for cryptocurrency mining companies.

 

The truth is out there: files Luxembourg’s government holds may describe sightings of unexplained aircraft that some believe contain evidence life on other worlds exists.

It is a pressing question, at least for the people who submitted a public petition calling on government agencies to disclose any information they have on unidentified flying objects.

“Although the subject is still often ridiculed or treated with contempt and derision by those who defend it, there have been an increasing number of serious attempts in recent years to persuade governments of various countries to publish the information collected on this subject”, petition supporters said.

The proposal was one of 15 petitions that were approved for circulation on Friday. If any of these often colourful petitions collect more than 4,500 signatures, parliament will need to debate the proposal with the minister in charge – although it is not required to take further action.

Another petition calls for a bronze statue of Napoleon Bonaparte to be installed in the geographic centre of Luxembourg in recognition of his persisting influence on the legal system, schools, commerce and church-state relations during his occupation of the country after the French revolution.

On a more practical note, one petition would prevent landlords from charging tenants for the cost of real estate agents marketing their property. The charges, which usually amount to the value of one month’s rent, should be borne by the landlord who hired the agency, the petition said.

The request for Luxembourg to become fully transparent about possible alien visitations comes as the US government has begun releasing some of its presumed trove of reports about UFOs.

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Private Chinese Firm to Build Space Lab by 2025

Article by Deng Xiaoci and Fan Anqi                                    March 14, 2021                                        (globaltimes.cn)

• In July 2019, China’s manned Tiangong-2 space lab completed 1000 days in orbit before the spacecraft was allowed to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. The communist state’s first permanent manned space station is to become operational by 2022.

• Now, a private Chinese space technology start-up firm based in Huzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province has entered the space arena. ‘Rocket Pi’ is working putting a manned space station biology lab into orbit by 2025. The firm’s founder, Cheng Wei, says that the lab will conduct studies relating to changes in human vital signs in space to support the development of future manned space activities.

• In September 2021, a biology experiment platform, ‘Sparkle-1’, is expected to be launched via a Long March carrier rocket. A multi-functional platform supporting biological experiments may be put into orbit by 2022. By 2025, a reusable payload that is able to shuttle between Earth and space objects will provide platforms for in-orbit biopharmaceutical experiments.

• The Rocket Pi space station will also test a self-generating bioregenerative life support system (BLSS) to study the feasibility of long-term human stays on the Moon or other celestial bodies. “The moon lab project simulates a lunar base where humans, animals, plants and microorganisms co-exist in a closed cabin,” said chief designer Liu Hong. “[W]ater and food are recycled within the lab, creating an Earth-like environment.”

• In 2017-2018, eight volunteers took turns living in a 150-square-meter cabin for 370 days as an experiment to study the participants’ physical and mental conditions. Currently, smaller BLSS equipment is being studied, which could be loaded onto space labs as well as Moon and Mars probes.

• By the end of 2022, Rocket Pi plans to launch its own rockets into space, and is currently developing a wide range of launch vehicles to support launches for various payloads of different weights into Low Earth Orbit and into a sun-synchronous orbit. These flexible, reusable rockets will transform the future of space exploration, says Cheng, to support a range of new space infrastructure programs including space labs, satellite-based internet networks and a microbial pharmacy research platform.

• Although these are the very early days, Rocket Pi’s goal of building a space biology laboratory to provide commercial space technology products and services for the biomedical industry heralds the rise of a private commercial aerospace industry in China.

• China has been considering the establishment of an ‘Earth-Moon space economic zone’ by 2050, generating up to $10 trillion a year. Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the state space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, revealed the ambitious plan during a seminar on the space economy in November 2019. Bao pledged to complete basic research on key technologies before 2030, establish the transportation system by 2040, and have the Earth-moon space economic zone up and running by 2050.

 

              Tiangong-2 space lab

As China has scheduled 11 launch missions in the next two years for the building of

  bioregenerative life support system (BLSS)

its first space station, a private space technology start-up based in Huzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province has been keeping its pace close to the national program, with an ambitious goal of initiating an orbital space biology lab around 2025, firm founder Cheng Wei told the Global Times on Sunday.

It aims to conduct studies relating to changes in humans’ vital signs in space to explore the development of future manned space missions, while also planning to

         Cheng Wei, founder of Rocket Pi

load a self-generating life support system onboard its lab to study the feasibility of long-term human stays on moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.

Named after rocket plus the Greek symbol representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, Cheng’s firm, Rocket Pi, has a four-step framework toward its ambitious goals.

Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology division of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp

A single-function biology experiment platform payload, Sparkle-1, is expected to be launched via a Long March carrier rocket by September, while a multi-functional platform supporting biological experiments may be put into orbit by 2022. The company will establish a space shuttle-like mode for platform launches during the same period.

  BLSS designer Liu Hong

Next, by 2025, reusable payload that is able to shuttle between Earth and celestial bodies will become reality, which will provide platforms for in-orbit experiments for biopharmaceutical studies.

The company aims to launch a program to build the space biology lab after 2025.

Against the backdrop of China putting the construction of a space station, which is expected to become operational by 2022, Rocket Pi aims to conduct studies relating to changes in human vital signs in space to explore and support the development of future manned space activities.

According to material that the company provided to the Global Times, its spacecraft will be very much like China’s manned Tiangong-2 space lab, which successfully left orbit and re-entered the atmosphere in July 2019 in a controlled manner after more than 1,000 days in service, with a small amount of debris falling into a designated security area in the South Pacific Ocean. Most of the spacecraft burned up in the atmosphere.

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UK UFO Files Reveal Schoolchildren’s Sketches of 1977 ‘Alien Encounter’

Article by Alex McIntyre                                        March 13, 2021                                    (cheshire-live.co.uk)

• UFO files released in 2009 by the UK Ministry of Defence’s UFO Desk have revealed children’s sketches of what appears to be an alien spaceship at the Upton Priory School in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England in October 1977.

• On this day, ten children at the school, aged between 7 and 11 years old, had gone out for their lunchtime break. When they came back, they told a teacher, Mrs. Hindmarsh, that they had seen something hovering around the trees before it vanished into the sky. The teacher told the children to draw what they had seen independently of each other using crayons and colored pencils. The images were so striking that she passed the drawings along to police in Cheshire.

• After checking with air traffic control in Manchester to see if they had anything on the radar, a Chesire police officer passed the pictures along with his written report to the UK Ministry of Defence, saying that there was ‘a remarkable similarity in these sketches with regard to the UFO and its location between two trees’. The file was then passed along from the Ministry of Defence in London to the MoD’s UFO desk.

• “It really is quite something,” said Dr. David Clarke, a professor at Sheffield Hallam University who was involved in transferring the ministry’s files into the public domain between 2009 and 2013. Said Dr. Clarke, “When I opened this particular (file), it struck me as more interesting than the usual, because it was full of all these crayon drawings by these schoolkids from Macclesfield.” “[T]he teacher must have thought this was something to be taken seriously and sat them down to get them to draw what they had seen independently. Then, because the drawings were so similar she actually gathered them together and took them to the police station in Macclesfield.”

• The Macclesfield case images were “just so amazing” that Dr. Clarke featured them in his book UFO Drawings from The National Archives, published in September 2017. Dr. Clarke speculated that the children could have been inspired to draw a spaceship in the trees due to the fact that the sci fi movie ‘Star Wars’ had been released earlier that summer.

 

      student’s drawing of UFO

UFO files released by the Ministry of Defence have revealed children’s sketches of what

               student’s drawing of UFO

appears to be an alien spaceship at a Cheshire school in 1977.

The pictures drawn by school pupils at Upton Priory School in Macclesfield were made public by the MoD’s UFO Desk shortly before it closed down in 2009.

The documents reveal that the sighting occurred in October 1977 when 10 children at the school, aged between seven and 11 years old, had gone out for their lunchtime break.

         student’s sketch of UFO

They came back and told a teacher, Mrs Hindmarsh, that they had seen something hovering around the trees before it vanished into the sky.

        Cheshire, England

The teacher told the children to draw what they had seen independently of each other using crayons and coloured pencils.

The images were so striking that she passed the dossier to police in Cheshire before it ended up at the UFO desk at the Ministry of Defence.

In a covering letter, the police officer said there was ‘a remarkable similarity in these sketches with regard to the UFO and its location between two trees’.

Dr David Clarke, a former journalist and currently a professor at Sheffield Hallam University, was involved in transferring the ministry’s files into the public domain between 2009 and 2013.

 Dr. David Clarke  (credit: Richard Hanson)

Speaking to CheshireLive, he said: “When I opened this particular one, it struck me as more interesting than the usual, because it was full of all these crayon drawings by these schoolkids from Macclesfield.

“I suppose kids say all kinds of things about things they’ve seen in playgrounds but the teacher must have thought this was something to be taken seriously and sat them down to get them to draw what they had seen independently.

“Then because the drawings were so similar she actually gathered them together and took them to the police station in Macclesfield.

“Then this copper had written a report about this and sent it to air traffic control in Manchester to see if they had anything on the radar.

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London Stock Market Pressured to Invest in British Space Industry

Article by Aleksandra Serebriakova                                        March 13, 2021                                     (sputniknews.com)

• Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment into British defense with an aim to create Britain’s own ‘Space Force’ space command. Johnson hopes to send British spaceships into space as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defense sector.

• Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites, but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil. “Space is the key to the world’s future,” said Will Whitehorn, chairman of UKSpace trade association. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

• UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry. Whitehorn compared how Wall Street space firms were raising “billions” for American space initiatives, but nothing like that has happened in the UK. “I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” said Whitehorn.

• Meanwhile, the ‘UK Space Agency’ – Britain’s civil space authority (like NASA) – announced in October 2020 that America’s aerospace giant Lockheed Martin will develop UK launch operations from Shetland Islands, Scotland. And Scottish firm Orbex plans to launch its innovative Prime rocket from the Sutherland, Scotland spaceport in 2022.

• Virgin Orbit also plans to release a group of satellites from Spaceport Cornwall in southwestern England for the first time in spring 2020. The spaceport supports so-called “horizontal” launches, where modified aircraft such as the Boeing 747 will carry a rocket under its wings to send small satellites into orbit.

• The UK Space Agency’s plan is to control 10% of the world’s space economy by the end of this decade.

 

Last November, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised a $22 billion investment

 Prime Minister Boris Johnson

into British defence with an aim to create Britain’s own Trump-like ‘Space Force’. The country is planning to send its first rocket into space from British soil next year.

The trade association UKSpace is calling on British businesses to take a more active part in launching a “new industrial revolution” and turning Britain into a space superpower by investing big bucks into the industry.

           Will Whitehorn

“I believe a new investment trust to invest in brilliant space companies is needed on the London Stock Market,” Will Whitehorn, the president of UKSpace, told Express.co.uk.

Whitehorn has compared how Wall Street Space firms were raising “billions” for American space

              Shetland Islands

initiatives, but “nothing” like that has happened in the UK, he says, signalling that this had to change, albeit with the government’s support.

“Space is the key to the world’s future, key to battling climate change and could be a key to our future prosperity,” the trade association’s chairman went on. “We need to wake up and smell the coffee!”

Britain has been one of the global champions when it comes to operating civil and military satellites but has yet to launch its first rocket from UK soil.

PM Boris Johnson hopes that this could happen as early as 2022, as his government is boosting millions of dollars into the defence sector. He announced in November 2020 that the UK will create a new Space Command in a similar fashion to former US President Donald Trump with his much-debated US Space Force.

The prime minister expects that the first rocket will go into orbit from Scotland, as two large space ports are currently underway in the country: Space Hub Sutherland and Shetland Space Centre.

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South Korean Hanwha Aerospace Gets in on Space Business

Article by Park Si-soo                                     March 1, 2021                                       (spacenews.com)

• Hanwha Aerospace, the leading aircraft engine producer in South Korea with annual revenue of 5.32 trillion won (or $4.7 trillion US), is doing its best to position itself to become a major player in the new global space industry. The 37 year old Harvard educated architect of Hanwha’s space business strategy, Kim Dong-kwan, formed a “space task force” last year involving about 10 officials from Hanwha Aerospace, Hanwha Systems and Hanwha Corporation to advance and expand its technology for satellites and rocket boosters; satellite equipment and antennas; launch pads and solid fuel.

• In January, Hanwha won a 30% controlling stake in South Korean satellite maker, Satrec Initiative (SI) to produce small and medium-size Earth-observation satellites, ground systems and electro-optical payloads on Korean soil. In a statement, Hanwha said its investment in SI is to “possess core technologies related to the space satellite industry, which is expected to grow in the New Space era, and in the medium to long-term, preempt technological advance through synergy with the company to secure the capability of the satellite development technology.” For SI’s part, SI President Kim Ee-eul said the deal “provides the financial resources and strategic partnership that we can leverage for further growth.”

• While South Korea has been prohibited from developing solid-fueled launch vehicles by a bilateral nonproliferation agreement with the U.S. focused on ballistic missiles, last July the country won US permission to conduct research and to develop solid-propellant rockets, opening the door to Hanwha and other South Korean companies to enter the market.

• In December 2020, Hanwha Systems formed a strategic partnership with U.S.-based satellite communications company Kymeta. Hanwha plans to invest $30 million US into the development of Kymeta’s next-generation low Earth orbit antennas so it can “enter the LEO satellite antenna market early on, and diversify our technology portfolio,” said Hanwha Systems CEO Kim Youn-chul.

• In June 2020, Hanwha Systems acquired British satellite antenna developer Phasor Solutions, adding cutting-edge satellite communication antenna technology to its portfolio including “broadband electronically steerable antennas, that enable high-speed communications in-flight, at sea, or on land.” Phasor’s proprietary technologies include flat-antenna-beam steering and semiconductor chip-design technology.

 

SEOUL, South Korea — Hanwha Aerospace, the leading aircraft engine producer in

         Kim Dong-kwan

South Korea, is stepping up efforts to expand its space business.

In the latest move, Hanwha struck a 109 billion won ($96.8 million) deal in January to win a controlling 30 percent stake in a domestic satellite maker, Satrec Initiative (SI), by the end of April. Established in 1999 by engineers who contributed to making the nation’s first satellite KITSAT-1, SI is credited with developing core technologies to produce small and medium-size Earth-observation satellites, ground systems and electrooptical payloads on Korean soil.

Hanwha said while SI would be managed independently, Kim Dong-kwan — the first son of Hanwha Group chairman Kim Seung-youn and president of the group’s chemical affiliate, Hanwha Solutions — would join SI as a non-standing executive director to facilitate cooperation between the two companies.

In a statement, Hanwha said its investment in SI is to “possess core technologies related to the space satellite industry, which is expected to grow in the New Space era, and in the medium to long-term, preempt technological advance through synergy with the company to secure the capability of the satellite development technology.”

In a separate statement, SI President Kim Ee-eul said the deal “provides the financial resources and strategic partnership that we can leverage for further growth.” Kim added SI will “expand business to proactively respond to the growing domestic and international demands on Synthetic Aperture Radar and infrared satellite systems as well as optical satellite systems.”

After the deal was announced, SI hired 17 new engineers including those experienced in satellite design and developing synthetic aperture radar (SAR), according to SI.

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International Effort to Set Rules of Behavior in Space

Article by Sandra Erwin                                              February 24, 2021                                              (spacenews.com)

• The commander of the US Space Command, Major General DeAnna Burt (pictured above) says that international momentum is building for the adoption of a binding set of rules to make space safer and sustainable. A December 2020 UN resolution proposed by the UK will focus on a set of rules curtailing irresponsible or potentially threatening activities in space, and on reducing the risks of misunderstandings and miscalculations. The United States and allies including Canada, France, Germany Australia and New Zealand are now drafting language for the rules and the US Space Command is taking a central role. The UN has asked countries to submit input by May 3rd.

• This effort comes amid growing alarm about Russia’s anti-satellite weapon tests and concerns that the proliferation of satellites and debris is rapidly cluttering Earth orbit. US Space Command has grown especially mistrustful of Russia following recent tests of weapons that could be used to target satellites in low Earth orbit. In 2020 Russia tested two direct-ascent weapons. It also tested a co-orbital system that the United States claims was aimed at a US intelligence satellite.

• The 1967 Outer Space Treaty remains the basis for international space law but experts say the treaty has become outdated. For example, it bans the use of weapons of mass destruction in space but countries now deploy dual-use spacecraft that can be used for peaceful and military purposes.

• For decades there have been calls for the UN and other organizations to figure out a way to deter these types of activities and move forward as more nations engage in space operations. “[W]e want to see something that is binding. …The problem with previous UN resolutions is that they were non-binding”, said Burt. “We’re going to prepare what we believe will be proposal language that will go to the UN and hopefully result in a binding resolution,” she said. “[I]t’s going to be something we can all agree to.”

• It’s not just the U.S. and allied governments that care about this, said Burt. Private satellite owners and operators from many nations “have a vested interest in keeping the domain safe, sustainable and free for all to use,” says Burt. “There’s been a lot of (global) exploration over hundreds of years and we’ve established norms that become laws about the rules of the sea” under a long-standing maritime domain model. “How we operate in the space domain needs very similar kinds of customs and processes.” Any agreement has to clearly define what constitutes threatening, hostile or irresponsible behavior, Burt said. Based on that, a nation could decide if a particular action in space constitutes an act of war or if it can be handled through diplomatic or economic sanctions.

• Over the past decade, China and Russia have floated treaty proposals to ban weapons in space, but the United States has rejected them as unacceptable. The U.S. is not calling for a ban on specific weapons, Burt said. “The Chinese and the Russians have already put weapons in space. So I think we’re way past having a conversation about regulating them per se, which is why we focus on norms of behavior.” With regard to anti-satellite weapons, “I don’t think you can you can put that genie back in the bottle.”

• With more nations now involved in space, there are concerns beyond the use of weapons, such as safety of flight so that satellites do not collide with each other, said Burt, who spent 28 years in the U.S. Air Force operating satellites. Safety concerns will only grow as more humans start going to space, she added. Any international agreement also should hold accountable actors who create long-term debris. “That is something that we see is one of the biggest concerns,” she said. “We need to define what is long-term debris but a clear example is China’s 2007 anti-satellite test. We are still tracking debris from 2007.”

• Awareness of what other countries are doing will help attribute actions, said Burt. In instances when someone threatens a U.S. satellite, ideally “we want to show a picture … and share that on the national news” the same way the Air Force shows videos of aerial bombing campaigns. Most U.S. intelligence about the space domain is classified, however. Burt said U.S. Space Command leaders are working with the intelligence community to “declassify things we need to talk about to the American people.”

 

WASHINGTON — The United States and allies are drafting language in support of an international effort to adopt rules of behavior in space, U.S. Space Command’s Maj. Gen. DeAnna Burt told SpaceNews.

Burt is the commander of U.S. Space Command’s combined force space component at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. She said international momentum is building for the adoption of a binding set of rules to make space safer and sustainable.

U.S. Space Command is taking a central role in this effort amid growing alarm about Russia’s anti-satellite weapon tests and concerns that the proliferation of satellites and debris is rapidly cluttering Earth orbit.

Burt said a team of Defense and State Department officials is drafting language on the U.S. position on a resolution approved in December by the United Nations General Assembly which calls for “norms, rules and principles of responsible behaviors” in space. The UN has asked countries to submit input by May 3 for inclusion in a report to be reviewed by the UN General Assembly this summer.

The problem with previous UN resolutions is that they were non binding, said Burt. “We’re going to prepare what we believe will be proposal language that will go to the UN and hopefully result in a binding resolution,” she said. “There’s a lot of good work happening on the international stage.”

For decades there have been calls for the UN and other organizations to figure out a way forward as more nations engage in space operations. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty remains the basis for international space law but experts say the treaty has become outdated. For example, it bans the use of weapons of mass destruction in space but countries now deploy dual-use spacecraft that can be used for peaceful and military purposes.

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Tales of ‘Blinding Lights’ and ‘Alien Abductions’ in the UK North-East ‘Hotspot’

Article by Katie Anderson                                         February 20, 2021                                         (gazettelive.co.uk )

• Glen Richardson’s father once told him about a strange occurrence that happened before Richardson was born. His father awoke one night around 2 or 3 in the morning to the sound of a vacuum cleaner. He ventured downstairs expecting to find his wife, but instead, saw a very big, bright, yellow and orange blinding light coming from outside the window. “He went to take a closer look, it lit up the sky for a few more seconds, and then it vanished,” said Richardson (pictured above).

• With this story, Richardson was hooked. He consumed as many books and articles on the UFO topic as he could get his hands on and became a resident UFO investigator in Hartlepool, in Durham County, England – studying unexplained objects and potential alien existence. He began travelling the length and breadth of the UK to meet people who’d had witnessed similar phenomena. “[M]y late-father that really inspired me- because he was a very skeptical man,” says Richardson, now 45. Richardson works as a mental health care assistant when he’s not chasing UFOs.

• The most compelling case that Richardson has dealt with over the last 20 years involved a woman from Northumberland who came forward two years ago saying she’d seen an unrecognizable object in the sky followed by two Apache helicopters. “…I spoke to a gentleman from the Ministry of Defence” said Richardson. “He confirmed there were three Apache helicopters deployed at the same time and location.” “She was adamant that the third was not a helicopter.”[B]ut… it validated her sighting of an unrecognizable object.

• Richardson says North East England is somewhat of a “hotspot” for UFO sightings, with many reports coming in over the last few years, including across Hartlepool. “A man in Hartlepool complained of missing time while he was awake, and a triangular shaped craft outside his room when he went to sleep,” said Richardson. “He said these things happened to him on three separate occasions during the 1980s.”

• Richardson said he feels there is a difference between these ‘abduction’ scenarios and hallucinations he observes in his job as a mental health worker. Patients will just come out with their hallucination. But when UFO witnesses speak of an encounter, they act very cautiously. “Often it’ll start with them describing a sighting, and once they trust you, they’ll confide in you about something more,” says Richardson. “Often I get the impression they don’t believe it themselves, or they don’t want to believe it.”

• With the advancement of smart phones and other video technology, more people are capturing them and the stigma attached to reporting UFO’s is falling away. And with this change, “[P]eople are feeling more confident than ever coming forward,” notes Richardson. “When I first started, there was a lot of name-calling (from) friends and colleagues… but that’s settled down now.”

• “I’m part of a strong community of researchers and we are all in it for the same reasons: to help people and to gather as much information as possible to substantiate that there is life out there. It would be an amazing discovery.”

• Richardson concedes that there are logical explanations for many UFO sightings. But there are some that just can’t be explained. “I do believe there is something else going on,” he says. And he believes that there is more to it than just unidentified flying objects – there is the potential for alien life. “Regardless of whether you believe in evolution or religious arguments, it seems highly unlikely that we are the only life out there.”

 

     one of Glen Richardson’s UFO pics

For most people, UFOs are a source of intrigue and the extra-terrestrial is reserved for sci-fi Netflix binges.

But for Hartlepool ‘s resident UFO investigator, Glen Richardson, studying unexplained objects and potential alien existence is a life-passion.

“I’ve been interested in this line of work for as long as I can remember” said Glen, 45, who works as a mental health care assistant when he’s not chasing UFOs.

          Hartlepool, England

“But it was one story from my late-father that really inspired me- because he was a very skeptical man.”

“He told me that one night, before I was born, he awoke around 2 or 3 in the morning to the sound of a vacuum cleaner. He ventured downstairs expecting to find my mum, but instead, saw a very big, bright, yellow and orange blinding light coming from outside the window.

“He went to take a closer look, it lit up the sky for a few more seconds, and then it vanished.”

Glen was captivated by the tale, and eagerly consumed as many books and articles on the topic as he could get his hands on. Soon, he began travelling the length and breadth of the UK to meet people who alleged they had witnessed similar phenomena.

He said the most compelling case he’s dealt with over the last 20 years involved a woman from Northumberland, who came forward 2 years ago saying she’d seen an unrecognisable object in the sky followed by two Apache helicopters.

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Russia and China Ready to Sign Deal to Build First Moon Base, Snubbing US

Article by Olivia Burke                                                 February 18, 2021                                            (thesun.co.uk)

• On February 11th, the Russian Federation announced plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with China to collaborate on a series of International Lunar Research Stations (ILRS) or ‘Moon bases’, as proposed by the Chinese. Both countries will carry out preparatory research throughout the 2020s with the aim of establishing Moon bases at the Moon’s south pole in the early 2030s. The bases will initially be populated by robots and will provide a long-term presence on the Moon for short crewed missions in the early 2030s, and a longer-term sustained human presence anticipated to begin between 2036-2045. The U.S. has not been asked to participate.

• The Chinese and Russians plan to use the lunar base to aid the “construction and operation of human’s first sharing platform in the lunar south pole, supporting long-term, large-scale scientific exploration, technical experiments and development and utilization of lunar resources.” The robotic base will potentially incorporate the expertise of other nations as well, who will contribute their own spacecrafts.

• Pand Zhihao, a former researcher at the China Academy of Space Technology, praised, “Russia’s expertises, including liquid oxygen kerosene engine technology as well as a complete, world-beating system for astronaut training, will all no doubt accelerate the program’s advancement.” Russia’s state corporation for space activities, Roscosmos, said the official announcement set to coincide with the Global Space Exploration Conference in 2021, held in St. Petersburg.

• Humans have not set foot on the Moon since the NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in December 1972. The Americans have been planning to resume settlement of the Moon under the Artemis Accords, pledging to send astronauts back there by 2024. The Russians, however, do not favor the Artemis Accords because it proposes a global legal framework for mining on the Moon, which the Russians liken to colonialism. Roscosmos’ deputy general director for international cooperation, Sergey Saveliev, remarked, “There have already been examples in history when one country decided to start seizing territories in its (own) interest — everyone remembers what came of it.”

• It is also believed that Russia was reluctant to back the Artemis Accords plan due to the Lunar Gateway element – a small orbiting space station and communication hub similar to the ISS. U.S. legislation implemented in 2011 prohibits China from participating with the International Space Station partnership. And it is thought that the Trump Administration further isolated the U.S. from its international allies by unilaterally creating the Space Force.

• NASA’s Artemis Accords have the cooperation and support of Australia, Canada, England, Japan, Luxembourg, Italy, and the UAE. “The Artemis Accords have driven China and Russia toward increased cooperation in space out of fear and necessity,” said former Congressional legislative director Elya Taichman.

• China made history in 2019 by becoming the first country to land on the dark side of the Moon. The European Space Agency is said to be closely monitoring the ILRS program in anticipation of joining. It is feared that a China-Russia-European consortium could knock NASA off the top spot as the international leader of space exploration.

 

RUSSIA and China are joining forces as they prepare to sign a historic deal to build the first moon base after they snubbed the US.

                             Apollo 17

The two countries are to collaborate on the international lunar structure, which was thought up by China – the latest build in the space-race against America.

The purpose of the International Lunar Research Stations (ILRS), is to create a long-term robotic presence on the Moon by the start of the next decade, before eventually establishing a sustained human presence.

           Elya Taichman

An Order of the Government of the Russian Federation detailing the scheme was published on February 11, but the “date to sign the above mentioned MoU has not been determined yet and is currently discussed with the Chinese partners.”

Humans have not set foot on the moon since December 1972, when Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan made tracks on it during an

     Sergey Saveliev

Apollo 17 mission.

Both countries will carry out the research, beginning with China’s upcoming Chang’e-6, -7, and -8 missions and Russia’s Luna 27 probe.

They plan to use the lunar base to aid the “construction and operation of human’s first sharing platform in the lunar south pole, supporting long-term, large-scale scientific exploration, technical experiments and development and utilisation of lunar resources.”

China and Russia plan that in the early 2030s, the ILRS development will theoretically provide a base for long-term robotic presence on the Moon with the potential for short crewed missions.

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Nicaragua’s Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs and Backlash

Article by Kris Holt                                      February 19, 2021                                            (yahoo.com)

• The Nicaraguan National Assembly legislature has passed a bill to establish a ‘National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies’. The Nicaraguan army, which doesn’t have a space program, will oversee the ministry. The Space Affair Ministry is intended to “promote the development of space activities, with the aim of broadening the country’s capacities in the fields of education, industry, science and technology.”

• Critics of the new ministry, however, say that Nicaragua doesn’t have the technical chops nor the financial resources to take on such an endeavor. They also argue that this comes at a time when the Central American country is facing deep social and economic problems, which intensified in the wake of anti-government protests in 2018. The Nicaraguan government is struggling to supply residents with food and fuel and it has yet to secure any COVID-19 vaccines.

• Critics also note that the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, has greenlit other major initiatives, such as a $50 billion cross-country canal project in 2014, that haven’t made much progress.

• “We are not scientifically able as a country to undertake this type of research,” said Jaime Incer Barquero, president of the nation’s Academy of Geography and History.

• Meanwhile, the U.S. is continuing to establish its Space Force, the sixth branch of the military that was established by former President Donald Trump. Joe Biden, the current President, is retaining the agency, although the aims of Space Force may change.

 

    President Daniel Ortega

Nicaragua is looking to the skies. The Central American country has created the wonderfully named National Ministry for Extraterrestrial Space Affairs, The Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

A bill to establish the agency passed through the National Assembly with little trouble this week. It received approval from 76 members of the chamber with 15 abstaining. President Daniel Ortega’s Sandinista Party holds 71 of the 92 seats in the congress.

Although the Nicaraguan army doesn’t have a space program, it will oversee the ministry. The Associated Press reports that the agency will “promote the development of space activities, with the aim of broadening the country’s capacities in the fields of education, industry, science and technology.”

However, critics say that Nicaragua doesn’t have the technical chops nor the financial resources to take on such an endeavor. “We are not scientifically able as a country to undertake this type of research,” Jaime Incer Barquero, president of the nation’s Academy of Geography and History, told CNN.

     Jaime Incer Barquero

The country is establishing the ministry at a time when it’s facing deep social and economic problems, which intensified in the wake of anti-government protests in 2018. The AP reports that the government is struggling to supply residents with food and fuel and it has yet to secure any COVID-19 vaccines. Ortega has greenlit other major initiatives that haven’t made much progress, such as a $50 billion cross-country canal project in 2014.

Although it’s not really the best time for Nicaragua to set up a space agency, perhaps it too will make it to Mars someday.

Meanwhile, the US is continuing to establish its Space Force. Former president Donald Trump, who initially floated the idea as a joke, created the sixth branch of the military while he was in office. Joe Biden, the current president, is retaining the agency, though the aims of Space Force may change.

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The Great Awakening vs Global Reset: How Full Disclosure Trumps Transhumanism & Artificial Intelligence

The Great Reset was first proposed in June 2020 as a means of rebuilding societies and economies worldwide following the Covid-19 pandemic. The initiative envisages a major role to be played by big tech companies in this rebuilding effort, and this is best exemplified in a February 26, 2021, initiative in the US state of Nevada by its Governor Steve Sisolak. He formally proposed legislation that would authorize the creation of Techno-Governments.

The proposed Nevada legislation would allow companies working in innovative areas such as blockchain, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and Transhumanism, to be granted the authority of a County Government for tracts of virgin land greater than 50,000 acres. This would mean big tech companies could build smart cities from the ground up, controlling judicial, educational, police and other county level governing functions as Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence are promoted and used to control the population. The legislation will open the door to similar proposals in the US and around the world that will profoundly alter societies and economies, just as proposed in the Great Reset.

The Great Awakening is a contrary global process whereby individuals, communities and nations take back control from the unholy alliance being formed between big government and big tech. Essential to the Great Awakening is a Full Disclosure process which reveals the truth about the hidden forces controlling societal and economic life, and further, releasing advanced life-changing technologies that have been suppressed for decades. The Great Awakening will allow individuals to reach their fullest potential as sovereign beings that shape society in ways that better align with their highest aspirations.

In this 4-hour Webinar Intensive, Dr. Michael Salla will explain the all-important crossroad that humanity has collectively reached, the respective pros and cons of the Great Awakening versus the Global Reset, and why the need for “full disclosure” is more urgent than ever before, along with who is working to see it delivered to the people.

About the Presenter: Dr. Michael Salla is the author of the bestselling Secret Space Programs Book Series & founder of Exopolitics.org

Webinar Date: March 27, 2021 (Saturday)

12 pm – 4.30 pm PDT/ 3 pm – 7.30 pm EDT USA (Includes Q&A at the end)
Cost: $55.

*This LIVE event will be recorded, and attendees are able to watch unlimited replays for 60 days.

To view and purchase past webinars click here

 

UAE Creates Space Courts for Extraterrestrial Disputes

February 1, 2021                                          (laprensalatina.com)

• On February 1st, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced an initiative called “Courts of the Future” that will launch “Space Courts” under an independent legal body, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DFIC). “The launch of the project signals to the international space community the intent of the UAE to play a leading role in advancing its judicial systems to specifically direct capacity and capability to commercial space-related disputes,” read a statement.

• The new Space Courts will bring together a group of private and public international bodies and experts with the aim of training of judges to become space-related dispute experts; exploring space-related legal innovations; and creating a “space dispute guide”. The head of the DIFC Supreme Court, Zaki Azmi, said that the courts will help “build a new judicial support network to serve the stringent commercial demands of international space exploration in the 21st century”.

• “As space commerce becomes ever more global and countries ever more connected, diverse and nimble, economies will need to enable growth. Complex commercial agreements will also require an equally innovative judicial system to keep pace, offering assurance and certainty to support and protect businesses,” Azmi said.

• The Dubai International Financial Centre was established in 2004 as an independent judicial system so the UAE’s international community can have “greater confidence in the Emirati legal framework” and to promote commercial relations in the Arab country.

• The announcement came eight days before the UAE’s Hope Mars oribter reached the orbit of Mars on February 9th. The orbiter aims to study the Red Planet’s weather and atmosphere.

 

Dubai, Feb 1 (efe-epa).- The United Arab Emirates on Monday announced that it will create “Space Courts” with an eye toward

                              Zaki Azmi

developing a judicial system to resolve commercial disputes linked to space as its Hope mission probe is expected to reach Mars within days.

An initiative called “Courts of the Future” will be launched later this year to activate the Space Courts, the Dubai International Financial Centre, an independent legal body, said in a statement.

“The launch of the project signals to the international space community the intent of the UAE to play a leading role in advancing its judicial systems to specifically direct capacity and capability to commercial space-related disputes,” the statement read.

The new court will include a group of private and public international bodies and experts with the aim of “exploring space-related legal innovations” and creating a “space dispute guide.”

It will also be tasked with “training of judges to become space-related dispute experts.”

The courts will help “build a new judicial support network to serve the stringent commercial demands of international space exploration in the 21st century,” the head of the DIFC Supreme Court, Zaki Azmi, said in the statement.

“As space commerce becomes ever more global and countries ever more connected, diverse and nimble, economies will need to enable growth. Complex commercial agreements will also require an equally innovative judicial system to keep pace, offering assurance and certainty to support and protect businesses,” he added.

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Short Film – History of the Extraterrestrial Agenda & the Coming Global Revolution

This short film presents the history of extraterrestrial intervention on Earth, and how competing factions have warred over humanity’s destiny. Learn how Earth became a prison planet under the control of a negative group of extraterrestrials and their human proxies ( aka the Cabal/Deep State) that have historically manufactured poverty, disease and war. Discover what lies ahead as positive extraterrestrials work with an Earth Alliance of international leaders from major nations to free our planet, and usher in a new age of prosperity, freedom and becoming part of a Galactic Federation.

Available on Rumble and YouTube

Grateful thanks to Angelika Whitecliff for creating and producing this Short Film

Feb 27, 2021 Webinar Intensive: The Earth Alliance, Full Disclosure & the Coming Global Revolution

Passenger Films Plane’s Near Collision With ‘UFO’

Article by Jess Hardiman                                               January 20, 2021                                           (ladbible.com)

• On January 17th just before 8am, a Singapore Airlines flight was heading to land at Zurich Airport in Switzerland when, an anonymous passenger had turned on their camera in preparation to record the plane’s landing. In the video clip (below) lakes and fields of the distant Swiss landscape can be seen out the plane’s window before the aircraft begins to tilt to the right to apparently dodge something in the sky. As the plane’s engines roar and passengers began to panic, a small white object suddenly zips past the plane, just below its flight path. According to reports, the pilot followed safety protocol and managed to avoid the UFO, making a safe landing at Zurich Airport.

• Earlier in January, former British Ministry of Defence (MoD) staffer, Nick Pope, said he believes that the ‘clock is ticking’ on new UFO revelations that could have worldwide significance. “There’s a momentum building up,” says Pope. “The clock is now ticking on the (US) Senate Intelligence Committee’s demand for a report on the UFO phenomenon from the Director of National Intelligence.” Pope is referring to a 180 day deadline for government intelligence agencies to disclose their declassified UFO reports, which was triggered by the recent enactment of the Intelligence Authorization Act.

• “[T]he US Department of Defense has known since June of the committee’s request, and the US Navy’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Task Force is probably already working on drafting the response,” noted Pope. “[S]o we may get it sooner than the late June deadline.” “This report, important though it may be, is only one part of a wider process. There’s a lot going on and we’re going to see some big UFO stories in 2021.”

• Nick Pope says that the American military’s ‘UAP Task Force’ has shared some of its findings with its British counterparts, and that the MoD is looking into UFO/UAP sightings despite its official position that it has no interest in UFOs. “I’m aware that the UAP Task Force has shared some interim findings with the UK and other allies,” said Pope. “[B]ut I don’t know if the MoD has formally engaged with the US on this, or has simply noted the findings.”

• “Officially, the position of the (British) MoD is that they’re no longer interested, and haven’t been since UFO investigations were terminated at the end of 2009,” says Pope. “However, I understand from reliable and well-placed sources that this isn’t entirely correct, and that sightings are still being looked at, in the margins of other defense business, with terms like ‘UFO’ being scrupulously avoided, to try to avoid creating Freedom of Information Act liability.” “The UFO phenomenon is global, so no single nation has a monopoly on any of this.”

 

Video footage from a plane shows what a passenger reckons may have been a UFO zooming past them – with the clip showing the pilot apparently dodging something in the sky.

The Singapore Airlines flight was heading to Zurich Airport, Switzerland, on 17 January.

At some point between 7.30am and 7.50am, the unnamed passenger had turned on their camera in preparation to record the plane’s landing into Zurich, but was surprised when he captured what he believes was a near collision with a UFO.

              Nick Pope

In the clip, we see lakes and fields of the distant Swiss landscape, before the aircraft begins to tilt to the right.

A small white object then suddenly zips past the plane, just below its flight path.

According to reports, the pilot followed safety protocol as the plane’s engines roared, while passengers began to panic.

Thankfully, the pilot managed to avoid the unidentified flying object and later made a safe landing at Zurich Airport.

LADbible has reached out to Singapore Airlines for comment.

Earlier this month, a UFO expert said he believed ‘clock is ticking’ on new revelations that could have worldwide significance.

Nick Pope explained how a task force, set up by the US government, has shared some findings with its British counterparts.

Pope claims that sources have told him that the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is looking into sightings despite its official position that it has no interest in UFOs.

1:26 minute video of UFO streaking past airliner over Zurich, Switzerland (‘Random Views’ YouTube)

 

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UK Proposes the Creation of a Space Command

Article by Nicholas Puschman                                         January 5, 2021                                            (lexology.com)

• Since the 1967 Outer Space Treaty established the international legal framework for space activities, space has become recognized as a potential domain of warfare. Satellites are increasingly viewed as essential components of critical communications for military and defense purposes, and space-faring countries have made clear the importance of space and space technology to their current and future defense posture.

• In 2019, space was recognized by NATO as the latest operational domain (along with air, land, sea and cyberspace). In October 2020, NATO announced that it would establish a center for space operations at Ramstein airbase in Germany to increase deterrence and defense. While many countries have had space-related functions within existing military branches, both the US and France have recently established new military branches devoted to the strategic and military importance of space. In 2019, the U.S. established Space Force and France formed a new Space Command (Commandement de l’Espace), which supersedes the previous French military service dealing with space.

• In recent years, the UK government has been considering how to develop its capabilities in using space technology and ensuring that space is part of its national defense strategy. In 2019, the UK Ministry of Defence announced several new military space initiatives and published plans for a Defence Space Strategy, noting that “satellites and space-based services are vital to modern life” and that “there would be severe consequences from any disruption, whether by natural or man-made hazards, or intentional threats from hostile states”.

• On November 18, 2020, the UK announced its proposal to establish a new military command dedicated to space. (see previous ExoArticle here) The proposal of a new Royal Air Force (RAF) space command was part of an announcement by the UK Government of the largest defense budget since the Cold War of £16.5 billion over the next four years. The full details of how this new UK space command will be composed, and what it will do, remain to be seen.

• The potential opportunities of a new UK military space command will likely be of interest to industry players, and in particular those involved in the UK spaceport market in relation to commercial spaceflight and spaceports, such as those being established in Scotland. In announcing the new defense budget, Prime Minister Boris Johnson stated that “we will establish…a new RAF space command, launching British satellites and our first rocket from Scotland in 2022.”

 

Space has long been recognised as a potential domain of warfare – indeed, it was one of the major motivating factors in establishing the international legal framework for space activities in the form of the Outer Space Treaty 1967. Space continues to be viewed as an area of strategic importance for military capability, and satellites are increasingly viewed as essential components of critical communications for military and defence purposes. In recent years, many space-faring countries and international organisations have made clear the importance of space and space technology to their current and future defence.

At an international level, in 2019, space was recognised by NATO as the latest operational domain (along with air, land, sea and cyberspace) and adopted a new space policy. In October, NATO announced that it would establish a centre for space operations at Ramstein airbase in Germany to increase deterrence and defence.

At a national level, while many countries have long had space-related functions within existing military branches, countries such as the US and France, as two examples, have recently established new military branches to clearly demonstrate the strategic and military importance of space. In 2019, the US established an independent military branch dedicated to space defence, named the US Space Force. In the same year, France formed a new Space Command (Commandement de l’Espace), which supersedes the previous French military service dealing with space.

       UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson

The UK announces the establishment of a new military command dedicated to space

On 18 November 2020, the UK announced its proposal to establish a new military command dedicated to space, similar to the recent moves taken by allied countries such as France and the US. The proposal of a new Royal Air Force (RAF) space command was part of an announcement by the UK Government of the largest defence budget since the Cold War of £16.5 billion over the next four years.

This announcement is in the continuity of the UK’s national defence strategy

While a new military branch is new, the UK Government has in recent years been considering how to develop its capabilities in using space technology and ensuring that space is part of its national defence strategy. In 2019, the UK Ministry of Defence announced several new military space initiatives and published plans for a Defence Space Strategy, noting that “satellites and space-based services are vital to modern life” and that “there would be severe consequences from any disruption, whether by natural or man-made hazards, or intentional threats from hostile states”.

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Special SAS Unit Trained to Respond to Alien Invasion of Earth

Article by Isobel Dickinson                                        January 9, 2021                                       (dailystar.co.uk)

• The Special Air Service (SAS) is a ‘special forces’ unit of the British Army that was founded in 1941. The unit specializes in a number of roles including counter-terrorism, hostage rescue, direct action, and covert reconnaissance. SAS troops have trained alongside US special forces in America for capture missions involving every conceivable threat.

• The elite British soldiers are trained to use non-lethal weapons against a variety of potential threats. A special projects unit of about twenty SAS troopers is even prepared to encounter the “alternative threat’’ from extraterrestrial aliens. Non-lethal weapons include spraying foam, which covers a target and hardens rapidly, preventing them from moving.

• Most people believe that life on other planets exist. In 1920, Albert Einstein asked, “Why should Earth be the only planet supporting human life?” The late Professor Stephen Hawking warned against contacting Little Green Men. Hawking once said, “If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans.”

• So if extraterrestrial civilizations exist, then you must accept that alien life could present a threat and you need to plan for it. In 2018, we learned that British defense experts had spent 50 years trying to catch a UFO so they could use the technology to build new super weapons. Declassified files showed that the UK government feared that China or the Soviet Union may had impounded a UFO and were using it to develop their own super-fast warplanes.

 

The SAS have got ET in their sights, the Daily Star Sunday can reveal.

A special projects unit of around 20 troopers is ready to tackle “alternative threats’’.

The elite soldiers are trained to use non-lethal weapons against a variety of potential threats – including aliens.

A source told us: “ The SAS has to be prepared for anything, and any threat.

“That includes everything from terrorists to human bio-weapons where someone has been deliberately infected with a deadly bug, all the way through to an alien life form.

                    Stephen Hawking

“I know it sounds bonkers but the SAS train for capture missions for every threat.

“They can use a range of non-lethal weapons, one of which involves spraying foam which covers a target and hardens rapidly, preventing them from moving.”

                        Albert Einstein

Troops are understood to have trained alongside US special forces in America.

Our source added: “ Most people believe that life on other planets exists. Even Einstein in 1920 said, ‘Why should Earth be the only planet supporting human life?’

“If you believe in that then you must accept that alien life may present a threat, so you need to plan for it.

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Lifting the Lid on Britain’s Most Famous Alien Encounter

Article by Nick Pope                                         December 25, 2020                                          (thescottishsun.co.uk)

• Forty years ago, in the early hours of December 26, 1980, that three men from the US Air Force security police based at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, England saw the strange flashing lights deep in the adjacent Rendlesham Forest. They figured that an aircraft might have crashed, so they drove out to investigate and help. As the track of road narrowed, they were forced to continue on foot. Two of the men, John Burroughs and Jim Penniston, advanced into a small clearing, brightly lit by the strange lights. As they got closer, they realized it was not a crashed aircraft but a landed UFO.

• The object was triangular, ten feet wide at the base, resting on three legs. It looked like a cross between a small stealth fighter and a lunar landing module. And the only way into the clearing was from above. Penniston was trained in aircraft recognition and this was like nothing he had ever seen. Symbols on the side looked like Egyptian hieroglyphs. The photos that Penniston took “did not come out”. But his drawings of the craft and his accompanying notes have survived (see below). The craft took off vertically and he noted: “Speed — impossible.”

• Two nights later on December 28, 1980, the UFO returned. The witnesses on this night included the deputy base commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt who led a team into the forest to investigate. Halt recorded his observations on a cassette tape. On tape, Halt is heard remarking about the UFO ahead: “It’s definitely coming this way . . . pieces of it are shooting off . . . this is weird.” The UFO appeared overhead and fired a thin beam of light in front of them. Halt later asked himself: “Was this a weapon, was this a warning, was this communication?” Burroughs and Penniston later reported health issues, which they attributed to the UFO sighting.

• Later it was claimed that the UFO was seen firing light beams into a storage area where nuclear weapons were kept. In 2015, Colonel Halt acquired statements from two military radar operators, Ike Barker and Jim Carey. They confirmed that the UFO was tracked on radar, traveling at thousands of miles an hour then stopping over the base. “It wasn’t like any radar target I have seen,” Barker said. (see previous ExoArticle on the radar operator’s story) Radioactivity at the site was also said to be “significantly higher than the average background”. Halt concluded that the craft was clearly under intelligent control.

• British and American defense chiefs conspired to keep the incident secret. But in 1983, Lord Hill-Norton, formerly Britain’s most senior military officer, asked a series of questions about the Rendlesham Forest incident in Parliament. Hill-Norton stated that either the deputy commander of an operational, nuclear-armed NATO base was hallucinating – or there had been an actual UFO landing.

• In 1997, former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was at a charity function with the socialite Georgina Bruni. When Bruni asked Thatcher about UFOs and the Rendlesham Forest incident, Thatcher replied: “You must have the facts, (but) you can’t tell the people.” Bruni believed that Thatcher had been spooked by secret intelligence regarding UFOs.

• In 2006, the MoD declassified a top-secret assessment of the overall UFO phenomenon, code-named ‘Project Condign’. In the final report, it stated that “several observers were probably exposed to UAP radiation for longer than normal UAP-sighting periods”. This information was passed along to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and a confidential claim settlement was reached with at least one of the US Air Force personnel at Rendlesham.

 

       John Burroughs and Jim Penniston

It was in the early hours of December 26, 1980, that three men from the US Air Force security police

                Charles Halt

based at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, saw the strange flashing lights.

Coming from beyond the perimeter fence, in Rendlesham Forest, they figured an aircraft might have crashed. They drove out to investigate and help.
As the track narrowed, they continued on foot.

They were walking into history.

John Burroughs and Jim Penniston advanced into a small clearing, brightly lit by the strange lights. As they got closer, they realised it was not a crashed aircraft — it was a landed UFO.

               sculpture of UFO craft

The object was triangular, ten feet wide at the base, looked like a cross between a small stealth fighter and a lunar landing module, and was resting on three legs.

The only way into the clearing for a vehicle was from above.

Penniston was trained in aircraft recognition and this was like nothing he had ever seen. Symbols on the side looked like Egyptian hieroglyphs.

     Jim Penniston’s drawing of the craft

He took photos but was later told they did not come out. But he sketched the craft too, and his drawing has survived. He also took notes. The craft took off vertically and he wrote: “Speed — impossible.”

Two nights later the UFO returned and the witnesses then included the deputy base commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt. A sceptic, he led a team into the forest when he was told the UFO had come back.

            Lord Hill-Norton

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

He recorded his observations on a cassette. It makes eerie listening as Halt catches sight of the UFO and says: “It’s definitely coming this way . . . pieces of it are shooting off . . . this is weird.”

Then the UFO appeared overhead and fired a thin beam of light in front of them.

                   Margaret Thatcher

Shocked Halt later asked himself: “Was this a weapon, was this a warning, was this communication?”

Later the UFO was seen firing light beams into a storage area, where many claim — though this was never confirmed — that nuclear weapons were kept.

In 2015, Colonel Halt, who has pursued the case, acquired statements from two military radar operators, Ike Barker and Jim Carey.

They confirmed the UFO was tracked, travelling at thousands of miles an hour then stopping over the base.

Georgina Bruni

“It wasn’t like any radar target I have seen,” Barker said.

Halt concluded that the craft, “was clearly under intelligent control”.

Radioactivity at the site was said to be, “significantly higher than the average background”.

  article’s writer, Nick Pope

Defence chiefs conspired to keep the incident secret.

But in 1983 the News of The World printed details.

Then Lord Hill-Norton, formerly Britain’s most senior military officer, asked a series of questions about the incident in Parliament.

He stated that either the deputy commander of an operational, nuclear-armed Nato base was hallucinating — or there had been a UFO landing.

The second establishment figure to break ranks was former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. She was at a charity function in 1997 with the socialite Georgina Bruni, who had a long-standing interest in UFOs.

Bruni asked Baroness Thatcher about UFOs and Rendlesham and she replied: “You must have the facts and you can’t tell the people.” Bruni believed Thatcher had been spooked by a secret about UFOs.

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UFOs or ‘Festive Ghosts’ of WWI Soldiers?

Article by Berny Torre                                    December 24, 2020                                  (dailystar.co.uk)

• In the winter of 1922/23, five years after the end of World War I, scores of villagers in Burton Dassett, Warwickshire, England saw “multi-coloured” lights floating over the nearby hills. This was reported in the local Banbury Guardian newspaper in February 1923.

• Mysterious lights believed to be the festive ghosts of World War I soldiers were in fact aliens, a police detective has claimed. Amateur UFO researcher Richard Rokeby says that, “Following the First World War desperate families wanted to believe that there is a hope of communicating with their lost sons again. Therefore, it would be natural at this time to assign any strange phenomena to ghosts and spirits.” The local authorities attributed the bright orbs moving over the hills as ‘marsh gas’ or ‘Will O’ the Wisps’.

• In his book: The Lights Upon The Hills, Rokeby writes: “[I]f we look at these events through modern eyes, it is very clear that what they are witnessing is an historic Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon event,” where the phenomenon seen were actually extraterrestrial craft. Rokeby notes that explanations that the orbs were simply ‘marsh gas’ is not credible because the lights reportedly spooked horses and exerted “downward pressure”.

• “What we have here is multiple witnesses saying that they saw strange lights in the sky and above the ground moving in ways that modern aircraft find very difficult to do today,” writes Rokeby. “I firmly believed that what was actually being witnessed here was a mass …multi-witnessed, extraterrestrial encounter and that these encounters may have been happening for hundreds years, are still happening today and perhaps a large event is going to occur there again and very soon!”

• Top British flying saucer investigator Philip Mantle, who published Rokeby’s book, said: “The story of these sightings in 1923 is so unique that I simply had to publish it. …I personally have been involved in UFO research for over 40 years and it never ceases to amaze me, especially when cases like this land on my desk.”

 

Mysterious lights believed to be the festive ghosts of World War One soldiers were in fact aliens, a police detective has claimed.

                        Philip Mantle

Scores of villagers started to see spooky orbs floating over hills near Burton Dassett, Warwickshire, in December 1922.

The sightings were attributed to a natural phenomenon known as marsh gas or Will O’ the Wisps by a local newspaper.

But amateur UFO researcher Richard Rokeby has penned a book, The Lights Upon The Hills, where he claims the witness accounts show they were actually ETs.

The married dad-of-three wrote: “Following the First World War desperate families wanted to believe that there is a hope of communicating with their lost sons again.

“Therefore, it would be natural at this time to assign any strange phenomena to ghosts and spirits.

“But as we will see if we look at these events through modern eyes, it is very clear that what they are witnessing is an historic Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon event.”

Burton Dassett, Warwickshire, England

He told of how several sightings of “multi-coloured” lights moving at speed were reported by the Banbury Guardian in February 1923.

And insisted the paper’s explanation was not “credible” as the lights reportedly spooked horses and exerted “downward pressure”.

The author wrote: “What we have here is multiple witnesses saying that they saw strange lights in the sky and above the ground moving in ways that modern aircraft find very difficult to do today.

“I firmly believed that what was actually being witnessed here was a mass Unidentified Flying Object ( UFO) or Unexplained Aerial Phenomena (UAP) event.

“Therefore, over the course of this book I hope to show that what was seen in the winter of 1922-23 was not ghosts or marsh gas, but was in fact a well documented, multi-witnessed, extraterrestrial encounter and that these encounters may have been happening for hundreds years, are still happening today and perhaps a large event is going to occur there again and very soon!”

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China Opens the World’s Largest Radio Telescope to International Scientists

Article by Chelsea Gohd                                     December 18, 2020                                         (space.com)

• Following the collapse of the historic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, China has opened the biggest radio telescope in the world up to international scientists. “Our scientific committee aims to make ‘FAST’ increasingly open to the international community,” Wang Qiming, the chief inspector of the telescope’s operations and development center. China will accept requests in 2021 from foreign scientists looking to use the instrument for their research.

• In Pingtang, Guizhou province of China stands the massive 1,600-foot dish of the Aperture Spherical Telescope (“FAST”) (pictured above). The largest radio telescope in the world, FAST began full operations in January of 2020. “We drew a lot of inspiration from its [Arecibo’s] structure, which we gradually improved to build our telescope,” Wang said. The Arecibo Observatory had been the largest radio telescope for decades, although the FAST is three times more sensitive than Arecibo. FAST is also surrounded by a 3-mile (5 kilometers) “radio silence” zone in which cellphones and computers are not allowed.

• Researchers may use FAST to not just explore the universe but also to study alien worlds. Radio telescopes like FAST use antennas and radio receivers to detect radio waves from radio sources in the cosmos, like stars, galaxies and black holes. These instruments can also be used to send out radio signals and even reflect radio light from objects in the solar system (like planets) to see what information might bounce back, as SETI did in 1974 at Arecibo. An interstellar radio message was sent to the globular cluster M13 in hopes of reaching an extraterrestrial civilization there. The message was co-authored by Carl Sagan and helped to popularize Arecibo and radio astronomy in general.

 

collapsed Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico

Following the collapse of the historic Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, China has opened the biggest radio telescope in the world up to international scientists.

In Pingtang, Guizhou province stands the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST), the

         Guizhou province of China

largest radio telescope in the world, surpassing the Arecibo Observatory, which stood as the largest in the world for 53 years before the construction of FAST was completed in 2016. Following two cable failures earlier this year, Arecibo’s radio telescope collapsed in November, shutting down the observatory for good. Now, FAST is opening its doors to astronomers from around the world.

“Our scientific committee aims to make FAST increasingly open to the international community,” Wang Qiming, the chief inspector of FAST’s operations and development center told the news agency AFP during a visit to the telescope, according to the French news site AFP.

China will accept requests this upcoming year (2021) from foreign scientists looking to use the instrument for their research, according to the report.
With its massive 1,600-foot (500 meters) diameter dish, FAST is not only larger than the now-destroyed Arecibo telescope, but it’s also three times more sensitive. FAST, which began full operations in January of this year, is also surrounded by a 3-mile (5 kilometers) “radio silence” zone in which cellphones and computers are not allowed.

“We drew a lot of inspiration from its [Arecibo’s] structure, which we gradually improved to build our telescope,” Qiming said.

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China’s Chang’e 5 Successfully Lands in Mongolia with Moon Rocks

Article from Agence France-Presse                                     December 17, 2020                                      (firstpost.com)

• The unmanned Chinese spacecraft, Chang’e-5, returned and parachuted safely to Earth on December 16th completing the first mission in four decades by any country to collect lunar samples. Scientists hope the samples will give insights into the Moon’s origins and volcanic activity. But the trip was also another high-profile chapter in China’s bid to become a space superpower. In images broadcast on state television, a Chinese flag was flown at the snow-covered grasslands of remote northern Mongolia where the capsule landed.

• The probe’s return “demonstrates the complete accomplishment of China’s first mission to collect samples from an extraterrestrial body,” China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said. China is only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. While there on the Moon, it planted the Chinese flag.

• When the Chang’e 5 probe left the Moon, it marked the first time that China had achieved take-off from an extraterrestrial body (pictured above). It then linked up with the orbiting part of the spacecraft that brought the samples back to Earth. The Chang’e-5 collected 4.5 pounds of material in a vast, previously unexplored lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum. The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the Moon samples will be delivered to a research team for analysis and study.

• China has spent billions of dollars on its military-run space program in an effort to catch up with the United States and Russia. China launched its first satellite in 1970. The country’s first human spaceflight was achieved in 2003. The Chinese landed a lunar rover on the far side of the Moon in January 2019.

• Thomas Zurbuchen, a top official at NASA’s science mission directorate, tweeted “The international science community celebrates your successful Chang’e 5 mission. These samples will help reveal secrets of our Earth-Moon system (and) gain new insights about the history of our solar system.” China will make some of the samples available to scientists in other countries.

• China’s future space goals include creating a powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle, a lunar base, a permanently crewed space station, and a Mars rover.

 

Chang’e 5 return module on the ground in Mongolia

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early

 Staff members examine the return module

Thursday, completing the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples. While scientists hope the samples will give insights into the Moon’s origins and volcanic activity on its surface, the trip was also another high-profile chapter in China’s bid to become a space superpower. In images broadcast on state television, a Chinese flag was flown at the snow-covered grasslands where the capsule landed in the country’s remote north.

The probe’s return “demonstrates the complete accomplishment of China’s first mission to collect samples from an extraterrestrial body,” China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

China is now only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

      space agency personnel celebrating

Chang’e-5, named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, landed on the Moon on 1 December.

While there, it raised the Chinese flag, the country’s space agency said.

When the probe left the Moon two days later, that marked the first time that China had achieved take-off from an extraterrestrial body, it said.
The module then went through the delicate operation of linking up in lunar orbit with the part of the spacecraft that brought the samples back to Earth.

The Chang’e-5 mission was to collect two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of material in an area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — a vast, previously unexplored lava plain, according to the science journal Nature.

The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the Moon samples will be delivered to a research team for analysis and study, China’s space agency said.

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Thailand’s Space Program Drifts Away From China’s Orbit

Article by Hadrien T. Saperstein                                   December 12, 2020                                       (eastasiaforum.org)

• Traditionally, Thailand has maintained a ‘multi-directional diplomacy’ – working with many countries and each of the superpowers without bias. But since the 2014 military coup in Thailand, and the increasing tensions between the United States and China which began during the Obama administration and escalated under President Trump, the Thai military and private technology sector has advanced its cooperation with China, while its space agency has maintained a multi-directional approach.

• The Royal Thai Armed Forces has advanced its defense cooperation with China through military-naval exercises and procurements. The Thai private sector has accepted bids on 5G wireless network services development from two Chinese companies — ZTE and Huawei — and accepted Chinese investment projects in Thailand such as the China-ASEAN Beidou Technological City.

• Yet Sino-Thai cooperation does not presently extend to the same degree in the development of space technology. The Royal Thai Air Force, Space Operations Center, and its space agency, ‘Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency’ – responsible for satellite technology development – show a preference for non-Chinese technology and launch service providers. The Thai Air Force procured its CubeSat platforms and first two military satellites from a Dutch company. The first satellite was launched from a French rocket in French Guiana, and the latter is scheduled for launch through the Soyuz rocket in Russia. The Thai space agency is also working with the European aerospace company ‘Airbus’ to replace a low Earth orbit observation satellite system.

• Officials working on the latest draft of Thailand’s National Space Act say it will focus on a ‘NewSpace agenda’, focusing on domestic space technology and sustainable economic development. They say that there is little chance that the Chinese space industry’s technology will receive any competitive advantage. If anything, both the Thai Air Force and Space Program tend to reject Chinese technology in favor of Western technology. The Thai Air Force has laid the groundwork for a long-term relationship with the US by signing a space agreement with the United States Strategic Command.

• Thailand’s Space Agency is promoting an annual ‘Astronaut’s Scholarship Program’ in which three Thai students are selected to study at NASA in America. NASA is also working with the Royal Thai Government Pollution Control Department to create a web application to help mitigate the impact of air pollution in Thailand.

• Recent legislation has given foreign satellite operators permission to provide domestic services in Thailand. There are concerns that the Thai Space Program’s newly appointed Executive Director, Pakorn Apaphant, will shift towards a newfound acceptance of Chinese satellite technology and launch service providers. Colonel Setthapong Mali Suwan, Vice-Chairman of Telecommunications for Thailand’s Ministry of the Digital Economy and Society, publicly expressed this concern several weeks ago when he stated that Thailand should maintain its traditional balancing role in competition over space affairs between great powers or else it will be required to follow policies dictated by other states. Colonel Setthapong said that there is ‘a need to urgently promote the development of the country’s own space technology’ to prevent a loss of bargaining power.

 

Col Setthapong Mali Suwan

Since the 2014 military coup in Thailand, the Royal Thai Armed Forces has ‘advanced by leaps and bounds’ in its defence

   Pakorn Apaphant

cooperation with China through tri-service bilateral exercises and military-naval procurements. This characterisation also applies beyond defence. In the private sector, Advanced Info Service has been accepting bids on 5G development from two Chinese companies — ZTE and Huawei — and Chinese investment projects in Thailand like the China-ASEAN Beidou Technological City.

The lasting economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intensifying pro-democracy protest movement will reaffirm the contemporary trendline in Sino-Thai defence cooperation. This cooperation will occur for the short-to-medium risk horizon and for the medium-to-long risk horizon.

Yet Sino-Thai defence cooperation does not presently extend to the same degree in the development of space technology. This is indicated by the latest developments from the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) Space Operation Center in partnership with the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA) — a Thai space agency responsible for remote sensing and satellite technology development.

These organisations’ space procurements increasingly show a preference for non-Chinese technology and launch service providers. The RTAF procured its NAPA-1 and NAPA-2 U6 CubeSat platforms — Thailand’s first and second military satellites — from Innovative Solutions in Space of the

Thai-NASA “Space Camp” Astronaut Scholarship Program

Netherlands. While the first satellite was launched through the French Arianespace Vega rocket at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, the latter is scheduled for launch through the Soyuz rocket at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia. GISTDA also signed a contract with Airbus for the THEOS-2 satellite, a second generation low Earth orbit (LEO) observation system that will replace the THEOS-1 satellite.

Relevant officials in the latest round of draft revision on the forthcoming National Space Act for the National Space Policy Committee have said off the record that there is little indication that either China’s space industry or a domestic lobby will receive a comprehensive edge. It seems that the drafters sought to uphold Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon’s ‘NewSpace’ agenda to focus on domestic space technology and sustainable economic development.

Despite also confirming that the RTAF sent representatives to participate in the latest round, its influence amid the process remains unclear. The RTAF’s most explicit articulation of the space domain is found in the White Paper 2020. The document’s ‘10-Year Requirement Plan [2020-2030]’ section conveys its intent to invest in space capabilities and space situational awareness. But it does not show any signs of a shift towards procuring Chinese technology.

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China vs the US and the Risks of a Space Rivalry

Article by Sarah Zheng                                    November 29, 2020                                (scmp.com)

• The recent voyage of China’s Chang’e 5 lunar spacecraft to bring Moon samples back to Earth was more than a signal of China’s ambitions to US military officials. To Space Force General John Raymond it represented a threat that China and Russia pose to American access to space. “The two countries seek to stop US access to space, Raymond posted on the DoD website. “[T]hey are developing capabilities that would negate the US advantage.” Raymond is calling for the US to work more closely with its allies, to “stay ahead of the growing threat.”

• Raymond’s approach would continue to deny China access to American technology and ensure a clear separation between the US and Chinese space programs. But Matthew Daniels, a senior fellow at Georgetown University, notes that the division between the US and Chinese space programs is due to US barriers, resulting in almost no direct links between the two countries in space technology research, development and operations. The US is ahead in technologies such as reusable launch systems and satellite manufacturing, but China is narrowing the gap. So cutting the US off from Chinese advancements in technology could come at a cost for the United States and miss an opportunity to reduce the risk of political conflict. So should the US cooperate with China in some areas or continue to freeze it out?

• Further limits on the transfer of space technologies to China could be carried out with still more barriers to US commercial space technology transfers, extra limits on US civil space engagement and coordination, diplomatic pressure on third parties working with both the US and China, and visa restrictions on Chinese aerospace researchers. In the long term, however, it could encourage China to establish a stronger space technology ecosystem of its own. China would then have more of a chance to build alternative international coalitions, including by drawing in Europe and Russia.

• “The current separation will probably continue to slow China in the near term,” says Daniels. “[T]his effect will diminish, however, and it may help grow indigenous supply chains and markets in China.” The US could thereby lose its international leadership in space, while missing a chance to obtain strategic information about China’s space activities and reducing the opportunity to manage crises and conflict.”

 

              Gen. John “Jay” Raymond

When the Chang’e 5 lunar spacecraft lifted off from a launch pad in southern China this week it was not just a signal of China’s ambitions to bring moon samples back to Earth. Half a world away in the United States, the launch was a sign to US Space Force General John Raymond of the threat that China – together with Russia – poses in blocking American access to space.

                      Matthew Daniels

“The two countries seek to stop US access to space, and they are developing capabilities that would negate the US advantage,” he said in an interview published on the US Department of Defence website.

Raymond called for the US to work more closely with allies, to “stay ahead of the growing threat” from China.

It is an approach that would continue to deny China access to American technology and ensure a clear separation between the US and Chinese space programmes.

But some observers say that this could come at a cost for the United States and miss an opportunity to reduce the risk of conflict.
The two space programmes are already “substantially separated”, according to Matthew Daniels, a senior expert for the Office of the US Secretary of Defence and a senior fellow at Georgetown University.

In a report published in October published by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Daniels said the division was due mostly to US barriers, resulting in almost no direct links between the two countries in space technology research, development and operations.

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