Tag: Roscosmos

Drama With Attachment of Russian Lab Module to the ISS

Article by William Harwood                                                  July 29, 2021                                                         (cbsnews.com)

• On July 29th, a bit of drama unfolded at the International Space Station (ISS) as the Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, replaced the two-decades-old Pirs airlock and

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Russia’s Nuclear-Powered Tug ‘Zeus’ to Search for Extraterrestrial Life

June 15, 2021                                                     (sputniknews.com)

• On June 15th, the director general of the Roscosmos Russian state space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, told the audience at the GLEX-2021 space conference in St. Petersburg that the space tug ‘Zeus’ (pictured above) which has been under construction since 2010, is on schedule to make its first space flight in 2030. Rogozin called the search for extraterrestrial life and the monitoring of space-borne threats to the Earth the two most important tasks of the space tug.

• Once competed, Zeus will stop by Mars and Venus on its way to visit and study the outer planets and even distant stars. The space tug fitted with a nuclear reactor which will allow the ship to travel long distances. “[T]he most important task will be to discover and understand whether we are alone in space or there is another life,” Rogozin said.

• “Today, we have ensured the development of space monitoring programs, and this is of practical significance for how to avoid dangerous collisions in space,” said Rogozin. “But there is another, even more important task — how to protect our planet from uninvited collisions with space bodies that can destroy the civilization.” Rogozin noted that there exists no technology capable of diverting the trajectory of space objects approaching the Earth.

• Rogozin also emphasized the significance of international cooperation in space, calling it “the highest form of politics and ethics” in the relations between nations. The Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) is an annual event that has gathered representatives of scientific circles, governments and industries since 2012.

 

ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) – Russian nuclear-powered space tug Zeus, currently

                       Dmitry Rogozin

under construction, will be sent on a mission to search for life in deep space once completed, Dmitry Rogozin, the director general of the Russian state space agency Roscosmos, said on Tuesday.

The space tug fitted with a nuclear reactor is set to be used for missions to remote planets of the Solar System and beyond. It has been under development since 2010 and is expected to make its first space flight in 2030.

“Missions that will be sent to Mars, Venus and, in the future after the development of thermonuclear capabilities, beyond the solar system, the most important task will be to discover and understand whether we are alone in space or there is another life,” Rogozin said at the GLEX-2021 space conference.

The Roscosmos chief called the search for extraterrestrial life and the monitoring of space-borne threats to the Earth the most important tasks of world cosmonautics.

“Today, we have ensured the development of space monitoring programs, and this is of practical significance for how to avoid dangerous collisions in space. But there is another, even more important task — how to protect our planet from uninvited collisions with space bodies that can destroy the civilization,” Rogozin said, noting that there so far exists no technology capable of diverting the trajectory of space objects approaching the Earth.

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‘Divine Vessel’ Rocket Launches China’s First Human Spaceflight Since 2016

Article by Janis Mackey Frayer                                                June 17, 2021                                                             (nbcnews.com)

• On June 17th, the Chinese Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station that China is currently building. It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space. (see 1:07 minute video of launch below)

• Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton ‘Tiangong’ or “Harmony of the Heavens” space station that should be up and running by next year. The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

• “I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at an earlier news conference. “Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream.”

• The 20 year-old International Space Station, or ISS, which has hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. China has long been frozen out of and ISS mission due to American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its own military. Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

• The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station. “All the firsts that the U.S. and the USSR did in the Cold War, China is just ticking them off,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. “Now they’re at the point where they’re starting to think, ‘OK, we’re not just copying the West anymore, we’re going to start doing our own thing’. And that’s going to be very interesting to watch.”

• On the day before the launch, the three Chinese astronauts (pictured above) met with reporters from inside a germ-free glass chamber. Veteran Nie Haisheng, 56, was looking forward to his third trip to space, while Liu Boming, 54, took part in a 2011 mission that included China’s first spacewalk. They were joined by 40-year-old Tang Hongbo, who was looking forward to his first journey up to the stars, having been selected for training in 2010.

• After Tianhe’s main module was successfully launched last month, state media reported that President Xi Jinping wrote a letter to congratulate Chinese engineers for a breakthrough that earned a place in the nation’s history. NASA and others scolded Beijing for acting recklessly by allowing a rocket booster from that mission to fall to Earth in a seemingly uncontrolled manner.

• The Shenzhou-12’s launch was covered on state television and celebrated as a matter of prestige ahead of the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary next month. For Xi, the space station holds symbolic value in his vision of his country as “a space power in all respects.”

• But as China pours billions of dollars into its space programs, including an exploration of the dark side of the Moon and its recent landing of a rover on Mars, some analysts fear that its lack of international coordination is creating a dangerously competitive playing field in space. “There is no doubt the U.S. is the most advanced,” Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency told NBC News. “Regardless of scale, China develops space programs out of our country’s own need … to fulfil our own dream.”

 

JIUQUAN, China — A Chinese rocket blasted off from a launch pad in the Gobi Desert on Thursday, sending three astronauts on a historic mission to an orbiting space station China is building.

Fire and huge clouds of dust could be seen in the distance when the Long March-2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule roared away from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, as China’s space race with the United States and Russia continues to gather pace.

It was the first time in five years that China has sent humans into space.

For Rong Yi, the rocket’s chief designer, it was hard to see it go.

“We have invested so much energy,” she told NBC News, likening the rocket to raising a child. “But I am thrilled to see it fulfill its duty within 10 minutes.”

China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming

Shenzhou-12, or “Divine Vessel,” is one of 11 planned missions to complete construction of China’s 70-ton Tiangong or Harmony of the Heavens space station that is set to be up and running by next year.

The astronauts will remain docked with the main Tianhe section of the station for three months — China’s longest crewed mission yet — to perform spacewalks, maintenance work and critical testing of life support and other systems.

“I believe that in the near future, when the Chinese space station is complete, we will see Chinese and foreign astronauts taking on joint missions,” China Manned Space Agency Assistant Director Ji Qiming said at a news conference Wednesday ahead of the launch.

Zhou Jianping, the chief designer at China’s Manned Space Agency
             Tiangong Space Station

“Exploring the vast universe, developing space activities and building a powerful space nation is our unremitting space dream,” he said.

China has long been frozen out of the International Space Station, or ISS, a project launched 20 years ago that has served as the ultimate expression of post-Cold War reconciliation between Russia and the United States. American concerns over the Chinese space program’s secrecy and connections to its military were largely responsible for that.

But the aging ISS that hosted astronauts from the U.S., Russia and a number of other countries is set to be decommissioned after 2024. As broader U.S.-Russia relations deteriorate, Moscow has hinted that it may withdraw from ISS cooperation in 2025, meaning China could be the only country with a functioning space station.

Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, also signed an agreement in March with the Chinese National Space Administration to build a base on or around the Moon, which they will call the International Scientific Lunar Station.

 

1:06 minute video of the launch of the Long March-2F rocket
carrying the Shenzhou-12 capsule (‘NBC News’ YouTube)

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China, Russia and the New Space Race

Article by James Stavridis                                           April 12, 2021                                          (bloomberg.com)

• Russia and China are contesting the US militarily, from the Arctic to the Baltics to the South China Sea. A few weeks ago, the two nations agreed to build a joint research station on the Moon. In an online statement, the China National Space Administration said the base would be open to “all interested countries and international partners”. But if you look at recent Russian and Chinese space operations, they have a distinctly military bent. And the idea of general political and military cooperation between the two is gaining speed, from massive war games on the Siberian border to warship deployments in the eastern Mediterranean and the North Atlantic.

• Washington needs to understand the strategic approach being taken by both of these US rivals in space. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the lesser-known Secure World Foundation have recently released reports highlighting a cluster of Russian activities that have caught the attention of the US intelligence community. These include significant antisatellite missile tests throughout 2020; flights of Russian spacecraft very near US spy satellites; tests of projectile launches in space; and fraying ties with the US in civilian and scientific space cooperation.

• As the supreme allied commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, this article’s writer, James Stavridis, spent a good deal of time with the then-Russian ambassador to the alliance, Dmitry Rogozin. Rogozin went on to serve as deputy prime minister in charge of all Russian defense and space industries. Since 2018, Rogozin has been the head of Roscosmos, the equivalent of NASA. Given his strong defense background, Rogozin brings a military thrust to the Russian space program.

• Ten years ago, Rogozin told Stavridis that Russia’s military future was in space. In 2014, Rogozin mocked the US space program on Twitter as needing a trampoline to bring astronauts to the International Space Station. After a successful commercial launch by SpaceX in 2020, Elon Musk tweeted back, “The trampoline is working.”

• China doesn’t have the decades-long history that Russia has in the space domain, but the Chinese are accelerating rapidly. China had landed a lunar module on the Moon, returning soil samples. It launched a Mars probe that is currently orbiting the red planet. And it has plans to build a Moon base, along with Russia. All of this is part of an emerging “space culture” in China.

• Chinese efforts in space have an increasingly military feel to them as well. China has 363 satellites in space, second only to the U.S. (with more than 1,300). The Chinese have been conducting anti-satellite tests for nearly two decades, including missiles and lasers. They have devoted considerable effort to sharpening offensive cybertools that can go after US space assets. The Chinese have also fired more rockets into space than any other country for three years straight.

• As Russia and China come together to operate in the cosmos, their overall military and strategic cooperation will increase as well. The fledgling US Space Force must be part of a US response. America needs a small but elite US Cyber Force working alongside our allies, much as China and Russia intend to do. And Washington needs a coherent plan for private-public cooperation and to prioritize defense dollars for space.

• [Editor’s Note]   The author of this article, retired Admiral James Stavridis, is intent on associating Russia with China’s CCP. And where is he now that he has retired from the US Navy? He is an operating executive with the Carlyle Group, a notorious bastion of the deep state elite trying to stoke a war between the US, China and Russia. China has invited “all interested countries and international partners” to join them in the development of a Moon base. After the deep state stopped utilizing Russian space rockets to bring Americans to the International Space Station in favor of their darling, Elon Musk, why wouldn’t Russia be interested in another Moon program? And didn’t the Russian navy just work with the US Navy to bottle up the Evergreen container ship ‘Ever Given’ in the Suez Canal, which reportedly contained not only trafficked humans but weapons of mass destruction?

What is really going on is a war between the deep state and non-compliant Alliance countries like Russia. Deep state shills like Admiral Stavridis only want to demonize Russia and stir up World War III to give the deep state a path to total control over the planet and the solar system. Unfortunately, Administrator Biden is also a deep state lackey who supports this evil agenda. It is up to the white hats in the US military to excise the deep state trolls from its ranks, completely remove the deep state from power, and set the planet on a course of peace and prosperity – including our expansion into space to stand alongside our space cousins – which the deep state has actively prevented since WWII.

 

          Fmr Admiral James Stavridis

Russia and China are looking hard at how they should allocate defense spending to

       Dmitry Rogozin

contest the U.S. militarily, from the Arctic to the Baltics to the South China Sea. Near the top of both national shopping lists are military operations and assets in space, and the most intriguing aspect of their decision to look to the stars is that they are going to do it together.

Most notably, the two nations agreed a few weeks ago to build a joint research station on the moon. In an online statement, the China National Space Administration said the base would be open to “all interested countries and international partners,” which sounds relatively benign. But if you look at recent Russian and Chinese space operations, they have a distinctly military bent. And the idea of general political and military cooperation between the two is gaining speed, from massive war games on the Siberian border to warship deployments in the eastern Mediterranean and the North Atlantic.

What should the U.S. be doing?

First, Washington needs to clearly understand the strategic approach being taken by both of these rivals, who are now peer competitors, at least in space.

We should begin with Russia, which has had a very long and successful track record in space operations dating back to Soviet times. The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the lesser-known Secure World Foundation have recently released reports highlighting a cluster of Russian activities that have caught the attention of the U.S. intelligence community.

These include significant antisatellite missile tests throughout 2020; so-called close aboard flights of Russian spacecraft very near U.S. spy satellites; tests of projectile launches in space; and fraying ties with the U.S. in civilian and scientific space cooperation. (The two nations have previously worked together closely, especially on the International Space Station.)

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Moving to the Moon – What Will the First Extraterrestrial City Look Like?

Article by Steve Cowan                                  December 1, 2020                                (freenews.live)

• The Chinese probe “Chang’e-5” has successfully collected lunar rock and soil samples from the Moon, and is on its way back to Earth. This feat marks another stage in China’s ultimate plan to establish a permanent base on the Moon. Russia’s Roscosmos and NASA are also planning “lunar cities”.

• The last time humans were on the Moon was on December 14, 1972 when American astronaut Eugene Cernan walked on the lunar surface. In the coming years, we will inevitably witness a substantial increase in the Moon’s active development. However, unlike in the past, space agencies find it too expensive to launch heavy rockets whenever they want to visit the Moon. Today’s space programs will be more inclined to create permanent bases both in the Moon’s orbit and on the lunar surface.

• The Moon is attractive for several reasons. First, as an outpost for flights to other planets in the solar system. Secondly, as a source of minerals – primarily helium-3 which is used to produce thermonuclear fuel. Third, scientists plan to place a radio telescope on the Moon’s far side, protected from Earth’s interference. Using this telescope, scientists hope to discover the ‘cosmic microwave background’ allowing them to reconstruct the events of the universe during the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Fourth, and perhaps the most important benefit of establishing a Moon base, will be to test experimental technologies that will assist human migration to other planets in the future.

• While the 1967 Outer Space Treaty does not specifically regulate the use of space resources, an unratified December 1979 UN General Assembly Agreement does attempt to address the activities of states on the Moon and other celestial bodies. However, on April 6, 2020, President Trump signed an Executive Order approving the commercial development of resources by the US on the Moon and other planets and asteroids of the solar system.

• The first problem with everyone wanting to colonize the Moon is not about science, but the legal and commercial aspects of everyone aiming to use the same locations and resources at the South Pole of the Moon (although it would be technically easier to make shuttle flights to and from an orbital space station). The South Polar Region is ideal because it contains relatively large “cold traps” where permanently shaded areas hold water ice which is essential for everything from drinking and growing food, to obtaining oxygen for breathing and hydrogen for rocket fuel. Also, it is never dark at the South Pole so you can continuously recharge solar panels. On the rest of the Moon’s surface, the night lasts for two weeks.

• Moon base developers suggest that mirrors can be fixed on craters’ edges and direct sunlight to shaded areas. The heated ice will turn into steam, which will go through a pipeline to an electrolysis plant where it is split into hydrogen and oxygen. Experts estimate that there are up to ten billion tons of ice in the cold traps near the South Pole. The water and oxygen needed to sustain a base with only four people would require several tens of tons of water per year.

• Ice can also be found in miniature cold traps, up to a centimeter in diameter, mostly in the circumpolar regions. Up to forty thousand square kilometers of the lunar surface could be covered in water ice. More recently, the SOFIA stratospheric Observatory’s infrared telescope detected signs of molecular water ice filling the voids between the grains of minerals in the lunar soil. If this ice could be harvested, the list of places to build a lunar base would expand significantly.

• The composition of lunar soil is 43 percent oxygen. By combining oxygen with hydrogen taken from other sources or delivered from Earth, you can produce water. For Moon dust to decompose in order to extract the oxygen, it needs to be heated up 900 degrees Celsius (1652 degrees Fahrenheit) which takes a lot of energy. Scientists suggest using giant mirrors that focus sunlight on the shell of a small reactor. Still, it would take years for a lunar facility to generate enough water fuel to send just one Apollo-sized spacecraft into lunar orbit.

• Despite all the difficulties, the European Space Agency (ESA) has already allocated funds to the British company, Metalysis, to finance the extraction of oxygen from lunar regolith. The company, along with scientists from the University of Glasgow, said that they successfully extracted 96 percent of oxygen from artificial lunar soil in experiments on Earth, turning the rest into useful metal powders.

• Unlike the Earth, the Moon does not have an atmosphere and a magnetic field. So structures in lunar bases must protect human inhabitants from cosmic rays, solar radiation, and a stream of meteorites. Shelters could be covered with a multi-meter layer of lunar soil, or the base could be located within a canyon or cave. Scientists have proposed a lava tunnel under the Marius Hills in the central part of the Ocean of Storms.

• The lunar base buildings themselves could be built using 3D printing from regolith particles, or with bricks made by melting regolith using a focusing solar reflector. Researchers calculate it would take three years to manufacture enough regolith bricks to build a two thousand square meter structure. Once built, the base could use a Sun reflector to illuminate residential premises and greenhouses. As part of a closed ecosystem, greenhouse plants would process organic waste and convert carbon dioxide into breathable oxygen. Astronauts on the International Space Station are already hydroponically growing and eating leafy green vegetables on board the station.

 

Yesterday, the lander of the Chinese probe “Chang’e-5” successfully separated from the orbital module and started landing on the Moon. It must collect and deliver samples of lunar soil to Earth. This is the next stage of an ambitious program, the ultimate goal of which is a permanent base on the satellite. Roscosmos and NASA are also planning “lunar cities.” About what will be the first human settlement outside of our planet is in the material.

  Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan

To Leave, To Return

The last time humans landed on the Moon was 48 years ago. Then, on December 14, 1972, American astronaut Eugene Cernan, after walking on the lunar surface, said: “We are leaving as we came, and with God’s help, we will return.”

Over the past few years, several countries have declared their readiness to resume lunar programs. The Moon is attractive for several reasons. First, as an Outpost for flights to other planets in the Solar system-it is easier to start from it than from Earth.

Secondly, as a source of minerals-primarily helium-3: it can be used to produce thermonuclear fuel.

Third, on the Moon’s far side, scientists plan to place a radio telescope protected from earth’s interference. And with its help, they discover the cosmic microwave background, which they hope to reconstruct the events of the “dark ages” of the Universe-the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

And last, perhaps most important, the Moon’s base should become an experimental testing ground for testing technologies for human migration to other planets.

Therefore, in the coming years, we will inevitably witness the Earth’s satellite’s active development. But it is too expensive to send heavy missiles there every time. Today, no space agency will finance the sending of crews, as in the Apollo program. Everyone is inclined to create permanent bases — first in the Moon’s orbit and then on its surface. But this is not an easy task.

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Venus Is a ‘Russian Planet,’ Says Roscosmos Chief

September 15, 2020                               (themoscowtimes.com)

• Following new research published in the journal Nature Astronomy of British and American scientists’ discovery of phosphine gas in Venus’ clouds, suggesting the possibility that there might be extraterrestrial life in Venusian clouds (see yesterday’s ExoArticle here) the chief of the Russian space agency ‘Roscosmos’, Dmitry Rogozin, contended that prior research by Russian scientists has indicated that Venus is inhospitable to life.

• “Our country was the first and only one to successfully land on Venus,” Rogozin told the audience at the 2020 HeliRussia exhibition. “The [Russian] spacecraft gathered information about the planet. [I]t is like hell over there.” He assured the audience that, as such, Venus is a “Russian planet”.

• While the Russian space agency still plans to carry out the Venera-D mission in cooperation with the United States this coming decade, Roscosmos announced plans to launch an independent Russian expedition to Venus as well, without international cooperation.

• ‘Breakthrough Initiatives’, a program funded by Russian billionaire Yuri Milner in association with SETI, announced that it will fund a study into the possibility of life in Venus’ clouds, led by Sara Seager from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

Venus is a “Russian planet,” the head of Russia’s state space agency said Tuesday following new research that suggests there could be life on the

                      Dmitry Rogozin

second planet from the sun.

The research, published in the journal Nature Astronomy on Monday, details British and American scientists’ discovery of phosphine gas in Venus’ clouds and puts forward possible theories for its origin, including that of extraterrestrial life.

Speaking at the 2020 HeliRussia exhibition, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said prior research by Russian scientists indicated that the planet is inhospitable to life.

“Our country was the first and only one to successfully land on Venus,” Rogozin said. “The [Russian] spacecraft gathered information about the planet — it is like hell over there.”

Roscosmos also announced plans Tuesday to launch an independent Russian expedition to Venus “without involving wide international cooperation.” The expedition will take place in addition to the previously planned Venera-D mission, which is being carried out in cooperation with the United States.

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Russian Cosmonaut Captures UFO Footage from International Space Station

Article by National Post Staff                             August 21, 2020                              (nationalpost.com)

• On August 19th, Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner was aboard the International Space Station (ISS). While passing over Antarctica and Australia, Vagner was recording video of the aurora australis — the southern lights. But he managed to catch something else, too. A one-minute video appears to show potential UFOs.

• Visible in the video footage are the glowing curve of the Earth and the green of the aurora moving across it. Then a string of four to five lights arranged in a diagonal line appear at the horizon. As the video was shot in a time-lapse, the flash of “objects” that quickly appear and disappear in the video actually lasted some 52 seconds. The objects “appear flying alongside with the same distance,” Vagner tweeted.

• The mission is Vagner’s first aboard the ISS. According to NASA, his work on the station involved maintenance on its orbital plumbing system as well as “exploring ways to improve Earth photography techniques.” He is working alongside Anatoli Ivanishin, also of Russia, and American commander Chris Cassidy.

• Russia’s space agency Roscosmos added to Vagner’s tweet with the note: “An interesting and at the same time mysterious video made by cosmonaut of Roscosmos Ivan Wagner … from the International Space Station.” The video was submitted to Roscosmos for experts at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences to review.

 

A one-minute video captured by Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner aboard the Interna-tional Space Station (ISS) appears to show potential UFOs, Global News reports.

        International Space Station

While passing over Antarctica and Australia, Vagner was recording video of aurora australis — the southern lights — but he managed to catch something else, too.

           Ivan Vagner

Space guests, or how I filmed the new time-lapse.

The peak of aurora borealis when passing over the Antarctic in Australia’s longitude, meaning in between them. However, in the video, you will see something else, not only the aurora. pic.twitter.com/Hdiej7IbLU — Ivan Vagner (@ivan_mks63) August 19, 2020

Visible are the glowing curve of the Earth and the green of the aurora moving across it. The “space guests” Vagner refers to appear from nine seconds into the video and last until the 12-second mark, a string of four to five lights arranged in a diagonal line.

Since the video was shot in a time-lapse, the flash of “objects” which quickly appear and disappear in the video actually lasted some 52 seconds. The objects “appear flying alongside with the same distance,” Vagner wrote in further tweets. “What do you think those are? Meteors, satellites or … ?”

It’s unclear precisely when the footage was captured or whether Vagner observed the phenomenon at the time, as he filmed.

 

1:35 minute video of UFOs over Antarctica (‘Pravda Report’ YouTube)

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Beneath the Surface is Best Place to Find Life on Mars

Article by Sean Martin                               July 28, 2020                               (express.co.uk)

• The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos’ ExoMars mission to Mars that was scheduled for launch this year has been postponed until 2022 due to the lock-downs imposed by the coronavirus outbreak. When it does launch in 2022, the ExoMars’ ‘Rosalind Franklin Rover’ will be attached with a subsurface drill, to look beneath the surface for signs of life.

• Astrophysicist and research scientist Dimitra Atri at the Center for Space Science at NYU Abu Dhabi believes that subsurface conditions on the Red Planet could be the best for any microorganisms, because there are still traces of water – a main ingredients for life – beneath the surface. Also, any life beneath the surface will be protected from deadly solar radiation.

• In addition, the launch was delayed due to issues with some of the electronics in the robot, and a hardware concern for the solar panels. With the borders closed due to the pandemic, neither the engineers nor the parts to correct these issues are readily available. Professor of planetary and space science at the Open University Monica Grady says, “Each of the hardware issues could be solved, as could problems with software – but in combination, there was too great a risk that the time remaining before the launch was too short to ensure * full and thorough final testing.”

• “The final staging place before moving to the launch site is Turin, in northern Italy, where illness from coronavirus has practically closed the country and brought movement across its borders to a halt,” noted Grady. “Engineers from the UK, France, Russia and the US (at the very least) will be needed alongside those in Italy for the final testing.”

• [Editor’s Note]  The place to look for life on Mars is indeed under the planet’s surface. Mars is teeming with a variety of subsurface civilizations, from indigenous intelligent reptilian and raptor species, to indigenous humanoids hiding in the crevasses, to secret space program bases belonging to the Nazi German/Draco Reptilians, industrial colonies belonging to the Interplanetary Corporate Conglomerate, and the ICC’s mercenary military divisions: the Mars Defense Force and the Interplanetary Defense and Reaction Forces.

 

               Rosalind Franklin Rover
                       Dimitra Atri

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia’s Roscosmos is set to up the ante in the search for life on Mars when it launches the ExoMars rover to the Red Planet in 2022. The machine will be attached with a subsurface drill which will be able to look beneath the surface for signs of life. By doing so, it will become the first rover to look for signs of life beneath the surface.
Some experts believe this could be the best hope of finding alien life.

Astrophysicist and research scientist Dimitra Atri at the Center for Space Science at NYU Abu Dhabi has conducted research, and found that subsurface conditions of the Red Planet could be the best for any microorganisms, according to the research published in the journal Scientificace to loo.

                        Monica Grady

This is because beneath the surface, there are still traces of water – one of the main ingredients for life.

On top of that, any life beneath the surface will be protected from deadly solar radiation – protection which is lacking on the surface due to the Red Planet’s lack of atmosphere.

Mr Atri said: “It is exciting to contemplate that life could survive in such a harsh environment, as few as two meters below the surface of Mars.

“When the Rosalind Franklin rover on board the ExoMars mission (ESA and Roscosmos), equipped with a subsurface drill, is launched in 2022, it will be well-suited to detect extant microbial life and hopefully provide some important insights.”

ExoMars was set to be launched this year, but the coronavirus outbreak put a halt to that.

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Russian Scientists Prove Life Can Survive on Mars, Venus, and Jupiter’s Ice Moon

Article by Sput Nick                        April 26, 2020                      (sputniknews.com)

• Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute conducted simulations of Venus’ atmospheric conditions and discovered that microscopic fungi can survive and thrive in high levels of ionizing radiation and sharp jumps in temperature. Scientists believe that microorganisms may be present in the upper layers of Venus’s atmosphere.

• The researchers also studied microorganisms in temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius (minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit) in the Arctic to simulate conditions on the surface of Mars. Here too, the bacteria proved quite adaptable to survival.

• The Russian scientists then studied soil bacteria present in the Mojave Desert, which is considered analogous to the kinds of microbial communities that may be found on Mars. The micororganisms were highly resistant to temperature, pH levels, and the presence of salts and strong oxidizing agents.

• The researchers also tested whether microorganisms could survive in conditions found on Jupiter’s moon, Europa, known to have a water-ice crust. Recreating bacteria embedded in ice at -130 degrees Celsius (minus 202 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists found that the bacteria could still theoretically survive at depths of 10-100 cm over a period of 1,000-10,000 years in the moon’s subglacial oceans.

• The prestigious Space Research Institute is a complement to Russia’s manned space program, taking part in multiple ongoing Roscosmos, European Space Agency and NASA missions on the study of the solar system, and goes back to Soviet-era probes of Venus and Mars.

 

Theories about the possible habitability of Earth’s closest neighbours go back to the dawn of the space age, with scientists creating increasingly complex instruments to try to confirm beyond a doubt whether such life exists in the years since.

Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute have completed simulations of the Venetian atmosphere’s conduciveness to sustaining life, discovering that micromycetes (a type of microscopic fungi) can survive and thrive in Venus-like atmospheric conditions, where high levels of radiation and sharp jumps in temperature are the norm. Specifically, laboratory testing found that high doses of ionizing radiation do not lead to the fungi’s demise.

Scientists conducted their experiments on the basis of long-held scientific theories that microorganisms associated with mineral particles may be present in the upper layers of Venus’s atmosphere.

The researchers also performed research involving microorganisms found in the Arctic to simulate conditions on the surface of Mars – subjecting them to radiation and temperatures of -50 degrees Celsius. Here too, scientists found that the bacteria proved quite adaptable to survival.

Additionally, the Russian scientists studied soil bacteria present in the Mojave Desert, considered by many academics to be a terrestrial analogue to the kinds of microbial communities that may be found on Mars. The research showed that these micororganisms are highly resistant to a range of stress factors, such as cultivation temperature, pH levels, and the presence of salts and strong oxidizing agents.

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

              Professor Monica Grady

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chief Russian Investigator suggests (UFO) sabotage caused rocket failure

UFO intercepts Proton Rocket-Sabotage

On Thursday morning, RT News reported that Russia’s chief investigator into the cause of the May 16 Proton-M rocket crash raised the possibility that sabotage was involved. Aleksandr Danilyuk, who chairs the inter-departmental commission investigating the crash, said:

All variants are being analyzed in detail. As of today the most likely version involves the failure of a bearing unit in the turbine pump assembly. But, I repeat, all versions are under consideration. The sabotage version has not been ruled out.

Given video evidence extracted from the Russian Space Program that a UFO intercepted and apparently caused the third stage malfunction that led to the rocket’s destruction, Danilyuk appeared to be suggesting that a UFO did indeed “sabotage” the rocket.

In a related development, UFO debris was collected by Chinese government officials shortly after the Proton-M rocket crash. Initial media coverage suggested it was remains of the rocket but Russian scientists insisted that the rocket would have largely disintegrated before impacting the earth. This raised the possibility that the strange spherical objects retrieved in China may be the remnants of the UFO that intercepted the Proton-M rocket. Presently, Chinese authorities are investigating the spherical objects.

Danilyuk’s public admission earned a rare public rebuke by Russia’s deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, who said in a statement released today shortly after RT’s earlier report:

The Roscosmos commission which has been investigating the accident should first complete its work and submit the results of the investigation to the government before “tormenting” the society with new versions of the accident.

Was the public spat between senior Russian officials merely due to an overzealous space investigator overstepping his authority, or was he spilling the beans on a belligerent action conducted by a foreign power against the Russian Federation?

Video footage of the crash clearly shows the trajectory of what appears to be a UFO that intercepts the rocket about 40 seconds before the deployment of the sophisticated communications satellite. Despite video evidence of something intercepting the rocket, official reports on the rocket’s demise focused on a possible malfunction of the rocket’s engines. Danilyuk’s public admission has placed the spotlight on the intercepting UFO as the possible source of “sabotage.”

Danilyuk’s admission that sabotage was a possible cause of the rocket’s failure is significant given video footage of an intercepting UFO. If a UFO did “sabotage” the rocket, why would the Russian Deputy Prime Minister be so quick to slap down such speculation? Perhaps he is being cautious and wants to defuse public speculation about sinister forces acting against the Russian Federation. Alternatively, the public spat may be a way for the Russian government to indirectly confirm that a belligerent foreign power possesses UFO technologies that was used to intercept and destroy a Russian rocket.

© Copyright 2014. Michael E. Salla, Ph.D.

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