TYB
China launches clandestine TJS-13 satellite, rocket reaches milestone
December 3, 2024
China launched a new communication engineering test satellite early Tuesday, adding to a series of satellites potentially for undisclosed military purposes.
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 12:56 a.m. Eastern (0556 UTC) Dec. 3 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced launch success, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be communication technology experiment Satellite-13, or Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-13 (TJS-13).
The satellite is expected to be in geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The TJS-13 satellite will be used for satellite communication, radio and television, data transmission and other services, and will also carry out related technology tests, according to Chinese state media.
However, the lack of specific details surrounding the TJS-13 satellite, consistent with earlier TJS missions, suggests potential dual-use or military-related capabilities.
TJS spacecraft are geostationary satellites, potentially carrying out classified missions including signals intelligence, early warning missions and satellite inspection activities.
TJS-3, launched in 2018, released a subsatellite which carried out subsequent maneuvers indicating it was a subsatellite capable of coordinated movements with TJS-3. The main satellite later made close approaches to U.S. satellites.
TJS-10 and TJS-11 launched on a Long March 7A rocket in November 2023 and a Long March 7 in February 2024 respectively. These satellites were likewise described as being used to carry out multi-band, high-speed satellite communication technology verification.
The launch was, notably, the 100th of the workhorse Long March 3B. The rocket has performed 96 successful launches with two failures and two partial failures.
The first launch, in February 1996 carrying Intelsat 708, infamously saw the rocket veer off course shortly after clearing the tower and impacting a nearby village.
Developed by CASC’s China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), the three-stage and four-liquid-booster rocket is the only Chinese launcher to reach 100 launches. There have been more than 500 Long March rocket launches.
The Long March 3B launched the Beidou GNSS constellation, a number of Chang’e lunar missions, Tianlian and Fengyun series satellites and others, and international communications satellites.
It is expected to launch the Tianwen-2 near Earth asteroid sample return mission in May 2025.
The launch of TJS-13 was China’s 60th orbital launch attempt of 2024. The country was aiming for around 100 launches this year but appears far short of that tally.
It follows the debut launch of the Long March 12 single-core medium-lift rocket from a new commercial spaceport Nov. 30. A Long March 8 rocket could launch from the spaceport before the end of the year.
The third batch of satellites for the Qianfan/Thousand Sails megaconstellation is expected to launch on a Long March 6A rocket late Dec. 3 Eastern.
https://spacenews.com/china-launches-clandestine-tjs-13-satellite-rocket-reaches-milestone/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq9aWIYnm3o
Lockheed Martin challenges narrative on GPS vulnerability
December 3, 2024
Lockheed Martin is challenging the prevailing narrative that military users of the Global Positioning System (GPS) are dangerously vulnerable to service disruptions and is emphasizing the advanced security features set to debut with the upcoming GPS IIIF satellites.
GPS has become a critical infrastructure that touches nearly every aspect of modern life and military operations.
While GPS is widely viewed as an indispensable backbone of the global economy, it is simultaneously seen as a fragile technological system vulnerable to sophisticated electronic warfare techniques and signal disruption.
Jesse Morehouse, Lockheed Martin’s director of business development and strategy for positioning navigation and timing, said this narrative overlooks security upgrades and technological innovations being developed to enhance GPS.
Concerns about GPS vulnerabilities have escalated since 2022, fueled by increasing reports of jamming and spoofing incidents. Jamming disrupts GPS signals, while spoofing falsifies them, potentially leading users astray.
Media reports have spotlighted the relatively low cost of equipment needed to disrupt GPS signals, amplifying concerns about the system’s fragility.
In response, the Pentagon has launched initiatives to mitigate these vulnerabilities. A key focus is reducing dependence on GPS by integrating alternative positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) technologies that are being developed by the commercial industry.
Lockheed Martin, which produces GPS satellites but not the ground systems or user equipment, is countering claims of systemic weakness, particularly for military users.
Morehouse underscored the distinction between civilian and military GPS signals, particularly the advanced military M-code signal.
“M-code is very difficult, if not impossible, to spoof,” Morehouse said at a recent Lockheed Martin news conference.
While jamming remains a threat, he clarified that spoofing concerns primarily apply to civilian signals. “You could try to steer a commercial airliner off path, but you couldn’t steer a missile off the path,” he explained.
The next generation of satellites include enhanced security features such as the Regional Military Protection signal, which is more powerful and resistant to jamming, he said.
However, some key features will remain underutilized until modernized ground systems and user receivers — developed by other contractors — are fully deployed, a process that has been plagued by delays.
The next evolution
GPS satellites are a cornerstone of Lockheed Martin’s space portfolio. In 2018, the company secured a $7.2 billion contract to produce up to 22 GPS IIIF satellites. Several are already in production.
For civilians, the next evolution is the L5 signal, a more powerful and precise channel that will be particularly valuable for commercial aviation. However, this capability requires additional satellites in orbit and updated control systems before it can be fully operational.
For the military, GPS IIIF promises jam-resistant features and increased signal power. The first GPS IIIF satellite is scheduled to launch in 2027.
Complicating the discussion around GPS vulnerabilities is the Department of the Air Force’s Resilient GPS (R-GPS) program.
This initiative aims to supplement the existing GPS system with smaller, lower-cost satellites based on commercial designs.
The Space Systems Command plans to launch up to eight R-GPS satellites by 2028, with additional launches planned in phases.
The program, which has engaged companies like Astranis, Axient, L3Harris and Sierra Space, is designed to provide a subset of GPS signals that are compatible with both military and civilian receivers.
The Space Systems Command has said that R-GPS is not a replacement for GPS but rather an added layer of resilience.
Jeff Schrader, vice president of strategy and business development at Lockheed Martin Space, stressed that the new program is not in competition with GPS IIIF.
“You won’t hear the Space Force say R-GPS is replacing GPS,” Schrader said. “What they say is that we are going to work together.”
Morehouse warned about what he sees as an overblown narrative of systemic risk in GPS. “There’s a lot more nuance to it than GPS magically going away one day.”
The system’s robustness, he argues, is often under-appreciated.
https://spacenews.com/lockheed-martin-challenges-narrative-on-gps-vulnerability/
Strange lights seen from multiple Texas cities spark UFO speculation
Updated: Dec. 02, 2024, 4:45 p.m.
Over Thanksgiving weekend, residents across Texas reported seeing unusual lights in the sky, igniting social media debates over potential UFO sightings.
According to social media videos from Texans, the phenomenon was observed in cities like Dallas, Galveston, Abilene and Houston.
Outside of state lines, people reported similar-looking sightings in North Carolina and Arizona.
A TikTok video recorded in Dallas shows three bright lights seen Nov. 30 by residents who said they were driving on State Highway 121. Beneath the figures, an airplane can be more easily identified while it flies at a horizontal angle.
“I’ve lived here my entire life, and I have never seen anything like this,” the TikTok user captioned the post. “They would disappear and reappear in different formations.”
The video’s location labels that it was captured near the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, but the user was positive the lights were not airplanes, they commented.
“People don’t understand how we know the difference living right here,” the TikTok user said in a post.
A separate TikTok account posted a different angle of the lights from another part of Highway 121. Another user commented that when they got up around 4 a.m., only two remained, but they moved higher up in the sky.
On the same evening, a Northwest Houston resident posted a video depicting three white and orange lights forming a triangle in the sky. Recorded at 7 p.m., the video prompted further speculation among viewers about the nature of the lights.
“I don’t know what those are… it’s got to be jets or planes or something,” the TikTok user says in the video.
On Dec. 1, a Galveston resident claimed they also saw strange lights in the night sky, this time over the Gulf of Mexico.
“There was a lot of light pollution, but they were so bright in real life, the TikTok user said in the post. “At least 15 bright lights at varying heights in the sky…saw a helicopter, and the difference was obvious.”
While some viewers in the comments agreed the figures may have been unworldly creatures paying Earth a visit, others said Texans were actually just seeing airplanes lined up to land at a nearby airport, the SpaceX satellite Starlink, or drones.
In the Pentagon’s latest report on UFOs, it cites that many of these items, along with balloons and birds, are often mistaken for objects of extraterrestrial origin.
The publication was released Nov. 14, one day after House lawmakers called for increased government transparency during a joint hearing by subcommittees of the House Oversight Committee.
Investigators found explanations for nearly 300 of 757 incidents of unidentified anomalous phenomena or UAPs — the government’s term for UFOs — reported to U.S. authorities from May 1, 2023, to June 1, 2024.
Although hundreds remain unexplained, the report states that “to date, AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) has discovered no evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology.”
“There is something out there,” Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee said during the hearing. “The question is: Is it ours, is it someone else’s, or is it otherworldly?”
Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are among the top Texas cities in which UFO sightings are reported, according to data from the National UFO Reporting Center.
If you’re a resident of one of these cities and confident you’ve just observed the most indisputable sighting of a UAP or UFO, make sure you’re not just standing in the eye-view of the Tower of Americas on a foggy night.
https://www.lonestarlive.com/life/2024/12/strange-lights-in-texas-sky-spark-ufo-speculation.html
https://www.tiktok.com/@godandtruth777/video/7443606411042508063
https://www.tiktok.com/@ari16bri/video/7443632517871209774
https://www.tiktok.com/@pokerdoggone/video/7351272830085958954
Bolton: Potential UFO sighting in Sharples mystifies residents
December 2, 2024
A resident has been left mystified after spotting two strange blue lights floating in the sky above her house on Friday evening.
Paulina, 39, who lives on Thornham Drive in Sharples, describes how she was looking out of her window on last Friday (November 29) at around 9.45pm when she witnessed two strange blue lights hovering above her garden.
Similar mysterious lights have been reported across Greater Manchester and in London.
Paulina, who went into the garden with her children to inspect the mysterious lights, was able to capture them on video.
She is keen for anyone to help try and identify what it was and says it was very strange that it did not make any noise, nor did it have any beams that might have come from a laser.
Paulina said: “It was shocking, I was just looking through my window when I saw the lights outside.
"I ran out the house straight away and started recording it.
“It wasn’t lasers, there were no beams, nothing like that. No trail of any beams.
“It was just there in the sky. It’s so strange. I’ve never seen anything like this, it looks like a spaceship.
“About four miles away there is a train station with workers but come on! It’s not even in that direction and there was no trace of where the lights had come from.
“I’ve sent it to my friends, but no one can say what it is. My partner thinks there might have been a party, but there was no music or anything.
“It lasted about 10 minutes and was moving slightly slowly to the right. Someone has to explain this to the public, there must be an explanation.
“I thought maybe a satellite, it was looking like a UFO, it is very unexplainable as to why it was there.
“All of a sudden, the lights just blinked out, they slowly flickered out. There was nothing to it, but there must be some explanation.
“The public want answers, it was strange to me and my kids. They don’t seem like the Northern lights either. There was just two of them.”
Network Rail has been contacted for comment, instances of similar lights were reported to be from a railway ballast tamping machine, which uses lasers.
https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/24765744.bolton-potential-ufo-sighting-sharples-mystifies-residents/
UFO Defends Israel on Video (Will this happen on December 3, 2024?)
Dec 1 2024
UFO / AUPs seen flying above Israel shooting down rockets.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VhGxs3_mX6g
Can anyone explain strange lights in the sky over san diego?
Dec 3, 2024
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ujI6oNaELB8
Futurist's Aliens Prediction for December 3 Takes Off Online
Dec 03, 2024 at 12:45 PM EST
futurist's internet program that predicted the start of a monthslong war between humans and aliens on December 3 has gone viral online.
Clif High, a computer scientist and linguist, spoke in a YouTube video about his model's prediction, known as the "39 days to melee," that said a battle between humans and aliens in the sky would occur 39 days after a trigger incited the incident.
What High calls the "temporal marker" was podcaster Joe Rogan's interview with President-elect Donald Trump on October 25.
High said: "So we're going to have these…some kind of weird confrontation visible contention which we could probably call and term combat in the skies that will show up and it'll show up at a predictable point, which is probably something over a month
—and we'll put down 30 days or 39 days something—over a month after the temporal marker of, um, Trump and Rogan. And that's just the beginning of all of this, right."
High's model predicts that "there will be 39 days between the temporal marker of Trump's interview and the appearance of this visible contention," which he said would eventually lead to melee.
In this instance, the "visible contention" would be with space aliens or "alien reproduction vehicles."
The descriptors his model tracked in 2009 indicated that the visible contention would be UFOs fighting other UFOs or UFOs fighting jets.
High predicted that on December 3, visible contention between humans and aliens would begin, eventually ending in melee after an unspecified period.
His prediction model, the Web Bot, is a computer program that allows individuals to predict future events by tracking keywords on the internet. It monitors internet chatter, including articles, blogs, forums, and more, according to the Telegraph.
High created the computer program in 1997 with his partner, George Ure, but said he developed his theory regarding a war between humans and aliens in 2009.
The prediction has since gone viral on YouTube and X, formerly Twitter, with many voicing their thoughts on his theory and anticipation of a war in the skies.
High's YouTube video detailing his prediction has 110,000 views, 4,600 likes, and more than 600 comments at the time of writing.
X user @tifftastic369 wrote about High's prediction and cautioned users about analyzing them in a post that has gained nearly 300,000 views.
"It's important to note that Clif High's predictions, derived from his Web Bot project, have been met with both interest and skepticism," she wrote.
"The Web Bot, developed in the late 1990s, analyzes internet chatter to forecast future events.
While some claim it has accurately predicted events like the 2003 Northeast blackout and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, others view its forecasts as pseudoscientific and too vague to be meaningful.
"As December 3, 2024, approaches, observers are keen to see if the predicted events align with Clif High's forecasts.
However, it's essential to approach such predictions with discernment, recognizing the speculative nature of these methodologies."
https://www.newsweek.com/futurist-aliens-prediction-december-3-war-1994853
The “drone” Wave continues. Now taking hold in the U.S
Dec 3, 2024
The “drone” Wave continues. Now taking hold in the U.S.
For the past few weeks, residents in a New Jersey county have been hearing the sounds of unwanted eyes in the skies.
The mystery behind who is sending up drones each night has attracted more than the attention of residents — as the FBI is now investigating.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzWnUFPb-aY
US Congresswoman Nancy Mace: "The Government is LYING About UFOs"
Dec 3, 2024
https://x.com/NancyMace/status/1863604033602404479
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS4S2X38i8c
https://youtu.be/if-o-Da-w5A?si=SCSr0iJZjo-8zRDa
Nancy Mace
@NancyMace
BREAKING: The Radical Left tried to gaslight you over COVID conspiracies - and it didn’t work.
Turns out many of the theories about COVID are true. Your government lied to you (again).
8:04 AM · Dec 3, 2024
https://x.com/NancyMace/status/1863977624998924424
https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/1863696329391620343