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  1. Article from the Times regarding Americas latest attack on freedom.  The X37B was launched last week on a top secret mission, and a Minotaur IV rocket also launched last week carries a weapon they say could hit any target in the world in less than an hour.  

    Why so top secret?  The US and UK have both invaded countries for less than this.   

    ***********************

    Somewhere above earth is America’s latest spaceship, a 30ft craft so classified that the Pentagon will not divulge its mission nor how much it cost to build.


    The mysterious X37B, launched successfully by the US Air Force from Cape Canaveral on Thursday [22nd April 2010], using an Atlas V rocket, looks like a mini-Space Shuttle — but its mission is top secret.

    X37B


    It is officially described as an orbital test vehicle. However, one of its potential uses appears to be to launch a surge of small satellites during periods of high international tension. This would enable America to have eyes and ears orbiting above any potential troublespot in the world.

    The X37B can stay in orbit for up to 270 days, whereas the Shuttle can last only 16 days. This will provide the US with the ability to carry out experiments for long periods, including the testing of new laser weapon systems. This would bring accusations that the launch of X37B, and a second vehicle planned for later this year, could lead to the militarisation of space.

    US defence officials, who would not say how much the project had cost, insisted, however, that it was “just an updated version of the Space Shuttle activities”.

    Thursday’s launch was more about testing the craft, a new generation of silica tile and a wealth of other advances that make the Shuttle look like yesterday’s space technology.

    Nasa’s X37B programme began in 1999 and ran until September 2004 when it was transferred to the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency before being taken over by the US Air Force.

    The flight of the X37B is being managed by the US Air Force Space Command’s 3rd Space Experimental Squadron.

    “This bird has been through all of the shake, rattle and roll, the vibration tests, the acoustic tests that any spacecraft would go through,” said Gary Payton, Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space Programmes.

    With all the focus on the launch of the secret X37B, another space launch by a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California received less attention.

    It was carrying the prototype of a new weapon that can hit any target around the world in less than an hour.

    The Prompt Global Strike is designed as the conventional weapon of the future. It could hit Osama bin Laden’s cave, an Iranian nuclear site or a North Korean missile with a huge conventional warhead.


    Source: The Times Online

  2. Now, when all of this was going on I was a bit baffled.

    ALL flights in the UK were canceled as well as disruptions everywhere else because planes could not fly through the volcanic ash as it could damage the engines.  

    But here in the UK the sky was as blue as blue could be from what I could see.  In fact as we had no planes leaving Chemical trails all over the sky it was the clearest sky I've seen in years!

    Am I just being too suspicious? Actually, that was my first thought, "ok Liam, sometimes things happen, its not all part of a conspiracy".  But I kept wondering how could the ash from volcano so far away take up so much airspace and yet still pose a problem?  And more to the point why couldn't we see it?  Instead of getting a misty cloudy sky full of ash, here in the UK we had a few days of brilliant sunshine and bright blue skies.  

    It makes no sense!

    But then I found this article today in the Daily Mail on-line.


    Remember that ash cloud? It didn't exist, says new evidence

    Britain's airspace was closed under false pretences, with satellite images revealing there was no doomsday volcanic ash cloud over the entire country.

    Skies fell quiet for six days, leaving as many as 500,000 Britons stranded overseas and costing airlines hundreds of millions of pounds.

    Estimates put the number of Britons still stuck abroad at 35,000.

    However, new evidence shows there was no all-encompassing cloud and, where dust was present, it was often so thin that it posed no risk.

    Volcanic Ash Cloud

    The satellite images demonstrate that the skies were largely clear, which will not surprise the millions who enjoyed the fine, hot weather during the flight ban.

    Jim McKenna, the Civil Aviation Authority's head of airworthiness, strategy and policy, admitted: 'It's obvious that at the start of this crisis there was a lack of definitive data.

    'It's also true that for some of the time, the density of ash above the UK was close to undetectable.'

    The satellite images will be used by airlines in their battle to win tens of millions of pounds in compensation from governments for their losses.


    The National Air Traffic Control Service decision to ban flights was based on Met Office computer models which painted a picture of a cloud of ash being blown south from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano.

    These models should have been tested by the Met Office's main research plane, a BAE 146 jet, but it was in a hangar to be repainted and could not be sent up until last Tuesday - the last day of the ban.

    Evidence has emerged that the maximum density of the ash was only about one 20th of the limit that scientists, the Government, and aircraft and engine manufacturers have now decided is safe.

    British Airways chief Willie Walsh always insisted the total shutdown went too far.

    'My personal belief is that we could have safely continued operating for a period,' he said.

    Mark Tanzer, chief executive of Britain's ABTA, which represents British travel agents and tour operators, said about 100,000 stranded British travellers should have been returned home by Monday morning.

    About 35,000 more will remain marooned until Friday, the group said.

    'While most flights are back to normal, and most stranded British passengers will be back by the end of this weekend, there is still quite a high level of disruption in some destinations.

    'In some areas of the world, there is a significant lack of air capacity to enable British people to be returned quickly,' Tanzer said.

    Many Icelandic airports are closed and though authorities say Eyjafjallajokull is now producing much less ash, they confirmed no signs of the eruption ending.

    This article can be read here.


    Well, was it just a mistake?  Someone being over cautious? Or is there more to it?  Personally, I think there's more to it, but thats only based on a feeling.  I've absolutely no evidence to back up that statement.  But if I come across any relevant information about it, you know where I'll put it!