Russia and China successfully test quantum communication over satellite

Following recent demos of quantum communication using undersea fiber optics, scientists from Russia and China have successfully demonstrated quantum communication over satellite, using China's quantum satellite (dubbed "Mozi"), as the two countries lay the groundwork for advanced encrypted communication networks that are safe from prying Western eyes — possibly for BRICS-aligned countries. The test was conducted using the satellite from a ground station close to Moscow, Russia, to another station based near Urumqi, China, over 3,800 kilometers, according to the South China Morning Post.  READ MORE...

Water Floating in the Universe

Scientists dated an enormous body of water in space at a whopping 12 billion years old, making it the oldest in the known universe.

Space is undeniably scary, as are vast expanses of water. So when you combine them you get an extremely ominous body of water that is older than the dinosaurs and undoubtedly hiding countless secrets.
The floating water vapor is very old, and very far away

The body of water was discovered back in 2011 by two teams of scientists based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. It’s the largest collection of water in the universe and is a staggering 30 billion trillion miles away. Only god knows how many football fields that is!   READ MORE...

Large Structure in Space

The universe is more connected than you might think: In recent years, scientists have used new tools and techniques to map the “cosmic web,” which is made up of intertwined strands of gas structures known as filaments that link galaxies. Now, a team of researchers have identified a new “large-scale structure” in the universe that they call the “Cosmic Vine.”

The researchers hail from numerous universities and institutions across Denmark, Chile, the U.K., and the Netherlands. They published a preprint of their work to the arXiv server on November 8. According to the study, the Cosmic Vine was spotted after poring over data collected by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), humanity’s most powerful tool for peering into the far reaches of space and time.  READ MORE...

Scientists Search for Aliens Searching for US

A team of scientists will scan the sky near a supernova explosion in search of signals from an advanced civilization. Credit: International Gemini Observatory / NOIRLab / NSF / AURA // Image Processing: J. Miller (Gemini Observatory / NSF’s NOIRLab) / M. Rodriguez (Gemini Observatory / NSF’s NOIRLab) / M. Zamani (NSF’s NOIRLab) / T.A. Rector (University of Alaska Anchorage / NSF’s NOIRLab) & D. de Martin (NSF’s NOIRLab)





Scientists around the world have turned their telescopes in the direction of the Ursa Major constellation to gaze at a supernova discovered there last month.

When something awesomely bright and powerful explodes, humans are instinctively compelled to look.

That's exactly what James R. A. Davenport and his team of collaborators were thinking when they designed a new study that will scan the space around the supernova over the next few months. What they're looking for are potential radio signals from an advanced alien civilization that might use the star's blast as something akin to a flare gunshot or a Batman-esque bat signal.

Astronomers have mulled this concept since at least the 1970s, Davenport told Mashable, though this is the first observation coordinated to look for alien technology around a supernova.

"It's an old idea that goes back to how you get somebody's attention, especially if you don't have the ability to just put up a giant neon sign that says 'We are here,'" he said. "It's hard to transmit a signal over light-years, even for presumably an advanced civilization."  READ MORE...

Space Based Power

Sci-Fi fans and futurists have long envisioned a mechanism that would capture solar power from space, focus it and transmit it to earth as a way of providing more efficient energy for humanity. 

There are many theoretical potential benefits of this if it can be made to work, including less pollution and no fear that the source of power will ever run out. 

With the right architecture, space based energy transmitted like this could also make access to energy available with little or no infrastructure. Just set up a device in your yard and there is your power.

How might this work? The video here from Dr. Ali Hajimiri, Caltech Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering and Co-Director of the Space-Based Solar Power Project, explains how:

Thanks to the vision and hard work and engineering of this Caltech team part of this vision has now been successfully demonstrated.  READ MORE...

China Wants the Upper Hand In Space

The race to the moon between the United States and China is getting tighter and the next two years could determine who gains the upper hand.

So says NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, who warns that Beijing could establish a foothold and try to dominate the most resource-rich locations on the lunar surface — or even keep the U.S. out.

“It is a fact: we’re in a space race,” the former Florida senator and astronaut said in an interview. “And it is true that we better watch out that they don’t get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research. And it is not beyond the realm of possibility that they say, ‘Keep out, we’re here, this is our territory.’”

He cited an Earthly example in the South China Sea, where the Chinese military has established bases on contested islands. “If you doubt that, look at what they did with the Spratly Islands.”

Nelson’s hawkish comments follow NASA’s 26-day Artemis I mission, in which an uncrewed Orion space capsule flew around the moon. That mission, widely regarded as a success, was the first big step toward NASA’s plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface to begin building a more permanent human presence — which could come as early as 2025.

It also comes on the heels of Congress’ passage of a full-year budget for NASA. The agency did not get all the funding it requested, but Nelson insisted that the “have to haves” were not shortchanged. That includes the key components for the next two moon missions, Artemis II and Artemis III.

But looming ever-larger is China’s aggressive space program, including its recent opening of a new space station. Beijing has announced a goal of landing taikonauts on the moon by the end of this decade. In December, China’s government laid out its vision for more ambitious endeavors such as building infrastructure in space and creating a space governance system.  READ MORE...

Nuclear Powered Spacecraft by 2027

The top official at the United States space agency NASA has said the country plans to test a spacecraft engine powered with nuclear fission by 2027, an advancement seen as key to long-haul missions including a manned journey to Mars.

NASA will partner with the US military’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop the nuclear thermal propulsion engine and launch it into space, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said on Tuesday. The project has been named the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislpaunar Operations or DRACO.

“With the help of this new technology, astronauts could journey to and from deep space faster than ever – a major capability to prepare for crewed missions to Mars,” Nelson said in a statement.

The announcement comes amid a new nuclear space race between the US, Russia and China, with the three superpowers working to expand their extraterrestrial nuclear capabilities, including for use propelling spacecraft and powering colonies on the moon.  READ MORE...

NASA Releases Images

We might not be able to travel to space, but as of last week, we at least have the most high-definition images of the universe ever taken. The images shared by NASA were rendered with the new James Webb Space Telescope (JBST). 

JBST began its science operations six months ago when launched into space at the end of December 2021. However, its first batch of images are among the most stunning and clear celestial pictures we have of space so far. 

The images reveled five neighboring galaxies called Stephan’s Quintet and the Carina Nebula.  The JWST is considered the most powerful telescope ever built revealing that not all galaxies are invisible. 

During the NASA press conference held on Tuesday, Eric Smith, the program scientist for the JWST mission, said JWST’s first photos are “especially phenomenal because they were technically nothing more than practice runs.”

The first image rendered showed the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723– as it appeared 4.6 billion years ago, with many more galaxies in front of, and behind the cluster.  READ MORE...

Fusion Rocket Breakthrough

Richard Dinan is the visionary entrepreneur who wants to help humans leave Earth and inhabit other planets in the Milky Way. And he wants to do it fast. His company, Pulsar Fusion, is betting on harnessing the power of nuclear in space to cut the time it takes to get to Mars in half – and unlock the secrets beyond our Solar System.

Speaking exclusively to Science Digest, the former Made In Chelsea star, 35, said: "In the Milky Way there are believed to be billions of habitable planets orbiting G-type stars like ours.

"That doesn't mean that they've got people on them, but it means that they could support life.

"We're living in a world now where maybe the entrepreneurs of the future can own their own planets.  "To do that, they will need very, very fast rockets.

That may sound like a ludicrous thing to say, but we are almost there - Mars has got quite a keen interest.

"I think part of being human is to leave our planet – we've always followed the stars since prehistoric times and now we need to emulate that."

To make this possible, Mr Dinan wants to replicate the fusion process used by stars like our Sun.  Tipped as the "holy grail" energy source, nuclear fusion has been studied for over a century.

Unlike nuclear fission – the powerful reaction that led to the creation of nuclear weapons – fusion takes two light atomic nuclei to combine to form a single heavier one while releasing massive amounts of energy.  READ MORE...

Hybernation in Space

Sending humans virtually anywhere in space beyond the Moon pushes logistics of health, food, and psychology to limits we're only just beginning to grasp.

A staple solution to these problems in science fiction is to simply put the void-travelers to bed for a while. In a sleep-like state akin to hibernation or torpor, metabolism drops, and the mind is spared the boredom of waiting out endless empty hours.

Unlike faster-than-light travel and wormholes, the premise of putting astronauts into a form of hibernation feels like it's within grasp. Enough so that even the European Space Agency is seriously looking into the science behind it.

Implications of a new study by a trio of researchers from Chile now reveal a mathematical hurdle to turning the potential of long-term human stasis into reality, one that might mean it's as forever beyond our reach.

Roberto F. Nespolo and Carlos Mejias from the Millennium Institute for Integrative Biology and Francisco Bozinovic from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile set out to unravel the relationship between body mass and energy expenditure in animals that hibernate.

They discovered a minimum level of metabolism that allows cells to persist under cold, low-oxygen conditions. For relatively heavy animals like us, the energy savings we might expect from entering a deep, hibernation-like state would be negligible.

In fact, we'd probably be better off just napping our days away the old-fashioned way.

The word hibernation often invokes images of a bear tucked away in a den for a long winter's rest.  READ MORE...

The James Webb Telescope

The $10bn James Webb telescope has left Earth on its mission to show the first stars to light up the Universe.

The observatory was lifted skyward by an Ariane rocket from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

Its flight to orbit lasted just under half an hour, with a signal confirming a successful outcome picked up by a ground antenna at Malindi in Kenya.

Webb, named after one of the architects of the Apollo Moon landings, is the successor to the Hubble telescope.

Engineers working with the US, European and Canadian space agencies have built the new observatory to be 100 times more powerful, however.

"Lift off from a tropical rainforest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the Universe," said American space agency (Nasa) TV commentator Rob Navias at the moment the rocket left the Earth.

Lift-off was eagerly awaited but accompanied also by a good deal of anxiety. Thousands of people worldwide have worked on the project over the past 30 years, and even though the Ariane is a very dependable vehicle - there are no guarantees when it comes to rockets.  READ MORE...

Am I What I Am or Not?

The French philosopher Descartes once said,  "I THINK THEREFORE I AM." and the world decided that this was proof enough to explain and justify mankind's existence.  However, some later explained that Descartes comments continued with the words that he believes this thinking is always done in the capacity of doubt...  therefore, one could say that proof of existence is in doubt as well...  and we are back to the proverbial first square.

Why do we even care about our own existence in the first place which to me is the first square?

We live...

We die...

and in between the two we accomplish stuff or we do not...  it is just as simple as that.

But, there are those of us who still want to know what we really do not need to know...  and, the concept of philosophy was created...  with each global culture having their own unique and different sets of philosophical beliefs.

There are four major branches of philosophy:

• Metaphysics
• Epistemology
• Axiology
• Logic

But, only three schools of thought:

• Classic
• Religious 
• Modern

Currently, the major educational philosophies are:

1. Existentialism
2. Essentialism
3. Perennialism
4. Progressivism
5. Social Reconstruction
6. Behaviorism
7. Constructivism
8. Conservatism
9. Humanism

So...  where does this actually take us to an understanding of our own existence and the proof that we even exist at all?

Sadly...  it does not take us anywhere other than to explain why we may or may not do what we do...  which revolves around purpose.

Birth is not proof of existence

Life is not proof of existence

Death is not proof of existence

Yet...  we are here nonetheless...  and, for a certain amount of years continue to life until that life is taken away from us by some explained or unexplained methodology...

HOWEVER, no one can explain why we were given life and actually experienced birth in the first place, other than the male sperm fertilizing a female egg.

But, why me?

and not someone else?

and why am I who I am and not another?

and, am I real or a figment of one's imagination?

or, am I simply a computer program operating in a galactic computer system?

and, why are there UFO's?

and, why is there evidence of alien extraterrestrials?

and, why is it recorded that Jesus declared his kingdom to be not of this world?

and, why do I possess a consciousness?

and, is there a cosmic consciousness?

Searching For Alien Life

Is mankind alone in the universe? Or are there somewhere other intelligent beings looking up into their night sky from very different worlds and asking the same kind of question? Are there civilizations more advanced than ours, civilizations that have achieved interstellar communication and have established a network of linked societies throughout our galaxy? 

Such questions, bearing on the deepest problems of the nature and destiny of mankind, were long the exclusive province of theology and speculative fiction. Today for the first time in human history they have entered into the realm of experimental science.

From the movements of a number of nearby stars we have now detected unseen companion bodies in orbit around them that are about as massive as large planets. From our knowledge of the processes by which life arose here on the earth we know that similar processes must be fairly common throughout the universe. 

Since intelligence and technology have a high survival value it seems likely that primitive life forms on the planets of other stars, evolving over many billions of years, would occasionally develop intelligence, civilization and a high technology. Moreover, we on the earth now possess all the technology necessary for communicating with other civilizations in the depths of space. Indeed, we may now be standing on a threshold about to take the momentous step a planetary society takes but once: first contact with another civilization..

In our present ignorance of how common extraterrestrial life may actually be, any attempt to estimate the number of technical civilizations in our galaxy is necessarily unreliable. We do, however, have some relevant facts. There is reason to believe that solar systems are formed fairly easily and that they are abundant in the vicinity of the sun.  In our own solar system, for example, there are three miniature "solar systems": the satellite systems of the planets Jupiter (with 13 moons), Saturn (with 10) and Uranus (with five). 

The only technique we have at present for detecting the planetary systems of nearby stars is the study of the gravitational perturbations such planets induce in the motion of their parent star. Imagine a nearby star that over a period of decades moves measurably with respect to the background of more distant stars. Suppose it has a nonluminous companion that circles it in an orbit whose plane does not coincide with our line of sight to the star. 

Both the star and the companion revolve around a common center of mass. The center of mass will trace a straight line against the stellar background and thus the luminous star will trace a sinusoidal path. From the existence of the oscillation we can deduce the existence of the companion. Furthermore, from the period and amplitude of the oscillation we can calculate the period and mass of the companion. The technique is only sensitive enough, however, to detect the perturbations of a massive planet around the nearest stars.  TO READ MORE, CLICK HERE...

SPACE: The Final Frontier

I have been a fan of Star Trek from the very beginning when James T. Kirk, the cowboy, broke whatever rules he needed to in order to WIN whatever it is that he needed to win; and, my interest continued with the very diplomatic and smooth John Luc Picard.

Most Science Fiction Movies are nothing but speculative bullshit and conjecture concerning the way the world was going to evolve and how space exploration was the only viable alternative.

SPACE TRAVEL
ALIENS
ALTERED DNA
ABDUCTIONS
MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS
WORM HOLES
BLACK HOLES
TIME TRAVEL

These are all the areas of interest for those of us that are interested in or believe that there is other life in the Universe besides Human Beings.

Why do we need to know these answers?

Because our entire existence revolves around the Christian Belief that there is a CREATOR who we see and worship as a Father/God.  Interestingly, every single major and minor religion and/or philosophy has a CREATOR as the foundation of its faith.  Some of those religions also believe that there were other gods who were subordinate to the one major God which we, as Christians, might relate to ANGELS, who, according to The BIBLE did much of God's work and/or delivered his messages.

IS THIS SIMPLY A COINCIDENCE?

I don't think so...

Our Universe is curved, so it is entirely possible that the end of this curve merges into the beginning which would be the ultimate singularity that we have all read so much about.  Plus, it is entirely possible that there are multiple dimensions because Jesus said, "in my Father's house there are many rooms."

While some religions as well as philosophies are hard to believe, we all know that there are elements of truth in all religions and that these elements of truth can be found in ancient writing and drawings on cave walls or inside of buildings like the Pyramids.

God, could then be the leader of all Universal People and like the MATRIX all universes end at their beginning and the process is repeated.

Time is Relative

When an airplane passes by overhead in the distance sky, standing on the ground and looking up, it appears that the airplane is moving very fast...  and, that is confirmed mentally because we intuitively know that an airplane is faster than our cars, buses, and/or trains. 

BUT, if you are in the airplane looking down at a person looking up at you, it appears that the airplane is moving relatively slowly...

So, why is this and what has this got to do with time?

Think about it this way...
When our male astronauts went into space for several days their beards did not grow as fast as did the beards of the males on the ground working at NASA...

What that tells us is that time slows down the farther we move away from earth.  And, this can be understood easier if we look at a bicycle wheel.

Look at the wheel on the left...  and, imagine that the earth is that round black circle in the middle and that the edge of the universe is the black larger tire with the orange wheel. 

It it obvious (at least to me anyway) that the inner black circle makes several complete revolutions by the time the outer tire completes one complete revolution.

If the inner black circle's complete revolution represents 365 days, then it might make 10 complete revolution or 10 years by the time the outer tire makes one complete revolution or 1 year...

So, as one moves farther and farther away from the earth, time does not pass by as quickly as it does on earth.

Does that mean that astronauts could live longer is they remained in Outer Space?

A Quantum Reality

LOOSE ENDS