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Happy, happy Friday
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/hubble-space-telescope/hubble-telescope-snaps-stunning-portraits-of-mars-a-celestial-moth-and-more-in-spectacular-35th-anniversary-photos
https://esahubble.org/news/heic2505/?lang
https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Hubble_celebrates_35th_year_in_orbit
https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-celebrates-hubbles-35th-year-in-orbit/
Hubble celebrates 35th year in orbit (ESA)
23 April 2025
In celebration of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s 35 years in Earth orbit, an assortment of compelling images have been released today that were recently taken by Hubble.
This stretches from the planet Mars to dramatic images of stellar birth and death, to a magnificent neighbouring galaxy.
After over three decades of perusing the restless universe, Hubble remains a household word as the most well-recognized telescope in scientific history.
Astronomers knew that placing a telescope above Earth’s blurry atmosphere would allow for them to behold the Universe like never before.
Hubble’s view would be ten times sharper than conventional ground-based telescopes of the time. Its high sensitivity would uncover objects more than one-billionth the brightness of the faintest stars seen by the human eye.
Unfiltered by Earth's atmosphere, its broad wavelength coverage would stretch from ultraviolet to near-infrared light. Glorious celestial wonders would come into focus.
Moreover, Hubble would be an audacious leap forward in human imagination, engineering prowess, and boundless curiosity.
Before Hubble, no generation ever had access to unimaginably vibrant views of space, stretching almost all the way back to almost the beginning of time.
For most of history, the complexity and extent of the vast cosmos was left largely to human imagination. But Hubble entered the final sprint in the race to the edge of the visible Universe.
In the early 1920s, the telescope’s namesake, astronomer Edwin Hubble, started this marathon with the discovery of galaxies outside of our Milky Way.
Hubble today is at the peak of its scientific return thanks to the dedication, perseverance and skills of engineers, scientists and mission operators.
Astronaut shuttle crews gallantly chased and rendezvoused with Hubble on five servicing missions from 1993 to 2009.
The astronauts, including ESA astronauts on two of the servicing missions, upgraded Hubble's cameras, computers and other support systems.
By extending Hubble’s operational life the telescope has made nearly 1.7 million observations, looking at approximately 55,000 astronomical targets.
Hubble discoveries have resulted in over 22,000 papers and over 1.3 million citations as of February 2025. All the data collected by Hubble is archived and currently adds up to over 400 terabytes.
The demand for observing time remains very high with 6:1 oversubscriptions, making it one of the most in-demand observatories today.
Hubble’s long operational life has allowed astronomers to see astronomical changes spanning over three decades: seasonal variability on the planets in our solar system, black hole jets travelling at nearly the speed of light, stellar convulsions, asteroid collisions, expanding supernova bubbles, and much more.
A lasting legacy
Hubble’s legacy is the bridge between our past and future knowledge of a Universe that is unbelievably glorious, as well as rambunctious — with colliding galaxies, voracious black holes, and relentless stellar fireworks.
Hubble, more than any other telescope, sees the Universe through the eyes of Einstein: microlensing, time-dilation, the cosmological constant, matter disappearing into a black hole, a source of gravitational waves.
Before 1990, powerful optical telescopes on Earth could see only halfway across the cosmos. Estimates for the age of the Universe disagreed by a big margin.
Supermassive black holes were only suspected to be the powerhouses behind a rare zoo of energetic phenomena. Not a single planet had been seen around another star.
Among its long list of breakthroughs: Hubble’s deep fields unveiled myriad galaxies dating back to the early Universe; precisely measured the Universe’s expansion; found that supermassive black holes are common among galaxies; made the first measurement of the atmospheres of extrasolar planets; contributed to discovering dark energy, which is accelerating the Universe.
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After three decades, Hubble remains a household word as the most well-recognized and celebrated scientific instrument in all of human history.
Hubble’s discoveries and images have been nothing less than transformative for the public’s perception of the cosmos.
Unlike any other telescope before it, Hubble has made astronomy very relevant, engaging, and accessible for people of all ages.
Hubble became “the people’s telescope,” touching the minds as well as the emotions of hundreds of millions of humans around the globe.
A single Hubble snapshot can portray the Universe as awesome, mysterious, and beautiful—and at the same time chaotic, overwhelming, and foreboding.
These pictures have become iconic, seminal, and timeless. They viscerally communicate the value of science: the awe and drive to seek understanding of our place in the cosmos.
In commemoration NASA and ESA released images today of five astronomical targets that were selected for the celebration, ranging from planets to nebulae to galaxies.
The relentless pace of Hubble’s trailblazing discoveries kicked-started a new generation of space telescopes for the 21st century.
The powerful James Webb Space Telescope may not have been built without Hubble revealing an “undiscovered country” of far-flung, seemingly countless galaxies.
Hubble provided the first observational evidence that there was a lot for Webb to pursue in infrared wavelengths that reach even greater distances beyond Hubble’s gaze.
Now, Hubble and Webb are often being used in complement to study everything from exoplanets to galaxy dynamics.
35th anniversary images
An assortment of compelling images have been released today that were recently taken by Hubble:
Mars: These are a combination of Hubble Space Telescope images of Mars taken from December 28th to 30th, 2024. At the midpoint of the observations, Mars was approximately 98 million kilometres from Earth.
Thin water-ice clouds that are apparent in ultraviolet light give the Red Planet a frosty appearance. The icy northern polar cap was experiencing the start of Martian spring.
Planetary nebula NGC 2899: This object has a diagonal, bipolar, cylindrical outflow of gas. This is propelled by radiation and stellar winds from a nearly 22 000 degree Celsius white dwarf at the center.
In fact, there may be two companion stars that are interacting and sculpting the nebula, which is pinched in the middle by a fragmented ring or torus – looking like a half-eaten donut.
It has a forest of gaseous “pillars” that point back to the source of radiation and stellar winds. The colors are from glowing hydrogen and oxygen.
The nebula lies approximately 4,500 light-years away in the southern constellation Vela.
Rosette Nebula: This is a Hubble Space Telescope photo of a small portion of the Rosette Nebula, a huge star-forming region spanning 100 light-years across and located 5,200 light-years away.
Hubble zooms into a small portion of the nebula that is only 4 light-years across (the approximate distance between our Sun and the neighbouring Alpha Centauri star system.)
Dark clouds of hydrogen gas laced with dust are silhouetted across the image. The clouds are being eroded and shaped by the seething radiation from the cluster of larger stars in the center of the nebula (NGC 2440).
An embedded star seen at the tip of a dark cloud in the upper right portion of the image is launching jets of plasma that are crashing into the cold cloud around it.
The resulting shock wave is causing a red glow. The colors come from the presence of hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
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Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 5335: This object is categorized as a flocculent spiral galaxy with patchy streamers of star formation across its disk.
There is a striking lack of well-defined spiral arms that are commonly found among galaxies, including our Milky Way. A notable bar structure slices across the center of the galaxy.
The bar channels gas inwards toward the galactic center, fueling star formation. Such bars are dynamic in galaxies and may come and go over two-billion-year intervals.
They appear in about 30 percent of observed galaxies, including our Milky Way.
Hubble’s science and discoveries in recent years
Even at the impressive age of 35, there has been no slowdown in the research and new discoveries made using Hubble — if anything, the opposite.
Astronomers from Europe make intensive use of the telescope, with the share of observing time awarded to European-led programmes being consistently above the 15% guaranteed by ESA’s participation in the Hubble mission thanks to their many proposals with strong scientific merit.
This has led directly to discoveries including evidence for an intermediate-mass black hole in Omega Centauri, a precursor to the earliest supermassive black holes, a bizarre explosion of extraordinarily bright light originating far from any host galaxy, hydrogen burning in white dwarf stars, and the absence of Population III stars as far back in time as Hubble can see.
A particular highlight, and a demonstration of Hubble’s incredible capabilities, was the discovery in 2022 of Earendel.
The most distant single star ever seen, Earendel is viewed 12.9 billion years into the past when the Universe was under a billion years old.
Benefitting from Hubble’s long operational life, the OPAL programme celebrated a decade studying the Solar System’s outer planets.
Discoveries such as evidence for water vapour on Jupiter’s moons Europa and Ganymede, “spokes” in Saturn’s rings, the size of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, and the colours of Uranus and Neptune are just some that have resulted.
Smaller Solar System bodies got attention from Hubble as well — not least the asteroid Dimorphos, target of the DART asteroid redirection test.
Hubble took images of Dimorphos before and after the impact alongside Webb, later producing a movie of the debris and spotting ejected boulders.
A citizen science project also discovered thousands of asteroid trails in over two decades of archived Hubble snapshots.
Beyond the Solar System, Hubble proved its continued importance in the rapidly-growing field of research into exoplanets.
It studied weather patterns in an exoplanet’s atmosphere, saw a new atmosphere being formed around a rocky exoplanet similar to Earth, and found a small exoplanet with water vapour in its atmosphere.
Also completed in 2021 was a compilation of supernova host galaxies from 18 years of study, images that were used to measure the Hubble constant to its highest accuracy yet.
This year too brought the culmination of the largest ever photomosaic of the Andromeda Galaxy, created from ten years of Hubble observations of our near neighbour.
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UAE study on diabetes heads to space to unlock new treatments
Updated: April 25, 2025, 5:13 AM
A UAE-led medical study heading to space could help astronauts with insulin-dependent diabetes join future missions and lead to new technologies that make treating the condition easier and more effective on Earth.
The research by Abu Dhabi's Burjeel Hospital and Houston-based Axiom Space will be carried out as part of the Axiom Mission 4, also known as Ax-4.
It will be launched on a SpaceX rocket from a Florida spaceport, with a target launch date currently set for May 29.
Ax-4 will include veteran Nasa astronaut Peggy Whitson, Shubhanshu Shukla, India’s first astronaut since 1984, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary.
Dr Mohammad Fityan, chief medical officer at Burjeel Medical City and clinical lead of the research, told The National that it is difficult to isolate the effects of gravity, muscle use and posture on glucose regulation, but Earth’s orbit offers a unique advantage.
“In microgravity, changes in muscle mass, fluid distribution and circadian rhythm provide a new lens, through which we can study how glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity are regulated,” he said.
“This can lead to insights that are not apparent under Earth conditions such as how quickly insulin resistance may develop without regular mechanical loading of muscles, or how hormonal and cellular responses adapt in the absence of gravity.”
What are the tests?
The astronauts will wear continuous glucose monitors, commonly used by people on Earth, during their 14-day mission to track their blood sugar levels in real time while in microgravity.
They will follow a detailed schedule of tests before, during and after the mission to help researchers understand how well these monitors perform in orbit.
It will also test to see how insulin behaves in space by studying the drug’s exposure to microgravity and checking its strength and stability once it returns to Earth.
“These findings may help us uncover novel regulatory pathways or early biomarkers for insulin resistance, potentially leading to preventive interventions long before diabetes manifests,” said Dr Fityan.
The research aims to make space more accessible for people suffering from the disease.
Nasa currently does not consider patients with Type-1 diabetes eligible for spaceflight because of unpredictable blood sugar fluctuations and the challenges of administering insulin without immediate medical support.
The study also builds on a breakthrough from Virgin’s Galactic 07 mission in June, which proved that insulin pens can work properly in microgravity.
What can be achieved?
Dr Fityan said the research could also lead to new technologies such as advanced glucose monitors designed for extreme environments, as well as artificial intelligence tools that can predict insulin needs with greater accuracy.
It may also help develop medications that improve insulin sensitivity or mimic the effects of exercise, offering better treatment options for people with limited mobility.
Figures from the International Diabetes Federation show that about 783 million people, or one in eight adults, will be living with diabetes by 2045, marking a 46 per cent increase.
In the North America and Caribbean region, the number is expected to rise by 24 per cent, while in the Middle East and North African region, it is projected to increase by 87 per cent.
“The technologies and advances that could result from this project could also improve our ability to provide remote care for patients with diabetes and other health conditions on Earth,” said Dr Mike Harrison, chief medical officer at Axiom Space.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/future/space/2025/04/25/diabetes-space-treatment/
https://www.space.com/the-universe/exoplanets/scientists-discover-super-earth-exoplanets-are-more-common-in-the-universe-than-we-thought
https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/astronomers-find-far-flung-super-earths-are-not-farfetched
Scientists discover super-Earth exoplanets are more common in the universe than we thought
April 24, 2025
Astronomers have discovered that "super-Earth" planets may exist on wider orbits than previously thought — and this implies these rocky, or "terrestrial," worlds are far more common than was suspected.
Super-Earths, in short, are planets with masses up to 10 times that of our planet, but still less than the masses of gas giant planets.
The discovery came after a small extrasolar planet, or "exoplanet," in a wide orbit around its star was discovered, courtesy of a gravitational "microlensing" event designated OGLE-2016-BLG-0007.
This event indicated the exoplanet had a planet-to-star mass ratio that roughly doubles the Earth-sun mass ratio.
"We found a small planet in an orbit similar to Saturn's.
This planet is part of a larger sample that shows super-Earth planets between the orbits of Earth and Saturn are abundant," team member Jennifer Yee of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian told Space.com.
"The abundance of super-Earths was a surprise."
Yee explained that scientists previously knew from data delivered by the Kepler space telescope mission that super-Earths are common around other stars, but only within a distance from their respective stars equivalent to the distance between Earth and the sun.
That expected distance is represented by one astronomical unit (au).
This new work, however, shows that super-Earths are also common at larger distances from their host stars, in this case around 10 au (or 10 times the distance between our planet and the sun).
"Previously, there were only upper limits on the numbers of super-Earths [in wide orbits], and there was a suggestion that they might not exist at all," Yee continued.
Habitable zones and planet formation
When factoring in this super-Earth data, the team calculated that there should be around 0.35 super-Earth planets per star on wide Jupiter-like orbits.
Yee explained that the overall distribution of planetary mass ratios could reflect the specifics of planet formation processes.
"Specifically, the distribution suggests that the planets can be separated into two populations, one of super-Earths and Neptunes and one of more massive gas giant planets," Yee added.
The team suspects this division in populations reflects the differences in formation processes between terrestrial planets and massive gas giant worlds.
Discovering a larger population of super-Earths in Jupiter-like and Saturn-like orbits could also have implications for our understanding of so-called "habitable zones" around other stars.
Habitable zones are defined as regions around stars that are temperate enough to allow liquid water to exist at the surfaces of terrestrial planets within the area.
Any closer to a star than its habitable zone band, and a planet's liquid water evaporates. Further away, it freezes.
This is why habitable zones are also called "Goldilocks zones" (like the perfect bear's porridge, liquid water is neither too hot nor too cold in these zones).
Though Jupiter and Saturn are outside the solar system's habitable zone, super-Earths in similar orbits around hotter stars could fit within such regions — if they are extended.
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"The habitable zone region where we expect to find life in other planetary systems is extremely narrow.
Our expectations regarding this zone have been driven by our own planet because that is the only place where we have definitively detected life, so far," Yee said. "Nature continuously surprises us."
Yee added that the best way to understand the habitable zone region around stars in general is to measure the properties of the larger planet population."This gives more room for the unexpected," Yee said.
"This measurement of the super-Earth population provides a new piece of the habitable zone picture, which will ultimately contribute to our characterization of the population of Earth-like planets."
Planet hunting with Einstein
Yee and colleagues made this discovery using the Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), consisting of three sites in Chile, South Africa and Australia.
The three telescopes in three different time zones mean KMTNet can allow astronomers to monitor the night sky uninterrupted over the southern hemisphere.
"This discovery of this planet wasn't a surprise because KMTNet was designed to do this, but it is extremely exciting because it proves KMTNet is capable of routinely finding smaller planets, which is a requirement for understanding planet populations," Yee explained.
KMTNet hunts exoplanets using a phenomenon first predicted by Albert Einstein in his 1915 theory of gravity, general relativity.
General relativity suggests objects with mass cause the fabric of space and time to "warp," with gravity arising from this curvature. When light passes by this curvature, its light gets curved, too.
That means when a body of mass comes between Earth and a background light source, the image of that source is warped, magnified, or even multiplied upon reaching our instruments.
A planetary system acting as a gravitational lens and coming between Earth and a background source can cause a tiny distortion in that source, a situation called "microlensing."
"It is a funny coincidence of physics," Yee said. "Microlensing is good at finding planets near the Einstein radius [the characteristic angle for gravitational lensing]."
This radius is set by the mass of the lensing planetary system, including its star, the distance from Earth to that lens system, and the distance from Earth to the background source whose light is distorted.
"In fact, it was the realization of this coincidence in the early 1990s that led to the first microlensing planet searches," Yee added.
The team will now continue to use KMTNet and gravitational lensing to hunt for lensing planetary systems in an attempt to discover more super-Earths in wide orbits.
"We are working on increasing the size of the planet sample by including more seasons of KMTNet data in the analysis," Yee concluded.
"We are also working on improving the quality of the data reductions to allow us to find weaker planetary signals."
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https://spacenews.com/isaacman-calls-potential-nasa-science-cuts-not-optimal/
Isaacman calls potential NASA science cuts not “optimal”
April 25, 2025
BOSTON — NASA administrator nominee Jared Isaacman says he would, if necessary, prioritize the Artemis lunar exploration campaign over human missions to Mars and calls a potential halving of NASA science funding not “an optimal outcome.”
The Senate Commerce Committee published April 24 responses by Isaacman to questions for the record from Republican and Democratic members of the committee following his April 9 confirmation hearing.
The committee is scheduled to vote on reporting Isaacman’s nomination to the full Senate April 30.
One theme in the questions, primarily from Democratic members of the committee, involved reports just after the hearing that the White House is proposing to cut funding to NASA’s science programs by nearly 50% in its fiscal year 2026 budget request. That would include canceling several missions in development, such as the Roman Space Telescope and Mars Sample Return, and likely terminating many ongoing missions in extended operations.
Isaacman said in responses to several questions that he was not involved with the development of the 2026 budget proposal and not aware of its details.
“I have not reviewed or been party to any official discussions, but a ~50% reduction to NASA’s science budget does not appear to be an optimal outcome,” he said in response to a question from the committee’s ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), if he supported such a cut.
“If confirmed, I will advocate for strong investment in space science—across astrophysics, planetary science, Earth science, lunar science, and heliophysics—and for securing as much funding as the government can reasonably allocate,” he wrote, answering another question on science funding from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
That includes appearing to break with the White House on the future of the Roman Space Telescope.
“To my knowledge, the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is nearing completion and remains on schedule and within budget—something that is unfortunately rare for flagship programs at the agency,” he said in response to another question from Schatz.
“I’m not aware of any reason why it should be canceled, and I would support its completion and successful deployment.”
Asked by the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), if the Mars Sample Return program should be “outsourced to industry,” citing a proposal to do so from Rocket Lab, Isaacman offered a one-word response: “Yes.”
Getting Artemis “back on track”
A second theme of the questions involved NASA’s Artemis effort and suggestions by Isaacman at the hearing that a human return to the moon could be done in parallel with plans for human missions to Mars.
“We could be paralleling these efforts and doing the near-impossible,” he said at the hearing.
Asked by Cantwell which he would choose if there was funding for only the moon or Mars, he picked the moon.
“Given existing law, I would prioritize the Artemis program,” he wrote, but continued to argue that doing the moon and Mars in parallel was feasible, without going into detail on how it could be done.
“Historically, NASA managed multiple complex programs simultaneously—Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo—in an era with far less technological capability than we possess today,” he said, not noting the differences in budgets between NASA at the peak of the Apollo program in the mid-1960s and today.
“More than six decades later, with the advances in industry and innovation, I believe the world’s premier space agency should be capable of executing multiple major initiatives at a time.”
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He reiterated his support for the Space Launch System and Orion as the fastest way to return to the moon, while supporting for a shift to commercial systems once that is done.
“Once those obligations have been met,” he said of returning humans to the moon, “I believe NASA should transition away from competing with the commercial sector and instead focus its world-class talent and infrastructure on developing the next generation of exploration technologies—including nuclear spaceships—as a logical next step.”
“If confirmed, I will focus on getting Artemis back on track,” he wrote in an answer to a question from Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) about Artemis.
“That means working alongside NASA leadership, commercial partners, and program managers to address the root causes of delays— bureaucracy, program misalignment, and lack of accountability—and restoring a mission-first culture across the agency.”
Cruz, in one question, expressed concern “about suggestions that the United States abandon the statutory requirement for NASA to maintain a material presence on or near the Moon.”
He asked Isaacman he supported the “sustained human presence” specified by a NASA authorization act in 2010.
“I’m committed to following the law—and as a lifelong space enthusiast, I would like nothing more than to see lunar operations become continuous, enduring, and routine,” Isaacman wrote in response, but called for “flexible policies” to enable that.
Musk ties
A third theme of the questions involved ties between Isaacman and Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX who has also been a close adviser to President Trump.
Isaacman said in response to numerous questions he is not close to Musk and does not talk with him often. “I do not have a close personal relationship with Mr. Musk.
While I’ve spoken with him occasionally over the years in my capacity as a SpaceX customer, I would describe our interactions as professional,” he said in response to a question from Cantwell.
“I admire and respect his contributions to space and technology, but it would be inaccurate to characterize our relationship as close.”
He called “1000% false” a report by the Wall Street Journal in March that claimed that Musk contacted Isaacman late last year to see if he was interested in being NASA administrator, stating that he was contacted by the co-chair of the transition team, Howard Lutnick, about the job.
He also denied that he spoke frequently with Michael Altenhofen, a SpaceX official who now serves as a senior adviser at NASA.
Isaacman said he has not spoken with Musk after the election last November on NASA issues.
However, in a reprise of an exchange with Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) at the confirmation hearing, Isaacman repeated declined to directly answer if Musk was present when then President-elect Trump offered him the nomination.
“My interview was with the President of the United States,” he wrote in response to three questions from Markey about the meeting. “The person asking me questions—and ultimately offering me the opportunity—was the President himself.”
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USSF Space Systems Command leadership champion agile, mission-focused acquisition at 40th Space Symposium
April 25, 2025
USSF Lt. Gen. Philip A. Garrant and participating members of Space Systems Command’s (SSC) leadership team addressed space acquisition reform head-on at the 40th annual Space Symposium, emphasizing the critical need for accelerated space acquisition to ensure Joint Force lethality in an increasingly contested and threatened space domain.
“Lethality in the modern battlespace isn’t just about firepower — it’s about delivering advantage at speed,” Garrant stated. “Acquirers are at the heart of delivering our Joint Force the capabilities necessary to be lethal warfighters for our Nation.”
Alongside Lt. Gen. Garrant, leaders and experts from SSC supported that message through conference presentations, panels, booth interactions, and media interviews.
Their briefings centered on the message that space capabilities are foundational to enabling the Joint Force to maneuver rapidly, respond in real-time, and stay ahead of adversaries.
Programs such as the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3, Orbital Watch, Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve (CASR), Tactical Surveillance, Reconnaissance, and Tracking (TacSRT), and Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) were highlighted as key examples of how SSC is driving innovation and integration across space and ground systems.
“When we say, ‘Space Starts Here,’ we mean it,” Garrant said. “We protect and defend war-winning capabilities, working across portfolios to outpace threats. We drive the pace and set the tone for how advantages in space enable the Joint Force.”
Col. Jon Strizzi from SSC’s Space Systems Integration Office reinforced this sentiment during the Fireside Chat: AI-Powered Defense — Balancing Technology and Trust.
Strizzi discussed how SSC is leading efforts to develop and integrate AI capabilities, prepare the workforce for AI adoption, build trust in autonomous systems, and collaborate with industry and allies to accelerate innovation.
SSC leadership also highlighted the growing need for agile acquisition strategies that can keep pace with evolving threats, emphasizing cross-domain collaboration and strong partnerships with allied nations.
In today’s space environment, the warfighter does not have the luxury of time—acquisition strategies must evolve with the same speed and agility as the threats they are designed to counter.
Mission success is significantly enhanced through robust collaboration, not only with industry partners but also with international allies who are committed to addressing shared challenges in the space domain.
Maj. Dale Hartley, Enhanced Polar Systems-Recapitalization Branch Lead at SSC, along with the Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission (ASBM) team, echoed this message at the Space Generation Fusion Forum.
Joined by partners from Northrop Grumman, Space Norway, and Viasat, the team discussed how they worked together to deploy the first-ever operational U.S. Department of Defense payloads hosted on an allied satellite.
Throughout the conference, SSC experts and innovators connected with countless attendees, journalists, industry partners, potential recruits, STEM students, and even Olympians and Paralympians at a Space Unified event that embodied the values of excellence, determination, and inspiration — a wholesome reminder that unity fuels progress, and space is ultimately a team sport.
“Our message at the Space Symposium was clear: space is a warfighting domain, and we must continue to deliver capabilities at speed, enhance lethality, and ensure the Joint Force has the space-enabled tools required to win and protect American interests in space,” said Lt. Col. Trisha Guillebeau, SSC director of Public Affairs.
“With a reimagined structure and a forward-leaning “exploit, buy, build” mindset, SSC is delivering innovation and agility at the speed of relevance. Space is ever-evolving — and so are we.”
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article-Display/Article/4165837/ussf-space-systems-command-leadership-champion-agile-mission-focused-acquisitio
USSF advances weather monitoring with Operational Acceptance and Initial Operational Capability of the WSF-M satellite
April 24, 2025
EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. – Space Systems Command’s Weather System Follow-on – Microwave (WSF-M) satellite was formally accepted and declared Initial Operational Capability (IOC) by Space Operations Command (SpOC) today.
SSC launched WSF-M (Space Vehicle -1) last year and since then, the satellite has gone through numerous operational testing to validate data quality, ground support and mission data processing capability by USSF centralized weather support units, various military services, government and allied organizations.
With the recent completion of its operational trial period, the satellite has completed all requirements for the Operational Acceptance and SpOC has declared IOC for the satellite.
The data gathered by WSF-M will be provided to meteorologists in support of the generation of a wide variety of weather products necessary to conduct military mission planning and operations.
“WSF-M pinpoints actionable weather data on a global scale 24/7, empowering our joint forces to plan strategically and respond swiftly, no matter the environmental conditions,” said Col. Robert Davis, program executive officer, SSC Space Sensing.
WSF-M is part of the USSF’s pivot to hybrid architectures for weather monitoring capabilities designed to ensure that warfighters continue to retain the critical informational advantage provided by accurate and timely weather data.
“The operational acceptance of the WSF-M satellite is a pivotal milestone in the Space Force’s focus on transitioning towards a more affordable, scalable, and resilient weather satellite constellation,” noted Davis.
SSC’s Environmental and Tactical Surveillance Acquisition Delta leads the development of space-based environmental monitoring capabilities for the Department of Defense, augmenting key capabilities of the legacy Defense Meteorological Satellite Program.
“The performance of the first WSF-M satellite during on-orbit evaluations exceeded our expectations," said Col. Daniel Visosky, SSC senior materiel leader.
"The calibration campaign was exceptionally smooth, allowing us to declare operational acceptance even faster than we expected."
WSF-M fulfills three high-priority Department of Defense (DoD) SBEM capabilities by measuring ocean surface vector winds, tropical cyclone intensity, and energetic charged particle characterization in low Earth orbit.
Additionally, WSF-M will provide data on sea ice characterization, soil moisture, and snow depth.
“Our nation depends on the ML-1A [WSF-M's official nomenclature] and the dedication of our military and civilian Guardians and Airmen who support this vital mission.
They help ensure the United States Space Force does our part to achieve joint and national security objectives,” said Col. Raj Agrawal, commander of SpOC’s Mission Delta 2, the Space Force’s Mission Area Command for Space Domain Awareness.
“The space professionals across Mission Delta 2 are proud to continue the tradition of generating combat power, which operates Space Domain Awareness systems including the DoD’s environmental monitoring satellites, with the first next-generation ML-1A satellite supporting warfighters across the globe.
Many thanks to our SSC teammates and industry partners for enabling this smooth transition to operations.”
WSF-M launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 11, 2024.
Upon separation from the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, WSF-M reached its intended orbit and satellite operations personnel began checkout activities of its light shade, solar arrays, and antennas.
Following these activities, the team tuned and calibrated the payload sensors and readied them for warfighter use.
https://www.ssc.spaceforce.mil/Newsroom/Article/4165711/ussf-advances-weather-monitoring-with-operational-acceptance-and-initial-operat
FAA gives green light to DEXA’s drone delivery plans
Apr 25 2025 - 6:12 am PT
Drone Express, now operating as DEXA, has reached two major milestones in its mission to bring fast, autonomous drone deliveries to your doorstep.
The Ohio-based company has received FAA Part 135 Air Carrier Certification, allowing it to fly drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) for commercial deliveries across the US.
It also earned a spot on the Department of Transportation’s S-1 List — an exclusive list of drones approved for safe, national operations.
With these approvals, DEXA joins a very small group of companies — including Amazon Prime Air, Google’s Wing, and Zipline — that are officially cleared to scale up drone delivery services nationwide.
“This is a momentous achievement,” says Beth Flippo, CEO of DEXA. “For a small company like ours to reach this level is a testament to our team’s hard work and innovation.”
The DE-2020 drone, a six-rotor aircraft built entirely in the US, passed strict airworthiness standards to qualify for the S-1 List. With this recognition, DEXA doesn’t need to rely on third-party aircraft and can operate using its own certified tech.
With the green light from the FAA, DEXA is ready to ramp up operations through its DEXA NOW app, which promises 15-minute delivery of everyday essentials, groceries, and convenience items.
The company says its drone deliveries not only cut down delivery times but also help reduce carbon emissions and road traffic. “This puts us on a clear path to make drone delivery an everyday convenience,” Flippo says.
Founded in 2021, DEXA is aiming to change how goods move from store to doorstep — one fast, eco-friendly drone flight at a time.
https://dronedj.com/2025/04/25/dexa-drone-delivery-app-us/
Ukraine confirms its own POWs were on plane it blasted out of sky
25 Apr, 2025 11:56
A senior official in Kiev has confirmed that Ukrainian prisoners of war were among those killed when a Russian Il-76 military transport plane was downed in the border Belgorod Region in January 2024.
The 65 service members were to be included in one of the routine prisoner exchanges between the two countries.
The acknowledgement was made by Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Timchenko, who in an interview with the Ukrainian outlet Censor.net on Thursday discussed in detail the process of handling and identifying the remains of Ukrainian soldiers, as well as their return by Russia.
“Let me explain by drawing an example: when we receive a package and see that there are body parts in it, we understand that we are talking about the remains of more than one body,” he said.
“Remember the situation with the downed IL-76, which had about 60 prisoners of war on board?
Over 500 [body parts] were returned from that plane,” Timchenko noted, adding that the investigators’ job in this case is to collect and identify DNA from each piece.
The crash occurred on January 24, 2024, near the village of Yablonovo in Russia’s Belgorod Region, killing all 74 people on board.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the aircraft was transporting 65 Ukrainian POWs, meant for an imminent exchange, along with six crew members and three Russian guards. R
ussian President Vladimir Putin at the time said that he “doesn’t know” and “does not understand” why Ukraine took down the plane, later suggesting that it was an accident.
Ukraine initially did not deny responsibility for the incident and also confirmed that an exchange was impending, but said it had no information about who was on the plane.
It also argued that the attack was legitimate since it was a military transport plane. Ukrainian media also claimed at the time that the Il-76 was transporting air defense missiles.
Months later, Ukrainian officials began receiving human remains of those who died in the crash and concluded that their DNA profiles mostly matched those of the captives’ relatives.
In February 2024, a New York Times report cited US officials as saying that the plane was likely shot down by a Patriot missile system operated by Ukrainian forces, in line with the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement that it had detected two Ukrainian missile launches shortly before the crash.
https://www.rt.com/russia/616283-ukraine-confirms-pows-downed-russian-plane/
Russia ‘ready for a deal’ with US on Ukraine – Lavrov
25 Apr, 2025 04:20
Moscow and Washington are “moving in the right direction” toward finalizing an agreement to end the Ukraine conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday.
US President Donald Trump has reportedly increased pressure on Kiev in recent weeks to accept Washington’s “final offer” for resolving the conflict, though the exact details of the proposal remain undisclosed.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin again on Friday.
“Well, the president of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction,” Lavrov told Face the Nation.
“The statement by the president mentions a deal, and we are ready to reach a deal.
But there are still some specific points, elements of this deal which need to be fine-tuned, and we are busy with this exact process.”
While Lavrov reaffirmed Moscow’s openness to an agreement, he declined to elaborate on the contents of the proposed deal, citing confidentiality.
“The president of the United States did not spell out the elements of the deal, so it is not appropriate for me to do this,” he added.
Trump has openly accused Vladimir Zelensky of “harming” the negotiations – and warned that he could lose the entirety of his country – after the Ukrainian leader stated that Kiev would never even discuss formally recognizing Crimea as Russian territory.
The White House also accused Zelensky of engaging in megaphone diplomacy, after he publicly rejected what is believed to be one of the key points in the proposed US peace framework.
Moscow has long maintained its willingness to negotiate, although Russian officials have stressed that any viable peace agreement must include formal recognition of territorial realities on the ground and address core security concerns – including Ukrainian neutrality and a prohibition on NATO forces and infrastructure on its territory.
Lavrov said Trump is “probably the only leader on Earth who recognized the need to address the root causes of this situation,” calling it one of the “signs that we are moving in the right direction.”
Both Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have indicated that the US may reconsider its role as a mediator and shift focus to other global “priorities” if progress is not made soon.
According to Bild, this has reportedly prompted Kiev to prepare for a “worst-case scenario” in which the US cuts off all support.
https://www.rt.com/russia/616255-us-russia-ukraine-deal-lavrov/
Trump envoy arrives for talks with Putin – Kremlin
25 Apr, 2025 11:25
Russian President Vladimir Putin is meeting with US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, at the Kremlin, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed.
The visit, part of a broader diplomatic push by Washington, is intended to move forward a proposed peace plan to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
Witkoff has already traveled to Russia three times in recent months, meeting with top Russian officials including Putin.
The ongoing talks reflect a deepening effort by both countries to end the hostilities through negotiation.
The agreement proposed by Washington reportedly includes US recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, as well as “freezing” the conflict along the current front line and acknowledging Moscow’s control over large parts of four former Ukrainian regions which have voted to Russia.
The deal would also reportedly prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and initiate a phased removal of sanctions imposed on Russia.
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky rejected the plan on Tuesday, dismissing any recognition of Crimea’s status as Russian territory.
In response, Trump warned on Wednesday that by refusing to cooperate, Zelensky risks the complete collapse of his state.
Witkoff and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not attend a meeting on Ukraine held in London this week. The move came shortly after Zelensky’s public dismissal of key elements in the US proposal.
The UK Foreign Office confirmed to AFP that the meeting of foreign ministers from countries supporting Kiev had been postponed indefinitely. However, they noted that technical-level discussions would continue.
https://www.rt.com/russia/616263-trump-envoy-arrives-for-talks-with-putin/
Putin-Witkoff talks ‘constructive’ – Russian presidential aide
25 Apr, 2025 15:12
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Moscow on Friday for discussions on the Ukraine conflict and other issues.
The talks have proven to be “constructive” and brought the US and Russian positions “closer,” Yury Ushakov, an adviser to the Russian leader on international affairs, has said.
The discussion, which lasted for around three hours, was “very useful,” and brought “the positions of Russia and the US closer not only on Ukraine, but also on a number of other international issues,” Ushakov told reporters.
In particular, Putin and Witkoff discussed the “possibility of resuming direct negotiations between representatives of Russia and Ukraine,” Ushakov said, without providing further details.
In recent months, Witkoff has held multiple rounds of talks with senior Russian officials, including at least three meetings with Putin.
He is seen as one of the key figures behind the rapprochement between Moscow and Washington during Trump’s second presidency.
The US president has repeatedly pledged to resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict, calling it one of his top priorities.
Moscow has consistently expressed willingness to engage in negotiations, conveying its gratitude for Trump’s peace initiatives.
However, the Russian leadership has repeatedly stressed that it seeks a lasting solution to the crisis, saying a temporary halt in the hostilities would simply allow Ukraine’s Western backers to rearm its military.
Any peace deal must acknowledge the territorial reality and address the root causes of the conflict, including Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, Russia has insisted.
https://www.rt.com/russia/616310-putin-witkoff-talks-ushakov/
Spy for Ukraine from EU state detained in Russia
25 Apr, 2025 11:50
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained a Romanian citizen in the southern city of Sochi on suspicion of gathering intelligence for the Ukrainian special services on the deployment of Russian air defense systems.
According to an FSB statement on Friday, a Romanian national in his early 20s is accused of gathering and transmitting classified information during summer 2024 at the request of Ukrainian intelligence agencies.
In exchange for his cooperation, the suspect was reportedly promised safe passage out of Russia and the opportunity to enlist in the Ukrainian Army to take part in military operations against Russia.
The FSB has not disclosed how the suspect obtained the classified data or the channels used to communicate with Ukrainian intelligence.
The detained citizen has confessed to transmitting information about a Russian air defense unit to Kiev, the agency said.
“I saw an air defense crew while traveling from Sochi to Adler – it was on the right side of the road. I remembered the intersection where I spotted it and later located it on a map.
I sent that information to him [a senior intelligence officer in Ukraine named Vladimir],” the suspect said during questioning.
The FSB’s investigative department for Krasnodar Region has opened a criminal case, and an investigation is currently underway. If convicted, the suspect faces up to 20 years in prison.
The incident follows a spate of foiled attacks attributed to Ukrainian intelligence.
Earlier this week, the FSB thwarted a planned drone strike targeting a petrochemical facility in Nizhny Novgorod Region.
The suspects, according to the authorities, were affiliated with an international terrorist organization outlawed in Russia.
They were said to be acting under the instructions of a Ukrainian handler.
Last week, Russian law enforcement arrested a Belarusian national living in Russia on suspicion of plotting an attack on a military-linked facility in Novorossiysk, a strategic port city that hosts a major Russian naval base.
The suspect, reportedly in his mid-20s, confessed to working as an agent for Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), allegedly motivated by financial gain.
https://www.rt.com/russia/616272-fsb-romanian-spy-arrest/
In Crimea, drones attack airfields in Novofedorivka and Kacha – social media
25.04.2025 10:47
On the night of April 25, drones attacked airfields in Novofedorivka and Kacha in temporarily occupied Crimea.
That’s according to the Crimean Wind Telegram channel, Ukrinform reports.
“Last night, UAVs targeted Russian airfields in Novofedorivka and Kacha, as reported by our subscribers,” the post reads.
The attack lasted approximately five hours.
Explosions were also reported in Armiansk and Krasnoperekopsk, though the consequences of the strikes remain unclear.
As reported by Ukrinform, on the evening of April 23, explosions were heard in Crimea, with reports suggesting that an airfield may have been targeted.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3985896-in-crimea-drones-attack-airfields-in-novofedorivka-and-kacha-social-media.html
https://t.me/Crimeanwind/78450
8 wounded in drone strike on Lebanon Syrian border
25 April, 2025
Lebanese official media said eight people were wounded by in a drone attack in a border village, as Syria said it responded to artillery fire from Lebanon.
Eight Syrian refugees were wounded and taken to hospital in the northeast area of Hermel after an "explosives-laden drone blew up" in the border village of Hawsh al-Sayyed Ali, Lebanon's National News Agency said.
The Lebanese army sent reinforcements "after gunfire was heard", the report added.
Syrian state news agency SANA, carrying a statement from an unnamed defence ministry source, said Lebanon's Hezbollah group had launched artillery shells at Syrian army positions in the Qusayr area of Homs province, near the Lebanese border.
"Our forces immediately targeted the sources of the fire," the statement said.
"We are in contact with the Lebanese army to evaluate the incident and stopped targeting the sources of fire" at the Lebanese army's request, the statement added.
Lebanon and Syria's defence ministers signed an agreement last month to address border security threats after clashes left 10 dead.
Earlier in March, Syria's new authorities accused Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers into Lebanese territory and killing them.
The Iran-backed group, which fought with the forces of toppled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, denied involvement, but the ensuing cross-border clashes left seven Lebanese dead.
Lebanon and Syria share a porous 330 kilometre (205 mile) frontier that is notorious for the smuggling of goods, people and weapons.
https://www.newarab.com/news/8-wounded-drone-strike-lebanon-syrian-border
Sudan army builds tunnels to shield drones, strategic weapons – sources
April 24, 2025
The Sudanese army is building tunnels inside several military bases to protect strategic weapons and drones, sources told Sudan Tribune on Thursday.
Armed drones have helped the Sudanese army shift the momentum in its conflict with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), halting the RSF’s advance and enabling the recapture of the capital and other cities, the sources added.
Sudan has reportedly obtained drones from several countries, including Iran and Russia.
In an October 2024 interview with Sudan Tribune, former U.S. envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, expressed concern over continued contacts between Iran and Russia and the warring parties.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army recently received advanced air defence systems, monitoring equipment and radars specifically “to counter RSF drones”.
Separately, advanced drones, suspected by experts to be Chinese-made, have recently attacked targets in multiple Sudanese cities, causing significant infrastructure damage.
The Sudanese army lacked advanced air defence capabilities before the current conflict but received shipments from an unspecified “friendly country” after the war began, the sources confirmed.
Flight tracking data reviewed by aviation analysts showed multiple cargo flights landing at Port Sudan airport between December 2023 and March 2024.
This included six flights by a Boeing 747-200 cargo plane operated by Iran’s Qeshm Fars Air in December 2023 and January 2024, linking Tehran to the army-controlled eastern city.
The newly built tunnels are intended to protect the army’s strategic weapons for decades, the sources said.
Beyond protection, the tunnels facilitate systematic weapons storage and enhance security, addressing vulnerabilities exposed when the army lost numerous depots after war erupted on April 15, 2023, the sources indicated.
Early in the conflict, the RSF captured several army depots and facilities, including the large Yarmouk military-industrial complex in Khartoum.
In recent months, the Sudanese Air Force has used newly acquired drones for intense attacks on RSF positions, including strikes targeting the state broadcaster’s headquarters in Omdurman and hitting RSF forces in Sinnar, Khartoum, and Gezira state.
Military analysts express concern that the widespread use of drones by both sides risks prolonging the conflict and potentially spreading it to new areas of the country.
https://sudantribune.com/article300094/
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna
@RepLuna
🚨BREAKING: @USNatArchives has launched a centralized hub for all UAP records.
This initiative, mandated by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, aims to collect and make publicly accessible all govt records related to UAPs.
Explore here👇🏼
https://www.archives.gov/research/topics/uaps
4:04 PM · Apr 24, 2025
https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1915542319001915503
https://x.com/RepLuna/status/1913301415973224771
The National Archives needs your help transcribing UFO and JFK files
Apr 25, 2025 8:00 AM EDT
I just spent an hour reading and typing out the journal of a man who claimed to see a UFO over Kentucky back in 1969. He clarified, many times, that he hadn’t had anything to drink that day. All in a day’s work for a citizen archivist.
You can dive in too, if you want—the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) Records are one of the many Citizen Archivist Missions anyone with a keyboard, some free time and the inclination to contribute can help out with.
Other notable projects include the JFK Assassination Records and Consular Records dating between 1872 and 1917. It’s a potentially fascinating—and certainly helpful—way to kill a few hours.
We’ve talked about citizen science projects you can do at home and how you can help out The National Archive by reading cursive. It turns out the National Archive has a bunch of what it calls Citizen Archivist Missions going right now.
To get started all you need is a Login.gov account (if you’re American there’s a good chance you already have one). After that it’s recommended that you watch this YouTube video to get a feel for the process before diving in.
You can choose a mission, then choose a document you want to work on. After that you’ll see a list of documents—choose whatever looks interesting or just click something.
You will see the first page of the document and a panel to the right with other pages.
At the top of the page you can see if there is a transcription for the page already—the word “Available” means someone has already made a transcription and the word “Not Started” means that no one has yet.
You are free to look at, and even edit, existing transcriptions. The real fun, though, is transcribing fresh pages. To find one, click “Show Details” in the top-right corner, then click the “List” view, then scroll until you see something listed as “Not Started”.
You will jump to the page, which is hopefully as interesting as the one I found. Click the “Transcription” button to open the transcription panel, where you can start typing.
The Archives asks that you try to re-create the text as it exists—that means re-creating typos exactly as they are seen on the page, as much as this may hurt to do.
If a word is hyphenated at the end of a line, however, you should drop the hyphen and type the full word so that it’s searchable. You can read more guidelines here.
I’m going to be honest: I created my account, and started transcribing, mostly because I was assigned to write about this for Popular Science, but I think I might be hooked now.
There was so much humanity and weirdness in the first document I worked on and I can’t help but wonder what other tidbits I might pick up.
If this sounds at all interesting to you, I highly recommend creating an account, helping out, and seeing what kinds of interesting things you might find.
https://www.popsci.com/diy/national-archives-transcribe-ufo-jfk-files/
https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist/get-started-transcribing
Las Vegas hosted the world’s largest UFO database — until it vanished
Updated: Apr 24, 2025 / 06:28 PM PDT
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — In a hidden Las Vegas facility, the world’s largest UFO data warehouse was compiled by a secret government program — at least until the Pentagon pulled the plug.
But what secrets did researchers discover beforehand, and why is the truth still shrouded in mystery?
In 1977’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” fictional French scientist Claude Lacombe, portrayed by actor François Truffaut, led an international effort to study and eventually communicate with extraterrestrial visitors.
That character was inspired by real-life investigator Jacques Vallée, a rock star in the world of UFO investigations.
Vallée’s friendship with Las Vegas billionaire Robert Bigelow led to a collaboration on behalf of the Defense Intelligence Agency to form the largest acknowledged UFO study ever funded by the US government.
It was called the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program (AAWSAP).
AAWSAP
The program was kept entirely secret within a branch of Bigelow Aerospace, which aimed to create the ultimate UFO database, supervised by Vallée.
“We ended up with essentially a data warehouse with 260,000 filtered cases from all over the world, all in English,” Vallée said.
The UFO cases, gathered from previous US government programs, foreign governments, and civilian collections, became the largest compilation known to exist.
Vallée, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, had intended to install an AI element that would search for patterns in the data and eventually understand what it was seeing.
However, AAWSAP, initially a five-year program, lasted only 27 months. Its black budget funding, championed by Sen. Harry Reid, was cut off once Pentagon officials opposed to UFO research discovered its existence.
Vallée mentioned that although he and everyone else working for AAWSAP received top-secret security clearances, there were internal information silos.
This meant that not everyone involved in the program was permitted to see or discuss the information contained in each of the twelve main sections of the data warehouse.
As a result, there was little to no communication between them.
Forbidden Science, Scattered Sastles
Vallée’s newest book, “Forbidden Science 6: Scattered Castles,” is a candid, personal journal about the years surrounding his participation in AAWSAP.
In the book, he openly acknowledges what has long been suspected — that the U.S. government and defense contractors have recovered and studied materials from crashed UFOs.
Bigelow spent nearly $1 million to retrofit his aerospace plant in anticipation of receiving and analyzing unusual materials that had been hidden for decades.
Dr. James Lacatski, a Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who managed AAWSAP, publicly acknowledged that one intact craft had been recovered. David Grusch, a former intelligence officer, testified under oath to Congress that such recoveries had occurred.
Bigelow had engaged in conversations with Lockheed about transferring some of the mysterious material to AAWSAP.
“I was part of those discussions, and I think they’re still… behind the veil,” Vallée said. “I could not be sure that I [could] give you a complete answer.”
Although he no longer has a security clearance, Vallée said he is cautious about crossing a line and discussing matters that remain highly classified.
He and colleagues, including Dr. Garry Nolan of Stanford, have acquired their own bits and pieces from UFO incidents and crash sites and are subjecting those samples to rigorous testing using new technologies.
“This is the beginning of a whole other phase,” Vallée said.
Although the data warehouse created under AAWSAP has never been released to the public, it is in use by other government entities involved in UFO studies.
https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/las-vegas-hosted-the-worlds-largest-ufo-database-until-it-vanished/
UFO ‘Tic Tac’ encounter described by plane crew member
Updated: Apr 24, 2025 / 01:25 PM CDT
“UFO Witness” host Ben Hansen has interviewed a member of the flight crew that took evasive action during an alarming encounter with a “Tic Tac”-shaped object.
The incident reportedly occurred in February 2024 as a Department of Homeland Security flight spotted an object resembling a football at an altitude of 20,000 feet over California.
The plane, a Beechcraft King Air 350C, banked one of its wings to avoid colliding with the UFO.
“It passed maybe 10 feet under our right wing,” the pilot of the plane tells an air traffic controller in an audio recording.
Plane was unable to capture video of ‘Tic Tac’ UFO: Ben Hansen
Hansen, whose show “UFO Witness” streams on Discovery+, said the pilot took evasive action because he thought the fast-moving object was a surface-to-air missile.
When the crew attempted to track the object on radar, he said they detected an object at the same altitude that appeared to skip back and forth in the sky.
“It’s like it’s playing hopscotch back and forth, and they have no idea what this is,” Hansen told “Banfield” on Wednesday.
He said the plane was unable to capture video of the UFO. Hansen worked with an animator to produce a video depicting the event.
“This object had no means of visible propulsion. There was no smoke, no streak, no anything, as it passes by,” Hansen said. “So, how is it flying? And, how is it going several times the speed of sound?”
‘Tic Tac’ UFO incidents have happened before
This incident is reminiscent of a 2004 U.S. Navy encounter with a similar “Tic Tac” object that seemingly defied conventional flying abilities, he said.
When the Navy first found a “Tic Tac” shaped object off the Southern California coast in 2004, it was ignored until 2008. This is when a new UFO program, based in Las Vegas, learned about what had happened.
That incident is very similar to what happened in 2023, when Navy members on the USS Jackson spotted an illuminated object emerging from the ocean off the same coast in Southern California.
“To my surprise, which is something I’ve never witnessed, was a light I noticed on the horizon, it looked as if it were surfacing out of the water and going up,” Senior Chief Operations Specialist Alexandro Wiggins recalled.
Wiggins said that, eventually, he and his team saw four of them that suddenly took off to the northeast simultaneously. He said it was “two steps behind instantaneous.”
https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/tic-tac-ufo-near-collision-california/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nuro6AKH9o
UFOs and the Catholic Church: The Hidden Connection
April 24, 2025
UFOs and the Catholic Church: The Hidden Connection
Explore the Vatican’s rumored UFO files. Join Cristina Gomez (@CristinaG) and Jimmy Church examine the Catholic Church’s connection to extraterrestrial life, UFO sightings, and alien encounters.
Did the Pope hold undisclosed knowledge about aliens?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVqG1j3Zs8c
https://www.ufonews.co/
Sen. Rounds: Secrets Task Force good for Luna, House GOP: "Better than having them looking for things to get into”
Apr 25, 2025
Sen. Mike Rounds (3-14-2025) (R-SD) — Armed Services & Intelligence Committees
Ask a Pol asks:
Have you ever heard of this Secrets Task Force in the House?
Key Rounds:
“Nope,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol. “
They're investigating UAPs, but also JFK, Epstein, 9-11 and COVID…
Rounds smiles.
“I haven't paid much attention to what they're doing over there, to be honest,” Rounds says. “But sounds like it keeps a few of them busy.”
“You want people busy,” Rounds says.
Do ya?
“Oh, yeah,” Rounds says of his fellow Republicans over in the House. “It's better than having them looking for things to get into.”
Caught our ear:
“We've been busy over here in the Senate,” Rounds tells us.
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/rounds-sees-secrets-task-as-good-distraction-for-luna-uap-caucus
https://truthsocial.com/@mattlasloreal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIusfMbZyDM
UFOs, interrogations, cover-ups: The Rendlesham Forest incident | Reality Check
Apr 23, 2025
In this episode of Reality Check, Ross Coulthart sits down with Gary Heseltine, founder and editor of "UFO Truth Magazine."
Together, they dive into the Rendlesham Forest incident, which is considered by some to be a military secret.
Heseltine shares his investigations, witness accounts from Sgt. Jim Penniston, and the inhumane interrogations Penniston allegedly faced.
On "Reality Check," NewsNation Special Correspondent Ross Coulthart takes a fact-based approach to tackle everything from unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) to mysteries often missing from the headlines.
https://youtu.be/MnYBNT1KwrY?si=wYD23gGkziItmayk