space junk #2: growth industry or hidden agenda?

We may look to regions beyond our atmosphere for the next "New Deal of the Space Age"? It would not be a government project but perhaps the next growth industry? How many can be employed cleaning hundreds of thousands of near Earth space objects and space debris? Or, will a fascist New World Order simply rocket prisoners into space without proper safety precautions to perform the task? Will it be the case space tourists peer out cabin windows to view manual trash collectors of celestial highways at work? Is there perhaps more behind this issue like a hidden agenda?

Is it all tin foil hat paranoia or simply a case of asking questions? There is concern about the huge eight ton ESA Envisat (Environmental Satellite pictured) when it is discarded in 2013. It is not beyond imagination, taxpayers could be asked to shoulder costs of environmental programs to sweep near Earth space free of debris by using space-based laser platforms. There will be another layer of cover to keep knowledge of space weapons platforms hidden. In "Near Space Environment," Cecilia Colome informs readers this is not a new idea:

"As early as the 1970s NASA began to investigate the feasibility of forcing space junk into the Earth's atmosphere, where remnants not destroyed by re-entry would fall to the ground. The central idea of this project, known as Orion, was to focus a high-powered laser beam into individual debris fragments, causing their outer layers to vaporize, and creating a thrust that would deflect their orbits. The research for the Orion project demonstrated that the clean-up would be extremely expensive, mainly because of the high power required by the laser and the high cost of the adaptive optics necessary to focus energy into small objects at great distances from the ground. This idea still might serve for the future, when technology may be able to equip satellites with the high-powered lasers and enable them to "sweep" space debris into the Earth's atmosphere."

Is it not possible our next big civilian space program will be celestial highways cleanup crews? The incredible costs of putting crews into orbit a cover for money transferred to black programs? The present writer isn't taking himself too seriously and sees the humor behind his suppositions, so please enjoy Rhett and Link's "Space Junk Song"! There's also a hilarious "trying not to die" alternate ending available here.

On the other hand, hidden agendas are not entirely dismissed. A top ten of near earth objects can be viewed here. NASA devotes an entire program to track near earth objects. A weaponization of space warning repeated by Werhner Von Braun, covered in a previous post, should be taken seriously. You may view a past post, space junk: vanguard 1, to learn more about the issue.

astronomers continue to monitor apophis

Astronomers are still interested in asteroid Apophis. The object of their infatuation will be observable for the next few months, according to an article at Universe Today, "...for three years, the asteroid’s orbit had it “hiding” behind the Sun, but it has now emerged...in 2012, Apophis will again become observable for approximately nine months. In 2013, the asteroid will pass close enough to Earth for ultraprecise radar signals to be bounced off its surface." The expected close encounter of 2029 and how it will affect the asteroid's orbit, remains a source of excitement. "On April 13, 2029, Apophis will come closer to Earth than the geosynchronous communications satellites that orbit Earth at an altitude of about 36,000 km (22,000 miles)." Measurements are too imprecise to make any judgment with certainty. There is the gravitational keyhole still in the back of many minds that "...Apophis would pass through a gravitational keyhole, a precise region in space no more than about 600 meters across,that would set up a future impact on April 13, 2036."

An extended program of monitoring Apophis is well-suited to condition minds for an inevitable asteroid impact. Wernher von Braun warned of a false enemies list that will be used to shepherd the world into a new order and a world religion. The enemies list is in chronological order: 1) Soviet Union, 2) terrorists, 3) asteroids and 4) aliens. A previous article on Apophis at this website is available here. Is the queue already lined up for our next catastrophe?

apophis: friday the 13th, 2036

Apophis, a menacing asteroid of uncertain orbit, is in the news again at Universe Today. Nancy Atkinson taken in by a RiaNovosti article headline, "Russian astronomers predict Apophis-Earth collision in 2036," finds upon further reading the chances for a collision are extremely slim at 1 in 250,000 on perhaps the unluckiest Friday the 13th.  Atkinson concludes, "...there is no new information or changes in understanding Apophis’ orbit..". Apophis and the Near Earth Object Program bring an echo from the past of the warning made by rocket scientist Wehrner von Braun to Carol Rosin near the end of his life, in the 1970's. Von Braun warned of an agenda that would use any excuse to spend trillions of dollars on space weaponization. The rocket scientist included the Russians, terrorists, rogue states, asteroids and extraterrestrials in a false enemies list to justify putting weapons into orbit. There is certainly much discussion about deflecting the Apophis asteroid. It seems the agenda is going much as planned!

10/28 defcon: the dark ages & leaking data

one emp burst and the world goes dark*
emp legislation awaits senate action*
communication with 50 nuke missiles dropped in icbm snafu*
feds let google off with warning for wifi–sniffing cars*
google admits street view cars took emails & passwords from computers*
myspace, apps leak user data*
limewire shutters file-sharing services after riaa win*
secret button sequence bypasses iphone security*
netflix admits streaming is the future as system crashes -
netflix now accounts for 20% of downstream bandwidth during peak*
nov30: the day the govt seizes control of the net?*
white house adviser: US must prepare for asteroid*
video: watch fleet of lights at pennsylvania/delaware line*

10/21 defcon: do-it-yourself domestic domains

US says military can respond to domestic cyberthreats*
cyberspace is the new domain of warfare*
cybercom operational this month*
enormous ring developing on the sun*
planetary defense coordination office proposed to fight asteroids*
facebook 'encourages to children to spread gossip & insults'*
video: father & son film outer space, do-it-yourself style*
developing: wikileaks claims to be under attack, calls press conference*
update: wikileaks plans 'major' announcement in europe*

2 asteroids buzz earth on same day

objects zoom between earth & the moon's orbit
from space.com: Two asteroids that swooped past Earth Wednesday may have caught the attention of the public, but events like these are not actually rare, NASA scientists say.

"This is the first time we've seen (two) combined within a 24-hour period, but that's probably because we don't know everything that is out there," said Lindley Johnson, program executive of the Near-Earth Object program at NASA headquarters in Washington.

Single asteroids have been known to make such close passes, but they usually slip by unnoticed, Johnson told Space.com.

In fact, with a rough estimate of 50 million unknown asteroids, a 33-foot-wide near-Earth object could pass harmlessly between Earth and the orbit of the moon every day, Johnson added. Such an asteroid might hit Earth's atmosphere once every 10 years, but because of its small size, it would pose no substantial threat to the people or property below.

"They would certainly break up in Earth's atmosphere, or we might get some meteorites on the ground," Johnson said.

In Wednesday's double flyby, the larger of the two space rocks, asteroid 2010 RX30, approached Earth at 5:51 a.m. EDT (0951 GMT), passing within 154,000 miles. It was estimated to be between 33 and 65 feet wide. The second asteroid was came closer. The 20- to 46-foot-wide asteroid 2010 RF12 passed within 49,000 miles of Earth at 5:12 pm EDT (2112 GMT), NASA asteroid trackers said.

Both asteroids flew well inside the orbit of the moon.

defcon 9/2: cyborg, spy school, asteroids

intel developing improved mind reading computers*
pentagon may apply preemptive warfare policy to the internet*
flashback: defense official discloses cyberattack*
judge says pennsylvania district must pay $260k in spying case*
flashback: no charges in pennsylvania school's webcam spygate*
video: our terrifyingly crowded solar system - how the asteroids are closing in*

defcon 6/9: wikileaked, registered & artificials

US intel analyst arrested in wikileaks video probe*
bbc: wikileaks site unfazed by arrest of US army 'source'*
video: state dept anxious about diplomatic secrets bradley manning allegedly downloaded*
wikileaks was launched with documents intercepted from tor*
wikileaks & julian paul assange in 'the new yorker'*
wikileaks denies tor hacker eavesdropping gave site its start* at&t leak leaves US apple ipad owners at risk*
bill gives feds 'emergency’ powers to secure civilian nets*
dhs would be cyber power center under lieberman/collins proposal*
nsa chief: US carefully monitoring military computer networks for sabotage*
wireless signals to be jammed in canada for g8 summit*
top US commander in iraq raises internet concerns*
new worries emerge about internet monitoring*
calls increase for govt to regulate net journalists & bloggers*
michigan considers law to register journalists*
lawyers claim google wi-fi sniffing 'is not an accident'*
chinese net addicts stage mutiny at boot camp*
ceo of firm that made $100m selling 'scareware' was a fugitive*
6 astronauts begin 520-day mock flight to mars*
approaching space object 'artificial, not asteroid' says nasa*
more active sun means nasty solar storms ahead*
ancient meteorite discovered in oregon*

stephen hawking warns over making contact with aliens

hawking: extraterrestrials are almost certain to exist;
if we encounter them, chances are we're f*cked
from bbc: Aliens almost certainly exist but humans should avoid making contact, Professor Stephen Hawking has warned. In a series for the Discovery Channel the renowned astrophysicist said it was "perfectly rational" to assume intelligent life exists elsewhere.

But he warned that aliens might simply raid Earth for resources, then move on. "If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," he said.

Prof Hawking thinks that, rather than actively trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials, humans should do everything possible to avoid contact. He explained: "We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn't want to meet."

related: nasa announces wednesday media teleconference about search for extraterrestrial life & ice on asteroid suggests earth's water came from space

dark, dangerous asteroids found lurking near earth

from new scientist: An infrared space telescope has spotted several very dark asteroids that have been lurking unseen near Earth's orbit. Their obscurity and tilted orbits have kept them hidden from surveys designed to detect things that might hit our planet.

Called the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the new NASA telescope launched on 14 December on a mission to map the entire sky at infrared wavelengths. It began its survey in mid-January.

In its first six weeks of observations, it has discovered 16 previously unknown asteroids with orbits close to Earth's. Of these, 55% reflect less than one-tenth of the sunlight that falls on them, which makes them difficult to spot with visible-light telescopes. One of these objects is as dark as fresh asphalt, reflecting less than 5% of the light it receives.

Many of these dark asteroids have orbits that are steeply tilted relative to the plane in which all the planets and most asteroids orbit. This means telescopes surveying for asteroids may be missing many other objects with tilted orbits, because they spend most of their time looking in this plane.

Fortunately, the new objects are bright in infrared radiation, because they absorb a lot of sunlight and heat up. This makes them relatively easy for WISE to spot.