Statistiche
Wednesday, May 4, 2022
The UFO briefings on Capitol Hill have begun. Lawmakers aren’t impressed ( Politico )
Agencies need to “take this issue much more seriously,” one aide said.
Lawmakers receiving the latest secret briefings on UFOs say national security agencies still aren’t taking seriously the reports of highly advanced aircraft of unknown origin violating protected airspace.
Members of the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees received classified progress reports in recent weeks on a series of new data collection efforts the Pentagon and spy agencies are now required to pursue to more rigorously investigate reports of UFOs, three people with direct knowledge confirmed.
But some leading sponsors of recent legislation want more analysts and surveillance systems dedicated to determining the aircrafts’ origin — and not just more reports of their existence.
One of those lawmakers is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), a member of both committees who has called the phenomena “an urgent issue” and for the first time is expressing her public dissatisfaction at the response.
“Senator Gillibrand believes that the DoD needs to take this issue much more seriously and get in motion,” said one of her aides, who requested anonymity in order to discuss private conversations. “They have had ample time to implement these important provisions, and they need to show us that they are prepared to address this issue in the long-term.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Sept. 28, 2021, on Capitol Hill. | Sarahbeth Maney-Pool/Getty Images
The congressional briefings come four months after Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act requiring the Pentagon to create the Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office.
The office, which is supposed to be fully operational by June, was granted the authority to pursue “any resource, capability, asset, or process” to investigate “unidentified aerial phenomena” — the now-widely accepted nomenclature for UFOs.
The Pentagon office is supposed to be developing an “intelligence collection and analysis plan to gain as much knowledge as possible regarding the technical and operational characteristics, origins, and intentions of unidentified aerial phenomena,” according to the legislation.
That means identifying people across the government “to respond rapidly to incidents or patterns of observations.”
The bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden, also required an annual report and semiannual briefings for Congress, including descriptions of all UAP incidents such as those “associated with military nuclear assets, including strategic nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships and submarines.”
To respond to Congress’s direction, Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks directed the creation of an Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to oversee the stepped-up effort and establish the permanent UFO office required by Congress.
Among its tasks is to standardize UAP incident reporting across the military and collect and analyze more intelligence.
“The Department continues to brief Congress on our efforts regarding unidentified aerial phenomena, including our progress in standing up the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, in accordance with the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act,” Susan Gough, a department spokesperson, told POLITICO in a statement.
“I cannot comment on specific engagements,” she added.
Expanding investigations of UAPs will require dedicating far more resources and personnel to the task, military and intelligence experts say.
But some members of Congress and their staff are beginning to air their dissatisfaction with the progress in making that happen.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the intelligence panel, also believes the Pentagon is not aggressively carrying out Congress’ direction.
“Rubio is definitely frustrated,” said one of the senator’s aides, who was not authorized to speak publicly. “They are not moving fast enough, not doing enough, not sharing enough.”
“The administration is aware of the concerns,” he added. “It is not at the level it needs to be.”
Others are more critical, accusing the Pentagon of hiding information from Congress.
“I don’t trust the Department of Defense to get this right since leadership there has always been part of a cover-up,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Transportation Aviation Subcommittee.
“It is clear from the public evidence that we don’t have full control of our airspace,” added Burchett, whose district includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where there have been numerous reports of UFO sightings over the decades. “That’s a national security issue and it’s also unacceptable.”
Five current and former military and intelligence officials and contractor personnel privy to the deliberations who were not authorized to speak publicly told POLITICO they believe real progress is being made to compel agencies to take a more proactive approach — and also be more transparent about what they might know about UFO sightings and technologies.
Bryan Bender
Future Spacecraft Will Use Pulsars to Navigate ( The Debrief )
Future spacecraft will be able to use the x-rays emitted by pulsars to navigate in the vastness of deep space. Stellar remnants of collapsed neutron stars, pulsars emit a detectable “pulse” of x-rays as they spin. Future deep space explorers will be able to use these pulsing signals to triangulate their position anywhere in the cosmos.
OVERWORKED DEEP SPACE NETWORK WILL NEED HELP
In science fiction, space-faring humans often use advanced navigational charts and maps to traverse the depths of interstellar space. Unfortunately for 21st-century humans, detailed charts of the stars and instructions on how to use those charts to navigate are currently unavailable. NASA’s over-taxed Deep Space Network can handle some of the short-term load, but as new missions venture deeper and deeper into the void, that system will not be enough.
Hoping to change the equation, researchers have zeroed in on a method that doesn’t rely on existing supplementary systems. Instead, their published approach puts navigation back in the hands of those piloting the spacecraft using the power of pulsars.
NAVIGATE DEEP SPACE USING THE POWER OF PULSARS
“We can use star trackers to determine the direction a spacecraft is pointing, but to learn the precise location of the spacecraft, we rely on radio signals sent between the spacecraft and the Earth, which can take a lot of time and requires use of oversubscribed infrastructure, like NASA’s Deep Space Network,” said Zach Putnam, professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Illinois, in a press release announcing the proposed pulsar-based deep space navigation approach.
Conversely, the researcher notes, using the x-rays from pulsars “presents a system that finds candidates for possible spacecraft locations without prior information, so the spacecraft can navigate autonomously.”
“Our ground communication systems for deep space missions are overloaded right now,” said Putnam. “This system would give spacecraft autonomy and reduce the dependency on the ground. X-ray pulsar navigation gets us around that and allows us to determine where we are, without calling.”
Because pulsars spin, they emit pulses of x-ray radiation with each rotation. Think of an interstellar lighthouse that “flashes” each time it faces Earth. Furthermore, each pulsar on record spins at a different rate, allowing our future deep space navigators and the newly proposed navigation software to tell them apart.
“Each pulsar has its own characteristic signal, like a fingerprint,” said Putnam. “We have records of the x-rays over time from the 2,000 or so pulsars and how they’ve changed over time.”
Like GPS, space travelers will be able to navigate using the signals of three known pulsars, effectively triangulating the spacecraft’s position anywhere in space.
“With pulsars, while there are an infinite number of possible spacecraft locations, we know how far apart these candidate locations are from each other,” explained Putnam.
NAVIGATE WITH THE ACCURACY OF JUPITER’S ORBIT
As far as accuracy, the algorithm designed to interpret the pulsar signals and generate a relative location from that data “combines observations from numerous pulsars to determine all the possible positions of the spacecraft.” The data is then processed, resulting in relatively precise 2D and 3D space maps. At least, in interstellar terms.“We are looking at determining spacecraft position within domains that have diameters on the order of multiple astronomical units, like the size of the orbit of Jupiter—something like a square with one billion miles on a side,” said Putnam of the navigation system’s potential accuracy. “The challenge we are trying to address is how do we intelligently observe pulsars and fully determine all possible spacecraft locations in a domain without using excessive compute resources.”Given the relative simplicity of the approach and the consistent nature of the signals emitted by pulsars, the proposed navigation tool developed by the researchers appears particularly viable. Of course, in the distant future, we may finally have those detailed star charts and space maps that allow the USS Enterprise of the Millennium Falcon to safely and accurately navigate the vagaries of deep space. But until then, this new approach seems like an excellent starting point, especially if one hopes to avoid slamming into an asteroid field or crashing through a supernova.
Christopher Plain
Pentagon Releases More UFO Sighting Reports; Lawmakers Want In-Depth Investigation ( International Business Time )
KEY POINTS
- Lawmakers have been briefed on the enhanced efforts to investigate reports of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)
- Some want more analysts and surveillance systems dedicated to determining the origins of UAPs
- Expanding the investigation of UAPs will require dedicating more resources and personnel, according to experts
National security agencies are not taking seriously reports of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) violating protected airspace, according to lawmakers who want expanded investigations on the mysterious flyers.
Members of both the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees have received classified progress reports in recent weeks on the enhanced efforts to investigate reports of UAPs, the now-widely accepted designation for unidentified flying objects (UFO), according to Politico.
These congressional briefings come four months after the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was passed.
The bill required the Pentagon to create the Anomaly Surveillance and Resolution Office, an agency with the authority to pursue "any resource, capability, asset or process" to investigate UAPs, according to the report.
Additionally, the NDAA, which was signed by President Joe Biden, also required an annual report and semiannual briefings for Congress that included descriptions of all UAP incidents such as those "associated with military nuclear assets, including strategic nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered ships and submarines."
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks directed the creation of an Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group to oversee the effort and establish the permanent UAP office required by Congress in response to the lawmaking body's direction.
One of the group's tasks is to standardize UAP incident reporting across the military as well as to collect and analyze more intelligence.
However, some members of Congress reportedly want more analysts and surveillance systems dedicated to determining the origins of UAPs, not just reports.
Among these lawmakers is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, a member of both the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees.
"Senator Gillibrand believes that the DoD (Department of Defense) needs to take this issue much more seriously and get in motion," an aide for the lawmaker was quoted as saying.
"They have had ample time to implement these important provisions, and they need to show us that they are prepared to address this issue in the long-term," added the aide, who requested anonymity.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, another member of the intelligence panel, also believes the Pentagon is not aggressively carrying out Congress' direction.
"Rubio is definitely frustrated. They are not moving fast enough, not doing enough, not sharing enough," said one of the senator's aides, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Rep. Tim Burchett, of Tennessee, for his part, expressed his distrust toward the DoD and claimed the department was hiding information from Congress.
"I don't trust the Department of Defense to get this right since leadership there has always been part of a cover-up. It is clear from the public evidence that we don’t have full control of our airspace," the lawmaker said.
Expanding the investigation of UAPs will require dedicating more resources and personnel to the task, according to military and intelligence experts.
"Real progress" is being made to compel agencies to take a more proactive approach and also to be more transparent about what they might know about UAP sightings and technologies, five current and former military intelligence officials and contractor personnel with knowledge of the deliberations but were not authorized to speak publicly told Politico.
Dane Enerio
William Shatner, experts weigh in on UFO phenomena in ‘A Tear in the Sky’ doc ( Boston Herald )
UFO hunters have their cameras trained on the skies in the documentary “A Tear in the Sky.” (Photo courtesy 1091 Pictures)
Caroline Cory has been entranced by what was flying so quickly by in the skies. “Since I was 5 years old,” said the producer-director of the UFO documentary “A Tear in the Sky.”
“It didn’t look like anything I could understand of course, but it was more of a gut feeling, who else is out there in the universe? Because of that, I stayed open to the idea that we may be visited by extraterrestrials or something along those lines throughout my life.”
Cory, born in France but raised around the world (“I’ve been all over. I lived in Japan for a while”), financed and filmed an investigative squad of military personnel, scientists, even William Shatner, that hoped to capture without any doubt a real UFO phenomenon.
Based in Laguna, Calif., the team had just five days to come up with compelling evidence.
Only very recently has the government said anything about what might be visitors from another galaxy. Or not. Why such secrecy going back to the Fifties?
“A few reasons,” Cory said in a phone call from her Montana ranch. “Perhaps some of it has to do with ‘black projects.’ I would understand why they would want to not disclose certain things that they’re working on.
“The other part of the story is that this will show that they don’t know everything — and they don’t have control over everything. Just the idea that there could be potentially intelligent (aliens) or maybe a foreign government that is capable of technologies that we don’t have, puts them in a very vulnerable place. I think that’s the reason why it’s been one coverup after another throughout the whole process. Anyone who talks about it was ridiculed for the longest time.
“Until 2017. When the Navy and the Pentagon has to finally admit, ‘Wait a minute! There’s something anomalous here. We don’t know what it is. We’re looking into it.’
“At least the fact that they have admitted there is something anomalous was a huge, huge step in the right direction.”
2017 was when The New York Times reported on the Pentagon’s research into unidentified flying objects. This immediately gave legitimacy and credence to the cause.
“After that first article, everyone covered the subject from CNN to the Washington Post and so on. That gave us permission to finally talk about these experiences without sounding like ‘crazy people.’
“It was a game changer that changed the conversation. We can now talk about this with more validation.”
Sthephen Schaefer