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NASA, NOAA to Provide Update on Progress of Solar Cycle
Oct 08, 2024
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will discuss the Sun’s activity and the progression of Solar Cycle 25 during a media teleconference at 2 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Oct. 15.
Tracking the solar cycle is a key part of better understanding the Sun and mitigating its impacts on technology and infrastructure as humanity explores farther into space.
During the teleconference, experts from NASA, NOAA, and the international Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel, which is co-sponsored by both agencies, will discuss recent solar cycle progress and the forecast for the rest of this cycle.
Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website at:
https://www.nasa.gov/live
Participants include:
Jamie Favors, director, NASA’s Space Weather Program
Kelly Korreck, program scientist, NASA’s Heliophysics Division
Elsayed Talaat, director, Office of Space Weather Observations, NOAA
Bill Murtagh, program coordinator, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center
Lisa Upton, co-chair, Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel
To participate in the media teleconference, media must RSVP no later than 12 p.m. on Oct. 15, to Abbey Interrante at: abbey.a.interrante@nasa.gov.
The Sun goes through regular cycles of activity lasting approximately 11 years.
During the most active part of the cycle, known as solar maximum, the Sun can unleash immense explosions of light, energy, and solar radiation, all of which create conditions known as space weather.
Space weather can affect satellites and astronauts in space, as well as communications systems such as radio and GPS — and power grids on Earth. When the Sun is most active, space weather events become more frequent.
Solar activity, such as the storm in May 2024, has sparked displays of aurora and led to impacts on satellites and infrastructure in recent months.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-noaa-to-provide-update-on-progress-of-solar-cycle/
Journey Through Stars with NASA in New Minecraft Game
Oct 08, 2024
NASA invites gamers, educators, and students to grab their pickaxe and check out its latest collaboration with Minecraft exploring a new world inspired by the agency’s James Webb Space Telescope.
The partnership allows creators to experience NASA’s discoveries with interactive modules on star formation, planets, and galaxy types, modeled using real Webb images.
The James Webb Space Telescope Challenges were developed to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technicians.
Through the game, students can immerse themselves in the science and technology behind Webb, deepening their understanding of NASA’s mission and sparking an interest in the real-world applications of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).
“We’re thrilled to bring the wonders and science of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope into the hands of the Artemis Generation through this exciting Minecraft collaboration,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.
“This collaboration is yet another way anyone can join NASA as we explore the secrets of the universe and solve the world’s most complex problems, making space exploration engaging for learners of all ages.”
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched to space Dec. 25, 2021, and has gone on to make detailed observations of the planets within our own solar system, peer into the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars outside our solar system, and capture images and spectra of the most distant galaxies ever detected.
“NASA’s collaboration with Minecraft allows players to experience the excitement of one of the most ambitious space missions ever,” said Mike Davis, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“No matter where Webb looks, it sees something intriguing, setting the stage for amazing discoveries yet to come.
As people explore the Minecraft world of Webb, we hope they will be inspired to carry that interest further and maybe someday help NASA build future space telescopes.”
Webb is the world’s premier space science observatory.
The space telescope is solving mysteries in our solar system, looking beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probing the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.
Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement provides unique opportunities for students to learn about STEM. In 2023, NASA partnered with Minecraft on an Artemis Challenge where users could build and launch a rocket, guide their Orion spacecraft, and even establish a lunar base alongside their team.
Through collaboration with partners such as Microsoft, NASA can share the excitement of space exploration with even more students who are part of the Artemis Generation.
https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/new-minecraft-game/
Game Changing Development
October 8, 2024
The Game Changing Development Program is a part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
The Program advances space technologies that may lead to entirely new approaches for the Agency’s future space missions and provide solutions to significant national needs.
The Program employs a balanced approach of guided technology development efforts and competitively selected efforts from across academia, industry, NASA, and other government agencies.
GCD Projects
GCD collaborates with research and development teams to progress the most promising ideas through analytical modeling, ground-based testing and spaceflight demonstration of payloads and experiments.
NASA's BIG Idea Challenge 2024
The Breakthrough, Innovative and Game-changing (BIG) Idea Challenge is an initiative supporting NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate’s (STMD’s) Game Changing Development Program’s (GCD) efforts to rapidly mature innovative and high-impact capabilities and technologies for infusion in a broad array of future NASA missions.
BIG Idea 2024 invites teams to design, develop, and demonstrate novel uses of low Size, Weight and Power (SWaP) inflatable technologies, structures, and systems for lunar operations, exploring innovative concepts incorporating inflatable components.
Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative
Part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and Technology Maturation portfolio, LSII develops breakthrough technology, defining new approaches to pave the way for successful human and robotic missions on the surface of the Moon.
https://www.nasa.gov/stmd-game-changing-development/
Five reasons to join the European Space Agency!
09/10/2024
In 2023, ESA published more than 400 vacancies in engineering, science and business and administration and more positions continue to be published as we are always on the lookout for talented new colleagues to join us.
So, what does it mean to join ESA? Here are five reasons why you should consider ESA as the next step in your career!
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Inspiring space missions
Our mission is to watch over Earth, develop and launch inspiring space projects, train astronauts and push the boundaries of science and technology, seeking answers to the big questions about the Universe.
Each person at ESA plays a part in making our objectives a reality and we are very proud to have already enjoyed many successes this year.
So here are some examples of what has happened so far in 2024 to give you a taste of the kind of projects that you could be part of when you work at ESA (click on the links to find out more):
Most recently, in October, ESA's first planetary defence mission, Hera, was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
In July, we celebrated the inaugural flight of Ariane 6, an outstanding achievement for all the teams working on the latest in Europe's Ariane rocket series.
Thanks to the precise navigation by ESA’s Flight Dynamics team, Juice performed the first ever lunar-Earth flyby to reroute its path through space.
ESA’s Euclid space mission, launched in 2023, revealed five unprecedented new views of the Universe.
We also successfully launched the Arctic Weather Satellite in August and Sentinel-2C joined the Copernicus family in orbit in September.
Interested to learn more about ESA’s missions? Visit the ESA portal.
cont.
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA/Five_reasons_to_join_the_European_Space_Agency
https://www.esa.int/
https://www.space.com/archaeologists-satellites-map-threats-ruins
Ancient ruins are under threat. Here's how archaeologists are getting help from space
October 7, 2024
Space archaeology needs to mix new and old missions to protect ancient sites, scientists urged at a recent NASA conference.
Take the example of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California.
The facility is best known for helping to chart unknown worlds, leading the missions of rovers on Mars and sailing the Voyager spacecraft by all the major outer planets.
"But we also look at the Earth, because the Earth is a planet, too," said Ronald Blom, retired principal scientist of JPL, at the NASA and Archaeology From Space symposium on Sept. 18, to which Space.com received an exclusive invite.
Studying our planet from space means integrating modern with historic missions.
Blom praised the forthcoming Synthetic Aperture Radar Mission — a joint effort of NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation — as one effort archaeologists are looking forward to when it launches in 2025.
Radar can chart changes to coastlines and other aspects of Earth's surface, providing context for archaeology sites on a wider scale.
But Blom also urged scientists to continue plumbing data from older space missions, even if they are from retired spacecraft like the space shuttle, and even if archival footage has lower resolution than today's data.
Information from the shuttle's Radar Topographic Mapper on a single 11-day mission in 2000, for example, "is used for many things today," Blom said.
(A study of land use in Ethiopia recently published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Water Management Modeling is just one recent example.)
One of the longest-running satellite series in the world, Landsat, allows scientists to peer back in time using machines with similar ground tracks and ever-improving resolution.
Landsat is jointly managed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey and began observations in 1972, starting with the Earth Resources Technology Satellite, later renamed Landsat 1.
Landsat's half-century archive charts land use in a way that helps archaeologists monitor sites from afar, especially those prone to threats such as human-induced climate change or urban expansion.
Cyprus, a large Mediterranean island, is a case study: it had a more than 300% increase in urbanization between the 1980s and the 21st century, conference presenters said.
The island hub hosted numerous civilizations over the eras; in ancient times alone, a sampling of civilizations claiming ownership of the region included the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Persian Empire and the Romans, according to Britannica.
Modern urban expansion in places like Cyprus is thus "a significant threat to archeological sites," said Athos Agapiou, an assistant professor at Cyprus University of Technology, in a separate presentation.
(His Google Scholar page shows numerous space-based studies of Cyprus.)
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Mapping growing cities with satellite tech like space-based radar helps protect not only the exposed archaeology but also the harder-to-spot remains buried underground, added Agapiou, who is also deputy director of the chair on digital cultural heritage for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Once sites are mapped from space, many measures can be brought in for their protection.
Among them is ethnographic work alongside local communities, whose ancestors built the sites and who would have generations of knowledge about the archaeology's significance.
The San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project in Guatemala, for example, works in concert with communities to discuss archaeology, environmental science and art conservation.
Xultun refers to an ancient Maya site near San Bartolo, and the region also hosts the earliest known Mayan writing.
The project includes satellite lidar (light detection and ranging) capable of looking through dense forests to see evidence of Mayan sites not yet fully excavated.
The Maya were the dominant indigenous group in Guatemala, northern Belize and parts of Mexico when the Spanish invaded in the 16th century, according to Britannica.
Today, archaeologists are working to redress the historical inequities the Maya have faced.
"Remote sensing has made visible things more than hidden topography.
It has helped to make visible the widespread problem of marginalization of local and Indigenous communities as primary partners in archeological research, and it's also been part of the toolkit for potential solutions," said Heather Hurst, co-leader of the project and an anthropology professor at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, in a separate presentation.
Alongside preserving murals and other unique features in the area, Hurst said the project aims to increase knowledge-sharing with the San Bartolo community with regard to cultural heritage.
She described the region as a "center masterpiece" within a network of ancient shrines, demonstrating how the Maya built connections through separate communities in the past.
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China to launch new quantum communications satellites in 2025
October 8, 2024
China will launch new quantum satellites into low Earth orbit next year, according to a scientist leading the project.
Two to three quantum communications satellites will be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) next year according to Pan Jianwei, the scientist behind China’s 2016 Mozi/QUESS quantum experiments satellite, China Business News reported Oct. 3.
Pan, head of the Institute of Quantum Information and Quantum Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), stated that a further satellite will be launched into medium Earth orbit in 2027.
He added that China expects to make breakthroughs in quantum relay technologies in the next five to six years to enable a quantum communications network.
China launched the pioneering Mozi satellite in 2016 to test quantum physics in space, particularly focusing on quantum communication and encryption.
Developed under CAS, it demonstrated quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum entanglement over unprecedented distances.
The country has, along with research centers, also built the Beijing-Shanghai Quantum Communication Backbone, a 2,000-kilometer-long fiber-optic network, which was completed in 2017.
In 2022, CAS and others collaborated to launch the small Jinan-1 satellite on a Lijian-1 rocket to test quantum key distribution (QKD). It also demonstrated a miniaturization of key technologies.
The new satellites will be combined with ground-based networks for greater and eventually global coverage, according to previous reports.
The planned higher orbit satellite will allow for longer duration tests, as satellites in LEO pass overhead in a matter of minutes.
It will carry a 600 mm diameter telescope for photon transmission.
“We are cooperating with the National Space Science Center to develop a medium-to-high Earth orbit satellite.
In the future, the combination of high orbit satellites and low Earth orbit satellites will build a wide-area quantum communication network,” Pan said in March 2023.
China is also seeking further international collaboration in this field. “China is very open to international cooperation in the quantum field and is willing to conduct more international exchanges,” Pan said, according to the Oct. 3 report.
“I hope that after we launch more quantum satellites, we can have more discussions on how to reasonably build quantum constellations and use quantum technology to benefit all humanity.”
Mozi was launched under the first phase of CAS’s Strategic Priority Programme on Space Science.
CAS is set to unveil a new, long-term program on space science which appears not to include quantum satellites.
That program will focus on areas including black holes, dark matter and dark energy, hunting for habitable exoplanets and the laws of the universe.
This indicates the follow up to the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) initiative will be conducted separately.
While China appears to be leading the pack, other space agencies and companies are working on quantum technologies for space.
The European Space Agency is looking to develop a quantum communications network, last year awarding funds to a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space.
Qube, a German cubesat, launched in August aboard a Falcon 9 to test quantum key distribution.
Boeing meanwhile is targeting 2026 to deploy a small quantum networking satellite.
https://spacenews.com/china-to-launch-new-quantum-communications-satellites-in-2025/
https://spacenews.com/nasa-awards-rocket-lab-study-contract-for-mars-sample-return/
NASA awards Rocket Lab study contract for Mars Sample Return
October 8, 2024
NASA has awarded a contract to Rocket Lab to study alternative concepts for Mars Sample Return (MSR), joining several other efforts to improve the cost and schedule of the program.
Rocket Lab said Oct. 7 that it received a contract to study what it called “a simplified, end-to-end mission concept” for MSR that would deliver samples being collected by the Perseverance rover to Earth for a “fraction” of currently projected costs, estimated to be as high as $11 billion, and several years earlier than 2040.
NASA solicited concepts for industry studies to look at alternative architectures for MSR or key elements of it, like the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) rocket that will launch the collected samples into orbit around Mars.
NASA selected seven companies in June for those studies, but Rocket Lab was not among them.
The Rocket Lab statement came after a Sept. 27 entry in a federal procurement database, which noted that the company received a $625,000 contract from NASA for Mars studies.
NASA did not announce at the time, or since then, the selection of Rocket Lab for a contract.
“Rocket Lab was not included in the initial study concepts selected by NASA in June 2024, but Rocket Lab’s proposal was later re-evaluated by NASA and selected for a study contract as it closely aligned with the solicitation’s stated focus on innovation,” Rocket Lab said in an Oct. 7 statement to SpaceNews.
“All of the companies chosen submitted their proposals through the original ROSES solicitation and the addition of one more company will not delay the evaluation of the studies,” NASA said in a statement to SpaceNews Oct. 7 in response to inquiries about the Rocket Lab award Oct. 3 and 4.
“NASA’s selection process allows for later additions at the selecting official’s discretion.”
Rocket Lab did not provide details about its concept for MSR in its announcement. “We’ve developed an innovative mission concept to make it happen affordably and on an accelerated schedule,” Peter Beck, chief executive of Rocket Lab, said in the statement about the study.
“Rocket Lab has been methodically implementing a strategy for cost-effective planetary science in recent years, making us uniquely suited to deliver a low cost, rapid Mars Sample Return.”
However, NASA published abstracts of the proposals through a website used for the study solicitation. In the case of Rocket Lab, the company pitched an architecture that would use the company’s Neutron rocket in development along with other spacecraft projects.
“Rocket Lab will reduce cost and schedule for MSR through a simplified mission, targeting a total to NASA of less than $2B,” the company stated.
“Rocket Lab will challenge the program to hit a 2028 launch window to reduce costs while reducing risk associated with Perseverance lifetime, resulting in return of samples no later than Sept. 2033, with the potential for earlier return in Sept. 2031.”
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That architecture calls for two Neutron launches about two weeks apart, one carrying an Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) spacecraft and the other a lander with MAV.
Perseverance would rendezvous with the lander, and a robotic arm would take samples from the rover and place them in the MAV to launch into Mars orbit, where the ERO would collect them for return to Earth.
“Rocket Lab has demonstrated the experience and technical capabilities aligned with MSR and has assembled a team with the experience and skills to not only conduct a study of low cost, rapid MSR but also to execute on the mission once awarded,” the company argued, citing its work on the CAPSTONE lunar mission, Varda’s spacecraft that returned experiments from Earth orbit to the surface and the ESCAPADE Mars smallsat mission.
The document also offered details on the seven earlier awards. Some awardees discussed their studies at a conference in July, but others have said little or nothing about the studies they were selected to perform.
Blue Origin, for example, said it is leveraging its “commercial capabilities” and NASA support for its Blue Moon crewed lunar lander through the Human Landing System program.
“Applying these capabilities to MSR removes the constraints on mass and volume that have greatly limited past MSR architectures, allowing for a mission design that reduces complexity and cost, and maximizes the number and scientific value of samples returned,” the company stated.
Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris company, said it is looking at ways to reduce the mass of both the MAV and its lander.
That could allow the lander to use the existing “skycrane” landing technology demonstrated with the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, lowering costs, the company argued.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which has its own MSR study, is also looking at ways to use skycrane technology for the lander.
The SpaceX abstract confirmed the company is looking at using its Starship vehicle, but offered few technical details.
“SpaceX will work together with NASA to evaluate a series of options for how to best leverage Starship’s capabilities to jointly meet the goals set out for NASA’s Mars Sample Return program,” the company stated.
The studies are due to be completed this fall, with the agency using them, along with internal studies and those by JPL and the Applied Physics Lab, to determine how to alter the current MSR architecture to reduce its cost and speed up the return of samples.
Speaking at a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council Oct. 1, Administrator Bill Nelson expressed optimism about those efforts without going into details about the studies.
“We think it’s looking very promising that we can end up at a much cheaper Mars Sample Return and we can do it a lot quicker than what was proposed before,” he said.
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PLD Space Unveils Three New Rockets and a Crew Capsule
October 7, 2024
Spanish launch provider PLD Space has introduced a family of new rockets that it plans to introduce beyond its Miura 5 rocket, which is expected to make its inaugural flight in 2025.
The company also revealed that it was working on a crew capsule called Lince (Spanish for Lynx).
PLD Space introduced its range of next-gen rockets during its annual meeting which was held at its new facility in Elche, Spain.
The three rockets introduced were the Miura Next, Miura Next Heavy, and Miura Next Super Heavy, all based on a system or modular building blocks.
Miura Next will be the base of the modular system will be a single-stick two-stage rocket. Miura Next Heavy will feature two boosters and Miura Next Super Heavy will feature four boosters.
The boosters will have a shared architecture with the rocket’s core stage. The first stages and boosters will all feature a propulsive recovery capability.
The smallest of the three rockets will be capable of delivering up to 13,580 kilograms to low Earth orbit, while the most powerful will have the capacity to deliver 53,000 kilograms.
“We aim to offer the market a comprehensive space transportation solution that meets 100% of flight demands,” said PLD Space CEO Raúl Torres.
PLD Space projects that the maiden flight of Miura Next could take place by 2030. The inaugural flight of Miura Next Heavy will follow one to two years later.
Miura Next Super Heavy is expected to be introduced by 2033.
Lince Crew Capsule
In addition to its range of next-gen rockets, PLD Space also introduced its Lince crew capsule, which the company has been working on for the last year.
The capsule is designed to be launched in either a crew or cargo configuration.
In a cargo configuration, it will be capable of carrying 5,000 kilograms to the International Space Station (ISS) and returning with 3,400 kilograms.
When carrying crew, it will be capable of supporting four of five astronauts on flights to and from the ISS. Both variants will be launched aboard the single-stick Miura Next rocket.
The first drop tests of the capsule will begin in 2025. Pad and in-flight abort tests aboard Miura 5 will then follow in 2028. The first uncrewed orbital test flight will occur in 2030.
https://europeanspaceflight.com/pld-space-unveils-three-new-rockets-and-a-crew-capsule/
Cryptic Mars, a land shaped by ice
09/10/2024
The seasonal polar caps of Mars are mainly composed of carbon dioxide ice with some water ice.
The ice partially sublimates (turns directly from solid ice into vapour) in spring, releasing large amounts of gas into Mars’ thin atmosphere. In autumn, the vapour condenses again, and the polar caps grow.
By late winter they may even reach as far as 55 degrees latitude – roughly the equivalent of Scotland and Denmark’s southern reaches if translated to the northern hemisphere of Earth.
This freeze-thaw cycle gives rise to a variety of curious surface features, many of which are captured in these images of the Australe Scopuli region close to the south pole of Mars.
The images were taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) onboard Mars Express on 2 April 2024 during southern hemisphere spring.
The left side of the main image is dominated by a thick stack of exposed layered deposits, formed as layers of ice freeze with varying amounts of dust trapped within.
The right side of the main image shows the smooth surface of these polar layered deposits.
Dark-toned terrain dominates the centre of the scene.
Originally nicknamed cryptic terrain because it was unclear why these emerging features are much darker than the rest of the ice cap, researchers now have a better idea as to the processes at play in this dynamic region.
Zooming into the dark region in the main image reveals that the surface is covered with a pattern of polygon shapes at a range of scales.
Each polygon is bounded by troughs or ridges, and sometimes the troughs trap bright frost.
For a closer look at polygonal terrain we can turn to higher resolution imagery provided by ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter.
Although the example shown here (above) is from a different area in Mars’ southern latitudes, it beautifully illustrates the occurrence of lingering ice at the polygon edges in and around an impact crater, on a cold springtime morning.
On Earth, this pattern is a common periglacial feature in arctic and antarctic regions that usually indicates the presence of water ice in the ground.
‘Periglacial’ refers to regions and processes where cold climate contributes to the evolution of landforms and landscapes.
The polygons form from freeze-thaw cycles of ground ice over the course of several years, or even centuries.
Studying these kinds of patterns on Mars can help researchers decipher the climate history of the planet.
In many locations throughout the image, bright and dark fan-shaped deposits can be seen.
They range from tens of metres to several hundreds of metres and are oriented in the direction of prevailing winds.
When sunlight penetrates through the translucent carbon dioxide ice layer in early spring it warms up the underlying surface.
The ice at the bottom of the layer begins to sublimate, creating pockets of trapped gas.
The pressure builds up and the overlying ice suddenly cracks. Jets of gas burst through the surface, carrying dark dust from below.
The dust falls back to the surface in a pattern shaped by the direction of the prevailing wind.
The process is similar to that which creates the ‘spider’ features presented in another recent Mars Express image release.
After the dark material has settled on top of the ice, a second phase kicks in as the ice and new layer of dust interact.
The dark material absorbs more sunlight than the brighter, reflective ice and so it warms up the ice it fell on top of and the dark grains gradually sink through the ice.
At the same time, this accelerates the process of sublimation, creating a hole.
Either fresh ice is revealed underneath, or new frost may then condense on top of the sinking dark grains, resulting in a bright fan at the place of the initially dark fan.
This process is only observed in spring. Once the seasonal translucent ice layer has completely sublimated, the fans become indistinguishable from the underlying surface.
It is thanks to the longevity of missions like Mars Express, which arrived in orbit around the Red Planet in 2003, that seasonal changes can be observed over many years and once-cryptic features can be better understood.
As well as studying the ice caps of the planet the HRSC has shown us the full range of Mars’ geological features, from wind-sculpted ridges and grooves to sinkholes on the flanks of colossal volcanoes to impact craters, tectonic faults, river channels and ancient lava pools.
With its suite of eight instruments Mars Express also maps the planet’s minerals, explores the composition and circulation of its atmosphere, probes beneath its crust, and studies the martian environment.
The mission has been immensely productive over its lifetime, creating a far fuller and more accurate understanding of our planetary neighbour than ever before.
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Cryptic_Mars_a_land_shaped_by_ice
Return To The ISS feat. Col Nick Hague
October 8, 2024
For the first time on Sept. 28th, a U.S. Space Force Guardian was launched into space as part of the NASA SpaceX Crew-9 mission to the International Space Station.
Col. Nick Hague will command the mission and join the Expedition 72 crew where they will conduct scientific research and maintenance activities
part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMX_cfRVlgc
part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hUo1u28etU
King Charles flew 'prototype UFO'
Wed 9 October 2024 at 8:00 am GMT-7
A new documentary about the British Royal Family's interest in UFOs and the paranormal investigates claims that King Charles flew an actual UFO in Canada in 1975.
'The King of UFOs' features an interview with Canadian diver Dan Costello who claims to have witnessed Charles - then Prince of Wales - as one of three pilots flying a prototype UFO at Sandy Point in Nova Scotia.
Costello claims that the craft was shaped like a UFO and emitted a blue ionic flame which scorched the earth below and turned the soil to grass.
He states that Charles was stationed on the nearby HMS Endeavour as a Helicopter pilot and was drafted in on what was called Project Serpico.
Costellos said: "The craft had dual rotor blades like a helicopter but it would also just sit and hover in the sky with the blades not on and with no sound of propulsion just a faint crackle of electro magnetism.
I don't think it was extra terrestrial but might be technology developed by Nikolai Tesla who had a facility here and now this was being used by the US, Canadian and British Military."
The film's director Mark Christopher Lee researched Costello's claims and found validity to them and found evidence that the technology might be what US military personnel such as David Grusch have claimed to have seen at first hand.
Lee added: "What if what we are all seeing in the sky and thinking are extra terrestrial spacecraft are actually just a secret highly advanced earthbound technology?
What if Prince Charles was involved with this project - does King Charles know the truth about UFOs? If so he should release this truth to the public. We deserve to know!"
Lee has written to King Charles to ask him about this 1975 event at Sandy Point but to date the palace has not replied.
Lee said: "I was quite skeptical about Costello's claims at first but since the film has been released numerous witnesses have come forward to state that they remember this Sandy Point incident and that there were weird craft flying in this area.
"This may also explain the infamous nearby Shag Harbour UFO incident which people have suggested was a UFO - the truth is probably that it was an experimental technology that the US, Canadians and British wanted to keep secret and the UFO alien story was a good cover for this."
'The King of UFOs' is out now on Amazon, Tubi, Apple and GAIA.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/king-charles-flew-prototype-ufo-150000291.html
“What the f*** is that” — UFO over Atlantic City, NJ, caught on video?
October 8, 2024
It seems like there's no shortage of videos being posted online that have people asking if UFOs are visiting South Jersey.
One such example comes from Atlantic City.
A person who identifies himself as "Mr. X [Hitman]" on YouTube posted a video not too long ago that shows a bright object hovering motionless over the World's Play Ground.
Now, we're not part of some giant media conglomerate that is in cahoots with the federal government to suppress UFO sightings and to attempt to persuade you into thinking that what you are seeing is not what you are seeing, however, let's keep a couple things in mind.
First, several planets are easily visible in the night sky and those planets are much brighter than stars are.
As for the object in the sky seen blinking, the only guess that we can offer is that the lower part of the window shown in the video has a screen or something grid-like over it.
Moving the camera around would give the appearance that the object in the sky is blinking when it could just be blocked by the grid. That's our guess.
Ironically, this video from Atlantic City comes about a month after someone posted a video claiming a UFO was over Egg Harbor Township.
In that cinematic treasure, a bright, white motionless light was observed just like the latest one.
So, what do you think? Does this same alien spacecraft keep visiting South Jersey (maybe they're looking to get into sports betting)?
https://catcountry1073.com/what-the-f-is-that-ufo-caught-on-video-over-atlantic-city-nj/
https://www.public.news/p/pentagon-is-illegally-hiding-secret
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/report-immaculate-constellation-uap-journalist/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxyUoDvdGhg
Pentagon Is Illegally Hiding Secret UFO Program From Congress, Whistleblowers Allege
Oct 08, 2024
One of Congress’ most important responsibilities is oversight of the executive branch in general and the military and Intelligence Community (IC) in particular.
The first article of the United States Constitution specifies this responsibility.
This role ensures that powerful governmental entities operate within the bounds of the law, uphold democratic principles, and remain accountable to the American people.
This responsibility extends to classified programs like Special Access Programs (SAPs).
By law, the Department of Defense (DOD) must notify the “Gang of Eight” (the chairpersons and ranking members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees, and the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate) and/or the relevant congressional committees about their existence.
The National Security Act of 1947 requires that covert operations and Compartmentalized Access Programs (CAPs) by intelligence agencies, including the military intelligence community, be reported to Congress.
Specifically, the President must provide a written finding that justifies covert action and submit it to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
While the military and IC may limit the amount of detail shared with Congress, the Constitutional and legal responsibility remains. Sunshine remains the best disinfectant.
Readers are, of course, welcome to disbelieve the whistleblowers and the evidence they provide of UAPs. I do not claim to know what they are.
There is, however, a growing body of evidence that the government is not being transparent about what it knows about UAPs and that elements within the military and IC are in violation of their Constitutional duty to notify Congress of their operations.
The Pentagon responded to this article after it was published. I have attached the full response at the bottom of the story.
— Michael
There is no evidence that any non-human or extra-terrestrial intelligence has visited Earth, according to a May 2024 report by the office the Pentagon created in 2022 to study unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP), formerly called UFOs.
The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) “assesses that the inaccurate claim that the USG is reverse-engineering extraterrestrial technology and is hiding it from Congress is, in large part,” the report concluded, “the result of circular reporting from a group of individuals who believe this to be the case, despite the lack of any evidence.”
The former Director of AARO has since resigned his position and has repeatedly dismissed and ridiculed the topic, claiming that talk of the phenomenon is due mainly to a small group of individuals in the grip of a rumor-based religion.
But critics say that AARO’s 63-page history of the US government’s investigation into UAPs since the end of World War II was riddled with factual errors and poor referencing, including to Wikipedia.
And the document was missing historical information that appeared in the 117-page “UAP Timeline” document created by a former or existing US government intelligence officer that Public published last year.
Christopher Mellon, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President George H. W. Bush, wrote a lengthy rebuttal, concluding, “this is the most error-ridden and unsatisfactory government report I can recall reading during or after decades of government service.”
And major political figures, including Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and both Democrats and Republicans in Congress, have vouched for the credibility of UAP witnesses and whistleblowers.
“I’ve interviewed solid people,” said former president Donald Trump in September, “great pilots for the US Air Force, et cetera, they’ve seen things that they cannot explain.”
Trump has said repeatedly that the government has information about UAPs that it has not released.
In 2020, during a podcast with his son, Donald Trump, Jr., Trump said, “I won’t talk to you about what I know about it, but it’s very interesting.”
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In June of this year, Trump said that the government has information about UAPs that it has not released.
"I have access,” he said, “and I speak to people about it. I've had actually meetings on it. And they will tell you there's something going on.”
In 2021, former CIA Director John Brennan said, “I think some of the phenomena we may be seeing continue to be unexplained and might be some type of phenomenon that results from something that we don’t yet understand and could involve some type of activity that some might say constitutes a different form of life.”
The same year, the current Director of National Intelligence, Avril Haines, said UAPs could constitute non-human intelligence (NHI).
In 2023, a high-ranking former intelligence officer named David Grusch testified to Congress that the US government had retrieved spacecraft of nonhuman origin and bodies, which US government insiders told Public was accurate.
In July 2022, the Intelligence Community Inspector General concluded that Grusch’s complaint that “elements” of the IC had withheld or hidden UAP-related information from Congress “to purposely and intentionally thwart legitimate Congressional oversight of the UAP Program” was both “credible” and “urgent.”
At the time, Charles McCullough III, the first Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, who the US Senate had confirmed for his job in 2011, represented Grusch.
That does not mean that extraterrestrial beings occupy or are operating the UAPs, nor that the US government and military contractors are hiding crashed alien spacecraft or bodies, as some former astronauts, former IC officers, and former military leaders claim.
There are other explanations for UAPs. Current dominant alternative theories, including those put forward by AARO, are that UAPs are some kind of natural phenomenon we don’t yet understand, like ball lighting or plasma.
They could also be part of some new US or foreign government weapons program, such as drones, aircraft, balloons, CGI hoaxes, or birds.
Other UAP skeptics say that some combination of government disinformation and social contagion, like the Satanic panic of the 1980s or the Salem witch trials, among UAP believers in the US military are driving the phenomenon.
Is it possible that the Pentagon and CIA are still playing disinformation games with the American people to cover up unacknowledged programs?
Or that intelligence and security agencies, as well as politicians, are creating a UAP hoax to frighten the public? And is it possible that whistleblowers are fabricating parts or all of their testimony?
The US Air Force allegedly used disinformation against a UFO buff in the past to cover up a weapons program. Something similar could be happening today.
However, no available evidence supports that theory. And so, while this possibility should not be ignored, for it to be true, it would require a complicated conspiracy with unclear motivations.
As Senator Rubio noted last year, “Most of [the UAP whistleblowers] have held very high clearances and high positions within our government. So, you do ask yourself: What incentive would so many people with that kind of qualification – these are serious people – have to come forward and make something up?”
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Rubio also said that individuals in “high clearances and high positions within our government” with “firsthand knowledge” of UAPs were “fearful of harm coming to them.”
Grusch and other UAP whistleblowers say the government retaliated against them and tried to stop them from going public.
Last year, Senator Gillibrand said, “There's a lot of fear and so I don't know if we'll ever get to the bottom of it.
I don't know if we'll ever get the information about Special Access Programs that are ‘need to know,’ only that Congress has not [been] read in on. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.”
The training and experience of many UAP witnesses and whistleblowers, including in the US IC and military, undermine facile dismissals of all these individuals as cranks and grifters.
In 2021, John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Intelligence under former President Trump, said that UAP demonstrated “technologies that we don’t have and, frankly, that we are not capable of defending against.” And, Ratcliffe said, U.S. intelligence analysts had “high confidence” that foreign adversaries were not behind the famous “Tic Tac” UAP that four Navy Pilots encountered over the water.
Last October, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the DOD published their 2023 Annual Report on UAPs.
It said that “many reports from military witnesses do present potential safety of flight concerns, and there are some cases where reported UAP have potentially exhibited one or more concerning performance characteristics such as high-speed travel or unusual maneuverability.”
Finally, many videos and photographs cannot be easily dismissed, and people have reported similar UAPs before drones, aircraft, and CGI existed or were widespread.
And now, existing and former US government officials have told members of Congress that AARO and the Pentagon have broken the law by not revealing a significant body of information about UAPs, including military intelligence databases that have evidence of their existence as physical craft.
One of these individuals is a current or former US government official acting as a UAP whistleblower.
The person has written a report that says “the Executive Branch has been managing UAP/NHI issues without Congressional knowledge, oversight, or authorization for some time, quite possibly decades.”
Furthermore, these individuals have revealed the name of an active and highly secretive DOD “Unacknowledged Special Access Program,” or USAP.
The source of the document told Public that the USAP is a “strategic intelligence program” that is part of the US military’s family of long-standing, highly-sensitive programs dealing with various aspects of the UAP ‘problem.’”
Public is revealing its name here for the first time.
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