Life on Venus? Astronomers See a Signal in Its Clouds

Scientists announced today that they have detected traces of a biosignature gas, phosphine, in the atmosphere of Venus. It is not clear yet whether the phosphine is created by some form of life (present on Venus right now) or whether some chemical process is responsible for the gas.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html 

The 2020 Summer Semester of Courses starts on 8 September

On 8 September, a new semester of courses starts at the Exopolitics Institute.

Three courses are on offer. Below is a short introductory video:

For more information, see: http://www.exopoliticssouthafrica.org/exocourses-fall.htm 

Unprecedented Public Report on UFOs Requested From United States Senate Intel Committee

UFOs are on the agenda in the United States in a bid for greater public transparency. 

To achieve this, members of the US Senate “are looking to order the Director of National Intelligence to work with other relevant agencies to produce a report detailing just what information they have on UAPs already, how that data is collected and processed, how it is getting shared and just what kind of threats or other risks these objects might pose.”

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/34288/senate-intel-committee-pushes-for-unprecedented-public-report-on-ufos 

Lester Kiewit from CapeTalk Tonight interviews Evan Robinson and John Kosmetos (Founders of Cape Town UFO Meetup)

UFO disclosure, all too often ridiculed in the past, is rapidly becoming a mainstream topic as it begins to gain official recognition.

Listen to Evan Robinson and John Kosmetos discuss the Pentagon’s official release of “declassified” UFO videos. 

https://omny.fm/shows/capetalk-evenings/pentagon-officially-releases-declassified-ufo-vide 

Inside the Pentagon's Secret UFO Program

Will the US Government be able to effectively keep their finger in the dyke of “Disclosure” of an Extraterrestrial presence engaging humanity for much longer?

In this article by Tim McMillan, the US Government’s secret involvement in UFO research is revealed in a timeline of events from UFO research cover-ups, to 2017’s partial Disclosure (the start of a “ufological renaissance” of sorts) to the backtracking and contradictory statements by Pentagon spokespeople and the eventual closed-door senate meetings on UFOs:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/research/a30916275/government-secret-ufo-program-investigation/?fbclid=IwAR3_UrxTLF8Ru8Na-kTrqLgD5YppLtZyofYe5Om8g2QKBaBBMwhpLl-us18 

A bit of history of NASA’s Deep Space Network 51 (a Space Tracking and Data Acquisition Network) at Hartebeesthoek, South Africa 1961

The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO), located near Johannesburg, was originally a tracking station for NASA’s interplanetary probes. Its main involvement was tracking and imaging in support of lunar missions.

The very first image of a planet other than Earth (taken of Mars by Mariner 4 in 1965) was received in South Africa at Hartebeesthoek.

http://www.hartrao.ac.za/other/dss51/dss51.html 

http://www.hartrao.ac.za/other/dss51/missions.html 

NASA's Planet-Hunting Probe Joins the Search for Intelligent Aliens

NASA Scientists have joined forces with the Breakthrough Listen project in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
NASA brings to the table their newest planet hunting probe TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) as well as the powerful James Webb Space Telescope scheduled to launch in 2021, which should be able to probe the atmospheres of multiple TESS-discovered planets for biosignature gases.

Breakthrough Listen will be looking for "technosignatures" (indicators of advanced alien civilizations) scanning promising worlds with a range of instruments, including South Africa’s very own MeerKat radio array.

https://www.space.com/breakthrough-listen-nasa-tess-seti-search.html 

Free E-book: our ancestors from the stars.

South African contactee June Rye wrote a book about Our Ancestors from the Stars.

She graciously made a copy available to the readers of the Exopollitics South Africa website.

You can download or read it here.

4000 Exoplanets

4,000 Exoplanets…and counting.

With the first exoplanet only recorded in 1992, the last decade has seen an exponential increase in the discovery of exoplanets. With, amongst other things, dedicated space missions and specially designed telescopes, the possibility of finding a planet that harbours life is increasing rapidly.
NASA has now shared an incredible video showing when and where in the night sky all the known exoplanets have been discovered:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190710.html 

The Search for Habitable Alien Worlds in Earth's Backyard Heats Up

In the search for habitable exoplanets, considerable attention is being focussed on our neighbouring star system, Alpha Centauri. A new planet-hunting instrument called NEAR (Near Earths in the Alpha Cen Region) has been installed on the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile, in the hope of finding a large habitable planet orbiting Alpha Cen A or B.

"NEAR is the first and (currently) only project that could directly image a habitable exoplanet," Breakthrough Watch lead scientist Olivier Guyon said in a statement. "It marks an important milestone."

https://www.space.com/alien-planets-alpha-centauri-breakthrough-watch.html?utm_source=sdc-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20190612-sdc