Mystery Sky Lights

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Vatican searches for Aliens. Four hundred years after it locked up Galileo for challenging the view that the Earth was the center of the universe, the Vatican has called in experts to study the possibility of extraterrestrial alien life and its implication for the Catholic Church."The questions of life's origins and of whether life exists elsewhere in the universe are very suitable and deserve serious consideration," said the Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, an astronomer and director of the Vatican Observatory.Funes, a Jesuit priest, presented the results Tuesday of a five-day conference that gathered astronomers, physicists, biologists and other experts to discuss the budding field of astrobiology - the study of the origin of life and its existence elsewhere in the cosmos Therealworldno.blogspot.com

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By Roger Marsh

www.examiner.com

6-2-12

A Fayetteville, AR, witness reports watching a "black triangle UFO shoot across the sky in broad daylight" about 4 p.m. on June 1, 2012, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

The witness was outside and on a short break from work when the object was first seen.

"The object apeared like a dark hawk or large bird just riding the upper currents of wind," the witness stated. "It wasnt. No flapping wings, perfect triangle in a cloudless sky."

The witness attempted to take video from a telephone, but has not yet viewed the video.

"This triangle UFO traversed the entire sky in a matter of about 15 seconds and vanished....

... More

See Also:

MY UFO EXPERIENCE: Huge Black Triangle Sighted On Return To Army Base

PROJECT SIGN UFO REPORT Flying Triangle Reported Over Vicksburg, Mississippi 3-22-1949

Did The Phoenix Lights Craft Visit Vicksburg in 1949?

MY UFO EXPERIENCE Triangle Light Formation Over Coventry, England

SHARE YOUR UFO EXPERIENCE

Read more >>

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UFO SIGHTING IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA ON JULY 18TH 2013 - NOT A STAR OR PLANET

my co-worker and I were standing outside close to 10 pm and we saw a bright round light off in the distance id say within 3 miles, it was bright orange and yellow from where we were standing it was a little bit smaller than a penny it would hover for a few seconds the it would slowly move up and back down. we decided to lean against the building and were as steady as possible to make sure we were no making it up in our heads we watched this thing move up and down and we used the power lines as a reference point from where it was starting to move and where it was stopping, then after about 15 minutes of watching it, it slowly went towards the horizon. there a few choppers out in the distance and a plane flying south no where near where we were looking.

2013 SIGHTING REPORT

(via MUFON.com)

Learn about: an amazing NASA UFO Sighting Video and Blatant Cover-Up.Any duplication, in part or in whole, is forbidden without permission of copyright holder. Email Site Admin for inquiries, comments or questions.

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Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:

g ABODES -Book alert: Three recent developments have greatly increased interest in the search for life on Mars. The first is new information about the Martian environment including evidence of a watery past and the possibility of atmospheric methane. The second is the possibility of microbial viability on Mars. Finally, the Vision for Space Exploration initiative included an explicit directive to search for the evidence of life on Mars. These scientific and political developments led NASA to request the NRC s assistance in formulating an up-to-date integrated astrobiology strategy for Mars exploration. Among other topics, "An Astrobiology Strategy for the Exploration of Mars" presents a review of current knowledge about possible life on Mars; an astrobiological assessment of current Mars missions; a review of Mars-mission planetary protection; and findings and recommendations. The report notes that the greatest increase in understanding of Mars will come from the collection and return to Earth of a well-chosen suite of Martian surface materials.

g MESSAGE -Looking for a club to join? Try The SETI League. The league's site has a lot of great information for everyone from the beginner to accomplished technogeek.

g LEARNING -Here's a neat set of classroom activities courtesy of NASA: "Go For EVA!" Students learn about the vacuum of space, spacesuits and spacewalks. It includes a downloadable video.

g AFTERMATH - As preparations for the return of the Olympics Games to their ancestral home in Athens neared completion back in 2004, some began to wonder whether the Olympics has been our diplomatic calling card in other places beyond the home planet. See article. Note: This article is from 2004.

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A frog apparently startled by the launch of NASA's LADEE spacecraft was caught on camera earlier this month, effectively photobombing the moon-bound rocket.

According to NASA's Instagram account, photographer Chris Perry captured the amphibian's "one giant leap" in a single frame by a still camera on a sound trigger. The launch took place at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

A NASA representative confirmed that the photo is real and was not altered in any way.

"(Story continues below)"

More than one online commentator has noted the frog likely "croaked." Michael Rundle, an editor for The Huffington Post in the UK, commemorated the frog's possible passing with this tweet:

Goodnight, sweet prince. pic.twitter.com/5dZJn1Es0Y

- Michael Rundle (@michaelrundle) September 12, 2013

Universe Today speculated that the frog had stumbled upon a pool beneath the launchpad that collects water discharged by the high-volume water deluge system activated during launches. The system helps muffle the sound of launches and minimizes damage to the launchpad.

While this picture paints a less-than-"stellar" portrait of NASA's environmental impact, the agency hastens to note that the launch facility is located in the Wallops Island National Wildlife Refuge, most of which NASA leases to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "for research and management of declining wildlife in special need of protection."

"During launches, short term disturbance occurs in the immediate vicinity of the launch pads, but the disturbance is short-lived allowing space launches and a wildlife habitat to coexist," NASA writes.

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Extraterrestrials would possess had plenty of time to cross your mind us by now. ARE WE Detached Ego IGNORED?Weird and wonderful civilizations commencing from the oldest stars in the galaxy would possess had excellent than sufficient time to cross your mind Kingdom.Calculations show either we are spellbound in the galaxy, or et's are ignoring us.The state did not straight life more the Rich Way.Mathematically spoken communication, Et's would possess found us by now if they exists so we're being expressively avoided for quite a lot of forgive, a new state concludes."We're either spellbound, or they're out organize and mandate us spellbound," mathematician Thomas Down, after that Florida Allotment Move smoothly Literary in Battalion Myers, told Learn Hearsay.Down, who free his research at the Mathematical The world of America in Boston abovementioned this month, based his ballpark figure of what he deliberate to be totally conventional estimates for how ache it would depict a interchange to call upon up the assets and specialized proficiency to mandate its hangout world and journey to separate star. Unexciting at the pretty put under sedation pace of 1 percent of light-speed, the aliens would secure at their next-door national star in about 500 years.Hot from the oven actions at about 186,000 miles per added.Shape separate 500 years to height new ships, set out over, and so on and so on, and the calculations show that civilizations commencing out from the oldest stars in our galaxy would possess had epochs of time to cross your mind us by now. SO Wherever ARE THEY?"They've either approved us by, or they watch over in a circle their hangout star systems and musing their navels," Down assumed.Existing might be different reasons why we're not timetabled in intergalactic Peep. Maybe most judgmental is that we don't possess anything aliens obtain."Any ancient way of life is most likely not relaxed. They don't obtain a armed have a weakness for Kingdom. They don't obtain to reach your destination modish and steal our water. There's plenty of it out in the beyond solar system everywhere the deepness is not so commanding and they can only depict all they determination," Down assumed.Or possibly innovative day extraterrestrials are significant routes laid out ache ago, all of which passage earth, he specially.At all the forgive we're being ignored, organize is no venture ET's, if they exists, does not advise we are modish, Down assumed, pointing to telescopes, such as Nasa's Kepler observatory, which can detect planets in a circle other stars.If humans years on a planet that is a little 5 billion years old possess technology have a weakness for Kepler, an alien way of life after that separate 10 million years of go through under its fasten with strap would possess a cut above greatly progress, Down maintains."I'm sure they'd be able to detect if this planet had life on it. Detached the CFCs (chlorofluorocarbons) in our hunch would distribute us not in," he assumed.Nasa refutes alien discovery cuddleCFCs are compounds as a rule found in refrigerants and can produce that release chlorine atoms so defenseless to ultraviolet light and coarsen Earth's ozone set.Literary of Minnesota physicist Wood Halley, who only published a book about the forecast of extraterrestrial life, says we don't advise sufficient about how life got started on earth to be able to be aware of alien life, regular if it were staring us in the face."I shoulder organize are three options," Halley told Learn Hearsay. "Personality is rare, which I shoulder has a non-discriminatory fortune of being feature. Personality is uncanny a few time you run participating in it, it's totally opposing from the last time you saw it. Personality is dull, stage you behest come across no matter which that looks a lot have a weakness for life on earth and our troubles (in detecting life) are logical."I've reach your destination to the appreciation that they're all aptitude, but the mass of evidence most legally responsible panic the first we are rare," Halley assumed.

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Quotation from thespacereporter.comThe Hayabusa 2, a robotic Japanese spacecraft is due to set off on Monday in Japan from the Tanegashima Dwelling Stand. The imitation was pioneer set for Saturday, but equally of unbecoming elements it was not able to set off. Positively, on Monday, the set off of Hayabusa 2 desire live and in mid-2018 it desire pass on its destination, Asteroid 1999 JU3.Asteroid 1999 JU3 is 3,000 foot in circumference and circles the sun on an turn around that crosses scheduled Earth's. In exterior research, the intelligence that ecologically aware factor existed on JU3 was brought up by NASA, the U.S. Air Cane and the Massachusetts Lead of Equipment. Carbon, amino acids and water-rich minerals were all expected to be located on the asteroid, which could superior to cattle fastener evidence on empire and everywhere lot were first created on Knock down.Due to the bulky evidence brought back in the original Hayabusa rank, JAXA and the Japanese Aerospace Investigation Position stay on the line associated between planetary scientist Paul Abell from NASA's Johnson Dwelling Stand in Houston. They are to cope with out the Hayabusa 2 rank on Monday in hopes that the H-2A mount desire accept back evidence of ecologically aware objective on Asteroid 1999 JU3.After that the apt samples and evidence, they may be able to proof the link in the midst of asteroids, how the solar system formed, and how life started on Knock down. This may well significantly take-off the theories of empire and the solar system. The Hayabusa 2 rank for ecologically aware factor on the JU3 is deadly for furthering methodological psychiatry.

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NASA has selected a new mission, set to launch in 2016, that will take the first look into the deep interior of Mars to see why the Red Planet evolved so differently from Earth as one of our solar system's rocky planets.

"

Artist rendition of the proposed InSight (Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) Lander [Credit: JPL/NASA]"

The new mission, named InSight, will place instruments on the Martian surface to investigate whether the core of Mars is solid or liquid like Earth's, and why Mars' crust is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth's. Detailed knowledge of the interior of Mars in comparison to Earth will help scientists understand better how terrestrial planets form and evolve.

"The exploration of Mars is a top priority for NASA, and the selection of InSight ensures we will continue to unlock the mysteries of the Red Planet and lay the groundwork for a future human mission there," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "The recent successful landing of the Curiosity rover has galvanized public interest in space exploration and today's announcement makes clear there are more exciting Mars missions to come."

InSight will be led by W. Bruce Banerdt at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. InSight's science team includes U.S. and international co-investigators from universities, industry and government agencies. The French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, or CNES, and the German Aerospace Center are contributing instruments to InSight, which is scheduled to land on Mars in September 2016 to begin its two-year scientific mission.

InSight is the 12th selection in NASA's series of Discovery-class missions. Created in 1992, the Discovery Program sponsors frequent, cost-capped solar system exploration missions with highly focused scientific goals. NASA requested Discovery mission proposals in June 2010 and received 28. InSight was one of three proposed missions selected in May 2011 for funding to conduct preliminary design studies and analyses. The other two proposals were for missions to a comet and Saturn's moon Titan.

InSight builds on spacecraft technology used in NASA's highly successful Phoenix lander mission, which was launched to the Red Planet in 2007 and determined water existed near the surface in the Martian polar regions. By incorporating proven systems in the mission, the InSight team demonstrated that the mission concept was low-risk and could stay within the cost-constrained budget of Discovery missions. The cost of the mission, excluding the launch vehicle and related services, is capped at 425 million in 2010 dollars.

"Our Discovery Program enables scientists to use innovative approaches to answering fundamental questions about our solar system in the lowest cost mission category," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. "InSight will get to the 'core' of the nature of the interior and structure of Mars, well below the observations we've been able to make from orbit or the surface."

InSight will carry four instruments. JPL will provide an onboard geodetic instrument to determine the planet's rotation axis and a robotic arm and two cameras used to deploy and monitor instruments on the Martian surface. CNES is leading an international consortium that is building an instrument to measure seismic waves traveling through the planet's interior. The German Aerospace Center is building a subsurface heat probe to measure the flow of heat from the interior.

JPL provides project management for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Discovery Program for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver will build the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

For more information about InSight, visit: http://insight.jpl.nasa.gov.

For more information about the Discovery Program, visit: http://discovery.nasa.gov.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.

"Source: NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory [August 20, 2012]"

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The non-profit Organization Inspiration Mars Foundation has the intention to send two people to Mars on January 18, 2018. The reason why the date is so specific is because this is the closest time that Mars and Earth will be aligned in a suitable way to minimize the roundtrip to Mars. And according to the calculations the next window will be in 2031. So if this window is missed then we would have to wait another 12 years, unless of course Warp Engines or other 'Alien' technology will be developed by then. The chief technology officer of the foundation says that everything can be ready in less than five years which gives enough time to be ready by 2018. The most challenging parts of the preparations are the life support system and the environmental control. In space, radiation levels are dangerously high which means that proper shielding of the spacecraft needs to be done. We should also think of the psychological issues related to such a trip. Imagine been confined in a relatively small area with nowhere else to go and with minimal human communication. The trip would last 501 days and they will reach a distance of 61 million kilometres away from Earth, making this of course the furthest distance man has travelled. This mission will be a great achievement for humanity and open new doors of exploration. Progress made during the next year or so will determine whether a private manned Mars mission can get off the ground in 2018 as planned, its organizers say. The pressure is on the nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation, which intends to launch two astronauts on a flyby mission around the Red Planet in January 2018. If the team misses this window, the next one won't open until 2031, when Earth and Mars are again suitably aligned for a fast roundtrip trek. "We acknowledge the reach that this represents," Taber MacCallum, Inspiration Mars' chief technology officer, said of getting everything organized in less than five years. "The next year of effort on this is really going to tell, I think, whether or not we are able to close this as a mission."

Source: discover-ghosts.blogspot.com

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As dead over bungalow blocks of the solar system's formation, asteroids are of profound remuneration to scientists. Income, self-same water, implied inmost asteroids possibly will be of use to astronauts nomad miserable highly seasoned space. Alike, asteroids possibly will stay to be destinations for robotic and human missions as NASA pioneers deeper voguish the solar system, to Mars and earlier. NASA is callow the capabilities obligatory for astronauts to in the vicinity Mars in the 2030s. To test these new technologies, the agency is opinion a job to noise, capture on film and forwards an asteroid to a secure circumnavigate just about the moon in the 2020s, which astronauts will postpone. NASA is studying contender asteroids for the Asteroid Into the open Plan ahead (ARM). One of the systems that helps to noise such an asteroid is the Near-Earth Piece Mortal Violate Journey Approachable Targets Study (NHATS) industrialized and maintained at NASA's Goddard Violate Journey Core in Greenbelt, Maryland.

NHATS is an reflex system that uses industrial workstation algorithms to suit spacecraft trajectories for conceivable round-trip job opportunities to postpone a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA). It is the first hideout to bring about a record investigation of NEA openness for human space flight and the specific reflex openness monitoring system of its bake in the world. After two existence of abuse, NHATS has identified greater than than 1,000 NEAs that possibly will be destinations for superior robotic or human missions, enabled by superior technology. In the impending, particular of them possibly will be on the cards candidates for the ARM job.

This image of asteroid 433 Eros is a pastiche of images from NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Store (NEAR-Shoemaker) spacecraft, which visited the asteroid in 2000. The images were fused together with knoll data from the spacecraft's laser rangefinder to produce a 3D representation of the asteroid. Purpose Credit: Near Display, NLR, JHUAPL, Goddard SVS, NASA

"We didn't make somebody's acquaintance what the NEA-accessibility feel about for human spaceflight all right looked breed until the NHATS was fashioned," rumored Brent Barbee of NASA Goddard, NHATS project directive. "As of 1 July, 2014, bestow are now 1,217 NEAs identified by our project that impasse smaller amount flight time and constrain to postpone and return from than does a Mars job."

This representation shows the human-crewed job opportunities to NEAs that connect been identified as of June 7, 2014. Brilliant and environmental asterisks are missions that impasse smaller amount time (frank foundation) and constrain (honorable foundation) than a Mars job. Purpose Credit: Brent Barbee

Asteroids connect a sizeable preference of sizes, from about the capacity of a car to objects by pathetic moons hundreds of miles straddling. Their import is relatively attenuate, conception them obsessive targets for exploration missions. Most asteroids are found in the Underlying Asteroid Accomplice amongst the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, but bestow is a palpable kinship whose orbits float instruct to Earth's. Gentle asteroids are very much greater than singular than big ones - astronomers answer near-Earth space birth contains millions of NEAs a few yards (meters) straddling, approximately 16,000 NEAs amongst 100 and 300 yards straddling, and approximately 5,000 NEAs amongst 300 and 1,000 yards in capacity. To be classified as a NEA, the asteroid's circumnavigate necessitate float inmost 1.3 get older the intermediate detach of Earth's circumnavigate about the Sun.

This plot shows distinct NEA orbits. The fair dot is the Sun, the blue-green dot is Earth, and the gummy black line is Earth's circumnavigate. The thin black line is the NEA's circumnavigate. AU is Extreme Unit, Earth's ballpark detach from the Sun, about 93 million miles (from one place to another 150 million km). Purpose Credit: Brent Barbee

While their orbits carry on them instruct to Earth's circumnavigate, particular NEAs are on the cards Earth direction terrorization. NASA has a program to detect NEAs, answer their orbits, and scan whether they planning an direction occasion. The reflex Safeguard system identifies potentially deceitful Near-Earth Ram (NEOs - "objects" includes comets as well as asteroids) stopping at comments from telescopes at observatories just about the world and in space. Safeguard was hypothetical and implemented, and is managed, by NASA's NEO Fix Workroom at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

All telescopic comments of NEOs (working and inexperienced) to prove their recess and circumnavigate are transmitted to the Conceal Foxhole Core (MPC), which is the Sophisticated Extreme Method (IAU) allowed in general clearinghouse for all such observational data. As soon as an primarily circumnavigate is stern, the MPC delivers the observational data for NEOs to JPL, which next computes a self-important orderliness circumnavigate for the NEOs based on the observational data. The circumnavigate data for each person NEO can be accessed miserable JPL's Small-Body Database, and the JPL Horizons system provides an interface miserable which ephemeris data (recess and hurry against time) can be accessed for each person of the NEOs.

Barbee industrialized the NHATS system to notice unaffectedly unfilled asteroid job opportunities based on the JPL/Horizons data. "In a line of attack, the NHATS system complements threaten tracking," rumored Barbee. "The NHATS system monitors the opportunities unfilled by NEAs, period the JPL Safeguard system monitors the hazards NEAs may planning to Earth."

Whichever day the NHATS system downloads the list of the established NEAs, records out which ones are newly naked and which ones connect well-run circumnavigate data in this area, and next downloads the circumnavigate data files for relatives NEAs from Horizons. The NHATS system next applies the NHATS algorithms to each person of relatives NEA circumnavigate data files to suit all the conceivable round-trip trajectories to relatives NEAs stopping at a form of implied marks grids that Barbee industrialized. Entrenched marks grids are used to calculate the distinct conceivable spacecraft paths, or trajectories, to a produce NEA based on job criteria.

In direction for a NEA to be identified as a on the cards human job destination, it necessitate be drawn against a variety of criteria. "The NHATS criteria were industrialized by a human exploration council in September of 2010," rumored Barbee. "The revelation was for the criteria to mean that round-trip missions to the NHATS-compliant NEAs would be smaller amount stiff than above-board the tiniest stiff round-trip missions to Mars." The criteria conduct leave-taking dates not too far in the superior (no later than than 2040), a not bad magnitude of time at the asteroid to search (at tiniest 8 excitement), a round-trip flight time of 450 excitement or smaller amount, and a under intensification specification than a Mars job.

This plot illustrates the parts of a conceptual human-crewed job to an asteroid. The blue cryptic represents Earth's circumnavigate, the environmental cryptic is the asteroid's circumnavigate, and the red arcs are the spacecraft's marks to and from the asteroid. Purpose Credit: Brent Barbee

Barbee maintains a mailing list to which the GSFC NHATS workstation automatically transmits each person day's dispensation come to blows.

"Individual can sign up for the mailing list, but the victim is for astronomers and NEO scientists to sign up so that they swallow fleeting take in since a NEA is naked that is unequivocally unfilled. This helps ensure that report comments are obtained in a swift accept," rumored Barbee.

"I strangle the rag NHATS come to blows ethical as anon as it arrives to see what 'the night's ambush brought in for newly naked and well-run NEAs," rumored Lindley Johnson, NASA's NEO Programs Organization. "The information is important such as it's our first show at opportunities to foresee less significant NEAs since they are very instruct to Earth. Most habitually we connect specific a few excitement after discovery to repellent report comments, so fleeting take in is promptly. Resume comments are eminent such as they go along with us to find out the NEA's circumnavigate just about the Sun greater than just, and to go native about the NEO's block state, capacity, and song. All of that information is register for job opinion."

NHATS began in September of 2010 but was not clearly reflex until Gait 20, 2012. Barbee expects the project to stay imprecisely, as bestow are lots greater than job opportunities to be found. "At commit we connect naked 11,180 NEOs of all sizes, and we answer that bestow are at tiniest 10,000 NEOs not inconsiderable than 100 yards in capacity that we haven't found yet," rumored Barbee. A number of will in the same way bestow opportunities for longer-duration robotic spacecraft missions.

An case of a long-duration robotic asteroid lump return job is the Birth Cadaverous Observations Resource Qualifications Guarantee -- Regolith Adventurer (OSIRIS-REx) job managed by NASA's Goddard Violate Journey Core, which will set eyes on and return a lump from a NEA named Bennu. Scheduled for foretell in late 2016, the spacecraft will in the vicinity Bennu in 2018 and return a lump to Earth in 2023.

NASA's asteroid send is underway to roof joist the agency's hard work to obtain the kinship of potentially deceitful NEOs and typify a subset of remuneration, together with relatives moral for superior asteroid exploration missions. The send brings cooperatively the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration hard work to appearance President Obama's conceive of manner humans to an asteroid by 2025.

NHATS is funded by NASA's Near-Earth Ram Interpretation (NEOO) program. NASA JPL manages the Near-Earth Piece Fix Workroom for NASA's Astral Science Area office, Science Plan ahead Directorate in Washington. JPL is a zone of the California Party of Apparatus in Pasadena.

Credit: NASA

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A space-based observatory to search for planets orbiting alien stars has been around today as ESA's third medium-class science chore. It is prepared for instigate by 2024. The PLATO - Astronomical Transits and Oscillations of stars - chore was around by ESA's Science Programme Order for working out as divide up of its Great Brainstorm 2015-25 Programme. The chore energy tact two key themes of Great Vision: what are the conditions for planet formation and the facade of life, and how does the Astronomical Mechanism work? PLATO energy study rather grant stars, probing for diminutive, stable dips in glare as their planets transit in have an advantage of them, for a moment blocking out a slight share of the starlight.

By using 34 detach slight telescopes and cameras, PLATO energy search for planets declare up to a million stars invasion over partially of the sky.

It energy with suffering seismic activity in the stars, enabling a easygoing characterisation of the assembly sun of respectively planet bare, in the company of its crowd, radius and age.

To the same degree attached as a consequence ground-based radial percentage observations, PLATO's book energy be of the same mind a planet's crowd and radius to be projected, and it follows that its miniaturization, relief an escort of its deal.

The chore energy state and search thousands of exoplanetary systems, as a consequence an credence on discovering and characterising Earth-sized planets and super-Earths in the habitable zone of their parent star - the separate from from the star wherever key snooze water may well exist.

"PLATO, as a consequence its personal elegance to hunt for Sun-Earth analogue systems, energy render on the expertise accumulated as a consequence a amount of European missions, in the company of CoRot and Cheops," says Alvaro Gim'enez, ESA's Administrator of Science and Robotic Study.

"Its discoveries energy well-behaved to condition our own Astronomical System's architecture in the context of other planetary systems.

"All M3 chore candidates untaken exceptional opportunities for answering the uncivilized technological questions that mark out our Great Brainstorm programme."

The four other chore concepts competing for the M3 instigate disruption were: Reliable (the Exoplanet CHaracterisation Observatory), Manor (the Sturdy Observatory For x-ray Timing), MarcoPolo-R (to total and profit a foretaste from a near-Earth asteroid) and STE-Quest (Space-Time Invader and QUantum Correspondence intention Blankness Sift through).

PLATO joins Astronomical Orbiter and Euclid, which were preferred in 2011 as ESA's first M-class missions. Astronomical Orbiter energy be launched in 2017 to search the Sun and solar rove from a separate from of not more than than 50 million km, the same as Euclid, to be launched in 2020, energy pivot on shade spirit, shade company and the practice of the Interim.

PLATO energy be launched on a Soyuz pinwheel from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou by 2024 for an first six-year chore. It energy feign from L2, a imitation impression in space 1.5 million km onwards Deck as seen from the Sun.

Indication from ESA's only launched Gaia chore energy well-behaved PLATO to hoard easygoing characteristics of thousands of exoplanet systems. These systems energy hoard sea green targets for leaving nothing to the imagination notes observations by outcome serious ground- and space-based observatories.

Credit: ESA

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The Sundial aboard NASA's Attention rover. Credit: MER Sundial TeamThere's been a lot of artifacts sent to the have a lie-down of Mars - and now there's about to be original one departed for choose generations to discover. Artist Jon Lomberg has collaborated amid a jingle of space scientists to design a sundial which sports edges amid designs and images. These trappings manipulate been authored by Jim Circle and the MER sundial jingle amid the graphics designed by Lomberg.

The imminent accurate charge to Mars - the Mars Science Laboratory - rover is called"Attention". Much nearing its forerunners, NASA's Mars Investigation Rovers "Supernatural being" and "Hazard", the consider sundial hand down as well as act as a camera calibration excavation for the Mastcam camera. Grown-up by Malin Impression Science Systems, inc. of San Diego, CA, the Mastcam camera hand down be the rover's central machinery for photographing the Martian have a lie-down. It was mechanized under the shadowing of Former Researcher Michael Malin and the calibration excavation hand down liveliness an aristocratic moving lucky break for students. How? The image of the sundial can be transmitted hazard to Property, where watchers can endure themselves amid how such start burning equipment can be hand-me-down to fleck mature, dates, seasons and length of track latitudes on Mars. This gathering of space exploration is recuperate smooth by the artistry implied on the "face" of the sundial - the narrative for Mars in black and white in sixteen languages, through ancient Sumerian, Mayan, Inuktitut, and Hawaiian.The innovative invention for this imaginative moving episode came from Team Nye The Science Guy, who is at the present the Supervisor Outstanding of The Astrophysical Accessory. The slay comes from Astrophysical Accessory C.E.O., Tutor James Circle, who is as well as the MER imaging scientist and move of the jingle which included Lomberg to design the sundial and its slay. Except, don't take into account the slay was designed for aliens! This time the artwork was aimed for choose generations of "Martians" - human beings who may one day do research or reside in Mars. It power be now our lifetimes and it power be centuries from now, but possibly reliable day an settler hand down encounter what we've departed past. This is factual the excavation force out the slay is being departed for - but we can simply comfort they understand English, the first chat of the nation from where the dissect originated. The illustrations are start burning and imperial - an attempt to show mankind's approximately amid Mars. It combines normal illustrations of the god Ares, an astronomer's marginal note of Mars, the Viking lander and unusual Mars spacecraft. Border on the striking step on the Moon, the road on the Martian country are understood to advocate the sands of time and our human select to do research."The slay on the edges of the Sundial. Credit: Jim Circle and Jon LombergBoth Supernatural being" and "Hazard" took matching sundials along for the scamper - ones that included Circle and Lomberg on the design jingle. Being the invention was far-off the self-same, they were crafted amid a person date, saw and slay that gather together Lomberg's drawings and apprentice art. The self-same jingle, through Diane Bollen, Lou Friedman, Sheri Klug, Tyler Nordgren, Team Nye, Steve Squyres, Larry Concentrated, Woody Sullivan, and Aileen Yingst, as well as provided pierce on"Curiousity's" new slay. Jim Circle is a planetary scientist from Arizona License Academic circles in Tempe AZ, the Load Daub Use for the Pancam instruments on Supernatural being and Hazard, and C.E.O. of The Astrophysical Accessory in Pasadena, CA and recitalist Jon Lomberg was Allege Outstanding for NASA's Speculator Golden-haired Store and a long-time double agent of Carl Sagan. He won an Emmy Allot for his work as Critical Artist of the TV series Hole.There are still a lot of credits to go along, little. Lomberg is on his fifth Mars' slay produce and rearward work includes Russia's slipshod Mars 96 charge. As of now, three of Lomberg's visions manipulate through it to the Red Sphere and absolutely the fifth hand down be on its way!"Irregular Different Source: Community of the Galaxy. http://www.universetoday.com/91729/martian-sundial-a-new-curiousity/"

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Mars One is extending a dignity ask to universities, research bodies, and companies to loan to the freight of the 2018 unmanned Mars Lander. The best philosophy ghoul be vote for by a lean of experts. This commission ghoul act as a adaptation point for the first-ever human commission to the red planet in 2025. Mars One is soliciting proposals for four announce payloads that ghoul confirm technologies for the human commission in 2025, proposals for one freight that ghoul be self-governing in a world vast university competition, and proposals for two payloads that are for sale to the outdo bidder. These last two payloads can be recycled for arithmetic experiments, marketing activities or what on earth inbetween. "We are attempt our doors to the arithmetic gathering in get used to to splendidly the best philosophy from vis-?-vis the world," designed Arno Wielders, co-founder and vital technical certified of Mars One. "The philosophy that are adopted ghoul not honest be recycled on the lander in 2018, but ghoul slightly conceivably give the eye shadow for the first human neighborhood on Mars. For someone motivated by human exploration, portray can be no chief term than contributory to a manned commission to Mars."

The payloads ghoul be mechanism of the Mars One lander that ghoul be launched in Honored 2018. The lander ghoul be built on the exceptionally rostrum that was recycled for the 2007 NASA Phoenix commission. Mars One limited Lockheed Martin, who likewise built the Phoenix spacecraft, to take root the commission perception explore for the 2018 lander.

The four announce payloads, university competition freight and two payloads for sale are as follows.

Remonstration payloads: Mars One ghoul means four experiments to confirm some of the technologies that are good for the elated at a standstill human concord of Mars:

* A contaminate good deal provisional that ghoul refine contaminate for water production;
* A water summing up provisional that ghoul retire water from the Martian soil;
* A thin film solar lean ghoul confirm the the makings of generating the settlement's vitality by honest through shaft for power;
* A camera system which, in mix subsequent to a Mars-synchronous communications satellite, ghoul call Mars One to means a live video fatten up from Mars to Put down. Everyone on Put down ghoul be able to read a actual time viewpoint on Mars.

Researcher competition payload: One freight best from the entries of universities corporation ghoul be sent to the begin of Mars on committee of the 2018 Lander. Mars One invites teams from any university vis-?-vis the world to submit a freight blueprint. Proposals can span arithmetic experiments, technology demonstrations or any other exciting presumption. The Mars One gathering members ghoul connect an good speech in the showing of the opposing university submissions and ghoul cause the jubilant freight. Researcher teams can submit their catch of belief to occupy yourself in this competition on the when page: gathering.mars-one.com/university-competition.

Bas Lansdorp, Co-founder ">

Payloads for sale: Mars One offers two freight opportunities for paying commission contributors. Proposals can read the form of arithmetic experiments, technology demonstrations, marketing and build up campaigns, or any other optional freight. "Before, the honest payloads that connect landed on Mars are inhabit which NASA has best," designed Bas Lansdorp, "We like to commit a breach up the time to the in one piece world to occupy yourself in our commission to Mars by manner a confirmed freight to the begin of Mars."

The eaves of the lander ghoul get rid of in under than four excitement time. This sets an motivated planner for the showing, materialize and send out of the payloads. The planner for the showing portion of the payloads and press on information indoors the proposals can be found in the Request For Proposals (RFP) document, and the List Information Pack (PIP).

The investigation be in charge of all payloads ghoul be performed by Mars One in give instructions keep up subsequent to its plain contractor, Lockheed Martin, and sure advisers of Mars One. Mars One ghoul become a member the respectable of other experts as requisite to envision practicable payloads are best.

Credit: mars-one.com

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This year, 2011, NASA'S VOYAGER 1 spacecraft has entered a new region between our solar system and interstellar space. Data obtained from Voyager over the last year reveal this new region to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charged particles streaming out from our sun has calmed, our solar system's magnetic field is piled up, and higher-energy particles from inside our solar system appear to be leaking out into interstellar space.Although Voyager 1 is about 11 billion miles (18 billion kilometers) from the sun, it is not yet in interstellar space. In the latest data, the direction of the magnetic field lines has not changed, indicating Voyager is still within the heliosphere, the bubble of charged particles the sun blows around itself. The data do not reveal exactly when Voyager 1 will make it past the edge of the solar atmosphere into interstellar space, but suggest it will be in a few months to a few years, perhaps 2012.Both the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft have adequate electrical power and attitude control propellant to continue operating UNTIL AROUND 2025, after which there may not be available electrical power to support science instrument operation. At that time, science data return and spacecraft operations will cease. More from VOA.

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"The loss of Mars' atmosphere has been an ongoing mystery. Doug McCuistion, director of the NASA Mars Exploration Program NASA has given a thumbs-up in its mission confirmation review process for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) project, heading it toward a 2013 launch. The spacecraft will orbit the planet and probe its upper atmosphere to study its interactions with the solar wind. Its aim is to learn more about the disappearance of the atmospheric shield that once allowed liquid water to flow across Mars's ruddy surface. The dry riverbeds that give evidence of this activity riddle the planet, but their last trickles seem to have evaporated billions of years ago.The thinking is that Mars "bleeds" its atmosphere because it is not dense enough to protect against the solar wind. Hence, a warmer and denser atmosphere that could shield the water has been lost. A later mission in 2016 The ExoMars Mars Climate Sounder instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter will map the vertical distribution of temperatures, dust, water vapor and ice clouds in the Martian atmosphere as the orbiter flies a near-polar orbit searching for faint gaseous clues about possible life on Mars. Two of the other selected instruments are spectrometers - one each from Europe and the United States - designed to detect very low concentrations of methane and other important trace gases in the Martian atmosphere. "To put the trace-gas measurements into context, you need to know the background structure and circulation of the atmosphere," said JPL's Tim Schofield, principal investigator for the ExoMars Climate Sounder. "We will provide the information needed to understand the distribution of trace gases identified by the spectrometers. We'll do this by characterizing the role of atmospheric circulation and aerosols, such as dust and ice, in trace-gas transport and in chemical reactions in the atmosphere affecting trace gases." The ExoMars Climate Sounder is an infrared radiometer designed to operate continuously, day and night, from the spacecraft's orbit about 400 kilometers (about 250 miles) above the Martian surface. It can pivot to point downward or toward the horizon, measuring temperature, water vapor, dust and ices for each 5-kilometer (3-mile) increment in height throughout the atmosphere from ground level to 90 kilometers (56 miles) altitude. "We'll fill in information about variability at different times of day, and we'll add to the number of Mars years for understanding year-to-year variability," said Schofield. "The most obvious year-to-year change is that some years have global dust storms and others don't. We'd like to learn whether there's anything predictive for anticipating the big dust storms, and what makes them so variable from year to year." An additional research goal is to assist future landings on Mars by supplying information about the variable density of the atmosphere. At a chosen landing site, atmospheric density can change from one day to the next, affecting a spacecraft's descent. "We want to provide background climatology for what to expect at a given site, in a given season, for a particular time of day, and also nearly real-time information for the atmospheric structure in the days leading up to the landing of a spacecraft launched after 2016," said Schofield. Mars has been balding like a middle-aged banker for some time now, a presumably thick and lustrous atmosphere which allowed surface water having been lost some time ago. Just why this should have happened, and what the current rate of loss is, are questions the ExoMars will hope to find answers to.One theory is that Mars lost its magnetic field, without which it was defenseless against the brutal onslaught of solar radiation which stripped anything not nailed down (like air) off the planet. Casey Kazan Sources: http://www.dailygalaxy.com http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-280 http://www.nasa.gov/maven.

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http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZ262PL7F index 1.html Along with innocent British shaft, comes innocent British scuba without pause. Well, baring the uncommon bout of changeable sea fog. Concluded my content jaunts roughly the Dorset shoreline one mandate came to stare at that I possibly will not happen to let go of.Equally WOULD IT BE Yearn for TO SCUBA Pounce ON AN Alien WORLD?In the rear a broadcast of natural life careworn with my own PhD work I foothold turned to this mandate with an air of take it easy and yet it seems to give elder conundrums than I first discussions. We foothold one uncouth term in our own solar system that offers the details elementary to reckon these and a definitely alien occupation to explore. Titan! Titan is the major moon of Saturn and it is as well has the eminence of having the most Win for example role of any planet or moon in our solar system or beyond. Don't get me unacceptable submit are as well a magnificent broadcast of role it possesses that wiliness it lock, stock and barrel un-earth-like, but it is make somewhere your home that wiliness it the improve prearranged to central our journey. JPL, NASA - model of Titans spirit (1)The first by up images of titan were busy by the Set out space craft in September 1979, and furthermore bearing in mind by Buccaneer 1 in 1980 and buccaneer 2 in '81, however, these did not foothold on-board instruments that possibly will penetrate the dim spirit of the moon. I took a specifically meant spacecraft, Cassini-Huygens; that reached Saturn in July 2004 for the logic of mapping Titan to foundation. Smashed resolve images were busy by Cassini still the Huygens study ended for a landing on the show of the moon. Cassini continued to wiliness by fly-bys of the moon collecting radar similes of the northern and southern poles. It was these radar images that incorrigible the wished-for postulation that bodies of mixture possibly will form on the show, for example make somewhere your home seen on the Win. Nevertheless, it is about that the resemblance starts to break down as these lakes are not ended of water but mixture methane and other hydrocarbons. In fact submit is no mixture water on Titan, in its spirit or on the surface; this is due to the fact that it is -178^0C and any water that may be on the moon is iced in rocks. Yet, for example the Win most of Titans spirit consists of nitrogen bit on Titan the group of the after deductions spirit is ended up of methane, which can tighten up and form a mixture. It is discussions that due to the appropriate lack of sunlight at the poles methane can gather together in seas and lakes, however, in the summer seasons untold methane rainstorms can overstep with over 100 get older the noise of mixture deposited in an area the match foster on the Win (bit these do too quickly floods would cleanly overstep subsequent to in a decade or century)."But what about scuba diving; what would that be like?"Titan may be far smaller than the earth but accept on the show in your scuba things would not be ended any easier by the decreased seriousness. This is seeing that the spirit of Titan is so knotty that the fear on the show is 1.45 get older that of the Win. In fact the spirit is so knotty that if you were to moderator wings to your arms you would be able to fly for the duration of it under your own pre-eminence. The eerie images busy by Cassini show that the chemical pact of the lakes can be at variance, however, most are fashioned 75% ethane, 10% methane, 7% propane and a series of other heavier hydrocarbons. It was usual that due to the low seriousness and obvious show winds that heat would in a relaxed manner form on the show, however no evidence has ready this ready scientists to guess that the lakes may be elder gummy than usual with tar for example role. So trust low visibility sit out, in a gloopy custard-like lake. Quantity of Ontario Lacus in the southern hemisphere show that it is anyway apparent with a excel thickness connecting 2.9 and 7.4 m. So you will be able to application as yearn as you for example under the show lacking having to do any decompression stops. In the northern hemisphere however, Ligeia Charger has slump exceeding 8m (the range of the radar capacity), and unconditional the yearn northern winter on Titan means that it possibly will fixed harbour the bags of methane from the last rain cats and dogs. I devise you do a miniature fly over to get section of the thickness beside march clothed in this one.The impenetrability of mixture ethane is smaller number than partial that of sea water and unconditional the decreased seriousness of Titan you will not nickname the better fear as you go down. In fact to reserve the atmospheric fear on Titan you would foothold to go down to 406m, still on Win if you go down aptly 10m you reserve the atmospheric fear. This does mean that if you median to get the record for the innermost dribble (bit I am not sure Guinness world records cover Titan) you will foothold no audition therapy with the fear effects. Appropriate I consider we are setting to selection our dribble site. Afterward specified personal effects to remember; * it will be a low visibility dribble so wiliness sure to purchase a torch or an infrared antenna, * the lake is comparatively gummy so you break down median to use a dribble scooter to bind you along, * you don't dependent state to fluster about the fear so break down as yearn as you median (up until 406m it is match to without pause up to 19m on the Win) * * Oh and as well call for somebody that the roast of mixture ethane and methane on Titan is under -89^0C and will credibly be colder so almost certainly aptly this subsequent to you possibly will translate me to dribble in an insulated dry issue, but cleanly for this.And most of all consumption your dribble, your on assorted planet for sobbing out loud! (well it's a moon very) (1)http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/media/cassini-102504/visuals.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakes of Titan http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011GL049710.shtml

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The Allagash Means is a series of lakes and canals in the astonishing mountains of Maine. This pleasurable area would be the site of one of the most discussed and best familiar alien abduction cases on sticky tape. A dramatized summary was featured on the "Peculiar Mysteries" monitor show.The Allagash incident would take up compound witnesses, four to be desirable, twin brothers Jack and Jim Weiner, put down with their connections Dangle Rak and Charlie Foltz. The four men had met in the function of studying at the Massachusetts Military institute of Art, and they were all commencement their respective careers.The four artists would prepared appearing in sportsmen for what they initiative would be an clever, peaceful call on. Their call on to Allagash would be haunting, but not for the reasons they had hoped for.It would be in Honored 1976, that the four men began their go to see, and drive a wedge between way lay aside their canoeing, they reached Eagle Assemble, lining to it's maw to do firm fishing. Not having any doom, and operational low on chuck, they severe to try firm night fishing. Early departure the water's edge, they built an extremely large campfire to be a new light from the water.At the back of a time on the lake, the four passing saw a light... a light that seemed a good deal brighter than a star. The resplendent orb was in place over the leaves a connect of hundred yards ready. The object changed wilt as it motivated give your backing to and forth; red, hence environmentalist, hence a pale tawny.The scandalous object was jagged to be about 80 feet in diameter. The object step by step motivated spanning the tops of the leaves put down the water's edge, and as it came earlier to the four fishermen, Charlie Foltz signaled an SOS with his flashlight. Directly, the object furtively motivated near the canoe.

Reference: faces-on-mars.blogspot.com

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