Transcript for 8/30/24: ON EARTH – AS IT IS W/ RICHARD C. HOAGLAND

One of the greatest questions of our time is “Are we alone?” Are there other lifeforms out there, and if so, will we ever meet them? Or are we truly alone, hurtling through space on this rock that holds the only life in the universe? 

Considering the incomprehensible vastness of space, and the fact that recent NASA estimates are that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable worlds in our galaxy alone, it seems almost certain that there must be some form of life out there besides ourselves, and some of them might even have the ability to reach out across the stars. Indeed, some estimates have suggested that there could be thousands of space going civilizations.

If they are out there do we really want to meet them? What would happen if we were to meet aliens? Would they be friendly, indifferent, or malevolent? We of course don’t know, but there are ideas.

Assuming that there actually is intelligent life out there, and assuming that they have mastered interplanetary travel, there are several ways that contact could go, which could largely depend on what brought them here and what their goals are, with varying possible scenarios.

One that has been suggested is a meeting in space. A diplomatic exchange between our astronauts who are chief scientists and intelligent alien beings. 

This would be a safer way to do so to prevent contamination of our earth -- much like what has been indicated with regard to Columbus discovering the new world and bringing with him diseases that killed the indigenous peoples.

On a space station there would be a contained environment where communication can be had between mankind and alien kind.

Speculation has long run rampant on questions, of first contact and although we don’t really know if meetings of alien intelligence has already happened, we would venture many hypothesis as to what their values would be, and it is impossible to know such things, we can still make guesses.

We have been treated lately to a series of films that have actually given us some scary predictive programming on such a meeting -- meetings or even discoveries on space stations where the astronauts meet some brutal deaths.

Recently I just watched the film "Life."

A team of scientists on the International Space Station discover a life form that threatens Earth. This movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, and Ryan Reynolds. The life form starts our as one small- cell and then grows into an Apex predator.

Alien Romulus is in theaters and i have not seen it yet but I have heard that the it is a horror movie that takes place on the Romulus station, and we all know that the alien face huggers are there to make things terrifying.

In the film Dead Space: Downfall

A team of miners at an outpost in deep space unearth an ancient alien artefact that begins to infect the members of their spaceship. 

Alien Microbial life -- is always the start of bigger and scarier things.

This is why we may not be getting the full story from the mainstream news about the astronauts who are stranded on the space station and the new discoveries found on Mars.

A new discovery by NASA's Perseverance rover shows a trifecta of compelling evidence — including the presence of water, organic compounds, and a chemical energy source — all on one rock located in the Jezero Crater.

Although this is the best clue yet that microbial life existed on Mars, there are still other explanations that could explain this geologic display without the existence of microbes.

Located on an arrowhead-shaped, three-foot-long rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls" in the Jezero Crater (the 28-mile-wide crater that Perseverance has called home for the past three years), this "piece of evidence" is actually a trifecta of data points that suggest the presence of past microbial life. The rock in question features two vertical veins of calcium sulfate that likely formed from past water, and these stripes both flank a red band of rock filled with "leopard spots."

NASA has discovered evidence of past water on Mars before, but it's this narrow band of rock that brings new meaning to this discovery. Using its SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) and PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry) instruments, Perseverance determined the existence of organic compounds within the rock. Oh, and those "leopard spots?" Those likely indicate chemical reactions that could've supplied energy to ancient microbial Martians.

While each of these discoveries — the presence of water, organic compounds, and chemical reactions — would be notable even if discovered separately, NASA has never seen all three in one location, meaning the geological chemistry of Cheyava Falls is possibly our best clue yet that Mars once hosted microbial life -- or that life may have evolved and that other life forms could be living underground.

Just earlier this year, scientists studying a 2017 soil analysis from Curiosity's ongoing mission in Gale Crater discovered an abundance of manganese in the soil — something that usually requires the presence of oxygen and microbes.

But all of these discoveries come with more than a few caveats. In Curiosity's case, too little is known about the Mars' oxidation process to be certain that microbes existed in Gale Crater, and this new discovery also isn't immune from scientific scrutiny. One big head scratcher is the presence of millimeter-sized olivine crystals — a mineral that forms from magma. This may possibility explain how past volcanic activity could produce this geologic phenomena without relying on the presence of microbes at all.

But this does not rule out extremophile creatures that have been known to live in Volcanic craters.

NASA originally designed Perseverance to also be a sample retrieval mission, meaning that the space agency would send an additional spacecraft to retrieve samples from Perseverance and bring them back to Earth for further study.

However, with the costs of such a mission edging into the $11 billion range, bringing back samples of this Martian geologic wonder is in now question — as is the possibility of definitively understanding if there was once microbial life on Mars.

A study released Monday using data from NASA's Mars InSight lander shows evidence of liquid water far below the surface of the fourth planet, advancing the search for life there and showing what might have happened to Mars' ancient oceans.

The lander, which has been on the red planet since 2018, measured seismic data over four years, examining how quakes shook the ground and determining what materials or substances were beneath the surface.

Based on that data, the researchers found liquid water was most likely present deep beneath the lander. Water is considered essential for life, and geological studies show the planet's surface had lakes, rivers and oceans more than 3 billion years ago.

The results have implications for understanding Mars' water cycle, determining the fates of past surface water, searching for past or extant life, and assessing in situ resource utilization for future missions.

The conspiracy theorist in me makes me wonder if there is more to this story. There is always that faint possibility that the scientists at NASA has found more than they will let on and now it appears that space projects have somehow stalled.

It does not make sense that this is happening -- it is like a quarantine has been issued for further space missions.

Following a comprehensive internal review, NASA announced Wednesday its intent to discontinue development of its VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project.

The space agency has run out of money and, absent a last-minute salvation by Congress or either a commercial or international entity, the mission will not fly. However they continue to say that the Artemis mission is still on track --even though they have constantly moved their launch dates.

It seems that it just cat get off the ground.

SpaceX launches are on hold after a booster rocket toppled over in flames while landing Wednesday.

The Federal Aviation Administration grounded the company’s Falcon 9 rockets and ordered an investigation following the predawn accident off the Florida coast. No injuries or public damage were reported.

It’s too early to know how much impact this will have on SpaceX’s upcoming crew flights, one private and the other for NASA. A billionaire’s chartered flight was delayed just a few hours earlier because of a poor weather forecast.

The rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and got all 21 StarLink internet satellites to orbit. But the first-stage booster fell over in a fireball moments after landing on an ocean platform, the first such accident in years. 

It was the 23rd time this particular booster had launched, a recycling record for SpaceX.

I remember vaguely that in the science fiction movie Earth V.S. The Flying saucers that something was sabotaging missile launch programs into space. It was later revealed that the aliens were intentionally grounding space craft to make way for their fleet-- their first task was not invasion but a meeting with officials in Washington.

It turned out to be a plot for invasion -- this has been a concern for space force as of late.

Space Force administrators spoke in the UK recently and stated that week warn they now need to be more ready for attacks off Earth than ever before as space is being rapidly weaponized.

Lt Gen David N. Miller said today at the US Embassy in London: “We are moving from establishment into developing the service into a combat credible military service.

“Increasingly the character of warfare that includes space as an operational domain for warfighting is becoming more and more apparent to everyone.

“In order to compete in today’s environment, deter conflict and prevail conflict, we’re going to have to take similar approaches to developing, generating and fielding capability.”

Chief Master Sergeant Caleb M. Lloyd said: “The domain has changed.

"We recognize and talk about space as a warfighting domain.

"The particular focus for us is the development of our people.”

The U.S accused Russia of launching a counter space weapon capable of attacking satellites into low Earth orbit.

Well sometimes art fore structures reality -- there has to be some reason why all of these stories are getting the silent treatment.

This also includes the reports of astronauts that have been stranded on the ISS. 

The alleged Rocket failures and a Boeing capsule malfunction is the reason these astronauts are stranded according to NASA

Their only hope is to return to Earth on SpaceX's Dragon capsule, which will take off using the Falcon 9 rocket, and is supposed to get them home by February 2025.

But the latest setback threatens to push that date back even further.

Depending on circumstances, some mishap investigations might conclude in a matter of weeks. Other more complex investigations might take several months,' the agency's website states. 

The worst-case scenario - a lengthy FAA investigation followed by more issues with Falcon 9 could delay Crew Dragon's launch even further. 

NASA will want to be certain the rocket is flawless before allowing it to carry a manned crew, which could mean several more tests between now and that rescue mission.

Mind you this is a mission that would only be about 400 miles into space-- the moon is 250,000 miles -- are we really going to the moon -- and did we ever go?

We can't be that primitive which is why it may be that this whole stranded astronaut story is a cover for perhaps a discovery of alien life and the extra staff they need to analyze it -- or even have a meeting?

Wouldn't that be a major news story if it was true.