inforum - Four decades of UFO research have convinced Robert Hastings that we are not alone.
And Hastings estimates that of the more than 120 former or retired U.S. military workers he has interviewed regarding their personal brushes with the unexplained, about 75 percent feel the same way.
Hastings will talk about his research at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Weld Hall Auditorium on the Minnesota State University Moorhead campus.
Much of his research explores UFO-related incidents at nuclear weapons installations and research facilities.
In a phone interview, he cited a story from his book, “UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites,” that featured testimony from David Schuur, who worked at a U.S. Air Force strategic missile wing in Minot, N.D., in the 1960s.
Schuur told Hastings about an object that was sighted in the sky above a number of Minuteman missile silos.
As the object flew over the silos, the electronic consoles at the launch control facility began acting strangely.
At one point, Schuur told Hastings, he and other crew members had to hit the “inhibit” switch because launch-in-progress indicators had inexplicably been activated.
When the flying object disappeared, the consoles reset to normal, Schuur said.
Based on that interview and others like it, Hastings said he has come to believe the Earth has been under scrutiny since the nuclear arms race began in the 1940s.
Whether to save humans from themselves or to prevent interplanetary nuclear contamination, Hastings said something is periodically tampering with the world’s nuclear stockpiles to send a message to Washington and Moscow “that we are playing with fire.”
Government officials in both the west and the east know it is happening, but from their perspective, there is nothing to be gained from letting the public in on the secret, Hastings said.
He cites a former CIA official named Victor Marchetti, who maintains that governments are afraid of what such revelations might spark.
“His (Marchetti’s) view as a professional intelligence officer was that even if whoever is piloting these craft is not hostile … their mere presence here could create unpredictable changes in human society,” Hastings said.
“If suddenly you have this sophisticated, outside, non-human influence on the overall global situation … that can only create potential disruptions to the status quo,” he said.
**********
What Caused the Failure of the BAASS - MUFON SIP Program?
By Richard Lang - MUFON (Mutual UFO Network), was the largest international UFO research organization in the world. The STAR Team was a Rapid Response UFO Investigation Unit that was funded by a special program within MUFON known as the SIP Project.
During the period from February 2009 until January 2010, I served as the STAR Team Manager and SIP Project Coordinator. I was also State Director of North Carolina MUFON and Chief Investigator for MUFON of Virginia. This investigative program came to an unexpected end in January of 2010.
Since then, I have received countless phone calls and email requests asking me to explain or confirm details of this project and the controversy that surrounds its premature ending. So many rumors are floating around the internet and many questions have come to the surface. I currently do not have any official association with the MUFON organization, I am no longer a member or an employee of MUFON. Continue reading at What Caused the Failure of the BAASS - MUFON SIP Program?
**********
Chavez says capitalism may have ended life on Mars
reuters - Capitalism may be to blame for the lack of life on the planet Mars, Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday.
"I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," Chavez said in speech to mark World Water Day.
Chavez, who also holds capitalism responsible for many of the world's problems, warned that water supplies on Earth were drying up.
"Careful! Here on planet Earth where hundreds of years ago or less there were great forests, now there are deserts. Where there were rivers, there are deserts," Chavez said, sipping from a glass of water.
He added that the West's attacks on Libya were about water and oil reserves.
Earlier this month, the U.S. National Research Council recommended that NASA's top priority should be a robot to help determine whether Mars ever supported life and offer insight on its geological and climatic history.
It would also be the first step in an effort to get samples from Mars back to Earth.
A NASA team recently tested a space suit in a setting with extreme conditions akin to some of those found on Mars -- an Argentine base in Antarctica -- for possible use on a visit to the Red Planet.
**********
NASA begins preparation for a mission to land astronauts on asteroids
news.com.au - Astronauts are lining up to be candidates for an extreme trip of a lifetime.
In a press conference this morning NASA released the details of its plan to land astronauts on an asteroid by 2025.
And while "planetary defence" is the most exciting of several reasons why NASA could be undertaking the mission, the agency says it isn't planning a Bruce Willis kamikaze mission.
That kind of drama and intrigue is reserved for Hollywood, said Dr Paul Abell, NASA’s lead scientist for planetary small bodies.
“The Armageddon film with Bruce Willis was a very fun movie but not exactly the most scientifically accurate”, Dr Abell said.
“This is going to be an exciting endeavour but not quite that dramatic. It’s going to happen a little bit more slowly.”
The mission is designed to garner new information about the potential to harvest resources from asteroids, as well as the origin of life as we know it.
“This exploration incorporates both the science, exploration, resource utilisation and planetary defence all in one go,” Dr Abell told news.com.au.
“We can do things that will further humanity’s forays into space — going to Mars and expanding the human presence in the solar system.
“We also expand our scientific horizons in learning about what’s out there in the solar system.
“And also being able to live off the land – resource utilisation is going to be key."
Oh, and did we mention planetary defence?
“Very important to the general public is the aspect of planetary defence and making sure we don’t have an impact and making sure our grand-children or great grand-children don’t have to worry about an asteroid coming in and hitting the planet," Dr Abell said.
NASA won’t be able to land a spacecraft on the asteroid directly however, as most asteroids have a very weak gravitational field.
That makes things a little tricky, because asteroids travel at speeds ranging from 54,000 to 90,000km/h.
The spacecraft is going to have to travel at the exact same speed as the asteroid while the astronauts deploy to and from it to collect samples and conduct experiments.
"One of the things we are looking at in earnest is seeing if we can anchor or attach or tether equipment and astronauts to the surface," Dr Abell said.
Though they’ve had plenty of volunteers, NASA is yet to pick a team of astronauts and do not plan on doing so for at least another five years.
But if you're thinking of applying for the job, know this — you have to be an experienced spacewalker.
"It takes a tremendous amount of strength upper body strength and endurance. It's very, very tiring," Dr Abell said.
"You’re probably going to have to be doing EVAs (extra vehicle activities) on the order of maybe 8 to 12 hours at a time on these missions, so the astronauts really have to be fit both physically and mentally for what they are going to be doing."
In fact the physical activity is so strenuous that NASA is considering recruiting a new generation of younger astronauts for the job — blowing yet another hole in the plot of Armageddon.
Bruce Willis and his team would simply have been too old.
"The astronauts we send on this mission may not even be the ones we have in our current core," Dr Abell said.
"They may be people who are in university right now or in high school right now. We’ll see."
NASA hasn't yet chosen an asteroid on which to land yet either, but they have it narrowed down to a group of 1200 “potentially hazardous” asteroids that present a potential risk to Earth and its inhabitants.
"If an object is potentially hazardous, it's because it makes close approaches to the Earth," Dr Abell said.
"So the objects that are potentially hazardous, even though they’re present a hazard, they also present the best opportunity for us to go out and get them and learn about them."
**********
Mystery as cars with no occupants collide and burst into flames...time travelers?
Two cars were destroyed after bursting into flames in the Wellswood area of Torquay yesterday.
No one was injured in the incident which happened in Kents Road just after 8.30am.
Witness Bill Harborne, who took the picture and lives in Kents Road, said: "I was asleep at the time and woken by this banging noise.
"I looked out and saw these two cars on fire. It must have been a considerable collision. My wife saw the fire first — and I rang the brigade. They were already on their way."
Police and firefighters say the circumstances of the collision were not clear.
Two fire crews attended the incident where two hosereels were used to extinguish the blaze.
Cutting gear was used to gain access to the vehicles to put out the flames.
A police spokesman confirmed that details of how the fire started remained uncertain.
Recovery teams were called to take away the written-off cars.