The report is about an Earth based scenario, a combination of the possibilities inherent in a background Earth story, some possible hypotheses by me, and then some visual evidence to add into the mix. It will be up to you to decide if there is any merit. First we’ll start with the background story.

In more modern times, the story of ancient Atlantis has fascinated generations and some to obsession as a real place. As many of you may know, it is acknowledged that the story of Atlantis was first introduced into public awareness via dialogues by the Greek philosopher Plato around 355–360 BC. As the story goes, Plato’s references regarding Atlantis was allegedly in turn sourced from a 500 hundred years earlier 6th century BC trip by the Athenian lawgiver Solon to Egypt where an Egyptian priest there translated a part of an unknown history of ancient Athens and Atlantis from papyri scrolls of Egyptian hieroglyphs to Greek of a time some 9,000 year earlier to that 6th century period.

According to the translation, it seems that the god/man Poseidon (you know, Zeus, Hera, Apollo etc.) fell in love with a human female named Cleito on the island Atlantis who bore him many sons, the oldest of which was named Atlas. Now it should be noted at this point that the term “Atlantis” in Greek means “island of Atlas” and the term “Atlantic” Ocean was named after Atlas. It seems that in the even more distant past, the “gods” divided up Earth lands among themselves and Poseidon to his liking was assigned the then Atlantis lands west off of the Pillars of Hercules which the latter we know today as the Strait of Gibraltar separating the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

So, despite the many other location prospects presented by others as more likely sites, the ancient story clearly places the location of the Atlantean culture in the Atlantic Ocean somewhere west of the Strait of Gibraltar. Many have a problem with this because it is the scientific consensus opinion that this location is geologically impossible. Further, since science now days considers itself rational and enlightened, the story starting off with the “god” Poseidon likely causes many not to take it serious and regard it as little more than fabricated myth.

However, this ignores the ancient Sumarian and Indian culture record as also referring to such “gods” in human form including conducting great wars with each other. The consensus also makes the assumption that such records are not history but merely fabricated myths and legends to explain events they didn’t understand by ancient people less sophisticated and knowledgeable than ourselves. In my opinion, such views reveal more about our flaws and arrogance than ancient ones.

In any case, the story goes on to describe Atlantis as an island or a great number of islands occupying a very large area of specific measurement so that it might also be considered as large as a continent. Therefore do note that it isn’t described so much as a “continent” as we think of single land mass but a collection of land masses with the island Atlantis as its center of power.

The Atlantean’s are described as a naval power that also possessed flying machines. It seems that landmass Atlantis itself was occupied by Atlas and was an island with mountains. One of these mountains where Cleito apparently resided was carved by Poseidon into a great palace with concentric rings of land, walls, and canals extending out from its center and complete with other canal systems. It seems that the eastern most and other reaches of the Atlantean world were separate kingdoms divided up almost certainly among Atlas’s brothers and so the Atlantean world was a confederation of kingdoms with Atlantis as its power center.

In the time some 9,000 years before the time of Solon and the translation, the Atlantean confederation or some portion of it was apparently aggressively attacking and conquering in western Europe, parts of Africa, and attacking into the Mediterranean where they encountered ancient Athens. Athens standing alone stopped them militarily and thus no doubt the reason for Solon’s Greek interest in the Egyptian translated story. At some point in time not too long after this Atlantean military defeat there is suppose to have been some kind of earthquake upheaval that in one day and night caused the whole of the Atlantean world to sink beneath the Atlantic Ocean causing mud to poor in on top of it creating an impassable and unsearchable muddy shoal and a hazard to navigation.

Remember such records in these ancient times were likely one-off laboriously hand inscribed accounts and not a record that is repeated as we do today via books and electronic devices. So if the one record is destroyed, the account is lost forever. So this is a no doubt condensed Egyptian account/record further condensed by Solon, further condensed by Plato, and further condensed and interpreted by people like me in more recent times so that much information and, more important, a true sense of elapsed time is lost and/or distorted. So there may be a tendency to think about this account happening in shorter lengths of condensed time than may have actually been the case.
For example, we now know something about plate tectonics as well as continental drift and we now know, if we thought about it very much, that this identified location out in the Atlantic west of the Pillars of Hercules would be near an ever expanding seam between tectonic plates and a geologically unstable area due to that fact. This suggests the multiple fracture zones of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Logically, over the centuries earthquakes and rising sea levels may have alerted many intelligent advanced Atlantean people to their island life peril and especially among the island kingdoms with lower elevations.

This would have likely caused some Atlanteans, especially in the Atlantean eastern reaches, to be concerned about future sudden flooding caused by earthquakes building in intensity over the years and/or centuries and flooding shorelines. That may have caused them to attempt to shift populations further eastward to the mainland of western Europe and Africa getting into conflict with those already there occupying those places.

Also, before I forget to include this, it should be noted at this point that the Egyptian account clearly identifies a continent further west of Atlantis bounding the Atlantic Ocean that sounds an awful lot like the American continents. This in turn clearly suggests at least an Egyptian familiarity in ancient 6th century BC times and/or before with the western boundaries of the Atlantic Ocean and its navigation. That would make sense with a broad area of islands in the mid Atlantic making island hopping or circumventing navigation westward to the Americas much easier.

There is even the information in the account of the sunken shoals of Atlantis impeding navigation in the Atlantic. Even if the Egyptian account is false and a creation by Plato or his predecessors, it still suggests a navigation knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean to its western boundaries by some Mediterranean people in 355-360 BC and/or before Plato’s time and that too is significant.

Also, here’s another consideration. The underwater terrain area immediately east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge area has not only many fracture zones demonstrating geological instability but many mountain ranges as well no doubt created over time by that geological instability. Some of the highest mountains stick out of the water and their tops are islands out in the mid Atlantic. It is also likely that the highest mountains would be those created deeper within the Mid-Atlantic Ridge fracture zone areas.

Now consider that the events described here allegedly happened roughly about 12,000 years back into the past from the present time. Today our science tells us that the last glacial maximum (coldest period) peaked about 20,000 years ago and ended about 10,000 years ago as we entered the current interglacial cycle warming period. That means that 12,000 year ago from our time the Atlantean culture would be facing a warming trend that would have been ongoing and well along for some 8,000 years with melting ice sheets and sea levels rising nearing to the completion of this warming cycle just 2,000 years in their future.

Think about it. Depending on its possible age of existence, the Atlantean culture may have been initially established at some period during the last ice age glacial maximum around 20,000 years ago. During that earlier time, the ice sheets would likely have been at their peaks of mass and the sea level would have been at its lowest. That means that a great deal of the top of those mountain ranges east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge plate tectonic seam would have likely been sticking considerably out of the water forming a massive area of islands with many of them land interconnected and suitable for habitation.

This has all kinds of negative implications for any civilization based on the mountain range islands in the mid Atlantic during an 8,000 year long to that date interglacial warming/melt trend and its geological changes. As their island centers were threatened by rising water levels and increasingly made more and more vulnerable to the occasional earthquake driven tsunamis and other rogue waves from deeper water over the centuries, there would have logically been a migration from this home area by many while others stayed behind unwilling to leave so typical of human behavior.

This would explain the view of Atlanteans moving east by Egyptian and Greeks as invaders. Did you know that Egyptian earliest history includes accounts of battles fought with unidentified peoples from the west? The Atlanteans on the move, but being a finite number of people without the replenishment reserves of an long term established people and even with more advanced technology, they would gradually have been worn down in conquering ability pushing east into western Europe and Africa until finally exhausted they met their match and perhaps were stopped by the Athenians and a growing culture that later produced the fiercely committed Spartan defenders at Thermopylae. If so, now all that is left of their legacy is perhaps some of their DNA in many of us and some long lasting megalithic structure evidence in Europe and Africa as their smaller numbers were eventually absorbed into the greater human whole of that part of the world.

This is the Earth Atlantis story in basic and some of my thoughts on it. You will notice that I do not label this information as so many others do as myth. From my point of view, it is neither myth nor truth but simply a story like that of Troy that may have some basis for fact in it and not to be summarily dismissed. In other words, I suspect there is core truth to be had somewhere in this story.

You can perhaps understand that, when I got Google Earth, one of the first things I did was go looking for any sign of civilization underwater in the Atlantic west off of the Pillars of Hercules where the Atlantean culture at its height is alleged to be located. I expected nothing and especially not in light of the fact that so much of the satellite imaging has been obfuscated. However, I did find what clearly appears to be some evidence of artificial construction underwater west southwest well out from the Strait of Gibraltar.

I was going to report on it before now but got distracted into planetary evidence and kept putting it off until now. I also delayed because I wanted to further inspect what appears to be some underwater canal systems joining certain islands still sticking out of the water in the general area. However, recently I received an email bringing this site back to my attention from a Clinical Psychologist Dr. Christof Lehmann wanting to know what I thought of the same underwater formations? I’m glad he did. Now let’s look at some Google imaging showing the location of the site and the site itself.

The above 1st image is a context view showing the Atlantic Ocean, the position of the unstable Mid-Atlantic Ridge tectonic plate fracture zone and the rough mountainous underwater terrain produced by it. Likewise, the red arrow demonstrates the underwater evidence site to the left relative to the Strait of Gibraltar or Pillars of Hercules to the right at the mouth of the Mediterranean. As you can see, the placement of the site is in general consistent with the ancient story of the placement of the Atlantean empire.

The above 2nd image from Google Earth provides a closer but still context view showing a little more detail of the evidence that surrounds the site. Note that the site in question appears to be underwater on the east edge of the rough mountainous Mid Atlantic Ridge terrain and on the west edge of a more level plain. However, one needs to be cautious. This may or may not be accurate as a portion of the smoother plain appearance may also be the result of smudge treatments applied to the local area. In fact, if one takes into consideration image tampering treatments, what we can see of the underwater ruins may merely be only part of a greater whole hidden by smudge treatments.

The above 3rd and 4th images provide different types of views of the underwater ruins site. As you can see these many geometric right angle and linear lines are almost certainly represent artificially created ruins of some kind. However, note that there are apparently no concentric round rings as the story describes that are suppose to be on the main island of Atlantis. Further, while there are other long linear lines east of this site that could be old ancient canals connecting islands, there is no more evidence of ruins this definitive in the immediate surroundings.

Does this tell us that this isn’t Atlantis? Not hardly. The ruin outlines you see above are also how this site would look if smudge image tampering were a factor. Same with the extensive smooth plain to the east of this site. You can take nothing for granted in this regard as to what role image tampering may play by hiding evidence.

So does this tell us that this is Atlantis? Again the answer is no. However, what it does tell us is that what we have here is artificial ruin outlines underwater on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean where none should exist and that alone is very significant. Scientists tell us that this is impossible but here you have the visual evidence. Unless some advanced aliens built something here underwater that has been covered over by smudge treatments and still printing through them, we’re almost certainly looking at ancient human civilization construction evidence that had to have been created by ancients over time and unquestionably out of water. That means that this site existed at one time in the past out of water and on dry land.

That in turn logically means that this civilization evidence may have existed active at some time during the last glacial cold period as much as 20,000 years ago when the ice sheets were at their maximum and the water level here was much lower than now exposing these lands to air and sunlight. That in turn makes the story of some ancient civilization like the Atlantean culture in the Atlantic Ocean off of the Pillars of Hercules more feasible.

For example, the destruction of Atlantis, if the overnight time frame is legitimate and not a result of condensing the time line in the Egyptian reporting the event, may have been the result of a combination of things building up over centuries. Rising water during the interglacial warming trend would be the chief suspect but would not alone sufficiently explain the overnight disaster scenario. On the other hand, warming trend rising water levels would have made islands more vulnerable to inundation at the same time that increasing downward weight pressure of the rising water on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge geologically unstable area could have created a subterranean collapse of the plate dropping down a bit and/or a significant earthquake displacing and pushing water in a great wave over the already vulnerable island culture depositing swirling stirred up bottom sediment (mud) over the area.

The above evidence site may or may not be part of an Atlantean empire. However, it was a part of something out here in this now underwater terrain and there is no telling what extensive civilization evidence may be hidden in this area under smudge treatments. If there is anyone out there around the world with access to commercial satellite imaging of this underwater general area that may not have been subjected to tampering treatments, please get it to me for examination and we’ll see if there is anything more to be seen here!

Now that the above evidence leans so much in favor of artificial civilization evidence being possible underwater in this general area of the Atlantic Ocean, is there is further evidence of the civilization kind on this side of the Atlantic? As it turns out, there actually is north of this area and off the west coast of Ireland and the visual evidence is as follows.

The above 5th image is the wide angle context view of that evidence both out on the coastal shallower water shelf represented by the lighter blue color and down in a deeper canyon system represented by the darker blue color. Note that this evidence is not really like the ruins of buildings because the imprint of it is finer and closer textured but still with the sharp 90º right angle boundary geometry and long straight linear lines so typical of man’s constructions.

In the above 6th image, note the lower section pointed out between the two arrows. This looks suspiciously like writing of some unknown kind, at least to me. IF this is writing, perhaps some better forensic imaging experts in conjunction with some linguist experts probably in ancient text could get better details and interpret this?

To that end, the above 7th image provides a closer view of this possible writing. It also provides a good view of how precise the southern straight line boundary of this grid like site makes a perfect sharp 90º turn upward north forming the west boundary edge of the entire site. As you can see, the corner is just too right angle perfect to be the result of some natural occurrence and has been almost certainly implemented by artificial means. As with the previous evidence, the presence of smudge and/or a mud covering on the site tells us that these are not imaging artifacts but something actually present on the bottom.

The above 8th image view is of the top or north and west boundary of the site off of Ireland. As you can see, this area of the site is more compromised by blur. That is caused I suspect mostly by obscuring smudge treatments but acknowledge that it could be mud as well. However, even so, note there are many objects (containers ?) of the same size and in a side-by-side east/west orientation repeating in a long uniformly even line here mostly but not completely obscured and as pointed out by the red arrows.

It obviously suggests artificiality rather than something of natural origin. What any explorer worth his salt wouldn’t give to go down and inspect that long line of same size objects seen in the above 8th image!

What this site is exactly I cannot say. Could it be a giant horizontal read message board with all the main smaller text obscured and only the grossly large bottom line of text printing through the obscuring mud and/or smudge? What ever it is, the main thing is that it appears to be of artificial origin and it is underwater in the Atlantic off the west coast of Ireland. It is entirely possible that this site also dates back into glacial maximum times when the water levels here were at their lowest level exposing this area to the air and sunlight enabling this construction.

The problem with that consideration is that 20,000 years ago during the peak glacial cold cycle, the ice sheets extending down from the Artic north of this point would likely have covered this site making it very difficult for human habitation. Also, the lowered sea levels would have exposed what is now the British Isles including Ireland and the English Channel making this area a landmass extension of the European continent.

If this now underwater site would not be conducive to human habitation back then during the glacial cold cycle, could this site be some kind of giant heated grid type sign system then on exposed land melting ice away from around it and framing a giant message meant only to be seen from above? Perhaps a giant boundary marker defining territory?

In other words, discoveries raising questions like this point to a time in this planet’s history when things were happening that we in our ignorance in this time have little to no knowledge of today except for a few privy to truthful satellite imaging. With that in mind and consistent with human behavior, there may be a tendency to speculate that these things were happening before our recordedhistory? If so, let me say a word about that.

More than likely, there was such a recorded history. For example, the ancient libraries that we know were intentionally sacked and burned a number of times in the lands around the Mediterranean may have contained a great deal of this information. So much of the information in them was destroyed just because of the information they contained that someone of the time didn’t want known. So, with the destruction, the information lost to human civilization is incalculable. I might add that sadly much of that library destruction was undertaken in the name of religion and its intolerance for difference.

I am reminded of the ancient peoples in the opposite direction of South and Central America. They recorded a great deal of history on gold likely thinking that the knowledge would never perish on this wonderfully stable metal. They did not of course anticipate that European white men driven by greed and accompanied by zealot guardians of religion would wish to destroy even history, covet the gold, melt it down wholesale (again knowledge destroyed) too fill great ship convoys headed back to Europe to feed even greater greed and the power addicts of that time.

If very much of any of this ancient information had survived intact, it is possible that humanity would have surged centuries ahead increasingly on an individual basis not nearly as dependent on leaders to manipulate us via spin telling us what to think, how to feel, and what to do that always seems to benefit the few but rarely the many that take the action and run the risks. However, that’s just my personal thoughts.

Addendum added 7/19/2010

It has been brought to my attention by a number of people that this possible site in the Atlantic off of the Pillars of Hercules has been discovered and apparently reported on previously by someone else also making a possible Atlantis connection. I don’t know who. At the same time it seems that Google has put forth an official explanation found HERE that the evidence is a artifact of bathymetric data collection sonar process from boats with the lines reflecting the path of the boats. I was not aware either of the prior discovery or the official explanation at the time of my reporting above.

Because of the location of this particular evidence, it is natural to associate this site with Atlantis. The subject of a technologically advanced human civilization prior to our current recorded history is not welcome in science or political consensus circles just as it was not in ancient times with the destruction of the great libraries. In this time it is preferred to promote surprisingly advanced but still suitably and safely primitive cultures like the Minoans in the Mediterranean as the bases for the story of Atlantis.

As for the official Google explanation, if the Google Earth underwater search function revealed a pattern of sites like this as a result of fuzzy sonar readings around the Earth, such an official explanation might hold a little interest for more investigation. However, no matter what they say, the evidence just isn’t there. That means that the official explanation amounts to no more than a claim and it is clear that this site west off the Pillars of Hercules has been specifically targeted for this special explanation.

The bottom line is that, if they can get the deep rough and very intricate Mid-Atlantic Ridge massive area bottom information west adjacent to this site correct without such visual defects, that says it all and the official explanation is not something to take seriously. You must decide what has merit and what does not for yourself. As for me, I stand by my reporting.

The above new video accompanies my blog entry from last August, on the subject of Simulism: the idea that we could be living within a gigantic virtual world, whether we are aware of it or not. Simulism.org is a wiki created by the Netherlands’ Ivo Jansch, and it brings together a number of interesting bits of information about (to quote from the wiki) “the possibility that our existence rests on an unimaginably complex n-dimensional k-state computer grid with rules governing the transition from one state to another”.

In my previous post on Simulism and the above video blog, I talk about several other shows which have showed Simulism-related concepts, including The Matrix, Inception, Star Trek: TNG’s holodeck, and a television show I had not come across before called Play. The Moviespage at the simulism wiki lists a number of other films, most of which are obviously science fiction. But I couldn’t resist adding a few of my favorite films to the list because (in my opinion) they present related concepts:

A Christmas Carol – could this 1843 Charles Dickens novella be the grand-daddy of Simulism? The ghosts conjure virtual worlds of time travel and alternate timelines that to Ebenezer Scrooge are completely real.

It’s a Wonderful Life – when George Bailey is shown an alternate version of the world as it would have been without him, can’t this be thought of as a simulation?

Groundhog Day – being trapped at a certain instant of time (6 am on Groundhog Day), and then being given the freedom to explore all the possible timelines that extend from that instant: is Phil Conners trapped in a simulation? The movie offers no explanation so we are left to imagine what could have been the cause of his predicament.

Brazil – since so much of this film is surreal, placed “somewhere in the twentieth century” according to the opening subtitle, it’s possible that the entire film is a virtual world, a simulation. Could Sam Lowry have woken up from the dream, Neo-style, at any moment in this movie? Since the world depicted in this film is unlike any version of the twentieth century you or I experienced, there are other “alternate history” discussions that could just as easily be related to this film, one of my all-time favorites.

The wikipedia article on alternate history presents some examples of stories exploring the “what would have the world been like if this rather than that had happened” as far back as two thousand years ago: ideas of parallel universe versions of our own observed universe are not as new as you might suspect! And if Information Equals Reality, then all of these examples of simulism, alternate histories, and parallel universes may not just be flights of imagination, but examples of the possibilities inherent in the underlying structures of our reality.

Enjoy the journey!

Rob Bryanton.

Donna Shirley: Greg, what are the ethics of exploring Mars?

Greg Bear: You usually talk about ethics within your own social group. And if you define someone as being outside your social group, they’re also outside your ethical system, and that’s what’s caused so much trauma, as we seem to be unable to recognize people who look an awful lot like us as being human beings.

When we go to Mars, we’re actually dealing with a problem that’s outside the realm of ethics and more in the realm of enlightened self-interest. We have a number of reasons for preserving Mars as it is. If there’s life there, it’s evolved over the last several billion years, it’s got incredible solutions to incredible problems. If we just go there and willy-nilly ramp it up or tamp it down or try to remold it somehow, we’re going to lose that information. So that’s not to our best interest.

We were talking earlier about having a pharmaceutical expedition to Mars, not just that but a chemical expedition to Mars, people coming and looking for solutions to incredible problems that could occur here on Earth and finding them on Mars. That could generate income unforeseen.

If we talk about ethical issues on a larger scale of how are other beings in the universe going to regard how we treat Mars, that’s a question for Arthur C. Clarke to answer, I think. That’s been more his purview: the large, sometimes sympathetic eye staring at us and judging what we do.

We really have to look within our own goals and our own heart here. And that means we have to stick within our social group, which at this point includes the entire planet. If we decide that Mars is, in a sense, a fellow being, that the life on Mars, if we discover them – and I think that we will discover that Mars is alive – is worthy of protection, then we have to deal with our own variations in ethical judgment.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say, ‘Why should we go to Mars, because look at what human beings have done to Earth.’” -David Grinspoon Image Credit: NASA

The question is, if it’s an economic reality that Mars is extraordinarily valuable, will we do what we did in North America and Africa and South America and just go there and wreak havoc? And we have to control our baser interests, which is, as many of us have found out recently, very hard to do in this country. So we have a lot of problems to deal with here, internal problems. Because not everyone will agree on an ethical decision and that’s the real problem with making ethical decisions.

Donna Shirley: David, you want to comment on the ethics of terraforming Mars?

David Grinspoon: Well, one comment I’ve heard about recently, partly in response to the fact that the president has recently proposed new human missions to Mars – of course, that’s not terraforming, but it is human activities on Mars – and I’ve heard a lot of people say, “Why should we go to Mars, because look at what human beings have done to Earth. Look at how badly we’re screwing it up. Look at the human role on Earth. Why should we take our presence and go screw up other places?”

It’s an interesting question, and it causes me to think about the ethics of the human role elsewhere. What are we doing in the solar system, what should we be doing? But, it’s very hard for me to give up on the idea. Maybe because I read too much science fiction when I was a kid, I do have, I have to admit, this utopian view of a long-term human future in space. I think that if we find life on Mars, the ethical question’s going to be much more complicated.

But in my view, I think we’re going to find that Mars does not have life. We may have fossils there. I think it’s the best place in the solar system to find fossils. Of course, I could be wrong about this and I’d love to be wrong about it, and that’s why we need to explore. If the methane observation is borne out, it would be, to me, the first sign that I really have to rethink this, that maybe there is something living there under the ice.

“If the methane observation is borne out, maybe there is something living there under the ice.” -David Grinspoon Image Credit: NASA

But let’s assume for a second that Mars really is dead, and we’ve explored Mars very carefully – and this is not a determination we’ll be able to make without a lot more exploration – but assuming it was, then what about this question. Should human beings go to Mars, because do we deserve to, given what we’ve done to Earth? And to me, the analogy is of a vacant lot versus planting a garden. If Mars is really dead, then to me it’s like a vacant lot, where we have the opportunity to plant a garden. I think, in the long run, that we should.

We’ve heard a lot different possible motivations, economic motivations, or curiosity, but I think ultimately the motivation should be out of love for life, and wanting there to be more life where there’s only death and desolation. And so I think that ethically, in the long run, if we really learn enough to say that Mars is dead, then the ethical imperative is to spread life and bring a dead world to life.

Donna Shirley: Jim, we can’t prove a negative, so how do we know if there’s life or not, if we keep looking and looking and looking. How long should we look? How would we make that decision?

James Kasting: I think Lisa put us on the right track initially. She’s studying subsurface life on Earth. If there’s life on Mars today, it’s subsurface. I think it’s deep subsurface, a kilometer or two down. So I think we do need humans on Mars, because we need them up there building big drilling rigs to drill down kilometers depth and do the type of exploration that Lisa and her group is doing on Earth here. I think that’s going to take not just decades, but probably a couple of centuries before we can really get a good feel for that.

Lake Vostok. Image Credit: NASA

Donna Shirley: Well, I know, John, at Lake Vostok, one of the big issues is, if we drill into it, our dirty drilling rigs are going to contaminate whatever’s down there. So how do we drill without worrying about contaminating something if it is there?

John Rummel: Well, you accept a little contamination probabilistically that you can allow operations and still try to prevent it. I mean, basically what we can do is try to prevent that which we don’t want to have happen. We can’t ever have a guarantee. The easiest way to prevent the contamination of Mars is to stay here in this room. Or someplace close by.

Greg Bear: That’s known as abstinence.

John Rummel: [laughs]. I also want to point out it’s not necessarily the case that the first thing you want to do on Mars, even if there’s no life, is to change it. We don’t know the advantages of the martian environment. It’s a little bit like the people who go to Arizona for their allergies and start planting crabgrass right off. They wonder why they get that. And it may be that Mars as it is has many benefits. I started working here at NASA Ames as a postdoc with Bob McElroy on controlled ecological life-support systems. There’s a lot we can do with martian environments inside before we move out to the environment of Mars and try to mess with it. So I would highly recommend that not only do we do a thorough job with robotic spacecraft on Mars, but we do a thorough job living inside and trying to figure out what kind of a puzzle Mars presents.

The ALH Meteorite. Image Credit: NASA/ Johnson Space Center

Donna Shirley: Stan, you dealt with this issue in your book with the Reds versus the Greens. What are some of the ethics of making decisions about terraforming Mars?

Kim Stanley Robinson: Ah, the Reds versus the Greens. This is a question in environmental ethics that has been completely obscured by this possibility of life on Mars.

After the Viking mission, and for about a decade or so, up to the findings of the ALH meteorite, where suddenly martian bacteria were postulated again, we thought of Mars as being a dead rock. And yet there were still people who were very offended at the idea of us going there and changing it, even though it was nothing but rock. So this was an interesting kind of limit case in environmental ethics, because this sense of what has standing. People of a certain class had standing, then all the people had standing, then the higher mammals had standing – in each case it’s sort of an evolutionary process where, in an ethical sense, more and more parts of life had standing, and need consideration and ethical treatment from us. They aren’t just there to be used.

• See terraforming image gallery and martian topographical renderings

When you get to rock, it seemed to me that there would be very few people (wanting to preserve it). And yet, when I talked about my project, when I was writing it, it was an instinctive thing, that Mars has its own, what environment ethicists would call, “intrinsic worth,” even as a rock. It’s a pretty interesting position. And I had some sympathy for it, because I like rocky places myself. If somebody proposed irrigating and putting forests in Death Valley, I would think of this as a travesty. I have many favorite rockscapes, and a lot of people do.

So, back and forth between Red and Green, and one of the reasons I think that my book was so long was that it was just possible to imagine both sides of this argument for a very long time. And I never really did reconcile it in my own mind except that it seemed to me that Mars offered the solution itself. If you think of Mars as a dead rock and you think it has intrinsic worth, it should not be changed, then you look at the vertical scale of Mars and you think about terraforming, and there’s a 31-kilometer difference between the highest points on Mars and the lowest. I reckoned about 30 percent of the martian surface would stay well above an atmosphere that people could live in, in the lower elevations. So maybe you could have it both ways. I go back and forth on this teeter-totter. But of course now it’s a kind of an older teeter-totter because we have a different problem now.

Links: Colonization of mars[Are We Going To Colonize Mars?]

In the last decade, the human exploration of Mars has been a topic of intense debate. Much of the focus of this debate lies on scientific reasons for sending, or not sending, humans to Mars. However, the more profound questions regarding why our natural and financial resources should be spent on such endeavor have not been addressed in a significant way. To be successful, the human exploration of Mars needs reasons beyond science to convince the public. People are far more interested in the short-term outcome of exploration than any nebulous long-term benefits. Finding the right balance of science and other factors is critical to convince taxpayers to part with $100 billion or more of their money over the next couple of decades to fund such endeavor. In the following, I briefly explain why the colonization of Mars will bring benefits for humans on Earth, looking beyond scientific reasons.

The engineering challenges necessary to accomplish the human exploration of Mars will stimulate the global industrial machine and the human mind to think innovatively and continue to operate on the edge of technological possibility. Numerous technological spin-offs will be generated during such a project, and it will require the reduction or elimination of boundaries to collaboration among the scientific community. Exploration will also foster the incredible ingenuity necessary to develop technologies required to accomplish something so vast in scope and complexity. The benefits from this endeavor are by nature unknown at this time, but evidence of the benefits from space ventures undertaken thus far point to drastic improvement to daily life and potential benefits to humanity as whole.

One example could come from the development of water recycling technologies designed to sustain a closed-loop life support system of several people for months or even years at a time (necessary if a human mission to Mars is attempted). This technology could then be applied to drought sufferers across the world or remote settlements that exist far from the safety net of mainstream society. The permanence of humans in a hostile environment like on Mars will require careful use of local resources. This necessity might stimulate the development of novel methods and technologies in energy extraction and usage that could benefit terrestrial exploitation and thus improve the management of and prolong the existence of resources on Earth.

The study of human physiology in the Martian environment will provide unique insights into whole-body physiology, and in areas as bone physiology, neurovestibular and cardiovascular function. These areas are important for understanding various terrestrial disease processes (e.g. osteoporosis, muscle atrophy, cardiac impairment, and balance and co-ordination defects). Moreover, medical studies in theMartian environment associated with researches in space medicine will providea stimulus for the development of innovative medical technology, much of which will be directly applicable to terrestrial medicine. In fact, several medical products already developed arespace spin-offs including surgically implantable heart pacemaker, implantable heart defibrillator, kidney dialysis machines, CATscans, radiation therapy for the treatment of cancer, among many others. Undoubtedly, all these space spin-offs significantly improved the human`s quality of life.

At the economical level, both the public and the private sector might be beneficiated with a manned mission to Mars, especially if they work in synergy. Recent studies indicate a large financial return to companies that have successfully commercialized NASA life sciences spin-off products. Thousands of spin-off products have resulted from the application of space-derived technology in fields as human resource development, environmental monitoring, natural resource management, public health, medicine and public safety, telecommunications, computers and information technology, industrial productivity and manufacturing technology and transportation. Besides, the space industry has already a significant contribution on the economy of some countries and with the advent of the human exploration of Mars, it will increase its impact on the economy of many nations. This will include positive impact on the economy of developing countries since it open new opportunities for investments.

To conclude, the human exploration oftthe red planet will significantly benefit all the humanity since it has the potential to improve human`s quality of life, provide economic returns to companies, stimulate the economy of many nations including developing countries and promote international collaboration.

Here is a series of ‘Analysis of Evidence of Life On Mars’…

The problem is that whenever antimatter comes into contact with regular matter, the two annihilate. So any container or bottle made of matter that attempts to capture antimatter inside would be instantly destroyed, along with the precious antimatter sample one tried to put inside the bottle.

Physicist Clifford Surko of the University of California, San Diegois hard at work to overcome that issue. He and his colleagues are building what they call the world’s largest trap for low-energy positrons – a device they say will be able to store more than a trillion antimatter particles at once.

The key is using magnetic and electric fields, instead of matter, to construct the walls of an antimatter “bottle.”

“We are now working to accumulate trillions of positrons or more in a novel ‘multicell’ trap– an array of magnetic bottles akin to a hotel with many rooms, with each room containing tens of billions of antiparticles.”

Surko presented his work today (Feb. 18) here at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The researchers are also developing methods to cool antiparticles to super-cold temperatures so that the particles’ movements are slowedand they can be studied. The scientists also want to compress large clouds of antiparticles into high-density clumps that can be tailored for practical applications.

“One can then carefully push them out of the bottle in a thin stream, a beam, much like squeezing a tube of toothpaste. These beams provide new ways to study how antiparticles interact or react with ordinary matter. They are very useful, for example, in understanding the properties of material surfaces.”

Surko said another project is to create a portable antimatter bottle that could be taken out of the lab and into various industrial and medical situations.
“If you could have a portable trap it would greatly amplify the uses and applications of antimatter in our world.”

Antimatter may sound exotic, butit’s already used in everyday technology, such as medical PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scanners. During a PET scan, the patient is injected with radioactive tracer molecules that emit positrons when they decay. These positrons then come into contact with electrons in the body, and the two annihilate, releasing two gamma-ray photons. The gamma-ray photons are then detected by the scanner, giving a 3-D image of what’s going on inside the body.
[Via: LiveScience]

Image via Wikipedia

Over the past several decades there has been an explosive growth in research and development related to nano materials. Among these one material, carbon Nanotubes, has led the way in terms of its fascinating structure as well as its ability to provide function-specific applications ranging from electronics, to energy and biotechnology. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be viewed as carbon whiskers, which are tubules of nanometer dimensions with properties close to that of an ideal graphite fiber. Due to their distinctive structures they can be considered as matter in one-dimension (1D).

In other words, a carbon nanotube is a honeycomb lattice rolled on to itself, with diameters of the order of nanometers and lengths of up to several micrometers. Generally, two distinct types of CNTs exist depending whether the tubes are made of more than one graphene sheet (multi walled carbon nanotube, MWNT) or only one graphene sheet (single walled carbon nanotube, SWNT). For a detailed description on CNTs please refer to the article by Prof. M. Endo.

A Truly Multifunctional Material

Irrespective of the number of walls, CNTs are envisioned as new engineering materials which possess unique physical properties suitable for a variety of applications. Such properties include large mechanical strength, exotic electrical characteristics and superb chemical and thermal stability. Specifically, the development of techniques for growing carbon nanotubes in a very controlled fashion (such as aligned CNT architectures on various substrates ) as well as on a large scale, presents investigators all over the world with enhanced possibilities for applying these controlled CNTs architectures to the fields of Vacuum microelectronics, Cold-cathode flat panel displays, Field emission devices, Vertical interconnect assemblies, Gas breakdown sensors, Bio Filtration, On chip thermal management, etc.

Apart from their outstanding structural integrity as well as chemical stability, the property that makes carbon nanotubes truly multifunctional in nature is the fact that carbon nanotubes have lot to offer (literally) in terms of specific surface area. Depending on the type of CNTs the specific surface areas may range from 50 m²/gm to several hundreds of m²/gm and with appropriate purification processes the specific surface areas can be increased up to ~1000 m²/gm.

Extensive theoretical and experimental studies have shown that the presence of large specific surface areas is accompanied by the availability of different adsorption sites on the nanotubes. For example, In CNTs produced using catalyst assisted chemical vapor deposition the adsorption occurs only on the outer surface of the curved cylindrical wall of the CNTs. This is because the production process of the CNTs using metal catalysts usually leads to nanotubes with closed ends, thereby restricting the access of the hollow interior space of the tube.

However, there are simple procedures (mild chemical or thermal treatments) which can remove the end caps of the MWNTs thereby presenting the possibility of another adsorption site (inside the tube) in MWNTs as schematically shown in Figure 1. Similarly, the large scale production process of SWNTs lead to the bundling of the SWNTs. Due to this bundling effect, SWNT bundles provide various high energy binding sites (for example grooves, Figure 1.). What this means is then that large surfaces are available in small volume and these surfaces can interact with other species or can be tailored and functionalized.

Figure 1: Possible binding sites available for adsorption on (left) MWNTs and (right) SWNTs surfaces.

Our group’s own research interests are directed into utilizing these materials in different applications related to energy and the environment, where their high specific surfaces areas play a crucial role. Two of such energy related applications are discussed below:

• CNT Based Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors
• CNT Based catalyst support

CNT Based Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors

Electrochemical Double Layer Capacitors (EDLC’s: Also referred to as Super Capacitors and Ultra-Capacitors) are envisioned as devices that will have the capability of providing high energy density as well as high power density. With extremely high life-span and charge-discharge cycle capabilities EDLC’s are finding versatile applications in the military, space, transportation, telecommunications and nanoelectronics industries.

An EDLC contains two non reactive porous plates (electrodes or collectors with extremely high specific surface area), separated by a porous membrane and immersed in an electrolyte. Various studies have shown the suitability of CNTs as EDLC electrodes. However, proper integration of CNTs with collector electrodes in EDLCs are needed for minimizing the overall device resistance in order to enhance the performance of CNT based supercapacitors. A strategy for achieving this could be growing CNTs directly on metal surfaces and using them as EDLC electrodes (Figure 2). EDLC electrodes with very low equivalent series resistance (ESR) and high power densities can be obtained by using such approaches.

Figure 2: (a) Artist rendition of EDLC formed by aligned MWNT grown directly on metals (b) An electrochemical impedance spectroscopy plot showing low ESR of such EDLC devices and (c) very symmetric and near rectangular cyclic voltamograms of such devices indicating impressive capacitance behavior.

CNT Based Catalyst Support

Catalysts play an important role in our existence today. Catalysts are small particles (~ 10^-9 meter, or nanometer) which due to their unique surface properties can enhance important chemical reactions leading to useful products. In any kind of catalytic process, the catalysts are dispersed on high surface area materials, known as the catalyst support. The support provides mechanical strength to the catalysts in addition to enhance the specific catalytic surface and enhancing the reaction rates. CNTs, due to their high specific surface areas, outstanding mechanical as well as thermal properties and chemically stability can potentially become the material of choice for catalyst support in a variety of catalyzed chemical reactions.

We are presently exploring the idea of using CNTs as catalyst support in the Fischer Tropsch (FT) synthesis process. The FT reaction can convert a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in to a wide range of straight chained and branched olefins and paraffins and oxygenates (leading to the production of high quality synthetic fuels). Our preliminary FT synthesis experiments on CNT supported FT catalysts (generally cobalt and iron) shows that the conversion of CO and H₂ obtained with FT catalyst loaded CNTs is orders of magnitude higher than that obtained with conventional FT catalysts (Figure 3), indicating that CNTs offer a new breed of non-oxide based catalyst supports with superior performance for FT synthesis.

Figure 3:CNT paper used as catalyst support for FT synthesis and comparison of conversion ratio’s of Co and H2

So far, CNT research has provided substantial excitement, and novel possibilities in developing applications based on interdisciplinary nanotechnology. The area of large scale growth of CNTs is quiet mature now and hence it could be expected that several solid large volume applications will emerge in the near future.

[Source: Azonano]

If we give rights to intelligent machines, either robots or computers, we’ll also have to hold them responsible for their own errors. Robots, by analogy to humans, must conform to a “reasonable computer” standard. Sentient computers and their software should be held to the standard of competence of all other data processing systems of the same technological generation. Thus, if all “sixth generation” computers ought to be smart enough to detect bogus input in some circumstances, then given that circumstance, a court will presume that a “sixth generation” computer knew or should have known the input data were bogus.

Exactly who or what would be the tortfeasor in these cases? Unlike a living being whose mind and body are inseparable, a robot’s mind (software) and bodyare severable and distinct. This is an important distinction. Robot rights most logically should reside in the mechanism’s software (the programs executing in the robot’s computer brain) rather than in its hardware.

This can get mighty complicated. Robots could be instantly reprogrammed, perhaps loading and running a new software applications package every hour. Consider a robot who commits a felony while running the aggressive “Personality A” program, but is running mild-mannered ‘Personality M” when collared by the police. Is this a false arrest? Following conviction, are all existing copies of the criminal software package guilty too, and must they suffer same punishment? (Guilt by association?) If not, is it double jeopardy to take another copy to trial? The robot itself could be released with its aggressive program excised from memory, but this may offend our sense of justice.

The bottom line is it’s hard to apply human laws to robot persons. Let’s say a human shoots a robot, causing it to malfunction, lose power, and “die.” But the robot, once “murdered,” is rebuilt as good as new. If copies of its personality data are in safe storage, then the repaired machine’s mind can be reloaded and up and running in no time – no harm done and possibly even without memory ofthe incident. Does this convert murder into attempted murder? Temporary roboslaughter? Battery? Larceny of time? We’ll We’ll probably need a new class of felonies or “cruelty to robots” statutes to deal with this.

If robots are persons, will the Fifth Amendment protect them from self-incrimination? Under present law, a computer may be compelled to testify, even against itself, without benefit of the Fifth Amendment. Can a warrant be issued to search the mind of a legal person? If not, how can we hope to apprehend silicon-collar criminals in a world of electronic funds transfer and Quotron stock trading?

How should deviant robots be punished? Western penal systems assume that punishing the guilty body punishes the guilty mind – invalid for computers whose electromechanical body and software mind are separable. What is cruel and unusual punishment for a sentient robot? Does reprogramming a felonious computer person violate constitutional privacy or other rights?

Robots and software persons areentitled to protection of life and liberty. But does “life” imply the right of a program to execute, or merely to be stored? Denying execution would be like keeping a human in a permanent coma – which seems unconstitutional. Do software persons have a right to data they need in order to keep executing? Can robot citizens claim social benefits? Are unemployed robo-persons entitled to welfare? Medical care, including free tuneups at the government machine shop? Electricity stamps?Free education? Family and reproductive rights? Don’t laugh. A recent NASA technical study found that self-reproducing robots could be developed today in a 20-year Manhattan-Project-style effort costing less than $10 billion (NASA Conference Publication 2255, 1982).

In the far distant future, there may be a day when vociferous robo-lobbyists pressure Congress to fund more public memory banks, more national network microprocessors, more electronic repair centers, and other silicon-barrel projects. The machines may have enough votes to turn the rascals out or even run for public office themselves. One wonders which political party or social class the “robot bloc” will occupy.

In any case, the next time that Coke machine steals your quarter,better think twice before you kickit. Someday you may need a favor.

Could comets have brought water to Earth?

Comets preserve important clues to the early history of the solar system. They are believed to have contributed some of the volatiles that make up our oceans and atmosphere. They may even have brought to Earth the complex molecules from which life arose. For these reasons, the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) has emphasized the direct exploration of comets by spacecraft. The investigation of comets also addresses each of the three strategic objectives for solar system exploration enunciated in NASA’s Space Science Enterprise Strategy (SSES) 2003.

- To learn how the solar system originated and evolved to its current state.
- To understand how life begins and determine the characteristics of the solar system that led to the origin of life.
- To catalog and understand the potential impact hazard to Earth from space.

The Stardust-NExT mission will contribute significantly to the first and last of these objectives by obtaining essential new data on Tempel 1 and capitalize on the discoveries of earlier missions such as Deep Impact to determine how cometary nuclei were constructed at the birth of the solar system and increase our understanding of how they have evolved since then. The Stardust-NExT mission provides NASA with the unique opportunity to study two entirely different comets with the same instrument. By doing this scientist will be able to more accurately compare its existing data set.

The primary science objectives of the mission are as follows:

• To extend our understanding of the processes that affect the surfaces of comet nuclei by documenting the changes that have occurred on comet Tempel 1 between two successive perihelion passages.
• To extend the geologic mapping of the nucleus of Tempel 1 to elucidate the extent and nature of layering and help models of the formation and structure of comet nuclei.
• To extend the study of smooth flow deposits, active areas, and known exposure of water ice.
• On February 14, 2011, at a projected distance of 200 km, the Stardust-NExT spacecraft will obtain high-resolution images of the coma and nucleus, as well as measurements of the composition, size distribution and flux of dust emitted into the coma. Additionally, Stardust-NExT will update the data gathered in 2005 by the Deep Impact mission on the rotational phase of the comet.

Other Objectives:

• If possible, to characterize the crater produced by Deep Impact in July 2005 to better understand the structure and mechanical properties of cometary nuclei and elucidate crater formation processes on them.
• Measure the flux and mass distribution of dust particles within the coma using the DFMI instrument.
• Analyze the composition of dust particles within the coma using the CIDA instrument.
• Monitor comet activity over 60 days on approach using imaging.

Artist concept of NASA's Stardust-NExT mission, which will fly by comet Tempel 1 on Feb. 14, 2011.

A Successful Prime Mission

NASA’s Stardust spacecraft was launched on Feb. 7, 1999, on a mission that would explore a comet as no previous mission had. Before Stardust, seven spacecraft from NASA, Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency had visited comets – they had flight profiles that allowed them to perform brief encounters, collecting data and sometimes images of the nuclei during the flyby.

Like those comet hunters before it, Stardust was tasked to pass closely by a comet, collecting data and snapping images. It also had the ability to come home again, carrying with it an out-of -this-world gift for cometary scientists – particles of the comet itself. Along the way, the telephone booth-sized comet hunter racked up numerous milestones and more than a few “space firsts.”

In the first round of its prime mission, Stardust performed observations of asteroid Annefrank, only the sixth asteroid in history to be imaged close up. After that, Stardust racked up more points of space exploration firsts. It became the first spacecraft to capture particles of interstellar dust for Earth return. It was first to fly past a comet and collect data and particles of comet dust (hurtling past it at almost four miles per second) for later analysis. Then, it was first to make the trip back to Earth after traveling beyond the orbit of Mars (a two-year trip of 1.2 billion kilometers, or 752 million miles). When Stardust dropped off its sample return capsule from comet Wild 2, the capsule became the fastest human-made object to enter Earth’s atmosphere. The mission was also the first to provide a capsule containing cometary dust specimens, speciments that will have scientists uncovering secrets of comets for years to come.

With such a high tally of “firsts” on its scoreboard, you’d think Stardust could receive a few parting gifts and leave the game. And an important part of the original spacecraft is currently enjoying retirement – albeit a high-profile one: Stardust’s 100-pound sample return capsule is on display in the main hall (Milestones of Flight) of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington. But the rest of NASA’s most-seasoned comet hunter is still up there – and there is work still to be done.

“We placed Stardust in a parking orbit that would carry it back by Earth in a couple of years, and then asked the science community for proposals on what could be done with a spacecraft that had a lot of zeros on its odometer, but also had some fuel and good miles left in it,” said Jim Green, director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division.

Moving into the Bonus Round

In January 2007, from a stack of proposals with intriguing ideas, NASA chose Stardust-NExT (Stardust’s Next Exploration of Tempel). It was a plan to revisit comet Tempel 1 at a tenth of the cost of a new, from-the-ground-up mission. Comet Tempel 1 was of particular interest to NASA. It had been the target of a previous NASA spacecraft visit in July 2005. That mission, Deep Impact, placed a copper-infused, 800-pound impactor on a collision course with the comet and observed the results from the cosmic fender-bender via the telescopic cameras onboard the larger part of Deep Impact, a “flyby” spacecraft observing from a safe distance.

“The plan for our encounter is to be more hospitable to comet Tempel 1 than our predecessor,” said Joe Veverka, principal investigator of Stardust-NExT from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. “We will come within about 200 kilometers [124 miles] of Tempel 1 and view the changes that took place over the past five-and-a-half years.”

That period of time is significant for Tempel 1 — it is the period of time it takes the comet to orbit the sun once. Not much happens during a comet’s transit through the chilly reaches of the outer solar system. But when it nears perihelion (the point in its orbit that an object, such as a planet or a comet, is closest to the sun), things begin to sizzle.

“Comets can be very spectacular when they come close to the sun, but we still don’t understand them as well as we should,” said Veverka. “They are also messengers from the past. They tell us how the solar system was formed long ago, and Stardust-NExT will help us understand how much they have changed since their formation.”

So the spacecraft that had traveled farther afield than any of its predecessors was being sent out again in the name of scientific opportunity. In between spacecraft and comet lay four-and-a-half years, over a billion kilometers (646 million miles), and more than a few hurdles along the way.

Your Mileage May Vary

“One of the challenges with reusing a spacecraft designed for a different prime mission is you don’t get to start out with a full tank of gas,” said Larson. “Just about every deep-space exploration spacecraft has a fuel supply customized to get the job done, with some held in reserve for contingency maneuvers and other uncertainties. Fortunately, the Stardust mission navigation team did a great job, the spacecraft operated extremely well, and there was an adequate amount of contingency fuel aboard after its prime mission to make this new comet flyby possible – but just barely.”

Just how much fuel is in Stardust’s tanks for its final act?

“We estimate we have a little under three percent of the fuel the mission launched with,” said Larson. “It is an estimate, because no one has invented an entirely reliable fuel gauge for spacecraft. There are some excellent techniques with which we have made these estimates, but they are still estimates.”

One of the ways mission planners can approximate fuel usage is to look at the history of the vehicle’s flight and how many times and for how long its rocket motors have fired. When that was done for Stardust, the team found their spacecraft’s attitude and translational thrusters had fired almost half-a-million times each over the past 12 years.

“There is always a little plus and minus with each burn. When you add them all up, that is how you get the range of possible answers on how much fuel was used,” said Larson.

Fuel is not the only question that needs to be addressed on the way to a second comet encounter. Added into the mix is the fact a comet near the sun can fire off jets of gas and dust that can cause a change in its orbit, sometimes in unexpected ways, potentially causing a precisely designed cometary approach to become less precise. Then there are the distances involved. Stardust will fly past comet Tempel 1 on almost the opposite side of the sun from Earth, making deep-space communication truly, well, deep space. Add into the mix the Stardust spacecraft itself. Launched when Bill Clinton was in the White House, Stardust has been cooked and frozen countless times during its trips from the inner to outer solar system. It has also weathered its fair share of radiation-packed solar storms. But while its fuel tank may be running near-empty, that doesn’t mean Stardust doesn’t have anything left in the tank.

“All this mission’s challenges are just that – challenges,” said Larson. “We believe our team and our spacecraft are up to meeting every one of them, and we’re looking forward to seeing what Tempel 1 looks like these days.”

The Final Payoff

Larson, Veverka and the world will get their chance beginning a few hours after the encounter on Monday, Feb. 14, at about 8:56 p.m. PST (11:56 p.m. EST), when the first of 72 bonus-round images of the nucleus of comet Tempel 1 are downlinked.

All images of the comet will be taken by the spacecraft’s navigation camera – an amalgam of spare flight-ready hardware left over from previous NASA missions: Voyager (launched in 1977), Galileo (launched in 1989), and Cassini (launched in 1997). Each image will take about 15 minutes to transmit. The first five images to be received and processed on the ground are expected to include a close up of Tempel 1′s nucleus. All data from the flyby (including the images and science data obtained by the spacecraft’s two onboard dust experiments) are expected to take about 10 hours to reach the ground. Stardust-NExT is a low-cost mission that will expand the investigation of comet Tempel 1 initiated by NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Stardust-NExT for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Joe Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., is the mission’s principal investigator. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver Colo., built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission operations.

Mission Details

The Stardust-NExT will utilize the existing spacecraft to flyby comet Tempel 1 and observe changes since NASA’s Deep Impact mission visited it in 2005. Stardust-NExT will provide NASA with a first-time opportunity to compare observations of a single comet made at close range during two successive perihelion passages, at low risk and low cost.

In 2005, Tempel 1 made its closest approach to the sun, possibly changing the surface of the comet. With a 3-year trajectory, the mission flight plan is designed in a similar way to that of the original mission, with an Earth gravity assist (EGA) in 2009 to achieve the flyby of Tempel 1 in 2011. The original flight path of the Stardust spacecraft to Wild 2 included an EGA in 2001.

Mission Design and Navigation:
The Stardust spacecraft divert maneuver that followed the release of the sample return capsule (SRC) was intentionally designed to place the spacecraft in a trajectory that returns to Earth in case the SRC release that occurred January 15 had failed. Thus the current orbit intrinsically provides the Earth gravity-assist (EGA) flyby opportunity in 2009, which enables the Tempel 1 encounter. The mission duration, from the divert maneuver after SRC release (January 15, 2006) to the February 14, 2011 Tempel 1 encounter, is a little over 5 years. The date of encounter will be optimized during the mission to account for improved knowledge of the comet’s ephemeris during cruise, and to maximize the probability of viewing the Deep Impact impact crater. Table F-1 summarizes the principal characteristics of the comet encounter.

Mission Trajectory:
The trajectory consists of four loops of the sun in two separate orbits. Loops 1 and 2 represent the orbit the spacecraft bus was left in after the sample return on January 15, 2006. The EGA on January 14, 2009 places the spacecraft in the final heliocentric orbit (Loops 3 and 4) intercepting Tempel 1 on February 14, 2011 (39d after the comet’s perihelion). This profile is very similar to the launch-to-Wild 2 phase of the Stardust primary mission.

Figure F-1. Stardust-NExT trajectory, with one EGA prior to Tempel 1 encounter, provides for an uncomplicated mission simpler than the Stardust prime mission.

The maneuver plan is shown in Table F-2. Of the three deep space maneuvers (DSM’s), only the first is deterministic. This maneuver targets the EGA in January, 2009. Other DSM’s adjust the arrival time at Tempel 1. Ranges of favorable locations for DSMs (2 and 3) are indicated. Their exact location will be optimized during the mission.

The Stardust navigation team has chosen to place the closest approach point 40° southward of the direction to the Sun, at a longitude that offers the most favorable viewing opportunity of the Deep Impact crater at closest approach. Periodically, reevaluate the aimpoint during the mission, taking into account the most recent information available about the predicted uncertainty of the comet’s rotation state at encounter, until the time shortly before DSM2 (deep space maneuver) at which a selection of a final aimpoint for targeting.

Controlling the arrival time to target our chosen aimpoint is the greatest mission design challenge of Stardust-NExT. In order to successfully control the arrival time as discussed above, two conditions must be met: (1) we must be able to predict the rotation rate and rotational state of the comet with sufficient accuracy to reliably compute the right arrival time, and (2) we must have sufficient DV onboard to change the arrival time as needed.

[Credit: NASA]

Today, Dorian Abbot and Eric Switzer at the University of Chicago give us an answer. The generally accepted criteria for life is the presence of liquid water. They calculate that an Earth-like rogue planet could support liquid oceans if the water were heated from below by the planet’s core and insulated from above by a thick layer of ice. Their reasoning is straightforward. They define an Earth-like planet to have dimensions within an order of magnitude of Earth’s and having a similar composition. They then calculate the heat flux from the core and suggest that the thickness of the ice above would reach a steady state in about a million years. That’s much shorter than the lifetime of a hot core.

Note that this is some what different from the mechanism that keeps the subglacial ocean on Europa liquid. Here tidal forces play an important role and this generates heat within the ocean itself. By contrast, all the heat must come from the core of a rogue planet and travel through the ocean, One important unknown is the role that convection and conduction play in the less viscous regions of ice. Since convection carries heat much more quickly than conduction, this is an important factor and could potentially make the difference between the existence of liquid oceans or solid ice.

But with reasonable assumptions Abbot and Switzer say that a planet just 3.5 times the mass of Earth could maintain a liquid ocean. Even more surprising is their conclusion that a planet with a higher fraction of water need only be 0.3 times the size of Earth and still have a liquid ocean. That’s smaller than Venus but bigger than Mars. They call such a body a Steppen wolf planet “since any life in this strange habitat would exist like a lone wolf wandering the galactic steppe.” It’s not hard imagine the possibility of life evolving around hydrothermal vents before the planet’s ejection or even afterwards. These are exciting calculations.

Steppenwolf planets would provide one way for life to spread through the galaxy. And if any come within a 1000 AU of our Sun, the reflected sunlight from them ought to be visible in the far infrared to the next generation of telescopes.That raises an interesting idea: the possibility of visiting such a place. Any passers by would certainly be easier to get to than planets orbiting other stars.

Time to get out the binoculars and lens cloths and start looking.

[Ref:arxiv.org/abs/1102.1108: The Steppenwolf: A Proposal For A Habitable Planet in Interstellar Space, Credit: Arxiv Blog]

So why am I reporting on evidence right here on Earth? In doing so I’m trying to show you via hard verifiable visual evidence that you need to pay attention to the reality that even planetary issues we all thought were long settled as much as decades and generations ago right here on Earth itself have also not been accurate. In fact, we may have been sold a secrecy bill of goods all over the place as the few benefit from the long conditioned ignorance of the many for control purposes and that this corrupts the very heart of our world and its populations. Sorry if this intrudes where some do not wish to go but there it is.

Meanwhile, the above 1st and 2nd images show the location of the evidence general site in this report as well as relative to the location of the evidence in the previous Report #195. As you can see, the sites are relatively nearby each other. In this report, the location is also the site of the originally Russian Mirny Station at the Davis sea coast. That in turn is supposed to be the coastal staging point for supplying the Russian Vostok Station located deep in the interior of the Antarctic continent some 1400 km from the coast.

Vostok Station is located near the South Geomagnetic Pole at the center of the deep East Antarctic Ice Sheet with the theory that this makes it an optimal place to observe changes in the Earth’s magnetic sphere. Vostok Station is 11,444 feet or 3,488 meters above sea level and is the most isolated established research station on the Antarctic continent with a small contingent of now multinational scientists. Deep under Vostok Station and under very deep ice is Vostok Lake.

Russian Vostok Station was established in 1957 while Mirny Station was established the year before in 1956. Both were established about 10 years or so after the USA secretive military Antarctic expedition in force (Operation Highjump) to Antarctica in 1946-47 right after WWII. Some believe that the true purpose of the military force was chasing after escaping Nazi forces while others also bring aliens into the issue, both officially denied. You should know that the general area where Mirny Station is located was also first discovered in 1902 by the German Gauss Expedition and named Kaiser Wilhelm II Land suggesting at the least some German early knowledge of the area dating back to that time before WWI and WWII.

This reporting will briefly examine the Russian Mirny Station area out on the ice and in some low rocks near larger more elevated Haswell Island as well as some suggestive anomalous evidence at Haswell Island itself. You’ll be the judge as to whether that poor resolution visual evidence may suggest civilization evidence and why Mirny Station was at some later point moved inland off the bare ice sheet but apparently avoided moving onto Haswell Island even though it has more elevated rocky mostly ice free terrain complete with fresh water in a liquid state and strangely bypassing it to settle beyond it on the more difficult ice terrain.

The above 3rd and 4th still distant view images zero in on the general evidence site closer with the 4th image identifying the evidence scattered over a wide area. Now remember that some of the visual evidence is just of Mirny Station with nothing especially anomalous about it. I’ve included this kind of evidence here so that you know that the evidence I will point out as being anomalous is not to be confused with the not particularly anomalous Mirny Station evidence and where the anomalous evidence is located relative to Mirny Station.

For example, note that long line that is an ice breaker trail passing to the left of Haswell Island with the ice breaker ship in the trail? There is nothing particularly anomalous about it until it gets to the very top of the image where the trail doesn’t stop so much as it disappears underneath a heavy application of dense smudge image tampering at the coast. Note that near the bottom of the image and to the left of the ice breaker trail is a rocky island with multiple old round likely fuel tanks isolated on it. On the lower right of the ice breaker trail is the Mirny Station sites complete with structures dating back to the days of the USSR as well as signs of ground activity. Note that they are located inland bypassing Haswell Island which is between the Davis Sea coast and the station.

The most anomalous evidence is at Haswell Island itself identified by the red arrows. One has to wonder why this nearby larger essentially iceless rocky island complete with what appears to be green tinted fresh water on it in an unfrozen liquid state was passed by and not eventually settled as the most climate friendly main station site? Could it be that there are things there that preclude such a settlement? You be the judge as the evidence unfolds below here in this report. Be forewarned that most of this anomalous evidence is compromised by poor visual quality due to being at the limit of resolution as well as a lot of image tampering treatments.

As you can see in the above 5th and 6th images, an ice breaker ship has created a trail or path through the ice field from the coast to a point inland just beyond Haswell Island. The ship appears to have turned around and is now exiting back down its own trail toward the coast which area is hidden under smudge treatments.

Note that the trail as seen lower in the 4th image passes between the small rocky island with the large round tanks on it on the left and the active location of Mirny Station on the right. It is assumed that the tanks have likely served as longer term fuel storage mostly for any ships including the ice breaker using the created channel through the ice field and their isolated location on the small rocky island is an isolation safety factor.

On the other hand, why be so secretive in using the smudge obfuscation field at the top of the image to hide that portion of the ice breaker trail where it obviously has to exist at the coastal area? What is it there at the coastal area that someone doesn’t wish us to see?

The above 7th, 8th and 9th images are all associated with the Mirny Station facilities dating back as much as 54 years and are not particularly anomalous. As you can see, the 7th image is of the tank site and the 8th and 9th images demonstrate a collection of Mirny Stations structures scattered in the ice and rocks around in the terrain. Some likely date back to 1946 when the station was first established and in later years. Most of the tanks for example look very old. This kind of evidence is included here to demonstrate what the Mirny Station area looks like, where it is located, and why it should not be confused with the more anomalous evidence located at the Haswell Island sites as follows.

The above 10th image of Haswell Island serves as the locator image for the more anomalous evidence in this report. There is plenty of anomalous evidence at this site but most of it is so image resolution and smudge image tampering compromised that not much can be made of it with any real confidence and so I’ve skipped over that. The samplings that I have pointed out here suffer from this problem as well but a little less compromised and I suspect some of you will find them suggestive and interesting.

The above 11th image demonstrates a fairly large long ribbon of green tinted fresh water in the Haswell Island rocky terrain. Note that it, like the many water sites reported on in my last Report 195, is in an impossible liquid state in this extremely freezing cold and windy terrain of the coastal area of the Antarctic continent, the coldest place on Earth. There are also two fairly large lakes below this point and near the site of the tower or spire shaped object.

As you can see, the above 12th, 13th, and 14th images, each panning from left to right in sequence demonstrate a lot of evidence that suggests civilization even though it is at the limit of visual resolution and has been compromised by a lot of smudge treatments. The presence of all that extensive smudge suggests to me that an extensive amount of larger more recognizable objects have likely been hidden from our view leaving only the smaller evidence for us to see a bit of.

The red arrows point out some of the better evidence but do not by any stretch encompass all of it. I suspect that what we are able to see represents only the most minor of the total evidence at this Haswell Island site and why it was left out of the worst of the tampering. If so, we’re talking about a very extensive amount of development here that cannot be adequately explained by national or multinational research stations or military activities, not even secret ones.

With that thought in mind, add the fact that Mirny Station is located out in the ice on some scrubby rocks with residents running around in dirty ice and mud slush instead of this big elevated rock island with its extensive relatively ice free terrain and liquid fresh water suggesting a less severe warmer (geothermal?) climate. Avoiding this more favorable site just doesn’t make sense to me. It logically suggests that this Haswell Island locale is being intentionally avoided. If so, the obvious question is why?

The above 15th image is another one demonstrating a smaller group of likely geometric shaped structures. Some will argue that these shapes are caused by imaging and/or processing artifacts and that this is the same with the previous 12th, 13th, and 14th image evidence. Without getting into technical discussions, this isn’t image artifacts but this observation is based on experience and others wishing to avoid the truth will still want to have their way. So let them think whatever they will.

The above 16th image primarily demonstrates a close in shot of a tall tower in the terrain casting a lengthy dark shadow. I got as close as I could with this piece of evidence because I want you to also take a careful look at the brown tinted fluffy texture look that is characteristic of a lot of the rocky terrain. I suspect this brownish fluffy look to be carefully applied smudge image tampering. I suspect that the small lighter color area around the base of the tower and at other small spots to be the real terrain color.

I suspected this as well in my last Report 195 of that locale but didn’t feel comfortable enough in making the observation publicly. The brownish texture looks good and holds up well in more distant views but begins to have problems the close one examines it. If you will look close, even though this is suppose to be raw rocky terrain devoid of any tree growth obscuring it, the brownish areas a actually devoid of any real texture except for some lighter and darker shadings that only mimic rocky irregularities.

Likewise, except for the tower and its shadow, there simply are no other shadows small or large in this image’s terrain. When one spreads out the view from the tower, there simply are no objects casting shadows and this is just not how real elevated rocky terrain looks. The only dark areas are either water or dark places that are highly suspicious as tampering applications or crack and crevassing dark interiors.

The above 17th and last image demonstrates a long continuous object of unknown origin or makeup. It is colored like the rocks that surround it and may be just more rock? However, more than likely its visual surface texture and color is a result of careful smudge treatments applied to it as well as to the surrounding rocks causing it to blend in with those surfaces. However, that long continuous cylinder shape looks suspiciously anomalous to me with its long slender but massive uniformity. It reminds me of a long cylinder shaped object falling from the sky wedging into this site and becoming a permanent fixture in it. Could it be some strange ancient ship?

The two small red arrows point out other suspicious objects associated with questions. What I have identified as fresh water in the upper left portion of the image is identified as such despite the white ice presence due to its green tint no doubt caused by what I’ve come to learn is the algae typically present in the Antarctic unfrozen fresh water environments. It was the same in the earlier Report 195 and the many unfrozen fresh water sites there. In comparison, salt water sites are characterized by a sunlight reflectivity blue tint.

So what’s the bottom line here? Why should this be of any importance to you? In my opinion, it is a matter of truthfulness and the lack of it coming from the most influential parties on this planet. How are we populations ever to advance when information pathways to us are filled with worthless tripe, false information, and lies?

As for me, I suspect that old past research expeditions into the Antarctic environment have along and along discovered pre-existing civilization evidence in this area. I suspect the main publicly known expedition involved in this was the 1946-47 military recon in force to Antarctica named Operation Highjump. I suspect that this civilization evidence is regarded as a potential resource for gaining advanced technological advantage and therefore kept secret from a public that might object to our trying to raid this resource and/or might want to freak out if it is alien and they knew of that with certainty.

I suspect that so much extensive and blatant smudge treatments on the Antarctic continent tell us just how extensive this kind of evidence in larger more obvious forms may be. Just as I suspected with the Moon, I suspect the reason that the Antarctic land in Report 195 and the Haswell Island locale in this report and likely other undiscovered sites have not been settled on by us is because there is already someone there in the best spots active and perfectly capable of defending their territory.

If so, why would they allow our settlements so close to them as is the case here with Haswell Island and Mirny Station? I have no crystal ball insight into that but I suspect it is logically part of a program by others to allow our kind an arms length proximity drawn by the bait like flies to honey of technological gain that eventually generates familiarity and a gradual reduction of fear driven aggression reaction on our kind’s part. Of course I could also just be full of it on this to. Certainly that would be the official take and those that do not want to be disturbed reaction to such comments, but then there is all that extensive smudge to explain away too.

Earth humans have assumed from the very beginnings of our current civilization and all during it that the Earth is solely our place to dominate and not to be shared in this way with anyone else. It’s the same with the Moon right over our heads every night. However, that may be erred assumptions based on pretense and not based on fact. We may find that we have behaved in our assumptions like the preverbal Ostrich with its head buried in the sand pretending that it is safe and believing in what we want to believe. Could it be that someone who is not us has an older and better claim to parts of this world?

Those that are use to thinking alone and independently may not be especially disturbed by this concept and keep moving on forward. On the other hand, those conditioned to follow and unable to operate without a community herd psychology may have a lot of trouble with this concept. Where do you think you fit into this picture?

As for me, it doesn’t bother me. Rather, if true, as long as I am alive I will be moving cautiously but also excited about stretching my mind grasping at new concepts and insights that differences will inevitably bring. I’m ready to pioneer with anyone who is ready to pioneer with me and pursue beneficial avenues for all.

So what’s so dangerous about operating within a herd psychology? Think about it. As just one lone example, cancer is a great killer of humans and the battle against it consumes billions of people’s lives world wide and their wealth which at the same time also enriches great world industries. A cheap and readily available cure would benefit populations in the billions immensely but also destroy the great industries that parasite off of this terrible scourge. It’s the same with energy and its consumption. Note that the most influential people in the world are also the richest. How do you think that came about?

What choice do you think the richest most influential people (the few) would make if they could control knowledge of a cancer cure or a source of commonly available cheap energy not subject to centralized control and not subject to population checks and balances? Got any doubts about the answer to that? It’s not about to happen. Why? Because the suffering of the many benefits the few in mega ways important to them and it is how they got to be the richest and most influential by acquiring and keeping advantage under wraps and blocking it from common public knowledge.

The world may be a more complex place than we’ve allowed ourselves to imagine but there is nothing insurmountable about it for knowledgeable involved and participating populations. Yet we willing sink into ignorance and participate in the world’s ills by avoidance and abrogating our own responsibilities to a few who then in turn vampire off of us with our blessing. They pee down our collective collar while convincing us that it is only raining. Meanwhile, I suspect others watch to see if we can break these chains of our own making but worse, they are likely judging our fitness to fit in their greater environments.

Recommended Reading: Antarctica Mysteries

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• Antarctica Mysteries (weirdsciences.net)