TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
July 22, 2026
The Corona Australis Molecular Cloud and the Chandelier Cluster
The Southern Crown (Corona Australis) dazzles with young and ancient celestial jewels. The Corona Australis Cloud is a collage of reflection and emission nebulae on the left of today’s image. At 430 light years away, this cloud is one of the closest star-forming regions to Earth. It contains gas cool enough (-260 Celsius or -440 Fahrenheit) to collapse into protostars. Recently formed stars paint blue hues across the cloud as their light reflects off surrounding material. The waltz of the R Coronae Australis binary system stirs up the nebula NGC 6729. The younger of the pair ionizes nearby gas with its ultraviolet light, causing it to glow. The Chandelier Cluster (NGC 6723) dangles from the top right, but is actually tens of thousands of light years farther away than its apparent star-forming neighbor. While NGC 6723 experienced multiple periods of star formation creating slightly younger stars, the chandelier twinkles with stars almost as old as the universe.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-2UhBpMjOg
Solar Energy and Disease, Solar Wind/Sunspot Watch | S0 News and hump day frens
July.22.2026
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FG_Qz0gF7c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WGv90fwGxk (S0: We Started the Fire - Live #49)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZed-MuEfyY (EarthMaster: Another 4.6 Earthquake offshore Oregon.. Cascadia Slow slips increasing. Large M Solar Flare)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuDAsKSKMP0 On thePulse with Silki: Shiveluch ERUPTS to 39,000 FT — Could Canada Be Affected Next?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RciERKGwdic (Ray's Astro: SHIVELUCH ERUPTS - let's watch together and discuss it LIVE)
https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-where-canadian-wildfire-smoke-to-smother-us-into-august-12226826
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/22/tornadoes-flooding-kentucky-west-virginia
https://watchers.news/2026/07/22/state-of-emergency-declared-for-west-virginia-after-historic-flooding/
https://www.accuweather.com/en/severe-weather/midweek-severe-storms-in-eastern-us-to-pack-damaging-winds-flooding/1913626
https://nj1015.com/july-tonadoes-new-jersey/
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/246435/VIDEO-Powerful-tornado-in-Batam-Indonesia
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/tropical-storm-bertha-to-cross-louisiana-texas-coasts-with-winds-rain-and-storm-surge/1914044
https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/live-news/tropical-storm-bertha-live-updates-louisiana-landfall-expected-wednesday/1913848
https://www.newsweek.com/tropical-storm-bertha-live-tracker-maps-show-impacts-on-southern-us-12226989
https://www.foxweather.com/weather-news/tropical-storm-bertha-gulf-coast-louisiana
https://www.upstreamonline.com/safety/bp-evacuates-us-gulf-workers-as-bertha-advances/2-1-2019271
https://en.antaranews.com/news/423584/m55-earthquake-jolts-aceh-tremors-felt-in-neighboring-province
https://www.thevibes.com/articles/news/125312/magnitude-5.7-earthquake-off-northern-sumatra-felt-across-west-coast-of-peninsular-malaysia
https://english.news.cn/20260722/bf83f143faea4dac8c37a90bc851916d/c.html
https://news.az/news/51-magnitude-earthquake-jolts-vallenar-chile
https://www.fananews.com/language/en/4-6-magnitude-earthquake-strikes-russias-kurilsk-city/
https://www.dailyexcelsior.com/4-2-magnitude-earthquake-hits-western-nepal/
https://www.theportugalnews.com/news/2026-07-22/earthquake-felt-in-the-municipality-of-evora/1058820
https://kval.com/news/local/46-magnitude-quake-rumbles-off-oregon-coast-bandon-blanco-fracture-zone-cascadia-temblor-usgs-local-shaking-earthquake-pacific-ocean
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20260722_10/
https://schumannresonance.today/
https://www.solarham.com/
https://www.weatherbug.com/news/Today-s-Weather-Outlook
https://www.tornadohq.com/
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/map/
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes-volcanoes/news/320326/Volcano-earthquake-report-for-Wednesday-22-Jul-2026.html
https://www.spaceweather.gov/
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=22&month=07&year=2026
ESA seeks novel concepts for a fast asteroid reconnaissance mission
22/07/2026
NASA's DART mission proved that a spacecraft can alter an asteroid's trajectory. But it also taught us something equally important: to do so efficiently, you first need to understand your target.
That makes reconnaissance the essential first step in any deflection effort – and right now, even the fastest mission ESA can mount takes several years from the start of construction to launch.
ESA is preparing to set a new benchmark for rapid asteroid reconnaissance with RAMSES, which will rendezvous with asteroid Apophis just 3.5 years after the start of construction.
Yet even this pace could, in a real-world scenario, mean missing the window to reach a threatening asteroid in time.
So ESA is launching a new SysNova challenge calling for novel and advanced concepts for a fast asteroid reconnaissance mission, open now on the Open Space Innovation Platform (OSIP).
Minimising time and cost
Traditionally, exploring the solar system requires hundreds of millions of euros and several years of effort.
This campaign asks whether that can be changed. Leveraging modern advances in satellite bus miniaturisation and the growing range of launcher options, ESA hopes to develop a capable reconnaissance mission for well below €100 million – and ultimately bring costs down to tens of millions of euros, with development timelines measured in months rather than years.
"In a real impact scenario, time is everything," says Richard Moissl, Head of ESA's Planetary Defence Office.
“RAMSES will set a new record for how quickly we can reach an asteroid, but we need to go further. This campaign is about finding out how fast and how affordably we can really move when it matters most."
What we are looking for
ESA is seeking mission concepts that define a lightweight reconnaissance spacecraft carrying a minimum effective sensor payload suite.
A first demonstration mission would establish what is technologically possible; the longer-term goal is a fast reconnaissance capability that is both affordable and rapidly deployable – a strategic asset for the global planetary defence effort.
"This campaign is about pushing boundaries," says Juan Luis Cano, ESA's Planetary Defence Information Provision Coordinator.
"We want to hear from teams who can show us what a lean, fast reconnaissance spacecraft could look like – and what it would take to make it a reality."
This campaign runs through SysNova, ESA's technology assessment scheme for advanced mission concept studies, and is funded by the Preparation element of ESA's Basic Activities.
Up to five ideas will be selected for a funded pre-Phase A study. Teams can submit their proposals on the OSIP campaign page, where full details on eligibility, evaluation criteria, and the submission process are available.
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Preparing_for_the_Future/Discovery_and_Preparation/ESA_seeks_novel_concepts_for_a_fast_asteroid_reconnaissance_mission
extra space objects
https://neo.ssa.esa.int/-/eu-esa-workshop-on-meteor-observations-for-planetary-defence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Z-xNCJRthc (Live Meteors Live Stream from livemeteors.com)
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/nisar/us-india-satellite-delivers-data-reveals-hummingbird-in-antarctica/
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nisars-l-band-radar-reveals-hummingbird-in-antarctica/
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/nisar-l-band-data-released-expanding-record-surface-changes
https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/07/nasas-space-radar-hidden-antarctic-glacier/
US-India Satellite Delivers Data, Reveals ‘Hummingbird’ in Antarctica
July 21, 2026
As of July 20, the public can access data from the two powerful radar instruments aboard the NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite.
Teams in the United States and India will release files processed from the satellite’s L-band and S-band radars on an ongoing basis, helping researchers and other users track the movement of Earth’s land and ice masses, monitor changes in ecosystems like forests and wetlands, and respond to natural hazards such as landslides and earthquakes.
The release comes as NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) prepare to celebrate the first anniversary of NISAR’s July 30, 2025, launch from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Since that time, the mission engineering and science teams have been busy calibrating instrumentation, refining algorithms, and monitoring nearly all the planet’s land- and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days.
Along the way, the team has captured scenes from around the globe — urban street grids, agricultural fields, landslides, earthquakes, and sinking land in Mexico City.
An early image released Tuesday revealed the fractured, barren surface of an Antarctic landscape in stark detail. In a merging of science and serendipity, it also resembles something else entirely: a hummingbird.
Despite its otherworldly quality, the Antarctic image shows a very real geographical feature called Nunatak Zaterjavshijsja, a mountaintop in East Antarctica, poking out amid a stream of ice flowing northeast to the ocean.
As the moving glacier passes the obstruction, the mountain’s topography causes stresses in the ice, heavily fracturing the surrounding surfaces with deep cracks, called crevasses, which show as sharp green lines in the image.
“First, it’s a beautiful image, with rich details of features that provide insights to how the glacier is moving.
Then, because radar can often see through snow and deep into the ice, NISAR can observe fundamentally different properties of Antarctic ice than can be seen in optical imagery,” said Seongsu Jeong, the signal analysis engineer who produced the image at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “With NISAR we’re seeing what’s hidden beneath the surface.”
1/2
Story in magenta, green
Generated with measurements that NISAR’s L-band instrument gathered in August 2025, as U.S. and Indian mission teams tested the satellite’s systems, the “hummingbird” exemplifies one of the young mission’s hallmarks: intricately detailed imagery that is both informative and eye-catching.
The colors show differences in the way polarized microwave signals, which vibrate in different directions, interact with and reflect from the ice. Over Antarctica, NISAR transmits radar waves toward Earth with a horizontal polarization.
The orientation of the signals that return — either horizontal, vertical, or both — provide clues about the object or surface that reflected them.
Signals that come back with a horizontal polarization likely bounced off a more regular surface, such as smooth ice. Those signals appear magenta in the image.
Signals that return with vertical polarization may have refracted as they partially penetrated the snow and ice or scattered at different angles as they reflected off irregular surfaces, such as the faces of crevasses.
Called volume scattering, these observations are displayed in green.
The white represents areas in which magenta and green signals scatter back strongly, a possible indication that there is an equal blend of surface and volume scattering.
The same scene viewed in optical light is almost entirely white with ice and snow. Slight shadows and rippling indicate the presence of the mountaintop, and textures in the surrounding area suggest the ice is not completely smooth.
Access to data
The NISAR satellite is the first free-flying space mission to feature two radar instruments: an L-band system and an S-band system.
The systems are complementary due to their differing wavelengths. For example, the longer-wave L-band can pass through tree canopies, imaging the ground beneath. Meanwhile, depending on leaf sizes, S-band can collect observations of those canopies.
The Indian science team, based at ISRO’s Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, recently started releasing S-band data via the Bhoonidhi portal.
On July 20, the U.S. side of the mission started releasing calibrated products continuously for all L-band measurements collected since June 17. By the end of the year, the team expects to have released all data acquired earlier during science operations.
The NISAR project science team previously had two limited releases of L-band data, the first in January of about 25 sample products and a release in February of thousands of pre-calibrated products.
As with the earlier releases, data users will be able to download the latest files at the Alaska Satellite Facility Distributed Active Archive Center in Fairbanks, which hosts and distributes all NASA synthetic aperture radar data.
The NISAR mission’s science data output is vast, on the order of dozens of terabytes a day, due to the satellite’s frequent coverage of nearly all the land and ice surfaces on Earth.
It scans from within a few degrees of the South Pole in Antarctica to 77.5 degrees north latitude, above the Arctic Circle.
2/2
NASA’s Juno Peers Beneath Io’s Surface
07/22/2026
Description
This map represents data captured by the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft, indicating heat rising from just beneath the surface of Jupiter’s moon Io.
While infrared instruments measure the temperature of the moon’s surface, the lowest frequency microwave channels (0.6 and 1.25 gigahertz) on the MWR can penetrate between about 6 and 20 feet (2 and 6 meters) into the crust.
The colors on this map illustrate a distinct temperature gradient across the moon, with the most extreme, localized heat output in red.
The most prominent red anomaly in the upper left (between 60 and 120 degrees west longitude) reveals subsurface temperatures 18 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 20 degrees Celsius, or 10 to 20 Kelvin) warmer than the surrounding area.
This massive regional heat source coincides with the Zal Montes Patera complex, an area where Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit observed an active lava flow.
A second major subsurface heat source is also visible near the equator, stretching from 0 to 50 degrees west longitude. Together, these distinct microwave anomalies indicate significant internal heating occurring within the upper tens of meters of Io’s crust.
Contrasting with these intense hot spots are the yellow and green regions, which reflect temperatures more common across the moon.
The yellow areas represent intermediate temperatures that naturally warm up to near -190°F (-123°C, or 150 Kelvin) as they approach the equator.
Meanwhile, the green areas, primarily visible toward the higher northern latitudes, indicate the coolest subsurface temperatures, dropping to around -298°F (-183°C, or 90 Kelvin) near the pole.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Juno is part of NASA’s New Frontiers Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
The MWR was built by JPL. Lockheed Martin Space in Denver built and operates the spacecraft.
https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-juno-peers-beneath-ios-surface/
moar
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/artemis-iii-astronauts-will-beam-4k-video-from-orion-to-earth-using-spacex-starlink-lasers
https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/07/22/1140701/shape-shifting-mirrors-roman-space-telescope/
https://engineering.ucdavis.edu/news/uc-davis-students-reflect-reaching-nasa-human-lander-challenge-finals
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/a-week-of-smoky-skies-across-north-america/
Biomedical Research, Crew Swap Operations Pack Busy Day Aboard Station
July 21, 2026 3:13PM
Biomedical research to keep the Expedition 74 crew healthy and advance health on Earth packed Tuesday’s schedule aboard the International Space Station.
The orbital residents are also handing over their mission responsibilities as three crewmates prepare to return to Earth this weekend.
Blood pressure measurements, vein scans, and eye checks kept the crew busy as they conducted a variety of health studies to help doctors understand how the human body adapts to a long-term spaceflight.
The research data also provides researchers unique insights unobtainable in Earth’s gravity and enables opportunities to develop advanced treatments for space-related and Earthbound conditions.
CSA (Canadian Space Agency) is testing the ability of its sensor-packed Bio-Monitor vest and headband to comfortably and continuously monitor health throughout an astronaut’s shift.
NASA flight engineer Chris Williams wore the health-wear for a 24-hour recording session while also using CSA’s Mobil-o-Graph to measure his blood pressure during his work shift.
NASA flight engineer Jessica Meir peered into medical imaging hardware operated by NASA flight engineer Jack Hathaway inside the Harmony module for a standard eye exam.
Doctors on the ground assisted the crew as they examined Meir’s retina, cornea, and lens in real time. Hathaway also operated the Ultrasound 3 biomedical device and scanned the veins of Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Mikaev.
Meir set up the PhysioTool research gear to measure the cognition level of flight engineer Sophie Adenot of ESA (European Space Agency) as she performed a mental acuity task.
NASA flight engineer Anil Menon is continuing to get up to speed with living aboard the orbital outpost with his fellow crewmates flight engineers Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, who began their mission on July 14.
Menon is also picking up new skills from Williams, who is handing over his mission responsibilities before he ends his mission and flies back to Earth with Kud-Sverchkov and Roscosmos flight engineer Sergei Mikaev in a few days.
Menon, Dubrov, and Kikina also gathered together and reviewed the location and operation of safety gear.
Williams, Kud-Sverchkov, and Mikaev have been packing personal items and cargo inside the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft they will ride back to Earth when they depart the space station over the weekend ending Expedition 74.
The trio began their mission launching from Kazakhstan on Nov. 27, 2025 and docking to the Rassvet module the same day.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev photographed growing microbes to analyze how they adapt to microgravity and learn how to maintain safe, sterile conditions during biological experimentation aboard a spacecraft.
Fedyaev then inspected orbital plumbing components and serviced ventilation gear throughout the station’s Roscosmos segment.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/07/21/biomedical-research-crew-swap-operations-pack-busy-day-aboard-station/
moar
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-to-host-media-briefing-on-roman-telescope-launching-next-month/
https://science.nasa.gov/researchers/solicitations/roses-2025/amendment-65-new-opportunity-c-4-planetary-science-enabling-facilities/
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-langley-celebrates-community-through-music-with-symphony-under-the-stars-event/
https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/viking-missions-mars-personal-perspective
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
@NASAAdmin
The NASA team and I enjoyed touring Airbus, and spending time with Ambassador Stephens, industry leaders, members of Congress including @JerryMoran, @SenKatieBritt, @SenTuberville, @RepDaleStrong, and the Aerospace Industries Association ahead of Farnborough.
These conversations matter because the future of aerospace depends on strong partnerships, great engineering, and a willingness to keep pushing forward. It would be impossible to undertake and execute on our world-changing mission without their contributions and support.
10:35 AM · Jul 21, 2026
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2079621295516324179
moar Isaacman
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2079646324606001552
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2079922778279485825
https://x.com/USAmbUK/status/2079914390145405094
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2079943368818225314
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman
@NASAAdmin
Doing the near-impossible will require the full weight of America’s scientific and technical enterprise.
NASA is proud to join President Trump’s Genesis Mission, using AI to accelerate discovery and advance American leadership in space.
Thank you for your leadership @mkratsios47!
Quote
Director Michael Kratsios
@mkratsios47
Science: A New Golden Age calls for using AI to supercharge discovery.
Today we’re expanding the @WhiteHouse’s Genesis Mission from @ENERGY to a whole-of-government effort.
15+ gov agencies will contribute $5b in research awards, funding, datasets & facilities to the Mission.
8:09 AM · Jul 22, 2026
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2079946975806402873
https://x.com/mkratsios47/status/2079907194468712467
moar more
https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2079960427711144086
https://x.com/NASA/status/2079655118165705100
https://x.com/NASASpox/status/2079663346551292270
Western Range supports its 50th Launch of the year
July 21, 2026
Vandenberg Space Force Base Guardians and Airmen supported the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink 17-39 mission to low-Earth orbit Tuesday, July 21, 2026, at 7:49 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4).
Today's mission marks the 50th launch supported from Vandenberg Space Force Base for 2026 from the U.S. Space Force’s West Coast Spaceport and Test Range at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Every launch approved by the Vandenberg Space Force Base range is designated by the federal government to advance economic growth, strengthen national security, and achieve critical national space objectives — reinforcing the Central Coast’s role as a global gateway to space.
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4551354/western-range-supports-its-50th-launch-of-the-year/
extra Space Force
https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4551791/ask-me-anything-at-lompoc-old-town-market/
The Netherlands establishes its own Space Command
-
Juli 2026
One year after renaming its air force the Commando Lucht- en Ruimtestrijdkrachten (CLRS), the Netherlands established its own Space Command at the end of June.
By 2028, it is expected to become a fully operational, joint-service command with several hundred positions.
https://table.media/space/news/the-netherlands-establishes-its-own-space-command
Astronomers may have discovered the 1st moon outside of our solar system — or is it something weirder?
July 22, 2026
Since the discovery of the first world beyond the solar system in the 1990s, astronomers have become adept at spotting extrasolar planets, or exoplanets.
But while NASA's exoplanet catalog has burgeoned to over 6,000 confirmed entries, moons around these worlds, known as exomoons, have proved elusive.
In fact, we have failed to make a single confirmed discovery of an exomoon despite being certain that just as the planets of the solar system have their own natural satellites, worlds in other star systems must have them too.
Now, this controversial drought of exomoons may have become even more confusing and, frankly, weird.
That is because while studying a strange star system called CD-35 2722 with the Very Large Telescope (VLT), astronomers have discovered an object that could be an exomoon, or it could be something that forces us to rethink our very definition of what a "moon" is and what a "planet" is.
The star CD-35 2722 is located around 73 light-years away and has around half the mass of the sun. It is orbited by a "failed star" or brown dwarf.
These stellar bodies get their unfortunate nickname because they form like other stars but fail to gather enough mass to trigger the fusion of hydrogen to helium in their cores.
In terms of mass, brown dwarfs are more massive than the largest gas giant planets, but smaller than the smallest stars, usually with around 13 to 80 times the mass of Jupiter, or around 0.013 to 0.08 times the mass of the sun.
The newly discovered object in CD-35 2722 is certainly moon-like, but rather than orbiting a planet as the moons in the solar system do, it orbits the system's brown dwarf.
"This system is somewhat hard to define using solar-system-based words like 'planet' and 'moon.'
The exosatellite is clearly massive enough to be a planet, but it does not orbit a star, though it orbits an object that orbits a star," team leader Kevin Hoy of the Universidad Diego Portales and the Millennium Nucleus of Young Exoplanets and their Moons (YEMS) in Chile, said in a statement.
"Being the third wheel in this system makes us want to call it a moon, even if it is nothing like the small, rocky moons we have in our system."
The team's research was published on Wednesday (July 22) in the journal Nature.
Erm… It's definitely an exosatellite
The team currently isn't able to definitively claim this object in CD-35 2722 is an exomoon, because that would require really nailing down a new definition of what a moon is.
"The satellite we report is a giant gaseous body orbiting a highly massive companion, itself several times the mass of Jupiter.
We have a clear delineation between the planets and the sun in the solar system, so defining things like moons is simple," team member Alice Zurlo of the Universidad Diego Portales said.
"In the CD-35 2722 system, where we are blurring the lines between stars, planets, and moons, the whole thing becomes more complicated to describe."
Zurlo and colleagues can, however, confidently claim this is an exosatellite, meaning it is a first-of-its-kind detection no matter what the future holds for its classification.
It is hoped that the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) currently under construction in Chile, will make a massive impact in the hunt for exomoons, and now, other exosatellites.
Until these objects begin to be uncovered, one thing this discovery re-emphasizes is something that astronomers have been gleefully discovering ever since the first exoplanet was spotted: planetary systems come in a variety of diverse, weird and wonderful forms.
https://www.space.com/astronomy/exoplanets/astronomers-may-have-discovered-the-1st-moon-outside-of-our-solar-system-or-is-it-something-weirder
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1136791
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10751-w
Russia strikes Ukrainian military targets in Odessa Region – MOD
22 Jul, 2026 08:56 | Updated 22 Jul, 2026 10:00
The overnight attack targeted two vessels, port infrastructure, fuel tanks, a logistics hub and a coastal missile battery according to Moscow
Russian forces have carried out another overnight attack on Ukrainian military and logistics targets in Odessa Region on the Black Sea coast, hitting two vessels at sea, port infrastructure, fuel storage facilities and a coastal missile battery, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported.
In a statement published on Wednesday, the ministry said the strikes involved high-precision air- and ground-launched weapons, as well as attack drones.
At the Port of Odessa, Russian forces hit infrastructure used to unload and store military cargo, along with fuel and lubricant tanks intended to supply the Ukrainian armed forces.
A dry cargo ship and a bulk carrier were also struck while sailing 15 km and 53 km southeast of Odessa. According to the ministry, the vessels were transporting supplies for Kiev’s forces.
In the city of Odessa, the attack also hit a logistics center operated by the Ukrainian delivery company Novaya Pochta. Moscow described the facility as a storage site for military cargo.
Near the settlement of Kovalevka, around 25 km northwest of Odessa, Russian forces also struck a Ukrainian Neptune-2 coastal missile battery. Two launchers and a transporter-loader vehicle were destroyed, according to the ministry.
The attack comes amid an intensified Russian campaign against Ukrainian Black Sea shipping and port infrastructure.
In recent weeks, Moscow has reported strikes on cargo vessels and facilities in Odessa, Chernomorsk, Yuzhny and Nikolayev, believed to be involved in delivering military equipment or supporting Ukrainian drone operations.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would continue striking vessels used to transport weapons and ammunition to Ukraine.
Moscow has said the broader campaign is aimed at disrupting military supplies to Kiev and comes in response to Ukrainian terrorist attacks on Russian civilian and energy infrastructure.
https://www.rt.com/russia/643318-russia-odessa-region-strikes/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/643321-wildberries-ukraine-attack/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643340-lavrov-us-ukraine-strike-involvement/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643314-russia-summons-moldovan-envoy/
https://www.rt.com/russia/643311-ukraine-syrsky-sacked-zelensky/
Zelensky Receives Washington’s NATO Envoy in Kyiv to Talk Air Defense, Drone Deal
July 22, 2026, 6:53 pm
In brief: The Ukrainian president said he discussed the Patriot’s transfers and licensed production in Kyiv with US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker and Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, the commander of NATO Security Assistance & Training for Ukraine.
Zelensky said the parties also signed an agreement to advance the Drone Deal, while other reports suggest that it paves the way for official testing of Ukrainian drones in the US.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has discussed Patriot missile transfers and production, as well as Ukraine’s “Drone Deal” proposal, with US Ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Zelensky said Whitaker was accompanied by US Lt. Gen. Curtis Buzzard, the commander of NATO Security Assistance & Training for Ukraine.
In his X update, Zelensky said the parties “had a good talk,” with the discussions centering on the transfer of US-made Patriot air defense missiles via NATO’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, in which Kyiv’s allies bankroll US weaponry for the country.
“We had a good talk – first and foremost on how to protect Ukrainian skies with more Patriot interceptor supplies through PURL. This is a critical priority now, as massive Russian attacks continue unabated,” Zelensky said.
Russia attacked Kyiv over the weekend with around 40 ballistic missiles, with estimates suggesting that the missiles launched in July thus far had exceeded Moscow’s known monthly production number.
As for the Patriot’s licensed production in Ukraine, Zelensky said the parties had a discussion about it without going into details.
US President Donald Trump announced the plan on July 8 during the NATO summit in Ankara for Kyiv to make the latest-generation PAC-3 Patriot missiles, making it the only country outside of the US to be granted the license to do so after Japan.
The timeline remains uncertain, however, with reports suggesting that production is likely to be hosted by Germany or another European country before moving to Ukraine.
Germany is currently among the few countries producing the older PAC-2 missiles – including some destined for Ukraine.
Drone deal “very close”
As for the Drone Deal, Zelensky hinted at progress and said he wishes it would be “finalized soon.”
“I think we’re very close. We already signed one document – it’s a big step forward,” Zelensky said.
According to Radio Liberty, the deal signed would pave the way for official testing of Ukrainian drones by the US, with around 100 drones each from 6 Ukrainian manufacturers heading to the US.
In early July, Ukrainian arms maker F-Drones announced its first shipment of 2,000 F10 strike unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the US under a Pentagon contract.
The Drone Deal is a Ukrainian initiative to export and scale drone production with other countries in exchange for other military support.
Kyiv signed the deal with a number of Middle Eastern countries in April after the war in Iran broke out, as well as some of its European allies, such as its ninth drone deal signed with Denmark earlier in July.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Zelensky said he also presented Buzzard with the Order “For Merit,” III class.
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/80849
https://www.rferl.org/a/us-ukraine-drone-cooperation-agreement/33809808.html
other Russia and Ukraine
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukrainian-border-guards-rescue-16-foreign-crew-from-burning-ship-hit-by-russian-drone-20993
https://censor.net/en/news/4014782/miratorg-facilities-hit-in-drone-attacks-in-russia-s-bryansk-region
https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/russian-drone-attack-on-zaporizhzhia-enterprise-1784732249.html
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/80829
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/07/22/8045265/
https://censor.net/en/videonews/4014836/ukraine-downs-russia-s-new-kashchei-drone-in-sumy-sector
https://www1.ru/en/news/2026/07/22/424667-riazanskie-inzenery-pridumali-sistemu-obnaruzeniia-bespilotnikov-bez-radara.html
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/2026-07-22/live-updates-903248
other Israel
https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/hamas-operatives-sports-cover
https://www.jewishrhody.com/stories/sources-netanyahu-fails-to-arrange-trump-meeting-as-us-pushes-for-idfs-lebanon-withdrawal,165779
https://www.timesofisrael.com/losing-ground-to-nemesis-eisenkot-a-desperate-netanyahu-plumbs-new-depths/
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-903257
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-again-stops-settlement-activists-trying-to-cross-into-syria/
https://www.jfeed.com/news-israel/idf-lebanon-rules-of-engagement
Live Updates: Trump warns of stronger strikes against Iran as regime continues attacks across Middle East
July 22, 2026
Oil tankers turn around, avoid Red Sea following warnings by Yemen's Houthis • Israel, Lebanon delegations to meet in Rome on August 4 for new negotiations round
July 22, 7:42 PM
'Everything was in ruins': Iran's FM Araghchi describes surviving Israel's opening strikes
Iran's foreign minister says he survived Israel's opening strikes after narrowly escaping a compound where senior officials had gathered, while acknowledging serious security vulnerabilities.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has offered one of the most revealing public accounts yet of the opening hours of the Israel-Iran war, describing how he narrowly escaped an Israeli strike on a compound where senior Iranian officials had gathered and suggesting Israel's intelligence capabilities inside Iran extended far beyond technological surveillance.
In a more than 90-minute interview with Iranian journalist Javad Moghouei, Araghchi recounted the panic, destruction, and confusion that followed Israel's opening strikes, while acknowledging what he described as serious security failures within the Islamic Republic.
Araghchi said he was inside the compound of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the morning the war began.
"I was with Ali Hejazi, chief of staff to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, at nine o'clock, and we were finally going over a report on the negotiations," Araghchi recalled. "I happened to have reached the part describing the heavy wartime atmosphere… then suddenly, there was an attack."
July 22, 6:10 PM
Trump threatens to hit Iranian bridges, power plants, any time shots fired in Strait of Hormuz
The US will strike Iranian bridges and power plants in retaliation for every time Iran fires on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump threatened in a Wednesday Truth Social post.
"The US will bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant, including those located next to, or in, the capital city of Tehran," Trump said.
This will happen "from this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz," he stated.
This will be regardless of whether Iran fired a "missile, rocket, drone, or any other device or weapon," the president said.
Trump's comments came while en route to Dover Air Force Base, Maryland, to receive the four US soldiers who were killed by Iran while posted to Jordan.
July 22, 6:10 PM
Only regime change prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, former Israel Navy commander says
“Producing a nuclear bomb is a complex and difficult undertaking. The Iranians were very close when the war began,” V.-Adm. (ret.) Eliezer "Chaney" Marom told 103FM.
Iran’s resolve and motivation to pursue nuclear weapons has only increased following the war, V.-Adm. (ret.) Eliezer "Chaney" Marom, a former Israel Navy commander, told 103FM on Wednesday, warning that only regime change could prevent Tehran from obtaining a bomb.
“Producing a nuclear bomb is a complex and difficult undertaking. The Iranians were very close when the war began, and fortunately, we disrupted it significantly,” Marom said.
He added that, according to intelligence assessments, Iran had been extremely close to completing the process.
“They were weeks away from a nuclear weapon, unequivocally. I am not the only one saying this. All the intelligence agencies, both Israeli and American, are saying it clearly, including the International Atomic Energy Agency,” he said.
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July 22, 6:10 PM
Israel, Lebanon delegations to meet in Rome on August 4 for new negotiations round, official says
The talks have since moved to the Italian capital so delegations could discuss the technical details and guidelines of the pilot zones in southern Lebanon.
Lebanon and Israel are scheduled to hold their next round of US-brokered talks on August 4 in Italy, a Lebanese official told Reuters on Wednesday, as the two countries begin implementing a plan for Israeli withdrawals and Lebanese army deployments in southern Lebanon.
The two longtime foes have held more than three months of face-to-face talks, billed as a way to put a permanent end to hostilities since a new war erupted on March 2 between Israel and Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, triggered by the wider regional conflict.
The ambassador-level direct meetings are unusual for countries that remain formally at war and have had no normal diplomatic relations through decades of invasion, military occupation and cross-border conflict.
Five meetings hosted by the United States produced a framework deal late last month which foresees the disarmament of Hezbollah, the progressive withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon and the deployment of Lebanese troops.
July 22, 5:48 PM
Oil tankers turn around, avoid Red Sea following warnings by Yemen's Houthis
The Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the United States in its war with Iran.
Four tankers changed course in the Red Sea on Wednesday, with two signaling the Suez Canal as their new destination after Yemen's Houthi terror group warned ships to avoid sailing to Saudi Arabian ports, ship-tracking data showed.
The Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, opening a potential new front against the United States in its war with Iran and raising the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.
"The threat of Houthi hostile actions against Saudi Arabia … has begun to have an overall effect on tanker activity," ship broker Clarksons said in a note.
"There are reports of several tankers, having loaded in Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu port in the Red Sea, that have shifted course towards the Suez Canal rather than sail south towards the Bab el-Mandeb strait, while others are holding their positions waiting for further instruction."
July 22, 5:43 PM
Bahrain intercepts Iranian attacks, says regime targeting civilians
Bahrain's military said on Wednesday that its air defenses had intercepted several Iranian attacks throughout the day, and that its defense system remained ready to engage future threats.
"The General Command of the Bahrain Defense Force announces that Iran continues its systematic hostile approach through its sinful attacks that target civilians in the Kingdom of Bahrain," said the Bahrain Defense Force.
July 22, 12:57 PM
Bulgaria denies US tanker aircraft will be used in operations against Iran
Bulgaria played down on Wednesday Iran's warning that its plan to host US tanker aircraft would constitute complicity in "aggression and war crimes" in the Middle East, arguing that the planes would only serve logistical purposes.
Prime Minister Rumen Radev said it was "categorically out of the question for military operations in the Middle East to be conducted from Bulgarian territory."
"These tanker aircraft are intended solely for logistical missions, and they will be refueled outside Bulgarian airspace," Bulgarian media quoted Radev as telling ministers.
The government said on Monday it would seek parliamentary approval to station up to eight US tanker aircraft at an air base in the Balkan country, which is a member of NATO and the European Union. Parliament is expected to greenlight the move at a session later on Wednesday.
July 22, 12:57 PM
Smoke seen rising from Aqaba area after Iran launches missile towards Jordan
According to the IDF, no Iron Dome interceptors were launched, and no debris from the Jordanian interception fell within Israeli territory.
Smoke was seen rising from the Aqaba area in Jordan after Iran launched missiles towards Jordan on Wednesday.
According to the IDF, no Iron Dome interceptors were launched, and no debris from Jordan's interception fell within Israeli territory.
Jordanian state media reported that six Iranian missiles were intercepted. The smoke reportedly resulted from debris.
Shortly afterward, Jordan’s Armed Forces stated that four Iranian drones were also intercepted in Jordanian airspace.
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U.S. Secret Service
@SecretService
The Secret Service’s Unmanned Aerial Systems program delivers relentless aerial security at protective sites nationwide.
Our advanced drones provide real-time video feeds, giving our teams the tactical edge to detect, deter, and defeat any threat—anytime, anywhere.
8:06 AM · Jul 22, 2026
https://x.com/SecretService/status/2079946297151287618
Shielding UAP files from the public is ‘patronizing’: Dr. Phil
Updated: Jul 22, 2026 / 11:27 AM CDT
At the request of the White House, Dr. Phil McGraw reviewed the unreleased UAP files to gauge how the public might react to them.
He said he believes the Trump administration trusted him with the review because he has been a trusted voice on television for years and is also part of the Religious Liberty Commission established by President Donald Trump.
“I think we have to look at what’s going on with all of this in different pieces,” McGraw said. “What are we going to disclose to the American public, but once we tell them what we tell them, what are we going to do with reaction?”
McGraw added he is concerned about that reaction, because the human exceptionalism could be altered.
He also said it could have effects on certain demographics, like the elderly and those who are easily destabilized and the scammers who could take advantage of the revelations.
“That can change the whole belief system and our religious beliefs,” he continued.
However, he says the government’s excuse of being scared to reveal information to the public because it’s “too shocking” is not true, as he believes it’s “patronizing.”
“I have sat with people, and I’ve seen them deal with difficult situations time and again,” McGraw said. “I think we are very resilient as the human race.”
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/shielding-uap-files-from-public-patronizing-dr-phil/
https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/dr-phil-on-ufo-files-there-has-been-a-massive-cover-up-reality-check/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhA-E57oQW8
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/trump-directive-eases-nda-restrictions-uap-witnesses-1809990
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/long-hidden-ufo-information-center-trump-push-free-former-officials
https://www.liberationtimes.com/home/on-the-brink-ufo-disclosure-speech-believed-to-have-been-prepared-for-trump-amid-expanding-white-house-push
https://www.uniladtech.com/news/trump-uap-disclosure-nda-order-678608-20260722
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/president-trump-are-there-alien-packages-in-our-mailbox-ff2647a9f995
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd3B51dj4t4 (President Trump orders to WAIVE UFO Whistleblowers & Defense Contractors NDAs - Psicoactivo #1095)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbyrl0L-sz4 (WeAreChange: Trump Just Dropped a F***ING Bomb…)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnuCaIZcwts (Avi Loeb: Breaking: The Path to UAP Disclosure Just Opened)
Trump Orders UFO Whistleblowers Released From NDAs in Dramatic Push To Unlock Long-Hidden Government Secrets
22 July 2026, 9:47 AM BST
A new directive allows former government employees and defence contractors to share UAP information
Fresh questions about what the US government knows regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena have resurfaced after President Donald Trump reportedly directed federal agencies to waive certain non disclosure agreements for former government employees and defence contractors.
The move is being described as a significant step towards greater transparency, allowing eligible witnesses to share information with authorised investigators without fear of violating previous secrecy agreements.
Although the directive does not automatically declassify any information, supporters believe it could encourage individuals who have remained silent for years to finally speak through official government channels.
Trump Opens the Door for Former Witnesses
According to a report discussed on the Psicoactivo podcast, President Trump has instructed the Department of War and the intelligence community to permit former government employees and contractors with relevant knowledge about unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, to cooperate with official investigations.
Rather than issuing a blanket declassification order, the directive focuses on removing legal barriers created by previous non disclosure agreements.
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Under the new process, eligible individuals may meet with representatives from the Pentagon's All Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, known as AARO, or the President's UAP Task Force.
During those authorised meetings, applicable non disclosure agreements can be waived, allowing witnesses to provide information without risking legal consequences.
A senior administration official quoted in the report said, 'President Trump recently directed the Department of War and the intelligence community to allow government employees or contractors that have relevant information about the disclosure of UAP to come forward and have their prior NDAs abrogated.'
The podcast host described the development as an important breakthrough, saying, 'This is pretty significant. I think that this is a great first step towards something that could lead to an executive order.'
The Directive Stops Short of Full Disclosure
Despite the excitement surrounding the announcement, administration officials stressed that the directive does not automatically release classified information to the public.
Instead, any testimony provided through authorised channels will first undergo existing government review and declassification procedures before any details can be disclosed publicly.
Officials explained that the purpose is to remove concerns among potential witnesses who believed their previous agreements permanently prevented them from cooperating with government investigations.
'People who believe that they have information have expressed reluctance in coming forward,' one official said. 'We are eliminating that source of reluctance.'
During the podcast, the host noted that even if the public does not immediately hear what witnesses reveal, investigators and members of Congress could gain valuable leads.
'Even though people are not going to find out what they reveal, people like Eric Burlison will, and he will know now which classified material he has to pursue,' the presenter said.
Years of UFO Claims Have Fuelled Pressure
The latest directive follows years of congressional hearings, whistleblower allegations and renewed public interest in unexplained aerial sightings.
Momentum increased after military videos showing unusual flying objects became public in 2017, prompting bipartisan calls for greater transparency.
More recently, former intelligence officer David Grusch alleged that secret UAP programmes had operated outside normal congressional oversight, although the Pentagon has rejected his central claims.
The discussion also highlighted comments made by senior Republican figures who previously argued that witnesses feared speaking publicly because of potential damage to their careers and security clearances.
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https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-15994567/nasa-whistleblowers-alien-moon-photos.html
https://x.com/Holden_Culotta/status/2079699226519392351
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVVqFg2v7ro
NASA whistleblowers claim 'alien presence' is hidden in altered moon photos
13:03 EDT, 22 July 2026 | Updated: 13:59 EDT, 22 July 2026
NASA's most famous astronauts secretly claimed that they encountered an alien presence on the moon and were told to keep it quiet for decades.
Physicist Maaneli Derakhshani told the American Alchemy podcast that multiple Apollo missions allegedly captured photos of UFOs around the moon during the 1960s and 1970s, only to have those images altered before the public saw them.
Derakhshani, who researches lunar and Martian surface anomalies, detailed instances where famous NASA photos taken by astronauts on the surface of the moon had been clearly altered when compared to public copies of the same images.
The scientist said: 'One scan from the Lunar and Planetary Institute - this is an archive that NASA has managed since the 1970s - and it's an Apollo 14 photograph with Ed Mitchell standing on the lunar surface.'
'You see his long shadow stretched out and… essentially the lunar sky is completely black in this version. You zoom in everywhere, it's completely black,' Derakhshani revealed.
'However, if you look at the "March to the moon" version of that same frame, which is managed by Johnson Space Center and Arizona State University, there is a blue orb in the lunar sky very clearly. It's very obvious above Mitchell.'
Derakhshani and podcast host Jesse Michels also noted that several astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, the first human on the moon, have reportedly claimed they received telepathic messages from extraterrestrials warning them not to return.
The bombshell whistleblower stories come as NASA prepares to land on the lunar surface by 2028 – ending a nearly six-decade absence which has sparked unproven conspiracy theories as to why the US never returned to the moon.
During the final moon mission, Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt took many photos while visiting the lunar surface in 1972.
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However, Derakhshani revealed on the podcast that one famous frame showed three solid blue lights in the black sky above a lunar hill. When brightened, the area between the lights gets brighter, suggesting they might be attached to a larger object.
NASA’s own description of this image during the first batch of declassified UFO files released in May noted that a 'special investigation' had been opened because experts examining it believed the lights may be part of a large physical object in space.
The scientist noted that other photos from the same mission captured blue metallic-looking streaks in space, but when zoomed in and brightened, the streaks resembled insectoid-like objects with faint trails from an alleged engine.
Skeptics, including astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, have claimed that the images were only displaying cosmic rays, but Derakhshani called the odds of this statistically improbable, as the objects were solid round lights – not gaseous streaks or lens flares.
Despite releasing tranches of photos and hours of audio recordings from the Apollo moon missions as part of the Trump Administration's UFO disclosure campaign, NASA and the Pentagon continue to deny that proof of alien life has been found.
Derakhshani added that the altered pictures and other sightings were not definitive proof of aliens, but said the patterns are hard to explain as natural geology, camera glitches or ordinary space debris.
However, the strongest evidence of a NASA cover-up may come from the alleged confession of an actual NASA astronaut who claimed he was ordered to destroy potential proof of UFO sightings near the moon.
'There's also Ken Johnston Sr, who was one of the pilots who trained the NASA astronauts and was a backup astronaut for the Apollo missions if I remember correctly,' Derakhshani said in the July 20 episode on YouTube.
'He says he was told to destroy a bunch of first-generation or early-generation Apollo negatives because they had some anomalies on them and they're not supposed to be there, and they don't want to release them publicly and he actually saved some of them and put some of his copies online.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to NASA for comment.
Michels then brought up the alleged confessions of astronauts Cernan and Armstrong, who both reportedly mentioned having similar experiences during their lunar flights involving a warning received from extraterrestrials.
'There are all these apocryphal stories of Neil Armstrong telling similar stories in Washington, DC, saying, "We were told not to come back to the moon,"' the host said.
Michels referenced a previous interview with Steve Colbern, a lab analyst who participated in surgeries to remove alleged alien implants from people, who also claimed Armstrong was overheard at a party for high-level political guests repeating this warning.
Meanwhile, Cernan reportedly told his friend and Japanese NASA museum curator Josen Takano that during the trip to the moon, he received some type of telepathic message, saying: 'We don’t really want you here.'
The next mission scheduled to circle the moon, Artemis III, is expected to take place at some point in 2027. The following mission, a year later, Artemis IV, is expected to be the first lunar landing since the Apollo program.
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Lil Wayne Cites 'Ancient Aliens' as All He Watches Besides Sports, Floats Extraterrestrial Theories
July 21, 2026
Key Takeaways
Lil Wayne tells the Friends Keep Secrets podcast that the only thing he watches besides sports is History Channel’s Ancient Aliens.
Weezy also cites the 2025 alien documentary The Age of Disclosure.
The J-Rod conspiracy theory gets a mention, with Weezy floating speculation about why potential aliens might have distinct features like large eyes and smaller frames.
Lil Wayne wants to believe.
Weezy, whose 2019 tour with a then-Tomless incarnation of blink-182 notably coincided with the 20th anniversary of “Aliens Exist,” dropped in for the latest episode of the Friends Keep Secrets podcast this week.
Naturally, the ensuing conversation—led by co-hosts Benny Blanco, Lil Dicky, and Kristin Batalucco—eventually made its way to what is clearly a topic of particular interest for the five-time Grammy winner: extraterrestrial life.
In fact, Wayne is entrenched enough to include aliens-focused programming in his viewing habits, citing Ancient Aliens as the only thing he watches aside from sports.
Asked if he’d seen the 2025 documentary The Age of Disclosure, Weezy confirmed that he had. “I love everything about Ancient Aliens,” he said.
“But that [documentary], Age of Disclosure, that’s when they’re exposing everything that the government is watching.”
From there, Dicky, a recent GOAT Talk guest alongside Blanco, chimed in to point out how impactful an indisputable and widely witnessed alien event would be to humanity at large.
Wayne agreed, then dove into what he sees as the oft-limiting definition people tend to associate with potential aliens, ultimately leading to a mention of the conspiracy theories that have long surrounded a purported life form known as Jarod, or J-Rod.
“We also have to understand what an alien is,” Wayne said. “None of us know. [I’m] saying that to say, we don't even know if they're from another planet. The only alien that we supposedly knew is the one from Roswell that lived, J -Rod.”
Elaborating further, Wayne, again citing the J-Rod legend, floated theories on why a potential extraterrestrial being might have large eyes and a smaller frame, citing differences in atmosphere and diet in their respective homeland.
“J -Rod said, ‘I’m not from another planet,’” Wayne said. “He said, ‘I’m from another time.’
He said that your world will end in a cataclysm, and some people will make it, a lot of people will, and they'll have to live within the planet, basically going like ants.
And that civilization, that time, will last so long that we'll adapt to living there, and just like we adapt to everything else, we're gonna start adapting to being an insect.”
Einstein’s theory of relativity also got a mention, as did Wayne’s reluctance to utilize YouTube when digging into extraterrestrial matters. See the full conversation above.
Given all that’s transpired in recent years in the UAP space, including some choice remarks from ex-POTUS Barack Obama, Complex decided to hit up an expert on the topic back in May.
https://www.complex.com/music/a/tracewilliamcowen/lil-wayne-ancient-aliens-j-rod-theory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04ajJZ9gNzs (The Lil Wayne Episode | Friends Keep Secrets)