NASA’s latest Mars rover is done with its testing and has embarked on its first scientific mission. After landing on the planet in February, the Perseverance rover has been busy trying out its many instruments—converting atmospheric carbon dioxide into oxygen that would be needed for manned missions, flying a helicopter and taking photos.

Now, it will begin its mission: looking for evidence of life. Over the coming months, it will use a variety of sophisticated instruments to scan the planet’s Jezero Crater for places of interest, drill into rocks and soil, and collect specimens to be retrieved and brought to Earth by future spacecraft. . . .

WASHINGTON — The government still has no explanation for nearly all of the scores of unidentified aerial phenomena reported over almost two decades and investigated by a Pentagon task force, according to a report released Friday, a result that is likely to fuel theories of otherworldly visitations.

A total of 143 reports gathered since 2004 remain unexplained, the document released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said. Of those, 21 reports of unknown phenomena, involving 18 episodes, possibly demonstrate technological capabilities that are unknown to the United States: objects moving without observable propulsion or with rapid acceleration that is believed to be beyond the capabilities of Russia, China or other terrestrial nations.

There is no evidence that any of the episodes involve secret U.S. weapons programs, unknown technology from Russia or China or extraterrestrial visitations. But the government report did not rule out those explanations.

Instead, government officials outlined a plan to develop a better program to observe and collect data on future unexplained phenomena.

The failure to reach a conclusion on the unexplained episodes raised questions about how seriously the government has taken them and whether it has assembled adequate scientific expertise to examine them.

Too little data exists to draw a conclusion about many of the episodes, officials said. But both scientific experts and enthusiastic amateurs have advanced explanations ranging from the mundane to the otherworldly, and the report did little to substantiate or dismiss their theories.

Government officials on Friday were reluctant to acknowledge the potential that the phenomena could be extraterrestrial craft, a signal of how unlikely they view that explanation.

There was no affirmative evidence that the unexplained phenomena are alien spacecraft in the report. But because the government has offered no explanation for so many of the episodes, the new report is sure to fuel the enthusiasm of those who believe they could be.

Among the unexplained incidents are three high-profile videos of aerial phenomena taken by the U.S. Navy and witnessed by pilots in recent years.

The report released Friday is an interim report, which is how former officials involved in the Pentagon examination had predicted the government would initially handle the requirement by Congress to submit an unclassified report on what it knows about UFOs.

The government intends to update Congress within 90 days on efforts to develop an improved collection strategy and what officials are calling a technical road map to develop technology to better observe the phenomena, senior government officials told reporters Friday. Officials said they would provide lawmakers with periodical updates beyond that.

The Pentagon and intelligence agencies have eschewed the term unidentified flying object and refer instead to unidentified aerial phenomena. It has been a bit of rebranding, both to cut down on public enthusiasm and remove the stigma that UFO can carry, in order to encourage pilots to report their observations and scientists to study them.

The new report laid out five categories of possible explanation for the phenomena: a secret technology developed by an adversarial power like Russia and China, classified cutting-edge U.S. technology, a naturally occurring phenomenon, airborne clutter such as errant weather balloons and a catchall “other” category. That final group could include extraterrestrial technology.

Officials do not have any indications that the unexplained incidents show objects that are part of a foreign intelligence collection program or a major technological advancement by a potential adversary, a senior government official said. They are also unable to confirm that any of those incidents are part of a U.S. government or defense industry program, a senior official said.

Nevertheless, the report does not completely rule out a Russian or Chinese aircraft or a U.S. classified program.

The report is being made public because of a provision inserted by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, into a huge spending bill passed by Congress.

“This report is an important first step in cataloging these incidents, but it is just a first step,” Rubio said in a statement. “The Defense Department and Intelligence Community have a lot of work to do before we can actually understand whether these aerial threats present a serious national security concern.”

Of the incidents examined by the task force, there are “no clear indications that there is any nonterrestrial explanation” for them, said a senior official, adding that the government would “go wherever the data takes us” as the inquiry continued.

The report avoids any real discussion of the possibility the unexplained phenomena are extraterrestrial in nature. It was not the purpose of the government’s task force to search for extraterrestrial life, a responsibility that falls to NASA, said a senior governmental official.

Perhaps as a result, government officials said that going forward they would only focus on making observations of the phenomena and had no plans to try to communicate with the objects.

Government officials said that on further examination, the 21 reports that show unusual acceleration or movement could prove to have normal explanations. Government analysts have scrutinized the cameras and sensors that recorded the phenomena for potential flaws, a senior government official said.

There are plausible, but dry, explanations for each of the Navy recordings that are more likely than some sort of extraordinary technology, said Mick West, a science writer who focuses on debunking conspiracy theories.

In one video, a sharp movement of the object could be attributable to a shift in the camera’s movement. In another, an object that appears to be moving fast is shown to be actually moving much more slowly when a relevant trigonometric calculation is applied. An image of a rapidly spinning object skimming over the clouds is caused by infrared glare, West said.

“If you just say, ‘Oh, it’s aliens,’ that’s actually quite a simple explanation,” West said. “The actual explanation is kind of complicated, which is why a lot of people miss it. But yet the mundane explanations exist for all of these videos.”

The Pentagon and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence are considering research and development programs that could improve and standardize data collection, the officials said. With more data, better pattern analysis of the episodes could be done, said a senior government official.

The Pentagon is also hoping to look at historical data collected by radar to find other similar incidents, a senior government official said.

Officials said they looked at 144 unexplained incidents and were able to recategorize one as an example of airborne clutter. The failure to make headway on any of the others is a reflection of the lack of data but also a lack of scientific brainpower examining the problem.

Since the late 1960s, most scientists and scholars have steered away from UFO studies. Their reluctance has hampered the government’s ability to put conspiracy theories about aliens to rest.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think that landscape is really going to change,” said Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona. “It’s still an area where scientists mostly fear to tread.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Astronauts finished unfurling a new pair of solar panels outside the International Space Station on Friday, making their third spacewalk in just over a week.

NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and France’s Thomas Pesquet successfully installed the second in a series of powerful solar wings that should keep the space station running the rest of this decade, as space tourism ramps up with visitors beginning in the fall.

“We have a lot of happy faces down here,” Mission Control radioed as power surged through the panel.

It should have been a two-spacewalk job, but spacesuit and other problems hampered the astronauts’ work on June 16. As a result, the first solar wing wasn’t extended to its full length of 63 feet (19 meters) until Sunday. NASA added a third spacewalk for Friday to attach and unfold the second wing—this time everything went smoothly 255 miles (410 kilometers) up.

Once Pesquet released the final bolt, the newest solar wing unrolled like a giant stretch of wallpaper, high above the Bering Sea. It took 10 minutes for the slow but steady extension.

“Well done out there, buddy,” Kimbrough called out. . . .

China will use its space station to advance its military technology and strengthen its influence in foreign countries, experts and lawmakers warn the Washington Free Beacon.

Three Chinese astronauts reached the Tiangong space station on June 17. The project ushers in an expansion of China’s capabilities in space and a boost to its international prestige. The station is home to numerous “dual use” technologies that have military applications that could threaten the United States. As China’s station eclipses the International Space Station in technological capabilities, developing countries may also be more enticed to collaborate with China’s space program.

China has exploited numerous high-tech ventures—included in its space program—to increase surveillance, data sharing, and corporate espionage. Sarah Mineiro, a board member at the Vandenberg Coalition and adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the Washington Free Beacon such technologies are cause for concern, and China’s growing space capabilities challenge American power in the ultimate high ground.

“The Chinese do not have a firewall between national security, defense, intelligence in space and civil space,” Mineiro said. “It’s a widely recognized fact that space is increasingly vulnerable. The advantages we derive from space—specifically the national security advantages we derive from space—have long been threatened.”

In 2018, the chief of the Chinese lunar exploration program compared the moon and Mars to contested islands in the South China Sea, which the Chinese military has long laid claim to. Experts warned the space station is a step in the larger Chinese plan to establish a foothold in Earth’s orbit, and eventually on the moon. Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), a cofounder of the House Space Force Caucus, warned that impending budget constraints under the Biden administration and the growing strength of the Chinese space program could put America out of the game in coming years.

“The Chinese space program is on the rise, it’s young, new, vibrant and ascendant. Our program is stagnant and in some cases declining,” Waltz said. “I hope this administration will engage on the front end with these countries to help them understand what a devil’s bargain it will be to cooperate with the Chinese on their space station.”

The Biden administration did not return a request for comment.

Chinese officials have signaled they will use the space station to develop relationships with other nations. The strategy is similar to one that Beijing deployed during the coronavirus pandemic, as it provided its inferior vaccine to African, Latin American, and other Asian countries. China’s so-called vaccine diplomacy has pushed the United States to share doses of vaccines abroad.

“We should expect that as the Chinese build out their space station that we’re going to see them use it as a diplomatic tool,” said Dean Cheng, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation.

China invited United Nations member states in 2018 to use the space station for research. U.S. officials are also concerned that China is working closely with the Russian space program. In March, Russia and China agreed to begin working toward the construction of a joint moon base.

Brandon Weichert, a space security analyst and author of the 2020 book Winning Space, said China and Russia could surpass the United States in space during the coming decades, a threat that he said calls for strong leadership in the U.S. space industry.

“It could allow them to dominate the Earth-moon system along with the Chinese,” Weichert said of Russia. “We’re in a new space race, it’s going to be a national effort, and we need to plan and resource these longer-term missions.”

The Trump administration established the Space Force in 2019 to better protect American satellites from Russian and Chinese weaponry in space. Biden officials have acknowledged the possibility of Chinese aggression in orbit. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has deemed China a “pacing threat,” and NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Wednesday he hopes to make the Wolf Amendment—a measure in place forbidding space cooperation with China—permanent due to Chinese space threats.

The administration’s focus, however, might not be sufficient. Beijing is mimicking many of the successful tactics of the U.S. space industry, including supporting its own cadre of private companies to advance the nation’s mission in space. With China’s technological developments advancing at breakneck speed, it is unclear that the United States can long retain its edge on the final frontier.

“In a lot of the areas of space it is not at all clear that they are far behind or even that much behind,” Cheng said. “We should be very careful about assuming they’re behind us.”

The post Chinese Space Station a Looming Threat to US, Experts Say appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

It has long been thought that intense pressures and temperatures on Venus made life at the surface practically impossible. So last September, when scientists announced the possible discovery of phosphine gas in the atmosphere of Venus—a potential biosignature of life—some wondered whether microbial life might be living in the planet’s clouds.

They may want to temper expectations. A new study published in Nature Astronomy suggests there’s simply not enough water on Venus to sustain life as we know it in the clouds.

“It’s well known, of course, that life needs water,” says John Hallsworth, a microbiologist at Queens University Belfast and lead author of the new study. The new findings show that the water concentrations in Venus’s clouds are “more than 100 times too low” than what even the most resilient microorganisms on Earth need to sustain themselves. “It’s almost at the bottom of the scale—an unbridgeable distance from what life requires to be active.”

In 1978, NASA launched the Pioneer Venus mission, consisting of an orbiter and a group of four small probes that were jettisoned into the Venusian atmosphere. Within the atmosphere were signs of deuterium—a heavy isotope of hydrogen that can result from the breakdown of water. Scientists wondered whether Venus might have once been home to larger amounts of water, and whether some had actually stuck around in larger quantities in the atmosphere.

Fast forward to 2020 and the possible detection of traces of phosphine in Venus’s atmosphere. Those scientists contemplated a scenario for how a potential water cycle in Venus’s sulfuric acid-heavy clouds could allow microbes on Venus to exist in droplets at high altitudes and produce spores that could be hydrated and keep a reproductive life cycle going. Though the planet’s surface is hell, its clouds are stable and more temperate.

Well, the new paper means that’s pretty unlikely. The study focuses on “water activity,” or the amount of water that’s available to microorganisms to use, measured on a scale of 0 to 1. For this study, the research team sought to measure water activity in the clouds by calculating the atmosphere’s relative humidity (the amount of water that has saturated the air at a given temperature). Scientists have used Aspergillus penicillioides, a fungus capable of living in some of the driest conditions imaginable, as a baseline for understanding how much water scarcity an organism can endure while still being able to run metabolic functions and reproduce. The answer is a water activity score of 0.585—effectively the “life limit” of biological activity as we know it.

Using atmospheric data collected from past Venus missions and using newer models for how to assess water activity, Hallsworth and his team calculated the water activity of Venus’s clouds 68–42 kilometers in altitude, where life-tolerant temperatures range from -40°C to 130°C. They found that water activity is, at best, 0.004. “The most dry tolerant microbe on Earth wouldn’t stand a chance on Venus,” says Hallsworth.

The researchers also point out that even if the water activity itself was higher, Venus’s atmosphere is saturated with hostile elements that would likely hinder cellular systems from running properly (for example, sulfuric acid dehydrates cells).

Other planets fared better. The team also calculated water activity in Martian clouds to be 0.537 (comparable to Earth’s stratosphere, and just a smidge below the “life limit” for life on Earth), and in Jupiter’s clouds it happens to be at least 0.585 in locations where the temperature is between -10°C and 40°C. “We can’t say that Jupiter’s clouds are habitable,” says Christopher McKay, a NASA scientist and a coauthor of the study. “We can say they are not limited by water activity.”

The findings will need to be confirmed with more study, but the authors are pretty confident that won’t change, even with two new NASA missions and one new ESA mission headed to Venus near the end of the decade.

Of course, there are some caveats. “We have to base our discussions on life on other worlds on what we know about life on Earth, because we have a basis for that,” says McKay. “But some part of me hopes that when we do find life elsewhere, it is really very, very different,” with biochemistry that works beyond the limits of what we’ve seen here on Earth.

And while current life on Venus might seem improbable with these new findings, it doesn’t mean Venus was always barren. There’s a whole hidden history to the planet that scientists want to investigate.