Mars One wants to colonize the Red Planet. To make it happen, they're harnessing the power (and money) of reality TV.
Private space flight has had quite a boom in the past few years, but until now, it's been funded by floods of IPO cash or the occasional promise of extraterrestrial minerals. But a Dutch entrepreneur named Bas Lansdorp has lit onto a new source of funding for his upcoming Mars One project: the world's first extraterrestrial reality show.
The plan is for a colonization mission, but the show would start even earlier, with months of rigorous screening and viewer voting to pick the four astronauts. (Think The Right Stuff meets American Idol.) The heart of the show would come once the astronaut contestants started to settle into their new Martian home. As Lansdorp told us, "Everybody watched Neil Armstrong land on the moon. But everyboy stopped watching." With the Martian equivalent of a Real World house, it's much easier to lock viewers in.
Also, there's no way back. Mars One says a return mission isn't workable with current technology, so the colonists will all be spending the rest of their lives on what they hope will be a growing Martian colony. The show, as they say, must go on.
There are many reasons to be skeptical. It would be the first time a human being has landed on another planet, much less permanently settled one, and it comes at a time when most private space shuttles are still struggling to make it into orbit. Then there's the price. Lansdorp estimates it will cost around $6 billion, but NASA's most recent moon landing proposal cost twice that, and it didn't involve building a permanent colony. Lansdorp has a good reputation with the TED crowd — his last project used drones to generate wind power — but there's no indication he's up for an engineering challenge like this.
Still, it would make for a hell of a TV show. Space travel has always made for great television, from the first moon landing to the SpaceX Dragon launch in May. And when the astronauts are public figures who have committed themselves to living and dying on camera, it's easy to imagine a network seizing on Lansdorp's pitch, even if it gets scaled down a bit along the way.
Unlike NASA, Mars One isn't interested in science, so the rockets and shuttles will be built entirely with currently available tech. Relying on television circa 2012 is a bit dicier. As Lansdorp told us, "nobody knows what the media will look like in 10 years," so pitching a television event a decade in advance is the trickiest part of the project.
In other words, the media is officially moving faster than rocket science.
In this Shropshire UFO casebook for shropshirelive.com, UFO researcher Phil Hoyle explains how one UFO witness was visited by a strange man.
In part 6 of my casebook I talked about an incident involving Roger Erdington who lived near Newport, Shropshire. He had contacted us after we had placed an advert in the local Newport newspaper in the hope people in that surrounding area might contact us regarding any UFO sightings or encounters. His response was very interesting yet disturbing.
Roger related a very weird incident that took place in the 70’s at his nursery business that he ran for more than 35 years. One afternoon Roger had heard someone calling him from the lower level of his storage building, which was situated in an old barn. He politely asked the person to come up stairs to where he was working, after a few moments a short dapper little man, grey haired in a bank managers suit carrying a briefcase came up the stairs and asked, if he was Roger Erdington? “Yes I am” Roger replied, at this point he presumed the man was a VAT or Tax inspector. The man opened his briefcase and pulled out a manuscript, Roger was told that he must scrutinize the document, which was quite lengthy, digest it, and then destroy it. Roger asked what it was, telling the mystery man that if it was some sort of sales gimmick he didn’t want to buy it, and explained that if it was insurance he was fully insured. The man looked at Roger and said “no it’s neither of those”, it was at this point Roger asked who he was?
The man replied with his name and explained that he was a professor and had brought important documents for him to read.
Roger scanned the document and said it looked like “Political Treaties”, the man replied “I suppose you could call it that, but read it all and do as you’re told and then destroy it.” Roger wondered why this man was there, and asked him, where he was from? The man had an Australian accent and replied that he was a professor at Brisbane University, the man then looked at his watch and said he couldn’t stay long explaining ”You’re the last one I’ve got to do and I’m catching an aeroplane from Manchester shortly.”
Roger, who was rather confused by the incident, asked the man to leave the manuscript on the bench, which he did and then he left. From the upper window Roger can see anyone leaving the premises by the only access point below, but he never saw the man leave the building, he had just vanished, Ray’s wife was present also at the time and confirms this incident.
That night Roger started to read the manuscript and was dumbfounded by its content, it told of future earth events. Roger read the manuscript and as instructed, threw the manuscript on the fire!
The following year Roger did a lot of research on the man who had visited him; he discovered that the strange man had never worked at Brisbane University and that the mans name related to someone who had been dead for the past 70 years. Could the strange man belong to an alien race known as the “Watchers” it is believed that this benevolent human type race are responsible for overseeing the evolutionary development of humanity and appear at times of great trouble to guide man in the right direction.
Regarding the content of the manuscript-document it related to the political chaos of the world starting from 1971 to approximately 2022. It mentioned the events of 9/11 and that China would become a great world super power. It also mentioned trouble in Korea and great problems with Muslim nations.
This is only one of many similar incidents I have investigated over the past 30 years and makes me wonder what secret or forbidden knowledge has been passed to individuals that might still be lying in an old dusty cupboard or attic?
Rihanna's
brother Rorrey has revealed that the 24-year-old singer was obsessed with
finding unidentified flying objects as a child.
Apparently the performer was preoccupied with discovering life
beyond Earth.
He said: "We used to
spend all weekend watching movies and talking about UFOs, looking out for them.
Ri really believes there are UFOs."
Rorrey, who is launching a rap career under the name GQ, said
that his sister may be the coolest person in the music industry at the moment
but she was known for being extremely diligent at school in Barbados.
Rorrey Fenty told the Daily Star
newspaper: "We worked very hard and took it really seriously. We went to good
schools and Ri was a good student."
He
added that she was very self-motivated and made sure she only took time out to
have fun once a week.
He said: "She is
very self-motivated so Mum didn't have to push her to do homework.
"She had a lot of discipline. We only went
to the beach on Sundays."
A fascinating UFO video on YouTube showing
strange lights in the sky, which were first dismissed as farm equipment
operating at night on a Texas farm, has been analyzed, raising more questions
than answers. What is it?
The video compares the original segment with
daytime photo views of the same field and elevation, juxtaposing the original
with the new pictures. It shows that, if the unidentified object is farm
equipment, it would have to be flying through the air.
The investigation uses fairly advanced imaging
tools to make the case this is more than farm equipment, but the videographer
stops short of actually labeling the sighting as a UFO.
Exactly matching up tree lines and foliage makes
a compelling case that the objects caught on tape in a fog-shrouded field, in
the dead of night, may just be more than combines on overtime. So, what is it? Here's the video:
The United Nations has instructions for what to do when contact is made with extraterrestrials. At least that is what Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka claimed during an interview on Chinese TV. Speaking from the International Space Station, Padalka stated, “The UN and representatives of China have developed detailed instructions in case of the first contact.” According to Russian media outlet RIA Novosti, Padalka shared his belief that humans are not alone in the universe, stating, “Sooner or later we will meet our like-minded brothers.”
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka. (Credit: NASA)
The interview between Padalka and Chinese TV marked the launch of China’s manned space mission to the country’s Tiangong-1 space station.
Russian scientists are extremely interested in communication with extraterrestrials. For the past three years, the Russian Institute of Applied Astronomy (IAA) has hosted the Searching for Life Signatures symposium, where scientists meet to discuss both passive SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and active METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence) efforts. The fourth annual Searching for Life Signatures symposium takes place in late September 2012.
Illustration from a British National Archives video of a 1997 account of a man who claimed
to have been hit by a beam of light from a UFO while he was driving in South Wales.
Iran Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi announced on June 10 that UFOs don't pose a threat to Iran's security. His remark came after an unexplained light was reported over several countries, including Iran, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel, according to Tehran Times.com. Just last week, several people in the Washington, D.C., area -- apparently being vigilant on U.S. security -- reported sightings of a UFO after spotting a drone being transported on the Beltway near the capital.
When the U.S. Air Force officially closed its own 22-year investigation of UFOs in 1970 -- a probe dubbed Project Blue Book -- one of the reasons given for the termination of the study was that no UFOs evaluated by the Air Force were ever considered a threat to America's national security.
The Air Force had also determined and told the public that no UFOs represented any kind of advanced technology beyond current scientific knowledge and that no evidence pointed to the possibility that any UFOs had an extraterrestrial origin.
And yet, military personnel have been telling a different tale in recent years.
"The reason why the military is claiming they don't investigate UFOs is because they don't want to respond to people like you," former Air Force Captain Robert Salas told The Huffington Post last October.
"They don't want to respond to reporters or to the public as to what the heck is going on, and it's been going on for so long. They just don't want to have to answer that question," Salas said.
Across the Atlantic, Great Britain reacted to Cold War flying saucer sightings in a similar way. In 1950, the Ministry of Defense created a group of scientists and intelligence experts to secretly examine UFO sightings, according to a British National Archives consultant. Even former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, at right, wanted to get to the bottom of the flying saucer mystery.
The information gathered by this "Flying Saucer Working Party" stayed secret for 50 years, according to David Clarke, of Sheffield Hallam University, who serves as the official British National Archives consultant for the ongoing release of that country's UFO files. David Clarke describes British UFO files from 1986-1992:
Clarke notes how approximately 5 percent of UFO sightings -- on either side of the pond -- remain unidentified.
"Unidentified, to me, does not mean extraterrestrial spacecraft -- it simply means unidentified," Clarke told HuffPost.
"If you are a military person, certainly since 9/11, an unidentified object in the sky -- if it's reported by a military observer or it's something on radar -- they're not immediately going to think, 'Ah, it's the Martians,'" he said. "Their initial reaction is that an unidentified object could be a hijacked aircraft or an enemy missile. So, from the military and government point of view, they're only interested in making sure that whatever it is, it's not one of those things."
After a hijacked plane or missile is eliminated by investigators, "they couldn't care whether it's a balloon or even an alien spacecraft, as long as it's not causing any harm to the nation's defenses," Clarke said. The second edition of his book, "The UFO Files," based on documents released by Britain's National Archives, will be published by Bloomsbury in September. David Clarke describes UFO files from 1987-1993:
Clarke was involved with the discovery at The National Archives of files that he claims reveal how, in 1950, the British government worked closely with a UFO study by the American CIA.
"The very existence of any 'official' study of UFOs had been long denied by the MoD," Clarke wrote on his website. "The report constitutes the 'Holy Grail' to those who have always believed that the Ministry of Defense were involved in a cover-up of UFO evidence."
In 2001, the Ministry of Defense released the final 1951 report of the Flying Saucer Working Party to Clarke and co-UFO researcher Andy Roberts, Clarke says, after they invoked the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. That document can be read at Clarke and Roberts' Real UFO Project website.
The six-page Flying Saucer Working Party file recommended a systematic debunking of UFO sightings to prevent the more unexplained cases from going public, according to Clarke. And this, he says, is what led to the belief of a government conspiracy about UFOs.
"Thousands and thousands of people across the world seem to believe that the governments of the world know that we're being visited by aliens and they're deliberately concealing it from the public for bizarre reasons," Clarke told HuffPost.
"You will never convince those people otherwise," he added. "While 5 percent of UFOs can't be explained, so what? Is that really surprising, given the fact that a lot of sightings are reported days, months, years after they've actually happened, when the scent has gone cold?" David Clarke describes UFO files from 1994-2000:
Clarke is well aware he comes across as a disbeliever, but he's trying to remain fair.
"I am skeptical, but I'd also like to think that I'm open-minded enough that if evidence came that was absolutely overwhelming about something being extraterrestrial or some other explanation, that I wouldn't say, 'Oh, it can't possibly exist, therefore it doesn't,'" he said. "I think a lot of the people who are absolutely convinced about extraterrestrials are equally not being open-minded of other possibilities."
A strange glowing "UFO" was filmed Sunday
over a popular park in Northern California, in close proximity to the homes of
top Silicon Valley executives.
The three-and-a-half minute footage clearly
shows a glowing orb, which changes hues from yellow to red to green. The
mysterious object looks like it could turn out to be a weather
balloon, but this is still fairly compelling video. Do you believe this craft
has otherworldly origins?
Whenever an anomalous encounter like this
one occurs in a major metropolitan region, like San Francisco/San Jose, the
authorities should investigate. In addition, there are many high-level computer
executives, including Apple founder Steve Wozniak, who own homes nearby. Are
aliens visiting the area to monitor the high-tech industry?
An eyewitness first spotted the anomalous
flying craft on Saturday, and was waiting with a camcorder the next night.
The eyewitness lives in South San Jose, but
the flying object was in the area of the Sierra Azul Open Space Preserve, a
rugged 18,000 acre public park. In the video, the pulsating UFO light ascends
over a mountain range, moves slowly through the sky, then comes back down.
An unusual UFO
sighting, caught from a train near Portsmouth, England, is notable because of
its uniqueness. The unidentified flying object, caught on an iPhone for just a
few seconds, at first, looks like the Sun peeking out. But that's impossible, as
the surrounding shadow falls reveal.
Whatever the
bright light is blazing through a cloud bank, it caught the eye of the rail
passenger pulling in to the Portsmouth station who filmed the short clip
below.
While not the
classic sighting in any sense, it's a striking example of the unusual objects in
the sky at any given time which can now be caught by unsuspecting witnesses
armed with a simple, high quality cell phone camera.
In this
particular UFO sighting, a bright, multi-faceted light source is
bursting through a cloud floating through an otherwise clear evening sky. It's
clearly not the Sun because of its strange shape and edges. It looks more like a
flare, but for what purpose?
Whatever this
object is, it's one of the most striking, even beautiful, examples ever caught
on film. Here's the
video:
A weird, new
kind of UFO, shaped like what can only be described as a catamaran boat hull,
was filmed in the cloudy twilight skies over an unidentified city in Russia.
What is it?
The video shows
a cloudy sky over the city as a flashing light slowly makes its way over the
rooftops. As the camera zooms in and the clouds fall away, the shape of the
unidentified flying object is more clearly defined.
As the video
rolls, the flashing lights appear to encircle the craft's hull, which, at one
point, reveals oblong rails on either side. Hence the comparison to a catamaran,
which is similarly shaped.
But, clearly,
there are no jets, airplanes or helicopters which have that kind of shape and
there is no evidence that the wingless, motorless UFO is spewing exhaust or showing the properties of those
kinds of aircraft.
Because there
is no audio at all on the video, it's impossible to tell if the aircraft is
making any engine sounds. So, what is
it? Here's the
video:
