In memoriam, 2018

Let us remember those we lost in 2018:

Paul Allen, 65, American businessman and co-founder of Microsoft.

Stanley Anderson, 78, American actor who played the President in both "The Rock" and "Armageddon".

Kofi Annan, 80, Ghanaian diplomat, Secretary-General of the United Nations (1997–2006), Nobel Prize laureate (2001).

Captain Alan LaVern Bean, USN Ret., 86, American naval officer, naval aviator, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. The the fourth person to walk on the Moon.

Ken Berry, 85, American actor, "F Troop".

David Bischoff, 66, American novelist and television writer "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episodes "Tin Man" and "First Contact".

Steven Bochco, 74, 10-time Emmy winning American television producer and writer "Hill Street Blues", "L.A. Law", "NYPD Blue".

Anthony Bourdain, 61, Four time Emmy winning American chef, author and television host

Jim Bowen, 80, English television presenter and comedian, "Bullseye".

Peter Brace, 94, British actor and stuntman, "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Batman", "Highlander" and Peter Mayhew's stunt double in "Star Wars".

Staff Sgt. Russell Brown, USA Ret., 96, 82nd Airborne Division. Made every combat jump during World War II.

Barbara Bush, 92, American political matriarch, First Lady (1989–1993) and Second Lady (1981–1989).

President George H. W. Bush, 94, American politician, President (1989–1993), Vice President (1981–1989), Director of Central Intelligence (1976–1977).

Montserrat Caballé, 85, Spanish opera singer, "Barcelona" w. Freddie Mercury.

Joseph Campanella, 93, American actor "Mannix", "Silent Running", "Meteor".

Frank Carlucci, 87, American politician, Secretary of Defense (1987–1989), National Security Advisor (1986–1987).

Bunny Carr, 91, Irish television presenter (Quicksilver).

Debbie Lee Carrington, 58, American actress and stunt woman "Return of the Jedi", "Total Recall".

Reg E. Cathey, 59, Emmy winning American actor "House of Cards", "Luke Cage".

Colonel Joseph Gordon Clemons, Jr. USA Ret., 90, American soldier, subject of "Pork Chop Hill".

A1C Adrian Cronauer, USAF Ret., 79, American disc jockey, subject of "Good Morning, Vietnam".

L-R: Professor Stephen Hawking, Margot Kidder, John Mahoney

Steve Ditko, 90, American comic book writer and artist "Spider-Man", "Doctor Strange"
Sir Ken Dodd, 90, English comedian.
Rear Admiral Alene Duerk, USN Ret., 98, American Navy admiral, first female admiral in U.S.Navy.
John M. Dwyer, 83, Oscar/Emmy nominated American set decorator, "Star Trek", "Star Trek: The Next Generation" movies "Star Trek IV, V, Generations, First Contact, Insurrection" and "Nemesis".
Ssgt. (Hon GnySgt.) R. Lee Ermey, USMC Ret., 74, American drill  instructor and actor "Full Metal Jacket", "Toy Story"
Carlos Ezquerra, 70, Spanish comics artist,"Judge Dredd", "Strontium Dog"
Michael D. Ford, 90, Oscar winning English art director and set decorator "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "The Empire Strikes Back".
Miloš Forman, 86, Oscar winning Czech-American film director, "Amadeus".
Gary Friedrich, 75, American comic book writer, "Captain Marvel", "Iron Man" #45–46, co-creator of "Ghost Rider".
Aretha Franklin, 76, 18 time Grammy winning American Hall of Fame singer, "Respect"
William Goldman, 87, Oscar winning American author "The Princess Bride" and screenwriter "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid".
Leslie "Dirty Den" Grantham, 71, English actor "EastEnders" and convicted murderer.
Korvettenkapitän Reinhard Hardegen, 105, German U-boat commander (Battle of the Atlantic).
Stephen Hawking, 76, English theoretical physicist, professor (University of Cambridge) and writer "A Brief History of Time".
Brig. Gen. Anna Mae Hays, USA Ret., 97, American military officer and nurse, first female U.S. General.

L-R: Derrick O'Connor, Tim O'Connor, David Ogden Stiers

Tom Jago, 93, British liquor executive and distiller, creator of Baileys Irish Cream.

Jóhann Jóhannsson, 48, Icelandic film composer, "Arrival".

Mickey Jones, 76, American drummer and actor.

Ingvar Kamprad, 91, Swedish retail furniture-home design executive and philanthropist, founder of IKEA.

Gloria Katz, 76, American screenwriter and film producer, "American Graffiti", "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom", "Best Defense".

Margot Kidder, 69, Canadian-American actress, "Superman"

Richard H. Kline, 91, American cinematographer, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture".

Sonny Knowles, 86, Irish singer.

Charles Krauthammer, 68, Pulitzer Prize winning American political commentator (Fox News) and writer (The Washington Post).

Gary Kurtz, 78, American film producer, "American Graffiti", "Star Wars".

Stan Lee, 95, American comic book writer and publisher (Marvel Comics).

Sondra Locke, 74, American actress, "The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Sudden Impact".

John Mahoney, 77, English-American actor, "Frasier".

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 81, South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, MP.

Al Matthews, 75, American actor, "Sgt. Apone" in "Aliens".

Bill Maynard, 89, English actor

Sen. John McCain, 81, American politician and Navy officer, member of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.

Chuck McCann, 83, American voice actor, "G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero", "Iron Man".

Capt. Ernest Medina, USA Ret., 81, American army officer, commander of unit responsible for the My Lai Massacre.

Donald Moffat, 87, British-born American actor, "The Thing", "Clear and Present Danger", "License to Kill".

Derrick O'Connor, 77, Irish actor, "Lethal Weapon 2", "Daredevil".

Tim O'Connor, 90, American actor, "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century"

William O'Connor, 47, American artist, "Dungeons & Dragons", "Magic: The Gathering".

David Ogden Stiers, 75, American actor "M*A*S*H".

L-R: Soon-Tek Oh, Donnelly Rhodes, John Young

Soon-Tek Oh, 85, South Korean-American actor, "The Man with the Golden Gun", "Missing in Action 2", "Death Wish 4", "The Muta-Do" in "Babylon 5".

Dolores O'Riordan, 46, Irish singer and guitarist, "The Cranberries".

Richard Arvin Overton, 112, American super-centenarian, oldest living World War II veteran in U.S.

Roger Perry, 85, American actor "Star Trek" episode "Tomorrow Is Yesterday" as "Captain John Christopher".

Burt Reynolds, 82, Emmy winning American actor, "Smokey and the Bandit", "Boogie Nights".

Donnelly Rhodes, 80, Canadian actor, ""Doc" Cottle" in "Battlestar Galactica (2004)".

Robert Scheerer, 89, Emmy nominated American director, "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager".

Frank Serafine, 65, American sound designer and editor, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture", "Tron", "The Hunt for Red October".

Marie Severin, 89, American Hall of Fame comic book artist, "Iron Man"#82–83, 85 (inker), #108 (colorist), G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" #28 (penciller), co-creator of Spider-Woman.

Jon Paul Steuer, 33, American actor "Alexander" in "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "Reunion".

Dudley Sutton, 85, British actor, "Lovejoy".

Verne Troyer, 49, American actor, "Austin Powers".

Dame June Whitfield, 93, English actress, "Terry and June".

Scott Wilson, 76, American actor, "The Walking Dead".

Celeste Yarnall, 74, American actress, "Yeoman Martha Landon" in the "Star Trek" episode "The Apple".

Capt John Young, USN Ret. 87, American astronaut (Apollo 16, STS-1).

May they rest in peace.

Did SPEARHEAD silence more "Alien life" announcements?

"NASA: 'Mankind is about to discover extraterrestrial life,'" said a recent Guy Fawkes mask-wearing Anonymous spokesman in a recent video that was widely circulated since last week.

The revelations were (to Anonymous) inferred from comments made by NASA science chief Thomas Zurbuchen during a testimony he gave back in April to the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

"Contrary to some reports, there's no pending announcement from NASA regarding extraterrestrial life," Zurbuchen said via Twitter, yesterday and later: "Are we alone in the universe? While we do not know yet, we have missions moving forward that may help answer that fundamental question."

During the original testimony Zurbuchen detailed progress NASA is making in the hunt for life in the cosmos, citing exoplanets spotted by the Kepler telescope, the discovery of hydrogen on Enceladus, and the possible detection of water-vapor on Europa. He said (NASA) "are on the verge of making one of the most profound, unprecedented discoveries in history," and Anonymous brought that to it's 2+2=5 conclusion.

Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander - Intelligence and Information said that his organisation wasn't worried about the discovery of "Namby pamby microbiological thingies in water on moons orbiting distant planets" but only about "the panic caused by individuals or organisations attempting to communicate with sentient extra-terrestrials". The General denied assertions that SPEARHEAD had Dr. Zurbuchen change his stance and issue the statements that made his original testimony appear less consequential.

Source: Space.com, The Economic Times,

SPEARHEAD shuts down NASA's reveal

NASA published a somewhat cryptic message, Tuesday, stating that there is “surprising activity” on Europa – the most well known of Jupiter’s 67 moons and it will be holding a teleconference at 14:00 EDT, 19:00 BST Monday, Sept. 26, to present new findings from images captured by the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope of the icy moon.

NASA has been analysing data from its Hubble Space Telescope which is currently prowling the universe and astronomers will present results from a unique Europa observing campaign that resulted in surprising evidence of activity there and it was widely reported that the existence of extra-terrestrial life would be revealed next Monday.

However after a meeting Wednesday morning between the NASA Director Charles Bolden [MajGen USMC Ret.] and Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon of SPEARHEAD, NASA were quick to tweet: "Monday, we'll announce new findings from Jupiter's moon Europa. Spoiler alert: NOT aliens." 

So it appears SPEARHEAD has silenced NASA's true reasoning for the teleconference and will reduce them instead to discussing subsurface ocean microbes. Europa's ocean is believed to be salty, and warmed by powerful tidal forces generated by Jupiter's gravity so that it remains unfrozen. Most scientists agree that where there is water, it massively increases the chances of finding life.

Source: NASA

SPEARHEAD denounces Alien Crab and Dark Lady

"Time wasting science-fiction nerd and tinfoil-hat conspiracy-theory nonsense" is what Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information denounced the latest claims from the "lunatic fringe of Internet trawlers".

The General was describing new claims that have surfaced online concerning the latest Mars Curiosity photos which show a 'Space Crab' or 'Alien Face-Hugger' crawling out of a crevice and another shows a 'Dark Clothed woman' standing on a perch looking out over the sea of sand on the red planet.

The Dark Woman, whom some have even claimed is holding a weapon!

The Director of the SETI research centre Seth Shostak puts these claims down to cases of pareidolia, a form of apophenia, which is when people see patterns in random stimuli like faces in clouds. "Recognising a crab in a landscape filled with wind-weathered rocks is no more surprising - nor more significant - than seeing a winking face in a semi-colon followed by a parenthesis. ;)" he said.

It's coming to get you!!!

Scott C Waring, editor of UFO Sightings Daily, said: "It may be a crab-like animal, or it also may be a plant. "It really doesn't matter. The significance of this is that it shows signs that it is alive." 

"If you stare at my face long enough you'll probably believe I'm some kind of godamn alien freak too" added General Creedon diplomatically in a telephone interview. "We don't have time for this, these nutballs see all sorts of crazy shit in the photos, eggs, squrrels, numbers, pyramids and my personal favourite 'fake sand' - yes you heard me - a claim that someone put fake sand on Mars" before he hung up.

Source: NASA, The Daily Mail

SPEARHEAD furious over Hawking's "180" on alien contact

The Commander of SPEARHEAD addressed the UN Security Council on Friday in condemnation of the recent declarations of Russian tech entrepreneur Yuri Milner and Professor Stephen Hawking to fund "Breakthrough" a new $100 million initiative looking for signs of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Hawking revealed his worry that any aliens advanced enough to contact earth would be “looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they could reach” in May 2010 and reported here but now seems to have done an about face at last to some extent. Hawking is still sure that “A civilisation reading one of our messages could be billions of years ahead of us. If so, they will be vastly more powerful, and may not see us as any more valuable than we see bacteria.” but insists that despite the disastrous consequences: “We are alive. We are intelligent. We must know.”

Breakthrough Listen will provide funding explicitly for the search for extraterrestrial life, scanning the million stars closes to Earth and portions of 100 neighbouring galaxies. Breakthrough Message, will host a competition in which anyone can submit ideas for potential interplanetary messages.

Lieutenant General "Stomper" Santorno who has commanded SPEARHEAD since 2012 said the new initiative was "beyond reckless" and measures should be put into place to prevent private citizens from funding "irresponsible space-projects that could invite disaster on a global scale".

Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information delivered a report on his current progress with Operation: First Strike revealed in December 2011. Originally then-Colonel Creedon had outlined the threat posed by Kepler-22b, the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life and had formulated a preemptive strike against this new potential enemy.

"There is no longer an immediate perceived threat from Kepler-22b," admitted the General. "Only because of the more imminent potential threat from Kepler 452b which NASA has warned is the most Earth-like alien planet yet discovered," he added.

NASA's Kepler telescope has spotted Kepler-452b 1,400 light-years away, and is the only planet known in its solar system. Researches said it's 60% wider than Earth, which gives it a "better than even" chance of being rocky, and likely possesses a thick atmosphere, lots of water and active volcanoes. "It would feel a lot like home, from the standpoint of the sunshine that you would experience," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

General Creedon reportedly requested $14bn in funding for Operation: First Strike II against Kepler-452b.

Laser satellites on the way

The recent destruction of the U.S. Air Force's 20-year-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 13 and the resulting cloud of space debris adding to an already dangerous amount of clutter traveling at high speeds in orbit of the planet has brought to light a plan by Japanese researchers to fit a laser to the ISS.

The Extreme Universe Space Observatory (EUSO) telescope, originally designed to detect cosmic rays, could be put to use for a more 'useful' project. The EUSO which is scheduled to be installed on Japan's module on the ISS in 2017, could help the orbiting complex detect dangerous debris. Researchers say that a powerful laser under development could then help shoot down this space garbage.

Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, an astrophysicist and chief scientist at the RIKEN (Rikagaku Kenkyūsho) Computational Astrophysics Laboratory in Wako, Japan, and his team reasoned that the EUSO's wide range of view and powerful optics could also help it detect high-speed debris near the ISS. Then a Coherent Amplification Network (CAN) laser could then blast the debris. The CAN laser consists of many small lasers working together to generate a single powerful beam and is currently under development to drive particles at high speeds in atom smashers. The laser would vaporize a thin film of matter off the surface of debris and the resulting high-speed plasma would act like a rocket plume, nudging the junk downward to eventually burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

A full-scale version of the system would be armed with a 100 kilowatt ultraviolet CAN laser that can fire 10,000 pulses per second, each lasting one-tenth of one-billionth of a second. The researchers say this system could blast debris from a range of about 60 miles (100 kilometers), and the laser would need about 17 lbs. (8 kilograms) of lithium-ion batteries.

A proof-of-concept version of the system is first intended to be deployed, consisting of a miniature version of EUSO and a prototype 10-watt ultraviolet CAN laser firing 100 pulses per second. A RIKEN spokesman noted that the mini-EUSO telescope has been accepted as a project on the ISS and could perhaps go up in 2017 or 2018, but the laser system is still a concept that has not been built.

Simulation of Earth's orbiting space junk - NASA

If the concept and full versions are successful, the researchers suggest developing a satellite devoted solely to blasting space debris. They suggest the satellite should assume an orbit that takes it over both of Earth's poles, allowing it to shoot down debris all over the planet, and be armed with a 500 kilowatt ultraviolet CAN laser that can fire 50,000 pulses per second. They estimate it could blast one piece of debris every five minutes, or 100,000 pieces of space junk each year.

"The biggest obstacle is funding," Ebisuzaki said. "There are some technical challenges, of course, but the main issue is getting funding for development and launch."

It was noted that Major General "Jäger" Brandt, SPEARHEAD Deputy Commander for Security and Surveillance and Brigadier General "Whopper" Creedon, SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information both visited RIKEN recently, fueling online conspiracy rumours that SPEARHEAD had deliberately destroyed DMSP-13 in an effort to fast-track extra funding for the Japanese project. Neither RIKEN or SPEARHEAD have answered questions on the issue.

Sources: Space.com

SPEARHEAD and NASA unconcerned for now

During an emergency UNSC meeting on the Crimean crisis yesterday a question was raised concerning SPEARHEAD's ability to secure the planet should there be conflict between the superpowers.

The commander of SPEARHEAD U.S. Army Lieutenant General "Stomper" Santorno, said that both he and his senior flag and general officers including those from the Russian Federation "serve a higher cause than any one nation and are responsible for the planet first and our flags second". He explained that while the operating forces of SPEARHEAD are commissioned, instructed, trained and fielded by the worlds military and security forces as well as drawn from the medical and scientific community of many nations their oaths are superseded by the needs of Earth as a whole.

General Santorno's sentiment was echoed by Russian Air Force Lieutenant General "Voran" Kerimov, SPEARHEAD Deputy Commander for Operations/ Deputy Chief of Staff who addressed the council as the most senior Russian Federation officer assigned to SPEARHEAD. He said that any officer or or serviceman who does not commit his life to the security of Earth would be summarily dismissed from the organisation after a short but effective course of brainwashing.

While SPEARHEAD may find it easy to close ranks, the media became concerned about the joint Russian-U.S. space program. Currently a U.S. astronaut and two cosmonauts, one whom is from Crimea, are scheduled to touch down on Russian soil next Monday after months aboard the ISS. "Everything is nominal right now in our relationship with the Russians," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

Since the retirement of space shuttle program, the U.S. relies entirely on Russia for human transport to and from the ISS, paying $70 million for every astronaut. U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said in a statement on Tuesday that the U.S. needs to back away from the arrangement with Russia's space program and paying them to "hitch a ride to space". He wants NASA to develop it's own delivery vessel and once again lead the world into space. "Leadership in space exploration is a goal worthy of a great nation."

Former astronaut Tom Jones says that NASA is intent on keeping ISS missions from becoming a political football. He points to the Apollo/Soyuz missions of the mid-70s, during the height of the Cold War, as evidence that the two countries cooperated in a spirit of detente and said the two space partners are more inter-dependent than ever now. "What they lack for example, is all the control software that we use to point, manoeuvre and control the space station," Jones says. "So, they would not be wise to deny us access, because they would be denying themselves access to all the utilities and supplies they need for the space station."

Source: FOX News

SPEARHEAD: "No unidentified craft or structure on moon"

SPEARHEAD today denied what it called “ridiculous” reports of an enormous spacecraft, or structure apparently lodged in the surface of Earth’s moon.

Reports emerged last week that a large object of unknown origin was visually verified as having landed or was constructed on the moon. The reports claim that as a result, three Terrier-Orion rockets were launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility last Wednesday on undisclosed missions for the DoD.

Apparently they believe that in 2011, NASA began tracking what a source described as “an array of massive, three-dimensional, black structures in space, in straight-line formation, advancing in direction of planet earth” and in 2012 the source [identified only by an assumed name “Dr. Eric Norton”] was shown photographs of them taken over several months. As the objects got closer, Norton confirmed that "They were shaped in the best way I can describe, as a three-dimensional L-shaped craft."

It was reported that once the objects had reached a point 200,000km beyond Mars in January 2013, they vanished, but their assumed trajectory brought them in close proximity, or direct contact with the moon. It is said that in response, the U.S. launched a previously Obama-cancelled project LADEE [Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer] in September to supplement NASA's existing Lunar Reconnaissance Orbital Camera [LROC] to assist in locating and photographing the objects and “by December, 2013, both LADEE and the LROC found at least one of the two enormous objects had landed on the moon, in a crater the size of the City of Chicago.”

No source was specified, but it was reported that LROCs high resolution images were classified by the U.S. government, however it’s low-resolution photos were “accidentally” uploaded to Google Moon, a Google Earth-type application that plots the lunar surface, and of course the objects were seen by members of the public – revealing the incredible secret!

SPEARHEAD responded to the media reports at a press conference where the SPEARHEAD Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Information himself, Brigadier General “Whopper” Creedon in his first full press conference since assuming the post in November, was quick to rubbish the claims of the media reports. The General described the media as obviously having a “slow news day” where they were behaving “like barnacles” latching onto the totally refutable claims  of “some irresponsible quack, who is obviously high on drugs” in reference to Dr. Norton and that they should adopt a more stringent policy when vetting sources.

The General issued concrete assurance that there was no unidentified spacecraft or structures on the moon and that the people who are looking at the photos have equal judgement to the “bunch of time-wasting freaks who saw rats and lizards” in the recent photographs of the Martian surface. Responding to questions, Creedon also stated that many NASA projects had received special funding from "elsewhere" to proceed as planned and the DoD frequently launches craft at a moments notice for secret surveillance purposes and to increase drone range across the planet. "There's nothing to be concerned about," he assured.

According to SPEARHEAD's senior scientist Dr. "Quantum" Pataal, who assisted Creedon "there are several far more rational explanations for the moon photo anomaly including but not limited to: space debris passing by, tricks of light, meteorite impacts or the more likely scenario which is simply stitching artifacts from applying hundreds of square images onto a three dimensional spherical object". The latter phenomenon is often seen in Google Earth itself and is common in modern 3D video games.

Unfortunately, General Creedon's press conference was cut short by what appeared to be an emergency as his aide-de-camp handed him a cellphone. Nearby microphones picked up him saying: "Jade Rabbit is dead?.... How?.... It found WHAT?..... Dear God!"

Source: Turner Radio Network / Space.com / The Daily Mail / The New York Daily News / Mr. V

Protect the Earth? Not with this budget!

"If it's coming in three weeks, pray. I can't do anything in 

the next three weeks because for decades we've put it off.”

The word “can’t” is not a word you’ll commonly find in a Marine’s lexicon especially when reporting to his superiors; so you can imagine the frustration that burned inside NASA director Charles Bolden [below] when congress asked what his agency is doing about the threat of near-Earth asteroids. Florida’s Republican Rep. Bill Posey, had asked the former USMC general what NASA would do if a large asteroid headed on a collision course with Earth was discovered today with only three weeks before impact.

Experts have stressed that February 15th’s meteor strike in Russia's Ural Mountains and the unrelated close asteroid 2012 DA14 flyby on the same day were a coincidence and that the chance of a catastrophic asteroid impact to Earth any time soon is remote. Nevertheless, members of Congress asked NASA, The White House, Air Force officials and even UNETIDA what they're doing to combat the threat of near-Earth asteroids during a hearing on Capitol Hill.

"The odds of a near-Earth object strike causing massive causalities and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large that it makes sense to take the risk seriously," John Holdren, science advisor to President Barack Obama, told the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives. Texas’ Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, committee chairman, said that it was "not reassuring" to learn that NASA has so far detected only about 10 percent of the near-Earth objects that are wider than 87 miles across. Holdren estimated that there may be hundreds of thousands of such objects within one-third the distance from Earth to the sun that remain unknown.

In 2005, Congress directed NASA to detect, track and characterize 90% of these space rocks. Bolden said today that NASA was unlikely to meet that deadline given its current budget and that if current budgetary levels were maintained then that number would not be met until 2030. He criticized the lawmakers for limiting NASA’s abilities with budget cuts. "You all told us to do something, and between the administration and the Congress, the bottom line is the funding did not come," Bolden said. Furthermore, he said the goal of finding a way to respond to asteroid threats has been repeatedly put off by lawmakers who cite a lack of money.

Those same budget concerns also hamstring the militarys mandate to monitor near-Earth objects and other space threats, such as orbital debris. Gen. William Shelton, commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command, told the committee that under sequestration they are even less capable than before. He added that any further budget cuts could have dire consequences. "Our dependence on space, not only for our way of life but also for military operations, is very high, so we would sacrifice that."

Lieutenant General “Stomper” Santorno, Director of UNETIDA/UNPASID said that budget cuts by the US and other previously generous nations internationally have “slowly castrated” the emergency protective and defensive service that UNETIDA provided in space. He said that as the United States, once the international leaders in space technology, were now seen as to not be taking the threats from space seriously, it has led other countries to follow suit and divert funding elsewhere. In an outburst before storming out of the meeting Santorno slammed his fist on the table yelling “Asteroids won’t kill us all, our governments will!”

Source: Fox News

EARTH 2 Located! Threat Imminent!

NASA concept artist's impression of Keplar 22b

Defying UNETIDA suggestions, NASA have revealed the discovery of the first ever planet in a habitable zone outside our solar system.

While earlier this year astronomers "confirmed" the first rocky exoplanet to meet key requirements for sustaining life was Kepler-22b, initially glimpsed in 2009, their findings were much dismissed as those astronomers were actually french, and therefore cretins. However now that the US space agency has confirmed the planet, it can be taken as being fact and is emerging in news stories across the globe.

Confirmation means that astronomers have seen it crossing in front of its star three times and that the conditions are right for our form of life and not that they know life actually exists there. It has the right distance from its star to support water, plus a suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life as we know it. "We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler-22b," said Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center. "We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface, it ought to have a nice temperature," he told reporters.

"If we can see their planet, then we have to assume they can see ours" declared Colonel "Whopper" Creedon, Acting Director of Intelligence for UNETIDA. "It's naive to believe that they have the same level of technology we have and that somehow being 600 light years away is the same kind of insurmountable obstacle that it is to us presently."

Colonel "Whopper" Creedon during his briefing to the UNSC

The Colonel outlined his "first strike" strategy at a meeting of the UN Security Council this afternoon. Present were representatives of world military research agencies who are now drawing up plans to both conceive of a payload effective against a rocky, gaseous or liquid planet [as Kepler-22b's composition is unknown] and a method of delivering it as quickly as possible.

In the meantime NASA also announced that Kepler has uncovered  more than a thousand other potential target... er planets, twice the number it previously had been tracking, according to research being presented at a conference in California this week.

Read more here

When Space-Junk Attacks!!!

The Russians, Americans and Japanese personnel on the ISS had a narrow escape Tuesday when a piece of debris came within 335m of the platform.

While debris' size is unknown, experts suggest even a small object could do considerable damage to the ISS because they travel at many thousands of kilometres per hour. NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, said it was the closest a debris object had ever come to the station.

The Russian space agency instructed the ISS crew to take their evacuation places aboard the Soyuz capsules which are normally used to ferry crew to and from the platform, but enough of them are present on a permanent basis so they can be used as lifeboats if an emergency arises. Normally, the station uses thrusters to move out of the way of junk, but this alert was raised too late to do so.

Scientists estimate that there are hundreds of thousands of junk fragments in space of up to 10cm (four inches) in size, but there are many millions more pieces that are smaller.

Colonel “Stargazer” Smith, Orbital Operations Commander of UNETIDA has suggested the debris may be listed as "unidentified" in NASA's orbital debris, junk and hazards database if it is parts of the extra terrestrial spacecraft the UN agency secretly destroyed in 2004, but made no official confirmation.

Source: BBC

The Colonel's Bullets - January 4th 2011

NASA and Science and Entertainment Exchange have drafted a list of the least plausible science fiction movies ever made. Roland Emmerich's nonsensical movie 2012 which depicted the end of [most of] the world, featured ahead of two more apocalyptic movies - The Core and Armageddon.

Donald Yeomans, head of the Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, says "It's absurd. The film-makers took advantage of public worries about the so-called end of the world as apparently predicted by the Mayans. The agency is getting so many questions from people terrified that the world is going to end in 2012 that we have had to put up a special website to challenge the myths. We have never had to do this before." NASA and the SEE also compiled a list of the top 10 most realistic sci-fi films, with Gattaca, Jurassic Park even Contact among the most "realistic" sci-fi films.

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I regret to announce the death of Pete Postlethwaite OBE, one of England's more prolific contemporary actors. Among his numerous roles were Split Second, Alien 3, The Last Of The Mohicans, The Usual Suspects, Dragonheart, Æon Flux and Soloman Kane. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Giuseppe Conlon in In The Name Of The Father. In the past year, while battling cancer he appeared in Clash of the Titans, Inception and The Town.
Steven Spielberg called Postlethwaite "the best actor in the world" after working with him on The Lost World: Jurassic Park, to which Postlethwaite quipped: "I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, 'The thing about Pete is that he thinks he's the best actor in the world.'" May he rest in peace.

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According to the Executive Vice-President of IMAX David Keighley; Chris Nolan has had 4 or 5 meetings already with IMAX about The Dark Knight Rises. Bit depth improvements are being worked on so it will look more film like (when they project digitally). For The Dark Knight Rises they are trying to get more than 1,000 shades of color as film has over 4,000 shades of color and there will be a greater portion of The Dark Knight Rises in IMAX than there was in The Dark Knight.

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Avatar was unsurprisingly the most pirated movie of 2010 with over 16.5m downloads according to Torrentfreak. A remarkable increase of 33% over Star Trek, the most pirated movie of the previous year. 20th Century Fox isn't crying all that much as Avatar grossed almost $2.8Bn at the worldwide box office. Read the full report here.

Sources: WENN / Collider / Hollywood Reporter

Military Spaceplane coming to an orbit near you!

The United States Air Force's secretive X-37B robotic space plane blasted off from Florida yesterday ushering in a new era in space technology. The unmanned military Orbital Test Vehicle 1 (OTV-1) lifted off atop an Atlas 5 rocket on a mission that is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies.

The X-37B is a reusable robotic space plane built by Boeing Phantom Works. Its mission is being carried out under the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office with participation by NASA. Key objectives of the space plane's first flight include demonstration and validation of guidance, navigation and control systems – including an autonomous re-entry and landing at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base with neighboring Edwards Air Force Base as a backup.

The X-37B is the first vehicle since NASA's space shuttles with the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis, Air Force officials said. Thursday's launch capped a long road to orbit for the spacecraft. NASA initially began the project in 1999 and later transferred it to the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) in 2004 due to a lack of funding. The Air Force stepped in 2006 to take over the project.

UNETIDA's involvement with the project was not so publicised, leading to speculation that the global organisation would commandeer the project to deploy orbital weapons platforms. Colonel "Whopper" Creedon flew to mission control to personally oversee the launch. When questioned about UNETIDA's involvement with the craft; Creedon responded candidly "We had to be sure that the US continues launching stuff into space" he said "People will go up with the Ruskies from next year yes, but the US will have technical superiority in Orbit, not that there's competition of course. Our assistance was insignificant." Creedon was asked if the X-37B was bringing USAF or even UNETIDA laser satellites into space but he denied knowledge, "Oh no, this is a test flight, it has only equipment for monitoring itself and testing," he said.

This contradicts a press conference given by Gary Payton, Air Force deputy under secretary for space programs. "There's enough payload room, he added as example, to house a couple of small satellites in the range of a few hundred kilograms each," he said."Truthfully, I don't know how this could be called 'weaponization' of space," Payton said. "Fundamentally, it's an updated version of the space shuttle kind of activities in space," he added, a new vehicle that could potentially help the Air Force do its space missions better."

The Air Force has already ordered a second X-37B, presumably the Orbital Test Vehicle 2, which is slated to launch in 2011. But that mission, and any new flights of this first vehicle, hinge on the performance during orbital and landing maneuvers, Air Force officials have said.

Read more here.

Source: Fox News /BBC News

Did you think evil corporations in space would be Science Fiction forever?

In outlining new space priorities in the 2011 budget, President Barack Obama proposed a halt to NASA's ambition to return to the Moon - a goal set by former President George W. Bush - and set in motion the biggest fundamental change in space exploration in the past 50 years. Charles Bolden, NASA's administrator, a former astronaut and USMC Major General yesterday promised that this does not mean that the US is abandoning it's space ambitions.

The Constellation program, the heart of the push to the Moon envisioned to replace the space shuttle, has run over budget by almost $7 billion and is several years behind schedule. The White House said it wanted to ground Constellation because it was too costly, used outdated technology, and would not be ready to ferry humans to the moon before 2028.

The success of the Ares 1-X rocket in October last was overshadowed by the release of the Augustine Human Space Flight Review Committee's report. It recommended sweeping changes to the way NASA managed its human spaceflight program, claiming that it was "on an unsustainable trajectory." They estimated that the Constellation program would cost more than $100 billion and miss the 2020 Moon deadline by at least 10 years. In the midst of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, continuing the program may not be seen as the best option but it's cancellation will certainly mark the end of an era in US space exploration.

This year will be the last for the space shuttles - of which only three remain. NASA will significantly slim down it's astronaut corps too as from next year US astronauts will spend the next five to 10 years hitching a ride on Russia's also ageing Soyuz spacecraft. [Why can I see a hilarious comedy movie starring Jack Black and Peter Stormare quite clearly as I write that?]

In the meantime, it's envisioned that NASA will team up with private enterprise, to support and encourage them to develop the spacecraft of the 21st century. "One way to renew NASA and have it play a key role in innovation as well as manned space flight is to get the private sector fully on board," Bolden stressed. No longer will NASA dictate what is to be built and how. If NASA personnel fly on planes built by private industry, drive cars built by private industry and use computers built by private industry; Why can't astronauts climb on board spacecraft designed and built by such private industry?

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, built by Scaled Composites, is expected to carry paying passengers on sub-orbital flights this year but falls a long way short of getting to low Earth orbit. SpaceX, which in 2009 successfully launched Falcon 1 into space but it's still a long way from carrying one, not a mind three, astronauts into space. Bolden has already announced he's giving $50m in grants to private companies like Sierra Nevada.

It's not as if these changes are just being unanimously accepted. Lockheed Martin expressed major disappointment but the industries that have relied on NASA and the space shuttle for the past 30 years could completely fail under the new proposals adding a significant amount to total joblessness in the US and the suffering of tourism to Florida's space coast. US Congresswomen and Senators from Texas, Alabama and Florida - the three states most reliant on NASA's human space flight program - have all voiced their opposition to Obama's proposed policy, vowing to block it. Democratic and Republican senators as well as Bolden's predecessor Michael Griffin, have criticized dropping Constellation saying it would spell an end to US leadership in space.

UNETIDA Special Operations Commander, Colonel "Whopper" Creedon speaking from an undisclosed middle-eastern location where he is conducting "training exercises" also expressed disappointment at the proposals. "I'm fearful that these changes are going to have a detrimental effect on the future of some of UNETIDA's more ambitious lunar initiatives like The SON Project" he said. "The only viable alternative that is being touted is private industry and the problem with dealing with that is that you're more often than not, dealing with stupid civilians with no military experience. These guys are out for number one and hardly put the safety and security of the planet first."

Some analysts suggest UNETIDA's future may in fact be far worse then Creedon suggests. "Obama's proposals to hamstring the space program, coupled with the recent much publicised British MOD move which closed it's UFO Investigations Unit at RAF Command, Buckinghamshire after 60 years does not bode well for the future of the international UN administrated entity," said a source speaking on condition of anonymity. "It's as if the imminent destruction of our entire planet by alien aggressors is being ignored in favour of saving money for jobs, education, health and the environment. Well I ask you: What good is having your health, being educated, having a job and breathing clean air today when you could be a Grattaliaan sex-slave tomorrow? Write to your congressman and prevent a travesty of epic proportions from coming to fruition."

Source: ABC, AFP, NASA, Fox News

Could astronauts fly TIE Fighters to Mars?

A joint NASA/Canadian venture - a new ion engine, raises the revolutionary possibility that a manned trip to Mars could take less than 90 days instead of two years.

Ion propulsion, previously theorised only in the realm of science fiction since the '60's Star Trek series and well known propultion system of the imperial TIE [Twin Ion Engine] Fighter from Star Wars. But now mankind itself is close to the point where it could be tested on a flight to the moon, according to a veteran Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

“This engine is ... going to be tested on the ISS, launched about 2013,” Hadfield said. “It turns electrical power into thrust so that we can use solar energy to power a spaceship."

Theoretically a craft powered by this engine would take 40 days to reach Mars, compared to six months by conventional rocket power. As Mars and Earth only pass close together every two years, scientists assume a crew could travel one way, wait a year, then fly back the next time the planets were close together. The engine would accelerate a spaceship until it's halfway to Mars, producing a tiny stream of argon gas that it fires out the rear of the spacecraft. Then it turns the engine around and decelerates until reaching Mars.

Read all about it here.

Source: Canada.com / Astrarocket.com / Eamo

UNETIDA test weapons on Moon

Today's news will document NASA's successful deployment of their LCROSS mission which blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a missile that blasted "a hole in the lunar surface at twice the speed of a bullet." The story mentions that a Centaur rocket, was steered by a shepherding spacecraft that guided it towards its target - Cabeus - a crater close to the Moon's south pole.

Scientists expected the blast to be so powerful that a huge plume of debris would be ejected and believe ice could be trapped in crater shadows near the south pole which never receive any sunlight. If so it could provide vital supplies for a manned moonbase.

In reality this scientific NASA mission to prove there's water on the Moon is a cover story, and the real mission is specialist weapons testing being undertaken by UNETIDA. The mission was really a test flight of the Apocaylator One spacecraft which launched the KX-20, a new precision targeting warhead deemed capable of eliminating alien motherships, at the Moon just some 30 minutes ago.

"We call it the Muthafucker," said Colonel "Whopper" Creedon of UNETIDA, monitoring the event from Speciual Operations Bunker 14 today. "...well I call it the Muthafucker because of what's it's eventually supposed to do; blow some goddamn alien mothership out of our sky. General Jackson has some nerdy name for it, the K-20 or something but I prefer to name things that strike raw naked fear into the hearts of our enemies... ...if they have hearts that is."

Colonel Creedon watching something going "boom" on the Moon today.

Man Walks On Moon!!!

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."
- President John F. Kennedy, Rice University, Houston, Texas, 12 September 1962.

Today three men were honoured, 3 men that changed our world forever and travelled man's most incredible journey and undertook one of our greatest achievements, the moon landing. They are Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins.

Today, hailing the Apollo 11 astronauts as "three American heroes," President Barack Obama said exploration spurs ingenuity and inspires students in math and science. The President commemorated the day 40 years ago when man took his first steps on the moon. He said that that Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins were the touchstone for excellence in exploration that inspired the scientists of today.

Astronauts attending the ceremony at the White House, including others from Apollo missions, made a pitch for a mission to Mars. Yesterday at the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Aldrin and Collins, expressed concerns about NASA getting bogged down on the moon. Aldrin said the best way to honor the Apollo astronauts "is to follow in our footsteps; to boldly go again on a new mission of exploration. Four decades have passed since Neil, Mike and I passed across the blackness of space to win a race," he said. "This time, instead of a moon race, we can try to make the moon a true stepping stone to more exciting and habitable destinations ... If we persevere, we can reach Mars itself before 2035."

NASA will burn in Hell

The American public voted overwhelmingly in favour of designating the latest International Space Station node after the highly esteemed Sir Dr. Stephen T. Colbert D.F.A., whose name beat one of NASA’s own suggestions of Serenity [even after which misguided Joss Whedon fans attempted to inflate] in an online poll. NASA however, announced on Tuesday’s The Colbert Report that they in fact would not be naming the new module after the respected conservative presenter. Instead they have designated the module Tranquillity.

Now, as far as I know, NASA depends heavily on public funding to operate. So, would it not make sense to actually listen to that public when naming the stuff they’re paying for? They used to do so; thousands of Trekkies wrote to NASA in 1976 and based on that campaign the first Space Shuttle Constitution was redesignated Enterprise after the Star Trek starship. This open-minded recognition of the Trekkies’ wishes to see a real space vessel named for their their favourite fictional spacecraft secured lots of goodwill and monetary donations for NASA.

However, after going to the all the trouble, time, and expense of creating a voting mechanism for members of the public to suggest new names and make their choice for the new module, NASA have unceremoniously rammed a rocket booster up the voting public’s ass with a big F**K YOU! and are probably laughing hysterically back at their headquarters. Just because they have named it Tranquillity doesn’t ensure that the public will feel that way about having their choices sucked out of the airlock.

If this is the way NASA treats its supporters then I am not surprised that they can’t afford a new re-usable spacecraft technology like the Space Shuttle which is being dropped in favour of the backward single-use technology of yesteryear. Sir Stephen will have to be content with the ISS astronaut’s treadmill being named Colbert instead or rather C.O.L.B.E.R.T. for "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill"!

Shields Up! We're off to Mars (in 30 years)

Researchers at the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the Universities of York and Strathclyde, and the IST Lisbon may have solved one of the biggest problems facing interplanetary travel — How do we get astronauts there and back without deadly solar radiation frying their DNA and setting off a cascade of cancers and related diseases? The answer is simple: A force field.

"What is this Star Trek crap you're spewing Colonel?" I hear you ask. Well, Bob Bingham of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England has described their solution, basically a force field that wards off solar particles, generated by a powerful electromagnet onboard a spaceship. "The idea is really like in Star Trek, when Scotty turns on a shield to protect the Starship Enterprise from proton beams," Bingham said. "It's almost identical, really."

Their study, published on Tuesday draws on numerical simulation that is also used by experts in nuclear fusion, in which a hot plasma is kept in place by a powerful magnetic field. This technology gives a far more accurate picture of how individual particles behave when they collide with a two-pole magnetic field. As a result, the researchers have been able to devise a smarter, miniaturised model of magnetic protection rather than the blunderbuss-style field generator that was envisaged in the past. Bingham said the "mini magnetosphere" was being pitched both to the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA.

The idea of generating a force field is several decades old, but all previous versions of it had presumed a huge field hundreds of miles across — and the size of the electromagnet needed would make that impossible. Bingham and his colleagues, who bombarded a small generated field with radiation guns, showed the "bubble" could be a lot smaller, just a few hundred yards in diameter. The device still wouldn't shield the crew from rare, but extremely powerful, interstellar cosmic rays, but Bingham said a dense protective coating applied to a spaceship's hull would take care of that.

A recent NASA study had concluded that manned missions to Mars would be impossible, because the lead shielding to protect astronauts during the 18-month return trip would be too heavy to get into orbit. In December 2006, a solar flare and the stream of charged particles that followed it caused the crews of the International Space Station and space shuttle Discovery to take cover behind heavy equipment — even though, being in low Earth orbit, the ISS is reasonably well protected by the Earth's magnetic field.

This lifts a major doubt clouding the dream of the conquest, er.. exploration of Mars. The effects of the environment of space is one of the greatest challenges facing Mission: Red Planet sketched by the United States and Europe for some 30 years from now. Even the shortest round trip -- the distance between the two planets would take at least 18 months, during which time, the crew would be exposed to sub-atomic particles boosting the risk of cancer and other disorders.

Read the Press Release here.

Source: AFP / STFC / FoxNews

UNETIDA warns of danger from new planet!

The United Nations Extra Terrestrial Invasion Defence Agency has been on high alert since a new planet was recently discovered orbiting a sun-like star 41 light years away, making it the first known planetary quintet outside our solar system, according to astronomers.

The newfound planet joins another four circling the star 55 Cancri in the constellation Cancer. Although it resides in the star's so-called habitable zone, a place where liquid water and mild temperatures should exist, it is more like Saturn than Earth and therefore not likely to support life.

Still, scientists have not ruled out the possibility of finding an Earth-like planet within the system as technology improves. "It's a system that appears to be packed with planets," said co-discoverer Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University.

"We can now say there are stars like the sun that have many worlds around them," said planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine of the University of Arizona, Tucson, who had no role in the discovery. The latest discovery shows that our solar system is not unique, scientists said.

"When you look up into the night sky and see the twinkling lights of stars, you can imagine with certainty that they have their own complement of planets," said astronomer Geoff Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, who was part of the research.

UNETIDA Special Operations Director Lt. Colonel Creedon warned not to be so hasty in welcoming the new life-forms which will be inevitably found there or in a similar cluster elsewhere. "Scientists should leave the Big-Boys play with those "things" first, we know what we're doing," he said to press last week. Conspiracy nut jobs went apeshit as The Colonel clearly revealed he knew more than he was saying.