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News 2001:

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UK GOVERNMENT GRANTS £130 MILLION TO FIND ET LIFE:

The main British news paper "The Mirror" has written that British Ministers are pumping £130 million into the search for extra terrestrial life. The cash injection is part of a £380 million package revealed yesterday to fund new space research. Joint European projects will include a search for "signs of life in the solar system and beyond". Unmanned missions will go to Mars and Titan, a huge moon of Saturn. Probes are also planned to find earth-like planets in other solar systems which could support life.

Science Minister Lord Sainsbury said the £380 million would "keep the UK at the leading edge of science and technology". Welcoming the cash, space campaigner and Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik said: "The Government is wise to back this research because of the ground-breaking shift in outlook that finding extra-terrestrial life would cause. Even if we only discovered simple single cell life forms, it would prove that we are not alone."

The European Space Agency is committed to sending the British-led Beagle 2 Lander to Mars in 2003.

Editor note: An english ufologist has commented that the money is wasted because "we won't find living beings on Mars and Saturn (...); it's to bloody cold. (sic)" to which I disagree in the sense that life has already been found on Mars by the Viking probes in 1977 but the scientific community needs to look again. A long story, explained in the Mars section of this site.

On the other end, devoting 10% of this amount, £13 million, to serious and sincere UFO research and investigation, is 50 to 1000 times the amount that the most involved countries have officially spent in UFO investigation in the last 50 years.

ODISSEY ORBITS MARS:

The first mission to Mars since back-to-back failures in 1999 has survived. The $300 million NASA spacecraft Odyssey made it into Martian orbit late Tuesday night October 23, 2001.

"DISCOVERY" OF "WATERY HOLES" ON MARS ANNOUNCED BY SCIENTISTS:

Several web portals specialized in space news and exobiology news items are now announcing that scientists have found "watering holes" on Mars, detected by the use of lasers.

The location of the "watery holes" is indicated as Valles Marinensis, where I have located several pictures that might be interpreted as lakes of water or other liquid or frozen liquid.

But the annoncement at this time is somehow ambiguous, it seems that the "watery holes" are to be understood as poaches of frozen water underground.

HUBBLES FINDS MYSTERIOUS FREE FLOATING PLANET SIZED OBJECTS:

In Hubble Space Telescope data, scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute have unintentionally detected six Saturn-sized objects that neither shine like stars nor orbit around stars like planets do.

The measurements are published in the June issue of the journal Nature. To Kailash Sahu and the other scientists that made the observations, they have found objects that by all definitions would be planet, if they would be orbiting stars.

Sahu said: "We explored every other possible explanation. We asked, maybe it’s a cosmic ray? Something wrong with the data processing, or the data itself?" Mark McCaughrean of Germany's Potsdam Astrophysical Institute rather names the objects "sub-brown dwarves" than "planets." The objects are 10 ten smallers than brown dwarves. The amazed STScI scientists recommend further investigation. The data was recorded every three days for four months starting in February 2001.

FRENCH AIR FORCE NEW RADAR WILL BE ABLE TO DETECT STEALTH AIRCRAFT:

French newspaper Le Figaro informs that a new type of radar based in Dreux and humorously refered to as "Nostradamus", a 3 branches star setup of metallic rods, will be able to detect stealth aircraft such as the B2 ou le F117.

This new radar systems emits on low frequencies and has a much longer range than traditionnal radar systems.

Nostradamus can detect anti-radar coated aircraft, since the special stealth paints are designed to confuse high frequencies traditionnal radar only. Moreover, it cannot be jammed at all.

A similar technology is known to exists already in Australia for example, but the french system is the only one to have a 360° range, thanks to its star-shaped design, and the only one to use the same antenna to emit and receive. This makes it a very precise detector.

Nostradamus will be tested until 2003, when the government will probably turn it into an operationnal device for the french army.

18TH MARTIAN METEORITE DISCOVERED:

Geologists Marc Hauser and Lorenz Moser of the University of Bern in Switzerland discovered an 18th meteorite originating from Mars on the coasts of the Sultanate of Oman. Named "Say Al Uhaymir 094" and thus receiving the reference "SaU-094", it has a size of a fist and weighs 223,3 grams. It is part of a batch of 180 meteorites collected during a campaign carried out in January and February in the Sultanate.

"This meteorite is of great scientific value because it will probably be the only material of this type entirely at the disposal of the scientific community in the next ten years", stated the Institute of Mineralogy and Petrography of the University of Bern.

The analysis of the meteorite has already started in the Bern University laboratories. Hauser said X-rays of the new rock had shown a surprising number of hollow pockets inside that might contain gases or atmosphere. That could offer clues about both the meteorite's history and Mars itself. The pockets have "a much greater potential" than the rest of the rock for containing evidence of life on Mars, Hauser said.

ESA TO SEEK FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE:

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced they are now planning a major search for extraterrestrial life.

The initial research targets will be Mars (I have told you about Mars, didn't I?), the Moon, Jupiter's moon Europa and a number of asteroids. Its Aurora programme will search for evidence of life on Mars and prepare for future human space exploration there. A mission to bring back samples from Mars will be one of the highest priorities.

The plan was announced at the first meeting of the European Exo and Astrobiology Network in Italy.

But if Aurora does become a full programme, the ESA will need up to $130 million (£90 million) a year to fund it.

"RED" PLANET "TO SPARK UFO SIGHTINGS":

Reports of UFO sightings are expected to rise over the next few weeks as the planet Mars passes close to the Earth, according to some astronomer promptly quoted by various mass media.

However, trained ufologists and serious scientists are generally considering themselves capable of differentiating a planet from a UFO. So if a glowing object lands in your garden, of if you track a very fast maneuvering object on your radar, they might avoid to serve you the old "planet Venus" or "planet Mars" explanation who has been very popular amidst the debunkers and skeptic scientists for more than 50 years now.

NASA HYPERSONIC RAMJET MODEL TEST FAILS:

NASA aborts the test flight of the X-43 hypersonic jet model designed to break the aircraft speed record after a booster rocket veers out of control.

Flying from seven to ten times the speed of sound, using air breathing scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the smaller, 12-foot-long X-43 is seen as a major leap forward in the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less expensive access to space by NASA.

UFO-skeptics often cite such alleged advanced planes as the explanation of UFO sightings. However, the X-43 for example is a remote controlled model, it is never flown over skies of foreign countries or cities, and it is not operational yet.

ITALIAN SCIENTISTS CLAIM THEY REVIVED ET BACTERIA:

An Italian team claims they revived bacteria within in an ancient meteorite. The Italian newspaper La Stampa reported that Bruno D'Argenio, Italian National Research Council, and Giuseppe Geraci of the University of Naples discovered "cryms" bacteria or cristallomicrobi, within the crystalline structure of space rocks found in several parts of the world.

Reuters reported that they held a press conference to the Italian Space Agency in Rome earlier this week. The researchers said the 2 billion years old bacteria resisted the extreme pressures and temperatures of entering Earth's atmosphere while inside the meteorite, and bear DNA chemistry identical to that of Earth-based life, reproduced normally and are sensitive to antibiotics. They indicate the cryms were found in several other Earth rocks, which could contradict the claim of extraterrestrial origins.

The finding would support not only the existence of life beyond Earth but panspermia, a theory that life came here from space, rather than emerging from a primordial soup on this planet.

NASA scientist Everett K. Gibson, who has himself been under constant attacks for ongoing work on Martian meteorites that can be interpreted as bearing signs of fossilized life, was quite skeptical of the Italian reports, noting they provided no detail on where the meteorites were found.

Gibson, a senior scientist at NASA's Johnson Space Center, was the co-leader of a group that announced evidence in 1996 that could be interpreted as ancient life in a Martian meteorite, which has been confirmed in 2001.

Gibson said of the Italian findings: "In this case there is not enough evidence that we see from the report to assume anything other than the characterization that it is similar to 50 terrestrial rocks. That strongly suggests that what they are seeing is something from a contaminant. It's extremely likely that [incoming meteorite] material will pick up contaminants from the Earth. These are terrestrial bacteria. So the burden of proof lies with the investigator to prove that what he has is truly indigenous from the sample he is studying."

NASA: HYPERSONIC PREPARATIONS BEGIN:

The first of three unpiloted X-43 vehicles in NASA's Hyper-X program will soon begin hypersonic flight from NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, CA.

Flying from seven to ten times the speed of sound, using air- breathing scramjet engines instead of traditional rocket power, the smaller, 12-foot-long X-43 could represent a major leap forward in the goal of providing faster, more reliable and less expensive access to space.

On Wednesday, April 18, at 1 p.m. EDT, NASA will conduct a press briefing from Dryden, featuring key program and project officials to outline plans for upcoming X-43 flights and the Hyper-X program. Reporters will be able to ask questions from participating NASA centers.

The press briefing will be carried on NASA Television, which is available on GE-2, transponder 9C, located at 85 degrees West longitude, with vertical polarization. Frequency will be on 3880 MHz, with audio on 6.8 MHz.

POPULAR MECHANICS ARTICLE, "WHEN UFOS LAND":

Science Editor Jim Wilson of Popular Mechanics Magazine has written another great article about UFOs. The cover page of Popular Mechanics headline reads: "WHEN UFOs LAND". It goes on to say on page 64, "Startling Physical Evidence They Can't Explain Away". Jim writes, "At long last, scientists have their hands on the proof skeptics say does not exist." In headlines it says, "Most professional scientists never bother to look at the evidence. Dogmatic dismissals are taken at face value." Jim has data on French government landings and samples of the Ubatuba debris.

It is a rare and very refreshing event to see a major magazine handle the UFO situation fairly. Here is this article.

DICK CHENEY RAISED AN EYEBROW:

VP Cheney was taken aback by the very first question posed to him" by a caller to Diane Rehm's national radio show. The caller asked Cheney whether the administration "has developed a policy on 'UFOs' and the little creatures flying them?

Raising an eyebrow, Cheney no doubt made the caller's day by replying that if he did attend such a meeting on UFOs, it most certainly would be 'classified,' and therefore he'd be unable to discuss it.

CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL STRUCTURES ON MARS:

Widely published astronomer, Dr. Thomas Van Flandern will take Q&A and present findings representing contributions by dozens of researchers, including physicists, geologists, engineers, and image processing specialists from several organizations.

The presentation materials will include photographic evidence from the NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, as well as independent photographic analysis. Several of these images have not previously been made public.

Other topics to be discussed include the following:

• The posture of NASA and its contractor, JPL, toward evidence of anomalous features.
• Difficulties in obtaining proper consideration from primary peer review journals.
• The urgent need for retargeting of the Mars Global Surveyor towards specific areas of high interest in connection with potential artifacts before the spacecraft runs out of maneuvering fuel later this year.

SEVERAL RESEARCHERS FINALLY ADMIT MARS LIFE ESCAPED DETECTION BY VIKING:

Several american scientists are now finally doubting analysis from Viking in 1977, at last admitting that Martian life might have escaped detection by one experiment. They think that million bacteria per gram of Martian soil sample would have been unnoticed. New instruments and experiences have been proposed. The important point is that one life detection experiment in Viking has detected life, and the result was rejected because of this other invalid experiment.

MEN ON EARTH SINCE 6 MILLION YEARS:

The remains of a new specie of hominid found in Kenya are believed to be 6 million years old, twice older than the famous skeleton named "Lucy". Since October 2000, 5 individuals have been found, chimpanzee sized, but upright walking.

SPY AGENCY ANNOUNCES THAT MARS POLAR LANDER IS FOUND AND INTACT:

When NASA announced in December 1999 that the Mars Polar Landed probably crashed on Mars, because of an inches/centimeters bug, some of us felt cheated, most of us felt disapointed.

Today, NIMA, a military imagery intelligence service, announced that the craft has been found, landed, probably intact since it stands on its three feet.

NIMA is a combat support agency of the Department of Defense, with advanced capacities of image analysis. They offered their support to NASA to track the Lander shortly after NASA announced its loss. NASA now says it is too early to conclude, whereas a photographic expert at NIMA said that the lander appears intact on the surface, sitting atop its trio of landing legs. NIMA engineers made this search in their spare time as a "fun project".

1ST EXTRASOLAR PLANETS SIMILAR TO EARTH DISCOVERED:

Laurance Doyle and his team working at the american SETI Institute have detected the trajectories of two solid planets just a little heavier than Earth. Both planets are orbiting the "habitable zone" of the binary star systen CM Draconis at 57 light years from our Sun.

BUDGET DROPPED TO NOTHING FOR HUMAN MARS EXPLORATION:

As a result of cost overruns in the Space Station program, NASA headquaters has issued an order to stop or eliminate all technology development projects supporting human Mars exploration. Among the programs killed are Bioplex, Transhab, In-Situ Resource Utilization, the VASIMIR advanced plasma propulsion system, and Crew Return Vehicle. Without these programs, the ground-work for a human mission to Mars will not be layed out anytime soon.

WATER DETECTED IN DEEP SPACE:

Paul Recer, Associated Press Science Writer in San Francisco, announces that vast waves of water vapor and clear traces of carbon molecules, which are key ingredients for life, have been found in the dust and gas around distant stars. The findings boost the theory that the cosmic stew of life is common in the universe.

Martin F. Kessler, a staff scientist for the European Space Agency (ESA) states: "It shows that complex carbon chemistry is not unique to Earth. We now see similar chemistry elsewhere in the universe."

It proves that the conditions that led to the formation of life and our solar system are present in lots of places. Inside gas clouds where new stars are forming, temperatures soar to several thousand degrees, setting off chemical reactions favoring production of water, and also cooler ice-covered grains of dust sticking together and forming increasingly larger objects, eventually becoming the building blocks of planets in a new solar system. The water then can release when these planets form and can collect into oceans and lakes, like it did on Earth.

NASA SCIENTISTS USE HANDS-OFF APPROACH TO LAND PASSENGER JET:

NASA Scientists outfitted a pilot with an armband implanted with eight electrodes. The sensors read muscle nerve signals as the pilot made the gestures needed to land a computer-generated aircraft at San Francisco International Airport in California. The pilot successfully demonstrated the ability to control the 757 passenger jet simulation, using only human muscle-nerve signals linked to a computer. The work was reported in the October 2000 proceedings of the World Automation Congress.

Check also the updates page if you want an overview of the addition to this site since your last visit.

The latest news are here.
The news for 2017 are archived here.
The news for 2016 are archived here.
The news for 2015 are archived here.
The news for 2014 are archived here.
The news for 2013 are archived here.
The news for 2012 are archived here.
The news for 2011 are archived here.
The news for 2010 are archived here.
The news for 2009 are archived here.
The news for 2008 are archived here.
The news for 2007 are archived here.
The news for 2006 are archived here.
The news for 2005 are archived here.
The news for 2004 are archived here.
The news for 2003 are archived here.
The news for 2002 are archived here.
The news for 2001 are archived here.
The news for 2000 are archived here.

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This page was last updated on June 7, 2018.