150-Foot Asteroid Skims By Earth At Eerily Close Distance

Just hours after being spotted, a 150-foot asteroid skimmed by Earth dangerously close. Astronomers spotted the asteroid on April 15, and not long later, passed by the globe at a distance of 119,500 miles.

Astronomers named Asteroid 2018 GE3, was closest to Earth at around 2.41 a.m. ET on April 15 when it was spotted about 119,500 miles away. EarthSky.org reported that that’s much closer than the moon, which orbits Earth at an average distance of 238,900 miles. GE3 also passed close to the moon later that morning on its journey around the sun. Asteroid 2018 GE3, an Apollo-type earth-crossing asteroid, was flying through space at 66,174 miles per hour (106,497 km/h).

According to EarthSky.org, Asteroid 2018 GE3 could be as much as six times bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteorite, which exploded over central Russia in 2013. When the rock hit the atmosphere it caused a bright flash, and thousands of fragments fell throughout the region of Chelyabinsk, breaking windows and injuring about 1,500 people. If GE3 had entered Earth’s atmosphere it could have caused similar, if not more severe, damage. -Time

Earth has had several close encounters, but no real and tangible threat has arisen in recent years of an asteroid impacting the planet. The asteroid was first observed by the NASA-funded Catalina Sky Survey project, based at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Lab in Tucson, Arizona.

With an estimated diameter of 157 to 361 feet (48 to 110 meters), asteroid 2018 GE3 has about three to six times the diameter of the space rock that penetrated the skies over Chelyabinsk, Russia in February 2013, causing some 1,500 people to seek treatment for injuries, mostly from flying glass.

If the asteroid had entered our atmosphere, a great portion of the space rock would have disintegrated due to friction with the air. However, some of an asteroid this size might have gotten through to Earth’s surface, and an asteroid this big is capable of causing some regional damage, depending on various factors such as composition, speed, entry angle, and location of impact. It might make you feel better (or worse) to know that asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere unnoticed on a fairly regular basis.

For example, in 2014, scientists announced 26 atom-bomb-scale asteroid impacts since 2000 that were discovered in data from the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, which operates a network of sensors that monitors Earth around the clock listening for the infrasound signature of nuclear detonations. Earth’s atmosphere does a good job of protecting us from incoming asteroids. Most explode high in the atmosphere, or over an ocean, and therefore do no harm. –EarthSky.org

Earth wasn’t in danger with this asteroid’s close passing, but there are many that could pose a threat in the future. Astronomers have increased their programs to seek near-Earth asteroids like 2018 GE3, but sometimes, like this time and as in 2013 with the Chelyabinsk event, asteroids do still surprise us.

Scientists discover 15 new planets, including one “super-Earth” that could harbor liquid water

Fifteen new planets were confirmed to be orbiting red dwarf stars near our solar system. As per a report that appeared in Science Daily, one of the newly-discovered worlds is a super-Earth that could have liquid water.

The new exoplanets were located by researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech). Under the aegis of Teruyuki Hirano of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science, they pored over data from the Kepler space telescope and ground-based counterparts. The Tokyo Tech team published their findings in two separate studies in The Astronomical Journal.

Red dwarfs are small and relatively cool stars. They are often studied for clues on the formation and evolution of planets.

One of those stars is K2-155. Located roughly 200 light years from Earth, it is accompanied by three super-Earths, each one a bit bigger than our planet.

The Tokyo Tech researchers believe that the outermost exoplanet, K2-155d, is inside the habitable zone of its home star. Furthermore, based on three-dimensional simulations of global climate, they determined that the surface of K2-155d might have liquid water.

“In our simulations, the atmosphere and the composition of the planet were assumed to be Earth-like, and there’s no guarantee that this is the case,” Hirano says.

To find out whether or not K2-155d could support life, the Tokyo Tech team needs a precise estimate of the radius and temperature of its local star. Astronomical interferometric techniques could be one way to achieve the necessary resolution to study K2-155’s size and temperature.

Planets around red dwarfs are remarkably similar with other planets

One of the takeaways from the Tokyo Tech studies is that there is not much difference between planets that orbit red dwarf stars and those that circle yellow stars like our own Sun. “It’s important to note that the number of planets around red dwarfs is much smaller than the number around solar-type stars,” says Hirano.

He and his fellow researchers have only scratched at the surface of the mystery surrounding red dwarf stars. Hirano mentions that they have discovered a radius gap of planets in K2-155.

Science Daily defines the radius gap as a lower occurrence of planets with a radius of 1.5 to two times the size of Earth. K2-155d sits within this gap, being 1.6 times the size of Earth.

“This is a unique finding, and many theoretical astronomers are now investigating what causes this gap,” says Hirano. Previously, the gap was only confirmed for planets around yellow stars, so this and other developments make red dwarfs very popular targets for study.

Asked about the absence of large planets located near their host stars, Hirano theorizes photoevaporation reduced the atmosphere of such planets. He also notes the correlation between a planet’s size and the metal content of the host star.

“Large planets are only discovered around metal-rich stars, and what we found was consistent with our predictions. The few planets with a radius about three times that of Earth were found orbiting the most metal-rich red dwarfs,” Hirano says. (Related: Group of Earth-like planets 40 light years away could harbor life outside the solar system.)

The hunt for exoplanets never stops

The studies were conducted as part of the KESPRINT collaboration between Kepler Exoplanet Science Team (KEST) and ESPRINT.

NASA is preparing to launch its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in April 2018. Hirano has high expectations for the new space telescope.

“TESS is expected to find many candidate planets around bright stars closer to Earth,” he says. “This will greatly facilitate follow-up observations, including investigation of planetary atmospheres and determining the precise orbit of the planets.”

Visit Space.news for more space-related news stories.

Via Natural News

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Featured Image : European Southern Observatory/Flickr

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The sneaky ways China and Russia could threaten US satellites

“We’re seeing development of broad range, everything from kinetic destructive technologies to jamming and hacking but the operational use so far seems to be limited to the jamming and hacking types.”

WASHINGTON – Major global powers, such as China and Russia, are focusing more on space weapons that neutralize others’ satellites rather than those that destroy payloads on orbit, a new report has found.

The study by the Secure World Foundation, released Wednesday morning and previewed exclusively with Defense News, is a comprehensive collection of public-source information about the counterspace capabilities of China, Russia, North Korea and other world powers that could threaten American dominance in space.

When most Pentagon leaders discuss anti-satellite or counterspace capabilities, they reference the infamous 2007 Chinese test of an anti-satellite kinetic weapon, which successfully destroyed an old Chinese weather satellite and scattered thousands of pieces of debris in orbit.

But a more likely attack in 2018 would come in the form of electronic warfare jamming that could prevent users from turning on their equipment, directed energy attacks to dazzle sensors, or perhaps most plausibly, hacking a terminal on the ground so troops cannot operate it.

Via Defense News

Featured Image: A Delta II rocket launches with the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft payload from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. NPP is the first NASA satellite mission to address the challenge of acquiring a wide range of land, ocean, and atmospheric measurements for Earth system science while simultaneously preparing to address operational requirements for weather forecasting. (Photo Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

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Tiangong-1 space station crashes to Earth, narrowly misses Tahiti

(INTELLIHUB) — The Chinese Tiangong-1 space station splashed down to Earth in the South Pacific at 17,000 mph Sunday evening, narrowly missing Tahiti.

An analysis conducted by the Beijing Aerospace Control Center showed that the defunct craft mostly burnt up in the atmosphere during its descent.

The nine ton craft was approximately the size of a school bus and may have caused major damage if it hit a populated area.

©2018. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

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Chinese space station will fall to Earth on Easter, latest calculations show

(INTELLIHUB) — The falling Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is set to impact Earth 43°N and 43°S longitude on Easter Day around noon Eastern time, plus or minus 9-hous or so, according to data released by the Aerospace Corp.

Fireballs and debris are expected to rain down on a random swath of the planet, experts warn.

Keep your eyes to the sky and your cameras ready.

Featured Image: Flames rise from oil tanker trucks after an attack by Taliban militants on the outskirts of Kabul. (Photo: EPA)

©2018. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Shepard is the leading journalist covering the Las Vegas Massacre, logging over 1100+ hours, 160+ reports, during his ongoing investigation. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook. Subscribe to Shep’s YouTube channel.

Follow @ShepardAmbellas

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Chinese space station will fall to Earth in just a few days: Head’s up

(INTELLIHUB) — The Chinese space station Tiangong-1 may come crashing down to Earth in the next week along with fireballs and a large swath of the planet is in the crosshairs.

Intellihub founder Shepard Ambellas gave the grim news on his radio show Tuesday, when he told the audience about the threat to human life.

“This Tiangong-1 is expected to crash into the Earth this week,” Ambellas said “It can reenter Earths atmosphere anywhere between 43°N longitude to 43°S longitude.”

You can listen to the entire broadcast about the falling space station here.

The Shepard Ambellas how airs weekdays (Mon-Fri) on AmericanFreedomRadio.com.

Featured Image: Tiangong-1 passing over moon, altitude 207 miles, range 600 miles. Faint, between aircraft and moon, over Lake Roosevelt. Saturn in lower right. (Rocky Raybell/Flickr)

©2018. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

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Weapons in Space Race Warfare

“The eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding…. I do not say the we should or will go unprotected against the hostile misuse of space any more than we go unprotected against the hostile use of land or sea, but I do say that space can be explored and mastered without feeding the fires of war, without repeating the mistakes that man has made in extending his writ around this globe of ours.” John F. Kennedy, speech at Rice University, 1962

Noble ideals from an era wide-eyed with optimism and aspirations. President Kennedy’s assassination ended the age of naivety. Space exploration was always about domination through military strength and maintaining the high ground. The United States over the last decades achieves what it does best; spend more money. The black budgets that are buried deep within the bowls of the Pentagon do not fund a utopia. The threat of warfare on some level never vanishes. The expanse into the universe just allows infinite space to move around the instruments for a clash of rivals. While Space Wars Will Look Nothing Like Star Wars, the prospects of attaining celestial peace are nothing but a pipe dream.

“There’s this idea connected with space that it should be used for peaceful purposes,” says P.J. Blount, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Luxembourg and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Space Law. “And that idea extends a heightened status to space for states not to engage in these types of activities.”

That peaceful designation for outer space is based on the 1967 “Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies,” better known as the pithier “Outer Space Treaty.” It’s administered by the United Nations, and it states, among other things, that space is for peaceful uses only, and forbids placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit. It also forbids weapons of any sort on the moon. So far, the treaty has been upheld, in large part.”

REALLY ?

The record since the New Frontier details the same old adage since human nature does not change. No Treaty Will Stop Space Weapons, is inevitable.

“Space war concerns are turning toward the tactical. In a conventional shooting war, disabling U.S. sats blunts the precision weapons and navigation systems that enable the U.S. military to operate. You can see, then, why the Chinese and Russians are very interested in banning conventional weapons in space, but not so interested in banning weapons that could blind, kill, or disable satellites from Earth.”

This kind of thinking moves the debate into degrees and types of weapons that are now accepted as a given, especially since the ending of the cold war was just a temporary cooling of tensions. With the emergence of Red China into the supremacy race, the three way space weapons deployment chase heats up.

The U.S. military never misses an opportunity to pump up the fear factor to support the case for higher defense spending. CNBC gladly provides a forum to sell the Space arms race as Russia, China emerge as ‘rapidly growing threats’ to US.

“Navy Vice Admiral Charles Richard, deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, warned in a speech at a CSIS space security conference about offensive space capabilities and weapons being developed by China and Russia.

“While we’re not at war in space, I don’t think we can say we are exactly at peace either,” the admiral said. “With rapidly growing threats to our space systems, as well as the threat of a degraded space environment, we must prepare for a conflict that extends into space.”

The military-industrial-establishment eagerly pushes their agenda for spending The Air Force’s space budget is up by 8 percent, even though the service is cutting procurement of space systems by more than a billion dollars. In order to defend this increase the following argument attempts to rationalize Space Warfare: Why The U.S. Is So Vulnerable, Despite SpaceX’s Wins.

“Russia and China are ramping up their offensive potential. And while the effects of space warfare on worldwide commerce would hurt the U.S. and its adversaries alike, the U.S. military’s unmatched global footprint and forward-deployed posture mean it is especially dependent on space-based assets.

So what happens if China and Russia use their space assets on a commercial satellite? Is that an act of war?

“That is a policy issue that is being actively discussed,” said Stephen Flanagan, a senior political analyst at Rand Corp.”

Ramping up the implied danger, the Scientific American account of War in Space May Be Closer Than Ever points to the rapid development of operational systems for satellite warfare.

“The US declassified details of its secret Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), a planned set of four satellites capable of monitoring the Earth’s high orbits and even rendezvousing with other satellites to inspect them up-close. The first two GSSAP spacecraft launched into orbit in July 2014.

“This used to be a black program—something that didn’t even officially exist,” Weeden says. “It was declassified to basically send a message saying, ‘Hey, if you’re doing something funky in and around the geosynchronous belt, we’re going to see.’” An interloper into geosynchronous orbit need not be an explosives-tipped missile to be a security risk—even sidling up to an adversary’s strategic satellites is considered a threat. Which is one reason that potential U.S. adversaries might be alarmed by the rendezvous capabilities of GSSAP and of the U.S. Air Force’s highly maneuverable X-37B robotic space planes.”

Never let an arms race get into the way of lowering the volume and taking a second look at the cosmic advantages of cooperating in the vast voids of outer space. Oh no, that unprotected risk that President Kennedy spoke about has been pursued in the quest for continuous weapon development. According to the account, Space Weapons in Development there are at least three laser systems being developed for either space-based or ground-based weapons; hydrogen fluoride laser, deuterium fluoride laser and chemical oxygen iodine laser.

“The former U.S. Space Command, which is now part of the U.S. Strategic Command as of June 2002, doesn’t hide the fact that it wants to establish U.S. supremacy in space. In its Vision for 2020 report, the Space Command points out that military forces have always evolved to protect national interests, both military and economic. The report suggests that space weapons must be developed to protect U.S. satellites, and other space vehicles, as other countries develop the ability to launch spacecraft into space. In 1997, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space, Keith R. Hall, said, “With regard to space dominance, we have it, we like it and we’re going to keep it.”

Chronicles of modern warfare has shown that efforts to ban the weaponization of advanced levels of technological systems has been a failure since warmongering conflict just does not abide by the best of intentions. The long history of militarization of space is demonstrated by Space.com with their list of The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Ever.

Whatever category of cyber, kinetic or jamming weapons are on the horizon, the fact remains that the escalated space race is focused upon winning a warfare option. Well, none of us should be surprised. The planet is consumed with permanent war. The United States foreign policy establishment is scared about losing their empire. China wants to become the replacement imperium. And Russia is attempting to survive from the failures of their former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

Instead of trust and verify, the battle cry is to destroy and eliminate your advocacies. Each have different priorities and tactics on just how to reach their goal of preeminence. What can be derived with certainty is that any conflict in space would never be confined to the exosphere. The fallout, nuke or non-nuclear need not be pulled into the global atmosphere because there are ample earth bound weapons to destroy the entire planet.

Space may be the refugee for communication satellites and world commerce, but The Next Frontier: Trump and Space Weapons, cites an option for a space based offensive weapon.

“One idea that has kicked around for decades is a system that would consist of a tungsten projectile and a navigation system. Upon command, these ‘rods from God’ as they are poetically called would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and would strike a target, even one in a super hardened underground banker, at 36,000 feet per second, obliterating it.”

Somehow this just does not seem to be in keeping under a “banner of freedom and peace” or doing God’s work.

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President Trump: Space is a war fighting domain, just like the land air and sea

SAN DIEGO (INTELLIHUB) — President Donald Trump held a rally in California Tuesday, where he leaked the fact that the United States already has a “Space Force” and needs another one because space is a war fighting domain.

“My new national strategy for space recognizes that space is a war fighting domain, just like the land air and sea,” the commander-in-chef said. “We may even have a Space Force or develop another one.”

“We’ll have the Air Force, we’ll have the Space Force, we have the Army the Navy,” he suggested. “You know I said it the other day because we are doing a tremendous amount of work in space, so, I said maybe we will need a new force and we will call it the Space Force and I was not really serious but they said what a great idea we’ll have to do that.”

So if space is a war fighting domain, who are we fighting?

So, if #space is a war fighting domain, according to @realDonaldTrump, who are we fighting up there?

— Intellihub (@intellihubnews) March 14, 2018

H/T: Erick M/YouTube

Featured Image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr

©2018. INTELLIHUB.COM. All Rights Reserved.

Shepard Ambellas is an opinion journalist, analyst, and the founder and editor-in-chief of Intellihub News & Politics (Intellihub.com). Shepard is also known for producing Shade: The Motion Picture (2013) and appearing on Travel Channel’s America Declassified (2013). Shepard is a regular contributor to Infowars. Shepard is the leading journalist covering the Las Vegas Massacre, logging over 1100+ hours, 160+ reports, during his ongoing investigation. Read more from Shep’s World. Follow Shep on Facebook. Subscribe to Shep’s YouTube channel.

Follow @ShepardAmbellas

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Elon Musk: Humans Must Colonize Mars To Survive WW3 But AI Is More Dangerous Than Nukes

Elon Musk, the founder of Space X, says humanity must colonize Mars so that our survival is insured after the onslaught of a third world war. Amid rising nuclear tension, humans must make the colonization of Mars a priority, says Musk.

According to The Guardian, Musk believes getting to the Red Planet should be at the top of humanity’s to do list. “If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilization somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” Musk said, responding to questions from his friend Jonah Nolan, co-creator of TV show Westworld. “It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from Earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk said on stage at SXSW, just days after Donald Trump announced plans to meet the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, in an attempt to defuse rising nuclear tension.

Space X is currently working on a vehicle that will take humans to Mars in a 100-meter ship codenamed the BFR (Big F**king Rocket). But building a colony would require “tremendous entrepreneurial resources”, Musk said.  He also suggested that Mars may be an “escape hatch for rich people.”He said, “It will be like Shackleton’s ad for Antarctic explorers: ‘Difficult, dangerous, a good chance you’ll die, excitement for those who survive.’ That kind of thing.”

He also said those risks may outweigh the rewards. “There’s not many people who will want to go in the beginning,” he said, adding that over time the Red Planet colony would be hospitable and have “great bars. The Mars Bar! I love dad jokes, I’m a dad!”

The BFR will fly for the first time in the first half of 2019, Musk said, acknowledging that his “timelines historically have been optimistic”.  Musk said he initially gave SpaceX and Tesla an estimated likelihood of success of just 10 %. “I wouldn’t let my friends invest because I didn’t want them to lose their money,” he said of SpaceX. Instead, he funneled his own money, from the sale of PayPal, into the businesses. “SpaceX is alive by the skin of its teeth. So is Tesla. If things had gone a little bit the other way, both companies would be dead.”

But Musk also had a warning for humanity. “Mark my words,” he said, “AI is much more dangerous than nukes.”

Elon Musk, speaking at SXSW, projects Mars spaceship will be ready for short trips by first half of 2019

Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk told an audience at South by Southwest that his timeline for sending a space vehicle to Mars could mark its first milestone early next year.

The privately-funded venture, announced in September 2017, aims to send a cargo mission to the Red Planet by 2022. SpaceX’s ultimate objective is to plant the seeds to put a human colony on Mars.

Musk held a surprise question and answer session at the annual technology and culture festival in Austin, Texas on Sunday. The billionaire told attendees that “we are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we’ll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year.”

Mindful of elevating expectations too high, Musk hedged a bit. “Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know…” he said to laughter.

Via CNBC

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Featured Image: Elon Musk (JD Lasica/Flickr)

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Scientists Just Found ‘Limitless’ Clean Water Reserves All Over Mars

(ANTIMEDIA) — The fanciful notion of human beings living on Mars grew one step closer to becoming a reality this week, as newly published images taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) show that thick deposits of clean water ice — more than 300 feet deep in some cases — are buried just below the Red Planet’s surface.

The images, part of a study published Thursday in the journal Science, reveal that erosion has formed steep cliffs at several locations along Mars’ equator, where temperatures are warmer. The layers of ice are exposed on the cliff slopes, allowing researchers to judge the deposits’ size and purity.

“It’s like having one of those ant farms where you can see through the glass on the side to learn about what’s usually hidden beneath the ground,” Shane Byrne, one of the study’s authors, told NBC News.

However, that water ice exists on Mars is no great revelation in itself. Scientists have long speculated as much, as National Geographic explained:

“In 2002, the NASA Odyssey mission scanned the planet from orbit and detected signs of shallow ground ice at high latitudes. In 2008, the NASA Phoenix mission dug up water ice at its landing site near the Martian north pole.

“And in late 2016, scientists using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) found a buried ice sheet at Mars’s mid-latitudes that holds about as much water as Lake Superior.”

The truly exciting part of the discovery is that these relatively pure layers of ice are so close to the planet’s surface. In some instances, they are just a few feet down, which makes the almost limitless water very accessible to human beings.

“Astronauts could essentially just go there with a bucket and a shovel and get all the water they need,” said Byrne, who works out of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona.

As to where the ice originated, Colin Dundas, a planetary geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey and lead author of the study, says it has been hypothesized that “snow could have fallen within the last several million years during periods when Mars’ axis was more tilted than it is now.”

In addition to the discovery further opening the door to the idea of humans having access to a steady supply of water on Mars, study authors say analyzing the sediment trapped within the ice layers can offer insights into the Red Planet’s climate record.

“We’ve learned a lot about the ancient history in other ways,” Dundas said. “This is preserving a record of what conditions have been like in relatively recent times — which is still quite interesting. It’s a different aspect of Mars science.”

There are, of course, issues to consider before rushing into celebration, as WIRED pointed out:

“The eight sites Dundas and his colleagues observed were all located at upper mid-latitudes, between 55 and 60 degrees north or south of the equator, where temperatures can drop extremely low. Most Mars missions, though, restrict their landing sites to within 30 degrees of the equator — as would future crewed missions to the planet’s surface, most likely.”

Speaking to WIRED, one NASA scientist put it another way. “If you wanna stay warm, it’s better to be in Hawaii than Alaska,” said Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Richard Zurek, who was not involved in the research.

Still, study authors write that the discovery of such vast sheets of ice so close to Mars’ surface has given the scientific community a lot more to work with in unraveling the mysteries of the Red Planet:

“This ice is a critical target for science and exploration: it affects modern geomorphology, is expected to preserve a record of climate history, influences the planet’s habitability, and may be a potential resource for future exploration.”

Creative Commons / Anti-Media / Report a typo

‘Flat Earther’ Gets Another Opportunity To Launch Himself Into The Air In Homemade Rocket

A “flat-earther” is one who believes the Earth is flat.  And “Mad” Mike Hughes is so determined to prove the Earth is flat, he’s going to launch himself into the air in a homemade rocket.

You may remember Hughes.  His little stunt to “prove Earth is flat” was put on hold when the government found out about it and decided to shut down his project.  But now, Hughes has set a new date to launch himself into orbit in a homemade rocket after his previous attempt was thwarted by a US federal agency.

Hughes, a limousine driver and self-described daredevil revealed on his Facebook page that he will carry out the vertical rocket launch on February 3 from the originally intended location of Amboy, California. Perhaps one of the biggest problems with this launch, it Hughes is only going 1800 feet up.  Planes can go higher than that.

Hughes previous comments seem to allude to the fact that he knows the risks, and are willing to take them. “I know about aerodynamics and fluid dynamics and how things move through the air, about the certain size of rocket nozzles, and thrust,” he added. “But that’s not science, that’s just a formula. There’s no difference between science and science fiction. If you’re not scared to death, you’re an idiot,” Hughes, who once reassured Ars Technica that he has a high I.Q., said. “It’s scary as hell, but none of us are getting out of this world alive.”

Hughes says this newly scheduled vertical launch, which will see him lifted half a mile into the air on February 3, will now take place on private land owned by the owner of Amboy, Albert Okura. “It is absolutely the most wacky promotional proposal I have had since I purchased the entire town in 2005,” Okura said previously if Hughes. “He is a true daredevil and I want to be part of it.”

A promo video has been released ahead of the launch, which will be broadcast live on Noize TV at a cost of $5 according to Hughes. A full-length documentary is also in the works to help boost media exposure about Hughes’ $1.8 million project to catapult him to the Karman line, which is widely accepted as the start of space. The Karman line is 62 miles up from the Earth, however, so Hughes has a long way to go considering this launch will get him less than a half a mile into the air.

For Hughes, the ultimate goal of this rocket launch is the “one true way to prove a flat Earth” really exists. “The event right now is a vertical rocket launch which no person has done outside the government space agency,” Hughes said in the video, adding that if he pulls it off it, will be a world record.

 

Heads-up: Massive Chinese space station drifting, falling, “uncontrolled” back to Earth after contact lost, toxic propellant on board

There is a 1-in-10,000 chance the space station will hit a densely populated area when it comes crashing down sometime in March, experts warn

(INTELLIHUB) — A massive 19,000-pound Chinese space station named Tiangong-1 is expected to come crashing back down to Earth sometime in March and has a 1-in-10,000 chance of hitting a densely populated area, experts warn.

The Chinese lost control of the space lab in 2016 and it has been adrift ever since in a continuously exponential kinetic decent.

ABC News reports: “Scientists have only been able to narrow the crash zone down to between the 43° North and 43° South latitudes; an area that still includes parts of every inhabited continent on Earth.”

A highly-toxic propellant is on board.

#HeadsUp

#ChineseSpaceStationImpactZone?

#ImpendingDoom

Featured Image: Tiangong 1 passing over the moon, altitude 207 miles, range 600 miles. Faint, between aircraft and moon, over Lake Roosevelt. Saturn in the lower right. (Rocky Raybell/Flickr)

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Lockheed Martin and NASA ‘Revolutionize’ Search for Alien Life With New AI

(ANTIMEDIA) — Artificial intelligence (AI), or, more accurately, deep learning algorithms run by neural networks, have become far more complex in recent years, and their functionality has expanded dramatically. It’s being used in virtually every industry, including art and law, as well as in every scientific discipline. AI is even being used in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and exoplanets.

Last week, NASA announced that a Google machine learning algorithm discovered a previously undetected star system with eight exoplanets. Ahead of that press conference, Lockheed Martin announced that they had created a new AI system that would be used to sift through the vast trove of data being sent back from the Kepler missions. In the coming years, as the James Webb Space Telescope begins sending back unprecedented images and information, scientists will be overwhelmed with data. The FIDO, or Foraging & Information Discovery for Open Source Intelligence, says Lockheed will assist in space exploration.

According to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Vice President Carl Marchetto:

“AI can revolutionize how we use information from space, both in orbit and on deep space missions, including crewed missions to Mars and beyond. Lockheed Martin and NEC are experts in space and systems, and that’s the right blend to explore how AI can improve space products for astronauts and people on the ground.” 

Since one could surmise that the global aerospace defense contractor is less interested in exoplanets than in testing out their AI capabilities for the imminent weaponization of space, it’s worth noting that they’re not the only ones turning to AI for space exploration. The University College London has also created an AI for space exploration. RobERt — short for Robotic Exoplanet Recognition — will scan deep-space data for signs of habitable planets.

Endowed with a deep-belief network (DBN), RobERt is capable of filtering data through silicon “neuron” layers in a manner similar to how the human brain works. This will allow it to analyze the spectra of reflected light that passes through the atmospheres of distant planets. By studying the wavelengths of this light, RobERt can help determine the constituent atmospheric gases and whether those planets could potentially harbor life. This is important in the search for extraterrestrial life, as well as the search for habitable planets that future human settlers could inhabit.

AI will almost certainly play a major role in future space exploration, including the search for extraterrestrial life and habitable exoplanets. The study of these exoplanet atmospheres will also allow scientists to determine how planetary systems, including our own, form in the first place. In a separate project, AI was even used to simulate what extraterrestrial civilizations might look like.

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Scientists Discover That Life Can Form in the Vacuum of Outer Space

(ANTIMEDIA) — The origin of life on Earth is one of the great mysteries human civilization must unravel. It goes right to the heart of the most baffling cosmic conundrum — what is life, why does it form, and what is its role in a seemingly violent, random universe?

A new study by a team of scientists may render the mystery even more vexing, as recent tests have shown it is possible for the molecular ingredients for life to form in space. The experiment opens the door for theoretically considering that life on Earth originated within the vacuum of space itself. It also has exciting ramifications for how we look at asteroids and comets, including the ancient interstellar asteroid ‘Oumuamua, which was recently determined to have a carbon-rich coating.

Researchers from the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec, Canada, conducted the experiment using thin films of ice containing methane and/or oxygen that were subjected to low-energy electron (LEE) radiation in high-vacuum conditions. LEEs were used because they have been known to trigger chemical reactions.

Sure enough, the research team found direct and indirect evidence suggesting that life is able to form and flourish in the same conditions found in space. The new study, published in the Journal of Chemical Physics, found evidence for small organic molecules like acetic acid, formaldehyde, and methanol, which form the building blocks of life.

The finding is important because it goes a long way toward confirming that organic molecules don’t have to originate from another star system or planet but could actually form in space itself. This widens the scope of the panspermia theory, which holds that microbial life on Earth may have originated elsewhere in the galaxy — or another galaxy — and hitched a ride through deep space via meteorites or asteroids to arrive on our planet.

The incredibly bizarre interstellar asteroid named ‘Oumuamua, which was revealed to the public last month, can now be considered a potential incubator for life. According to researchers studying the object’s reflected light, ‘Oumuamua has a 16-inch layer of carbon-rich goo coating its exterior, which explains why the asteroid is not spewing water vapor and leaving a trail of detritus behind it.

News of ‘Oumuamua has conjured images from Arthur C. Clarke’s Rendezvous with Rama, which is about an anomalous object entering the solar system. The object, in Clarke’s novel, is first mistaken for an asteroid and then revealed to be an enormous artificial craft. Several nations dispatch astronauts and discover that Rama was created by a technologically advanced alien race that terraformed the interior of the asteroid into an artificial world. The origin and purpose of Rama remain a mystery.

While ‘Oumuamua is far more likely to have an interior of rock, ice, and dust than an artificial environment, the University of Sherbrooke researchers’ latest discovery suggests it is possible the asteroid’s exterior contains microbial life. Currently, scientists are scurrying to gather as much observational data from ‘Oumuamua as they can before it leaves the solar system.

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Fmr Space-X Boss Launching Satellites to Put Decentralized Internet & Cryptocurrency In Space

The former vice president of Space-X is working with Nexus to host decentralized internet and cryptocurrency platforms in space.

SpaceX launch stirs alien UFO fears in California

The aftermath of SpaceX’s launch of satellites into space from Southern California was witnessed across state lines and hundreds of miles. Many, however, did not know what to make of the stunning sights lighting up the sky.

Falcon 9 launched 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit Friday night, from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, about 158 miles northwest of Los Angeles. Falcon 9 is a family of two-stage-to-orbit medium lift launch vehicles.

Some residents in Southern California, unaware of the launch, took to social media to share their experiences.

“I think I just saw a UFO wtf if you in Compton did y’all just see that in the sky ?? We need answers #Aliens#ufo#comptonnever seen anything like that !!” an instagrammer from Compton in Los Angeles County wrote.

Via RT

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An Object That Just Passed Earth Was So Strange Scientists Are Testing It for Alien Life

(ANTIMEDIA) — Last month, Anti-Media reported on the discovery of a giant interstellar asteroid passing through our solar system. The asteroid, named ‘Oumuamua, was the first object from another star system to be detected by the human race and stunned scientists with its shape — it is ten times longer than it is wide — and its color, a dark red hue caused by millions of years of exposure to radiation. Now scientists say the object is so peculiar that they are going to study it for signs of advanced extraterrestrial life.

The Breakthrough Listen initiative will spend $100 million to test ‘Oumuamua for radio signals. Scientists say that though it is highly unlikely, the unusual characteristics of the asteroid fit the bill of a giant interstellar probe or spaceship. Astronomers will use the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to scan four radio bands for ten hours.

Igniting the wonder of many in the field, Harvard’s astronomy department chair and an adviser to Breakthrough Listen, Avi Loeb, remarked:

“The more I study this object, the more unusual it appears, making me wonder whether it might be an artificially made probe which was sent by an alien civilization.”

The Breakthrough group says the shape of the asteroid is “the most likely architecture for an interstellar spacecraft since this would minimize friction and damage from interstellar gas and dust.” However, they believe a natural origin is more probable.

Loeb cautions that we should not get our hopes too elevated.

“Most likely it is of natural origin, but because it is so peculiar, we would like to check if it has any sign of artificial origin, such as radio emissions,” Loeb says. “If we do detect a signal that appears artificial in origin, we’ll know immediately.”

Although it’s highly unlikely (to say the least) that we’ll hear anything, we’d be crazy not to have a go. It’s not everyday that we get access to a visitor from interstellar space. https://t.co/WVOqXYN0yo

— Brian Cox (@ProfBrianCox) December 12, 2017

The effort could allow us to learn more about the asteroid, which could, in turn, allow us to learn more about other star systems. While little is known about its origins, we do know that it is possible ‘Oumuamua came from very far away in the galaxy.

NASA noted:

“Preliminary orbital calculations suggest that the object came from the approximate direction of the bright star Vega, in the northern constellation of Lyra. However, it took so long for the interstellar object to make the journey ― even at the speed of about 59,000 miles per hour (26.4 kilometers per second) ― that Vega was not near that position when the asteroid was there about 300,000 years ago.”

Additional observations allowed scientists to determine that the asteroid is rocky, metal-rich, and contains traces of organic molecules – tholins irradiated by UV radiation. ‘Oumuamua also has a very unusual orbit that will soon eject it from our solar system.

Another group has proposed that we actually intercept the asteroid in order to study it closeup. Project Lycra is a moonshot, so to speak, as the logistics of traveling the incredible speeds and distances necessary to catch up with the asteroid would be unlike anything humans have ever attempted. However, the Project Lycra team contends this may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. And technologically, they say, it is possible:

“[A] mission to the object will stretch the boundary of what is technologically possible today. A mission using conventional chemical propulsion system would be feasible using a Jupiter flyby to gravity- assist into a close encounter with the Sun. Given the right materials, solar sail technology or laser sails could be used… Future work within Project Lyra will focus on analyzing the different mission concepts and technology options in more detail and to down select 2 – 3 promising concepts for further development.”

Meanwhile, the desires of scientists who want to probe the asteroid for signs of extraterrestrial radio signals are not as sensational as they may sound. The idea of traveling inside an asteroid is a familiar idea in science fiction, and real scientists have actually proposed it as an ideal form of high-speed space travel. A paper released in 2011 suggested that astronauts could ride an asteroid to Mars. Several American companies and initiatives, including one spearheaded by James Cameron, have outlined plans for mining asteroids for minerals and even turning them into makeshift spaceships.

Surely, advanced alien races, if they exist, could have similar ideas about traveling via planes, trains, and asteroids.

The interstellar visitor has stirred the passions and imaginations of the human race. Even if there is no alien life using the asteroid as a star engine, there is much to be learned from an asteroid hailing from a different star system a long time ago in a galaxy far away (or maybe even our own galaxy).

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Astronaut Scott Kelly gets questioned by flat-Earther about ‘bubbles in space’

Ret. NASA veteran astronaut Scott Kelly was recently confronted while on tour by a man asking about ‘bubbles’ which can be seen during some spacewalks

(INTELLIHUB) — Retired veteran Astronaut Scott Kelly was recently trolled by a flat-Earther while on tour about ‘bubbles in space.’

“So many times during spacewalks outside the International Space Station we can see air bubbles rising up, can you touch on how air bubbles rise in space?” The man asked the former astronaut.

Being a good sport, Kelly replied, telling the man that he has seen water (sweat) floating around in his helmet before during spacewalks but is unaware of any ‘bubbles in space.’

“It’s a harsh environment out there and the outside of the space station gets beat up pretty good and sometimes you’ll see little flakes of paint or something that you might have disrupted floating away from the suit,” Kelly explained. “You know, that’s generally what that is.”

Related:

Featured Image: (Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett) NASA Kennedy/Flickr

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BPEarthWatch: Something massive just entered Earth’s atmosphere last night and it’s not a meteor

An outfit that monitors incoming ionization trails into Earth’s atmosphere warns something massive slowly entered Earth’s atmosphere last night

(INTELLIHUB) — A massive object entered Earth’s atmosphere on the night of Dec. 2 and it was not a meteor, says the “BPEarthWatch” YouTube channel.

BPEarthWatch is known for monitoring incoming meteor radar data in real-time and generally does pretty good at delivering the facts.

When meteors or objects hit our upper atmosphere they are picked up as an ionization trail which then can be converted to tangible data.

BPEarthWatch maintains that last night’s signal did not contain what is known as “Sporadic E,” a false signal which can only found during the summer months.

“What you saw earlier was very different. Something was coming in and it was very large and took a long time to come in,” the channel’s operator explained. “Something was not normal. I’m not sure what it was. […] There are no meteors that are that large that would come into the Earth with a signal that would last that long.”

Some speculate the radar echo may have been a “rocket launch” or a “UFO.”

Here is the actual data which came in on Saturday night:

H/T: @tabertronic on Twitter

Featured Image: NASA’s Earth Observatory/Flickr

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