Europe-Russia mission departs on hunt for life on Mars

Yahoo – AFP, Kirill Kudryavtsev, 15 March 2016

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft blasts off from

 the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome on March 14, 2016

(AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

Baikonur (Kazakhstan) (AFP) - A joint European-Russian mission aiming to search for traces of life on Mars left Earth's orbit Monday at the start of a seven-month unmanned journey to the Red Planet, space agency managers said.

The Proton rocket carrying the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) to examine Mars' atmosphere and a descent module that will conduct a test landing on its surface had earlier launched from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in the Kazakh steppe at 0931 GMT.

The spacecraft detached from its Briz-M rocket booster just after 2000 GMT before beginning its 496-million-kilometre (308-million-mile) voyage through the cosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA) said.

At 2129 GMT the probe and the lander, dubbed Schiaparelli, sent "signals confirming that the launch had gone well and that the space vehicle is in good condition" ESA said in a statement later Monday.

The TGO probe "is alive and talking," ESA said on Twitter.

The ExoMars 2016 mission, a collaboration between the ESA and its Russian equivalent Roscosmos, is the first part of a two-phase exploration aiming to answer questions about the existence of life on Earth's neighbour.

The TGO will examine methane around Mars while the lander, Schiaparelli, will detach and descend to the surface of the fourth planet from the Sun.

The landing of the module on Mars is designed as a trial run ahead of the planned second stage of the mission in 2018 that will see the first European rover land on the surface to drill for signs of life, although problems with financing mean it could be delayed.

Details of the ExoMars mission to be launched on March 14. (AFP Photo/Paz

Pizarro, Jonathan Jacobsen, Simon Malfatto, Laurence Saubadu)

'Nose in space'

One key goal of the TGO is to analyse methane, a gas which on Earth is created in large part by living microbes, and traces of which were observed by previous Mars missions.

"TGO will be like a big nose in space," said Jorge Vago, ExoMars project scientist.

Methane, ESA said, is normally destroyed by ultraviolet radiation within a few hundred years, which implied that in Mars' case "it must still be produced today".

TGO will analyse Mars' methane in more detail than any previous mission, said ESA, in order to try to determine its likely origin.

One component of TGO, a neutron detector called FREND, can help provide improved mapping of potential water resources on Mars, amid growing evidence the planet once had as much if not more water than Earth.

A better insight into water on Mars could aid scientists' understanding of how the Earth might cope in conditions of increased drought.

Schiaparelli, in turn, will spend several days measuring climatic conditions including seasonal dust storms on the Red Planet while serving as a test lander ahead of the rover's anticipated arrival.

The module takes its name from 19th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli whose discovery of "canals" on Mars caused people to believe, for a while, that there was intelligent life on our neighbouring planet.

The ExoMars spacecraft was built and designed by Franco-Italian contractor Thales Alenia Space.

A Russian Proton-M rocket carrying the ExoMars 2016 spacecraft blasts off from 

the launch pad at the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome on March 14, 

2016 (AFP Photo/Kirill Kudryavtsev)

'Need more money'

As for the next phase of ExoMars, ESA director general Jan Woerner has mooted a possible two-year delay, saying in January: "We need some more money" due to cost increases.

The rover scheduled for 2018 has been designed to drill up to two metres (around seven feet) into the Red Planet in search of organic matter, a key indicator of life past or present.

ESA said the rover landing "remains a significant challenge" however.

Although TGO's main science mission is scheduled to last until December 2017, it has enough fuel to continue operations for years after, if all goes well.

Thomas Reiter, director of human spaceflight at ESA, said in televised remarks ahead of the launch he believed a manned mission to Mars would take place "maybe in 20 years or 30 years".

Russian-American duo Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly earlier this month returned from a year-long mission at the International Space Station seen as a vital precursor to such a mission.

The ExoMars mission will complement the work of NASA's "Curiosity" rover which has spent more than three years on the Red Planet as part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission.

Curiosity, a car-sized mobile laboratory, aims to gather soil and rock samples on Mars and analyse them "for organic compounds and environmental conditions that could have supported life now or in the past," according to NASA.

Space has been one of the few areas of cooperation between Moscow and the West that has not been damaged by ongoing geopolitical tensions stemming from the crises in Ukraine and Syria.

Triumphant comet probe sends last-gasp data from 'alien world'

Yahoo – AFP, Mariette le Roux, 15 Nov. 2014

A photo released on November 13, 2014 by the European Space

 Agency, and captured on November 12 by the CIVA-P imaging

system, shows a 360º view of the surface of comet 67P/

Churyumov-Gerasimenko during Philae's descent (AFP Photo)

Paris (AFP) - Robot probe Philae uploaded a slew of last-minute data to Earth from a comet in deep space, before going to sleep at the end of its historic mission, ground controllers said.

Data streamed in as soon as Europe's pioneering robot lab reestablished late-night contact with its orbiting mothership, Rosetta, but its limited battery soon started wavering.

"My #lifeonacomet has just begun," said an official tweet in the name of the washing machine-sized lander perched on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko since Wednesday -- concluding with a restful "zzzzz".

European Space Agency (ESA) photo

 on November 13, 2014 shows an image

 taken by Rosetta's lander Philae (AFP

Photo)

"S'ok Philae, I’ve got it from here for now. Rest well...," said a response tweeted on behalf of Rosetta.

The European Space Agency (ESA) said its robot lab had entered "idle mode", with all instruments and most systems shut down after three days of non-stop work -- taking pictures and probing the comet's density, temperature, composition and atmosphere.

"Prior to falling silent, the lander was able to transmit all science data gathered," said a statement.

The lander and its mothership, which relayed Philae's data to Earth, had only two communications windows per day -- the last opened around 2130 GMT on Friday and closed at 0036 GMT the next morning as Rosetta disappeared in orbit behind the comet.

Mission controllers had feared the robot may not even have enough power to make contact during this window -- but they were pleasantly surprised.

"Science from an alien world" ESA Operations tweeted when contact was made. "Info now flowing from ."

The channel should open again around 1000 GMT Saturday, but lander manager Stephan Ulamec told AFP from mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, he did "not really expect" contact with Philae then.

"The chances that we could reestablish the link again tomorrow are really very, very low," he said.

"The battery is not completely empty, but it is below the level the central computer needs to boot" up.

In one of many jaw-dropping achievements, the robot lab appears to have lifted itself slightly on Friday and rotate the larger of its solar panels to absorb as much energy as possible to be stored for a possible wakeup later.

Philae had landed in a dark ditch after a bouncy touchdown Wednesday, and did not get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries sufficiently to extend its mission.

Mission engineers dream, however, of making contact with the lander "at some point" in the coming months as the comet, with Philae hopefully still clinging to its surface, moves closer to the Sun.

Philae's historic on-site survey of a comet travelling at 18 kilometres (11 miles) per second, currently at a distance of 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth, is the highlight in a more than decade-long mission.

Philae landed Wednesday after a nail-biting seven-hour, 20-km descent from Rosetta, which had travelled more than a decade and 6.5 billion kilometres (four billion miles) to meet up with the comet in August this year.

The touchdown did not go entirely as planned, when Philae's duo of anchoring harpoons failed to deploy and it lifted off again... twice.

The lander finally settled in a crevice in a location that remains a mystery, and data revealed it was shadowed from sunlight that could have extended its core, battery-powered mission of 60-odd hours.

'First comet drilling'

Among the most anticipated data from Philae is chemical analysis of a drill sample which scientists hope will shed light on the origins of the Solar System 4.6 billion years ago, and maybe even life on Earth.

The ESA confirmed that Philae had drilled Friday, though it did not specify whether a sample had been obtained.

"I confirm that my (drill) went all the way DOWN and UP again!!" said a tweet in the robot's name. "First comet drilling is a fact!"

The Rosetta-Philae team said Friday they were ecstatic with the results.

"We're in the middle of drinking champagne because this mission is a success," Philippe Gaudon, the head of the Rosetta project at France's space studies centre CNES, told AFP early on Saturday.

All 10 instruments on board the 100-kilogramme (22-pound) lab had kicked into action.

"This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered," said Ulamec.

The 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) mission aims to unlock the secrets of comets, which some astrophysicists believe may have "seeded" Earth with some of the ingredients for life.

Rosetta probe Philae declared 'stable'

Scientists are awaiting news from the Rosetta comet mission, its Philae module landed on the surface of comet 67P. Early data suggested the probe may have hit a snag, although the situation has been declared stable.

Deutsche Welle, 13 Nov 2014

With communications severed as the "mothership" Rosetta spent a period of its orbit on the far side of the comet from Earth, information was limited about the degree of success of Philae's landing.

Mission chiefs based in the German city of Darmstadt said the European Space Agency (ESA) lander, Philae, failed to anchor to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after landing on Wednesday. However, the probe still managed to send back some scientific information and was declared to be in a "stable" situation on Thursday.

The 100-kilogram (22 lb) module appears to have landed on a soft surface, but it is feared that it is not anchored. The harpoons that Philae had been due to fire to secure itself did not deploy successfully.

I’m on the surface but my harpoons did not fire. My team is hard at work now trying to determine why. #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014

It is believed that the probe touched down largely as planned, except that it may have bounced once off the surface before coming to rest. "Hopefully, we are sitting there on the surface at a position different to the original landing and can continue our science," landing manager Stefan Ulamec said after Philae's descent.

Rosetta, which carried Philae on a journey of some 6.5 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) was launched into space on 2004 and took over a decade to reach its target - comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - "Chury" or "67P" for short. It arrived in August, having been propelled to its destination by using the gravitational pull of both the Earth and Mars as a slingshot.

The probe is equipped with 10 instruments that will examine the chemistry and structure of the 67P, drilling into the comet's surface. It is hoped that the information gleaned might provide scientists with a greater understanding of the origins of the solar system.

Comets are thought to be clusters of ice and carbon dust left over from the formation of the solar system.

One theory is that comets may have seeded the Earth with water and the necessary carbon molecules for life to evolve some 4.6 billion years ago.

rc/ksb (AFP, AP, Reuters)

Related Article:

Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta probe reaches target

Will ET Be Here Soon? NASA Brings Scientists, Theologians Together To Prepare

Huffington Post, Lee Speigel, 09/22/2014

Looking for extraterrestrial life is akin to a search for a cosmic needle-in-a-haystack, as evidenced by the above incredible Hubble Space Telescope image showing approximately 10,000 galaxies.

In large part, thanks to NASA's Kepler spacecraft, more than 1,400 planets have been identified beyond Earth.

A few days ago, NASA tried closing the gap between life on Earth and the possibilities of life elsewhere. The space agency and the Library of Congress (image below left) brought together scientists, historians, philosophers and theologians from around the world for a two-day symposium, "Preparing For Discovery." Their agenda: To explore how we prepare for the inevitable discovery of extraterrestrial life, be it simple microbial organisms or intelligent beings.

"We're looking at all scenarios about finding life. If you find microbes, that's one thing. If you find intelligence, it's another. And if they communicate, it's something else, and depending on what they say, it's something else!" said astronomer, symposium organizer and former chief NASA historian, Steven J. Dick.

"The idea is not to wait until we make a discovery, but to try and prepare the public for what the implications might be when such a discovery is made," Dick told The Huffington Post. "I think the reason that NASA is backing this is because of all the recent activity in the discovery of exoplanets and the advances in astrobiology in general.

"People just consider it much more likely now that we're going to find something -- probably microbes first and maybe intelligence later," he added. "The driving force behind this is from a scientific point of view that it seems much more likely now that we are going to find life at some point in the future."

Among the many speakers at last week's astrobiology symposium, one has raised a few international eyebrows in recent years.

"I believe [alien life exists], but I have no evidence. I would be really excited and it would make my understanding of my religion deeper and richer in ways that I can't even predict yet, which is why it would be so exciting," Brother Guy Consolmagno, a Jesuit brother, astronomer and Vatican planetary scientist told HuffPost senior science editor David Freeman.

Consolmagno has publicly stated his belief that "any entity -- no matter how many tentacles it has -- has a soul," and he's suggested that he would be happy to baptize any ETs, as long as they requested it.

"There has to be freedom to do science. Being a good scientist means admitting we never have the whole truth -- there's always more to learn." Consolmagno also doesn't think the public would panic when or if it's revealed that alien life has been found.

"I really think it would be a three-day wonder and then we'd go back to worrying about reality TV or the crazy things going on in Washington -- that's the way human beings are. Because I think most people are like me: we expect it's out there. And our reaction would be, 'Wow, thank heavens. It's about time."

Earth is no longer the center of the universe, nor is it flat -- at least that's the currently accepted thinking among most scientists. And we now know, conclusively, that there are a lot more planets than the ones in our own solar system.

"The number of habitable worlds in our galaxy is certainly in the tens of billions, minimum, and we haven't even talked about the moons. And the number of galaxies we can see, other than our own, is about 100 billion," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at California's SETI Institute told HuffPost.

Watch this video zooming and panning through the night sky to show 10,000 galaxies photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

At the NASA/Library of Congress symposium, Shostak gave out some startling numbers about how many stars there are in the part of the universe that we can see. "It's a big number: 10,000 billion, billion. And we know that most of those stars have planets -- 70 or 80 percent. If all of those planets are sterile, and you're the only interesting thing happening in the cosmos, then you are a miracle. That would be exceptional in the extreme. So, the middle-of-the-road approach is to say, 'You're not a miracle, you're just another duck in a row of ducks.'"

"The bottom line of this," Shostak said, "is something like one in five of all stars may have an analog to Earth. That's a lot of habitable worlds, and, indeed, the number of Earths in our own galaxy might be on the order of 50 billion."

Those are big numbers to ponder.

The D.C. conference included a great deal of discussion about the upcoming mission of the Hubble's long-anticipated successor: the James Webb Space Telescope. As large as a tennis court, this deep space observatory is scheduled for a 2018 launch and will orbit beyond our moon. The Webb telescope will focus on new planetary discoveries and collect data from the atmospheres of those planets, looking for certain things that might point to what we would consider possible indicators of life.

HuffPost asked Dick, an astrobiologist, for his opinion on the continuing output of UFO reports around the world.

"I try to keep an open mind on this. Ninety-some percent can be explained by natural phenomena, etc. The question is what to do with the other 3 or 4 percent," Dick said. "My opinion is that they should be studied further, on the one hand. By definition, they're something that we don't know what they are. They could be some physical, psychological or social phenomena that we don't know about. But I think it's jumping to a conclusion that they're extraterrestrial. I don't see that evidence.

"I haven't looked at the evidence close enough to say that there's intelligence behind it. But I've seen enough to know that there are unexplained things that we should look at more, and right now, the U.S. government is not doing that."

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China looks to quantum mechanics to protect secrets from US hackers

"FUTURE AND PHYSICS (#)" - May 16-17, 2014 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) -

(#) New major Discoveries (This channel will become a historical channel in the future, prove that Kryon is a real communication to humanity from the Creative Source) - (Text version Physics)

1 To see and measure multi-dimensional/quantum physics, instrument (super cooling quantum plasma lens)

2 Two more laws of multi-dimensional physics revealed: explanation of dark matter & acknowledgement of free energy (controlling mass)

3 God in the atom. God has - provable - part in physics. Intelligent/benevolent design. (Will bring religion and science together.)

4 Human Consciousness is an attribute of physics. (Pleiadians - Humans ancestors / Humans free choice only planet in the Milky Way Galaxy. Other galaxies have their own spiritual systems and physics)

5.Coherent DNA. Multidimensional DNA coherent between dimensions will give Enhanced DNA

"Earth, the only planet with free choice in the Milky Way Galaxy"

"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous Remission, Religion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)


"Recalibration of the Universe"– Jan 25, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text Version)

“… The entire galaxy revolves as one plate, in a very counter-intuitive way. The stars and the constellations do not orbit within the rules of Newtonian physics that you are used to seeing all around you in your own solar system. For the stars and clusters in your galaxy, distance from the center does not matter. All the stars rotate as one. This is because the galaxy is entangled with the middle of itself. In that state, there is no time or distance. The change of consciousness on this planet has changed the center of the galaxy. This is because what happens here, dear one, is "known" by the center.

It's interesting to us what your reaction to all this is scientifically. You saw that the "creative event" of your Universe is missing some energy in order for it to have formed as it did. In addition, the unusual way the galaxy rotates, as I just stated, was also noted. So you have calculated that for all this to be in place, there has to be missing 3D matter, and you have given it a name - dark matter. How funny! Did you ever think that there could be a multidimensional effect going on that you now can observe and calculate - that has immense power, but can't be seen? It's not "matter" at all and it's not 3D. It's quantum energy.

Let me tell you something about physics. Yet again, I'll make it simple. Everything your scientists have seen in physics happens in pairs. At the moment, there are four laws of physics in your three-dimensional paradigm. They represent two pairs of energy types. Eventually, there will be six. At the center of your galaxy is what you call a black hole, but it is not a single thing. It is a duality. There is no such thing as "singularity". You might say it's one energy with two parts - a weak and a strong quantum force. And the strangest thing is it knows who you are. It is the creator engine. It's different in other galaxies than this one. It's unique.

The very physics of your galaxy is postured by what you do here. The astronomers can look into the cosmos and they will discover different physics in different galaxies. Could it be that there's something going on in the other galaxies like this one? I'm not going to answer that. … “

Europe's comet-chasing Rosetta probe reaches target

Space probe Rosetta has reached position near a deep-space comet that scientists hope holds clues about the solar system's origins. The much-anticipated rendezvous comes at the end of a decade-long journey.

Deutsche Welle, 6 Aug 2014

The Rosetta probe drew close to its study subject, the prosaically-named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet, closely monitored by European Space Agency officials at mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

The orbital entry on Wednesday was triggered by a firing of thrusters to bring the craft into the first of a series of "pyramidal" paths around the comet's nucleus, which has been likened to a rubber duck because of its odd shape.

ESA's Twitter account for the mission tweeted a photo of the comet's nucleus, along with a succession of greetings in different European languages.

Rosetta arrives at comet destination after a 10-year journey http://t.co/rrubq6Ov56 pic.twitter.com/DG904A8faN
— ESA (@esa) 6 augustus 2014

The arrival marked a key moment for the 1.3-billion-euro ($1.76-billion) project examining the formation of the solar system. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will carry out its first landing on the comet in November, sending a robot chemistry laboratory named Philae to the comet's surface.

Rosetta took off from Earth aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on March 2, 2004, from ESA's launchpad in French Guiana. The space agency has likened its unprecedented journey to a game of "cosmic billiards."

To reach its present position, the craft had to make four flybys of Earth and Mars, using the gravitational force of each as a slingshot. Rosetta then entered a 31-month hibernation period as the sun became too weak for its solar panels, coming back to life in January this year.

The latest maneuvers, to bring the probe within about 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the comet, have involved the craft making a series of braking maneuvers. The probe will eventually be steered into position some 10 kilometers from the nucleus' surface.

Astrophysicists believe comets, icy clusters left over from the formation of the planets 4.6 billion years ago, could be the key to understanding how the planets coalesced and formed around the sun. It is also thought they might harbor clues as to the source of the water that formed the Earth's oceans, as well as the origins of life itself.

rc/hc (AFP, AP)

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European satellite spots 'impossibly' huge star

Russians take Olympic torch on historic spacewalk

Google – AFP, Dmitry Zaks (AFP), 9 November 2013

An image obtained from NASA TV shows cosmonaut Oleg Kotov holding the

 Olympic torch in front of Sergei Ryazansky (rear) outside the International Space 

Station on November 9, 2013 (NASA TV/AFP)

Moscow — Two cosmonauts took the Olympic torch -- unlit -- for a spacewalk Saturday in a historic showcasing of Russia's Sochi Winter Olympic Games in three months' time.

Veteran cosmonaut Oleg Kotov ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) with the torch held ceremonially in his gloved hand and his every move beamed live across the nation by Russian state TV.

The feather-shaped red-and-grey symbol of peace and friendship was tethered safely to his bulky spacesuit to make sure it did not spin away in orbit 260 miles (420 kilometres) above the Earth.

The moment was captured on high-tech video and photo equipment operated by fellow cosmonaut Sergei Ryazansky -- out on his very first spacewalk.

"Beautiful," Ryazansky exclaimed as Kotov proudly waved the torch in front of the camera while floating almost directly above Australia.

"It is hard to believe that this is happening," a state television commentator exclaimed. "Something this beautiful has never happened before."

The pair then spent about an hour taking turns holding the torch and posing for dramatic shots with the Earth serving as the backdrop.

But their conversation mainly consisted of complicated space jargon and detailed exchanges with the Russian commander on board the ISS.

Kotov had warned before the spacewalk that he did not intend to make any "grand pronouncement" similar to the one Neil Armstrong delivered when he took his first step on the Moon in 1969.

Saturday's mission marked the very first time the Olympic symbol entered open space -- a no-expense-spared triumph for Russia as it showed off its prowess in both science and sport.

Russia has gone to unparallelled lengths to promote its first Olympic event since the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow were boycotted by a bloc of Western nations because of the Soviet Union's invasion at the time of Afghanistan.

Moscow has already sent the torch to the North Pole aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker. It will soon visit the bottom of Baikal -- the world's deepest freshwater lake.

People in Tokyo watch a live broadcast showing the launch of Russia's Soyuz

 TMA-11M spacecraft, carrying an international crew and an unlit Olympic torch

 for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, blasting off from the Kazakh Baikonur

cosmodrome, on November 7, 2013 (AFP Photo, Toru Yamanaka)

All are extravagant reminders from President Vladimir Putin's government about the breadth of both Russia's ambitions and its natural wealth.

But little compares to the pride Russia has taken in shooting the torch up to the ISS aboard the same type of rocket the Soviets used for launching pioneering spaceman Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

"Taking the Olympic torch to space -- only we are capable of that," a state television presenter boasted on Thursday during a news show about the upcoming February 7-23 Sochi Games.

The bold claim is not actually true. Torches also left the planet aboard US space shuttle voyages ahead of the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta and the 2000 event in Sydney.

But never has a torch been taken out for a spacewalk until Saturday.

Space officials stressed that safety precautions meant the torch remained unlit while inside the ISS at all times. Flames outside the station are impossible because of the lack of oxygen.

"We do not intend to set fire to anything, including the Olympic torch," cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin joked on Friday during a video hookup from the space station.

Russia had nevertheless at one point contemplated sending the actual flame up to the station by encasing it in a special lantern.

Vitaly Davydov of the Roscosmos space agency set the debate rolling by remarking in 2011 that such a space shot "is not a bad idea (that) is theoretically possible".

More cautious senior Russian officials eventually decided that lighting a fire aboard a Soyuz rocket filled with tonnes of explosive fuel was not a wise choice.

Internationally agreed rules governing the ISS itself forbid flames from being lit on the orbiting lab because they would burn up the limited supplies of oxygen available to the crew.

But the symbolism of the spacewalk with the unlit torch still received extra global promotion by being aired live on screens at New York's Times Square.

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Chelyabinsk asteroid measured 12,000 tonnes

Google – AFP, 6 November 2013

An asteroid trail seen above a residential apartment block in the Urals city of

Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013 (74.RU/AFP/File, Oleg Kargopolov)

Paris — The asteroid that smashed into the central Russian city of Chelyabinsk initially measured 19 metres (61 feet) across, packing the energy of dozens of Hiroshima bombs, a study said on Wednesday.

Scientists in the Czech Republic and Canada analysed video and audio footage and fragments recovered from the dramatic incident on February 15.

They estimated the asteroid had probably once been part of the same, massive celestial object as a two-kilometre (1.2-mile) behemoth called 86039 -- a nasty "geocruiser" first spotted in 1999 that regularly comes close to Earth's orbit.

On entering Earth's atmosphere, the asteroid weighed 12,000 tonnes, a mass translating into the energy equivalent of 500,000 tonnes of TNT, according to the paper in the journal Nature.

This is roughly equivalent to between 27 and 41 times the explosive yield of the first atomic bomb, used on Hiroshima in 1945.

"The asteroid broke into small pieces between the altitudes of around 45 and 30 kilometres (28 and 18 miles), preventing more serious damage on the ground," says the study.

A graphic showing the arrival of the Chelyabinsk asteroid (AFP)

"The total mass of surviving fragments larger than 100 grammes (3.5 ounces) was lower than expected."

Previous estimates have put the object at 17 metres (56 feet) across and a mass of around 10,000 tonnes.

About 1,200 people were hurt by the shockwave, which blew out windows and damaged buildings across five Russian regions.

According to an Internet survey published in the US journal Science, 25 people who were outside at the time said they received sunburns from the ultraviolet light released by the meteor.

The study also says the object was a so-called LL chondrite type of rock, which is believed to constitute a minority in the asteroid belt.

It is of the same type as the asteroid Itokawa, samples of which were collected by the Japanese mission Hayabusa.

In a separate study also published by Nature, a team led by University of Western Ontario researcher Peter Brown carried out a survey of big airbursts by meteors.

The number of big asteroids could be "an order of magnitude" -- tenfold -- higher than estimated by telescopic observation of the space around Earth, it said.

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The Star Beings Destroy a Meteor on Collision Course with Earth - Steve Beckow, Golden Age of Gaia?

....  The next mention of it came from Archangel Michael in the course of a personal reading I had with him on March 8, 2013. Geoff asked me to ask AAM for confirmation of this news that Ashira had broken.

“It could have triggered what you would think of as … the only comparison you would have would be…  another Ice Age.”

“Wow. You’re kidding,” I responded.

“No,” he said.

Galactic ships intercept meteor

Steve: So the galactics prevented another Ice Age. That’s what you’re saying, right?

AAM: That is what I’m saying. … Your star brothers and sisters intervened. That is why it was not more dramatic and damaging. And they intervened not only on behalf of the people of Earth and of Russia, but on behalf of Gaia herself.

S: And was this heavenly body, so to speak, sent here by the dark forces?

AAM: No. It is just what is moving about. It is part of the movement of energy, of debris, throughout the universe. So no, there was no negative force behind it, not the way you think of it.

S: Alright, if the galactics had not been around at this time, for the purposes of Ascension, would they still have provided this service?

AAM: Yes.  .....

Read More 

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell - Witness Testimony

Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man on the moon, testifies to extraterrestrial visitation and military coverup.

Special thanks to James Fox for providing the interview.

Get more information at http://www.siriusdisclosure.com/

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"Common Questions from Non-Lightworkers" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) 

"... Question Three: Is there life on other planets?

Are you kidding? There's life everywhere. Everywhere! Right now, your scientists are searching for microbial life on all the planets and their moons in your solar system, and they will eventually find it. They expect to find it. They will eventually understand that the seeds of life are everywhere.

How much life might there be? How long has it been "out there"? When science starts to realize the scope of how long life has been in your galaxy, they will begin to see something counterintuitive to evolution - their own Human history. How old is your Universe? Ask your scientists and they will say about 13 billion years. That's OK. Let's use their numbers. How old is your own planet - 4 or 5 billion, perhaps? Correct. But how old is humanity? Why weren't you here with the dinosaurs? You think the earth wasn't ready? Do you think that perhaps that which controls evolution was a little too stupid to make a Human sooner, but the process could make a dinosaur? Have you ever thought about these things?

If you put the earth's entire history into a 24-hour clock, life itself only started in the last hour and humanity, all of civilization, happened the last few seconds. Isn't that odd to you? Therefore, in a Universe that may be 13 billion years old, you arrived in the last few seconds. Did you ever think maybe you're the newest ones on the block? Well, you'd be right.

If the Universe is really that old, do you think perhaps there are civilizations in your galaxy that might be a billion or more years older than you? If that's the case, do you think perhaps they have gone through anything you're going through? Do you think any of them might have had your DNA attributes? Perhaps they also went through what you are going through spiritually? Perhaps they even went into a quantum ascension status? The answer is dozens of them.

You already know them and you've listed them in your publications. The ones who directly seeded you are called Pleiadians. The ones who seeded them might be Octurian and the ones who seeded them may be even Orion. They're everywhere, and they're all here as well. They're looking at you, for you are the ones who are next, and you are passing this marker of the shift ...."

“… Is there life on other planets? The scientists are saying, "It's going to be a long time before we get to the stars, you know? We have to get in this little metal can and put air in it, and then travel in it for years and years before we ever get to the next star." Meanwhile, a Pleiadian can do it in the blink of an eye! What do you think is going on there? Do you even believe me?

Not long ago, if you wanted to communicate to someone far away, you sent a letter. It was carried by a horse. It took a month to get a response. Now you communicate instantly!  Why is this so unbelievable to you about travel?

I will tell you, as long as you stay in 3D, you'll still be getting in little metal cans and air suits and going to planets. As soon as you begin the quantum age, however, you will simply wish yourself there, because you will be entangled with everything and can go with intent. If you don't believe this now, you will later, for what I give you is true. It may be lifetimes and lifetimes from now, but the group that is before me is the group that is going to come back over and over and over. The difference is that you're done coming back in an old energy. This is a new energy. ..”

"The Big Picture - You Are Not Alone" - Feb 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll)