The Lunar Anomalies Blog

Geometry in Hortensius

2009-08-11T14:26:00.000-07:00

Today we start a new series on this blog. I am now in the process of transferring all of the old Lunaranomalies.com articles over here to the LABlog. It will be tedious, but we'll eventually get the entire site transferred. We start with an article about anomalies in the Hortensius region of the Moon...

Lunar Orbiter frame 3-123M sent to me by Steve Troy showing his original markups and recommended sectionals. I have added scale markers and references.

Hortensius is an equatorial [6 degrees N, 28 degrees W] near-side 14 km crater just southwest of Copernicus. The region is dominated by a series of volcanic domes stretching several hundred miles north of the crater itself.

When I originally got LO-3-123M and the sectionals from Steve Troy, I wasn't all that excited. Sure, there were some interesting patterns and the "volcanic" domes of this area don't look all that volcanic, but I had basically decided this would be a backburner project. Then I looked at the sectionals. They revealed a vast expanse of regular geometric patterning that seemed to flow in the same directions, parallel to each other all the way across the frames and crossing at very regular perpendicular angles. They were also not in line with the "grain" of the film and were substantial enough to be obvious with a magnifying glass. You can even note them on the highly compressed crude scan above. The fact that Hortensius is reasonably close to Copernicus and its possible box like structure added some extra interest. Volcanic fracturing can certainly cause parallel patterns, but perpendicularity over a vast (100 square kilometers) area is far harder to explain away as volcanic. In addition, the patterning seemed to be more like channels or tubes rather than a fracture pattern.

The really weird thing though was that a lot of this pattering was on top of the feeble ejecta blanket around Hortensius (the big crater in the lower middle) itself, hinting that it either came after the formation of the crater, or was only partially obliterated by the thin ejecta layer. Now, completely setting aside for the moment the strange lack of "spew" from such a large impact, my eyes were drawn to the area to the right of Hortensius, between it and Hortensius C, the smaller (about 7 km diameter) crater at the image's right edge. In here, I noted (as Steve had) some very significant geometry and some overt structures.

Note the rectilinear pattern all across the sectional image and especially the very odd looking "dunes" in the area of the arrow. I also thought that the underside of the crater just above the right corner of the arrowhead looked quite strange, and Steve had noticed the bright triangular region just to the left of this crater (above the framelet line) and dubbed it the "Fan". I proceeded to scan these two areas at high resolutions.

The "Factory Complex"

Wide perspective

Contrast enhanced version

This stunning region is about 4 x 3 kilometers, judging by the size of Hortensius C. It is dominated by triangular "hanger doors" leading to semi-recessed bunker like structures, and a stunning black box shaped object the size of a 10 story building. In addition, the pronounced right angle pattern in the foreground is reminiscent of barely covered tunnel network. There is also a striking symmetry in the exposed areas (the T-shaped feature behind the "building" for instance). There are parallel terraces all along the right side of this "Factory", and perpendicular striations (access roads?) around the "bunkers". Conceivably, the "Tunnel Network" could be lava tubes formed in the ancient past similar to riles and ridges seen in other regions of the moon. However, it should also be observed that such tubes have been proposed as ideal locations for eventual human bases on the Lunar surface because they provide easily sealed off cavities with natural protection from the harsh radiation and temperature variations that would be encountered.

"Bunker Row"

This series of raised, parallel triangular openings are recessed into the surrounding terrain, and compare favorably to the Iraqi Hardened Aircraft Bunkers shown at right. Notice the similarity of structure and scale between the features in each photo. The major difference is that the Iraqi bunkers are exposed in the flat Persian Gulf desert, while the Hortensius openings are dug in to terraced Lunar topography. This reinforces the impression of a factory or storage complex. Note also the straight line behind the first set of "bunkers" and compare it with the access roads behind the Iraqi site. Organized facilities display regular, repeating patterns and identical features over wide distances. Natural formations are far more random.

The shadows cast by the bunkers are inconsistent with oval cratering caused by ejecta impacts. To say this arrangement of objects is anomalous is a wild understatement. They are flatly inexplicable in a currently accepted or theorized geologic model.

In the upper right of the image is a rectilinear spine-like formation, again showing regular repeating geometry on the same scale over a significant area. Note also that this is 90° to the horizontal "road" behind the forward row of bunkers.

The "Lincoln Memorial"

Quite simply, there is no conventional natural explanation for this set of objects. Indeed, there is no conceivable geologic process or set of processes which can account for these structures. The large black "monolith" in the center of the image is resting on a rectangular "plank" stretching across a gaping chasm ( I hesitate to refer to it as a crater, since it has virtually no crater-like characteristics). If there is a crater there, it is decidedly rectangular, and has some very strange aspects to it's appearance. Notice that there is no discernable rim, and compare it with countless other examples of sharp edged impact regions across the Lunar landscape. The "Lincoln Memorial" itself is a roughly cubic shape, with spherical nodes or buttresses at the base along the "plank". There is a strange webbing behind the "Memorial", faintly visible in the darkness of the recessed area. Lincoln also seems to have a "head", approximately spherical and casting a vast shadow over his "chest". To the right, a canister like object seems to be linking the "plank" to the main body of the facility.

Note the shadow cast beneath "Lincoln" seems to be a hollow area with no visible support for the structure. The "plank" itself would seem to be only thing holding the "Memorial" up.

This ultra-high resolution scan of the top of the "Lincoln Memorial" displays many exotic aspects of this unique structure. Note the overall symmetry, the flat platform underneath the shadow and the spherical nodes at either end. The "Head" itself is revealed as a rounded shape, and it is clearly in front of the odd "webbing" in the background. The flat projection at the base of the shadow appears to be an opening or landing platform. This "platform" has a wall like enclosure which seems to have a partially closed door mechanism.

The "Truss"

The "Truss" has cylindrical central body spanning the "plank" and the edge of the "terraces". It is anchored at both ends by a half-slot shaped end cap which extends to the ground on each side. The archway underneath the cylindrical shape is plainly visible. This object would appear to be a support or reinforcing member holding the "plank" up.

The "Overhang"

Just to the upper right of the "Factory" area is another anomalous feature. Jutting from the top of a darkened recess is this symmetrical disk shaped object. Notice it is supported from the upper rear by a strut, and that the surrounding terrain seems to flow into the darkness below it, as if this were the entrance to an underground bunker or complex. Given it's location adjacent to the "Factory", this may indeed be precisely that. Note the generally square shape of the opening, and again the even symmetry of the both the "Overhang" itself and chasm it seems to guard. There is also a light, dome shaped node just beneath the "Overhang" in the darkened area which may be indicative of light (from the nearly directly overhead sun) creeping through thinned areas of the "Overhang" itself, or possibly of some form of self luminescence. A final possibility is that the "Overhang" itself has a light source in its central disk and this is projecting downward.
This highly overexposed and enlarged view of the area shows that the light source may be a dome shaped object, or perhaps a feature similar to the wedge shaped object to the left of the disk which has broken off from a symmetrical mount on the right hand side. Consider the image below.

By flipping the left half of the image I was able to create a proposal for how the area may have looked if in fact the bright area is a broken symmetrical arrangement. This is for visualization purposes only and is presented as an example of one possible explanation.

The "Square"

This area between the "Crater" and the "Factory" appears to be a shallow, rectangular depression roughly 300 X 400 yards. Its vertices run absolutely parallel to the major features of the "Overhang" the "Factory" and the "Bunkers". Given the sun angle, the shadow indicates a deep chasm inconsistent with cratering. A platform extends into this dark area with "ramps" on either side. By itself, the feature is nothing particularly unusual, but in context with the other features it is representative of pattern of artificiality throughout the vicinity of Hortensius.

Arcological Comparisons

Many characteristics of the "Factory", and indeed the entire Hortensius region are evocative of the "Arcology" concept first described by Paolo Solari. Note the tiered, protected portions backed by raised structures, enclosed by yet larger structures. The "Factory" represents one of the best illustrations of the use of this concept. This resemblance alone is a significant pillar of the artificiality argument.

New MySpace Page

2007-07-01T21:51:00.000-07:00

Check out my new MySpace page for updates on the "Dark Mission" book project with Richard C. Hoagland.

http://www.myspace.com/michaelbara

Face it, You're a Jackass...

2007-04-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Once again, we have a new image of the Face on Mars, and once again we have a series of seemingly coordinated mainstream press attacks designed to convince people there's "nothing to see here."

Besides the usual tripe from the usual suspects (like Space.com's NASA shills Leonard David and Rob Roy Britt), this time we had the testimony of a supposed "converted believer" attacking Richard Hoagland personally on the official MRO website.

The disinformational tripe of David and Britt is bad enough, but when the NASA folks have to drag out a phony "believer" for a personal attack on Richard, you know they are getting desperate. This "believer," Richard Lies (now that's an appropriate name if I've ever seen one) claims he was once an avid listener to Coast to Coast AM but repents the fallacy of his ways and realizes the Face is just a pile of rocks. However, this jackass doesn't stop there. He goes on to call Richard Hoagland a "charlatan" without making one single reference to anything Hoagland has said that was knowingly untrue. He of course worships at the alter of Carl Sagan, without apparently realizing all of the the ways Sagan showed he was a Face supporter.

Taking Mr. Lies at his word, I guess the best thing you can say about the man is that he is an admitted sellout. He credits Hoagland for inspiring him to go into a science career, but I guess you forget all that when the NASA people are paying your mortgage, huh Mr. Lies?

As to the image itself, it shows many things we would have expected (and that Richard predicted) it would. It is also by far the worst MRO image that I have seen (isn't it funny how that always seems to happen only to Cydonia images?) and in my opinion, shows clear signs of image tampering. We will discuss all this in the future, but let's just say for now that the parts of the new image that we suspect are genuine absolutely support Hoagland's specific "honeycomb" model of the Face.

Richard and I will more to say on this in the near future, but for the moment, let's just remember "don't believe the Lies."

MRO Images Pathfinder Landing Site

2007-01-11T20:40:00.000-08:00

Earlier today, NASA released the first MRO images of the Mars Pathfinder landing site (19.5 degrees N by 33 degrees W). They show, among other things, the lander itself, some of the bigger rocks in the vicinity, and the surrounding area. The context images show many of the familiar features we have come to know and love around Pathfinder, like the Big Crater and the famous "Twin Peaks."

Some of you may remember that several years ago I authored two articles on the Enterprise Mission web site concerning what appeared to be a distant (and artificial) object in the Pathfinder panoramas, apparently at the base of the Twin Peaks. I dubbed this object the "Pathfinder Sphinx."

I was of course immediately attacked by the usual twits (like Mac Tonnies -- do we post anything he doesn't attack out of hand?) who claimed that the object should have been visible in images of the site taken by Mars Global Surveyor. They were of course wrong about that, but in any event I was hopeful that MRO images might resolve the issue.

Today, we got an image that could in fact prove I'm right and Tonnies and his pals are wrong. In the new MRO image, a bright straight line, precisely where I claimed the "Sphinx" was located, is visible at the base of the Twin Peaks. It is casting a distinct shadow, and there is nothing else in the image that is anywhere near as straight or casting a similar shadow. Unfortunately, the context image that I am drawing from is nowhere near the maximum resolution of the MRO camera, which can see objects just a few inches across. Only a small enlargement of the Pathfinder lander itself was released in full resolution. The context shots are "high resolution jpegs" -- a laughable term in any event.

So far, NASA has not released a full resolution version of the entire image strip, and it may not be easy to obtain one. But based on today's image and the anomalous nature and (perfect placement) of the shadowed object, I'm willing to bet it will show that we're right, and Tonnies is wrong.

That makes it about:

Enterprise 87 - Tonnies 0

We'll see.

Democratic Take Over Bad News for Space Program

2006-11-09T09:44:00.000-08:00

Now that the Democrats have successfully taken over both houses of congress (it appears), there are likely to be grave consequences for both the American space program and the American people. I'll spare readers what I think of the new house and senate leadership -- you've got plenty of places in the blogosphere to get conventional political opinion-- and simply say the Republicans had it coming for the last several years of timid leadership.

The more important factor in this change is what it does to president Bush's plans for Moon and Mars exploration, what it will mean for a possible ballistic missile defense, and what the impact will be on NASA's overall budget.

While most of the democrats who won seats on Tuesday ran as moderates, the fact remains that the leadership of the party is stacked with radical, America hating far-leftists who have little use for a space program or anything that would make America safer. You can expect to see Bush's space exploration program under immediate assault, with democrats attempting to divert the money to other programs in an effort to buy votes in the next election cycle. Liberals of the ilk of Nancy Pelosi, Charles Rangel and (recently impeached for fraud) former Federal Judge Alcie Hastings will do what liberals always do: they will radically cut defense and high tech spending in order to fund these pet programs.

Richard's position is that the Space Initiative is too important to be cut, but I still think that real world politics may not reflect secret agendas. How vigorously Bush defends his plans will tell us a lot about which one of us is right.

Dark Mission Book Project

2006-10-17T09:43:00.000-07:00

Please lay off the emails to Adam @ Feralhouse publishing. Richard mis-spoke last night on Coast to Coast AM. There is no way it can be ready for this year, or even the Spring. Adam is making all attempts to get the book out as soon as possible. We'll have more on the project as it develops.

Mike

Joshua Tree

2006-10-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

I'm finally recovered from the Joshua Tree experience with Richard Hoagland and pals. It was a very cool weekend. My mind is still processing everything I saw and heard. For those that missed it, Lunar Anomalies Steve Troy and I both presented, although my presentation was on Columbus day. Despite getting lost once, it went pretty well and the weekend as a whole was a great success. Don't miss Richard at the CPAC conference this weekend if you get a chance to go. More soon.

SMART-1 Makes a Sudden Impact

2006-09-05T16:00:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) SMART-1 space probe was deliberately crashed into the lunar surface in the region of the Lake of Excellence. The reason was for the destruction of the probe was to study the plume generated by the impact in hopes of using ground based telescopes to analyze the chemical composition of the lunar material that was ejected. Everything seemed to be going along fine until about 45 minutes prior to the scheduled impact at 46.2º West longitude and 33.3º South latitude (note the “ritual” qualities of that location).

At that point, message boards monitoring the spacecraft reported a sudden and unexpected loss of signal from the orbiter. Images from the ESA control room showed a complete lack of data return from the spacecraft. This outage lasted more than 3 minutes before communications were just as suddenly restored.

Normally, this not would be such a big deal, but there was never any explanation from ESA regarding the 3-minute blackout. No mention of the cause, not even a guess. A few hours after the impact, a neat set of "live" infrared CCD views from the Canadian-French-Hawaiian 3.6-meter Telescope on Hawaii were posted on the CFHT official website. These three images showed a before impact image, an impact image showing a very bright flash, and an after impact image. Our (Richard C. Hoagland’s and mine) suspicions had been raised by the odd communications blackout, and in examining the three images something seemed “off.” The three images are virtual clones of each other, the only difference being the bright flash at the point of impact in one of them. Now, the moons illumination doesn’t change much from moment to moment – it rotates very slowly – but the “after” image (taken 15 seconds later) should have shown something different, even just a rough impact area or the remnants of the plume. The impact was expected to leave a 3m by 10m crater on the Moon, spreading debris over 78 sq km (30 sq miles). The smart impact page shows an animation of the plume rising from the impact, but curiously this is not one of the still images presented.

One thought on this is that maybe something happened around that three minute loss of contact window. Something really strange. Perhaps something similar to Surveyor 4, which Hoagland has alleged splattered against the towering lunar glass structures he has documented over the years. So maybe, SMART-1 met a similar demise, and these images are just Photoshopped to avoid uncomfortable questions about the probes real fate.

Just a thought.

Certainly, we’ll know if they release the spectral data on a timely basis whether or not they got any legitimate information from the impact.

Has Northrop\Boeing Won the Orion program?

2006-08-30T21:45:00.000-07:00

NASAWatch.com reports that workers were out painting the grass green today in El Segundo, home of Northrop\Grumman aviation, so the plant looks better in overhead shots for the news. Apparently they only do this when NGC wins big contracts. This may also be why they moved some airplanes over to the UCAS program parking lot, just down the street from the CEV facility. This lot now sports an F-14, F-5, F-18, and the old YF-23 prototype.

Mike

It's Official - Project "Osiris"

2006-08-22T19:17:00.000-07:00

According to this Space.com story and this official announcement, NASA has now officially acknowledged that its new Apollo-descended space capsule has been named "Orion." This story was first broken on July 20th, 2006, by Collectspace.com.

The entire history of the "Orion" connection to the Moon and NASA's lunar space programs should be very familiar to regular visitors to Richard Hoagland's Enterprise Mission web site. The initial "Orion connection" came way back in the early 1960's, with the original Apollo program patch.

The Apollo patch has always remained unexplained, at least as far as identifying exactly what Orion has to do with the moon. As Hoagland has pointed out many times, Orion has no known mythological connection to the Moon, but rather to the Egyptian god Osiris.

Now, three decades after Apollo, NASA returns to the Moon for the second time under the banner of Osiris, through his stellar representation as Orion. Nowhere in any of the NASA announcements do they mention the earlier patch. Instead, NASA explains that Orion was chosen as the name simply because astronauts frequently use the constellation for navigation purposes.

To anyone who has followed our work, this excuse is laughable. NASA has always had an obsession with Orion, even to the naming of the Apollo 18 LM. The question the press should be asking is why Orion is so frequently connected with our space program, and what the symbolism is meant to represent.

Project "Osiris" Gets a Logo...

2006-08-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

NASA has leaked the new logo for the Project Orion (CEV) program, and it is eerily reminiscent of the Apollo Program logo from the 1960's. Both logos feature the prominent belt stars of Orion. Obviously, this would be expected of a project named after the constellation. But still, no one asks, why is Orion on the Apollo patch?

Search for Missing Apollo Tapes Expands

2006-08-15T10:13:00.000-07:00

According to this very extensive space.com story by NASA shill Leonard David, the case of the missing Apollo 11 video tapes is getting more interesting. According to John Sarkissian, the operations scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s (CSIRO) Parkes Radio Observatory in Parkes, Australia, the tapes are almost certainly "somewhere" in the archives at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The story gives the impression that there is an ongoing search at Goddard of old boxes and storage areas. What's interesting is what comes later in the story; the possibility that the tapes may have been erased and reused. The case is made that this would be a tradgedy, but that due to the cost of the magnetic tapes at the time, it is not unthinkable.

If this turns out to be the case, then it will be more than a tradgedy. The original SSTV tapes are of much higher quality than the original TV broadcasts, which were scan converted, broadcast, and then recorded. This situation is starting to reek of the infamous Ken Johnston stories from the early 1970's, when he was ordered to destroy three first generation original sets of the Apollo hand held photography. Only his refusal to obey orders from NASA preserved a portion of this early generation photography.

Stay tuned on this one.

NASA blows off GAO recommendations

2006-07-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

Hmm. A recent Space.com story explains that certain forces on Capitol Hill, including the powerful General Accounting Office, want NASA to slow down their decision on picking a builder for the new CEV spacecraft. NASA however has basically blown off the GAO's recommendations, a highly unusual maneuver to say the least. The GAO is highly respected in Washington, and rarely do their recommendations go unheeded, much less get shoved back in their faces. NASA's swift outright rejection of the GAO's recommended timeline is an indication that they are in a real hurry to start work. In fact, a little birdy told me that one of the two bidders (Lockheed Martin is in competition with a Northrop-Boeing consortium) has been told that they will be expected to be putting out production designs within one week of being awarded the contract.

Which begs the question: What's the hurry? Hmm...

Industry sources say the Northrop-Boeing team has the inside track heading into August's decision.

Mini Book Review - Strange Angel

2006-07-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

George Pendle's "Strange Angel: The Otherworldly Life of Rocket Scientist John Whiteside Parsons" is the second posthumous biography of Parsons in the last few years. It basically rehashes the same material as Feral House's "Sex and Rockets: The Occult World of Jack Parsons" by "John Carter." Pendle, however is lighter on the details of some of the nuttier aspects of Parsons life, especially his involvement with Aliester Crowley and the OTO. He glosses over the deep hatred Parsosns had for Western culture and society, and chooses to view him as eccentric rather than sociopathic.

Pendle also downplays Parsons "Babalon Working" with L. Ron Hubbard, preferring to focus more on Hubbard's wife stealing and confidence games. In all, Parsons comes off as more buffoonish than dangerous, and that I believe is a disservice to his readers. Parsons sought nothing less than the destruction of civilization, and while that may seem more amusing than threatening through the hourglass of time, it is deserving of a serious review since Parsons, as a founder of JPL, was hardly historically insignificant.

In the end, I'd have to recommend "Sex and Rockets" over "Strange Angel." It is a deeper, more honest and critical look at a man who might have done far more damage in the world had he lived longer.

"Project Osiris" to the Moon...

2006-07-24T19:46:00.000-07:00

On July 20th, a well worn NASA ritual date that will resonate with anyone who has followed the work of Richard C. Hoagland and myself, collectSpace.com “leaked” the name of NASA’s new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). In what should come as no surprise to our readers, that name will be “Project Orion,” and the capsule itself will be an “Orion” capsule.

Orion is the stellar representation of the Egyptian god Osiris, and we have made note of numerous references to both Orion and Osiris in the long history of NASA. What NASA once sought to hide behind the symbolism of the infamous original Apollo mission patch, they now display openly. Such is their confidence that no one in the mainstream press will question either their motives or sincerity around this issue.

Unfortunately, until there is a comprehensive reference detailing NASA’s duplicitous obsession with Orion and Osiris, we can expect that the Space.com crowd and the empty suits at CNN will continue to ignore NASA’s bizarre behavior. We can only watch and wait for the official announcement to see if there is any comment on this from the mainstream press.

For more information on the Orion connection at NASA, see http://www.enterprisemission.com/kennedy1.html

The collectSPACE.com story

Mike Bara to Present at Joshua Tree

2006-07-24T19:42:00.000-07:00

I've just agreed to do presentation at Richard C. Hoagland's Joshua Tree event in October. I'll be doing an hour (or two) on Columbia and the true story behind Columbus day. Of course, I will be doing it on Columbus day!

Now, if only I could figure out a way to get paid for it...

More Details on the Enterprise Mission web site.

Welcome!

2006-07-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks for dropping by the Lunar Anomalies Blogspot. Feel free to comment on the stories of the day, but keep it clean.

Mike