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Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Pentagon: "missile" was an airplane
Washington (CNN) -- The streaks in the southern California sky on Monday appear to have been an aircraft condensation trail, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
Col. Dave Lapan said the contrails -- which glowed orange in the sunset-streaked sky Monday evening -- looked like a rocket launch to some people, but "there was no threat to the U.S. homeland."
Lapan said no evidence exists to suggest that the streaks were "anything else other than a condensation trail from an aircraft."
The Pentagon initially was unable to explain the images of what witnesses took to be a high-altitude rocket launch off the coast of southern California at sunset Monday.
This corresponds with the conclusion of John Pike, a defense expert and the director of GlobalSecurity.org.
"It's clearly an airplane contrail," Pike said Tuesday.
"It's an optical illusion that looks like it's going up, whereas in reality it's going towards the camera. The tip of the contrail is moving far too slowly to be a rocket. When it's illuminated by the sunset, you can see hundreds of miles of it ... all the way to the horizon.
"Why the government is so badly organized that they can't get somebody out there to explain it and make this story go away ... I think that's the real story," Pike added. "I mean, it's insane that with all the money we are spending, all these technically competent people, that they can't get somebody out there to explain what is incredibly obvious."
A U.S. Northern Command official who didn't want to be identified had said the contrail could very well be from an airplane.
An "illusion" effect made the contrail appear as if it was rising straight up, but it was actually level, the official said. The event is similar to another sighting around New Year's Eve in which observers believed they witnessed a missile, he said.
No Defense Department units reported launches at the time. The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command did not report any foreign missile launches off the California coast, Lapan added. Regardless, there was no threat to the United States, he said.
Tuesday morning, the Pentagon and the North American Aerospace Defense Command were investigating video shot by a news helicopter operated by CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL showing an ascending orange-colored contrail high into the atmosphere, officials said. A contrail is the visible vapor trail behind airplanes or rockets traveling at high altitudes.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, and California Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Jane Harman -- whose coastal districts are closest to the offshore contrails -- were at a loss to explain the images.
"The FAA ran radar replays of a large area west of Los Angeles based on media reports of the possible missile launch at approximately 5 p.m. (PT) on Monday. The radar replays did not reveal any fast moving, unidentified targets in that area," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. "The FAA did not receive reports ... of unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area on Monday afternoon.
"The FAA did not approve any commercial space launches around the area Monday," he added.
Col. Dave Lapan said the contrails -- which glowed orange in the sunset-streaked sky Monday evening -- looked like a rocket launch to some people, but "there was no threat to the U.S. homeland."
Lapan said no evidence exists to suggest that the streaks were "anything else other than a condensation trail from an aircraft."
The Pentagon initially was unable to explain the images of what witnesses took to be a high-altitude rocket launch off the coast of southern California at sunset Monday.
This corresponds with the conclusion of John Pike, a defense expert and the director of GlobalSecurity.org.
"It's clearly an airplane contrail," Pike said Tuesday.
"It's an optical illusion that looks like it's going up, whereas in reality it's going towards the camera. The tip of the contrail is moving far too slowly to be a rocket. When it's illuminated by the sunset, you can see hundreds of miles of it ... all the way to the horizon.
"Why the government is so badly organized that they can't get somebody out there to explain it and make this story go away ... I think that's the real story," Pike added. "I mean, it's insane that with all the money we are spending, all these technically competent people, that they can't get somebody out there to explain what is incredibly obvious."
A U.S. Northern Command official who didn't want to be identified had said the contrail could very well be from an airplane.
An "illusion" effect made the contrail appear as if it was rising straight up, but it was actually level, the official said. The event is similar to another sighting around New Year's Eve in which observers believed they witnessed a missile, he said.
No Defense Department units reported launches at the time. The North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command did not report any foreign missile launches off the California coast, Lapan added. Regardless, there was no threat to the United States, he said.
Tuesday morning, the Pentagon and the North American Aerospace Defense Command were investigating video shot by a news helicopter operated by CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL showing an ascending orange-colored contrail high into the atmosphere, officials said. A contrail is the visible vapor trail behind airplanes or rockets traveling at high altitudes.
The Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard, Navy, Air Force, and California Reps. Dana Rohrabacher and Jane Harman -- whose coastal districts are closest to the offshore contrails -- were at a loss to explain the images.
"The FAA ran radar replays of a large area west of Los Angeles based on media reports of the possible missile launch at approximately 5 p.m. (PT) on Monday. The radar replays did not reveal any fast moving, unidentified targets in that area," said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor. "The FAA did not receive reports ... of unusual sightings from pilots who were flying in the area on Monday afternoon.
"The FAA did not approve any commercial space launches around the area Monday," he added.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Mystery surrounds "missile" launch
Editor's note: San Nicolas Island is probably where the shot came from. After all - SNI is the Navy's Area 51 - but you didn't hear that from me.
An interesting side note to this missile mystery was about the time this happened last night - my military band scanner went nuts. A few months ago I built a UHF military satellite antenna and have been listening to the Navy's FLTSATCOM system for months.
To continue ... last night while I was watching the tube - extremely loud encrypted data (I'm guessing it was data) came blaring out of the scanner making me jump. I locked out that channel but it jumped to the next - with the same blaring data and I locked that out and so on and so forth - until I finally grew annoyed and turned the radio down. Ten minutes later it ended and was quiet again. I couldn't help but wonder, "What was that about?" I guess now I know - sort of.
I just don't know if it was a test - or an accident - or triggered by tensions with North Korea. Maybe a warning shot?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Nicolas_Island
UPDATE: mysterious missile launch from California or an optical illusion?
That's a question the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD) is trying to resolve – and the blogosphere is hotly debating – after CBS News in Los Angeles aired what appeared to be a rocket launch from the Pacific Ocean just north of Santa Catalina Island, taken at sunset Nov. 8.
The "mystery missile" video, shot from a helicopter operated by local CBS affiliate KCBS, shows what appears to be an arcing plume of engine exhaust rising into the sky west of Los Angeles. Speculation about its source ranges from an airliner, whose contrail is giving the illusion of rocketry, or a missile itself.
About the only thing unambiguous about the event is that the go-to agencies either with jurisdiction over launches or with fingers poised over launch buttons – the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Defense Department – said, in effect, "It wasn't us."
Despite the official uncertainty behind the vapor trail, NORAD and the US Northern Command, which oversees the defense of the continental US, Alaska, and Hawaii, issued a statement aimed at reassuring the country that the event represents no threat.
"We can confirm that there is no threat to our nation, and from all indications this was not a launch by a foreign military," they said. "We will provide more information as it becomes available."
Coastal southern California is no stranger to rocket launches. The US Air Force launches military and commercial rockets from Vandenberg Air Force base north of Santa Barbara; NASA occasionally launches sounding rockets from San Nicholas Island, some 80 miles west of Los Angeles. Nor is it stranger to spectacular sunsets and odd aircraft contrails.
At contrailscience.com, a Santa Monica-based private pilot who operates the cite has posted several sunset contrails that look similar to the vapor trail the CBS news crew recorded.
David Wright, co-director of the global security program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Mass., notes that his initial speculation about what happened leaned toward the rocket-launch explanation, given NASA's launches from San Nicholas Island.
The CBS report suggested the plume was rising from some 35 miles offshore, but Dr. Wright adds that evening lighting and atmospheric moisture could have conspired to make a launch contrail look larger and closer than it actually is.
But after reviewing photos on contrailscience.com, he adds, he's reconsidering a jet contrail as an explanation – one he tended to dismiss early on.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
It's baccccck! UPDATED!
Photos (C) Steve Douglass and require permission for reproduction
I was on my way home from Wal-Mart this afternoon when I heard a strange thumping noise - rhythmic in nature. At first I thought it might be a flat tire - but then I realized it was coming out of the sky. Then I realized what it was. It came back in a flash - a sound I hadn't heard since 1992. I looked up and saw a familiar sight. My old friend the "Pulser" was back.
It took me another five minutes to race home to get my camera. Unfortunately the high altitude winds had kind of deformed the contrail by then.
It appears the craft (PDWE?) was heading from the southwest to the east/northeast. Maybe (and I'm guessing here) it originated from WSMR. Could it be a new pulse detonation engine aircraft being tested? If anyone else (in the Texas/New Mexico) area witnessed this craft - please feel free to drop me a line.
The original RAW NEF photo files are available on request - complete with EXIF data to credited news media.
I'm currently checking my automated scanner loggings - looking to see if I managed to capture any communications (military or otherwise) associated with this sighting. I'll let you know.
UPDATE: I checked my logs but no related military or civilian voice communications (related to the sighting) were found - most likely because the scanner was locked up for 15 minutes on 362.150 MHZ (Northstar GEP frequency) with what sounds like encrypted data.
Original 1992 "donuts-on-a-rope" photograph:
Original AVWST 1992 story LINK
-Steve Douglass
UPDATE: Related?
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Residents along North Carolina's southern coast say they have been rattled by unexplained booms twice in 24 hours.
The StarNews of Wilmington reported that people called emergency dispatchers in New Hanover and Brunswick counties Saturday morning to ask about the noises and to report their homes shaking.
Residents also reported booms and rattling windows and doors Friday afternoon.
Stoney Creek Plantation resident Brook Lasko told the newspaper that the booms felt like bombing exercises that she remembered from when she lived near Fort Bragg.
Officials at nearby airports and military bases say there was no training going on that could explain the booms. The U.S. Geological Survey had no report of an earthquake in the area that could explain the shaking.
UPDATE:
Some interesting coincidences that may coincide with the sighting:
1. The Pentagon seems to be considering terrorist targets to hit inside Yemen due to the recent spate of "printer bombs."
2. STS 133 was supposed to be in orbit this week - but was postponed until November 30 due to technical issues.
3. Sonic booms heard over the Eastern seaboard - all the while the military is denying anything was flying at the time.
4. Iran seems to be very close to fielding an nuclear weapon and international pressure is on for the U.S. to do something about it.
Photo EXIF DATA
Note all times are one hour off due to time change:
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Analog video of the possible "Pulser" test flight over the White Sands Missile Range in 1997. Sorry for the poor quality and camera work but the craft was almost 60 miles away and video tape wasn't high resolution back then.
RELATED LINKS:
LINK: Opposing viewpoint that conrtails are NOT caused by secret aircraft.
Note: There are are a few high (normal) contrails that take on a similar appearance but the "pearls" aren't exactly symmetrical usually more prominent on one side of the main trail than the other. These are what most people see and report - and sometimes take photos of. Some debunkers point them out as proof that a pulse-detonation-wave engine was only theoretical (in 1992) and what I was photographing was just normal contrails being distorted by high-altitude winds.
However, those contrails aren't accompanied by the noise and are asymmetrical and usually don't stretch across the sky - until it runs out - with the vehicle ascending beyond the atmospheric layer that makes them visible.
Since then PDWEs have been built and tested (in the white world) and not to mention - back in 1992 - shortly after the incident I got a call from a propulsion engineer (General Dynamics) who played (on a synthesizer) modulated notes at a certain beat frequency (over the phone) and asked me which one my "pulser" sounded like. When I heard one that most closely matched - and told him so - he swore "Son of a bitch! - those f-ckers at Lockheed have done it again. They just put me out of a job."
ABOVE TOP SECRET forum on Pulse Detonation Engines
I was on my way home from Wal-Mart this afternoon when I heard a strange thumping noise - rhythmic in nature. At first I thought it might be a flat tire - but then I realized it was coming out of the sky. Then I realized what it was. It came back in a flash - a sound I hadn't heard since 1992. I looked up and saw a familiar sight. My old friend the "Pulser" was back.
It took me another five minutes to race home to get my camera. Unfortunately the high altitude winds had kind of deformed the contrail by then.
It appears the craft (PDWE?) was heading from the southwest to the east/northeast. Maybe (and I'm guessing here) it originated from WSMR. Could it be a new pulse detonation engine aircraft being tested? If anyone else (in the Texas/New Mexico) area witnessed this craft - please feel free to drop me a line.
The original RAW NEF photo files are available on request - complete with EXIF data to credited news media.
I'm currently checking my automated scanner loggings - looking to see if I managed to capture any communications (military or otherwise) associated with this sighting. I'll let you know.
UPDATE: I checked my logs but no related military or civilian voice communications (related to the sighting) were found - most likely because the scanner was locked up for 15 minutes on 362.150 MHZ (Northstar GEP frequency) with what sounds like encrypted data.
Original 1992 "donuts-on-a-rope" photograph:
Original AVWST 1992 story LINK
-Steve Douglass
UPDATE: Related?
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Residents along North Carolina's southern coast say they have been rattled by unexplained booms twice in 24 hours.
The StarNews of Wilmington reported that people called emergency dispatchers in New Hanover and Brunswick counties Saturday morning to ask about the noises and to report their homes shaking.
Residents also reported booms and rattling windows and doors Friday afternoon.
Stoney Creek Plantation resident Brook Lasko told the newspaper that the booms felt like bombing exercises that she remembered from when she lived near Fort Bragg.
Officials at nearby airports and military bases say there was no training going on that could explain the booms. The U.S. Geological Survey had no report of an earthquake in the area that could explain the shaking.
UPDATE:
Some interesting coincidences that may coincide with the sighting:
1. The Pentagon seems to be considering terrorist targets to hit inside Yemen due to the recent spate of "printer bombs."
2. STS 133 was supposed to be in orbit this week - but was postponed until November 30 due to technical issues.
3. Sonic booms heard over the Eastern seaboard - all the while the military is denying anything was flying at the time.
4. Iran seems to be very close to fielding an nuclear weapon and international pressure is on for the U.S. to do something about it.
Photo EXIF DATA
Note all times are one hour off due to time change:
File name: DSC_5653.jpg
File size: 1610807 bytes (2000x3008, 2.1bpp, 11x)
EXIF Summary: 1/250s f/8.0 ISO200 55mm
Camera-Specific Properties:
Equipment Make: NIKON CORPORATION
Camera Model: NIKON D70s
Camera Software: Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh
Maximum Lens Aperture: f/4.4
Sensing Method: One-Chip Color Area
Image-Specific Properties:
Image Orientation: Top, Left-Hand
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Image Created: 2010:11:07 18:24:19
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec
F-Number: f/8.0
Exposure Program: Not Defined
ISO Speed Rating: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Metering Mode: Pattern
Light Source: Unknown
Flash: No Flash
Focal Length: 55.00 mm
Color Space Information: Uncalibrated
Image Width: 2000
Image Height: 3008
Other Properties:
Resolution Unit: i
Chrominance Comp Positioning: Centered
Exif IFD Pointer: 260
Compression Scheme: JPEG Compression (Thumbnail)
Horizontal Resolution: 72 dpi
Vertical Resolution: 72 dpi
Resolution Unit: i
Offset to JPEG SOI: 646
Bytes of JPEG Data: 2326
Exif Version: 2.20
Image Generated: 2010:11:07 05:25:07
Image Digitized: 2010:11:07 05:25:07
Analog video of the possible "Pulser" test flight over the White Sands Missile Range in 1997. Sorry for the poor quality and camera work but the craft was almost 60 miles away and video tape wasn't high resolution back then.
RELATED LINKS:
LINK: Opposing viewpoint that conrtails are NOT caused by secret aircraft.
Note: There are are a few high (normal) contrails that take on a similar appearance but the "pearls" aren't exactly symmetrical usually more prominent on one side of the main trail than the other. These are what most people see and report - and sometimes take photos of. Some debunkers point them out as proof that a pulse-detonation-wave engine was only theoretical (in 1992) and what I was photographing was just normal contrails being distorted by high-altitude winds.
However, those contrails aren't accompanied by the noise and are asymmetrical and usually don't stretch across the sky - until it runs out - with the vehicle ascending beyond the atmospheric layer that makes them visible.
Since then PDWEs have been built and tested (in the white world) and not to mention - back in 1992 - shortly after the incident I got a call from a propulsion engineer (General Dynamics) who played (on a synthesizer) modulated notes at a certain beat frequency (over the phone) and asked me which one my "pulser" sounded like. When I heard one that most closely matched - and told him so - he swore "Son of a bitch! - those f-ckers at Lockheed have done it again. They just put me out of a job."
ABOVE TOP SECRET forum on Pulse Detonation Engines
Friday, November 5, 2010
STS 133 postponed until at least November 30
Launch Postponed to No Earlier Than Nov. 30
Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:46:24 AM CDT
NASA managers have decided to postpone the next launch attempt for space shuttle Discovery to no earlier than Nov. 30 at 4:05 a.m. EST.
Details will be discussed during a 1 p.m. news conference with Mike Moses, Space Shuttle Program launch integration manager and mission management team chairman, and Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director
Fri, 05 Nov 2010 11:46:24 AM CDT
NASA managers have decided to postpone the next launch attempt for space shuttle Discovery to no earlier than Nov. 30 at 4:05 a.m. EST.
Details will be discussed during a 1 p.m. news conference with Mike Moses, Space Shuttle Program launch integration manager and mission management team chairman, and Mike Leinbach, shuttle launch director
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