TYB
An Object Larger Than Jupiter is now Positioned Just Outside Earth's Orbit…
Aug 7, 2026
Comet 220P/McNaught, a short-period Jupiter family comet, is now positioned close to Earth and has undergone two violent outbursts on June 3rd and August 5th that have caused it to suddenly expand its coma to a size larger than Jupiter and to become ~35,000x brighter than normal.
Woah! Is this normal and what caused these outbursts? Geophysicist Stefan Burns reports…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tbp9xDA5x8k
other space objects
https://www.amsmeteors.org/2026/08/meteor-activity-outlook-for-august-8-14-2026/
https://www.foxweather.com/earth-space/august-12-2026-perseids-new-moon-solar-eclipse-planet-parade
https://aasnova.org/2026/08/07/finishing-off-an-asteroid/
Space Station Crew Wraps Busy Week, Plans New Date for US Spacewalk 97
August 7, 2026 6:29PM
On Aug. 6, NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Anil Menon concluded a 6-hour, 27-minute spacewalk outside the International Space Station.
Meir and Menon successfully completed their primary objective of preparing the 3B power channel for the future installation of a roll out solar array.
Toward the end of the spacewalk, a carbon dioxide sensor on Menon’s spacesuit indicated an unexpected data reading. Menon reported no other issues during the spacewalk.
Although the sensor returned to normal readings following removal of the suit, engineers on the ground will continue to evaluate over the coming days whether to change suits for the next spacewalk.
As a result, NASA will move the next spacewalk to replace a Space-to-Ground antenna on the space station to Tuesday, Aug. 18. As of now, the third planned spacewalk this month remains scheduled on Tuesday, Aug. 25.
The agency will provide additional spacewalk details early next week.
On Friday, NASA astronaut Jack Hathaway of studied Canadarm2 robotic arm operations planned to support the next spacewalk.
NASA will soon name the spacewalkers who will replace a space-to-ground antenna to maintain high-speed data and communication transmissions between Mission Control Center and the space station.
ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot was back on exercise research working out with new and advanced gear to inform countermeasures that may improve muscle and bone health in microgravity.
She first wore the EasyMotion-2 suit that sent electrical impulses and triggered muscle contractions to supplement her workout session on the advanced resistive exercise device in the Tranquility module.
Afterward, she moved into the Columbus laboratory module and performed rope pull exercises on the European Enhanced Exploration Exercise Device (E4D). Researchers are evaluating the E4D’s effectiveness for use on missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Numerous science investigations and lab maintenance tasks also kept the three Expedition 75 cosmonauts busy at the end of the week.
Roscosmos flight engineer Andrey Fedyaev started his shift measuring his blood pressure while wearing a series of cuffs on his arm, wrist, and fingers for a circulation system study.
He wrapped up his day inspecting and cleaning smoke detectors in the Rassvet module. Flight engineer Pyotr Dubrov set up an automated Earth photography session to capture European and Asian landmarks then tested artificial intelligence tools to improve crew operations.
Flight engineer Anna Kikina worked in the Zarya module photographing areas to identify optimal stowage locations and locate hardware.
https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/08/07/space-station-crew-wraps-busy-week-plans-new-date-for-us-spacewalk-97/
moar
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/worldview-image-archive/wildland-fires-burn-across-oregon-washington-british-columbia
https://www.earthdata.nasa.gov/news/tracing-tornados-path-destruction
https://science.nasa.gov/earth/2026-igarss-hyperwall-schedule/
https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/imap/2026/08/07/nasas-imap-mission-releases-new-data-from-7-science-instruments/
https://www.nasa.gov/spacecapital/
Bethany Stevens
@NASASpox
Another week, another step towards achieving the near-impossible at @NASA!
🌔 Moon Base mission update
🚀 Artemis III assembly milestones
🧑🚀 @Astro_Jessica and @astro_anil complete a spacewalk
🪐 Updates from the edge of the solar system
Here’s your NASA Minute!
9:01 AM · Aug 7, 2026
https://x.com/NASASpox/status/2085758112934560052
moar
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2086094316754088328
https://x.com/NASAAmes/status/2085751211299410344
https://x.com/NASAAdmin/status/2085901497980559745
https://x.com/rebeccaperrotto/status/2085805379246526531
is it an 'amen' break?
https://ussfa.org/meet-the-saltzmans/
https://x.com/SpaceForceAssoc/status/2085441111552577913
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTqg43fC6S0
extra Space Force
https://www.executivegov.com/articles/richard-beckman-ussf-infrastructure-pae-appointment
https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2026/pentagon-golden-dome-space-interceptor-tests-2026
https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/4565589/535th-training-squadron-mti-earn-afa-honors/
EXCLUSIVE – Gen. Saltzman & Jennifer Saltzman: The Partnership Behind the Space Force
August 6, 2026
When we talk about how a military service gets built, we usually reach for the language of hardware and budgets. Satellites and sensors. Doctrine and org charts. The blueprint of a warfighting force.
But sit with Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman and his wife Jennifer for an hour, in the residence where the two live, and a different story emerges. The Space Force was not assembled from a blueprint.
For much of its earliest history there was no blueprint to work from. It was built the same way the Saltzmans built a marriage and a life across thirty-five years and a long list of moves: by walking toward the thing nobody had figured out yet, and sorting it out together.
“I guess we’re in this together,” Saltzman remembers deciding early on. “We’ll just sort it out as we go.”
He was describing a young engagement and an uncertain future in uniform. He could just as easily have been describing the founding of a service.
The Best Sensor
General Chance Saltzman is the second Chief of Space Operations, the officer who sits on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and answers for the readiness of the entire United States Space Force.
He came up as an intercontinental ballistic missile operator, flew satellites at the National Reconnaissance Office, earned one of the first space slots at the Air Force Weapons School, and was among the very first general officers to commission into the new service.
Jennifer Saltzman has been beside him the entire way, through years in a Nellis cul-de-sac and a year apart while he helped run the air war over the Middle East.
In his own telling, she is not a supporting character in that career. She is, as he puts it, “my best sensor.”
That framing matters, because as Saltzman nears the end of his tenure, the question hanging over the young service is not really about technology. It is about identity.
What does it mean to be a Guardian? What kind of culture is worth building, and how much of it has to be invented from nothing?
The Saltzmans have spent their whole lives answering a smaller version of that question, and their answer turns out to scale.
An Unproven Path
The pattern started before either of them knew it was a pattern.
They had known each other since junior high in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and reconnected years later when a delayed entry date sent a newly commissioned lieutenant back home for ten months.
They were engaged two weeks before he left for missile training, with only the faintest idea of what came next. “You just figure it out,” Jennifer says of those first years. “That is just your normal.”
Saltzman tells the story of his own career as a series of doors he backed through rather than planned for. His ROTC scholarship was in physics, a subject he gave everything to for about three semesters before conceding it “was not going to work out for anybody.” Switching to a non-technical degree meant giving up the scholarship, unless he was willing to become a missile operator. He said yes without hesitating.
“They thought they were getting a good deal,” he says, “and I knew I was getting a good deal.”
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The instinct sharpened into something close to a philosophy at the Weapons School. The program was new, and space officers were an unproven addition to it.
When Saltzman called a senior officer at the personnel center for advice, the answer was blunt. “That’s a terrible idea,” the man told him, an unproven path with no telling where it led.
For most people that would have closed the door. For Saltzman it opened one. “When I hung up with him,” he recalls, “I’m like, that’s what I’m going to do.” He puts the logic plainly: “An unproven path? How could you go wrong there?”
Every unproven path he chose was a path Jennifer agreed to walk without a map. She describes the discipline it took, the decision to put herself out there in each new place rather than wait inside for the assignment to end.
When he announced they were leaving Silicon Valley for a summer drive across the desert to Las Vegas in a car with no air conditioning, she was, by his account, “not very pleased.” Two years later she called it one of their best assignments.
The lesson she draws is not that every move was good. It is that a place “gives you something that you never would have had before,” provided you are willing to go looking for it.
Combat Operations and Soccer Practice
That willingness to walk into the undefined eventually met a moment that would redefine an entire domain.
In January 2007, Saltzman was in charge of operations on the floor of the Joint Space Operations Center when China launched a missile at one of its own defunct satellites. He watched the intercept unfold in real time.
“We have multiple headcount,” the missile operator told him, the phrase radars use when one object in space suddenly becomes many.
There was, he realized, no hand signal to convey what had just happened to the general waiting behind a plate glass window, so he ran around to deliver it in person.
“They destroyed the satellite,” he said, and the call went up to the Secretary of Defense. From that day forward, he understood, “space would forever be contested.”
What he describes next is the detail that makes the Space Force unlike any service before it. Guardians conduct combat operations from garrison. They do not deploy to fight.
They fight from bases inside the United States and then go home. So on the day he watched a rival nation change the rules of space, Saltzman got in his car and drove home, where Jennifer was waiting.
“We’re late for soccer practice,” he remembers her saying. “Grab the oranges. We’re on our way.” You conduct missile warning and intelligence collection all day, he says, and then “you just have to go home and help your grade school kid with math.”
For Jennifer, watching from the other side of that classified wall, the same day registered simply as “just another work day.”
The service itself arrived the way the rest of their life had, faster than anyone was ready for and without a manual. Saltzman was deployed in the Middle East when the decision came down.
He had assumed a Space Force was a distant idea, certainly nothing that would touch his own career. “Sure enough,” he says, “like three months later, there just is a Space Force.”
A call came asking him to return and build the operational side. He compares the feeling to “the dog that catches the bumper.” Years of arguing that the country needed a Space Force, and now the arguing was over and the building had to begin.
Building it meant inventing the ordinary from scratch. There was no flag, no song, no uniform, no set of performance reports designed for Guardians rather than borrowed from the Air Force.
Saltzman is candid that these were not trivial chores to be waved away. “There’s just a certain tax that comes with being a service,” he says, “and you have to pay the tax.”
The point was made unforgettable when he was told, on the day of his own promotion to three stars, that if a Space Force flag was not standing at the Pentagon entrance before the ceremony, “you’re not getting your third star.”
His one real regret is instructive, and it is a regret about patience rather than speed. The Space Force still relies on what are essentially Air Force performance reports.
Saltzman slowed that project down on purpose, because a performance report is not just paperwork. It documents what a service values and how it tells people they matter.
“A Guardian identity is so important,” he says, that he would rather get it right slowly than get it wrong quickly. It is the same deliberate patience the couple learned assignment by assignment, applied now to the culture of an institution.
2/3
Connection as Infrastructure
Connection is not a soft skill in this line of work. It is infrastructure.
The Saltzmans learned that as a young couple at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, where Jennifer managed a newborn while her husband disappeared for thirty-hour alerts and both of them leaned on a community of people in exactly the same situation.
Everyone was the same age, everyone was new, and nobody knew what they were doing. Looking around a room of them years later, Jennifer remembers thinking, “Are we the adults? Who’s in charge of us?”
One of their friends eventually gave Saltzman a shirt that read, “Bad decisions make the best stories.” They grew up together, and so did the friendships, which is why the people who knew them then are still the people they keep now.
That belief in connection is exactly how Saltzman leads. When he and Jennifer visit Guardians in the field, he says, “we don’t talk, we listen.” He gave up long ago on the idea that a commander lecturing from a stage teaches anyone very much.
Instead he sits with small groups of junior enlisted, company grade officers, and squadron commanders, and lets them talk to each other while he takes notes.
Here the partnership becomes a genuine instrument of command. Jennifer sits with the spouses, in small groups of her own, and the truth flows to her. “
She’s my best sensor,” Saltzman says, because Guardians “will tell her things that I know they would never tell me.” Rank closes some doors. Jennifer opens them.
She has watched the culture shift in real time. Spouses now receive threat briefings, something that did not happen for most of their career, and the effect on the families has been striking.
When a spouse understands how real the threat in space actually is, Jennifer explains, buy-in follows, and a family that understands the mission is a family that can sustain a career.
It is the connection principle again, scaled from a Montana cul-de-sac to a national force.
For all of it, the anchor stays in Bowling Green. When the Saltzmans go home to Kentucky, the childhood friends there have, in his words, “no appreciation whatsoever for what a two star general does,” and, he adds, “that’s just the way I like it.”
Back there he is not the Chief of Space Operations. He is Chance, and she is Jennifer, and they are two graduates of Bowling Green High School picking up a conversation they started in the 1980s.
A service that spends so much energy building an identity is led, it turns out, by a man who is careful never to lose his own.
Why This Conversation Matters
The Space Force will be measured, rightly, by its satellites and its sensors, its doctrine and its readiness.
But this conversation is a reminder that institutions are built by people, and that the qualities holding a marriage together across thirty-five years are not so different from the ones that hold a young service together through its first uncertain decade.
A willingness to walk the unproven path. The patience to build an identity slowly. The conviction that connection is not decoration but foundation.
None of that comes through on a fact sheet.
It comes through in the way Chance and Jennifer Saltzman finish each other’s stories, correct each other’s timelines, and land, again and again, on the same five unglamorous words that have carried them from a college summer party to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
We will figure it out. The full conversation carries a warmth and a candor that no summary can. There is a great deal more in it than fits here, including the night a Hollywood director came to dinner and the story of how a physics dropout ended up flying some of the nation’s most secret satellites.
Hear General Chance Saltzman and Jennifer Saltzman tell it themselves, you come away understanding something a slide can never quite capture: how a service, like a marriage, gets built one unmapped step at a time.
3/3
https://www.militarynews.com/norfolk-navy-flagship/news/top_stories/naval-research-lab-tracking-station-steers-space-operations-70-years-of-eyes-in-the-skies/article_15846d37-24de-4af1-80a2-df196af4d0d2.html
Naval Research Lab Tracking Station steers space operations, 70 years of eyes in the skies
August 8, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In early 1956, in a remote corner of Southern Maryland, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) began constructing the facility that would help define the American Space Age.
From tracking the world’s first satellite, Sputnik I, to serving as today’s complex mission operations hub, NRL’s Blossom Point Tracking Facility (BPTF) remains a bedrock of naval innovation and the U.S. Navy’s gateway to the stars.
“Beginning as a pioneering effort during the dawn of the Space Age, this tracking station remains a cornerstone for ensuring our satellites can withstand and recover from disruptions, securing our access to space,” said Capt. Randy Cruz, NRL commanding officer.
“This anniversary reflects decades of innovation, technical excellence, and unwavering collaboration in advancing the nation’s space capabilities.”
This July, NRL commemorates decades of satellite tracking at Blossom Point. It has transitioned from an early tracking station for the world’s very first satellites into a state-of-the-art, 24/7 nerve center for global mission control.
BPTF is the sentry of critical capabilities, such as secure communications, weather forecasting, and navigation, that citizens and warfighters rely on daily.
“Blossom Point exemplifies how naval research contributes to the joint capabilities of the DoW [Department of War].
It is a facility that continues to develop the future of autonomous mission control,” said Acting Director of NRL’s Naval Center for Space Technology (NCST), Bernard Kelm.
“By continuously adapting our ground systems and leveraging innovative architectures, we ensure the Navy and our partners maintain a resilient, decisive advantage in an increasingly complex space domain.”
From “Minitrack” to Modern Mission Control
Located 35 miles from Washington on Cedar Point Neck, the site was selected for Project Vanguard precisely for its isolation from noise and electronic interference, making it an ideal location for a new era of exploration.
“The legacy of Blossom Point is incredible—it was actually established before NASA, making it the very first satellite tracking facility stood up by the United States,” said NRL BPTF Spacecraft Operations Lead, Lori Edwards.
“We were instantiated to track Sputnik, and when Vanguard launched, our teams utilized the Minitrack system to track it. In fact, the building my operators sit in today is Building 1, the very first building constructed on this site.
We are literally operating modern, autonomous satellites out of the historic birthplace of American space tracking.”
By July 1956, Blossom Point was operational and designated as the training and testing headquarters for the first satellite tracking system, the “Minimum Trackable Satellite,” or Minitrack.
When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I in October 1957, NRL engineers rapidly modified the Minitrack receivers, making the laboratory the first organization to demonstrate the feasibility of radio detection and tracking for Earth-orbiting satellites.
On March 17, 1958, NRL successfully launched the Vanguard I satellite, which remains the oldest man-made object still orbiting Earth.
This early work led to the development of the world’s first space surveillance system which detects and tracks all types of earth-orbiting satellites, space vehicles and other orbital objects and debris.
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Seventy years later, BPTF operates as a critical, multi-mission asset, providing agile and secure command and control for modern spacecraft operations.
“Blossom Point Tracking Facility supports a wide variety of on-orbit assets, delivering critical weather data, communication services, and intelligence,” said Laser Technologies Section Head for NCST, Michele Suite.
“We are all about the mission data. We make sure that critical weather data gets to our Fleet commanders so they can be fully prepared for the operational areas they deploy to.
Having that information gives them the confidence they need and sets them up for mission success.”
24/7 Autonomous Operations
What sets Blossom Point apart today is its high level of “lights-out” automation, which allows it to handle approximately 250 satellite contacts a day, 24/7, completely autonomously.
This staggering volume is made possible by Neptune ® C2 Software, a government-owned software suite developed and operated by NRL.
“Here at Blossom Point, we utilize the Neptune software to execute autonomous satellite contacts throughout the day,” Edwards said.
“Unlike traditional facilities, we don’t require an operator sitting in the chair during a pass; the software handles the command and control of the spacecraft.
My team focuses on writing the automation scripts that monitor vehicle health, execute safety protocols, and run the contact support plans.”
This in-house system integrates with another NRL product, the Virtual Mission Operations Center (VMOC), to generate and execute contact schedules.
This advanced automation provides significant cost savings and allows for rapid, autonomous responses to spacecraft anomalies, drastically reducing downtime.
Innovation is the Driving Force behind The Fleet
“One of the amazing things we do here at Blossom Point is support risk reduction and the demonstration of critical, emerging technologies for the Fleet,” Suite said.
“For example, on those Space Development Agency LEO [Low Earth Orbit] satellites, we support laser communication terminals. This technology ensures that data gets to the warfighter with incredibly low latency, securing mission success.”
The facility delivers comprehensive communications and network engineering for both in-development and on-orbit space infrastructure. Operating across all orbital profiles, the site provides end-to-end lifecycle support that matures innovative space technologies.
“The data we collect is going right into situation rooms, enabling commanders on the ground and at-sea to make key, timely decisions on troop movements, naval maneuvers, and overall national security,” Suite continued.
This seamless integration between research, development, and operations is a hallmark of NRL’s approach.
“As we celebrate this 70-year milestone, we are not just looking back at our history; we are looking forward to the next century of space domain awareness,” Cruz concluded.
“Blossom Point remains committed to providing the resilient, cost-effective solutions our stakeholders need to maintain space superiority for decades to come.”
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SpaceX to launch 32 pharma laboratories into orbit for microgravity drug production
Aug 08, 2026 08:37 AM EST
The company will use microgravity to accelerate pharmaceutical research.
SpaceMD, a wholly owned subsidiary of US space infrastructure company Redwire, has signed a contract to fly pharmaceutical research aboard SpaceX’s new Starfall spacecraft.
Planned for launch in 2028, the mission will use microgravity to study drug compounds and accelerate the development of improved medicines for patients on Earth.
The spacecraft is expected to carry up to 32 Pharmaceutical In-Space Laboratory boxes, or PIL-BOXes, providing pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, and academic researchers with a dedicated orbital laboratory.
SpaceMD says the flight could become the largest dedicated commercial microgravity research mission conducted to date.
A larger laboratory in orbit
SpaceMD will develop a new PIL-BOX variant designed to use and optimize research across the Starfall spacecraft.
The system will allow researchers to expose selected drug candidates to a controlled microgravity environment for a tailored period before returning them to Earth for analysis.
Microgravity can change how biological materials and chemical compounds behave. In pharmaceutical research, it can enable drug compounds to form larger and more uniform crystals than those typically produced under Earth’s gravity.
Scientists can analyze these structures to understand molecules better, refine formulations, and potentially develop more effective therapeutics.
Starfall is designed to provide affordable and routine access to microgravity for manufacturing, scientific research, and technology testing.
Pairing the spacecraft with Redwire’s laboratory hardware could increase both the number and frequency of commercial experiments flown in orbit.
Decades of microgravity research
“Space-based pharmaceutical development is reaching an inflection point. For decades, Redwire has built and operated the infrastructure that has enabled critical progress in microgravity research,” said John Vellinger, CEO of SpaceMD.
“Now, by combining our flight-proven microgravity payloads, such as PIL-BOX, with SpaceX’s innovative transportation capabilities, we’re dramatically expanding our ability to serve customers, increase research cadence, and accelerate the creation of life-changing therapies,” he added.
The planned mission builds on pharmaceutical and life sciences research performed using Redwire hardware aboard crewed spacecraft, from NASA’s Space Shuttle to the International Space Station.
Since November 2023, 54 PIL-BOX systems have flown to the ISS. Another 12 systems are being prepared for launches scheduled across September, October, and December, according to the company.
Targeting major diseases
SpaceMD has used its orbital laboratories to crystallize 45 unique compounds. These include insulin and molecules associated with treatments for cancer, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes.
The 2028 Starfall mission represents a significant increase in scale.
By carrying as many as 32 laboratories on one spacecraft, SpaceMD could run multiple investigations during the same flight while providing researchers with different experiment configurations and mission durations.
The contract also reflects the growing effort to establish commercial research platforms beyond the ISS.
As access to orbit becomes more frequent, dedicated spacecraft could give companies greater control over schedules, experimental conditions, and return timelines.
For SpaceMD, that means turning microgravity research from an occasional opportunity into a repeatable pharmaceutical development service.
The broader goal is to shorten research cycles and use conditions unavailable on Earth to help produce new formulations and therapies for a broader range of commercial customers.
https://interestingengineering.com/space/spacex-to-launch-32-pharma-laboratories-into-orbit-for-microgravity-drug-production
extra SpaceX
https://www.spacex.com/launches/sl-17-38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOTEJM2cvl0
Russia hits weapons facility and fuel depot in Kiev– MOD
8 Aug, 2026 07:08
Moscow has reported targeting a Flamingo missile parts plant operated by Fire Point, a firm linked to Vladimir Zelensky associate Timur Mindich’s corruption scandal
Russian forces have carried out high-precision strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial facilities and a fuel depot in Kiev, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has reported.
In a statement on Saturday, the ministry said the strikes, involving precision ground-based weapons, targeted the Kiev-111 industrial facility, which it said produces parts and warheads for Ukraine’s ground-launched FP-5 Flamingo cruise missiles, as well as chemicals for solid-fuel boosters.
According to the MOD, the site was operated by Fire Point, a company promoted internationally by Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and linked to his former business associate Timur Mindich, a key figure in a major corruption scandal.
The Russian military also said it struck the Kiev-3 fuel depot operated by Grandterminal, which the ministry said supplies petroleum products to the Ukrainian military. Fuel trucks were reportedly dispatched from the facility to supply Ukrainian troops in the east of the country.
Separately, Russian attack drones struck two cargo ships at sea south and east of Odessa, the ministry said. According to the MOD, the vessels were transporting weapons and other military supplies to Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine’s Air Force later acknowledged Russian missile strikes and hits by 13 attack drones at 12 unspecified locations, while claiming several missiles failed to reach their targets.
In recent weeks, the Russian military has ramped up long-range strikes on Ukraine’s industrial facilities with military purposes and critical dual-use infrastructure.
Moscow maintains it never targets civilians and says its campaign comes in response to Kiev’s continued attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure, which have intensified amid setbacks suffered by Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
Since June, Kiev has stepped up long-range attacks on civilian infrastructure in Russia as part of a 40-day pressure campaign announced by Zelensky.
Ukraine has struck warehouses belonging to online retailer Wildberries, as well as energy hubs, residential buildings, civilian vehicles, infrastructure, and resort areas. Zelensky portrayed the campaign as an effort to force Russia into negotiations on Kiev’s terms.
In practice, however, it has involved what Moscow describes as “terrorist attacks” resulting in dozens of civilian deaths.
In the last week of July alone, Ukrainian attacks killed 49 civilians, including four children, according to Rodion Miroshnik, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s mission that tracks Ukraine’s alleged war crimes.
The latest Ukrainian drone strike on a residential block in Russia’s Crimea on Friday killed at least two civilians and wounded another, according to regional head Sergey Aksyonov.
In separate statements, the MOD said Russian air defenses intercepted and destroyed over 450 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones over 18 Russian regions overnight on Friday and on Saturday morning.
https://www.rt.com/russia/644010-russia-hits-weapons-facility-kiev/
extra RT
https://www.rt.com/russia/644004-ukrainian-drone-killed-two-civilians-apartment/
https://www.rt.com/russia/644014-ukrainian-press-gang-odessa-taxi-assault/
https://www.rt.com/news/644002-rt-top-stories-ukraine-trump/
A drone likely from Ukraine explodes in Bulgaria near a gas pipeline close to Romania’s border
Sat, Aug 8, 2026
SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — A drone entered Bulgarian airspace on Saturday and exploded close to an international gas pipeline shortly after crossing the border from Romania. There were no casualties or damage.
The defense ministry in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital, later said there were indications the drone was the kind used by Ukrainian armed forces and that the incident was likely accidental. Bulgaria and Romania are both members of NATO and the European Union.
Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Rumen Radev said the drone exploded just after 5 a.m. about 100 meters (109 yards) inside Bulgarian territory. It was not detected or identified while flying through either Romanian or Bulgarian airspace.
“There are no casualties or damage to buildings. The area has been cordoned off. We continue to monitor the situation,” Radev said following a government emergency meeting.
Radev said the unmanned aerial vehicle exploded around 200 meters (218 yards) from a Romanian compressor station, and about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from Bulgaria’s compressor station on the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and strengthen surveillance. Following this incident, we will also redeploy border police anti-drone detection and countermeasure capabilities from the border with Turkey to the border with Romania,” Radev said.
The incident would be raised at a meeting of the North Atlantic Council early next week, Bulgaria’s Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov said.
The drone appeared to have carried a significant amount of explosives, given the strength of the blast and the column of black smoke, Stoyanov said, adding that such drones are difficult to detect because of their small size and low flight altitude.
At first it was unclear where the drone had originated or whether it was linked to Russia or Ukraine, but Bulgarian Ministry of Defense later said that an “initial analysis of the wreckage indicates that it is most likely a “Maya” decoy drone.
This type of drone is widely used by the Ukrainian armed forces.”
“At this time, there is no reason to believe that the incident was intentional,” the statement said.
https://srnnews.com/a-drone-likely-from-ukraine-explodes-in-bulgaria-near-a-gas-pipeline-close-to-romanias-border/
other Russia and Ukraine
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81967
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/361017743/2-drones-spotted-flying-over-german-military-base-after-dron
https://www.yahoo.com/news/world/articles/security-radar-installed-leipzig-airport-113336915.html
https://www.deutschland.de/en/news/national-security-council-meets-over-drone-incident
https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026/08/08/ukraine-strikes-oil-refinery-in-russias-krasnodar-region-in-drone-attack-a93441
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4152242-in-russia-ilsky-and-syzran-oil-refineries-on-fire-following-drone-attack.html
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukraines-drone-campaign-hits-218-russian-vessels-across-black-and-azov-seas-21486
https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/ukrainian-navy-destroys-russian-drone-control-equipment-on-black-sea-gas-platform-21484
https://www.kyivpost.com/post/81947
https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/4152301-in-kharkiv-jetpowered-drone-strike-cemetery.html
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/39973440/putin-human-safari-russia-ukraine-drone-war/
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/2026-08-08/live-updates-904883
other Israel
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/IDF-removes-suspicious-vehicle-in-West-Bank/66882209
https://breakingthenews.net/Article/IDF-claims-soldier-wounded-in-southern-Lebanon/66882562
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/lebanon-claims-israeli-troops-entered-pilot-zone-town-handed-over-to-laf-last-month-built-earthen-barrier-idf-unaware-of-incident/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/idf-stays-mum-as-hezbollah-drone-strikes-near-troops-in-south-lebanon-no-injuries/
Live Updates: Israeli soldier injured in Lebanon accident, IDF reportedly delayed disclosing Hezbollah violation
August 8, 2026
IDF gives all-clear after cut found in Kibbutz fence • Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan ready to sign new defense pact • Iran-Oman Hormuz deal expected soon
August 8, 6:38 PM
Iran's Pezeshkian says now is best time for Hormuz agreement to be reached, Iranian media reports
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday he believed now was the best time for an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian media.
"There is cohesion, strength, and unity in the country," he said. "As far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war."
August 8, 6:27 PM
Vance says Iran 'hurting in a big way,' notes progress in talks
US Vice President JD Vance said that Iran is "hurting in a big way" during a Fox News interview on Saturday.
"They want this thing to be over," said Vance. "The question is whether they're able, their system is able, to give the things that are necessary for us to be happy, for us to feel like we've gotten what we need out of this particular engagement."
Vance added that Iran's ability to agree to US demands is "still to be determined," noting that talks with the regime have "made some progress over the last few days."
August 8, 6:04 PM
UAE condemns alleged Iranian attack on ADNOC vessel in Hormuz
The UAE accused Iran of targeting commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz as ADNOC says 15 of its vessels have been attacked since the conflict began.
The United Arab Emirates on Saturday condemned what it said was an Iranian attack on a carrier linked to its state oil company as it passed through the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Tehran of "acts of piracy."
State news agency WAM initially reported ADNOC as saying one of its vessels had been targeted by a missile early on Saturday and that the situation was under control.
August 8, 4:39 PM
Vessel struck by unknown projectile off Oman's Khasab, UKMTO says
A vessel was struck by an unknown projectile 18 nautical miles east of Oman's Khasab, causing a fire that was extinguished, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said on Saturday.
UKMTO said the vessel and crew were reported safe, with no reported environmental impact from the incident.
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August 8, 4:25 PM
IDF soldier injured in southern Lebanon accident
An IDF soldier was moderately injured in southern Lebanon by an operational accident, N12 News reported on Saturday.
According to N12, the soldier was evacuated to a hospital, and his family has been notified.
August 8, 1:39 PM
IRGC says re-opening Strait of Hormuz does not depend on talks with Oman
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Saturday that re-opening the Strait of Hormuz is not related to Iran-Oman negotiations but is conditional on the US accepting Iran's conditions.
A US official on Friday reported progress between Iran and Oman that could soon reopen the Strait of Hormuz, potentially restoring oil exports that have been disrupted by the five-month-old US war with Iran.
"The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz is subject to the specific mechanisms and conditions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and is not related to the negotiations between Iran and Oman," Iran's Tasnim news agency cited IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi as saying.
August 8, 1:38 PM
US Gen. Dan Caine looking for 'off-ramp' to avoid further escalation in Iran war - report
According to the report, Caine recently made clear to other US officials that available military options may not be enough to achieve US President Donald Trump’s stated war objectives.
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, has been privately looking for an off-ramp in the Iran war, according to a Saturday CNN report citing three sources familiar with the matter.
According to the report, over the past few weeks, Caine has been making it clear to other Trump administration advisors that available military options may not be enough to achieve US President Donald Trump’s stated war objectives.
“Caine is looking for an off-ramp,” one of the sources told CNN.
Caine is reportedly not the only official who shares concerns regarding the potential escalation of military operations. He raised the idea of finding an off-ramp from the conflict with other officials, such as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, US Vice President JD Vance, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, according to two of CNN’s sources.
August 8, 9:12 AM
Israel delaying Cairo discussions on implementing Gaza BoP plan - report
Israeli officials are delaying discussions between mediators in Cairo regarding the implementation of the Board of Peace’s plan for facilitating the disarmament of Hamas and IDF withdrawal from Gaza due to reservations regarding the agreement, according to a report from Arabic news outlet Arshaq al-Aswat citing Palestinian sources.
The source told Arshaq al-Aswat that the talks were originally scheduled for last week but were cancelled and have not yet been rescheduled due to Israel’s rejection of the proposal.
August 8, 5:49 AM
Cut discovered in Kibbutz Zikim fence, IDF says no threat detected following search
Following the discovery of the cut, Kibbutz Zikim informed residents that military forces and security teams would conduct searches of the streets, according to Walla.
The IDF said there is no threat to the public following the discovery of a cut in the fence surrounding Kibbutz Zikim near the Gaza border, Israeli media reported on Saturday morning.
Earlier on Saturday, Army Radio cited security sources as saying that there was no indication of an infiltration from Gaza.
August 8, 5:49 AM
IDF carries out ‘normal’ artillery fire in southern Lebanon
The IDF carried out artillery fire in southern Lebanon on Saturday morning, Walla reported.
According to the military, the incident was “normal” firing by IDF soldiers in the area.
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https://www.newsweek.com/trump-reveals-white-house-ballroom-drone-port-image-with-trucks-on-the-roof-12299922
https://x.com/trumptruthsbot/status/2085912926314225886
https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/2085911580462452860
Trump Reveals White House Ballroom Drone Port Image With Trucks On The Roof
updated Aug 08, 2026 at 09:00 AM EDT
President Donald Trump has shared an apparently AI-generated image depicting military drones, armed personnel and trucks stationed on the roof of his planned White House ballroom, one day after an appeals court ruled that construction could not proceed without congressional approval.
It is one of two images creating the impression of how a drone port might look on top of the ballroom. One shows several large drones arranged across a flat rooftop and guarded by soldiers, while another adds military vehicles, including two fuel trucks, and dozens of personnel.
Both carry the label "DronePort," but Trump did not identify their creator or say whether they reflected official architectural plans.
"This great and very important military asset sits atop the heavily protected Ballroom at the White House," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday. "It provides National Security for Washington, D.C., and will protect future Presidents!!!"
The posts came after a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 Friday that the administration must halt aboveground construction of the $400 million project.
The judges found that Trump lacked unilateral authority to build the roughly 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the site of the demolished East Wing without approval from Congress.
Trump called the decision "unjust" and said his administration would appeal to the Supreme Court. The ruling allows work on underground national security facilities to continue but blocks construction of the ballroom above them while the legal fight proceeds.
Why the Judges Sided Against Trump
At the center of the case was whether existing law gave the president independent authority to make such a significant change to the White House.
Writing for the majority, Judges Patricia Millett and Bradley Garcia said the Constitution’s Property Clause gives Congress broad control over property belonging to the federal government.
They also cited a law stating that no building or structure may be erected on federal public grounds in Washington, D.C., without express authority from Congress.
"The White House is the People’s House," the judges wrote, adding that each president is a "temporary tenant, not the owner" of the building.
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The court said it was unaware of any previous president who had used privately raised money to demolish a substantial portion of the White House built with funds authorized by Congress.
The administration argued that a federal statute allowing money to be appropriated for the "care, maintenance, repair, alteration" and "improvement" of the executive residence provided authority for the project.
The majority rejected that interpretation, concluding that the provision concerns funding Congress may choose to provide rather than granting the president independent construction powers.
It also found that replacing the East Wing with a structure that would dwarf other parts of the White House amounted to new construction—not simply an alteration or improvement.
The ruling affirmed a preliminary injunction obtained by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which sued after Trump ordered the East Wing demolished in October 2025.
The majority said allowing construction to proceed before the case was resolved would cause permanent harm to the architectural, historic and aesthetic character of the White House and President’s Park.
The injunction does not stop all activity at the site. Underground work on bunkers, bomb shelters and military and medical infrastructure may continue, as can any aboveground construction strictly necessary to protect those facilities or ensure the safety of the president, White House personnel and grounds. The majority said that exception adequately addressed the administration’s national security concerns while the litigation continued.
The judges emphasized that their decision did not determine whether a ballroom would be desirable or permanently prevent its construction.
Instead, they found that the administration could not proceed without obtaining authorization from Congress while the underlying case was being litigated.
"Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help," the majority wrote.
Judge Neomi Rao dissented, arguing that the National Trust had not established standing based on the alleged aesthetic harm to one member. She also interpreted the word "improvement" more broadly, saying it could encompass an addition to the executive residence.
Trump pointed to Rao’s opinion in his response, accusing the judges who ruled against the project of threatening the security of the United States and argued that the planned facility is part of a broader security effort for the White House complex.
"Two Obama and Biden Appellate Court Judges just voted against the desperately needed Military Center, required for the National Security of Washington, D.C., and our Country, itself," Trump wrote.
Rao further argued that judicial intervention risked prolonging security vulnerabilities at the open construction site and intruding on decisions involving protection of the president and White House.
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Kekken
Ask a Pol UAP informs Sen. Mike Rounds that his UAPDA is included in House NDAA
Aug 08, 2026
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) — Original sponsor, UAP Disclosure Act
Did you hear Rep. Eric Burlison got your UAP Disclosure Act with Sen. Chuck Schumer included in the NDAA — National Defense Authorization Act — over in the House of Representatives?
Key Rounds:
“No, I hadn’t heard that,” Sen. Mike Rounds exclusively tells Ask a Pol UAP — before adding, “Well, if it is, it’s old news.”*
*ICYMI — Senate Dems are blocking NDAA over Iran
Caught our ear:
Have you looked at any of the newly declassified “UFO files” the Pentagon’s been releasing yet?
“We’ve been busy on other stuff,” Rounds tells us. “No.”
https://www.askapoluaps.com/p/sen-rounds-learns-uapda-in-ndaa
https://x.com/AskaPol_UAPs/status/2086110715828453530
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/pentagon-ufo-files-bagram-triangle-brazil-sphere-1813123
bunch of UFO Files 5th release
https://www.newsnationnow.com/space/ufo/ufo-files-black-triangles/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/us-news/ufo-files-trump-triangle-37527120
https://www.soapcentral.com/entertainment/uap-whistleblower-addresses-newly-released-ufo-files-chances-spoof
https://www.unilad.com/film-and-tv/news/age-of-disclosure-director-ufo-footage-clearest-yet-474271-20260808
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/08/08/us/video/ufo-files-pentagon-release-uap-age-of-disclosure-director-producer-dan-farah-tsi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrUE1esrSxU (Fox News: ‘THESE THINGS ARE REAL’: UAP whistleblower on Pentagon UFO files)
https://cedarnews.net/newstasks/940822/declassified-ufo-files-reveal-investigation-into-alleged-dead-spaceman-found-inside-metal-sphere/
https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-16037377/declassified-ufo-files-condo-bahia-sphere.html
https://avi-loeb.medium.com/remarkable-anomalies-in-the-fifth-tranche-of-uap-data-from-the-u-s-government-7ac6cac4941b
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/mysterious-orb-speeds-over-middle-east-in-newly-released-ufo-video-11881901
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1411611-pentagon-releases-41-new-ufo-files-heres-what-they-reveal
https://thenightly.com.au/politics/us-politics/pentagon-releases-wild-new-files-detailing-reports-and-images-of-ufo-encounters–c-22695178
https://www.newsbreak.com/the-mirror-us-1900780/4817075581816-jesse-watters-dives-into-juicy-ufo-files-as-he-slams-government-gatekeeping
https://www.timesnownews.com/world/us/us-news/pentagon-ufo-files-5-shocking-revelations-from-new-declassified-dump-article-155383426
What Is in Trump's New Fifth Batch of UFO Files? Pentagon Releases Bagram Triangle and Mars Reports
08 August 2026, 1:57 PM BST
On 7 August, the Pentagon issued its fifth public release of declassified Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) records.
The disclosure comprises a collection of unresolved case files, including an FBI summary detailing a pilot's account of a silent, triangular object observed over Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.
While these documents are now part of the public record, the reported events remain unverified and do not provide evidence of extraterrestrial origin or activity.
The Bagram account dates back to 2002, when a pilot told FBI agents he and another pilot were stargazing at about 4:30 a.m.
They allegedly watched stars disappear above them before what the witness described as a huge object passed overhead.
Trump's UFO Files Revive the Bagram Triangle Account
According to the FBI summary included in the release, the witness described an equilateral triangle moving silently across the sky at a steady altitude and speed.
There were no visible lights, according to the report. He estimated that the object, said to be about 500 feet across, was travelling at 173 mph.
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A giant dark triangle over a US-operated military base, apparently gliding through the Afghan night without sound or lights, has all the ingredients that keep UFO stories alive long after the original witness has gone home.
But the document is still only a witness account. It does not identify the object, provide radar data or offer a Pentagon conclusion about what the pilots saw.
The Department of Defense has been unusually clear on that point.
The records in its Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters archive concern unresolved cases, meaning officials cannot make a definitive determination about the observed phenomena, sometimes because there is insufficient data.
The fifth tranche, released on 7 August, follows four earlier batches published since 8 May as part of the administration's transparency drive. The archive says further material will be released on a rolling basis as agencies locate, review and declassify records.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the department was 'in lockstep with President Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government's understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.'
'These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fuelled justified speculation, and it's time the American people see them for themselves,' Hegseth said. 'This release of declassified documents demonstrates the Trump administration's earnest commitment to unprecedented transparency.'
Trump's UFO Files Also Include An Older Brazil Claim
Another record included in the release concerns an alleged 1963 crash in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Witness accounts described a large metal sphere striking the ground and leaving a hole said to be 13 feet deep.
The most extraordinary part of the claim is also the least substantiated. The accounts said the object had windows and contained a human body wearing heavy clothing, alongside inscriptions that could not be deciphered.
That is an extraordinary claim, but the FBI material consists of witness statements and media reporting rather than verified government findings.
There is no evidence in the released record that the alleged sphere was extraterrestrial, nor is there an official finding that a body was recovered. The files simply make the historical allegation available for public scrutiny.
That may be the central tension in Trump's UFO disclosure project. The archive is designed to answer public demands for access, but access is not the same thing as explanation. A redacted report, an old interview form or a dramatic illustration can tell readers what someone claimed to see. It cannot necessarily tell them what was there.
The Pentagon's own archive acknowledges that 'unresolved' does not mean 'otherworldly.'
It simply means unresolved. Images from NASA's Curiosity rover have also prompted online speculation over a dark rectangular feature in rock, with some observers calling it an 'alien entrance.'
However, no evidence has established that the formation is artificial, and apparent scale in a distant rover image can be deceptive.
Nothing in the latest release confirms extraterrestrial activity. The Bagram triangle remains an allegation contained in an FBI summary, the Brazil account remains unverified, and the Mars rock formation is unrelated to the Pentagon's fifth UAP document release.
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Kab
@Kabamur
Fox News is talking about Galactic Federation again.
People have believed for years that triangle UFOs are secret govt TR3Bs, but I think they've always been Galactic Federation.
Arcturians fly in triangle crafts.
All of these sightings were planned for gradual disclosure.
6:27 PM · Aug 7, 2026
https://x.com/Kabamur/status/2085900551808835617
https://x.com/JesseBWatters/status/2085891167703412749
https://x.com/RepLuna/status/2085812800534786264
https://x.com/billmaher/status/2085926015193477317
https://x.com/MichaelSalla/status/2085788385579356283
The MITRE Corporation - UFO Reverse Engineering, USO Tracking, & Legacy Programs
Aug 7, 2026
An exploration into the MITRE Corporation, referred to as "the most important company you've never heard of."
Since its inception in 1958, the MITRE Corporation, its 15 "MITRE Labs", and 6 operational FFRDCs (Federally Funded Research and Development Centers) have served as a long-term, strategic partner in the US Government and the Department of Defense's most national security-sensitive National Programs.
As a renowned R&D ace, systems engineering expert, and premier science and technology think tank, MITRE is also intimately entwined with discussions of covert Unacknowledged Special Access Programs and Non-Covert Action Programs focused on the recovery, storage, and exploitation of Technologies of Unknown Origin (TUO).
This project will seek to explore why MITRE and other FFRDCs are the "missing link" in the discussion of USG-led, defense contractor-supported UFO Legacy Programs; R&D subject matter experts and program managers that allow the US Government to technically vest programs outside of the USG while still retaining strict control over materials, breakthroughs, data, programs, etc., and critically, the FFRDCs arbitrate what and how much information of UFO programs are shared with Defense Contractors.
Indeed, this investigation will detail the acknowledged and hidden history of MITRE, detailing MITRE's founding as the Air Force's spiritual successor to the RAND Corporation tasked with spearheading systems engineering to SAGE, while also offering an additional, alleged hidden impetus for MITRE - the construction of a trusted and long-term strategic partner answerable only to their DoD customer to spearhead technology reverse engineering and exploitation from recovered UFOs.
Throughout this project, numerous critical questions will be explored regarding MITRE's Legacy Program involvement, and several startling allegations regarding MITRE's work in specifically UFO technology reverse engineering, USO tracking, and Legacy Program Security architecture will be addressed.
This investigation will lead to allegations and exploration of MITRE's role within two Navy-spearheaded UFO Legacy Programs:
-
The reverse engineering, exploitation, and maturation of specific non-human technologies deemed exploitable from late 1940s recovered UFOs. This program has been central to the MITRE portfolio since MITRE's inception in 1958
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The tracking, monitoring, and possible tasking for collection of an enormous USO aka "tic tac factory" with permanent or semi-permanent station in the Atlantic with all-source data processed by MITRE
Other topics of this discussion include:
MITRE's intimate involvement with Navy secret programs even though MITRE was founded by USAF and modeled after USAF RAND
High-level IC/DoD Legacy personnel with MITRE ties
A Legacy Program briefing restriction initiated in 2011 to cease historical briefings on program incumbents
Much much more…
0:00 INTRO
17:49 FFRDC PRIMER
29:44 THE MITRE CORPORATION
46:40 MITRE & UFO LEGACY PROGRAMS
1:38:15 MITRE GATEKEEPERS
1:50:15 MITRE INTERROGATIVE
1:57:26 CONCLUSION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=107BtDYhTkA
https://x.com/UAPGERB/status/2085796087474864166
https://usaherald.com/ufos-and-defense-french-military-elite-concluded-extraterrestrial-hypothesis-is-by-far-the-best-explanation-then-urged-paris-to-break-the-silence/
https://usaherald.com/avi-loeb-calls-new-uap-accounts-remarkable-but-a-1999-french-defense-report-asked-the-harder-questions-first/
https://www.war.gov/medialink/ufo/release_1/255_413270_ufo's_and_defense_what_should_we_prepare_for.pdf
UFOs and Defense: French Military Elite Concluded Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Is “By Far the Best” Explanation — Then Urged Paris to Break the Silence
August 7, 2026
Inside This Report
A panel of retired French generals, scientists, and intelligence officials spent three years analyzing hundreds of documented UFO cases before reaching a startling conclusion in 1999
The COMETA report — compiled with cooperation from France's gendarmerie, air force, and space agency CNES — found the extraterrestrial hypothesis "the best scientific hypothesis" for a small percentage of unexplained sightings
The authors warned that continued government secrecy, particularly in the United States, carries real political, religious, and defense consequences — and recommended France build permanent structures to study the phenomenon
For more than seventy years, the words "unidentified flying object" have summoned images of tabloid headlines and blurry photographs.
But in July 1999, a document surfaced in France that forced even skeptics to sit up straight. It wasn't produced by a fringe research group or a self-styled contactee.
It came from COMETA — a committee of retired French Air Force generals, a former head of the national space agency CNES, engineers, admirals, and a national police chief — operating under the umbrella of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, France's institute for advanced national defense studies.
Their report, "UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?" ran nearly ninety pages and was built on three years of methodical work: interviews with fighter pilots, cross-referenced radar data, gendarmerie case files stretching back decades, and cooperation from GEPAN/SEPRA, the CNES division tasked since 1977 with formally investigating unexplained aerospace phenomena in French airspace.
What the committee found wasn't sensationalism. It was restraint — and that restraint is precisely what made the conclusions land so hard.
The Cases That Wouldn't Go Away
The report walks through a series of episodes that French investigators say defy conventional explanation.
In 1977, Mirage IV pilot Hervé Giraud and his navigator tracked a luminous object that outmaneuvered their aircraft near Luxeuil, with no corresponding radar contact from ground control — despite the object's evident speed and proximity.
In January 1994, Air France Flight AF 3532's captain, copilot, and chief steward all watched an object shift shape from a "brown bell" into a lens before vanishing — a sighting independently corroborated by a fifty-second radar track recorded at the Cinq-Mars-la-Pile control center, ruling out a weather balloon.
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Then there's Trans-en-Provence, a 1981 case investigators returned to twice. A witness watched a silent, ovoid object land in his garden, then depart at high speed.
Soil and plant samples analyzed by INRA's ecology laboratory reportedly showed altered chlorophyll concentrations and biochemical stress consistent with exposure to an intense electromagnetic field — effects that persisted in the vegetation for years afterward.
Internationally, the report cites the 1976 Tehran incident, in which Iranian F-4 fighter jets scrambled to intercept an object that reportedly disabled their instrumentation and weapons systems on approach, and the 1957 RB-47 case over the American South, where a U.S. Air Force bomber crew tracked an object visually, on radar, and via onboard microwave-emission detectors simultaneously.
Why the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Made the Cut
COMETA's authors didn't arrive at their conclusion casually.
The report methodically works through alternative explanations — secret military technology, disinformation campaigns, holographic projections, unknown natural phenomena — and finds each insufficient to account for the small subset of cases the French call "UAP D": incidents that resist explanation even after exhaustive investigation.
The committee estimated that roughly 5 percent of the aeronautical sightings they reviewed fell into this unexplained category — a small fraction, but one drawn from a pool of nearly 500 well-documented international cases.
That, they argued, was enough to warrant taking the extraterrestrial hypothesis seriously as a working theory grounded in known physics, including magnetohydrodynamic propulsion concepts already under study in the U.S. and Britain.
A Pointed Message for Washington
Perhaps the most striking section of the report isn't about the phenomena themselves — it's about American secrecy.
The committee directly criticized U.S. policy, citing regulations like JANAP 146 and Air Force Regulation 200-2, which historically criminalized unauthorized disclosure of UFO sightings by military and commercial pilots alike.
The authors argued this "impressive repressive arsenal" had persisted since the 1950s and warned that ongoing opacity — particularly following the 1947 Roswell incident — undermines trust between allied nations and complicates any coordinated response to a phenomenon that, by the report's own admission, does not respect national borders.
The recommendations were concrete: expand SEPRA's staffing and budget, formalize sighting-reporting protocols for pilots and air traffic controllers, integrate UFO detection into civilian and military space surveillance systems, and open diplomatic channels — including through the European Union — to press the United States for greater transparency.
More than two decades later, the COMETA report remains one of the most detailed government-adjacent examinations of the UFO question ever published by a major Western nation — a reminder that the loudest calls for disclosure haven't always come from conspiracy theorists, but sometimes from the generals themselves.
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https://mycharisma.com/culture/former-green-beret-says-ufo-disclosure-is-preparing-the-world-for-spiritual-deception/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk61bsn1leg
Former Green Beret Says UFO Disclosure Is Preparing the World for Spiritual Deception
Aug 7, 2026
As public fascination with unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) continues to grow, former Green Beret Paul Bock believes Christians are asking the wrong question.
The debate, he says, is no longer centered on whether UFOs exist, but on what they ultimately represent—and whether the church is prepared to respond.
During an appearance on the Ninjas Are Butterflies podcast, Bock shared how years of military service, personal tragedy and intensive Bible study ultimately led him to conclude that the greatest concern surrounding UAP disclosure is not mysterious objects in the sky, but the spiritual worldview developing around them.
Bock’s perspective comes from an unusual journey.
After serving multiple combat deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria with the U.S. Army Special Forces, he found himself spiritually exhausted.
The loss of close friends in combat, the heartbreak of multiple miscarriages suffered by his wife and years of relentless deployments left him searching for answers.
Looking back, Bock described a turning point when God redirected his life. “I’ve lived for myself. It’s time to live for You,” Bock recalled praying after sensing the Lord tell him, “The military’s your ministry.”
That spiritual awakening launched years of intensive Bible study, particularly regarding biblical prophecy. While listening to Bible teacher Chuck Missler, Bock became intrigued by claims connecting UFO phenomena to end-times deception.
Rather than immediately accepting those conclusions, Bock said he spent weeks researching both Christian and secular perspectives.
“I was reading secular non-Christian sources. I was reading Christian sources,” he said. “Take all this and test it against the text.”
According to Bock, that process convinced him that the narratives surrounding alleged extraterrestrial encounters consistently conflicted with biblical teaching.
Years later, an unexpected opportunity arose when a contact from Jordan invited him to help examine the UAP issue from a national security perspective.
That assignment eventually brought him into conversations with government contacts as well as leading voices within the UFO community, including researcher Steven Greer.
While Bock strongly disagrees with Greer’s conclusions, he was careful not to question his motives.
“The man has truly good intentions,” Bock said. “He truly does have good intentions with the information that he has and what he believes.”
Bock believes that is where the greatest danger begins. "The church is not ready for this,” he said. “It’s not even the disclosure stuff. For us, it’s the belief system that’s forming.”
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Rather than dismissing reports of unidentified aerial phenomena outright, Bock argues Christians should carefully evaluate the spiritual messages accompanying the movement.
“Our concern is that as the world gives answers that are very convincing…they can guide you into experiences,” he said. “They can help you make contact.”
Bock pointed specifically to practices such as Steven Greer’s CE5 protocol, which encourages participants to intentionally seek communication with alleged non-human intelligences through meditation and consciousness exercises.
He argued that those methods closely resemble practices Scripture warns against.
Referring to Deuteronomy 18, Bock questioned why many of the same practices forbidden in the Old Testament—including forms of divination and spirit contact—appear within modern UAP contact methods.
“Why are those things that are forbidden what are used for contact protocols?” he asked. His concern extends beyond fringe communities.
Bock noted that podcasts, documentaries, congressional hearings and social media have pushed discussions about UAPs into the cultural mainstream.
While government officials have acknowledged unexplained aerial phenomena, he believes many influential voices are supplying spiritual interpretations that stand in opposition to the gospel.
“What we saw was that this discussion was becoming more mainstream,” Bock said. “People want answers.”
That leaves Christians with an important responsibility—not merely to label everything as demonic, but to thoughtfully explain why certain spiritual claims fail to align with Scripture.
“You can’t just whitewash and say, ‘Oh, it’s all demons,'” he said. “That doesn’t answer people’s questions.”
Instead, he urged believers to compare every claim with biblical truth, examining whether the messages ultimately point people toward Jesus Christ or away from Him.
Throughout the interview, Bock repeatedly emphasized that his goal is not to sensationalize supernatural experiences but to keep the gospel central.
“What matters most is the gospel,” Bock said. “What matters most is reaching people for Christ.”
He even encouraged Christians to pray for those with whom he disagrees, including Greer. “He truly does have good intentions,” Bock said.
“Rather than just slamming people, we should, as Christians, be praying for them because he’s a lost soul.”
The conversation ultimately has little to do with unidentified objects in the sky and everything to do with spiritual discernment.
As public interest surrounding disclosure continues to expand, he believes the church must be prepared to answer questions with biblical conviction rather than fear or speculation.
“If I’m running a deception operation,” Bock said, “I’m going to provide validating information.”
His challenge to believers is not simply to follow the headlines but to remain anchored in Scripture as discussions about UAPs continue to move into the mainstream.
2/2
David Icke
@davidicke
Article in the Mail: 'I attended a secret UFO meeting preparing Christians for “the truth” and saw shape-shifting beings.'
This is the same Mail, like the totality of the media and most of society, that has ridiculed my contention since the 1990s that humanity is being controlled by 'shapeshifting' other-dimensional entities through the network of secret societies that I call the Global Cult.
Funny how the Mail doesn't mention this even though I have been so ridiculed over the decades with regard to 'shapeshifting' and interdimensional entities manipulating humanity. Par for the course, though.
When you have spent decades ridiculing someone you can’t face the emerging confirmation that he was right. So best ignore him – just like the media ‘alternatives’ like Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan ignore me.
For those not subscribed to the Mail, the ‘evangelist’ quoted says he helped to arrange two meetings between Christian leaders and ‘a group of former government insiders and military personnel who allegedly had access to classified UFO data and knew about the Trump Administration's plans to disclose the information publicly.’
He said that some of the images of beings he was shown ‘appeared to be 'shifting' in the pictures, simultaneously possessing a physical form while seemingly vanishing “between realms” like a ghost or spirit’.
He believed from what he saw that ‘another realm may overlap with physical reality, allowing objects or beings to move between the two’.
Ah, interdimensional entities with the ability to ‘shapeshift’ – EXACTLY what I have been exposing (and so, so, much more) since the mid-1990s in books like The Biggest Secret (1998) and The Road Map (2026).
You may understand the frustration of being ridiculed and abused for saying what you have researched across endless countries to be true and then see even the more ‘far out’ elements increasingly confirmed without any acknowledgement of what you have said all along.
This is important because they don’t want people to know the REAL Big Picture of the human plight and whatever the US government ‘reveals’ about this subject it most certainly won’t be that.
1:26 AM · Aug 8, 2026
https://x.com/davidicke/status/2086006156015624572
https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-16016803/ufo-secret-christian-meeting-tennessee-merkel.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=social-twitter_mailonline
extra
https://x.com/AshtonForbes/status/2085919063843205158
https://x.com/darkjournalist/status/2085890307179044950
https://x.com/UAPLuigi/status/2085842447427575876
https://x.com/Truthpole/status/1881675812983951443
Cathy O'Brien On The MKULTRA hearings | The Roseanne Barr Podcast #146
August 7, 2026
Cathy O’Brien, author of Trance Formation of America and a longtime whistleblower who survived government mind-control and trauma-based programming, returns to The Roseanne Barr Podcast.
She joins Roseanne to discuss the Senate’s MKULTRA hearings, the disturbing history of secret government experimentation, what she believes remains hidden, and why America deserves the full truth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8dlkGPwd7I
https://x.com/therealroseanne
https://x.com/RealCathyOBrien
extra disclosure dejour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWIVgCYVLGs (Paul Stonehill: THE MOON IS MUCH OLDER…NEWS FROM CHINA)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHmMh2IYGhY (My Lunch Break: The Lord's Fortress)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMcvfR6VEG8 (WeAreChange: HOLY F**K: We Just Learned What They Agreed To… (alien stuff))
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDcnH8XCcFk (Chris Lehto: Why Scientists Are Wrong About Aliens)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AHlzwtzP4 (ChaosMoogle: Leaked UFO and Alien Footage They Don't Want You To See! 4K)
Gee, I wonder why they had to get the DEW and alien disclosures rolling out before 9/11 disclosure…