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https://www.atalayar.com/en/articulo/new-technologies-innovation/trump-and-putin-agree-to-end-the-international-space-station-with-europe-spectator/20250806153045217322.html
Trump and Putin agree to end the International Space Station with Europe as a spectator
06/08/25
Presidents Trump and Putin have given the green light to the proposal put forward by the heads of their respective space agencies: to deorbit and drop the International Space Station onto Earth in 2030 and sink its remains in the deep waters of the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
The decision means that the largest space cooperation initiative of all time will come to an end in about five years. It marks the end of three decades of effective, uninterrupted collaboration between the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos.
The project has the great merit of having overcome the clashes and serious tensions between Washington and Moscow, and even the sanctions and reprisals imposed by both sides in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
This has been made possible by prioritising research on board the ISS and the survival of the joint crews of Russian cosmonauts and American and third-country astronauts, many of them European.
The agreement reached, for the time being verbal, between the heads of NASA and Roscosmos, after eight years without face-to-face meetings since October 2018, confirms that both agencies will continue to jointly and safely lead, govern and use the International Space Station (ISS) until 2030.
The end of its operational life was scheduled for 2024, and although its infrastructure has been improved, some modules of the orbital complex are showing signs of fatigue.
The agreement between the newly appointed interim administrator of NASA, Republican politician and television presenter Sean Duffy, 53, who combines his new role with that of Secretary of Transportation, a position he took up in January 2025, is the main outcome of the visit to the United States at the end of July by a small delegation of senior Roscosmos officials, led by its director general for the past six months, Dimitri Bakanov, 39.
Disagreements on Earth, cooperation in orbit
The head of the Russian Space Agency was invited on a ‘working visit’ – as NASA described it – to witness the launch of the Dragon Crew-11 manned capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket from Elon Musk's SpaceX company at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Four passengers were on board the Crew-11 mission that took off on 1 August and are now on board the ISS, one of whom is cosmonaut Igor Platonov, a lieutenant colonel in the Russian Air Force.
With the green light from the White House and the Kremlin, Duffy and Bakanov have agreed that the research, tests and experiments of the crews on board the ISS will continue ‘at least until 2028’, and that the Russians and Americans ‘will work together for about two years to define the profile for its deorbiting in 2030’, said the head of Russia's space activities.
For his part, Sean Duffy has stated that the United States and Russia ‘have disagreements and conflicts here, but we find points of collaboration on the ISS and we do not waste those relationships’. Bakanov has been on US soil since 30 July for three days, along with three other senior Roscosmos officials.
One of his companions was the director of Manned Programmes and, since last May, President Putin's special representative for International Space Cooperation, veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, 66, who has made six space flights, totalling 803 days in orbit and more than 41 hours of work in outer space.
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During their short stay in the United States and before flying to Cape Canaveral to witness the launch of the Crew-11 mission, the small Russian delegation led by Bakanov visited the Johnson Space Centre, where astronauts and cosmonauts – currently including three Russians – scheduled to travel to the ISS are trained. They also visited NASA's Manned Mission Control Centre, both facilities located in Houston, Texas.
What is wanted after the ISS
Bakanov and his entourage took the opportunity to meet with the team of space technicians that Roscosmos has stationed at the Houston Control Centre, who maintain the official link with their Russian counterpart located near Moscow (TsOuP).
Both the Houston Flight Control Centre and the Moscow Flight Control Centre collaborate and share the supervision of the safety, habitability and working conditions of the crew on board the ISS.
Positioned at an average altitude of about 400 kilometres, one centre is in charge of the American infrastructure and the other of the Russian infrastructure.
Looking beyond 2030, NASA is committed to supporting and advancing one or more commercial space station initiatives in low orbit, for which it has partnered with companies such as Axiom Space, Blue Origin and Voyager Technologies.
The federal agency wants to transfer some of the research capabilities that will be lost with the disappearance of the ISS to the new private orbital complexes, particularly testing for pharmaceutical companies.
verything points to the US agency also being a good customer for private space stations. NASA needs a place to have astronauts positioned in low Earth orbit, as its efforts are focused on returning to the Moon and then heading to Mars.
On the Russian side, President Putin intends to have his own space station, ROS, whose construction should begin in late 2027 and be completed in 2033. The ISS is the result of an intergovernmental agreement led by the United States.
Signed on 29 January 1998 during the presidency of Bill Clinton, NASA's participation in the project in terms of infrastructure, resources and funding for its operation stands at around 76.6 per cent of the total costs, which means that the space agency now under Trump's control has absolute supremacy in terms of decision-making power over the orbital complex.
The second largest contributor is Russia, which provides around 12 per cent, mainly in infrastructure and space transport vehicles for the return of crews.
The other three ISS partners have a minority stake in the project. One is the European Space Agency (ESA), in which ten nations, including Spain, share around 8.3 per cent of the contribution.
The other two are the Japanese agency (JAXA), which contributes 2.8 per cent of the costs, and the Canadian agency (CSA), which contributes 0.3 per cent.
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Scientists Have Brewed a 'Super Alcohol' Theorized to Exist in Deep Space
06 August 2025
By recreating extreme conditions found inside deep space interstellar clouds, scientists have produced methanetetrol, or C(OH)4 – a 'super alcohol' that was long theorized about but never actually seen before.
This is not the kind of alcohol you can ask for in a cocktail: it's a highly unstable molecule made up of four hydroxyl groups (OH) at a single carbon atom. Its existence was first predicted more than a century ago.
To finally prove that prediction correct, an international team of researchers created artificial space ice in a lab, freezing carbon dioxide and water down to ultra-cold temperatures in a vacuum.
By bombarding this ice with high-energy radiation blasts – intended to mimic the cosmic rays from stars and supernovae that zoom through space – it kicked off a chemical reaction that eventually led to methanetetrol.
"The detection of methanetetrol in space-simulation experiments demonstrates that the interstellar medium is host to an unanticipated and counterintuitive chemistry that demands scientific attention," write the researchers in their published paper.
It's a discovery that opens up a wealth of new possibilities about the chemical reactions that could be happening in deep space, including the freezing cold bundles of ice and dust that are interstellar clouds, lingering between stars.
If methanetetrol can form, then what other 'impossible' molecules could be out there? And how might this influence the chemistry and physics of space that have already been outlined in previous research?
In particular, the researchers think that their findings could be vital in the future study of other lifeforms out in the Universe, and how they might get started – not just through this molecule, but others it might lead us to.
"This molecule's identification here represents a blind spot and the lack of its detection to date in the terrestrial environment is evidence of the counter-intuitive chemistry of the interstellar medium and justification for its promotion," write the researchers.
One of the next steps worth taking is to see if we can spot methanetetrol out in its natural habitat of deep space – as it's far too unstable to exist on Earth. Thanks to this latest research, astronomers now have a better idea of what they're looking for.
Detecting it isn't going to be easy though. Methanetetrol breaks apart very quickly when it's hit with light, a process known as dissociative photoionization, and the researchers were only able to catch a fleeting glimpse of it here.
There's lots more to explore, and thanks to advances in scientific techniques and telescope imagery, we're continuing to get a better idea of what's beyond our own planet. Indeed, only last year some of the same researchers discovered another 'impossible' molecule, called methanetriol.
It's increasingly clear that chemistry in space is not the same as chemistry on Earth. In fact, some estimates suggest we've only discovered around 1 percent of the chemicals out in space – but scientists are working hard on it.
"This work pushes the boundaries of what we know about chemistry in space," says chemist Ralf Kaiser, from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-have-brewed-a-super-alcohol-theorized-to-exist-in-deep-space
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-61561-z
Webb Captures Historic New Version of Hubble’s Legendary Deep Field Image
Aug 05, 2025
The Hubble Ultra Deep Field is one of the most iconic space photos of all time, showing nearly 10,000 galaxies of diverse ages, sizes, shapes, and colors in a single frame.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) revisited the same region of the sky, capturing its longest exposure of an extragalactic field with a single filter yet and revealing one of the deepest views ever of the ancient Universe.
The captured field, known as the MIRI Deep Imaging Survey (MIDIS) region, was observed using three of the shortest-wavelength filters available on Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) for almost 100 total hours.
The captured information was combined with data collected by Webb’s other primary imager, the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam).
By combining the data, astronomers and astrophysicists can study how galaxies formed and changed over billions of years, as the European Space Agency (ESA) explains.
Webb’s view of the MIDIS region is narrower than Hubble’s original Ultra Deep Field.
However, thanks to Webb’s extreme sensitivity, its deep observations managed to reveal more than 2,500 light sources, including “hundreds of extremely red galaxies.”
An “extremely red galaxy” in this instance is a dust-obscured system or galaxy with “mature stars that formed early in the Universe’s history.”
“Thanks to Webb’s sharp resolution, even at mid-infrared wavelengths, researchers can resolve the structures of many of these galaxies and study how their light is distributed, shedding light on their growth and evolution,” ESA explains.
Expert image processors have assigned different kinds of infrared light with various colors, helping viewers understand more about each galaxy in the image. The orange and red galaxies were captured at the longest mid-infrared wavelengths.
“The galaxies in these colors have extra features — such as high concentrations of dust, copious star formation, or an active galactic nucleus (AGN) at their center — which emit more of this farther infrared light,” ESA writes.
Meanwhile, the small greenish-white galaxies seen in Webb’s new image are actually the most distant. Although these extremely distant objects exhibit a high redshift, they are not shown as red in this new image.
Their light spectra peak in mid-infrared wavelengths, “which are depicted in white and green.”
The majority of the galaxies in Webb’s new image lack any feature that boosts their mid-infrared emission, so they are brightest at shorter near-infrared wavelengths. These are shown as blue and cyan in the image.
“By returning to this legacy field first made famous by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Webb is continuing and expanding the deep field tradition — revealing new details, uncovering previously hidden galaxies, and offering fresh insights into the formation of the first cosmic structures,” ESA concludes.
https://petapixel.com/2025/08/05/webb-captures-historic-new-version-of-hubbles-legendary-deep-field-image/
https://esahubble.org/images/heic0611b/
https://esawebb.org/images/potm2507a/
https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2025/04/aa51723-24/aa51723-24.html#S18
Solar eruption from Earth-facing sunspot could trigger northern lights Aug. 8
August 6, 2025
Earlier this week, active region 4168 churned out three M-class flares within 24 hours, ending weeks of calm on the sun.
Then, on Aug. 5, it fired off a strong M4.4-class flare, peaking at 11:58 a.m. EDT (15:58 GMT), and hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space.
But though the eruption came from almost smack-dab in the center of the sun's disk, a spot that usually spells "bullseye" for Earth, this one had a trick up its sleeve.
Instead of heading straight for us, the CME launched sideways, flinging most of its plasma westward, away from Earth.
Still, space weather forecasters say there is a chance Earth may still receive a glancing blow from the CME on Aug. 8, which could trigger a minor (G1) geomagnetic storm, potentially sparking northern lights as far south as northern Michigan and Maine.
"Virtually center disk flare, CME goes sideways. Just Solar Cycle 25 things," aurora chaser Jure Atanackov posted on X, summing up the oddball behavior.
Even so, Earth might not entirely be in the clear. Atanackov pointed to NASA's WSA-ENLIL model, which "indicates the CME from the M4.4 flare may (despite its best efforts) still clip us."
The model suggests a potential impact around 2:00 a.m. EDT (0600 UTC) on Aug. 8 — with a generous margin of error of ±8 hours.
The U.K. Met Office agrees there's potential, noting that "as this region was located near the centre disk at the time, there is a likelihood of an Earth-directed component." However, they also say confidence in that forecast is low.
If the CME does brush past Earth, we could see auroras stretch south into high and even mid-latitudes, but only if the storm's magnetic orientation (a key ingredient for auroras) cooperates.
Essentially, the CME's magnetic field needs to point southward — opposite to Earth's northward field — to effectively connect and transfer energy into our magnetosphere.
If it points north instead, the "door is closed" and solar wind simply glances off, and the auroras may be a no-show.
For now, we wait and watch. As always with the sun — stay tuned.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/sun/solar-storm-launched-from-busy-sunspot-could-trigger-auroras-on-aug-8
https://twitter.com/JAtanackov/status/1952972141911007509
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/communities/space-weather-enthusiasts-dashboard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xia5ToHTGgs (Solar Storm Watch, Solar Flare Watch, Coronal Hole | S0 News Aug.6.2025)
https://www.space.com/science/alien-life-on-mars-or-europa-could-survive-off-cosmic-rays-instead-of-the-sun-scientists-suggest
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/estimating-the-potential-of-ionizing-radiationinduced-radiolysis-for-microbial-metabolism-on-terrestrial-planets-and-satellites-with-rarefied-atmospheres/187F317A3974A2008227C707538785E9#authors-details
Alien life on Mars or Europa could survive off cosmic rays instead of the sun, scientists suggest
August 5, 2025
Cosmic rays could be a vital source of energy for life on icy moons, on Mars, or even on rogue planets that wander alone between stars; it's possible, scientists say, that the phenomenon could create a "radiolytic habitable zone" on what are otherwise some of the coldest, darkest worlds known.
"For this mechanism to work, you just need a planetary surface with a thin or no atmosphere, irrespective of its distance from the sun," Dimitra Atri of New York University Abu Dhabi, told Space.com.
"This would expand the possibilities of life existing on distant and rogue planets."
On Earth, life mostly derives its biochemical energy from sunlight. There are exceptions, however. For instance, life can exist on the seafloor where sunlight cannot shine through.
There, hydrothermal vents pump heat and chemical energy into the ocean. Meanwhile, extremophile microbes living several kilometers down below Earth's rocky surface survive on a diet of hydrogen, methane, sulfur and ammonia and have very slow metabolisms.
These exceptions point to how life might persist on worlds unlike our own, on planets like Mars or in the oceans of icy moons such as Europa and Enceladus.
And now, a team of researchers led by Atri has found a new way that life might gain energy to eke out an existence in the dark: cosmic rays.
What are cosmic rays? Cosmic rays are energetic particles that originate beyond the solar system.
Their precise origin is undetermined — supernova remnants and active galactic nuclei are considered to be two likely sources — but what we know is that cosmic rays are generally either charged particles such as electrons and protons, or atomic nuclei such as alpha particles (helium nuclei). Cosmic rays are also typically considered to be ionizing radiation, which can have a detrimental effect on biological cells and DNA.
Perhaps, though, cosmic rays aren't bad for all life. Indeed, as Atri says, in certain environments they could be essential.
Moving at close to the speed of light, cosmic rays are sufficiently energetic to be able to penetrate several feet into the ground if they reach a planetary body with no magnetic field to deflect them, and no thick atmosphere to absorb them.
On Earth, we are relatively safe from cosmic rays because our planet does have a robust magnetic field (although, technically, frequent flyers are more exposed to them).
Mars, however, has a thin atmosphere and no magnetic shield, while Jupiter's and Saturn's moons, barring the atmospheric Titan, are much more exposed to cosmic rays.
When a cosmic ray reaches the surface of a body and strikes water-ice, both on the surface and in the body's sub-surface, the sheer energy of impact can smash water molecules apart and release electrons in the process.
These electrons can then be utilized by simple microbial life as an energy source in a process known as radiolysis.
Atri and his colleagues performed a series of calculations that worked out the maximum biomass that could survive from the flux of cosmic rays at Mars, Europa and Enceladus, and how deep that life would be.
The contenders
Enceladus, which is an icy moon of Saturn that is 313 miles (504 kilometers) across with an underground ocean and giant water plumes that spray out through surface cracks, was the most promising, with a maximum biomass sustainable by cosmic rays of 400 millionths of a gram per square centimeter.
This might not sound like much, but consider that a single microbe has a mass in the region of a trillionth of a gram.
Mars was next, with a maximum biomass of 110 millionths of a gram per square centimeter capable of being supported by radiolysis.
If life exists on Mars, it would be underground, embedded in permafrost and could potentially explain anomalous methane readings scientists see in Mars' atmosphere.
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Third on the list was Jupiter's moon Europa, which is the quintessential ocean moon.
Europa's ocean is deemed to exist below dozens of miles of ice, which is far too deep for cosmic rays to typically reach, and it exists inside Jupiter's huge magnetosphere that can protect Europa from some of the cosmic-ray barrage.
And yet, Atri’s team calculated that cosmic rays could possibly support a biomass of up to 4.5 billionths of a gram per cubic centimeter at a depth of 3.3 feet (1 meter). How could this be possible if the ocean is far deeper?
"Although we know very little about the surface or near-surface environment, it is plausible that in the presence of salts, which are widely distributed throughout our solar system, water can stay in liquid form even at very low temperatures," Atri told Space.com.
He imagines pockets of liquid water within touching distance of Europa’s surface, kept liquid by the salts that act as an antifreeze: "Microbes can live in shallow subsurface environments under such conditions in pockets where such brines exist."
Therefore, it raises the possibility that life on Europa could exist much closer to the surface than we previously thought, and forthcoming missions including NASA's Europa Clipper and the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), both currently on their way to Jupiter, might want to concentrate on areas where the icy crust on Europa is thin.
A new habitable zone?
Cosmic-ray interactions with ice don't just generate electrons for radiolysis. They can also spark chemical reactions that are only possible with the higher energies of cosmic rays as opposed to the lower-energy light from the sun.
These reactions can then create complex organic molecules directly, producing new pathways by which life can utilize them for cellular and metabolic functions.
Astrobiologists frequently talk about the habitable zone, which is a region around the sun where temperatures are suitable for liquid water to exist on a world with an atmosphere.
We already know that bodies such as Europa and Enceladus exist outside of the traditional boundaries of this zone and are kept warm enough for liquid water by Jupiter's gravitational field flexing their interior.
Now, Atri's team introduces the "radiolytic habitable zone," which falls at a depth below a planet or moon's surface where life can be given energy through radiolysis.
Of course, radiolysis doesn't have to be the only source of energy on a moon or planet.
There is speculation that icy moons including Europa and Enceladus possess hydrothermal vents on their seafloor belching chemical energy into their ocean, while on Mars sunlight could also be a factor and, long ago, volcanic energy.
"In fact, my next paper is focused on estimating the total energy availability from various sources, including radiolysis and hydrothermal vents," Atri told Space.com.
The potential biomass on these worlds could be much larger than Atri's initial calculations based purely on radiolysis suggest.
The research even opens the door to microbial life on worlds farther afield, perhaps on Pluto in the Kuiper Belt, or even on rogue exoplanets wandering in the vastness of space far from any star, ejected long ago from their home systems.
The density of cosmic rays is even greater in interstellar space, since the sun's magnetic bubble, the heliosphere, is able to block some of the cosmic-ray influx from reaching the planets of the solar system.
A rogue planet, cast adrift from its protective star, could be exposed to a great deal of radiolytic action.
"This discovery changes the way we think about where life might exist," concluded Atri in a statement. "Life might be able to survive in more places than we ever imagined."
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https://www.space.com/astronomy/earth/earths-oldest-impact-crater-is-much-younger-than-previously-thought-new-study
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu5379
Earth's 'oldest' impact crater is much younger than previously thought, new study finds
August 6, 2025
This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Ever been late because you misread a clock? Sometimes, the "clocks" geologists use to date events can also be misread. Unravelling Earth’s 4.5-billion-year history with rocks is tricky business.
Case in point: the discovery of an ancient meteorite impact crater was recently reported in the remote Pilbara region of Western Australia.
The original study, by a different group, made headlines with the claim the crater formed 3.5 billion years ago. If true, it would be Earth’s oldest by far.
As it turns out, we'd also been investigating the same site. Our results are published in Science Advances today.
While we agree that this is the site of an ancient meteorite impact, we have reached different conclusions about its age, size and significance.
Let's consider the claims made about this fascinating crater.
One impact crater, two versions of events
Planetary scientists search for ancient impacts to learn about Earth’s early formation. So far, nobody has found an impact crater older than the 2.23-billion-year-old Yarrabubba structure, also in Australia.
(Some of the authors from both 2025 Pilbara studies were coauthors on the 2020 Yarrabubba study.)
The new contender is located in an area called North Pole Dome. Despite the name, this isn't where Santa lives. It's an arid, hot, ochre-stained landscape.
The first report on the new crater claimed it formed 3.5 billion years ago, and was more than 100 kilometers in diameter.
It was proposed that such a large impact might have played a role in forming continental crust in the Pilbara. More speculatively, the researchers also suggested it may have influenced early life.
Our study concludes the impact actually happened much later, sometime after 2.7 billion years ago.
This is at least 800 million years younger than the earlier estimate (and we think it's probably even younger; more on that in a moment).
We also determined the crater was much smaller – about 16km in diameter. In our view, this impact was too young and too small to have influenced continent formation or early life.
So how could two studies arrive at such different findings?
Subtle clues of an impact
The originally circular crater is deeply eroded, leaving only subtle clues on the landscape. However, among the rust-colored basalts are unique telltale signs of meteorite impact: shatter cones.
Shatter cones are distinctive fossilized imprints of shock waves that have passed through rocks. Their unique conical shapes form under brief but immense pressure where a meteorite strikes Earth.
Both studies found shatter cones, and agree the site is an ancient impact.
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This new crater also needed a name. We consulted the local Aboriginal people, the Nyamal, who shared the traditional name for this place and its people: Miralga.
The "Miralga impact structure" name recognizes this heritage.
Determining the timing of the impact
The impact age was estimated by field observations, as neither study found material likely to yield an impact age by radiometric dating – a method that uses measurements of radioactive isotopes.
Both studies applied a geological principle called the law of superposition. This states that rock layers get deposited one on top of another over time, so rocks on top are younger than those below.
The first group found shatter cones within and below a sedimentary layer known to have been deposited 3.47 billion years ago, but no shatter cones in younger rocks above this layer.
This meant the impact occurred during deposition of the sedimentary layer.
Their observation seemed to be a "smoking gun" for an impact 3.47 billion years ago.
As it turns out, there was more to the story. Our investigation found shatter cones in the same 3.47 billion-year-old rocks, but also in younger overlying rocks, including lavas known to have erupted 2.77 billion years ago.
The impact had to occur after the formation of the youngest rocks that contained shatter cones, meaning sometime after the 2.77-billion-year-old lavas.
At the moment, we don't know precisely how young the crater is. We can only constrain the impact to have occurred between 2.7 billion and 400 million years ago.
We’re working on dating the impact by isotopic methods, but these results aren't yet in.
Smaller than originally thought
We made the first map showing where shatter cones are found. There are many hundreds over an area 6km across. From this map and their orientations, we calculate the original crater was about 16km in diameter.
A 16km crater is a far cry from the original estimate of more than 100km. It’s too small to have influenced the formation of continents or life. By the time of the impact, the Pilbara was already quite old.
A new connection to Mars
Science is a self-policing sport. Claims of discovery are based on data available at the time, but they often require modification based on new data or observations.
While it’s not the world’s oldest, the Miralga impact is scientifically unique, as craters formed in basalt are rare. Most basalts there formed 3.47 billion years ago, making them the oldest shocked target rocks known.
Prior to impact, these ancient basalts had been chemically altered by seawater. Sedimentary rocks nearby also contain the earliest well-established fossils on Earth. Such rocks likely covered much of early Earth and Mars.
This makes the Miralga impact structure a playground for planetary scientists studying the cratered surface (and maybe early life) of Mars.
It's an easily accessible proving ground for Mars exploration instruments and imagery, right here on Earth.
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Meink wraps Indo-Pacific visit, emphasizes alliances, integrated readiness
Aug. 6, 2025
Secretary of the Air Force Troy E. Meink concluded a multi-nation visit to the Indo-Pacific region, where he met with senior defense officials, observed multinational training and visited with Airmen and Guardians supporting Department-Level Exercise 2025.
The trip included stops in Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines, Japan and Alaska reinforcing the Department of the Air Force’s commitment to strengthening regional partnerships and operating alongside allies and partners to maintain peace and stability.
“The Department of the Air Force remains committed to maintaining readiness alongside our allies and partners in the region to uphold stability in the Indo-Pacific,” Meink said.
“This visit reaffirmed the vital role our Airmen, Guardians and international partners play in executing integrated operations and maintaining credible deterrence against our adversaries.”
During the visit, Meink observed operations in support of Department-Level Exercise 2025, a first-in-a-generation training series designed to demonstrate the ability to conduct distributed operations at speed and scale.
The exercise involved more than 400 aircraft and 12,000 participants across 50 locations in the Indo-Pacific.
“DLE 2025 showcases how we can integrate and operate as a coalition across all domains,” Meink said. “The ability of our forces to deploy, sustain and operate in contested environments alongside partners is key to our shared security.”
In bilateral engagements with defense leaders in the Philippines and Japan, Meink emphasized the importance of deepening defense ties and advancing multilateral coordination across the Indo-Pacific.
Discussions included enhancing joint interoperability, regional deterrence and shared efforts to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.
“We’re building a force ready for tomorrow’s challenges—one that’s forward-postured, connected with allies and able to respond decisively,” Meink said.
Throughout the trip, Meink met with Airmen and Guardians stationed and deployed across the region, thanking them for their service and reinforcing the Department’s focus on warfighting readiness and integrated operations.
“Our people are the foundation of our strength,” Meink said. “It was an honor to speak with the Airmen and Guardians driving the mission forward across the region.”
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4267439/meink-wraps-indo-pacific-visit-emphasizes-alliances-integrated-readiness/
https://www.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4267377/resolute-space-25-large-scale-us-space-force-exercise-tests-validates-allied-by/
Resolute Space 25: Large-scale US Space Force exercise tests, validates ‘allied by design’
Aug. 6, 2025
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii (AFNS) – Integration between the U.S. and its allies is a consistent focal point for the U.S. Space Force, with critical command and control and operational elements of allied partnerships being tested and validated in Resolute Space 2025.
Resolute Space 2025 is the U.S. Space Force’s largest service-wide exercise, executed as part of the broader Department-Level Exercise series with the U.S. Air Force.
The exercise, which began on July 8, demonstrates the Space Force’s preparedness for complex, large-scale military operations in a contested, dynamic environment against high-end threats.
“The whole idea of this type of exercise is to place maximum pressure on our operational and command and control functions to understand where we need to improve,” said Royal Australian Air Force Group Captain Darrell May, deputy commander for U.S. Space Forces - Indo-Pacific.
“It provides us the opportunity to try different techniques, planning processes and structures to see what works and then get better from it.”
May, a career RAAF intelligence officer, fills a unique role as a RAAF senior officer in a U.S. military leadership position. While in this position, he speaks and acts on behalf of U.S. Space Force interests.
In the case of Resolute Space, he’s the service component deputy for exercise friendly forces.
Having an ally filling a senior U.S. military role exemplifies the intent of the U.S. Space Force International Partnership Strategy, which focuses on deepening collaboration with allies and partners.
“We are better able to achieve our goal of deterrence when we work together with our allies and partners,” said Col. Jay Steingold, Resolute Space 2025 exercise director.
“Just having Group Captain May’s position here, an Australian covering a critical U.S. Space Forces - Indo-Pacific leadership role, encourages us all to think about the linkages between nations and strengthens our collaboration and coordination mechanisms on a daily basis.”
One of three enduring goals of the U.S. Space Force International Partnership Strategy is to integrate with allies and partners across the full spectrum of force design, force development and force employment.
Broadly, the U.S Space Force embraces foreign exchange and liaison officer positions from approximately a dozen allied nations from South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Allies are integrated into all levels of command – strategic, operational and tactical – filling senior leadership functions, like May, and conducting missions on operations floors.
“Our allies are essential to our primary goal of deterrence. We operate in the space domain together; we fly together; we sail together; and we’ve fought side-by-side,” Steingold said.
“My team’s responsibility in this exercise has been to put pressure on the joint and coalition space warfighters in the most realistic manner across the USINDOPACOM and USSPACECOM areas of operation.
Our relations and coordination with allies and partners assure access to the space domain and this exercise validates those linkages and strengthens our relationships.”
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Leveraging partnerships with allies and like-minded nations achieves strategic objectives in space and aligns the approach with broader national defense priorities.
There are key advantages to incorporating and exercising allied integration concepts in Resolute Space.
“Resolute Space provides us an excellent opportunity to look at process, operations, and organizational structure challenges to know where we need to make improvements to our allied and partner integration,” said Brig. Gen. Brian Denaro, commander of U.S. Space Forces - Indo-Pacific.
Multiple force elements involved in Resolute Space have already begun capturing lessons-learned for improvement at the service-level, within the Space Force’s service component to the combatant command, and across Space Force field commands.
“This is about showing what gaps and seams exist in regards to collaboration with other components.
As the newest service component and being a new military service, we’re finding substantial ways to ensure we’re adequately structured to operate seamlessly with joint and coalition forces,” May said.
“One of the big successes we’ve seen so far in the exercise is the collaboration across each directorate within the service component, within the directorates themselves, and in collaboration with the space and mission deltas at Space Operations Command and Space Training and Readiness Command.
“Where the U.S. Space Force benefits from being a new service is that we’re adding combined force elements from the start – getting the right accounts, acknowledging unique perspectives and capabilities from allied and partner military services and incorporating space effects into the full scope of joint and combined military operations,” he said.
Resolute Space is designed to grow warfighters ready to deter emerging threats, leverage advanced technology and tactics to stay ahead of competitors and adversaries, and defend U.S. interests in, from and to space.
Through integrated large-scale exercises, Guardians hone the warfighting edge required to operate seamlessly with joint and allied forces.
“Adaptability, agility and professionalism are core to what we represent as a Space Force service component to the largest combatant command in the world,” May said.
“There’s what we know, there’s what we can do, and there’s what we think is possible. You can’t stop there. Resolute Space takes us further beyond the edge of what we think is possible.”
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SpaceX KF-02 Mission
August 6, 2025
SpaceX is targeting Thursday, August 7 for a Falcon 9 launch of the KF-02 mission to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The 27-minute window opens at 10:01 a.m. ET. If needed, a backup launch opportunity is available on Friday, August 8 with a 25-minute window that opens at 9:40 a.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about 15 minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/kf-02
Putin meets with Trump’s special envoy
6 Aug, 2025 09:56
Russian President Vladimir Putin has begun talks with Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of US President Donald Trump, according to footage released by the Kremlin.
Witkoff, who has traveled to Russia multiple times in his role as special envoy, landed in Moscow earlier on Wednesday on what Trump has described as a make-or-break diplomatic mission.
The US president has threatened buyers of Russian energy with secondary sanctions unless progress is made in resolving the Ukraine conflict.
The Kremlin responded that demands for sovereign states to halt economic ties with Moscow have no legal basis.
Since taking office in January, Trump has reopened high-level diplomatic channels with Moscow, reversing the isolationist approach of his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The Trump administration has argued that engagement between the two nuclear superpowers is essential and could result in mutual benefits.
Nevertheless, Trump has grown frustrated over the lack of swift results from his efforts to broker a peace deal, according to his public remarks.
Moscow has maintained that it prefers diplomacy but will not allow the presence of a NATO-aligned adversary on its borders at the expense of national security.
Kiev has continued to call on its Western backers to ramp up their military support and expand the sanctions on Russia.
Some European governments have appealed to the US to sell them weapons to sustain shipments to Ukraine.
https://www.rt.com/russia/622555-putin-witkoff-meeting-kremlin/
Trump envoy arrives in Moscow
6 Aug, 2025 05:16
US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, arrived in Moscow early on Wednesday morning. He is expected to discuss the settlement of the Ukraine conflict with senior Russian officials.
Witkoff’s plane landed at Vnukovo Airport, where he was welcomed by presidential investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who is also the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
The two were later seen strolling in Zaryadye Park in central Moscow near the Kremlin.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said that a face-to-face meeting between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin could not be ruled out.
Witkoff arrived in Moscow days after Trump threatened to impose sanctions on Russia unless significant progress is made in the settlement process.
The US president signaled that the restrictions could include 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions targeting Russia’s trade partners, particularly in the oil sector.
Since Trump’s inauguration, Witkoff has held several rounds of negotiations with Russia. His last visit to the country took place in late April. The talks revolved around the Ukraine conflict, US-Russia prisoner swaps, and bilateral ties.
On Monday, Ukrainian media reported that Witkoff’s visit to Moscow would coincide with talks between US Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg and officials in Kiev.
US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker has expressed hope that the visit would pave the way for “a breakthrough” in negotiations over Ukraine.
As Trump has repeatedly pushed Russia and Ukraine to work out a peace deal, the countries held three rounds of direct talks in Istanbul in May, June, and late July.
While the sides have failed to reach a breakthrough, they agreed to several major prisoner swaps.
Russia insists that a sustainable peace deal must include Ukraine’s commitment to stay out of NATO, demilitarization, and the recognition of the new territorial reality on the ground. Kiev has rejected the terms.
https://www.rt.com/russia/622541-trump-envoy-arrives-moscow/
Trump vows to pull US out of Ukraine ‘mess’
6 Aug, 2025 06:28
The US is working hard to withdraw itself from the “mess” of the Ukraine conflict, President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
When asked why the US should keep funding Ukraine as Kiev grows increasingly more coercive in its draft campaign, Trump responded: “This is Biden’s war. This is not my war. I’m here to get us out of it. It’s a mess, and I’m here to get us out.”
The journalist was referring to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s recent decree allowing the enlistment of men over 60.
”I haven’t heard that, when you say about 60-year-old men,” Trump said. “But this is Biden’s war. And we’re working very hard to get us out.”
In recent weeks, the US president has threatened to impose 100% tariffs and secondary sanctions targeting Russia’s trading partners in an effort to pressure Moscow into accepting a ceasefire with Kiev – measures which Russia has denounced as illegal.
Asked whether he was prepared to follow through on his threats, Trump said a decision would be made after a scheduled meeting in Russia this week involving his special envoy, Steve Witkoff.
”I never said a percentage [for tariffs], but we’ll be doing quite a bit of that,” Trump said. “We have a meeting with Russia tomorrow [on Wednesday]… We’ll make that determination at that time.”
Earlier in the day, Trump said he will “substantially” raise tariffs on Indian imports over the next 24 hours, due to New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian crude.
He had previously announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, scheduled to take effect on Friday.
India, one the biggest importers of Russian oil alongside China, has promised to “safeguard its national interests and economic security” in response to the tariff threat.
Beijing responded by vowing to “defend its sovereignty” in response to what it described as “coercion and pressure.”
Moscow has condemned Trump’s tariff threats as violations of other nations’ rights.
“We believe that sovereign states should have, and do have, the right to choose their own trade partners,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
https://www.rt.com/news/622538-trump-withdraw-us-ukraine-conflict/
hittin' switches
Zelensky rejects any limited ceasefire with Russia
6 Aug, 2025 13:26
Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has rejected any limited ceasefire with Russia, insisting that Kiev will only agree to a complete halt in hostilities.
His statement came in the wake of reports from Bloomberg that Moscow planned to propose a pause in air operations.
Moscow and Kiev have agreed to several partial ceasefires since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. Both sides have also accused each other of violating the agreements.
Following a US-mediated 30-day agreement to pause strikes on energy infrastructure earlier this year, Moscow reported that Kiev’s forces had violated the truce over 100 times.
Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, citing anonymous sources, that the Kremlin is considering offering an “air truce” during the visit of US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow this week.
The arrangement would reportedly involve halting missile and drone strikes but would not end ground operations.
The proposal is expected to come amid US President Donald Trump’s threats to impose secondary tariffs on Russia and its trading partners unless a peace deal is reached soon.
Moscow has not confirmed plans to propose any sort of limited truce. In a post on his Telegram channel, Zelensky wrote that Kiev supports only an “immediate, complete and unconditional” ceasefire.
“We’ve already tried many different formats,” he said, referring to proposals for “silence in the skies” and halts to energy‑sector attacks.
He alleged that all such agreements were breached and urged further sanctions on Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow favors a peaceful resolution and a “long‑term, lasting peace” rather than a temporary truce.
He has stressed that any settlement must address the “realities on the ground” and the root causes of the conflict.
Russia has repeatedly called on Ukraine to recognize the loss of five of its former regions that joined Russia in public referendums, withdraw its forces from those territories, commit to neutrality, and limit its military capabilities.
Moscow has also said a ceasefire could be possible if Ukraine halts troop movements, suspends mobilization, stops foreign arms shipments, and holds a presidential election. Kiev has rejected the terms as unacceptable.
https://www.rt.com/russia/622565-zelensky-rejects-limited-ceasefire/
Balkan state moves to oust local Serb leader – media
6 Aug, 2025 09:09
The election authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina have revoked the mandate of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik, local media has reported. Republika Srpska is an autonomous Serb-dominated region within the Balkan country.
According to Dnevni Avaz news outlet, the decision of the Central Election Commission was unanimous, though Dodik has the right to appeal. Once the deadline passes, early elections are expected to be called within 90 days.
The move followed a court ruling in February in which Dodik was given a one-year prison sentence and a six-year ban from political office over alleged anti-constitutional conduct.
The Serb leader was accused of refusing to implement rulings issued by Christian Schmidt, the international high representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A German national, Schmidt is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the Bosnian War.
The stand-off between the Serb leader and Schmidt dates back to 2023, when Dodik helped push through local-level laws preventing the implementation of state-level Constitutional Court rulings and declaring the envoy’s decrees non-binding.
Dodik earlier proclaimed Schmidt illegitimate, calling him a “tourist.”
Dodik appeared to defy the commission’s decision, writing on X: “What if I refuse,” dismissing it as more “crap from Sarajevo.”
The Bosnian Serb leader earlier attracted some international support, with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban signaling that he would not recognize any verdicts against Dodik, adding that any “attempts by EU-appointed overseers to remove him for opposing their globalist agenda are unacceptable.”
Vladimir Dzhabarov, a senior member of Russia’s Federation Council, interpreted the pressure on Dodik as a jab at Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, a traditional ally of Republika Srpska.
https://www.rt.com/news/622550-balkan-state-oust-serb-leader/
Ukraine’s top spy admits to employing prostitutes
6 Aug, 2025 06:31
Kiev employs prostitutes to gather information, Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), has said.
In an interview with Ukrainian journalist Ramina Eshakzai published on Tuesday, he was asked if Kiev uses prostitutes to gather information – a practice which the reporter said is common in British intelligence.
”A normal method, isn’t it? Do you know how often men share stories to show how powerful they are, as they say?” Budanov said.
Ukrainian intelligence has been able to receive “several unique pieces of information” from men in relaxed circumstances, he added. “It’s just about things that we couldn’t have found out about at all, in principle.”
According to Budanov, “a very high percentage” of personnel serving in the HUR are now women.
Ukrainian spies commonly use “entrepreneurial activity, journalism, and sociology” as cover jobs while on assignment, while some work under “full cover,” living double lives in Russia, he said.
Ukraine has increasingly turned to assassination and sabotage in Russia as its forces have been beaten back on the battlefield.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has warned that Ukrainian intelligence has increased recruitment efforts within Russia to carry out assassination and sabotage plots.
The FSB regularly reports that it has thwarted these types of activities.
Moscow has said Ukraine is morphing into a “terrorist” organization, accusing Kiev of carrying out killings of Russian officers, journalists, and other key figures.
https://www.rt.com/russia/622540-ukraine-spy-employing-prostitutes/
IDF says it struck Hamas weapons manufacturing site in Gaza City yesterday
August 6, 2025 3:17 pm
A Hamas weapons manufacturing site in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighborhood was struck by the Israeli Air Force yesterday, the IDF says.
To mitigate civilian harm in the strike, the military says it issued an evacuation warning, and used a precision munition, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.
Meanwhile, the IDF says the 215th Artillery Regiment shelled a launching position used by terror operatives to fire mortars at an army encampment in northern Gaza yesterday. No injuries were caused in the mortar attack.
In the area of the Daraj and Tuffah neighborhoods of Gaza City, troops of the 401st Armored Brigade directed a drone strike on a cell of some 10 operatives and eliminated them, the military says.
Elsewhere in Gaza, the IDF says it demolished Hamas infrastructure and killed additional operatives.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza says 138 Palestinians were killed in the Strip during the previous 24 hours.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-says-it-struck-hamas-weapons-manufacturing-site-in-gaza-city-yesterday/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otTkpmkmj8Q
If the IDF has nothing to hide with its military and aid operation, it should allow international journalists into Gaza
Wednesday 6 August 2025 15:12, UK
Escalating Israel's military operation in Gaza to the max - which is reportedly what Israel's prime minister is leaning towards - will stretch an already exhausted army.
No wonder Eyal Zamir, Israel's chief of staff, is reportedly reluctant to go down that route, however much of the messaging from the top has been that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) will follow whatever the political echelon decides.
No wonder, then, that IDF spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani was reluctant to flesh out the implications of an expanded operation or what a full military "occupation" - touted now as having entered Benjamin Netanyahu's lexicon - will look like.
As he pointed out, Hamas benefits from international outrage over the spectre of famine in Gaza.
It turns the tide of public opinion against Israel, taking the pressure off Hamas. That may be, in part, why the latest round of ceasefire talks collapsed.
The IDF refuses to accept responsibility for Gaza being on the brink of famine, instead accusing the UN of failing to do their part in an ongoing war of words, although Lt Col Shoshani acknowledged that distributing aid in a war zone is "not simple".
That is why it should have been left to experts in humanitarian aid distribution - the UN and its agencies, not to US military contractors.
Given the large number of aid-related deaths reported daily, not just by Gaza's health ministry but also by doctors who are treating the injured and tying up the body bags, there should be greater accountability.
Lt Col Shoshani said the missing link is the proof that it is IDF soldiers doing the shooting. He is right.
If international journalists were granted access to Gaza, to support Palestinian colleagues whose every day involves both the danger of operating in a war zone and the search for food and supplies for their families, then there might be greater accountability.
It is not sufficient to claim that the IDF operates "in accordance with our values, with our procedures and with international law", which is what Lt Col Shoshani told Sky News.
That may suffice for Israeli audiences who see very little on their screens of the reality on the ground, but it is not enough for the rest of us - not after 61,000 deaths.
If the IDF has nothing to hide, it should allow international journalists in.
That would alleviate the burden of reporting on Palestinian journalists, at least 175 of whom have lost their lives since the war began.
It would also allow a degree more clarity on what is happening and who is to blame for the hell inside Gaza now.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/senior-idf-general-admits-to-disagreements-among-top-military-brass-on-gaza/
wrong sauce
correct sauce
https://news.sky.com/story/if-the-idf-has-nothing-to-hide-with-its-military-and-aid-operation-it-should-allow-international-journalists-into-gaza-13407766
https://www.iflscience.com/half-a-billion-years-ago-the-grand-canyon-was-filled-with-penis-worms-80303
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbLQAQSwyLs
Half A Billion Years Ago, The Grand Canyon Was Filled With Penis Worms
August 6, 2025
The Grand Canyon is undeniably a wonder of nature – and according to a new paper from a team of palaeontologists and geologists, it always has been.
Half a billion years ago, long before humans were around to gape in awe or plummet to their selfie-related deaths, the canyon was apparently a hub of biodiversity – an evolutionary “Goldilocks zone”, the team write, filled with organisms boasting weird and wonderful adaptations for life.
And they’re really hoping you’ll concentrate on that, rather than what the IFLScience team noticed when we first saw this paper.
Two words: penis worm.
A world of weird
Okay, “penis worm” is underselling it. In fact, the Grand Canyon was something of a treasure trove of well-preserved fossils, with the team uncovering more than 1,500 Cambrian-era worms, crustaceans, and mollusks altogether.
That number alone would be a good day for your average palaeontologist, but these are extra-special fossils: they’re squishy.
That’s unusual for a fossil – the soft parts are usually the first to get broken down and disappear over time, while hard parts like bones stick around for longer.
That’s a big problem for Cambrian-era organisms, though, since it seems a whole lot of them were squishy.
But every so often, conditions conspire to preserve even these worms and mollusks – and the team behind the new study figured the Grand Canyon might just be such a spot.
“The geology of the Grand Canyon, which contains lots of fine-grained and easily split mud rocks, suggested to us that it might be just the sort of place where we might be able to find some of these fossils,” Giovanni Mussini, a PhD student in Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences and first author of the paper, said in a statement on the finds.
But by dissolving the rocks that these ultra-prehistoric beasties were preserved within, and sieving multiple times, the team were able to discover thousands of microscopic fossils and trace fossils – that is, fossilized evidence of the organisms’ movements and behavior.
Altogether, it revealed a staggeringly diverse world, filled with weird and exotic organisms specially evolved for the Cambrian-era ecosystems.
“We can see from these fossils that Cambrian animals had wide variety of feeding styles used to process their food, some which have modern counterparts, and some that are more exotic,” explained Mussini.
“These rare fossils give us a fuller picture of what life was like during the Cambrian period,” he said. “By combining these fossils with traces of their burrowing, walking, and feeding – which are found all over the Grand Canyon – we’re able to piece together an entire ancient ecosystem.”
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Visit the Grand Canyon in the Cambrian era, and you’d see slug-like mollusks, surviving off algae and bacteria that they would scrape off rocks using chains of teeth on their feet.
There’d be crustaceans similar to brine shrimp scuttling around, sweeping up particles of food with their hairy limbs and grinding them up with tiny ridged teeth – some of the fossils are so well-preserved that their plankton prey are still visible around the mouths.
“These were cutting-edge ‘technologies’ for their time, integrating multiple anatomical parts into high-powered feeding systems,” Mussini said.
But far odder – and much more numerous – was a third type of animal. And yes, it’s the one you’ve been waiting for.
Penis worm?
Look, we’re not going to lie: this is not as awesome as it sounds. The “penis worm” is a legit animal – or, more accurately, a whole phylum.
Their fancy name is Priapulida, which sounds way less snicker-worthy until you learn that they’re literally named after the Greek god of dicks.
Evidently, these buggers put the scientists who discovered them in mind of something very particular.
Frankly, we can see why.
Ironically, though, the nomenclature actually gets it backwards – the worms came first. No, seriously: penises enter the evolutionary record about 425 million years ago, but penis worm fossils have been found from much further back.
In Canada, the Burgess Shale deposit has yielded soft-part imprints of the phallic minibeasts dating from at least the middle Cambrian period, and potentially as early as the Precambrian–Cambrian transition more than 540 million years ago.
The Grand Canyon penis worms, however, “are much more complex than any of its counterparts from the Burgess Shale,” Mussini told Science News – and by “complex”, he presumably means “weird as all heck”.
The team found close to 1,000 of these now much less phallic-seeming beasties in their sweep, making them by far the most populous fossils there.
Dubbed Kraytdraco spectatus by the team – yes, after the Star Wars dragon – the penis worms all follow the same basic blueprint: an unsegmented body in three parts, one of which is retractable like a snail eye, and another which is, no exaggeration, an invertible throat covered entirely in teeth.
And you can sense the excitement as the researchers describe the multitude of dentition: “Priapulid pharyngeal teeth are U- to V-shaped sclerites,” they write, which “show a diagnostic combination of features: a ridge-like marginal ‘arch,’ a basal ‘pad’ of thinner cuticle, a spinose, distally directed terminal ‘prong,’ and lateral ‘denticles’ consisting of hair- or spine-like projections extending from the arch and pointing distally.”
And why would you want all these may and varied teeth inside your throat, you ask? Well, because when prey goes past, you can simply vomit your throat out of your body and catch it. Ain’t evolution beautiful?
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A 5Kg Robot Reveals What’s Really Inside the Great Pyramid After 4,500 Years
August 5, 2025
A project led by engineers from the University of Leeds has uncovered a hidden chamber deep inside Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza, offering rare insight into the pyramid’s construction and purpose.
The findings, captured by a purpose-built robot designed to explore narrow interior shafts, show previously unseen markings—and raise new questions about what lies beyond a sealed stone.
A robot’s quiet journey inside Egypt’s oldest pyramid
The expedition stems from work that began in 2010, when Professor Rob Richardson, head of robotics at the University of Leeds, partnered with inventor Dr. Tze Chuen Ng, a Hong Kong-based dentist with a long-time fascination for Ancient Egypt.
Their objective was to explore one of the pyramid’s most inaccessible internal features: a narrow shaft leading out of the Queen’s Chamber.
Previous attempts to investigate the shaft, which measures only 20 cm by 20 cm and runs upward at a 40-degree angle, had damaged parts of the ancient structure.
Richardson’s team faced a complex design challenge: create a robot small and light enough to navigate the shaft without risking further damage.
After nearly five years of development, the final version of the robot weighed just 5 kg and was capable of maneuvering gently along the 60-meter shaft.
The mission was part of the Djedi Project, named after a magician from the time of Pharaoh Khufu, who is believed to have commissioned the pyramid over 4,500 years ago.
Discovery of a hidden chamber with symbolic markings
As the robot ascended the shaft, its onboard camera recorded exclusive footage of a small sealed chamber just before the shaft’s apparent end.
Inside, researchers spotted colored symbols painted directly on the chamber’s stone floor—an unexpected detail that may point to a symbolic or ritual function.
“No one knows the purpose of the shaft,” said Richardson. “There has been speculation that it could be an air vent or perhaps access to a burial tomb.”
The markings, however, complicate that theory. “Given the artwork, it is likely the shaft served a bigger purpose,” he added.
The shaft also contained a blocking stone around 50 meters in, which the robot was able to partially bypass with a flexible camera arm.
Behind it lay the chamber with the painted floor. But a second stone, positioned further in, completely blocked the robot’s path—and what lies beyond remains unknown.
Project halted before full exploration could continue
The mission was paused due to growing security concerns in Egypt in the years following the robot’s deployment. This prevented researchers from developing new tools to bypass the second stone or investigate further into the shaft.
The team had originally hoped to analyze the chamber’s geometry and materials to better understand its function, whether architectural, symbolic, or otherwise. With the project on indefinite hold, that analysis remains incomplete.
Still, the robot’s video footage has been preserved and released to the public in two parts via the Ancient Architects YouTube channel, offering historians and researchers raw access to the visual data.
“I’m thrilled to be releasing the documentary exclusively on YouTube,” said Matthew Sibson, the channel’s founder. “But the nine hours of raw footage is what really excites me as an independent researcher of ancient history.”
What the hidden markings could mean
The discovery of artwork inside the chamber adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting the pyramid’s shafts were not purely functional.
While the commonly accepted theory has long been that the shafts served as air vents, the inclusion of painted symbols—possibly ceremonial—suggests a more complex role.
Egyptologists and archaeologists have speculated that the shaft may have had a ritualistic function, potentially aligned with ancient Egyptian beliefs about the afterlife and the pharaoh’s soul journey.
The placement of multiple stones blocking the shaft also hints at intentional concealment, rather than architectural oversight.
Without further access, it’s impossible to confirm these theories.
Yet the robot’s brief window into the shaft has sparked renewed interest in the Great Pyramid’s unexplored interiors—and raised the possibility that other, undiscovered spaces may exist within the structure.
https://dailygalaxy.com/2025/08/a-5kg-robot-reveals-whats-really-inside-the-great-pyramid-after-4500-years/
https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/mechanical-engineering/news/article/5619/the-robot-opening-a-window-on-an-ancient-civilisation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-TxOFEFvnw (Raw footage part 1)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uECIwVsFfY (part 2)
Russians strike Borova in Kharkiv region with drone, one wounded
06.08.2025 16:59
Russian military struck the village of Borova in the Izium district of the Kharkiv region with an FPV drone, injuring a man born in 1938.
This was reported by the Izium Regional Military Administration on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.
“At around 11:55 a.m., an enemy FPV drone struck the road surface on 14th Quarter Street in the village of Borova, Borova settlement territorial community, resulting in bodily injury to a person born in 1938, who was provided with emergency medical assistance,” the post said.
It is noted that nearby apartment buildings and one car were damaged.
Specialized services are working at the scene.
As reported, on August 5, five settlements in the Kharkiv region were under Russian attack, and a 20-year-old woman was injured.
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4022816-russians-strike-borova-in-kharkiv-region-with-drone-one-wounded.html
Ukrainian drones reportedly strike Russian railway hub in Rostov Oblast for second night
August 6, 2025 9:07 am
The station, located roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) from Ukraine's border, serves as a logistics hub for Russian military operations. It is used to transport oil base products and load grain from a nearby elevator.
Loud explosions began around 1 a.m. local time, with residents of the Tatsinsky district reporting between five to seven blasts following the sound of drones overhead, according to the pro-government Telegram channel Shot.
Astra reported that a fire broke out at the crash site near the station, where freight tanks were present.
Rostov Oblast Governor Yuri Slyusar said air defenses repelled attacks in four districts. In one area, damage to power lines left nearly 200 residents of 87 homes without electricity.
Slyusar added that three families in the village of Tatsinskaya were evacuated due to a grass fire near their house. No casualties were reported.
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that 51 drones were shot down overnight across four Russian regions and occupied Crimea, including 16 over Rostov Oblast.
Rostov Oblast, bordering Ukraine and the Sea of Azov, remains a critical transit corridor for Russian military logistics.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted infrastructure in the region to degrade Moscow's supply chains and war capabilities.
Drones also struck the same railway station on Aug. 5. Kyiv has not officially commented on either attack.
https://kyivindependent.com/ukrainian-drones-strike-russian-railway-hub-in-rostov-oblast/
Sky-borne threat: Pakistan’s drone network fuelling drugs, arms smuggling and infiltrations into India
Aug 6 2025
Post Operation Sindoor, there was a lull in rogue drones entering Indian territory. However, recent sightings in Punjab of drones once again put the security agencies on high alert.
The problem, however, this time is that the drones are different and far more capable than the ones that were being sent in earlier. They fly at higher altitudes and are capable of penetrating Indian territory more deeply.
Recently, three pistols and over 1 kilogram of heroin were seized after the Border Security Force (BSF) intercepted six Pakistani drones near the International Border in Punjab’s Amritsar district.
Four packets containing three pistols and a heroin packet with 1.070 kg of heroin were seized.
“Reliable input and keen observation followed by swift action of troops once thwarted attempts of Pakistan-based smugglers to pump drugs and arms in Punjab,” the BSF had said in a statement.
In the days to come, the BSF would have its hands full as the smugglers from Pakistan would go all out to send in a consignment.
For a few months after India’s offensive to avenge the Pulwama attack, these smugglers had taken a back seat. However, they have come back in full flow with more sophisticated drones.
These drones have the capability of flying at higher altitudes before they descend in India. They do not take a straight route, but fly zigzag as it helps avoid detection.
The smugglers also ensure that it crashes on Indian soil after the consignment is delivered, so that the data retrieval is harder.
The smugglers have been using advanced Chinese-made drones, and this has made it harder to detect.
India is planning to deploy more interceptors capable of tracking drone details in real time since the current mechanism in most places is limited to detecting the drone mainly by sound and visual spotting.
To add to the problem, the ISI has been encouraging terror groups to use drone technology heavily to aid infiltrations.
The drones are being used to help get real real-time assessment based on the situation, while infiltration bids are being made.
Further, these drones are also being used to get information about any pitfalls at the time of infiltration.
This information comes in handy for the ISI to avoid the Indian security personnel and ensure unhindered infiltration.
The ISI has enhanced the scale of this technology as it realises that the Indian armed forces are on a state of very high alert post Operation Sindoor.
During Operation Sindoor, the Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Toiba had lost plenty of their cadres.
Hence, in a recent meeting with the ISI held in June, these terror groups decided to not only ramp up recruitments, but also increase infiltrations.
In the current situation, the terror groups from Pakistan are fading it impossible to infiltrate into Indian territory.
Due to a very high alert, infiltration is impossible, and hence, there is over-reliance on the use of sophisticated drone technology to infiltrate India.
For the Indian security agencies, this would remain a challenge with the borders it shares with Pakistan, both at Jammu and Kashmir as well as Punjab.
https://www.ap7am.com/en/106239/sky-borne-threat-pakistans-drone-network-fuelling-drugs-arms-smuggling-and-infiltrations-into-india
Thai police raid Singapore firm’s Samut Prakan warehouse, seize over 200 drone items
Aug 6, 2025
BANGKOK — Thai police have seized more than 200 pieces of drone-related equipment from a warehouse operated by a Singaporean company in Samut Prakan, as authorities investigate possible threats to national security, the Bangkok Post reported.
The raid, carried out yesterday, followed a tip-off from the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) about aerial vehicle signals detected in the area.
In its report, the English-language daily said investigators traced the signals to TRD Systems Pte Ltd, a Singapore-registered firm.
Police said the operation led to the confiscation of 29 drones, 38 signal detectors, 129 signal-jamming guns, 16 jamming devices, a van equipped for detecting and disrupting signals, and 50 other related items.
The company’s managing director, identified only as Kritsanan, was present during the search, which was conducted jointly by police and NBTC officials.
According to a source cited by the Bangkok Post, TRD Systems is a legally registered supplier of high-quality drone technology imported from Singapore.
It has been operating in Thailand for three years and sells exclusively to government agencies.
The seizure comes amid heightened security concerns along Thailand’s border with Cambodia.
On July 30, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand imposed a nationwide ban on civilian drone flights, in force until at least August 15, with the possibility of an extension if deemed necessary.
https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/other/thai-police-raid-singapore-firm-s-samut-prakan-warehouse-seize-over-200-drone-items/ar-AA1K0k2O
Schools could soon deploy a ‘campus guardian angel’ drone defense system against shootings
July 31, 2025
Florida schools could soon deploy the “Campus Guardian Angel” drone system to help police defend against shootings.
School shootings are prevalent in America, especially in states such as Florida. The state has documented more than 60 school shooting incidents since 2018, local ABC affiliate WTXL reported, citing the K-12 School Shooting Database.
Nikolas Cruz, 19, opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018. A total of 17 people were killed and 17 more were injured. Cruz was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The new drone technology could help prevent such tragedies by deploying drones to schools in seconds and providing police with immediate situational awareness, according to WTXL, which reported on the program.
On Monday, the program was demonstrated at the Leon County Schools District Security Center. The drones live-streamed video, and one even knocked down a dummy to show its ability to use force to delay a threat.
The pilot program has $557,000 in state funding behind it, but Leon County Schools Superintendent Rocky Hanna told WTXL the cost to fully implement the system past the pilot could be more than $1 million.
“I think anytime you make an investment you have to think of the return on that investment. So, as we are hiring an additional deputy sheriff in all of our high schools, so we have security monitors in all of our schools,” Hanna said.
He continued: “We have a weapons detection dog—that comes with the price tag. We have AI software in our cameras.
All that comes at a price point, and so it’s us managing that budget and trying to figure out where we’re getting the biggest bang for our buck.”
The state funding for the pilot program will cover its implementation in three school districts, according to the local outlet. Leon County is being considered.
In April, some of the students who survived the Parkland shooting had to endure another school shooting at Florida State University.
The suspected gunman, Phoenix Ikner, has been accused of killing two people and injuring six more. His defense attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
https://www.newsbreak.com/the-independent-517119/4143847496992-schools-could-soon-deploy-a-campus-guardian-angel-drone-defense-system-against-shootings
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/images-china-sixth-generation-rumours-long-wingman-drone-explained-13920755.html
https://twitter.com/clashreport/status/1952294408499642432
https://twitter.com/BabakTaghvaee1/status/1952416520329433536
Is it a plane or a drone? Why images from China are sparking sixth-gen aircraft rumours
August 6, 2025, 18:29:21 IST
Is it a jet, is it a drone — that’s the question experts are asking after images of an unidentified stealth aircraft emerged on Chinese social media.
At least two images of the aircraft began circulating earlier this week, showing a sleek, tailless design with a lambda-wing layout.
Soon after the photos began circulating online, aviation experts began questioning if it was yet another sixth-generation crewed jet — similar to the J-36 — or was it one of its new advanced drones.
We try to get you the answers.
What’s that in China’s sky?
Early this week, undated images emerged on China’s social media websites, prompting chatter amongst netizens and aviation experts alike.
The images taken from various angles from the ground are not clear enough to determine if the aircraft had a cockpit or internal weapons bay.
What is clear from the photos is that the new aircraft (at least from silhouettes) seems to show it has a sharply pointed nose merging into fully blended delta wings.
It also appeared to have twin-engine intakes and no vertical stabilisers. This indicates that it is some kind of stealth aircraft.
It also appeared that the new aircraft had a heavy-duty tricycle landing gear setup (one in the nose, two in the fuselage).
Is it a plane or is it a drone?
Soon after the images went viral, many military observers tried to ascertain the design, triggering a debate about whether it is a new piloted warplane or a “loyal wingman” drone.
Some experts pointed out that the images bore a striking resemblance to previously released images of the J-36, China’s attempt at a sixth-generation fighter plane, which is believed to be nearly ready for pre-production testing.
According to The Aviationist, the images confirm a two-segment trailing edge, with a straight centre section that sharply angles outward before extending to the wingtips. This planform matches the geometry seen in the J-36 design.
However, others note that the images bear a resemblance to China’s designs of a ‘loyal wingman” drone.
Andreas Rupprecht, a Chinese aviation expert, in a report by The War Zone noted that new imagery shows one of the country’s design of its version of the loyal wingmen programme.
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For those who are unaware, “loyal wingmen” are designed to operate in coordination with piloted planes but are able to make their own tactical decisions using artificial intelligence.
At a fraction of the cost of a manned fighter jet, these aircraft are seen as an easy way to scale up military might with a smaller investment. Several nations, including the US and China, are developing loyal wingman drones, with varying degrees of success.
What makes many believe that the images point to a drone is that it comes soon after satellite imagery showed several likely designs that should be publicly unveiled at an upcoming parade to be held on September 3, marking the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II.
Is it yet another sixth generation aircraft?
Some analysing the images pointed out that these were proof of China building another stealth aircraft, separate from the J-36.
They said that the fuselage in the images was slimmer and it was reportedly smaller too, indicating that the speed of this plane would be much faster than the J-36.
Even Rupprecht noted that the images circulated this week were significantly different from those believed to be of the J-36 that emerged last month.
Which countries have sixth-generation aircraft?
As of now, no country has a sixth-gen aircraft in deployment. However, China and the US are in a battle over sixth-generation jet fighters. Each of them is vying to be the first to field a sixth-generation craft.
Earlier, Trump announced that the US has tasked Boeing with making its sixth-generation fighter jet – which he has dubbed the F-47. He further called it the ‘most lethal aircraft ever built’, adding that a test version of the plane had been flying in secret for years.
Meanwhile, China is reportedly also carrying out test flights of its own sixth-generation aircraft — the J-36. Developed by Chengdu Aircraft Corporation, the J-36 features a tailless design and a rare three-engine setup.
China is also developing another sixth-gen aircraft; this one by Shenyang Aircraft Corporation and possibly called the J-50.
Reports state that both aircraft are expected to move at speeds beyond Mach 2, and with design tweaks, they can reach top speeds closer to Mach 3, especially at high altitudes where the air is thinner.
According to The Diplomat, based on the time China took to develop its fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft from prototype to production, it is likely that the two Chinese sixth-generation fighters might join China’s Air Force by 2031.
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https://dronedj.com/2025/08/06/faa-bvlos-drone-new-rule/
https://twitter.com/SecDuffy/status/1952894011653411248
https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/us-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-unveils-proposed-rule-unleash-american-drone
America is clearing the path for drones to fly beyond sight
Aug 6 2025 - 10:24 am PT
In a landmark move that could reshape the skies, the US Department of Transportation, under Secretary Sean P. Duffy, has proposed a sweeping new rule that would finally normalize Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operations — a long-awaited milestone for the commercial drone industry.
The draft rule, introduced as Part 108, is being hailed as a transformative framework that will allow drones to operate beyond the operator’s visual range without the need for individual waivers.
“We are making the future of our aviation a reality and unleashing American drone dominance,” says Duffy. “From drones delivering medicine to unmanned aircraft surveying crops, this technology will fundamentally change the way we interact with the world.”
Until now, drone operators needed special exemptions or waivers from the FAA to operate beyond visual line of sight — an unpredictable, often lengthy approval process. With the proposed rule, the FAA seeks to codify routine BVLOS operations under a standardized regulatory structure. This opens the door to scalable applications in:
Package delivery
Infrastructure inspection
Disaster response
Precision agriculture
Energy grid monitoring
Public safety
Aerial filmmaking and photography
FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford emphasizes the importance of the proposal:
The rule introduces updated safety standards, including requirements for detect-and-avoid capabilities, operator qualifications, and a unified approach to air traffic management for drones. It also mandates manufacturers to equip BVLOS-capable drones with performance features that reduce risk and enhance situational awareness.
You can see the complete highlights from the proposed rule here, but some of the key action points include:
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Operations and safety zones
Flights must stay within 400 ft AGL, and launch from access-controlled, pre-approved zones.
Operators clearly disclose mission volumes and locations and put in place contingency plans for communication failures
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Automated data and separation services (ADSPs)
ADSPs (FAA-approved third parties) will help maintain separation between drones and from manned aircraft.
Operators can serve as their own ADSP or contract one. This centralized integration supports scalable operations
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Detect-and-avoid technology
BVLOS drones are mandated to include DAA capabilities, allowing flights to automatically sense and evade hazards without operator input
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FAA approval and reporting
Flight operations must be authorized in advance, with boundaries, hazards evaluation, communications assurance, and operational data disclosure.
Detailed reporting, record keeping, and disclosures are required to sustain safety oversight
Drone industry applauds FAA’s BVLOS rule proposal
Michael Robbins, president and CEO of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), has welcomed the proposal enthusiastically:
This draft rule is a critical step toward enabling drone operations that will enhance safety, transform commercial services, and strengthen public safety with drones as a force multiplier.
A final risk-based BVLOS rule will unlock new commercial and public safety applications, including infrastructure inspections, precision agriculture, package delivery, disaster response, and more, enhancing public safety, driving billions in economic growth, and creating high-quality jobs
The Commercial Drone Alliance (CDA), another major industry voice, applauded the FAA, TSA, and Department of Transportation for their collaborative effort.
CDA CEO Lisa Ellman says, “For far too long, outdated regulations have held back the tremendous potential of the commercial drone marketplace.
Today’s action marks a pivotal advancement toward modernizing US drone policy.”
Liz Forro, policy director at CDA, highlights the broader impact:
This proposal represents a significant step toward developing the low-altitude economy in this country.
Andreas Raptopoulos, CEO of Matternet, the first company to receive an FAA Type Certification for drone delivery, has also expressed optimism:
“Unlocking Beyond Visual Line of Sight operations is a key milestone in unleashing the commercial viability of drone delivery. Matternet looks forward to continuing our work with the FAA.”
Matternet currently operates in the US, UK, and Switzerland, conducting real-world drone deliveries for healthcare and logistics — precisely the kind of activity the new rule aims to support at scale.
So, what comes next? Stakeholders, pilots, companies, and citizens are encouraged to provide feedback on the proposed rule.
The FAA will accept public comments for 60 days following publication of the rule in the Federal Register, after which it must move quickly.
Once the comment period closes, the FAA is under pressure to finalize the rule by early 2026, per a Trump Administration executive order.
The White House sees this rule as a critical piece in bolstering US drone leadership in the face of international competition, especially as countries like China aggressively scale their own drone technologies.
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Gabbard Says She Believes in the Possibility of Alien Life
Wednesday, 06 August 2025 11:56 AM EDT
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard admitted to believing in the possibility of extraterrestrial life during a recent podcast appearance but remained tight-lipped about the extent of the government's knowledge on the subject.
Gabbard, who oversees the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, serves as President Donald Trump's top adviser on intelligence.
On Wednesday's episode of the New York Post's "Pod Force One," host Miranda Devine asked Gabbard if "there could be aliens," to which the DNI replied, "I have my own views and opinions."
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard admitted to believing in the possibility of extraterrestrial life during a recent podcast appearance but remained tight-lipped about the extent of the government's knowledge on the subject.
Gabbard, who oversees the 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, serves as President Donald Trump's top adviser on intelligence.
On Wednesday's episode of the New York Post's "Pod Force One," host Miranda Devine asked Gabbard if "there could be aliens," to which the DNI replied, "I have my own views and opinions."
"In this role, I have to be careful with what I share," Gabbard said.
When pressed by Devine about whether she believes in the possibility of aliens and UFOs, Gabbard answered "yes."
According to the Post, Gabbard said she was not "prepared to talk about" the issue at this time, but her team would be transparent with the public at some point in the future.
"We're continuing to look for the truth and share that truth with the American people," she said.
Gabbard also touched on the spate of drone sightings over New Jersey late last year, saying she still has "a lot" of unanswered questions about the phenomenon.
Officials from both the Biden and Trump administrations have insisted that the objects spotted were actually a "combination" of authorized personal, professional, and government aircraft.
"I still have a lot of questions around that," Gabbard told Devine. "I've heard what the public official line is."
"I just personally still have a lot of questions that are unanswered, because it wasn't just New Jersey," she added. "It was happening in different parts of the country."
However, Gabbard did say that the U.S. intelligence community has "a lot of classified information" on the alleged Chinese spy balloon that traversed much of the country in 2023.
Then-President Joe Biden ordered the balloon shot down in the waters over South Carolina, after it had flown across the United States for a week.
Gabbard declined to elaborate further on what the intelligence community knows about the Chinese balloon.
https://www.newsmax.com/us/tulsi-gabbard-aliens-ufo/2025/08/06/id/1221493/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqY5UarSLOQ
Top Secret Government Records Reveal UFOs Found at Ohio Military Base Are Linked to Roswell
Wed, August 6, 2025 at 11:54 AM PDT
Newly released top secret government records have revealed shocking swarms of UFOs at an Ohio military base with close ties to the mysterious Roswell compound, where the first downed spacecraft is infamously reported to have crashed!
The government was forced to release documents and video of two separate assaults by unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Greene County in December.
According to the disturbing documents, the Air Force determined that the waves of unidentified objects were so serious, it halted flight operations, alerted local law enforcement agencies, and utilized thermal imaging cameras to pinpoint the location and identity of the mysterious UFOs.
“The objects appeared to be lights moving as a group, but too high up to get an accurate assessment of what they looked like,” one officer at Wright-Patterson reported to the Daily Mail.
Another officer spotted an unknown aircraft descending toward the base, getting within 500 feet of landing before it suddenly ascended and disappeared.
One patrol confirmed the officer’s sighting, adding that the “unidentified flying object” just vanished after approaching the base’s runway.
Secret government files reveal that debris from the infamous 1947 UFO crash at Roswell, N.M., was allegedly flown to Wright-Patterson to be studied by a secret government group dubbed the Majestic 12, comprising top scientists, intelligence officers and military brass.
CIA files have detailed how the group conducted projects intended to communicate with aliens and reverse engineer downed alien spacecraft for military use.
The base was also home to the Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which conducted investigations into 12,618 UFO sightings, with 701 still classified as “unidentified,” according to records found in the National Archives.
As Globe readers know, military pilots have reported hundreds of close encounters with UFOs in recent years, but the powers that be at the Pentagon have refused to acknowledge their alien origins — even though the objects can perform airborne feats impossible for our most modern aircraft.
Insiders say these sightings have occurred with frightening regularity around conflict zones and military installations — almost as though the UFOs are scouting humans’ combat ability in preparation for an invasion!
“These unidentified craft keep popping up over war zones around the earth, and that’s a phenomenon that gives me pause,” says one concerned military source.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/top-secret-government-records-reveal-185457956.html
https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/air-force-confirms-drone-incursion-led-to-wright-patterson-afb-shutdown-air-force-videos-surface/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14930749/New-video-mystery-UFOs-Roswell-Air-Force.html
Eyes On Cinema: The Majestic 12 Documents
Aug 5, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk0UuRgKXgU
https://ia800500.us.archive.org/35/items/majestic-12-documents-for-majic-eyes-only/Eisenhower%20Briefing%20Document_text.pdf
False Prophets and Flying Objects - The Whistleblower Wave : WEAPONIZED : Episode #84
Aug 5, 2025
In this wide-ranging episode of Weaponized, Jeremy and George share insights into ongoing preparations for another UFO hearing scheduled for early September.
Members of Congress and senior staffers have met with or spoken to several potential witnesses, including some with first-hand experiences of advanced technology observed at U.S. military bases or defense contractor sites.
However, many of these eyewitnesses remain reluctant to step forward, fearing retaliation.
Influential figures in Washington are pushing for legislative actions to reassure potential whistleblowers, while others, including well-funded defense contractors and intelligence agencies, are equally determined to block transparency efforts.
Who holds the upper hand? In addition, FOIA warrior Dustin Slaughter returns to Weaponized with another stunning UFO case extracted from a reluctant Department of Defense (DoD).
•••
Follow Dustin Slaughter’s reporting on X at https://x.com/DustinSlaughter and his publication at https://UAPregister.substack.com
Follow Matt Laslo's reporting on X at https://x.com/MattLaslo and his publication at https://askapol.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uGkoqLJeoY
https://www.weaponizedpodcast.com/episodes-3/episode-84
Star Child. A new specimen has been found thousands of miles away. What does this mean?
Aug 6, 2025
🛸👶 Star Child: A new specimen appears thousands of miles away… What does it mean?
In this new episode of Interstellar with Jaime Maussan, the discovery of a new specimen similar to the so-called "Star Child," found thousands of miles away, is revealed.
Could it be another non-human entity? Are we witnessing a connection between civilizations that we don't yet understand?
🌌 With new analyses, hypotheses, and scientific data, Jaime Maussan exposes the implications of this discovery, which could change what we understand about our history… and our place in the universe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3Yct9pgU3g
Brien Foerster: Is it human? Strange Skull In Peru
Aug 2, 2025
https://www.youtube.com/@brienfoerster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJB0rJxf5c
57 Breaking News: Aliens build Chinese mountains and rivers!
Aug 2, 2025
In Chinese but there could be some good nuggets in it if you speak it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8rc-qjuG08
“Saw headline,” Intel Vice-chair Sen. Mark Warner on WSJ UFO article. “Didn’t read it”
Aug 05, 2025
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) — Vice Chair, Select Committee on Intelligence
SCENE: Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner and a new aide are hurrying through the basement of the Capitol when Ask a Pol’s Matt Laslo speed walks up to fact check whether their last conversation in June still stood before they hopped a Senators Only elevator…
Matt Laslo: “Look at this young man. Mr. Warner.”
Mark Warner: “Yes sir.”
ML: “Where you ever able to read that Wall Street Journal on the ‘Air Force program’?”
MW: “No.”
MW: “No. Can you send it to me again?”
ML: “Yeah.”*
*We texted a link to this WSJ feature to the Senator’s aide a few days ago. We never heard back. Again.
— BACK IN JUNE —
Ask a Pol asked:
Did you read the Wall Street Journal article?
Key Warner:
“I saw the headline,” Sen. Mark Warner exclusively told Ask a Pol. “I didn’t read it.”
Caught our ear:
“I will read it and then talk to you about it,” Warner told us.*
*we followed up…
ICYMI — HIPSCI Ranking Member Himes apparently doesn’t read either
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/dont-know-a-thing-about-it
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/saw-headline-didnt-read-it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znwfTybC-0Q
SCOOP: Sen. Gillibrand, Intel Chair Cotton new bill lets Pentagon shoot UAP down
Aug 06, 2025
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) — Chair, Armed Services Subcommittee on Emerging Threats & Capabilities / Chair, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC)
Ask a Pol asks:
You have some UAP language in this year’s national Defense Authorization Act — or NDAA?
Key Gillibrand:
“Working on legislation with [Senate Intelligence Committee] Chairman [Tom] Cotton on giving more authority to take them down when they're over military bases and national security sites,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP.
Caught our ear:
What are you hoping for from your UAP language in this year’s NDAA?
“More money and more focus and more attention,” Gillibrand tells us.
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/gillibrand-cotton-want-to-shoot-uap-down
https://www.youtube.com/@AskaPol_uaps