Sunday, November 13, 2022

MYSTERY MISSION: The Elusive Top-secret Orbital Test Vehicle 6, or OTV-6

 


 

www.tweaktown.com

Top secret US military plane passes 900 days in orbit while on mystery mission


 

Jak Connor
3 - 4 minutes

One of the most secretive missions under the US military has recently reached a milestone, as the X-37B plane hit 900 days in orbit

 

X-37B space plane completes its sixth mission, lands after nearly 30 months in orbit

spacenews.com › x-37b-space-plane-com...
18 hours ago · WASHINGTON — The X-37B space plane landed Nov. 12 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 5:22 a.m. Eastern, setting a new endurance ...

X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle > Air Force > Fact Sheet Display - AF.mil

www.af.mil › About-Us › Display › Article
The X-37B is the first vehicle since NASA's Shuttle Orbiter with the ability to return experiments to Earth for further inspection and analysis, but with an on- ...

A secretive Space Force plane completed its longest mission yet - NPR

www.npr.org › 2022/11/12 › space-force...
14 hours ago · Beyond that, not much is known about the X-37B's missions. Officials have released scant information about a few experiments that took place ...

After 908 Days in Orbit, US Military's X-37B Space Plane Finally Lands - Slashdot

tech.slashdot.org › story › after-908-days...
3 hours ago · The space shuttle was 122 feet (37 m) long and was piloted — another key difference, as the X-37B is autonomous. The U.S. Space Force is thought ...
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RELATED CONTENT VIDEO

www.forbes.com

China’s Secretive Spaceplane Has A Mysterious New Traveling Companion


 

Eric Mack

'It’s been three months since a Chinese Long March 2F rocket sent a small, reusable spaceplane into orbit. The flight of the uncrewed secret craft has far eclipsed China’s previous record for this sort of vehicle, which visited space for just two days in 2020.

So whatever sort of mission this plane is on, it was already unprecedented before it went one step further and released an object in orbit, probably sometime last week.

The object first popped up in US Space Force data on Oct. 31, and according to Orbital Focus it initially traveled close enough to the spaceplane that observers wondered if it might be tethered.

But over the last few days tracking data shows they have begun to slowly separate and were about five kilometers apart as of Friday.

It’s not clear what the object is or its purpose. Chinese authorities have been quiet about the mission aside from a brief acknowledgment of the original launch of a space plane in August.

A similar object was deployed during that two-day spaceplane flight in 2020 that emitted microwave radio signals for weeks.

Here’s a few things we do know about China’s mysterious space plane program:

  1. The Space Shuttle-like uncrewed craft appears to be significantly smaller than the Boeing X-37B utilized by the US Space Force. An X-37B is currently in flight right now on a mission that has lasted over two years.
  2. China’s spaceplane program recently secured a significant amount of funding from the Chinese government.
  3. The country has also been testing a suborbital vehicle that could be capable of uber-fast point to point travel across the globe.

All other details about what exactly China is up to above our heads remain up in the air or now.

www.space.com 
[ Western experts think the mysterious vehicle is roughly the same size as the U.S. Space Force's robotic X-37B space plane, which is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) long. The U.S. military is tight-lipped about the Boeing-built X-37B as well, revealing details about only a select few of the payloads the space plane totes on its orbital missions.

The X-37B is aloft now, and has been for quite some time: The program's sixth-ever mission lifted off on May 17, 2020. It's unclear when the X-37B will come back down to Earth.]

Is China's mysterious space plane about to return to Earth?

Mike Wall
3 - 4 minutes

The latest orbital mission of China's mysterious space plane may be nearing its end.

The hush-hush vehicle, which launched to Earth orbit on Aug. 4, ejected something on Monday (Oct. 31), according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The newly released object "may be a service module, possibly indicating an upcoming deorbit burn," McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said via Twitter (opens in new tab) on Monday.

Related: The latest news about China's space program

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The Chinese spaceplane launched on Aug 4 was in a 597 x 608 km x 50.0 deg orbit as of Oct 31; at around 1200 UTC it ejected an object (52418) that may be a service module, possibly indicating an upcoming deorbit burnNovember 1, 2022

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That's not the only possible explanation, however.

The ejected object could also be "a small satellite for monitoring the space plane," SpaceNews' Andrew Jones wrote in a story that posted today (opens in new tab) (Nov. 2). "Chinese crew capsules have previously released 'Banxing' small companion satellites for monitoring purposes. It could also be a test for deploying small satellite payloads into orbit."

Whatever the object is, its release probably heralds the mission's impending end — if a single previous data point is a reliable guide, anyway. The Chinese space plane has one other orbital mission under its belt, a two-day jaunt in September 2020 that ended shortly after a similar ejection, as Jones noted.

Such speculation is pretty much all we have to go on, for China has said very little about the space plane or its activities.

For example, this is how China's state-run Xinhua news agency described the mission (opens in new tab) (in Chinese; translation by Google) just after it lifted off in early August:

"The test spacecraft will be in orbit for a period of time before returning to the scheduled landing site in China, during which reusable and in-orbit service technology verification will be carried out as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space."

Western experts think the mysterious vehicle is roughly the same size as the U.S. Space Force's robotic X-37B space plane, which is about 29 feet (8.8 meters) long. The U.S. military is tight-lipped about the Boeing-built X-37B as well, revealing details about only a select few of the payloads the space plane totes on its orbital missions.

The X-37B is aloft now, and has been for quite some time: The program's sixth-ever mission lifted off on May 17, 2020. It's unclear when the X-37B will come back down to Earth.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There (opens in new tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).  

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SHOCK JOCK HOWIE STERN: Arizona - " It’s (a) fucking nut job place."

 . . .Stern began by bashing Lake’s treatment of the media. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Lake promised to be their “worst fricking nightmare for eight years” if she were to secure the job as Governor.

www.mediaite.com

Howard Stern Annihilates ‘Crazy’ Kari Lake and ‘F*cking Nut Job Place’ Arizona for Potentially Electing Her: ‘Who Votes for This Woman?!’


 

By Candice OrtizNov 9th, 2022, 11:03 am
3 - 4 minutes

Shock jock Howard Stern is not a fan of Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake.

On the Wednesday edition of his SiriusXM radio program, The Howard Stern Show, the host spoke about the midterm election results from Arizona, whose gubernatorial race is still too close to call

Stern began by bashing Lake’s treatment of the media. Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Lake promised to be their “worst fricking nightmare for eight years” if she were to secure the job as Governor.

“We will reform the media as well. We are going to make you guys into journalists again, so get ready. It’s gonna be a fun eight years. I can’t wait to be working with you,” she proclaimed.

Stern lambasted Lake’s remarks to the media on Wednesday morning.

“We have a free press. We like the press. We want people looking into you. We wanna know if there’s corruption. We like Watergate, we like reporters who tell us what’s going on. When did this country become so fucking backwards. ‘I’m gonna get all the reporters.’ You mean some guy goes into journalism and you’re gonna get him. He’s trying to make a living,” Stern said.

As the conversation continued, Stern added, “What does it mean when you’re against reporters? In other words, ‘I wanna do whatever I wanna do and I don’t want any criticism.'”


“‘You don’t get to evaluate what I’m doing.’ I mean, what? These are crazy people. These are nut jobs. These are not Americans. These are traitors. They don’t believe in the American way. They wanna lock up the reporter. They’re gonna be the worst nightmare to the reporters,” he added.

 

“At one time, we used to talk about how we had freedom of the press. Like it was a plus,” exclaimed co-host Robin Quivers.

“I mean, who votes for this woman? How did she get three votes?” Stern added.

At one point Stern accidentally said Lake had won the governor race, but his producers quickly corrected him, saying the race was too close to call.

“That’s sad. That’s so sad. That’s a shame that it’s too close to — That means somebody buys into her saying, ‘I’m gonna be the worst enemy of the press,'” he said.


 

Quivers reminded Stern that Lake was running in Arizona.

“I used to have this fantasy when I was a kid that one day I would live in Arizona. I don’t know why — I never had been to Arizona, but I guess maybe from watching Westerns and stuff, I always wanted to live in Arizona. And then when I made a couple of bucks, I used to go there, you know, on vacations and stuff. Lovely place, Arizona. I was like, ‘You know, man, it’d be cool to live in Arizona one day. They got that fucking red clay desert or some shit like that. And it’s very healing, spiritual. You go on hikes. I like to hike.’ Now I don’t wanna live there. It’s fucking nut job place. 


How could you have people who would vote for this woman when she says, ‘I’m gonna be the worst nightmare?'” Stern said.

“Fucked up man. This country’s getting more and more fucked up,” he concluded.

Listen above via The Howard Stern Show.

 

RELATED CONTENT 

www.thewrap.com

Howard Stern Blasts Kari Lake and Supporters: 'Nut Jobs'

Harper Lambert | November 9, 2022 @ 10:45 AM
23 - 28 minutes

The radio host ripped into the Arizona candidate’s promise to be the media’s ”worst freaking nightmare“ if elected

Howard Stern and Kari Lake

Getty Images

Howard Stern flamed Kari Lake after she vowed last night to be the press’ “worst freaking nightmare” if elected Arizona’s next governor.


 

“We are going to make you guys into journalists again, so get ready,” the Republican candidate told reporters on election night. “It’s gonna be a fun eight years. I can’t wait to be working with you.”

While the race between Lake and Democratic opponent Katie Hobbs remains too close to call, Stern shot back at her Wednesday morning. . .

READ MORE

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“Dark ships” emerge from the shadow of the Nord Stream pipeline mystery

According to the analysis by satellite data monitoring firm SpaceKnow, the two “dark ships,” each measuring around 95 to 130 meters long, passed within several miles of the Nord Stream 2 leak sites. “We have detected some dark ships, meaning vessels that were of a significant size, that were passing through that area of interest,” says Jerry Javornicky, the CEO and cofounder of SpaceKnow. “They had their beacons off, meaning there was no information about their movement, and they were trying to keep their location information and general information hidden from the world,” Javornicky adds.

✓  SAR images of the dark ships shared with WIRED show the vessels as glowing objects, not far from the explosion site around Nord Stream 2. “We assume it was one of those two dark ships that we have detected, but we're not making any decision,” Javornicky says. He says the company is not in the business of determining what may have happened or who is responsible but instead provided the data to authorities.

NOTE: 311 Reader Comments in the source

arstechnica.com

“Dark ships” emerge from the shadow of the Nord Stream pipeline mystery



by Matt Burgess, wired.com - Nov 12, 2022 5:15am MST
6 - 8 minutes

Once it gathered archive images of the area, SpaceKnow created a series of polygons around the gas leak sites. The smallest of these, around 400 square meters, covered the immediate blast area, and larger areas of interest covered several kilometers. In the weeks leading up to the explosions, SpaceKnow detected 25 ships passing through the region, from “cargo ships to multipurpose larger ships,” Javornicky says. 

✓ In total, 23 of these vessels had their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders turned on. Two did not have AIS data turned on, and these ships passed the area during the days immediately ahead of the leaks being detected.


By international law, large ships are required to install and use AIS. This vessel tracking system was created to help ships navigate and avoid potential collisions with other vessels. When turned on, AIS will broadcast a ship’s name, location, the direction of travel, speed, and other information.

It is relatively rare for ships to turn off their AIS transponders. Ships that “go dark” are often suspected of being involved in illegal fishing or modern slavery, with officials in Europe previously investigating ships that are believed to have turned off their AIS transponders. “It would not be common practice [to have AIS turned off], unless the vessels have a classified military mission or they would have some clandestine objectives, because the Baltic Sea is one of the busiest seas in the world in terms of commercial traffic,” says Otto Tabuns, the director of the Baltic Security Foundation, an NGO that focuses on the region.

Tabuns says the Baltic Sea has multiple main “arteries” where ships travel and it is “responsible” for ships in the area to have their AIS trackers turned on. Collisions at sea can be deadly and environmentally ruinous. “There are many places in the [Baltic] sea that are not navigable for bigger ships,” Tabuns says. “There are also some areas that are not recommended or where it is prohibited to ship because of the heritage of World War Two.” Decades-old wartime submarines and munitions litter the Baltic Sea’s floor.

SpaceKnow detected the ships that had AIS turned off using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from satellites. Most satellites observing Earth take photos of what’s beneath them; others, however, also use SAR to bounce radio waves off the ground and create images from them. Andrey Kurekin, a coastal ocean color scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory who has analyzed satellite images for detecting objects at sea, says SAR technology can be useful for detecting ships, as it shows reflections from metal objects. “They are shown as bright objects in SAR images,” Kurekin says.

Kurekin says SAR images can be used to identify the longitude and latitude coordinates of a ship, the direction it is heading, and potentially to estimate its speed. “The main advantage of SAR over optical sensors is that the microwaves penetrate through clouds,” Kurekin says. The images are less impacted by the weather and can also provide visibility at night. “It's quite difficult to hide a ship from a SAR sensor,” Kurekin adds.

SAR images of the dark ships shared with WIRED show the vessels as glowing objects, not far from the explosion site around Nord Stream 2. “We assume it was one of those two dark ships that we have detected, but we're not making any decision,” Javornicky says. He says the company is not in the business of determining what may have happened or who is responsible but instead provided the data to authorities.

Kurekin cautions that AIS tracking systems onboard ships can, at times, fail. The signal from AIS could stop communicating with satellites or receivers on land, Kurekin says, adding that the signal can be impacted by the weather too. “If there is a vessel that you can see in SAR image but it's not reported by the AIS system, it does not necessarily mean that there's something wrong with this vessel,” Kurekin says. Signals from AIS transponders can also be manipulated—warships have had their AIS data spoofed, and ships around Russia and the Black Sea have vanished from trackers in recent years.

While there are multiple ongoing investigations into the explosions, determining the full picture of what happened may take some time. Police in Copenhagen said its initial investigations have determined that “powerful explosions” caused “extensive damage” to the pipes. Images taken from around the exploded sections of the pipe appear to show that at least 50 meters of the pipeline were destroyed in the explosions.

In an email, the Swedish security service, Säkerhetspolisen, said that due to “secrecy” around its operations, it could not discuss its investigation or whether it was looking at satellite data. However, agency spokesperson Gabriel Wernstedt says the organization is conducting a “criminal investigation of gross sabotage” around both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipes. “Certain seizures were made during the onsite investigations that are being analyzed,” Wernstedt says. In public statements, Säkerhetspolisen has confirmed denotations happened at the pipes and that the Swedish armed forces are involved in the investigations.

However, while the investigations are ongoing, there appear to be difficulties between the countries that are looking into the incident, which could slow the process. While Sweden says it is working with investigators in Germany and Denmark, the official leading its investigation has rejected plans to form a joint investigation.

Tabuns says he hopes that the incident will act as motivation for countries to work on better ways to share intelligence, particularly as Sweden and Finland apply to join NATO. Each country will have its own levels of classification for information and systems where it collects intelligence—these may often not be compatible, Tabuns says. However, he adds that the events should see countries look at increasing the “integration of existing national systems so that there would be real-time information sharing for any response.”

This story originally appeared on wired.com. 

Security

‘Dark Ships’ Emerge From the Shadows of the Nord Stream Mystery

Satellite monitors discovered two vessels with their trackers turned off in the area of the pipeline prior to the suspected sabotage in September

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WHOA!...Another Former Fox News Reporter is Making Headlines with Melinda Gates

 Here's the TMZ Scoop via The Daily Mail - The billionaire, 58, who is newly single following her split from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has been secretly dating former Fox News reporter Jon Du Pre, 68, 'for months', according to a recent TMZ report. Du Pre, who has worked across the country as a news anchor in various cities, was previously married 1985's Miss Utah Gina Larsen

✓ The pair met while both studying journalism at the Mormon college Brigham Young. . .

www.dailymail.co.uk

Melinda Gates's new boyfriend Jon Du Pre abused his Miss Utah ex-wife when she was pregnant

Paul Farrell

Melinda Gates's new boyfriend Jon Du Pre admitted in his memoir abusing his Miss Utah ex-wife when she was pregnant following his own turbulent Mormon childhood

, updated



  • Melinda Gates, soon to be divorced from her billionaire husband Bill, has been dating ex-Fox News reporter Jon Du Pre for months
  • In a 2000 memoir about his abusive father, Du Pre wrote about his own abuse of his wife, former Miss Utah Gina Larsen
  • The news anchor wrote about one encounter saying that he was 'loaded with explosive rage' and that his then-wife 'didn't have a chance'
  • Du Pre wrote in another section that he 'licked his lips' when he saw his former wife compete in the bathing suit portion of Miss America in 1986 

Melinda Gates' rumored new boyfriend has admitted to verbally abusing his ex-wife while she was pregnant, in an unearthed except of his 2000 memoir. . .


The book is based primarily around Du Pre's abusive relationship with his father, Robert, a once prominent civil rights lawyer and FBI agent who was accused of spying on suspected communists in Hollywood in the 1950s. 

He said that his father's social life revolved around drinking and carousing which often left the family without enough money for food.  

Du Pre recounts the abuse he inflicted upon his wife writing: 'Welcome to the real world, princess, where not everyone is happy. For once, this one's not about you, you spoon-fed, spoiled-rotten b****. This one's about me. 

'I'm going to find out why my father f****d up my life, and p*** on you for trying to make me feel guilty about it.'

. . . In a more endearing note, Du Pre wrote about seeing his future wife competing in Miss America in Atlantic City in 1986. He said: 'I licked my lips when I saw her in that bathing suit.' 

An article from the period describes Gina's bathing suit as a 'white suit made by Trina Best of Provo, Utah.' 


They were married at the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Latter-day Saints. His book became such a success that he was invited on to Oprah Winfrey's talk show to discuss his childhood. 

During their marriage, the couple had three children with her ex-husband, Kasey, Jessie and Jonny. 

According to her LinkedIn page, Gina still uses the last name Du Pre. Like her ex-husband's current girlfriend, she has a background in IT working as a virtual services account manager with Cisco. 

Gina previously worked for tech giants such as CIS and Adobe. Prior to going into the IT world, Gina was a a news anchor for KSL5, a Salt Lake City-based station. 

She graduated from Brigham Young in 1986. Following graduation, she spent time working at WFRV-TV in Green Bay Wisconsin, where Du Pre was working at the time. The couple moved back to Utah in 1988. 

In a glowing tribute on that page, Kasey Du Pre wrote of his mother: 'Gina is essentially the Steph Curry of life, making things appear to be way easier than they are. While raising 3 kids as a single mom, Gina put all 3 of her children through college because of her relentless work ethic and ability to meet sales quota.' 

Since her marriage to Du Pre, Gina remarried motivational speaker Todd King, also a Brigham Young graduate. 

At the 1985 Miss Utah competition, Gina sang the song 'The Greatest Love of All' for the talent portion of the pageant. 

After Melinda and Bill split, the 58-year-old spoke out in detail about what lead to the uncoiling of her marriage, and she said there wasn't one particular thing that lead to their breakup, but rather, it was a bunch of things that added up over time. 

She revealed that she slowly realized she 'wasn't healthy' in the relationship, and that she could no longer 'trust what she and Bill had.'

Now, it looks like she may have found someone new - and her rumored beau appears to be a major step in another direction from her romance to Bill."

. . .


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Imperialst Rhetoric, Tom Horn to Defuse Tensions, Gold Tops $5,000 in Demand Frenzy, . . .Japan Bond Crash

         Stephen Maturen/Getty Images Trump, Democrats Hurtle Toward Shutdown After Minnesota Killing A fatal shooting by Border Patrol agen...