Oumuamua

[Zombie_61]

...I am awaiting later today (hopefully) the safe landing of the latest Mars Rover. It is targeted to land in what was once a lake bed and the soil should contain hints of former life. This rover is loaded with equipment to detect if microbial life is still present. Could be big news in coming weeks/months.

This has been a talking point on the local news this morning, and they keep reminding viewers to tune in a few hours from now to update everyone as this landing either progresses or literally goes up in flames.

I was very interested in the Apollo program when I was a yute in the 60s, but for whatever reason the Shuttle program didn't hold the same fascination for me even though I stumbled into a job working for a company that processed parts being manufactured for the Shuttles (cases for the rocket motors that launched each and every shuttle into orbit, internal engine components, and so on). Still, every once in a while some relatively minor fact catches my attention and reminds me of how phenomenal this whole effort is, and today I hung my hat on the fact that it takes approximately 14 minutes for the radio signal from Rover to reach Earth, and vice versa. 14 minutes. Roughly a quarter of an hour. Can you imagine sitting in the control room looking at the data and realizing not only that something has gone wrong, but that it happened 14 minutes ago and that you can't do anything about it for at least another 14 minutes? I don't possess that kind of patience and acceptance.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I am awaiting later today (hopefully) the safe landing of the latest Mars Rover. It is targeted to land in what was once a lake bed and the soil should contain hints of former life. This rover is loaded with equipment to detect if microbial life is still present. Could be big news in coming weeks/months.

It will take a little longer than that, many of us are likely to be fertilizer before anything certain is known.
Just a reminder, there is no life on Mars, the Perseverance Rover will be taking clay soil samples from the supposed lake bed (Jezero crater) in the hope of finding either fosillized remains of single cell life forms such as bacteria or traces of chemical residues that may indicate life was forming some 3.5 billion years ago when it is thought that Mars shared with the Earth similar conditions conjusive to creating life.
Here's where it gets complicated. The soil & regolith samples taken from different areas in the landing site, will be stored in tube like canistors & deposited at certain points & left there in the expectation of being collected during a future mission to Mars & returning them to Earth.
I heard the boffins mention 2031 for a planned mission to recuperate the canistors.
If you add on the years of research needed before any results can be published I'll either be dead or senile by that time.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Nobody does it better!

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Nobody does it better!

Sounds like a James Bond movie song.

There's a lot of it about though. I'm not sure how the Martians are going to take this relentless invasion of their world.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/10/asia/china-tianwen-1-mars-orbit-hnk-scli-scn/index.html

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-52973849

 

[Lean'n'mean]

NASA has just released footage of the Mars landing of the Perseverance Rover by the onboard cameras.

The Rover is also equiped with a microphone & for the first time we can hear the sound(s) of Mars.

 

[Zombie_61]

...I'm not sure how the Martians are going to take this relentless invasion of their world....

That's funny. I was watching footage of the landing on the morning news today, and as they were showing the Rover maneuvering around a little my first thought was, "I wonder how we would react if something like that landed on Earth."

 

[Lean'n'mean]

"I wonder how we would react if something like that landed on Earth."

I don't think anyone would notice.

 

[Zombie_61]

I don't think anyone would notice.

You're probably right, unless the "alien" device looked as out-of-place as Perseverance does on Mars' surface. Even then people would probably look for cameras thinking someone is making a movie.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Strangeness in broad daylight in the sky above Wichita, Kansas. A ufo, a military aircraft, or a Cessna towing an Arby’s banner?

https://www.kake.com/story/43449955...-agree-on-what-this-unusual-flying-object-was

And a UFO sighted by a United Airlines pilot remains unexplained.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzann...ts-ufo-sighting-last-weekend-over-new-mexico/

 

[Tiki Tom]

Former Director of National Intelligence talks UFOs.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Asteroid the size of a small apartment building will fly by tonight at a distance of 72% of the distance to the moon. A relatively close shave by a relatively large asteroid. You can watch the passage live on a website of the virtual telescope project based in Rome. Exciting times.

https://www.jpost.com/international...ng-closer-to-earth-than-the-moon-watch-662676

 

[Tiki Tom]

I don’t know why, but it somehow makes me nervous when someone says “No sweat; we are out of the woods and we are safe for at least the next 100 years.”

https://www.jpost.com/health-scienc...ee-of-asteroid-risk-for-next-100-years-663470

 

[Lean'n'mean]

Sorry Tiki................but don't give up hope.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/...gon-ufo-report-no-evidence-aliens/7540528002/

 

[Tiki Tom]

That report is definitely a case of “is the glass half full or half empty.” Mind you, I haven’t read the complete report yet, but it sounds like something unknown is in our airspace and that is about all we can say. The military is now taking it seriously. (I certainly hope it is not Chinese technology.) We’ve come a long way from the mockery that was the standard response to the topic in the past. I’m sure more information will be dribbling out in the coming weeks.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

but it sounds like something unknown is in our airspace

Unidentified. It's possible some people know what they are.

 

[Tiki Tom]

Unidentified. It's possible some people know what they are.

Latest speculation is that China and Russia have supersonic surveillance drones that can loiter for long periods of time; and that the U.S. is not reporting it because the U.S. is also using similar technology.

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/news/weird-news/pentagon-ufo-report-may-cover-24251095

Where are Mulder and Scully when we need them?

 

[Tiki Tom]

Nothing to see here, folks…

https://thedebrief.org/house-intell...ceived-a-classified-briefing-on-ufo-findings/

 

[Tiki Tom]

(Different context). We are not alone and it is only a matter of time.

https://scitechdaily.com/1000th-near-earth-asteroid-observed-by-planetary-radar-since-1968/

 

[Tiki Tom]

Geomagnetic storm watch issued for planet Earth for Sunday, 26 Sept.

https://weatherboy.com/geomagnetic-storm-watch-issued-for-earth-for-sunday/

 

[Tiki Tom]

Geomagnetic storm watch issued for planet Earth for Sunday, 26 Sept.

Update. Anyone see anything?

https://www.livescience.com/solar-storm-cme-september-2021

Plus… Holy Shinola! An asteroid almost the size of the great pyramid very nearly hit us a few days ago. It passed by at half the distance to the moon. We did not detect it because of the sun’s glare. Be still, my pounding heart.

https://www.esquireme.com/brief/new...th-but-nasa-didnt-detect-it-until-a-day-later