Science

SEE IT: NASA probe takes stunning new shots of Ganymede

NASA plans two missions to Venus

NASA aims for two new missions to Venus to learn more about the ‘lost habitable’ world; former NASA astronaut Tom Jones provides insight on ‘CAVUTO Live.’

New images from NASA’s Juno probe have provided astronomers with a dramatic view of Jupiter’s largest moon.

The flyby shots are the closest looks at Ganymede – named for a cupbearer for the ancient Greek gods — in more than 20 years.

‘RING OF FIRE’ ECLIPSE 2021: WHEN, WHERE TO WATCH IT

Massive craters are highlighted by bright white terrain and “long structural features” the agency said in a Tuesday release are potentially “linked to tectonic faults.”

The photographs were taken using the Jupiter orbiter’s JunoCam imager and its Stellar Reference Unit star camera.

The JunoCam visible-light imager used its green filter to capture almost an entire side of the icy moon; red and blue filters will be used by imaging experts to present a color portrait later.

The Stellar Reference Unit navigation camera produced a black-and-white image of Ganymede’s dark side as it glowed in light scattered from Jupiter.

Juno is set to send more images from Ganymede in the next few days and the solar-powered spacecraft’s work is expected to provide researchers with “insights into its composition, ionosphere, magnetosphere and ice shell” as well as measurements of the radiation environment.

NASA CHIEF BILL NELSON OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SPACE EXPLORATION AS PRIVATE SECTOR, GOVERNMENT COMBINE EFFORTS

“This is the closest any spacecraft has come to this mammoth moon in a generation,” Juno Principal Investigator Scott Bolton said in the release. “We are going to take our time before we draw any scientific conclusions, but until then we can simply marvel at this celestial wonder.”

The Juno Mission is a part of the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center New Frontiers Program and is operated for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.

This image of the dark side of Ganymede was obtained by Juno’s Stellar Reference Unit navigation camera during its June 7, 2021, flyby of the moon.
(NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)

The probe was proposed in 2003, launched in 2011 and first arrived at Jupiter on July 4, 2016. Its prime mission will be completed in July.

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In January, NASA announced the Juno mission would be extended, investigating the solar system’s largest planet – the full Jovian system-through September 2025.

“Since its first orbit in 2016, Juno has delivered one revelation after another about the inner workings of this massive gas giant,” Bolton said, “With the extended mission, we will answer fundamental questions that arose during Juno’s prime mission while reaching beyond the planet to explore Jupiter’s ring system and Galilean satellites.”

‘Ring of fire’ eclipse 2021: When, where to watch it

The first solar eclipse of 2021 will be visible to the Northern Hemisphere on Thursday morning.

It will appear as a “sunrise event,” with the moon passing between the Earth and the sun and partially obscuring the star from view and leaving its outer ring exposed.

The annular “ring of fire” eclipse will be best viewed by residents of parts of Canada, Greenland and northern Russia, according to NASA.

BLOOD MOON LUNAR ECLIPSE ENTHRALLS VIEWERS

However, in the eastern U.S. and northern Alaska, a partial solar eclipse – without the annulus or “ring of fire” – will occur, appearing as if the moon has taken a “bite” out of the sun.

Much of Canada and parts of the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa will also only see a partial eclipse.

Livestreams for the event begin in the early morning and viewers in the eastern U.S. are advised to get a clear view of the eastern horizon to observe it.

TOPSHOT – This composite image shows the moon as it moves in front of the sun in a rare “ring of fire” solar eclipse as seen from Tanjung Piai in Malaysia on December 26, 2019. (Photo by Sadiq ASYRAF / AFP) (Photo by SADIQ ASYRAF/AFP via Getty Images)

NASA also cautions that the use of special eclipse glasses will be necessary to avoid the threat of blindness.

The event will last for around an hour and 40 minutes, according to EarthSky, with the “ring of fire” phase lasting almost four minutes at every point along the annual solar eclipse path.

The outlet noted that northerly and easterly locations would see a deeper and longer partial eclipse, lasting for more than an hour over New York City at a magnitude of 80%.

NASA CHIEF BILL NELSON OPTIMISTIC ABOUT SPACE EXPLORATION AS PRIVATE SECTOR, GOVERNMENT COMBINE EFFORTS

Space.com said that the maximum eclipse over the Big Apple would happen at 5:32 a.m. ET.

The new moon will be visible at 6:53 a.m. ET, according to NASA.

From Washington, D.C., the agency noted the moon would block around 80% of the sun as it rises at 5:42 a.m. ET, rising higher and eventually ending around 6:29 a.m. ET.

If the weather does not permit a shot of the eclipse or interested parties live in an area without a clear view, the next and final solar eclipse of the year will take place on Dec. 4, with totality only visible from Antarctica and southern Africa.

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NASA will start video coverage on YouTube at 5 a.m. ET and the Italy-based Virtual Telescope will also stream the event at the same time.

The next total solar eclipse visible from the U.S. will be on Apr. 8, 2024.

New dinosaur species is largest found in Australia, scientists say

Scientists on Monday announced they have identified a new species of dinosaur that is the largest ever found in Australia.

The giant sauropod was officially named the Australotitan cooperensis, or “the southern titan” by researchers in Eromanga, Queensland, according to a study published in the journal PeerJ. The second part of its name, cooperensis, refers to the nearby Cooper Creek in western Queensland where the fossils were found in 2007.

Experts say the dinosaur was estimated to have weighed about 70 tons, measured 21 feet tall, and extended to about the length of a basketball court.

FOSSIL SITE MAY PROVE TYRANNOSAURS LIVED IN PACKS

“The exciting thing for us is we can put our first hat in the ring for the world’s largest dinosaurs. It’s not the largest in the world, but it’s certainly top 10,” said Scott Hocknull, a Queensland Museum paleontologist and a co-author of the study, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The titanosaur – like the brachiosaurus – was part of a group called sauropods, which were plant-eating dinosaurs known for their size. They were estimated to have lived more than 90 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.

Over the past decade, paleontologists had worked to identify the dinosaur – comparing scans of the bones with those from existing species.

“To make sure Australotitan was a different species, we needed to compare its bones to the bones of other species from Queensland and globally. This was a very long and painstaking task,” Hocknull said.

FLORIDA WOMAN THINKS SHE SAW A ‘SMALL DINOSAUR’ RUNNING THROUGH YARD, SOCIAL MEDIA DEBATES

The study found that Australotitan was closely related to three other species of Australian sauropods – the Wintonotitan, Diamantinasaurus, and Savannasaurus.

“We compared the three species found to the north, near Winton, to our new Eromanga giant and it looks like Australia’s largest dinosaurs were all part of one big happy family,” added Hocknull.

The dinosaur bones were first found in 2007 on a family farm near Eromanga, Queensland.

Hocknull said discoveries like this were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

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“Our ultimate goal is to find the evidence that tells the changing story of Queensland, hundreds of millions of years in the making. A grand story all scientists, museums, and tourists can get behind,” he added.

NASA administrator details missions to moon, Mars, Venus and the agency’s efforts on Earth

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has cosmically grand plans for the agency, including a trip to Venus, an advanced look at the Earth using 3D technology and landing humans on Mars.

Speaking at his first “State of NASA” address Wednesday afternoon, the former Florida senator announced the groundbreaking missions, sending the space community buzzing.

The big news of the day surrounded dual missions to Earth’s “twin” Venus, named VERITAS (Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy) and DAVINCI+ (Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry and Imaging).

The Discovery Program ventures will map and measure aspects of Venus to understand the planet’s history.

NASA AIMS FOR 2 NEW MISSIONS TO VENUS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ‘LOST HABITABLE’ WORLD

While DAVINCI+ will study the planet’s atmosphere, which could shed light on whether Venus once had an ocean, VERITAS will focus on the surface in the hopes of learning “why it developed so differently than Earth.”

Magellan, the last U.S. mission to Venus, ended in 1994 after the imaging spacecraft was commanded to plunge into the toxic atmosphere.

Speaking with Fox News on Thursday, Nelson said NASA will return there to better understand why Venus has a “very thick, foreboding, unforgiving atmosphere.”

“And so, what is it about the atmosphere of Venus that was created that way and what secrets are hidden underneath? And why is it so prohibitive that it will even melt lead at the surface? And these are the secrets. Since we haven’t been to Venus in 30 years, we want to unlock those secrets and try to understand the origin of the Earth and our habitable Earth and atmosphere.”

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson talks to the agency’s workforce during his first State of NASA event Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at NASA Headquarters Mary W. Jackson Building in Washington. Nelson remarked on his long history with NASA, and among other topics, discussed the agency’s plans for future Earth-focused missions to address climate change and a robotic and human return to the Moon through the Artemis program, as well as announcing two new planetary science missions to Venus – VERITAS and DAVINCI+. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

During his State of NASA address, the administrator also discussed the long-awaited Artemis program, in which the agency plans to send the first person of color and the first woman to the moon by 2024.

Critics, however, have said NASA’s target date may be too ambitious, and a Government Accountability Office report released in May said that Artemis faces “technical risks as well as management issues.”

In his first interview as administrator, Nelson told The Associated Press in May that it was necessary to put a “dose of sobering reality” into the agency’s analysis of Artemis.

While the 2024 goal remains, Nelson cautioned that “space is hard.”

UNCLASSIFIED UFO FINDINGS TO REVEAL US INTEL COMMUNITY CAN’T EXPLAIN AERIAL OBJECTS: REPORT

“And, we know when you’re cutting the edge of the envelope, the development of technology, the flying in a very unforgiving environment when safety is your primary concern — we know that often there are delays,” he said. “And so, too, we have to be brutally realistic that there may be delays.”

In addition to landing humans on the moon, Artemis will “establish sustainable exploration in preparation for missions to Mars.”

“The moon is only 250,000 miles from Earth. To go to Mars, you’re talking about millions of miles. And as a result, we can use the one-sixth gravity of the moon and learning how to live, how to acclimate, how to make fuel from the regolith of the moon, learning how to capture the water there and make fuel, in a preparation of how do we sustain human life for long, long-duration missions?” Nelson mused. “Not the three or four days to the moon and however long it is from there and back. But, we’re talking about years in order to get to Mars, stay there for a couple of years and get back. And so, we can learn a lot on the moon as we prepare to go to Mars.”

The administrator also detailed NASA’s latest efforts to monitor and battle climate change using advanced modeling.

In May, NASA said it would design a new set of Earth-focused missions to provide critical information regarding climate, disaster mitigation and improving agricultural processes.

The Earth System Observatory’s satellites would work in tandem with others to “create a 3D view of Earth,” focusing on aerosols, clouds and precipitation, mass change, surface biology and geology and surface deformation and change.

Nelson said that while the agency already has “sophisticated instruments” in space taking measurements of the Earth that are “enhanced” by the measurements already taken by ocean buoys and airplanes that drop instrumented packages into hurricanes to the ocean floor, the five new major scientific observatories would “magnify” the effort.

“The first of which is one in January of ’23 that will be measuring earthquakes and lava flows and accretion and addition of shorelines and mountainous terrain. You add the rest of those over a decade, and you will create this 3D dimension of understanding how all of the items that we’re looking at inter-relate,” he said. “Land, water, atmosphere and ice.”

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“When we have that comprehensive view, we can so much better inform what we are doing on Earth to be better stewards. How we can be more efficient — such as, with agricultural crops — and how we can preserve things, not only like agriculture, but how we can predict things that might be happening in the future, like drought, or insects or storms – whatever would plague us as Earthlings,” he said. “And, that’s what we’re doing over the next decade.”

In a recent release describing the Earth System Observatory, NASA said one of the first initiatives included a partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to measure changes in the Earth’s surface of less than half an inch using two different radar systems.

One of the brightest explosions ever recorded occurs in Earth’s ‘cosmic backyard’

An international team of scientists used the High Energy Stereoscopic System in Namibia to get the best observation yet of one of the brightest gamma-ray bursts ever recorded.

The stellar explosion, dubbed GRB 190829A, happened just 1 billion lightyears away in the constellation of Eridanus, which may seem like quite a hike, but the typical gamma-ray burst occurs 20 billion lightyears away.

Artist’s impression a star collapsing in on itself and emitting a gamma-ray burst.
(DESY, Science Communication Lab)

Gamma-ray bursts occur when a star collapses in on itself, forming a black hole and releasing a massive burst of gamma rays.

“Gamma-ray bursts are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang and can release more energy in 10 seconds than our Sun will emit in its entire 10-billion-year expected lifetime,” NASA explains.

NASA, SPACEX LAUNCH GROUNDBREAKING EXPERIMENTS TO SPACE STATION

Artist’s impression of X-rays from the gamma-ray burst entering Earth’s atmosphere.
(DESY, Science Communication Lab)

Artist’s impression of X-rays from the gamma-ray burst entering Earth’s atmosphere, seen from the surface.

The scientists, who published a study in the journal Science on their observation, were able to measure GRB 190829A’s afterglow for three days because it was so relatively close.

“We could determine GRB 190829A’s spectrum up to an energy of 3.3 tera-electronvolts, that’s about a trillion times as energetic as the photons of visible light,” said Edna Ruiz-Velasco of Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics.

“This is what’s so exceptional about this gamma-ray burst – it happened in our cosmic backyard where the very-high-energy photons were not absorbed in collisions with background light on their way to Earth, as it happens over larger distances in the cosmos.”

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The research team was comprised of 230 scientists from 15 countries: Namibia, South Africa, Japan, China, Australia, Germany, France, the UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Armenia.

Shrinking giants: North Atlantic right whales getting tinier

One of the giants of the deep is shrinking before our eyes, a new study says.

The younger generation of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are on average about three feet (one meter) shorter than whales were 20 years, drone and aircraft data show in a study in Thursday’s journal Current Biology.

Scientists say humans are to blame. Entanglements with fishing gear, collisions with ships and climate change moving their food supply north are combining to stress and shrink these large whales, the study says.

SIGHTINGS OF ‘JUVENILE’ GREAT WHITE SHARKS INCREASE OFF CALIFORNIA COASTLINE

Diminishing size is a threat to the species’ overall survival because the whales aren’t having as many offspring. They aren’t big enough to nurse their young or even get pregnant, study authors said.

These marine mammals used to grow to 46 feet (14 meters) on average, but now the younger generation is on track to average not quite 43 feet (13 meters), according to the study.

“This isn’t about ‘short’ right whales, it’s about a physical manifestation of a physiological problem, it’s the chest pain before the heart attack,” said Regina Asmutis-Silvia, executive director of Whale and Dolphin Conservation North America, who wasn’t part of the study. “Ignoring it only leads to an inevitable tragedy, while recognizing and treating it can literally save a life, or in this case, an entire species.”

There are only about 356 North Atlantic right whales left, down from 500 in 2010, said study co-author Amy Knowlton, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium. Other estimates put the population around 400, though researchers agree the population is shrinking.

MASSACHUSETTS’ CAPE COD GREAT WHITE SHARK DETECTIONS ON THE RISE

In the past, scientists and activists have concentrated solely on whale deaths, but now they realize there’s a problem afflicting surviving whales that can still cause populations to further dwindle, said study co-author Michael Moore, marine mammals director at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The authors were able to take pictures of 129 of the right whales and use a computer program to compare them to right whales of similar age 20 years ago.

In this Dec. 30, 2010 photo provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, a female North Atlantic right whale Catalog #3911 is entangled in fishing gear. By February 2011, she was dead. (Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, NOAA Permit #594-1759 via AP)

The issue emerged from a research trip several years ago when Knowlton and others saw a few small whales and a dead one. They figured the small whales were calves, less than a year old, because of their size, but checking showed the whales actually were about two years old. Whale calves normally double in size in two years, said study lead author Joshua Stewart, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration researcher.

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The study authors said the No. 1 issue with smaller right whales is entanglement in fishing gear, especially ropes that have become stronger and harder for whales to shed.

“Over 83% now of the species has been entangled at least once in their lifetime, some as many as eight times,” Knowlton said. “If it doesn’t kill them, it’s certainly going to affect their ability to reproduce.”

Collisions with ships is another problem. Both fishing gear and ship crashes have been addressed with government regulations in some normal feeding grounds for the whales. But since 2010, climate change has caused plankton the marine mammals eat to move north and east to areas without regulations, so entanglements and crashes increased, Knowlton said.

The shifting of feeding grounds has added more physical stress to North Atlantic right whales, which already were skinny compared to their southern cousin species, Moore said.

“We know that climate change has affected some of their key prey sources, so entangled whales are likely experiencing a triple whammy of less food around, less ability to forage for it, while burning more energy,’’ said Dalhousie University marine biologist Boris Worm, who was not part of the study. “It’s heartbreaking to think about the lives that some of these whales lead.”

Patrick Whittle contributed from Portland, Maine.

Massachusetts’ Cape Cod great white shark detections on the rise

The population of Atlantic great white sharks has reportedly expanded along Massachusetts’ Cape Cod peninsula, with detections on the rise.

While numbers of the feared fish on the East Coast are markedly less than those swimming in the Pacific, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC) has reported numbers increasing since the species was designated as a protected species in most federal waters in the 1990s and in Massachusetts state waters in 2005.

GREAT WHITE SHARK POPULATION ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST BOOMING

The conservancy asserts that the rise over the past few years indicates recovery in the area. However, according to the organization’s website, that “stock status remains uncertain” and that an increased presence is also linked to rising seal populations.

AWSC researchers told The Boston Herald on Tuesday that data from eight years ago showed there were only 11 individual sharks detected along the Cape.

However, in 2020 the group detected 118 individual sharks in the region – although there were notably more acoustic transmitters deployed to aid in the search.

In April, AWSC announced the first basking shark sighting off Provincetown’s Herring Cove Beach, noting in a tweet that basking shark fins are often mistaken for white shark fins.

According to the publication, 231 individual great white sharks have been tagged by Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries transmitters since 2010 – a total allegedly less than reported by local researchers.

SHARKS USE EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD FOR NAVIGATION, SCIENTISTS SAY

In 2019, researchers said they had tagged more sharks on the Cape than ever before.

Rhode Island’s Atlantic Shark Institute said in 2020 that they had detected nine great white sharks in nearby waters.

The most detections, according to AWSC, have been in August over the last four years. Shark season extends through the end of October.

AWSC did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the matter.

A great white shark spotted feeding on the carcass of a minke whale floating in Cape Cod Bay.
(Plymouth Harbormaster Department)

Populations have also been seen rising on the West Coast, especially as temperatures warm.

According to the Florida Museum, the odds of being attacked and killed by a shark are 1 in 3,748,067.

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In 2018, a 26-year-old man was killed after he was attacked at Newcomb Hollow Beach – the first fatal shark attack in Massachusetts since 1936.

In addition, scientists warn that the apex predators patrol the shoreline for seals at all times of the day.

Sightings of ‘juvenile’ great white sharks increase off California coastline

As the population of great white sharks has increased along the California coastline, residents are reporting sightings of “juvenile” sharks near popular beaches .

The migratory creatures have been spotted by swimmers and beachgoers in Southern California, including on Memorial Day.

GREAT WHITE SHARK POPULATION ALONG CALIFORNIA COAST BOOMING

According to FOX5 San Diego, a California State Parks spokesman reported that a 7-foot-long juvenile great white had been seen by lifeguards near Black’s Beach after an injured sea lion was found in the surf break.

California State Parks did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment on the incident.

The May 7 issue of Del Mar City Hall’s Del Mar Weekly – a city around half an hour away – said lifeguards and researchers in the area had been monitoring the influx, tagging sharks, gathering data from underwater receiver buoys and studying aerial images from a drone.

The publication said that Cal State University Long Beach Shark Lab’s Chris Lowe told officials that new data showed the numbers of white sharks have been dramatically increasing over the past decade.

SHARKS USE EARTH’S MAGNETIC FIELD FOR NAVIGATION, SCIENTISTS SAY

“The waters off Southern California are a nursery for white sharks,” Del Mar Weekly explained. “Once hatched, baby sharks must fend for themselves. Stingrays — which also gathered in great numbers last summer in Del Mar — provide an accessible food source.”

FOX5 reported Tuesday that Lowe and his team have tagged around 120 sharks off the San Diego coast so far, although “shark season” is just beginning.

A similar study recently published in the journal Biological Conservation found that between 2011 and 2018, great white shark numbers in Pacific waters had notably risen.

Researchers from Stanford University, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center partnered and completed more than 2,500 hours of observation.

They identified nearly 300 adult and sub-adult individual great whites – a figure up from a 2011 three-year study that found just 219 sharks.

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The sharks can grow up to 20 feet in length and weigh more than 2,000 pounds.

They can live for up to 70 years.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover marks 100 days on the red planet

Tuesday marks NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover’s hundredth Martian day on the red planet.

The car-sized, 2,260-pound spacecraft landed on Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles.

MARS HELICOPTER INGENUITY EXPERIENCES ANOMALY ON 6TH FLIGHT, LANDS SAFELY ANYWAY

Perseverance, the most technologically advanced space robot the agency has sent to date, was designed based on the Mars Science Laboratory‘s Curiosity rover configuration.

Packed with groundbreaking engineering, the rover carried the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter to the planet ahead of its historic experimental flights and the first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet.

It also took unprecedented images, video and audio recordings, including selfies with Ingenuity and the sound of Martian winds.

Perseverance, led by members of the agency’s Southern California-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory, has since embarked on its trek in a mission to conduct astrobiological research including the search for ancient microbial life.

In a tweet acknowledging the milestone, JPL’s Perseverance team wrote that the rover had tested all cameras and scientific instruments, returned more than 75,000 pictures including the documentation of Ingenuity’s flights, extracted oxygen from Mars’ atmosphere and since headed south to its first exploration zone.

In April, the rover’s MOXIE (Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) instrument successfully converted carbon dioxide into oxygen for the first time.

The accomplishment could one day be critical to human exploration of the planet, powering rockets or providing breathable air for astronauts.

Now, Perseverance is set to continue work characterizing climate and geology and collecting and caching rock and sediment.

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In March, NASA announced that Perseverance’s SuperCam instrument had already selected two rock targets, “Yeehgo” and “Máaz,” for study.

The rover may cache over 30 selected samples in tubes for a future return mission in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) in the early 2030s.

Astrophysicist explains why UFO videos fail to impress him

A top astrophysics professor penned a column published Sunday that addresses the recent buzz around UFO sightings by U.S. Navy personnel and the highly anticipated report on these sightings due out in the summer.

These videos have piqued the country’s fascination due to their perceived maneuverability. How is it possible that an object in the shape of a jelly bean seems capable of flying circles around our most advanced fighters? And what does it say about our security if these objects have been produced by an adversary?

Adam Frank, the professor from the University of Rochester, wrote a column in the New York Times titled, “I’m a Physicist Who Searches for Aliens. UFOs Don’t Impress Me.” He wrote that he has been asked about these documented encounters because of his resume. (He won a recent grant from NASA to search for some kind of advanced technology on planets in far-away solar systems.)

He pointed to the videos that aired on CBS’ “60 Minutes” that were captured by U.S. Navy pilots. He is skeptical of how much those videos can teach us about the objects.

“While some researchers have used the footage to make simple estimates of the accelerations and other flight characteristics of the UFOs, the results have been mixed at best. Skeptics have already shown that some of the motions seen in the videos (like the ocean skimming) may be artifacts of the cameras’ optics and tracking systems,” he wrote.

A Pentagon watchdog is launching a probe into how the Department of Defense has addressed “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena” or UAP, after a string of UFO sightings in recent years that have been spotted by military aircraft.

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Frank said that he will read any government reports with interest, but said there may “be more prosaic explanations” like the possibility Russia and China are using drones to lure “our pilots into turning on their radar and other detectors, thus revealing our electronic intelligence capacities.”

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