Are UFO's the Cause of Satellite Failures?

Our Solar flare warning system, SOHO, is the latest victim in what could be alien attacks!

NASA LOSES CONTACT WITH SOHO SPACE OBSERVATORY

Reprinted from UFO Roundup, volume 3, number 26 - June 28,, 1998

edited by Jim Trainor.

On Wednesday, June 24, 1998, at 7:16 p.m., flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland lost contact with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, which gives us advanced warning of solar flares.

Launched on December 2, 1995, SOHO is an orbiting satellite of the "Great Observatories" program and is jointly operated by NASA and the European Space Agency.

According to the NASA press release of June 26, 1998, "SOHO went into emergency sun reacquisition mode, and ground controllers lost contact with the spacecraft at 7:16 p.m....This mode is activated when an anomaly occurs and the spacecraft loses its orientation towards the Sun. When this happens, the spacecraft automatically tries to point itself toward the Sun again by firing its attitude control thrusters under the guidance of an onboard Sun sensor."

The NASA press release did not describe the nature of the "anomaly."

"Efforts to re-establish contact with SOHO did not succeed, and telemetry was lost. Subsequent attempts using the full NASA Deep Space Network capabilities have so far also not been successful."

"Engineers at NASA and ESA are attempting to re-establish contact with the spacecraft." (Many thanks to Kent Steadman of the CyberSpace Orbit for forwarding the NASA news release.)

(Editor's Note: SOHO is the second major satellite to go haywire in orbit recently. Last month, the communications satellite Galaxy IV rotated out of position and lost contact with Earth. Also, on January 10, 1997, SOHO photographed a mysterious object between Earth and the Sun, which NASA subsequently identified as a sun-grazing "proto-comet." See UFO Roundup, Volume 2, Number 3 (Issue 6 - John) for more details.)

Click here for a related story about a possible NASA coverup.

(Jim Trainor's Comment: At one million miles sunward from Earth, SOHO is a little too far out of the neighborhood to have been affected by the recent meteor shower. It makes you wonder just what knocked it out of alignment out there at L-1. There are rumors, though. See the following story.)

ORBIT WEBSITE DESTROYED BY PERSONS UNKNOWN

Reprinted from UFO Roundup, volume 3, number 27 - July 5, 1998

edited by Jim Trainor.

On Tuesday morning, June 23, 1998, Eagle Net, operated by Norio Hayakawa of Citizens Against the New World Order, suddenly disappeared from the Internet.

Wiped out in the mysterious event was Kent Steadman's popular cyber-newspaper, the CyberSpace Orbit.

The Orbit had recently been running a series of articles about the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) satellite, which suddenly, and equally mysteriously, lost contact with ground controllers here on Earth two days later.

According to the Orbit, two weeks ago a kind of solar flare "seemed to reach out and blind" SOHO's cameras. In another incident, "two strange objects" appeared near the sun.

UFO Roundup first learned of the strange loss of Eagle Net from a reader who had attempted to access last month's Orbit interview with an anonymous scientist who claimed that data from the Mars Global Observer showed a high incidence of radioactive isotopes in the Cydonia region. The scientist speculated that the region might have been struck by a nuclear bomb.

UFO Roundup editor Joseph Trainor tried to access the Orbit site himself at 7:10 a.m. on Thursday, June 25, 1998 and received a "403: Access to this site is forbidden" message.

UFO Roundup interviewed a handful of computer users who had tried to or successfully accessed the site, including Jon H., who first posted the message about Eagle Net's disappearance in the USENET.

"I attempted to access Eagle Net on Tuesday morning, June 23," Jon reported, "I use my ISP which is Earthlink, and I can also access the Internet at work over a T-1 computer. Most of my newsgroup saw the enhanced images of the object that SOHO picked up."

Asked if he had experienced computer problems as a result, Jon wrote, "Yes, although I cannot attribute them directly to the site. My computer went down and I lost most of my bookmarks. I believe that it was a virus that was downloaded by email."

Jon has a sophisticated virus scanner, but it was not running at the time of the download.

M.H., another operator, remarked, "I watched the (alleged anomalous) object up until Friday, June 26, and it kept getting brighter and brighter, as if it were coming right at us. It was a fascinating sight."

Concerning the loss of the Orbit, he added, "Perhaps too many people are seeing things someone doesn't want them to see."

J.B. claims to have visited the Eagle Net site, adding, "There was nothing there. If you try to enter, you wind up off the Net. Fascinating."

Another respondent wrote, "It was like ground zero. Nothing left." During the week, Kent Steadman successfully salvaged the newspaper's back issues and has set up a new website. Once back online, he remarked, "Let's hope this new web location holds up against or resists broadsides by hacker/buccaneers."

The Orbit can now be accessed at this URL: http://members.aol.com/phikent/orbit/orbit.html

Noted ufologist Dr. Bruce Cornet suggested this week that many "mirror sites" be created to protect vital newsletters like the Orbit, Filer's Files, CNI News and UFO Roundup from cybernetic attack. (Email Interview)

Reprinted from UFO Roundup, Volume 3, Nos. 21-22 - May 22 & 31, 1998

edited by Jim Trainor.

SATELLITE FAILURE CAUSES COMMUNICATIONS CHAOS

On Tuesday, May 19, 1998, at 6 p.m., the satellite Galaxy IV suffered a failure in its onboard control system. The backup switch also failed, and the $250 million satellite rotated out of position, completely disrupting communications here on Earth.

Owned by PanAmSat, Galaxy IV was launched in June 1993. It is positioned in a geosynchronous orbit 22,000 miles above Kansas.

USA Today called the incident "the biggest telecommunications failure in recent years," adding that the breakdown "wiped out pager traffic, halted credit card transactions and knocked TV and radio stations off the air."

Pager service to 45 million customers was lost when Galaxy IV rotated out of position. "Personal pagers use less than one percent of the capacity of the Galaxy IV satellite...The satellite's primary users are broadcast and cable TV companies and big telecommunications companies."

"Galaxy IV remains in orbit but is no longer pointed at its target on Earth. PanAmSat, which is 81 percent-owned by Hughes Electronics, says an onboard navigational computer and its backup failed. It can't explain why."

As of Friday, May 22, 1998, "PanAmSat still doesn't know why Galaxy IV's spin controller and backup failed. The satellite is beyond repair."

All 600 stations of the USA's National Public Radio were knocked off the air when Galaxy IV went haywire. They were served by the two channels of NPR Satellite Service routed through Galaxy IV.

Other affected radio broadcasters included KOA-AM in Denver, Colorado, KSJN-FM Minnesota Public Radio in Minneapolis, Chicago White Sox radio, KIRO-AM in Seattle, Washington, KEX-AM Trail Blazers Radio Network in Portland, Oregon, KGIL-AM in Los Angeles and all four channels of World Harvest Radio International WHRI-SW short wave.

Television broadcasters affected included the WB, UPN and CBS networks, Reuters TV, Motor Racing Network, CNN Airport Channel, the Chinese Television Network in Hong Kong and Soldiers Satellite Network, the USA armed forces entertainment network.

Private business TV stations such as Aetna, Microsoft, 3M and the Ford Motor Company's Fordstar service were also knocked out, as were the Ohio, Minnesota and Texas state lotteries.

"Fred Landman, CEO of PanAmSat, knew he had trouble when one of his company's 17 satellites failed just after 6 p.m. Tuesday...About 90 direct customers of PanAmSat use Galaxy IV, so Landman was shocked when he learned 100 calls from the media had come in by 3 a.m. Wednesday. 'That was the biggest surprise,' he recalls."

PanAmSat is currently retargeting and shifting customer traffic to other satellites in orbit.

"We expect that within one week of the occurrence that virtually all service will be up in force," Landman said. (See USA Today for May 21, 1998, "Satellite's death puts millions out of touch," pages 1-B and 3-B. Also for May 22, 1998, "Satellite emergency a lesson in spin control," page 2-B. For more on strange events in the USA's heartland on May 19, the day of Galaxy IV's failure, see the related stories below.)

(Editor's Comment: If you were on a cell phone at 6 p.m. when Galaxy IV performed its unauthorized rotation maneuver, your voice message is now on its way to Alkaid, also known as Eta Ursa Majoris, and should arrive there in 2108, about 110 years from now.)

FOUR UFOs SIGHTED OVER BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA ON MAY 19th

On Tuesday, May 19, 1998, just after 1 a.m., ufologist Lynn H. Taylor was just outside his home in Bloomington, Indiana (population 60,633), checking out his videocamera, when he heard "the barking of excited dogs in the neighborhood, as well as the bellowing of unseen cattle in the area."

"I had almost reached my house when I had to look back," he reported. "There was something there, all right. I could barely make it out. It was so low as it moved northward, just above the trees. All I could see was a very faint red glow. No other runnings lights, strobes, etc."

"When I reached my house, I turned for one last look. There it was--a brilliant, swirling, multi-colored light floating in the same direction as the first, only closer to me. I quickly picked up my videocamera and began to record. I have witnessed this light many times before...I changed position several times as the object passed by, trying to record as much of its flight as possible before it moved behind some trees and out of sight."

"A couple of minutes later, I saw another flying red object like the first" traveling toward the east. "I stopped and turned around to the west, to see another lighted object moving north...apparently following the previous three. Again, it was...red and barely detectable."

Bloomington is on Indiana Highway 46 about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Indianapolis. (Copyright 1998 by Lynn H. Taylor. Many thanks, Lynn, for letting UFO ROUNDUP quote from your report.)

HIGH-ALTITUDE UFO SEEN OVER HOWELL, MICHIGAN

On Tuesday, May 19, 1998, at 10:31 p.m. (four and a half hours after Galaxy IV's systems failure--J.T.), Doug Parrish, Michigan director of Skywatch International, spotted "a point of light the size of a star moving slowly across the sky above Howell, Michigan." (population 8,184)

"The altitude (elevation) of the light was approximately 81 degrees in the sky, almost overhead," Parrish reported.

"Upon being spotted, the point of light instantly started to glow brighter, and, in less than two seconds, it became as bright as, if not brighter than, the sun at noon. Since it was only a point of light, it did not cast any appreciable shadow on the residential landscape."

"Once I had acknowledged the light as having been seen, it started to diminish its brightness, and in a time span of five seconds, it had dimmed into invisibility. The light was moving slowly directly south. The actual observation lasted about ten seconds. No noise was heard and there were no running lights."

Howell is located at the intersection of Oakgrove Road and Highway BL96, also known as Grand River Road, 55 miles (88 kilometers) west of Detroit. (Many thanks to Doug Parrish and Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)

MICHIGAN UFOLOGIST CONFIRMS SAUCER SIGHTING IN HOWELL

A second UFO sighting took place in Michigan the night of May 19, 1998, four hours after the satellite Galaxy IV went haywire.

A UFO was seen flying high over Howell, Michigan, (population 8,184) about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Detroit, at 10:30 p.m.

Jeff Westover, a sketch artist for Michigan MUFON, reports, "I, too, had a May 19, 1998 sighting in Marlette, Michigan (population 1,924) at 10:15 p.m.

I noticed a large cluster of reddish lights approximately 15 to 20 degrees above the west-southwest horizon that, after two minutes of being stationary, shot straight up into the night sky."

"The sighting took place at about the same time as the Howell, MI sighting," adding that his object's position near the western horizon "would put it over the Howell area if it were high enough in the sky."

Marlette is in the "Thumb" area of Michigan, a town on Highway 53 approximately 55 miles (88 kilometers) north of Detroit. (Many thanks to Jeff Westover for this report.)

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