May 2003

The news items below are updated daily and will cover any paranormal and interesting topics we come across. They are written by HUFOS member, Rita A. Jennings, who kindly donates her time and effort in keeping these News In General pages full of upto date information.

Rita Jennings

Hull UFO Society c/o 62, Egton Street, New Cleveland Street, Hull. N. Humberside HU8 7HU Tel: 01482 219887 Mbl: 07754 036536 Email: Hull UFO Society

Don't forget we hold a monthly meeting every second Tuesday
of every month were we read out more interesting news items like these.

(See Monthly Meetings link on the left hand side of this page)

The First Of The Crop Circles To Appear In 2003 - The first crop circles to appear in 2003 have just been announced. In a field of oilseed rape, amid the yellow flowers in Privett, Hampshire, near Petersfield a crop circle was discovered, 150 foot in diameter on the 20th April, Easter Sunday. The second crop circle was at All Cannings near Alton Barnes in Wiltshire on the 26h April, 2003. This was in a field of oilseed rape and was 130 foot long. The third circle was just a simple circle in oilseed rape. This was 56 foot in diameter and was below Cliffe Hill in Lewes, East Sussex.

The Miracle Of The Worms - When the Columbia was wrecked on re-entry, a miracle occurred. Thousands of worms, which had been onboard and used in a science experiment, were found alive in the wreckage. The worms, pinhead-sized survived the carnage which caused the Columbia to break up, Nasa revealed yesterday. A container holding the worms were found by workers in the debris in Texas several weeks ago. It has only just been opened, and the worms were found alive. Some of the worms known as Celegans, were from the flight, but others are their offspring. 60 scientific investigations were onboard the Columbia. A Nasa spokesman said "To my knowledge, these are the only live experiments that have been located and identified." Worms can survive in extreme conditions. They go into stasis - shutting down their systems, and this is how they must have survived. If everything had gone to plan, they were supposed to be examined within hours of landing. Dr. Fred Sack of Ohio State University, who organised the experiment was astonished. The possibility of getting the data after all that happened is amazing. He expected a molten mass. That old saying that if we blow ourselves to kingdom come, the insects and bugs will be left to rule, might be true after all.

Ancient Pyramids Discovered In Italy - Thanks to satellite and aerial imagery 3 Pyramids have been discovered in northern Italy in the town of Montevecchia. These are the first pyramids to be discovered in Italy. The dimensions are impressive. The highest is 500 foot tall. They are stone buildings which recent excavations have proved. They are now covered by ground and vegetation, so they look like hills. The inclination degree of the 3 pyramids is 42/43 degrees. This is perfect alignment with the Orion Constellation. There are lots of similarities with the Egyptian pyramids. The age is undefined, but older than 3000 years. Nothing has been found nearby which may help to date the structures. No civilisation was in that area to build similar structures at the time. The people who lived there were mainly gatherers and hunters.

Beagle 2 Mission To Mars - A new launch date for the Beagle 2 mission to Mars has been announced. It will now be launched on the 2nd June. It is the first solo mission to Mars which will feature he British Lander. Beagle 2. The lift off form Kazakhstan has been delayed by 10 days due to technical problems. A fault was found in one of the spacecrafts electronics modules. Lets hope this is the only fault, and everything goes smoothly, as there are no back ups to any of the components. The Mars Express will release Beagle 2 onto the surface to take surface samples and search for any signs of life.

Japanese Space Craft To Probe Asteroid - A Japanese Space Craft is all set to launch a space probe to bring back to Earth rock samples from an Asteroid. The MUSES-C probe will depart on a M-5 rocket on the 9th May, from Tanegashima launch centre. It will reach 1998 SF36 asteroid in June 2005. It will then take samples from its surface and return all being well in June 2007. The last M-5 launch by Japan was in 2000 and it veered off course after lift off, which resulted in the loss of the satellite. They will all be hoping that this goes to plan.

Planet X - May 15th is fast approaching, so we better enjoy ourselves whilst we can if the predictions are correct. Planet X is due to pass by the Earth on the 15th May and this will be apparently the end of the world. In Japan, a group called Panawave have driven a caravan of cars up in to the mountains to await the end of the world. According to Whitley Strieber "There is no Planet X - not at least, in the apocalypse-producing form that has been claimed for the past few years." The impending apocalypse has been predicted on several websites, but according to Whitley. There are no astronomical evidence that a large and destructive body is anywhere near our solar system, let alone moving through it. Let's hope he is right. The 30 people in the group have been served eviction notices by the authorities in two towns, but the group say they can't leave until their sick leader Yuko Chino recovers from an illness. Chino believes Planet X will cause "cataclysmic" changes on the 15th May.

The group, Panawave got the media attention when they began draping trees with white cloth on the way to their latest destination. The claim they are seeking sanctuary from electromagnetic waves generated by left-wing guerrillas in Japan, and the cloth neutralizes the effects of the waves. They have just spent 8 months camping out near a lake, and left the site swathed in white sheets. Their final destination Oizumi, which they say will protect them. They are constructing dome-shaped structures. The deputy mayor of Oizumi, Akira Kobayashi, says "All of us will work together to get rid of them if they do come to our village".

Baghdad UFO - There is speculation that a UFO has been seen over Baghdad for 3 hours, but that is not all. A Mr. Eric Morris has managed to tape one in the UK. He was researching a report of a hovering black cigar-shaped UFO. He went to the area and took a video but did not notice anything. When he came to play the video back it was then he noticed it.There were 2 discs which appeared to be touching each other and hovering over Dutton he said. At the moment the tape is being analyzed by the BBC.

Latest Columbia's Damage - The most detailed images yet of the launch of the ill- fated Columbia have been released by the Columbia Accident Board (CAIB). The processed enhanced frames taken from a launch pad video camera show a tumbling piece of foam insulation breaking off the large external fuel tank and striking the Columbia's left wing at 530 mph. Experiments have been undertaken in which foam samples have been fired at shuttle heat shields to see what damage would be sustained. But they have failed to provide any direct evidence which would link it with the catastrophic failure of the shuttle on the lst February,2003. Further testing is to be undertaken. Looking at the new video frames they have shown that the foam fragments spin need to be considered. This has not been considered upto now, but investigators think this might have increased the potential for the foam to cause damage. In the meantime, Nasa's Associate Administrator for Space Flight, William Readdy, has been conducting an internal agency investigation into the accident, looking at other serious shuttle incidents. This new examination includes the launch of the shuttle Atlantis last October. It was during its lift-off that a piece of foam from the external tank came off. It came off from the same region and struck the left booster, but without damage. During the launch there was also a failure on one of the data cables that send commands for the launch pad clamps to release Atlantis when its rockets fire. This vital command was then left in the hands of just one single cable. If this backup cable had failed, there would have been a catastrophic explosion on the launch pad with Atlantis tethered to the ground. Nasa looked into the incident at the time an looked at data previously suggesting problems with the data cables. Foam separation incidents appear to have happened on at least 6 shuttles flights. Out of 113 launches, 39 of the shuttles launches, the regions where the foam comes away was not observed. How many more incidents could there have been, and no on noticed?

A Martian Aircraft To Be Built - A small aircraft, packed with sensors and a high-speed datalink could soon be flying over the mountains of Mars. This will be the first aircraft to fly over the terrain of another world. It is called ARES. If all goes well, it will be flying over Mar's southern uplands in 5 years. After doing a series of half-scale tests, the US. space agency, (Nasa) have ordered a full scale prototype to be built. There are three other Mars exploration proposals for a Nasa launch in 2007 and ARES is in competition with them. The final selection will be made later this year. It might be one or possibly two. ARES will have many of the best aspects of an orbiter and a lander. Landers take detailed measurements of small area's and orbiters take measurements over vast area's of terrain. The autonomous flyer, bridges the gap between the two. The current mission will call for a 528 miles flight over the rugged southern uplands of Mars at a altitude of 0.9 miles. It will take measurements of geological formations spanning 4 and half billion years to the history of Mars. ARES will follow a predetermined trajectory over mountains, canyons and plains and then send its data back in real-time to Earth via a mother satellite relay. It will also, sample and take magnetic measurements. Last year, a half-scale model was taken to high altitude, it was released, the model unfolded its wings and tail and then completed a 90 minute return to Earth with a perfect landing. The new plane will be built by the Aurora Flight Sciences of Virginia and the full size prototype is scheduled to make its first flight later this year, with a similar deployment test in the upper reaches of the Earth's atmosphere. The Aurora's President John Lanngford says "This demonstration is another important step on the road to flying the first airplane in another planetary atmosphere". Ares is one of four Mars exploration concepts selected for a Phase A study, as part of Nasa's Mars Scout programme. The first Mars Scout mission is planned for a launch in 2007 and with arrival at Mars in 2008.

Comet Chaser Mission - A £50 million hole in the European Space Budget has been made by the postponement of the Rosetta Mission, in which they where going to land a probe on a comet. The European Space Agency officials have now to juggle funds to pay for a new flight for the probe, to be in early 2004. A probe will be sent to Comet 67P/Churyumov - Gerasimenko as the original target Comet Wirtanen is no longer reachable. Rosetta has been over 10 years in development and cost around £700 million.

Loss Of The Columbia - Apparently the Columbia crew could have been rescued and saved. If the shuttle had managed to stay in orbit for 30 days, there could have been enough time to launch a rescue mission. The other shuttle Atlantis could have been sent up to bring back the crew of 7 astronauts, or repairs could have been attempted in orbit, to the damaged Columbia. Unfortunately we will never know if this attempt would have been possible, and succeeded.

Mars Lander - During the course of the years since l976 when the Viking Landers did experiments to see whether there was any life on Mars, various stories have been printed to say that life was detected, but the official story was that no signs of life where found. Claims have now been put forward to say that the US. Space Agency did find signs of life on Mars during the Viking Landings that took place in l976. Soil was collected from the red planet and experiments detected signs of activity of microbes giving off gas. More test where undertaken by Nasa to look for organic matter, but this failed to find any. They therefore concluded that Mars was a dead planet. Dr. Gil Levin, one of the scientists continued with the work and says he has now found evidence using modern equipment. It makes you wonder, whether or not to believe anything we are told, about these missions to find life on other planets. I wonder, that if indeed they do detect life, whether they would make this public knowledge. Just like the existence of UFO's, might they think that we, the general public, would be better off, not knowing.

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