Extraterrestrial life could be on the moons of Mars

By Jason McClellan

The moons of Mars could provide evidence of life on the red planet. That’s according to Purdue University professor Dr. Jay Melosh.

A press release published on June 28 details Melosh’s theory that “a mission to a Martian moon could return with alien life.” He explains that, if life ever existed on Mars, or even if it exists today, the moons of Mars would almost certainly contain Martian material delivered by debris from large asteroid impacts. And as io9.com explains, of the two Martian moons, Phobos is especially likely to contain these Martian particles.



The orbits of Martian moons and the spread of potential particle trajectories from an asteroid impact on Mars. (Credit: Purdue University/Loic Chappaz)



Melosh led a team chosen by NASA’s Planetary Protection Office to determine if samples from Phobos contain enough recent material from Mars to include “viable Martian organisms.” Team member Loic Chappaz expounded, “It is estimated that during the past 10 million years there have been at least four large impact events powerful enough to launch material into space, and we focused on several large craters as possible points of origin. It turns out that no matter where Phobos is in its orbit, it would have captured material from these powerful impact events.”
The researchers concluded that:

A 200-gram sample scooped from the surface of Phobos could contain, on average, about one-tenth of a milligram of Mars surface material launched in the past 10 million years and 50 billion individual particles from Mars. The same sample could contain as much as 50 milligrams of Mars surface material from the past 3.5 billion years.

Special attention is paid to time frames, because, as team member Professor Kathleen Howell explains, “It is thought that after 10 million years of exposure to the high levels of radiation on Phobos, any biologically active material would be destroyed.” Howell added, “Even if we found no evidence of life in a sample from Phobos, it would not be a definitive answer to the question of whether or not there was life on Mars. There still may have been life that existed too long ago for us to detect it.”
As NASA reformulates its Mars Exploration Program, a future mission to Phobos is a possibility.
The team’s findings were presented at a joint NASA-European Space Agency meeting in Austria.

Travis Walton reveals new theory on Fire in the Sky Abduction (Video)

By Michael Cline

One of the most prolific abduction cases in the history of ufology, which happened more than 35 years ago, was that of Travis Walton. His disappearance caused a whirlwind of news reports, controversy, and skepticism.

 

Travis Walton (Credit: Open Minds/Peter Beste)

For his entire adult life, Walton has been carrying this emotional burden and the telling of his story has been, for the most part, a solo journey. Recently, at the 2012 International UFO Congress, two eye witnesses, John Goulette and Steve Pierce, came forward to speak with Walton about the incident. Hearing their stories has educated Walton about what Goulette and Pierce experienced during his abduction, and since then he has also connected with others who have shared similar stories. Making these connections and his own process of maturity has allowed Walton to reexamine his beliefs surrounding the incident.
Recently Walton sat down with Open Minds and during the interview it was apparent he had a certain newfound confidence. Whether it is the result of Walton being joined by his fellow workmen and sharing their stories, or just through the maturity process, it is evident that Walton has become much more comfortable in his own skin.
One can only speculate how someone is personally affected after an experience like this. The truth as to why this happened to Walton will probably never be known for sure. But he continues to press on and uses his new conviction surrounding the incident to broaden his philosophy on life and society.

Poll Position: UFOs and the Enigma of Public Opinion

By  Micah Hanks

Do you believe in UFOs? If so, how certain are you that they are extraterrestrial? Such questions seem to remain almost invariably on people’s minds these days, and thus, it’s no surprise that according to results from a new survey released by National Geographic, close to one-third of all Americans are said to believe in the existence of UFOs, numbering close to 80 Million advocates in the U.S. alone.
The latest survey was released in conjunction with NatGeo’s new program Chasing UFOs, which follows the exploits of ufologists James, Ben and Ryder as they travel around parts of the world studying reports of alien abductions, UFO sightings and crashes, and a host of other unique reports and encounters. While it’s convenient to time the release of such survey data in conjunction with the launch of a new series such as this, the data displayed here is actually nothing new. If anything, it only shows how consistently the UFO mystery has remained a part of our culture… and perhaps a few other things too.

According to a variety of polls taken over the years, belief in unidentified flying objects and questions related to their existence have consistently ranked high among items of public interest and opinion. For instance, a survey taken in 1977 found that while 92 percent of those polled knew who U.S. President Gerald Ford was following his term in office, a poll administered four years earlier had found that a slightly higher percentage (95 percent, to be exact) of those questioned were aware of the concept underlying UFOs. Trends over the years have also shown favor toward growth in the idea that UFOs represent some variety of technology being employed by aliens from outer space.
Polls also seem to indicate widespread belief in the fact that world governments are working to keep aspects of the greater UFO mystery under wraps. In 1996, a Gallup poll found a 71 percent majority among U.S. citizens reporting belief in government coverups pertaining to UFO sightings; a nearly identical figure was obtained by the Sci Fi Channel in 2002, who administered a Roper poll about UFOs. Altogether, while the new NatGeo survey shows only one in three Americans favoring “belief,” the general idea remains the same: large numbers of people over the last several decades have been maintaining awareness in the cultural staple that has become known as the UFO… whatever these objects may actually represent.
But I would argue that, while results from such surveys do indeed show a level of awareness among the general populace regarding UFOs, what they also tend to show are the cultural biases that exist toward the phenomenon. Indeed, while the program Chasing UFOs (which, months ago, one of its producers described to me as being a program that sought to “pick up where Project Blue Book left off”) does indeed look as if it addresses UFOs in a thorough and rigorous way, it is nonetheless also becoming evident that the extraterrestrial meme is being portrayed heavily here right from the outset. But would this be a problem, per se?

The issue here is that while UFOs may be extraterrestrial, if we attach ourselves to such a presumption, then we are left with the burden of having to find proof for such claims; and despite the apparent presence of what we might call “aliens” with some UFO reports, we really have no proof that the UFO phenomenon is in any way extraterrestrial. Sure, it might look that way, but despite the shady claims of covert inside sources who argue they’ve had access to “proof,” it remains something we still haven’t managed to lay our hands on.
Even in the event that UFOs represented a variety of non-human intelligence, there still might be other potentials that we should consider, and which in truth, might even better represent the unknown quantities this phenomenon presents before us. Among these other potential explanations for UFOs, we must consider the possibility that careful misdirection could be at work here; or what about the possibility (however remote, of course) that an indigenous terrestrial civilization could somehow exist? What about time travelers from our future, or even visitors from alternate dimensional states right alongside ours, which have managed to harness methods for crossing the barriers of space and time from other realities?
There are indeed an entire host of potentials here, and while they are indeed given, at times, their due and proper, we see that the extraterrestrial meme clearly and consistently remains the darling in the eye of the mainstream. In other words, whether it be due to the romanticism associated with alien contact, or the sheer prevalence of this explanation being ingrained within the public perception, it seems we’ve become far too married to the ET explanation for UFOs… and despite there being very little in the way conclusive proof for the idea.

Mac's UFO News - June 2012 (Video)

Some of the ufo cases that made Mac's UFO News during the month of June 2012.  As seen on Mac's UFO News.

Disk shaped ufo over British Colombia, Canada (Video)

By Scott Waring

Date of sighting: June 30, 2012
Location of sighting: Burnaby, British Colombia, Canada



Ufo Newspaper Clipping - The Sun 16.8.1967.



UFO Hit By Plane Spray Moves Under Water (Video)

By Ufo Casebook

Originally published on Jun 30, 2012 by RealLifeAlienVideos
This video shows a UFO get hit by the spray of a plane and it goes down and hits the water, seemingly going under water.
This was filmed in the Gulf of Mexico when the oil spill was present. After reviewing the film again, the UFO seems to be underwater. It looks like the UFO was hit by the spray purposelessly by the pilot.
Listen carefully for the speaker. He said... "ability to accurately hit the target."
This may be out of context, but it sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it?"
This remains a mystery but YOU may be able to solve it...
The video has been edited by www.ufocasebook.com
(Editor's Note: My hearing is not what it used to be, at least according to my wife, but when I heard the phrase: "ability to accurately hit the target," I don't think it was relating to a UFO.

Is the Baltic Sea 'Sunken UFO' an Elaborate Scam?

By Natalie Wolchover

The ocean explorers who discovered a huge, UFO-shape object on the floor of the Baltic Sea last year are having a heck of a time figuring out what it is.
A suspiciously hard time, some would say.
The Swedish divers, who call themselves the Ocean X Team, claim the object is giving off electrical interference that keeps foiling their attempts to investigate it. "Anything electric out there — and the satellite phone as well — stopped working when we were above the object," said diver Stefan Hoberborn in an Ocean X press release. "And then we got away about 200 meters and it turned on again, and when we got back over the object it didn't work."

Sonar image of the Baltic Sea "UFO" and adjacent "track" of cleared material. White outlines added by the Ocean X Team.
CREDIT: RT News

As a result, there is still only one sonar image in existence of the 200-foot-wide (60-meter-wide) object, which UFO believers say is a crashed flying saucer. According to experts in remote imaging and geology, however, that image is "lacking in resolution, detail, and quantification," is riddled with "numerous processing artifacts" and looks like a spaceship only because the Ocean X team drew a Millennium Falcon-shape outline around it. Instead, the experts said, what the image shows is probably a roughly circular rock formation called a pillow basalt — rare, but very much of this world. [Gallery: Images of 'Sunken UFO']

The alleged inability of the Ocean X team to provide more details of its seafloor "UFO" is only adding to the object's allure, judging by the upsurge of media coverage. But is the whole thing a scam?
Peter Lindberg, head of the Ocean X Team, either has let his imagination run wild or has an ulterior motive, according to Jonathon Hill, a researcher at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, who analyzes images of planetary surface features taken during NASA's Mars missions.
"Whenever people make extraordinary claims, it's always a good idea to consider for a moment whether they are personally benefiting from the claim or if it's a truly objective observation," Hill told Life's Little Mysteries.
"In this case, the team clearly has a lot to gain from an extraordinary claim," he said. "Mr. Lindberg is already making plans to take 'wealthy tourists' down in his submarine to view the object. If he had used a rock hammer to break off a small piece of the object, a geologist could have determined whether it was a pillow basalt in a few minutes. But if it turned out to be a pillow basalt and not a 'mysterious UFO-like object', Mr. Lindberg wouldn't have much of a business plan, would he?"
This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow Natalie Wolchover on Twitter @nattyover. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries. We're also on Facebook & Google+.



Ben Hansen reveals stunning UFO footage captured in Florida

By Maureen Elsberry

Recently a video of strange lights captured near Pensacola, Florida turned into a very productive investigation for one group. During an interview on the web series Spacing Out!, former FBI agent Ben Hansen, who is the lead investigator on the SyFy television series Fact or Faked, revealed that his team captured their own video of an unidentified object in the same location.



While the team was able to reproduce similar effects during tests involving flares, an air boat and ATVs, what happened next led them to leave the case open. During a night investigation using a full spectrum camera, the team captured a bright white light which curved around the tree line and shot off with incredible speed. The motion detector on the camera, which places a white box around moving objects, not only captured the object, but also it’s reflection over the water ruling out the possibility of a bug in front of the lens. The team has stated that this is some of the most incredible footage they have captured to date.
With this stunning footage left unidentified, Hansen hopes to return to the location in the future to conduct further tests. Watch the interview with Ben Hansen and view the UFO footage below:

UFOs & Pilots: The Brit Files

By Nick Redfern

Since 1947, countless UFO sightings have been made by numerous sources all across the world. And, amongst those same reports, are a significant number that have been filed officially by pilots, both military and civilian, and, probably most famously, by Kenneth Arnold in June 1947. And from my home country of Britain, come a number of significant “pilot-UFO” cases, as we shall now see. Declassified British Air Ministry files of 1957 detail an extraordinary, and very close, encounter of the pilot variety. It was 10.22 a.m. on April 29, and a pair of Hunter aircraft took off from RAF Odiham to engage in a mid-air exercise. At 45,000 feet one of the pilots was confronted by an unidentified aerial object…
The official report on the matter states: “…when over Hayling Island Mission 28 No. 2 saw a large white object at 10 o’clock slightly above. The object was circular with a white slightly curving tail hanging below. The time was approx 1110. Formation Leader was informed and both pairs turned east onto a northerly heading to look for the object. At first the object was thought to be a parachute but later it was realised that the object must have been larger and at a greater distance because of the slow passing speed.”
A document of December, 29 1962 from a Squadron Leader J.G. Mejor of the Air Ministry Operations Center to Air Intelligence states: “A civilian pilot, call-sign GASCX, name and company unknown, flying from Renfrew to Manchester, was over Morecambe Bay at 7,000 ft at 1955z on 28th December, 1962, when he saw approx 1,000 ft below him a bright light, three times brighter than a star, traveling East to West at approx. 800 m.p.h. At exactly the same time a motorist, reporting via the Morecambe Police and Crosby Coastguard, said he saw a green flare. He was at LEVENS BRIDGE, Nr. HARROW, looking south. No radar confirmation.”

A public service corporation, the Civil Aviation Authority was established by the British Parliament in 1972 as a specialist aviation regulator and provider of air traffic services. Following its separation from the National Air Traffic Services in 2001, the CAA became the U.K.’s independent aviation regulator, with all civil aviation functions (such as economic regulations; airspace policy; safety regulations; and consumer protection) integrated within a single, unified body. The CAA has declassified into the public domain a number of documents that tell of extraordinary encounters with UFOs, as the following, small selection acutely demonstrates:
“19 Sep 79 Vicenza – UFO observed passing 200 feet below aircraft. Milan control reported no traffic.
“11 Jun 80 Vicenza – UFO passed close to aircraft. Object appeared to be like a fighter aircraft drop tank.
“13 Feb 81 Lyon – Unidentified foreign object seen on aircraft radar. A sizeable oval shaped target appeared on radar center-line at limit of range tracking at very high speed. No visual sighting made.
“12 Jun 82 Dinkelsbuhi – Large translucent object 500 feet long at 41,000 feet. ATCC [Air Traffic Control Center] requested subject aircraft to investigate this object which was found to have the form of a double rectangle surmounted by a globe (egg shape) crowned by a silver cone. Object observed by all on board.
“21 Jun 82 Brindisi – Unidentified object sighted by pilots. Object passed down left hand side at same height as aircraft (FL230) & 2 miles away. Black shiny doughnut shape about the size of a car. Object was tumbling and judged to be stationary.
“18 Aug 83 Florence – Unidentified flying object seen by crew. Large black object, balloon shaped with large white spot on it, observed 10 NM SE of Firenza. No attachments to object. SUPP. INFO.: Italian CAA replied no met [meteorological] balloon could possibly have been present at the indicated place or time.

“24 Aug 84 Ipswich – UK Reportable Accident – A/C [Aircraft] struck object in cruise. Propeller, fuselage, cowling & control runs damaged. The A/C was flying in slight turbulence when a bump was felt. Just before descent the right hand engine control was found to be seized so an asymmetric approach & landing was executed. On inspection it was apparent that the left propeller had struck an unidentified object, propelling it through the cabin roof, with a piece exiting through a window. There were several holes in the fuselage & damage to the engine, aileron & rudder trim cables. Three pieces of foreign metallic object were found, including a small cylindrical magnet. The UFO has not been identified. No information received concerning nature or origin of UFO.
“20 Dec 84 Herald – Bright white lights arced across A/C track. No range activity in channel. Lights also seen by another A/C.”26 Oct 84 Reading – Unidentified flying object: bright light 65 Deg Elev, 200 Deg T, duration 7 minutes.
“5 Feb 86 5427N 0530W – Bright light passed upwards in front of A/C. A/C was crossing east coast of Ireland on descent. Light travelled towards A/C from a 2.30 position range approx 11/2 miles and passed 1000 feet above travelling right to left 1 mile ahead. Burst of green light observed at peak of its ballistic flight. A/C ht [height] 1450 ft. CAA closure – possibly flare fired at about time of OCC by Aldergrove. Pilot considered this unlikely but no other explanation has emerged.
“21 Aug 86 Belgrade – Non UK Airmiss missile type object passed 500 ft above on reciprocal track A/C heading 290 MAG at FL 390. Object was black, cigar shaped, without wings. Belgrade radar informed on RTF. CAA closure – foreign authority advised.
“1 May 1994 – Sighting of unusual object. Member of public reported seeing a black boomerang-shaped object, which appeared to hover over RAF Northolt, above 30,000 feet, before tumbling approx 2000-3000 feet, while rotating through 180 degrees on its axis. No other reports of anything unusual received – possibly A/C in Bovingdon stack seen from odd angle in setting sun.”
Moving on…
Shortly before 1.00 a.m. on June 8, 2008, a South Wales Police helicopter, carrying a crew of three, was over MOD St. Athan, awaiting permission to land and refuel. As they held their position in the skies, the crew’s attention was drawn to a ‘brightly lit’ object above them that was reported as being”flying saucer shaped.” Suddenly, without warning, the object raced towards them at ‘great speed’ – something that caused the pilot to take immediate, evasive action to avoid a potential collision. The object then sped away and the helicopter crew decided to follow. Their pursuit took them over the Bristol Channel until, as they neared the North Devon Coast, a lack of adequate fuel forced them to abandon the chase.
What may have been the same object was seen later that same day by George Withrington, who happened to be a retired RAF glider pilot from St. Mellons, Cardiff. He said the unknown intruder was “peculiar with lots of flashing lights” and added that: “I was looking at an aeroplane overhead when I spotted this thing that was in the corner of my eye. It shifted direction very quickly, in the blink of an eye. I looked at it for quite a while. I was watching it for at least 10 minutes. It flew off towards the east, towards Newport.”
Media coverage was intense; which led South Wales Police to state that: “We can confirm the Air Support Unit sighted an unusual aircraft. This was reported to the relevant authorities for their investigation. The crew are very experienced and responded in a professional manner in relation to what they saw. In today’s skies, there are a wide variety of aircraft which come in a range of different shapes and sizes and in all probability, this sighting has just confirmed that one of these was in the area at the relevant time.”
Today, the case remains steeped in controversy, with some UFO researchers perceiving the incident as prime evidence that aliens were flying over South Wales on that fateful night. Others, meanwhile, suggest that nothing stranger than Chinese Lanterns and media exaggeration were the cause of all the cosmic fuss.
In view of all the above reports from qualified and experienced pilots, however, if one day you should be in the fortunate position to see a UFO, remember: you’ll be in very good company!