TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
July 6, 2025
The Spiral North Pole of Mars
Why is there a spiral around the North Pole of Mars? Each winter this pole develops a new outer layer about one meter thick composed of carbon dioxide frozen out of the thin Martian atmosphere. This fresh layer is deposited on a water-ice layer that exists year round. Strong winds blow down from above the cap's center and swirl due to the spin of the red planet – contributing to Planum Boreum's spiral structure. The featured image is a perspective mosaic generated in 2017 from numerous images taken by ESA's Mars Express and elevations extracted from the laser altimeter aboard NASA's Mars Global Surveyor mission.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Progress Cargo Craft Docks to Station Resupplying Expedition 73
July 5, 2025
The unpiloted Progress 92 spacecraft arrived at the space-facing port of the orbiting laboratory’s Poisk module at 5:25 p.m. EDT, Saturday, July 5.
The spacecraft launched at 3:32 p.m. EDT on July 3 (12:32 a.m. Baikonur time, July 4) on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
The Roscosmos spacecraft is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 73 crew aboard the International Space Station.
It will remain docked for approximately six months before departing for a re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2025/07/05/progress-cargo-craft-docks-to-station-resupplying-expedition-73/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs1ic-neuWc
NASA Discovery Could Explain Why We've Never Found Life on Mars
06 July 2025
Why is Mars barren and uninhabitable, while life has always thrived here on our relatively similar planet Earth?
A discovery made by a NASA rover has offered a clue for this mystery, new research said Wednesday, suggesting that while rivers once sporadically flowed on Mars, it was doomed to mostly be a desert planet.
Mars is thought to currently have all the necessary ingredients for life except for perhaps the most important one: liquid water.
However the red surface is carved out by ancient rivers and lakes, showing that water once flowed on our nearest neighbour.
There are currently several rovers searching Mars for signs of life that could have existed back in those more habitable times, millions of years ago.
Earlier this year, NASA's Curiosity rover discovered a missing piece in this puzzle: rocks that are rich in carbonate minerals.
These "carbonates" – such as limestone on Earth – act as a sponge for carbon dioxide, pulling it in from the atmosphere and trapping it in rock.
A new study, published in the journal Nature, modelled exactly how the existence of these rocks could change our understanding of Mars's past.
Brief 'oases'
Lead study author Edwin Kite, a planetary scientist at the University of Chicago and a member of the Curiosity team, told AFP it appeared there were "blips of habitability in some times and places" on Mars.
But these "oases" were the exception rather than the rule.
On Earth, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere warms the planet. Over long timescales, the carbon becomes trapped in rocks such as carbonates.
Then volcanic eruptions spew the gas back into the atmosphere, creating a well-balanced climate cycle supportive of consistently running water.
However Mars has a "feeble" rate of volcanic outgassing compared to Earth, Kite said. This throws off the balance, leaving Mars much colder and less hospitable.
According to the modelling research, the brief periods of liquid water on Mars were followed by 100 million years of barren desert – a long time for anything to survive.
It is still possible that there are pockets of liquid water deep underground on Mars we have not yet found, Kite said.
NASA's Perseverance Rover, which landed on an ancient Martian delta in 2021, has also found signs of carbonates at the edge of dried-up lake, he added.
Next, the scientists hope to discover more evidence of carbonates.
Kite said the best proof would be returning rock samples from the Martian surface back to Earth – both the United States and China are racing to do this in the next decade.
Are we alone?
Ultimately, scientists are searching for an answer to one of the great questions: how common are planets like Earth that can harbour life?
Astronomers have discovered nearly 6,000 planets beyond our Solar System since the early 1990s.
But only for Mars and Earth can scientists study rocks which allow them to understand the planet's past, Kite said.
If we do determine that Mars never hosted even tiny micro-organisms during its watery times, that would indicate it is difficult to kick-start life across the universe.
But if we discover proof of ancient life, that would "basically be telling us the origin of life is easy on a planetary scale," Kite said.
https://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-discovery-could-explain-why-weve-never-found-life-on-mars
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09161-1
Why does Mars look purple, yellow and orange in ESA's stunning new satellite image?
July 6, 2025
Despite being known as the Red Planet, Mars shows off its swirling yellows, oranges and browns in a new satellite photo from the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Earth-toned surface also reveals an impact crater and four sneaky dust devils making their way across the region.
The Rothko-like image was taken by a high-resolution camera on ESA’s Mars Express orbiter and captures Arcadia Planitia, an area of Mars critical to research about the planet’s past and its potential to house humans in the future.
Arcadia Planitia
Northwest of the tallest volcanoes in the solar system, Arcadia Planitia is a region of intrigue. It's laden with solidified lava flows that are, at most, 3 billion years old.
The area is also thought to host water ice close to the planet's surface, making it an area of interest when planning future missions to Mars, according to a statement from ESA.
Arcadia Planitia is home to visiting "dust devils," short-lived columns of wind akin to small tornadoes. Dust devils form when the Martian surface warms the air just above it, leading the air to rise and pulling dust with it.
The new image shows four dust devils as they snake their way across the plains of the region. Easy to overlook, you can spot them as whitish puffs of dust near the center of the image, straddling the boundary between the darker brown and lighter red parts of the plain.
A large impact crater sits in the bottom right corner of the photo and measures 9 miles (15 kilometers) across, according to ESA.
The formation of layered material around the crater is evidence that the ground encompassed notable amounts of water ice during impact, and lack of clear erosion of the crater dates it to relatively recently on the geological timeline.
Is the picture out of focus?
If you noticed that the image is blurry, you're discerning an effect of the wind on Mars. Gusts of air pick up and carry tiny particles of debris from the planet's surface, which creates a minor visual haze.
The wind that causes the haze is also responsible for the reddish area at the top of the photo. The red region is covered in ridges called "yardangs," which are formed when wind erodes vulnerable rock and leaves the most resistant rock still standing.
Below the red section is purplish-brown terrain, which has a high concentration of silicates and a low concentration of iron, the statement notes.
The difference in colors also stems from properties of the sand, like density and size, which affect how the grains accumulate and travel across Mars.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/mars/why-does-mars-look-purple-yellow-and-orange-in-esas-stunning-new-satellite-image
https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2025/06/Arcadia_Planitia_as_seen_by_ESA_s_Mars_Express
US military cuts climate scientists off from vital satellite sea-ice data
July 6, 2025
Climate scientists in the United States are to be cut off from satellite data measuring the amount of sea ice — a sensitive barometer of climate change — as the U.S. Department of Defense announces plans to cancel processing of the data for scientific research.
The changes are the latest attacks by the U.S. government on science and the funding of scientific research in an effort to slash the budget to enable tax cuts elsewhere.
Already, these attacks have seen the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the National Science Foundation evicted from their offices, references to climate science removed from websites, funding of data for hurricane forecasts cancelled, and dozens of NASA missions under threat and their project teams asked to produce close-down plans as the space agency's budget is slashed.
Now, scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), based at the University of Colorado, Boulder, who have been using data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) that is flown on a series of satellites that form the United States Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellite Program, have been told they will soon no longer have access to that data.
SSMIS is a microwave radiometer that can scan Earth for ice coverage on land and sea.
The Department of Defense uses this data for planning deployments of its own ships, but it has always made the processed data available to scientists, too — until now.
In an announcement on June 24, the Department of Defense declared that the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center operated by the U.S. Navy would cease the real-time processing and stop supplying scientists with the sea-ice data, although NPR reports that, following an outcry at the suddenness of this decision, it has been put back to the end of July.
Politics aside, purely from a scientific point of view, this is madness.
The sea-ice index, which charts how much ice is covering the ocean in the Arctic and Antarctic, is strongly dependent upon global warming, with increasing average temperatures both in the ocean and in the atmosphere leading to more sea-ice melting.
Sea ice acts as a buffer to slow or even prevent the melting of large glaciers; remove that buffer and catastrophic melting of glaciers moves one big step closer, threatening dangerous sea level rises.
Without the ability to track the sea ice, scientists are blinded to one of the most significant measures of climate change and become unable to tell how close we are getting to the brink.
But there's even a commercial side to knowing how much sea ice is present on our oceans. The fewer icebergs there are, the closer cargo ships can sail around the north pole, allowing them to take shorter, faster routes.
Of course, the United States is not the only country to operate climate instruments on satellites. For instance, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has a satellite called Shizuku, more formally known as the Global Change Observation Mission-Water (GCOM-W).
On board Shizuku is an instrument called the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2, or AMSRS-2, which does pretty much the same job as SSMIS.
Researchers at NSIDC had already been looking to transfer over to AMSRS-2 data, perhaps having got wind that the Department of Defense's decision was coming down the pipeline.
But the switch will take time for the calibration of the instrument and data with NSIDC's systems, leading to a gap in scientists' data — a blind spot in our monitoring of the climate that we can ill afford.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/us-military-cuts-climate-scientists-off-from-vital-satellite-sea-ice-data
No weapons for Kiev over church persecution – US congresswoman
6 Jul, 2025 00:59
Kiev’s persecution of Ukraine’s largest church is reason enough for Washington to halt military aid to the country, US Representative Anna Paulina Luna has said, pledging to oppose any future weapons shipments.
The Florida Republican accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of banning the Orthodox Church in a post on X on Friday, apparently referring to ongoing actions against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) – the largest religious organization in the country.
“I can promise there will be no weapons funding for you,” Luna, who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote.
“We are not your piggy bank,” she added, urging Zelensky to “negotiate for peace” instead.
Kiev has accused the UOC of maintaining ties with Moscow to justify its crackdown, even though the church declared independence from the Russian Orthodox Church in May 2022.
Responding to criticism in the comments under her post, Luna added,“The Ukraine bots are big mad about this one.”
“All of a sudden these pro-war shills are religion experts and also telepathic, as they are CERTAIN not one Christian went to those churches to worship God. Imagine if we did that in the States. Hypocrites,” she said.
According to Ukraine Oversight, an official US government portal tracking aid disbursements, Washington allocated a total of $182.8 billion in assistance to Ukraine from 2022 to the end of 2024.
In May, US President Donald Trump expressed concern over what he described as billions of dollars being wasted on Ukraine aid.
He said Congress was “very upset about it” and that lawmakers were demanding answers about how the money was being spent.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon reportedly halted shipments of certain weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, citing the need to review remaining stockpiles as part of Trump’s ‘America First’ policy.
Kiev’s persecution of the canonical Orthodox Church has received limited attention from US politicians and public figures. In late May, American journalist Tucker Carlson raised the issue in an interview with former Ukrainian MP Vadim Novinsky.
“I think very few Americans understand the degree to which the Ukrainian government under Zelensky has persecuted the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,” Carlson said during the broadcast.
Years of state pressure on the church have included the arrests of clergymen and raids on monasteries, including a high-profile incident at the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, where religious relics are kept.
Last year, Zelensky signed legislation allowing the government to ban religious organizations deemed affiliated with ‘aggressor’ states, effectively targeting the UOC.
Earlier this week, he also stripped the church’s senior bishop, Metropolitan Onufry, of his citizenship, citing his previously acquired Russian passport.
https://www.rt.com/news/621054-no-weapons-ukraine-christian-persecution/
https://twitter.com/RepLuna/status/1940937128507998330
Iran moved enriched uranium before US strikes – Hersh
5 Jul, 2025 18:51
Last month’s US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities failed to hit the country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed, citing US officials.
The attack, which involved seven US B-2 ‘Spirit’ bombers carrying 30,000-pound bunker busters, was not even expected to “obliterate” the Iranian nuclear program, one of the journalist’s sources admitted.
“The centrifuges may have survived and 400 pounds of 60% enriched uranium are missing,” one of the officials said, adding that the US bombs “could not be assured to penetrate the centrifuge chamber . . . too deep.”
The lack of radioactivity at the targeted Iranian nuclear sites – specifically Fordow and Isfahan – following the attack suggest that the enriched uranium stockpile had been moved ahead of time, one US official familiar with the matter said.
Fordow, an underground complex built deep inside a mountain that many believed housed the stockpiles, was a particular focus of the attack.
The US officials cited by Hersh nevertheless believe that the location of the stockpile and its fate are “irrelevant” because of the serious damage the strike allegedly dealt to another Iranian nuclear site near the city of Isfahan.
The goal of the operation was to “prevent the Iranians from building a nuclear weapon in the near term – a year or so – with the hope they would not try again,” a US official told Hersh.
This could translate into “a couple of years of respite and uncertain future,” the official added.
Following the strikes, US President Donald Trump claimed that the attack “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe also told lawmakers that several key sites had been completely destroyed and would take years to rebuild.
However, intercepted communications suggested that Tehran had expected a worse impact from the strikes and that the real damage was limited, the Washington Post reported.
The strikes were part of a coordinated American-Israeli military campaign launched in mid-June. The Israel Defense Force bombed Iranian targets, claiming that Tehran was close to being able to build a nuclear weapon.
Hersh believes that Israel was the “immediate beneficiary” of the US strike. West Jerusalem does not officially acknowledge possessing nuclear weapons.
The Jewish State may still have up to 90 nuclear warheads at its disposal, according to a recent report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
https://www.rt.com/news/621048-iran-move-uranium-us-strike/
Musk announces creation of new party
5 Jul, 2025 20:15
Elon Musk unveiled plans on Saturday to establish a new political party, vowing to “give freedom back to the people” and accusing America’s elites of running the country into the ground.
In a post on X, the social media platform he owns, the billionaire South African entrepreneur, who also holds US citizenship, denounced both major parties as complicit in reckless over-spending.
“When it comes to bankrupting our country with waste and graft, we live in a one-party system, not a democracy,” Musk wrote. “Today, the America Party is formed to give you your freedom.”
The move follows a public falling out between Musk and President Donald Trump over tax and spending policy.
The billionaire did not elaborate on how much progress he had made with the plan but indicated that the first move could be expected “next year,” during the US midterm elections in November 2026, when 33 of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 House seats will be up for grabs.
For a new nationwide party to be established, its founding organization must qualify as a political party committee and register with the Federal Election Commission.
“The way we’re going to crack the uniparty system is by using a variant of how Epaminondas shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility at Leuctra: extremely concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield,” Musk added in a follow-up post.
Musk first floated the idea of launching the America Party last month before reiterating his plans this week and confirming his intention to press ahead on Saturday.
He tied the move to his opposition to Trump’s sweeping multitrillion-dollar tax and spending package, dubbed the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’.
“If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day,” Musk wrote earlier this week, ahead of the Senate and House votes on the bill.
The legislation, which Trump signed on Friday, allocates hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending for the president’s border and national security agenda and imposes steep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and clean-energy subsidies – something Musk’s company Tesla reportedly benefited from.
Musk polled his followers on X about launching his party on Friday, hours before Trump signed the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’. On Saturday, he stated that “by a factor of 2 to 1, you want a new political party and you shall have it!”
However, Musk may still have a long road ahead of him, according to Brett Kappel, a veteran election lawyer, who was asked to comment on the issue by CBS News.
Each US state has different legal rules for recognizing political parties, he explained, adding that the hurdles for new ones “range from high to extraordinarily difficult to overcome.” Building a national party could take years, he said.
https://www.rt.com/news/621051-musk-forms-new-party/
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1941608862856994982
US fighter jet intercepts suspicious plane over Trump golf club
6 Jul, 2025 00:28
An F-16 fighter jet intercepted a civilian aircraft that violated restricted airspace over US President Donald Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey on Saturday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has confirmed.
The incident occurred at around 2:39pm local time, when a general aviation plane entered a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) zone, which was activated due to Trump’s presence in the area.
NORAD scrambled an F-16 fighter aircraft, which performed a standard headbutt maneuver to alert the pilot and safely escort the aircraft out of the restricted zone.
The interception was part of a broader alert response, as Saturday saw a total of five separate TFR violations in the Bedminster area – including three prior to the headbutt incident and one more later in the day.
NORAD did not release additional details about the aircraft or pilots involved.
“Pilots, a reminder to check FAA NOTAMs before you fly!” NORAD posted on X, referring to Notice to Air Missions bulletins issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The agency highlighted FAA NOTAMs 1353, 1358, 2246, and 2247 as especially relevant for flights near Bedminster.
The command warned that pilots are responsible for verifying TFR zones before takeoff and stressed that its layered air defense system – comprising radars, satellites, and fighter jets – remains active in detecting and responding to unauthorized incursions.
Trump has made Bedminster one of his main residences since returning to office in January, with the FAA frequently designating restricted airspace in the vicinity whenever the president is present.
Pilots who violate TFR zones risk being intercepted, fined, questioned by the authorities, or having their licenses suspended.
https://www.rt.com/news/621057-us-jets-intercept-trump/
https://twitter.com/NORADCommand/status/1941613818624286901
Moscow Claims Ukrainian Drones Shut Down Russian Airports
July 6, 2025, 12:16 pm
Moscow claimed to have downed 120 Ukrainian drones over multiple regions overnight between Saturday and Sunday.
Reports from Russian aviation authorities suggested that airports were shut down and flights were grounded as a result of the attack.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense, in its Sunday morning update, claimed to have downed 120 drones over 10 regions in Russia, including 30 over the Bryansk region, 29 over the Kursk region, and three over the Leningrad region, which hosts the city of St. Petersburg.
Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia) announced “temporary restrictions” for St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport at around 10:15 p.m., which were lifted at 12:30 a.m.
In Moscow, Rosaviatsia said that as of 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, 174 flights were cancelled at the city’s Sheremetyevo Airport (80% of which were operated by Russia’s state-owned Aeroflot) while another 47 were delayed for more than two hours.
Videos from Russian media Baza suggest the delay and cancellation have led to significant congestion at the airport.
“Many passengers have spent more than nine hours at airports. The situation is most severe at Sheremetyevo Airport, where more than 170 flights have been delayed and nearly 50 have been cancelled,” Baza’s report says.
“People have to sit and lie on the floor – there are no free seats left even in cafes and business lounges,” it adds. The publication said some passengers were not allowed to disembark from the plane after landing.
Kyiv did not comment on the alleged strikes at the time of publication.
Ukrainian airspace for civilian flights remains closed off due to Russia’s ongoing invasion.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/55790
Ukrainian air defense neutralizes 117 of 157 drones launched by Russia overnight
06.07.2025 09:51
Ukraine's air defense forces neutralized 117 out of 157 drones launched by Russia in an attack that began on the evening of July 5.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported this on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.
The attack began at approximately 20:30 on Saturday, July 5. Russia launched four S-300 surface-to-air guided missiles from the Kursk region, along with 157 Shahed-type strike UAVs and various types of decoy drones from several directions, including Shatalovo, Millerovo, and Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Russia, as well as Hvardiiske and Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea.
As of 08:30 on Sunday, July 6, air defense systems had neutralized 117 Russian drones across northern, eastern, southern, and central regions of Ukraine. Of these, 98 were shot down by firepower, while 19 were lost or suppressed by electronic warfare.
Drone strikes were recorded at 19 locations, with debris from downed UAVs falling in two additional areas. The Ukrainian Air Force noted that the aerial attack was still ongoing, with new groups of enemy drones entering from the north.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4012018-ukrainian-air-defense-neutralizes-117-of-157-drones-launched-by-russia-overnight.html
UN Condemns Russia's Largest Drone Assault on Ukraine
July 6, 2025
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned Saturday Russia's biggest drone and missile attack yet in the three-year war in Ukraine.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the latest series of large-scale drone and missile attacks by the Russian Federation,” Guterres said in a statement referring to the assault Friday and also calling for a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire.
Hours-long Russian bombardments sent Ukrainians scurrying for shelters across the country.
AFP journalists in Kyiv heard drones buzzing over the capital and explosions ringing out throughout the night as Ukrainian air defense systems fended off the attack.
In Kyiv, emergency services said at least 26 people were wounded in the Russian drone srtrikes.
The barrage, according to the air force, comprised 539 drones and 11 missiles.
A representative of Ukraine's air force told Ukrainian media that the attack was the largest of the Russian invasion. “The Secretary-General is alarmed by this dangerous escalation and the growing number of civilian casualties.
Attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited under international law and must stop immediately,” said the statement issued by UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/07/06/un-condemns-russias-largest-drone-assault-on-ukraine-a89692
Iranian forces destroy Israeli drones munitions in northwest
Last Update: Saturday, 05 July 2025 11:52 PM
Police forces in the northwestern Iranian province of Ardabil have managed to identify and safely destroy munitions belonging to Israeli drones.
Brigadier General Javad Taghavi, commander of the provincial law enforcement force, announced the information on Saturday.
“Specialized detection and neutralization units succeeded in identifying and destroying the munitions of the Zionist regime’s spy drones in the region,” he noted.
The comments came less than a week after an Israeli official confirmed that Israeli drones worth “hundreds of millions” of dollars had gone missing in Iran, during the latter’s defensive operations in the face of an unprovoked war waged by Tel Aviv.
Cited by the regime’s Yedioth Ahronoth paper, the official said the invading unmanned aerial vehicles had “disappeared” within the Iranian territory.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Taghavi commended the provincial police force for managing to carry out “critical missions” throughout the war that was imposed by the regime against the Islamic Republic from June 13 to 25.
These missions, he said, included identifying and arresting operatives serving the regime’s espionage interests and neutralizing security threats.
Taghavi emphasized that the operations indicated the vigilance and high level of preparedness of the country’s security forces in confronting enemy threats.
The Islamic Republic responded to the Israeli aggression with prompt defensive maneuvers against incoming projectiles and preventive measures aimed at identifying the spies hired by Tel Aviv towards carrying out sabotage throughout the country.
Iran’s armed forces then proceeded to face the regime with decisive retaliatory strikes that targeted its sensitive nuclear, military, and industrial infrastructure.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/07/05/750673/Iran-Israel-drones-destroy-war
Air force develops squadron of 'Kamikaze' drones
6 Jul 2025 at 05:12
The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has unveiled a locally developed version of the Kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a loitering munition designed for precision strikes on high-value targets during combat.
Nicknamed the "suicide drone" and capable of carrying out self-destructive attacks with high-explosive warheads, it is part of a broader push to enhance the country's defence capabilities through home-grown innovation, said the RTAF on Saturday.
The project is a collaboration between the Navaminda Kasatriyadhiraj Royal Air Force Academy, the Directorate of Armament of the RTAF and the RTAF's Research and Development Centre for Space and Aeronautical Science and Technology.
The drone has completed testing, demonstrating the ability to strike medium-range targets with a deviation of less than five metres from the intended point of impact.
The RTAF hailed the trial as a step toward bringing the Kamikaze UAV into full-scale production and eventual deployment, saying the new system is expected to bolster its combat readiness and help safeguard national sovereignty through modernised and self-reliant military technology.
https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/3063766/air-force-develops-squadron-of-kamikaze-drones
Videos capture meteor shooting across night sky in Scotland
July 3, 2025
Dozens of people have reported seeing the meteor early Thursday morning from Argyll and Bute, Glasgow, Lewis, Stirling.
One video from a doorbell camera in Lewis captured the event at around 1am.
The circle shape with an orange trail is seen shooting across the sky, with a large glow then proceeding.
Those who saw the flash from inside their homes had believed it was lighting, but a big bang was then heard.
A meteorite becomes known as a meteor once it hits the earth's atmosphere.
One page posted the video, stating: "Last night's meteorite was captured by Norma Macleod on Lewis."
One person replied: " We heard it in Inverinate, it shook the windows and walls of the house."
"I saw this from my bedroom in East Kilbride. Never seen one so bright!" another reported, and another added: "I saw this last night, it was amazing to see! It lit up the whole southern sky and had a trail of fire behind it!".
Adrian Coll posted their video on Twitter/X, and wrote: "Just caught end of this, anyone else see it???"
People in Cumbria in the north of England have also reported seeing the flash.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25285923.videos-capture-meteor-shooting-across-night-sky-scotland/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/04/meteor-pieces-landed-scotland-britain/
Illinois UFOs: Check Out The 34 Sightings Reported In 2025
July 6, 2025
I'm sure you already have it on your calendar and are planning some sort of celebration, but just in case you're not, World UFO Day is coming up on Wednesday, July 2nd.
You may be wondering what World UFO Day is all about (other than having something to do with UFOs), and what you're supposed to do on Wednesday.
Well, according to what I've been able to find, World UFO day is a day set aside for people to gather together and scan the skies for UFOs.
The stated goal of World UFO Day is also to to raise awareness of "the undoubted existence of UFOs," and to try to get world governments to release and declassify their files on UFO/UAP sightings.
That's all fine, but let's get to the sightings that have been reported in Illinois so far in the first 26 weeks of this year.
At This Point In The Year, Illinoisans Have Reported 34 UFO Sightings To The National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC)
According to the NUFORC website, Illinois and Wisconsin have had the exact same number of UFO sightings reported since the first of the year, and our Midwestern neighbors are all in double-digits, too:
Illinois: 34
Wisconsin: 34
Indiana: 25
Missouri: 23
Kentucky: 19
California is the state with the most reported sightings nearly every year. So far in 2025, Californians have reported well over 150 UFO sightings.
Here's What Illinois Residents Are Claiming They Saw In The Skies During The First Six Months Of This Year (And Where They Were When They Saw Whatever They Saw)
If you click here you'll be taken to the National UFO Reporting Center website's Illinois page with a full list of places and sightings going back years.
In the interests of space, here are some of the sightings reports, along with the dates and places from Northern Illinois in 2025:
5/29/25-Worth, Illinois: Diamond shape. "While on duty, I observed an object above the horizon, too bright to be a star. Captured image."
5/24/25-Chicago, Illinois: Cylinder shape. "Tumbling cylinder with bright reflections or lights."
5/18/25-Chicago, Illinois: "Strange sound recorded during sleep, and crystal sphere appeared at bedroom window."
4/27/25-Chicago, Illinois: "Solid metal offset stacked flat cylinders over lake Michigan watching over Chicago."
4/22/25-Arlington Heights, Illinois: "Two lights observed in the sky from Arlington Heights station—one large and bright, the other smaller and dimmer."
4/08/25-Gurnee, Illinois: "In bed out my window and saw a orb shaped craft about 300 feet away."
2/10/25-Carol Stream, Illinois: "A white oval shaped light is seen on my front door, Ring camera."
1/23/25-Chicago, Illinois: Triangle shape. "Appeared to change its light or even its shape, shifting from a boomerang-like object to a large circle."
https://khak.com/ixp/671/p/illinois-ufo-sightings-2025/
https://nuforc.org/subndx/?id=lIL
Wisconsin Sees Strange Balloon, Internet Immediately Loses Its Mind
July 4, 2025
If you were staring at the sky over southeast Wisconsin late last week, wondering what the heck that giant white thing was, you're not alone.
It had all the makings of a sci-fi thriller: confusion, government denial, and a Facebook comment section absolutely on fire. Here's what it actually was.
Not a Weather Balloon, Not a UFO (Settle Down)
On Sunday, June 22, residents from across southeast Wisconsin started flooding FOX6 News with calls and photos of a mysterious white balloon drifting overhead.
It wasn't moving fast. wasn't making noise, and most importantly, it wasn't identified. The National Weather Service had no clue what it was either, which of course meant the internet did what it does best: completely freaked out.
The Facebook Theories Deserve Their Own Netflix Series
Let's take a moment to appreciate the sheer creativity of the internet: one guy said it was "definitely China," someone else was sure it was "5G mind control," and my personal favorite, "they're tracking our brat consumption from space."
People. It's a balloon. Not Skynet.
Here's the Real Story of That Wisconsin Balloon
FOX6 in Milwaukee reached out to the company behind the balloon, a South Dakota-based aerospace outfit called Aerostar.
They confirmed it was their Thunderhead Balloon System, launched near Sioux Falls on June 18.
These high-tech balloons are used for things like environmental monitoring, scientific research, and helping firefighters. You know, actual helpful stuff, not laser-beaming cows.
Next time something floats over Wisconsin, maybe hold off on launching the conspiracy TikToks until after we check with the weather folks.
https://khak.com/ixp/721/p/wisconsin-balloon-mystery/
https://www.fox6now.com/news/balloon-seen-flying-over-southeast-wisconsin-what-we-know.amp
Mysterious orb floats through Alberta sky during lightning storm, ignites UFO speculation
Updated: Jul 06, 2025, 08:25:00 AM IST
An Alberta couple may have captured one of the rarest weather phenomena on Earth, ball lightning after a thunderstorm lit up the skies near their home on Wednesday evening.
Ed and Melinda Pardy were watching the storm from their porch in Rich Valley, a rural area about an hour northwest of Edmonton when something strange happened just after a nearby lightning strike.
“Once the lightning bolt kind of disappeared, the ball of light kind of got bigger, intensified, like, really bright,” Ed recalled.
Hovering roughly seven meters above the ground, the glowing orb appeared to drift silently across their field. He grabbed his wife’s phone and began recording.
They captured 23 seconds of the glowing sphere before it vanished with a faint “pop.”
“I’ve never seen this before,” Melinda said. “It was pretty neat.”
The phenomenon, described by the couple as about one to two meters wide, has drawn attention from both scientists and weather experts.
While still unconfirmed, many are calling it a possible sighting of ball lightning, a highly mysterious, poorly understood natural occurrence often associated with thunderstorms.
Ball lightning has been described for centuries as glowing, floating orbs that can pass through walls or appear during storms, sometimes lasting several seconds or more.
But despite many historical reports, scientific proof remains rare, especially on video.
“This is one of the best ball lightning videos I’ve ever seen,” said veteran storm chaser George Kourounis, though he cautioned it might have been something else.
He noted a lightning strike hitting a nearby power line could create an electrical arc, flashing with orange and blue light, before disappearing in a spark.
“That’s exactly what we’re seeing here,” Kourounis said while admitting he couldn’t be certain without being on site.
The Pardys disagree. “Definitely not,” Ed said. “It’s a long way from a power line,” Melinda added.
Since sharing the video, the couple says they’ve been contacted by researchers at the University of Calgary and even someone from a UFO investigation program.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/canada/mysterious-orb-floats-through-alberta-sky-during-lightning-storm-ignites-ufo-speculation/articleshow/122275356.cms
Mario Kart World’ hidden area uncovered — It’s Area 51, and you can drive a UFO
https://www.coachesdatabase.com/drive-ufos-throughout-mario-kart-world/
Why the Space Visitors Warned Eisenhower and Disappeared
July 5, 2025
Coast to Coast AM - They warned us. We ignored them.
Paola Harris exposes the buried truth about the Space Brothers—benevolent extraterrestrials who tried to save humanity after WWII.
This lecture uncovers suppressed contact cases, time travelers, and the battle for Earth’s future.
04:30 Beyond Sightings: Global Contact Has Begun
09:10 The Space Brothers & The Nuclear Wake-Up Call
13:45 Clifford Stone, Crash Retrievals & ET Manuals
17:55 The Hidden Diversity of ET Species
22:10 Meeting Them in Public: Real Stories of Human-Looking ETs
28:40 Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek & Channeling the Future
33:50 Photos of Real ETs: Evidence in Plain Sight
39:00 The Contactees of the 1950s: Warnings Ignored
45:10 Val Thor, Venus & Eisenhower’s Decline of Disclosure
50:20 South American ET Contact: The Heart-Based Approach
55:00 Mt. Shasta & Time Travelers from Alpha Centauri
1:00:00 Timeline Wars: Choosing Peace or Destruction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wZy95mVuLw
https://www.youtube.com/@PaolaHarris-StarworksUSA
Rep Eric Burlison on UFOs, Aliens, Cataclysms, Grusch
Jun 27, 2025
Rep Burlison dropped some bombs in here
Big takeaways Grusch told him to go to Mexico to see the Nazca mummies because they were similiar to what he was briefed on, Grusch briefed Trump on Nordic aliens and Grays, Grusch introduced him to a man who claims he's intouch with angels and converted to Christianity.
0:00 Burlison’s trip to Mexico to see the Nazca Mummies and Buga Sphere
1:46 Burlison and Tim Alberino’a friendship
3:08 Alberino’s billionaire friends fund his research
3:52 Buga UFO sphere
6:00 NASA Scientists wanted samples of Buga Sphere
7:45 Grusch said some of the Nazca mummies are similar to what he was briefed on
12:04 Grays and Nordics
13:03 Grusch briefed Trump on Nordic aliens, hybrids, and grays
16:02 Some drone guy reached out to Burlison
18:42 Burlison on the UFO Community a hating eachother
20:44 Elizondo and Mellon warned Burlison of getting close to the legacy programs because he would get pushback
24:55 Burlison on Cataclysm and cycles of civilization
28:00 Grusch put Burlison in contact with a person who has aliens angels talk to him
31:15 Berlison thinks Alberino is right about the pole shift cataclysm
36:00 Burlison has not been shown definitive proof
41:38 outro
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP_J8lgb6xk
https://www.ufonews.co/post/why-this-congressman-traveled-abroad-to-investigate-ufos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5JIsv_FGR4 (NEW Alien Bodies and UFO Reveals Dropped By Eric Burlison Jul 2, 2025)
https://burlison.house.gov/
New Jersey Mystery Drones Part 1
Jun 21, 2025
This video is part 1 in a series covering the New Jersey Mystery Drones. It covers previous drone incursions around the US and at military sites.
It then covers chronologically the events of the New Jersey Mystery Drone flap from when they began in mid November 2024 up until the FBI Congressional Hearing on December 10, 2024.
This video features many clips and witness interviews I conducted during the wave.
00:00 Intro
02:38 Navy Drone Incursions 2019
08:15 Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant 2019
08:52 Colorado and Nebraska 2019 2020
09:39 Arizona Drones 2023
11:35 Langley AFB Drones Virginia 2023
14:23 New Jersey Wave begins November 2024
20:28 Local Police and the mystery drones
27:16 FBI joins the investigation and drones over Trump’s properties
29:53 Mystery drone characteristics
-mess with car electronics
-fly in groups scanning gridlike pattern
-mystery drones interfered with hobbyist drones
32:27 AARO briefs Congress on the mystery drones
33:55 Mystery drone characteristics 2
-spraying
-mimicry
-shapeshifting
44:55 They come from the ocean
50:12 The Coast Guard sees 30 drones
51:37 New Jersey Mayors demand Governer respond
53:10 FBI DHS Congressional Hearing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AGZzjzz0pg
https://x.com/RedPandaKoala
The Visitors (Made with Veo 3) - Humans react to alien visitors
posting for funsies again
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAj_W73vnbw
Ancient inscriptions reveal identity of Great Pyramid builders
Updated: JULY 6, 2025 10:23
Recent archaeological findings led by Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass challenge the long-held belief that the Great Pyramid was built by slaves.
Hawass released details of inscriptions documented above the King’s Chamber in Khufu’s pyramid. The red-ochre marks log the names of rotating work gangs and tally days worked, echoing the Wadi el-Jarf papyri that detail stone deliveries to Giza.
The find, adds weight to the view that the pyramid was built by paid, seasonal crews housed nearby rather than by enslaved labour.
Hawass discussed the material in an interview published on 6 June on the Matt Beall Limitless podcast, noting that the same inspection campaign inserted a snake-camera into the “Big Void”—a 30-metre cavity detected by muon imaging in 2017—to look for further graffiti or construction ramps.
While lab results are pending, Hawass said the preliminary footage “shows ordinary quarry marks, nothing supernatural.”
The Big Void itself was first identified by the ScanPyramids project using three independent muon-radiography systems; the new camera work marks the first attempt to visualise its interior since that 2017 disclosure.
According to Hawass, graves discovered just south of the Great Pyramid are believed to be the final resting place of the workers who built the monument.
These workers were skilled laborers organized into specialized brigades; some cut the stones, others shaped them, and others transported materials using wooden sledges pulled over the sand.
"We found thousands of animal bones at the site, including those of 11 cows and 33 goats," Hawass said. "This diet was enough to support about 10,000 workers a day."
He emphasized that such provisions would not have been given to slaves, suggesting that the workers were well-cared for.
Statues were found in the graves depicting workers moving large stone blocks, and inscriptions revealed 21 hieroglyphic titles, including "overseer of the side of the pyramid" and "artisan."
Hawass reflected, "Slaves would not have prepared their tombs for eternity, as kings and queens did," noting the dignity of the workers buried near the pyramids. Inscriptions and artifacts found in the workers' tombs provide further evidence that the builders were skilled, paid laborers.
The workers' villages included structures such as housing, bakeries, warehouses, and even medical facilities, with dormitories, food processing facilities, and ovens found, proving the existence of a permanent and organized settlement.
The discoveries also provided insights into the methods used to build the pyramids. Evidence of a ramp system used to transport limestone blocks was found, supporting the theory that materials were moved using ramps made of rubble and mud.
Remnants of such a ramp were found on the southwestern side of the monument. Hawass detailed that the ramp was connected to a quarry just 300 meters away from the pyramid, indicating an efficient system for moving large stone blocks.
These findings suggest that the builders worked under a strict regime, almost without breaks, receiving a day off only once every ten days, with half a day off on some occasions.
Despite the challenging conditions, the workers were not slaves but skilled laborers who contributed to the monumental construction project.
The image of hundreds of slaves being whipped by overseers while dragging giant stones under the desert sun is part of the popular imagination about Ancient Egypt, but this narrative now seems to be a myth that persisted for decades.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, built during the reign of Pharaoh Khufu in the Fourth Dynasty, is the largest pyramid on the Giza Plateau and remained the tallest man-made structure until the Middle Ages.
The new evidence reshapes our understanding of its construction, demonstrating the skill and organization of the ancient Egyptians.
Excavations uncovered authentic workers' villages, further proving that these people were not mere expendable pieces, but an active part of the construction project.
Hawass and his team studied Egypt's pyramids for many years. They explored isolated chambers above the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid, uncovering unknown information about the period of construction.
In an interview in the Matt Beall Limitless podcast, Hawass showed images that had never been shared with the public, which included names drawn on the rock.
"It's almost impossible that someone in modern times could have forged something like this," he said. "You have to climb about 14 meters and crawl through narrow spaces to even reach those chambers."
https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/archaeology-around-the-world/article-860097
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL6Mqd75mYA