July 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)

Alien Life - Life in the universe may exist and be billions of years more advanced than here on Earth. A planet has been found by scientists in the globular cluster M4, a swarm of stars 12.7 billion years old and twice as massive as Jupiter. The new planet is orbiting two dead stars. This discovery has been a surprise because ancient globular clusters contain very little metal. This is considered an essential raw material for gas planet formation. Jupiter even though it is a gas giant has a metallic core and rocky planets like our own Earth is composed of metallic elements.

It takes time for stellar evolution to reach a stage where heavy elements can be made in the nuclear furnace of stars. So ancient globular clusters such as M4 (whose stars have about a thirtieth of the metal content of the Sun) were thought to be the last place to find planets. This new planet apparently shows that the scientists have got the assumption wrong. It suggest that there may be planetary systems in the universe billions of years older than we have thought possible. If these planets are older then the scientists thought life could be too. According to Astrophysicist Steinn Sigurdsson from Pennsylvania state University in University Park "If ancient planets are widespread life could have been evolving 5 or 6 billion years longer than anyone expected." If there is life out there, we could be looked on as being at the infant stage of evolution to some.

Columbia, The Final Moments - When Columbia started breaking up on its last fateful journey back in February, the astronauts survived for almost one minute after their final communication with mission control. Apparently, the 7 crew members were aware the shuttle was breaking up around them as it re-entered earths atmosphere. A Nasa investigator told the New York Times. "It was a pretty good container, the crew was in. It stayed together for a pretty long time."

It is now certain that the crash could have been prevented as it was caused by a problem that had previously been identified, but not corrected. The shuttles final communication was at 8.59.am. when Colonel Rick Husband, the flight commander was cut off as he spoke to mission control. The last words heard were "Roger, uh." The capsule survived for another 50 seconds after that message and the 7 crew members would have seen sensor readings showing major problems with the shuttle. The craft was approaching earth at 18 times the speed of sound at this time. The last 2 seconds of data which was transmitted from the flight deck suggests that the autopilot had been switched off , indicating that the astronauts had made a frantic attempt to take control of the craft and tried to make it home. It makes you wonder, what went through their minds in that last frantic 60 seconds.

Crop Circle - In Wisconsin, a farmer witnessed a crop circle being formed right in front of his eyes in is barley field. Arthur Rantala states "The holes appeared and there it was, but you couldn't see what made it, but I (saw) it right when it happened." This is the first account I have heard of where a crop circle has actually been formed and witnessed at the actual time it happened. Mr. Rantala said it looked like a lake. The waves, the wind blowing and then suddenly this dark hole appeared. Then immediately, one to the right, then another to the centre of it. If this is a true story and this indeed happened before him, I hope this is followed up by experts who might be able to discover some more evidence as to what is creating this strange phenomenon.

Argentina - UFO - Buenos Aires is at the moment experiencing a massive wave of UFO's, the biggest ever over the past few years. On Saturday 11th January at 8.30.pm a large group of UFO's were seen crossing the sky at high and low altitudes in all directions. These "flying fireballs" (as they have been named) were observed by thousands of Portenos (the nickname for residents of Buenos Aires). and videotaped. They were seen from 8.30.pm until 10pm and UFO researcher Ricardo E. D'Angelo says, he counted 23 of them in the sky at one time. Apparently "The balls of fire were 3 to 4 times more luminous than Venus." according to D'Angelo. The fireballs had small pulsating lights and their outside edges - coloured blue, red and green at the tips. Later in the evening several people saw ten fireballs cross the sky from one side to the other. Speed varied from hovering stationary to very high speeds. Appearing and disappearing at will.

China Ready For The Space Age - Chinese Officials have announced that they are scheduled for the launch of their first manned spacecraft in October. They will be only the third nation to send human's into orbit. Schenzhou 5 will be launched sometime in October, but no exact date has been given yet. The Pilot Chen Long has been named as part of the 5 crew, but it is unclear how many astronauts will be onboard the maiden flight.

Fourteen fighter pilots, each with 1,000 flying hours experience have been training as astronauts. Two, including Long have spent time at the Russian cosmonaut school. Shenzhou, the spacecraft China has developed, is to be believed an enlarged copy of the soviet-era workhorse - The Soyuz. China has launched four unmanned space missions to test the hardware for the manned flight. On the 5th January the last Shenzhou 4 touched down in Inner Mongolia after a 162 hour mission. Previous Shenzhou flights have taken place at night but the manned flight will take place during the daytime to aid tracking of the capsule. It may also be broadcast on Chinese TV. China has made it clear that it wants to explore space and plans an unmanned mission to the Moon.

Return of the X-43A - Nasa's X-43A Hyper-X vehicle is preparing to return to the skies. The future of "air Breathing" engine technology, the second vehicle is now hoping to fly no later than mid-November.Two years ago on the 2nd June 2001, the scramjet-powered vehicle veered out of control during a Pacific Ocean test. It was deployed from a modified Nasa B-52 aircraft mounted on a Pegasus booster, called the Stack. The Stack was deliberately destroyed by an onboard explosive charge less than 50 seconds after release. Last week, the results of the Nasa mishap investigation board who reviewed the loss of the research vehicle were issued.

The flight failed because the X-43A's control system design was deficient in several analytical modelling areas. But the experts say that no single factor or potential contributing factor caused the failure. Vince Pausch who is the Hyper-X programme manager at Nasa Langley Research Centre at Hampton, Virginia, states "A lot is riding on this next flight." The X-43A programme is lead by the Langley Research Centre and flight operations conducted by Dryden Flight Research Centre at Edward, California. It is hoped that the X-43A will be the first scramjet-powered vehicle capable of reaching speeds as high as Mach 10. An air-breathing propulsion system sustains combustion of fuel with atmospheric oxygen. It is hoped that, by not having to take hefty amounts of oxygen and associated tanks, this will enable the vehicles payload to be increased. The next X-43A mission is to run at Mach 7. to reduce the risk.

The B52 carrier and the modified Pegasus booster, an adaptor that joins the two, are almost ready for the second flight. The X-43A and booster Stack will be dispatched from the B52 at 42,000 feet. This is double the height from where the first attempt was made. This launch altitude change reduces dynamic pressures on the hardware as it goes through the transonic flight. On the Pegasus, actuators that control fins on the aft end of the booster have been beefed up, and the second motor enabling the fins to take greater torque have been added. The Hyper-X vehicle will be separated from the Pegasus booster rocket by two small pistons. The Hyper-X scramjet engine will then operate for 10 plus seconds to demonstrate forward thrust for flight. When the engine test is complete, the vehicle will go into a high-speed manoeuvring glide so that it can collect 6 minutes of hypersonic aerodynamic data. It will then fly to a mission completion point in the Naval Air Warfare Centre Weapons Division Sea Range off the southern cost of California.

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