June 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)

Who will control the Moon? - According to Robert S. Walker, former chairman of the House Science Committee, "The Chinese are planning not only to go to the moon, but to set up a base there and occupy it." All we did when we went there was to erect an American Flag. We never staked a claim, making it ours. If China succeed and they claim the Moon belongs to them, what then? What will happen if valuable minerals are discovered on the Moon (or Mars) who will lay claim to them?

Helium 3 is abundant on the Moon but rare on Earth. If an inexpensive method is found to get these precious minerals back to Earth, then a fight will certainly be on. Walker is convinced that China intends to be on the Moon within a decade and will announce that they are there for a permanent stay. They only need an investment of 1% of their growth revenues over the next decade to provide enough money for a very healthy program. India have already got their own Moon Mission, they are monitoring the Chinese Space efforts closely. The Japanese Space observers are also closely watching China and stated to Walker recently that they think China would be on the Moon within 3 to 4 years. Once they get there he said, they will claim it for themselves. We will have to wait and see what happens next, it looks like the "War in Space" is just starting to hot up.

Crop Circles - The crop circles in England this year have been very slow to start, only 3 so far, but circles have been showing up in unusual places. Such as Australia, Maryland and New Jersey. In the UK, crop circles that form outside of the vicinity of Stonehenge rarely have intricate patterns, and this year is no exception. In New Jersey, Pete and Lisa Andrews noticed patches of 2 foot tall grass lying flat in irregular shapes in the field next to their house. The stalks of grass were lying in a North-South direction with their stems bent close to the ground and matted together. This is typical of crop circles. All together 2 dozen patches were knocked down, ranging from a few feet to about 100 feet. There did not seem to be any pattern to the patches, but unfortunately the patches were only seen from the ground and not from the air, where the best view of them is. There were no tracks into the field and neighbours stated that similar flat spots appeared years ago in the same field.

UFO Sightings Increase As Mars Draws Closer - There have been an increase in UFO sightings in the US. especially, saucer and cylindrical-shaped. In New Ipswich, Vermont on the 17th May at 8.55.pm. a witness saw an octagon- saucer disk craft take off from his property. He had trees at the end of his property and the craft took off about 300 - 400 feet about his house and he watched it descend onto the trees making a humming noise. 12 rectangular objects where spotted by a group of people in Massachusetts at noon on the 18th May. The objects changed colour, moved upward and disappeared. Also a rash of UFO sightings have been seen daily over the Crimea. Since early May dozens of reports have been submitted. Also a lot of UFO's have been reported on the nearby Black Sea and Caucuses areas as well. On the 15th May in Portsmouth, England at 9.37 pm. a witness saw a bright egg-shaped object in the sky. It was moving erratically. The object approached the car which had stopped and it was surrounded by a bright light. The clock on the dashboard began spinning and has never worked since. The light only lit up the car for a few minutes after which the object disappeared.It is a well known fact that Mars oppositions always bring an increase in UFO activity. As Mars is making its closest approach to the Earth this August in 70,000 years, we can expect a rise in UFO activity. Keep you eyes peeled.- Remember: Look Up To The Skies, See Something, Report It!!! © Copyright

Sci-Fi Programme On Rendlesham - Keep your eyes peeled for a new programme to be broadcasted on the Sci-Fi Channel on Sky, dealing with the incident which took place in Rendlesham Forest. This has been dubbed the UK version of Roswell. This is an American production, produced by Mentom and should last 2 hours. The consultant's in this country are Peter Robbins and Georgina Bruni. Apparently some new fascinating details are to be revealed and some new witnesses produced. This should be a refreshing change as you get fed up with the same faces appearing in every documentary. This programme will concentrate on UFO. researchers who where involved in the incident and who played a significant part in the discovering the new facts in this case. Lets hope this lives upto it's expectations.

Erich Von Daniken - Love him or hate him, Erich von Daniken is still around and still plugging the theory that extraterrestrials visited the earth and brought us technology, culture and religion. His first book "Chariot of the Gods" was a massive hit and a generation was given the idea that extraterrestrials had visited the earth and many of our ancient wonders were actually built by these beings and that they were worshipped as Gods. He wrote several books and then his popularity wained. But now he is back and full of bright ideas. On the 24th May a theme park will be opened near Interlaken in Switzerland. This will be part funded by Erick von Daniken and the park will be devoted to ancient mysteries and it will certainly become a major tourist attraction. All of this will rekindle the interest in the work of Erich von Daniken as his books have certainly had an impact on Ufology. A lot of people have ridiculed his theories, but I think it is quite feasible that earth was seeded by extraterrestrials. There seem to be to be too many puzzles that we cannot explain. So many people like Graham Hancock and others, are finding details which all appear to fit this hypothesis.

Space Station - The International Space Station was successfully manoeuvred to avoid a collision with a small telecommunications satellite. The propulsive manoeuvre roused the altitude of the Station by nearly 1 mile. It is on a 240 mile high orbital base. The 77 pound MegSat 0 would have crossed within the boundaries set of 16 miles ahead and behind and to the left and right of the station. Also clearance of 1 mile is maintained above and below. The length of the I.S.S. is 170 foot long at the moment. In April Ed Lu of NASA and Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Space Agency began a 6 month stay. The manoeuvre was the 6th time the space station has had to be moved to avoid colliding with satellite's or other debris floating around the station. Any collision could be fatal to the crew and damage or even destroy the space station. The propulsion of the move was by the Russian Progress cargo capsule which is docked to the stations aft end. Early next month the Russians will launch another Progress capsule to the station but the change in altitude will have no effect on the mission. The launch will be on the 8th June at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The capsule will reach the I.S.S. three days later and will be carrying water, fuel, food and other needed supplies.

Nasa's New Generation Space Craft - Nasa have just announced that they are planning to build a nuclear-powered space Craft to visit Jupiter. Aerospace Company Lockheed Martin are to be given £4.million to start designs on the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (Jimo). The craft will be part of Project Prometheus and Nasa's Nuclear Systems Initiative to build nuclear propulsion technology for the exploration of the solar system. Nasa are hoping that Jimo will visit Jupiter's Moons and be able to study the area.

Triangle Shaped UFO In U.K - In the Worcestershire area of the U.K. a triangular UFO. that leaves a shining trail behind it has been seen. Apparently there has been a mini UFO flap in Worcestershire. On the same night, three triangular UFO's were seen. One of them was described as having six lights on each side. A Mr. Michael Soper, spokesman for Contact International states that "It suddenly disappeared, as they usually do, shooting off without a sound.A man who was walking his dog says he saw six strange lights flying silently across the sky. Other people also saw what they describe as a pearl-shaped object." According to Mr. Soper, "It was hovering in the sky, then it darted out of sight". He states "We can't speculate (on) what any of these objects are."

Crop Circles Appearing In Italy - Over in Italy, in Latina, a crop circle has appeared in a field of wheat. The huge design is made up of concentric circles. The owner of the field, Mr. Giovanni Cenci, thought it was a joke. After looking at the circle and noticing how perfect the lines where, he realized that it wasn't. There were no footprints leading across the wheat field to the circle and none to be found anywhere in the filed. Apparently, now that the news has got around, many people have being going to the filed to see the circle.

More Delays Of The Mars Probe - The launch of the second U.S. Mars probe has been delayed again. The Mars Probe which will study Mars has been delayed until the 28th June at the earliest according to NASA. Following the inspections of the Delta 11 rocket to be used in it's launch, the decision to delay the second Mars Expedition Rover was made. It was deemed necessary to allow the rockets manufacturers Boeing to make some modifications. The probe is scheduled to land on the Red Planet on the 25th January, 2004. Let's hope that after all these delays and various problems that it makes it, and doesn't end up like so many of the other probes which have been sent and never reached their destination.

Nasa Captures Image Of Phobos - Nasa has captured the first image of one of two of the tiny moons orbiting Mars. It has been taken by the 3 cameras onboard the Nasa Global Surveyor Spacecraft. Phobos is 17 miles long and shaped like a potato. It rises usually in the West and sets in the East twice a day. Like our own Moon, it always keeps the same side facing Mars. It orbits Mars 3 times a day at an average attitude of just 5,828 miles.This tiny moon is also one of the darkest and mostly colourless objects in the Solar System. It is believed that Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars are asteroids pulled into orbit by gravitational pull. Global Surveyor is one of two Nasa Satellites currently orbiting Mars. The picture on the right is a High Resolution Photo of Phobos taken from 6,010 miles away.

New Threat To Shuttle Safety - Investigators have found a threat which could have dangerous consequences to the three remaining space shuttles. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board have found a fault which effects the heavy bolts that connect the powerful solid-rocket boosters to the external fuel tanks and this could delay the next launch. The investigators are worried that parts of the bolts which are 2 foot could brake free at take off or after and smash against the areas of the shuttle (which have some very delicate areas).

According to the Board Officials, the fault involved a bolt catcher, a container which is mounted on the fuel tank. This is designed to capture fragments of the attached bolts immediately after astronauts jettison the powerful booster rockets about 28 miles into their ascent. Retired Navy Admiral Harold Gehman the head of the board said "Investigators had determined that the bolt catcher was not as robust as we would want." The 150 foot tall rockets are mounted on either side of the shuttles external fuel tank and provide nearly all the thrust needed to enter orbit. They fall away into the ocean where they are later recovered, for use again. The Board members do not believe the breakaway bolts (which use explosive devices to break the attachment) were the cause of the Columbia disaster. They were concerned however that they could cause similar fatal damage to the protective tiles or panels on another shuttle mission. This latest discovery came during the extensive study after the loss of the Columbia in February of all potential threats to the shuttles.

New Space Venture - Japan is planning a joint mission to Mercury with The European Space Agency. If they succeed, they will be the first to land a probe on Mercury. There will be three probes, two will orbit and one would go down and land on the planet, This would map the topography and study the origins of the closest planet to the sun. The probes would be launched in space shots by Russian Soyuz rockets starting in 2010. The probes would take four years to reach Mercury. Two would orbit the planet and one would land to chart the surface for a year. Mercury's surface reaches 467C (872F) during the day and during the night temperatures plunge to minus 183C (361F). so the probe would land on the dark side of the planet. Mercury has a slow rotation around its axis and 1 day lasts upto 176 Earth days. Mercury has only ever been visited by one other probe - Mariner 10 (which was launched by the US). which did three fly-bys from 1974 to 1975.

Nasa is planning to send another probe sometime in 2004. Called Messenger, it will reach Mercury in 2007. The probe Nozomi or Hope was launched by Japan on its first interplanetary exploration in l998. This has been plagued by technical problems and made its final fly-by of the Earth, just recently. It should reach Mars at the end of the year. Japan will have to contribute £69 million for the Mercury venture. Europe ;will contribute around £306 million. Japan will build one of the orbiting satellites and Europe, the lander and ;the other orbiter. The goal of the mission is to study the planets surface and the environment and to try and unlock the secrets of how the planet evolved.

Solar Flares Striking Without Warning - The Soho Spacecraft which warns us about large Solar flares, has a stuck antenna. This causes periods of blackout when data cannot be sent back here to Earth. During the last few years there has been quite a few, and if a giant Solar Flare should occur we would have no warning. These Solar Fares disrupt satellite communications, cell phones and TV. broadcasts. But more important - intelligence agencies and the military rely on these satellites. So if one is to occur, as soon as we are aware of this the better. Solar Flares are eruptions from the Suns surface. It sends giant clouds of electrically charge particles to Earth on the Solar winds. Our magnetosphere protects us from this radiation. These flares can also be dangerous for any astronaut in space.

Soho usually sends warnings two or three days in advance, so during a black out period, warnings might only arrive with only hours or as little as a hour to spare, or even worse not at all. XM Satellite Radio and direct TV rely entirely on satellites to reach their customers and even regular stations use satellites in part of their programming. When they receive a warning from Soho this allows them to shut down temporarily or shift to another satellite so to reduce the risk to equipment. In Canada's Hydro-Quebec power company in l989 a solar storm tripped switches, causing the entire province of Quebec to lose power for 9 hours. (According to other stories about this, they attributed this power loss to UFO'S.) The problem nearly spread to the US through an interconnected power grid in May l998. A space storm hit Pan Am Sat's Galaxy 1V satellite disabling automated teller machines, gas station credit cards, 80% of all U.S. pagers, news wire service feeds and some airline weather tracking services. Apparently last week, technicians were able to move the stuck antenna slightly. They could not manage to free it entirely, so if Soho's antenna cannot be fixed from here on earth, transmission blackout periods will keep on occurring for a couple of weeks every few months.

Launch Of Mars Probe Delayed - Nasa has announced the delay of its second Mars Rover. It will now be launched on Wednesday at the earliest at 23.17 local time (0317 GMT on Thursday 3rd July) as Nasa try to fix a problem. The problem is with the rockets insulation, and engineers have also found that the cork lining of the first stage of the Boeing Delta 11 rocket is not sticking to the vehicle's aluminium skin. (The original launch should have taken place on Saturday evening and had to be scrapped because of high winds at Cape Canaveral in Florida.) This gap might have allowed heat to penetrate the insulation protecting the sensitive onboard instruments. Apparently 10% of the insulation will have to be replaced according to George Diller a Nasa spokesman.

Last week, the same problem was found on the rocket and cork was replaced then. The vehicle have only until the middle of July to be launched or it will miss the flight window. The vehicle is named Opportunity, and is the second vehicle to be built and will roam around Mars rocky surface for three months.Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit took off from Florida on June 10th and is now on its way to Mars at a speed of 30 kilometres per second. In front of Spirit by eight days is the European Mars Express mission with its Beagle 2 Lander. At the rear is Nozomi, the Japanese probe. All probes will reach their destination (Fingers Crossed) in January 2004. The twin rovers will travel upto 40 metres a day, looking for rock and soils and anything of interest. Each has a panoramic camera, a camera for close-ups and a drill to cut into rocks. All the data collected will be sent back to Earth. Nasa is hoping to find chemical signatures that confirm that water once existed on the planets surface. Opportunity is aimed at a site called Meridiani Planum. This location has large deposits of grey hematite, and this mineral usually forms in wet conditions. Spirit is going to Gusev Crater, Nasa thinks that there was a lake here once. Like all Pathfinder missions before, the rovers will land on the planet via parachutes and gas-filled airbags will cushion the final drop.

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