Daily Archives: February 5, 2022

Air and space museum to relaunch in spring on Main Street, Hyannis – Cape Cod Times

Posted: February 5, 2022 at 5:04 am

Armstrong's restored spacesuit goes on display

The spacesuit that Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong wore on the moon is back on display in mint condition. The suit was rehabbed before it was unveiled Tuesday by Vice President Mike Pence at the Air and Space Museum. (July 16)

AP, AP

HYANNIS Tales of the skies will be told closer to the sea when the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum reopens this spring in downtown Hyannis.

The two-year-old boutique museum, which explores the history of aviation and space exploration with a focus on ties to Massachusetts people and companies, has relocated to 434 Main St., in a former furniture store that was most recently an annex to Sturgis Charter Public Schools east campus.

Officials last week moved almost all of its equipment, materials and exhibits which have included a spacesuit, a vintage F-106 fighter flight simulator and a three-quarter-scale Aeronca single-engine airplane model into storage at the new site in advance of some hoped-for renovations to the space, according to Keith Young, director of public relations. The relocation came after the museum's lease ended in late November because of planned redevelopment around its original home atthe Capetown Plaza strip mall along Route 132.

Both officials of the museum which waschallenged by opening just a few weeks before the pandemic began and the downtown business district believe the new lease at the Main Street location will be a boon for various reasons.

While the exhibition space about 5,000 square feet is about the same size as the former site, Youngsaid, another 2,100 square feet is available for other uses. One big difference will be a room where the museum can for the first time offer talks, presentations and community events, he said.

More: Fact check: WikiLeaks did not release footage that proves moon landing staged

We expect to see an increase in foot traffic in the downtown area vs. having to drive to the Route 132 plaza, Young said, though he notes there is plenty of parking for visitors, too.We're excited to be moving on to Main Street and we're looking forward to a good year, he said. Hopefully, all of the Cape will see a rebound from difficulties in tourism, (and)were excited and hopeful.

The museum will now also bepart of what Elizabeth Wurfbain, executive director of the Hyannis Main Street Business Improvement District, called a sense of an enclave of similar sites and a nexus of cultural institutions within walking distance.

She named the Cape Cod Melody Tent, the HyArts District, the John F. Kennedy Hyannis Museum, the Zion Union Heritage Museum and the Cape Cod Maritime Museum as parts of that. I think that it's so smart for (the air and space museum)to be in this historic district rather than where they were before, she said.I think they wanted to be part of a community thats walkable and that has the year-round population using the downtown as well as the visitors.

Wurfbain particularly noted the connection between space and President Kennedys push to put a man on the moon. One of the Massachusetts Air and Space Museum exhibits is a Gemini spacesuit made by the David Clark Co., of Worcester.

Hyannis businesses aim to draw families and other visitors to the Main Street area, saidWurfbain, and another attraction like the museum is welcome as part of plans by the town, the Business Improvement District and the Hyannis Chamber of Commerce.

"Everybody is looking for something to do," she said of visitors and residents. While there are a lot of activities and events downtown, more and more we have to add in things like playgrounds, museums, public spaces that are interactive or even private businesses that offer something to do. Thats key. … That family-friendly atmosphere is a big, important branding point … that theres something for everyone on Main Street.

The air and space museum was founded as a nonprofit organization in 2007 and had raised more than $1 million when it opened, but had never had a physical location, Joseph Dini, chairman of the museums board of directors and its vice president and CFO, told the Times in 2020. The Cape location was finally chosen, he said then, because the opportunities for us, the Cape and visitors are boundless in Hyannis.

Roland Bud Breault, former longtime manager of Barnstable Municipal Airport who retired in 2018, is a member of the museums board of directors, according to the museum website.

Massachusetts' achievements in air and space touted when the museum first opened include inventions that helped man get to the moon; an attempt to fly a glider off the Old North Church in the 1700s; the first aerial photograph, taken over Boston Common from a tethered balloon in the 1800s; the flight of the first seaplanes off Gloucester in the early 1900s; the worlds first liquid fuel rocket being fired in Worcester in the 1930s; and the first commercial jet engines being built by General Electric in Lynn during the 1940s.

More: Nearly 'dead last': Cyr, other leaders push to change low state spending on tourism

On Monday, Young declined to be more specific than spring about the museums reopening date because bids have not yet gone out for the hoped-for construction work on the new space. Exactly how the museum will be reconfigured, and how much of the proposed renovation can happen, when, and how much it will all cost will depend on bids, and supply and worker availability, he said.

Those factors may impact funds and our availability to move forward (with renovations) and we may have to pivot," he said, "but as of right now, Im pretty hopeful that well be OK.

Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.

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Air and space museum to relaunch in spring on Main Street, Hyannis - Cape Cod Times

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The Planets Aren’t the Color You Probably Think They Are – The Atlantic

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Picture Venus. You know, the second planet from the sun, where the clouds are shot through with sulfuric acid and the surface is hot enough to melt lead.

What color is it?

For the longest time, I thought of Venus as caramel-colored, swirled with golds, yellows, and brownswarm colors that matched the planets reputation for being a scorching world covered in volcanoes. And then I saw a picture of Venus that James ODonoghue, a planetary astronomer, shared online recently. It was not any toasty shade, not even close. It was milky-white and featureless. A big old space pearl. This is what it looks like to a human being flying by, ODonoghue wrote in his post.

Whaaat? That couldnt be right. I went to my bookshelf and pulled out some space books, flipping to their pages on Venus. In National Geographics Space Atlas, Second Edition: amber. In The Smithsonian History of Space Exploration: butterscotch. In a thick magazine called the Book of the Solar System: gold. My editor sent me pictures of the illustrations from her toddlers books on the solar system, and they showed more of the same. It seemed as if we had all been bamboozled, hoodwinked, led astray. I had seen pictures of Venus in muted shades beforeId used one in a story about the planets atmospherebut this other nondescript, alabaster world seemed wrong. It didnt resemble a planet frequently described as hellish, where the surface conditions have crumpled any spacecraft that made it through the poison clouds and dared to land.

I was so stunned that I reached out to one of my best Venus sources and demanded, Why didnt you tell me? Suddenly I had questions about the whole solar system, and so did the rest of The Atlantics Science desk. As one of my colleagues asked, when I told him about the true nature of Venus, Is Jupiters Great Red Spot even red?

It turns out that almost nothing in space is quite as vibrant as you think it is. Venus is only the beginning.

Read: Venus, the best and brightest

The most widespread image of Venusas an ochre, almost molten worldisnt a real picture, at least not in the typical way we think of pictures; it was made using radio waves. In the early 90s, a NASA spacecraft equipped with radar technology settled into orbit around Venus. Every time the probe, named Magellan, came close to the planet, it collected strips of data from all over Venus and sent them back to Earth. Eventually, the mission amassed enough strips to produce the first-ever radar map of the Venusian surface. We cant see radio waves, so astronomers translated them into colors that we can. They could have picked any color palette, ODonoghue told me. He imagines they went with this particular set because it befit the harsh, burnt landscape of Venus.

The Magellan shot was a significant upgrade over existing images of Venuss exterior, captured by a space probe in the 70s, which showed creamy-white cloud tops and not much else. Suddenly, mountains and craters were visible. The scientists who study Venus loved the orangey version, even though it was an interpretation, Martha Gilmore, a planetary geologist at Wesleyan University who studies the Venusian surface, told me. That color has permeated the Venus community since then, she said. Its in our logos.

Sorry to our human eyeballs, but apparently Venus just looks better in wavelengths we cant visually process. Because its sulfuric-acid clouds are so bright and reflective, the planet itself looks pretty bland from space in the visible spectrum, Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University who studies Venus, told me. That image of a muted Venus Id used before was the planet in ultraviolet. Where the radar image helped tease out Venuss surface features, ultraviolet brought out swirly structures in its fast-moving clouds.

Read: The Photoshoppers behind dreamy Jupiter photos

Like Venuss classic portrait, most of the pictures of planets and other astronomical objects that youve seen, in textbooks or on NASA websites, are not natural-color views. Theyre rendered in different wavelengths, stitched together from raw data. Or the colors that really would be visible to the naked eye are adjusted in some way, heightened in order to show a more textured view of these worlds, to make their features pop, whether mountains or storms. We dont turn up our noses at artificial color, Candy Hansen, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute who leads the imaging team on a Jupiter mission, once told me. We love artificial color.

So although in most pictures the Great Red Spot looks like a glob of marinara, in natural color the giant storm is more of a dusty rose. Seen from space, Mars is more brown than red. Saturn isnt really so yellow; its actually the kind of nice neutral youd paint a living room. Uranus is more gray than it is teal, and Neptune is a lovely azure, but not that blue. Plutos heart-shaped glacier doesnt stand out as much in true color.

Read: Astronomers are now obsessed with a particular gas on Venus

And the sun? The sun is nearly always depicted as yellow-orange when in space, even though its actually white in space, ODonoghue said. Its actually a lot of extra work to pull off a realistic sun in a space graphic, because a white ball looks really odd. Once again, whaaat?

So if Venus is a ping-pong ball on the outside, what color is it below the clouds? Scientists know that the surface is made of rock that resembles basalt found on Earth, which is dark gray, Byrne said. But chemical reactions between the rock and the atmosphere could turn the surface reddish. The Soviet missions that landed on the Venusian surface in the 70s and 80s took color photographs, revealing a yellowy landscape, before they succumbed to the harsh environment. But the true color was difficult to determine because Venuss atmosphere filters out blue light.

Astronomers will get a fresh look when a new NASA mission, designed to fly right through Venuss atmosphere and toward the surface, arrives in the early 2030s. Those pictures will be in near-infrared wavelengths, but astronomers will once again translate them into more distinct colors for the public to marvel at. Those images are bound to be stunning in their own way, but now that Im past the shock of it, I can understand the appeal of Venus the way wed see it ourselves, as the pearl of the solar system. Its a beautiful planet, Byrne said. Even if theres, like, a bunch of different ways to die there.

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USU Student Wins Award for Research That Could Help Plants Grow in Space – usu.edu

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Chihiro Naruke, a Ph.D. student in Utah State Universitys Department of Plants, Soils & Climate, was awarded first prize in her division at the American Geophysical Union conference for presenting her findings on how root growth affects the pore space of soil. Narukes research is aimed at predicting and designing the ideal plant growth system in microgravity conditions.

She was awarded first prize for her presentation in the Unsaturated Zone domain of the student competition, which included a cash prize of $350. Described as the most influential event in the world dedicated to the advancement of Earth and space sciences, the AGU conference took place virtually and in-person with over 25,000 attendees from more than 100 countries and brought together researchers, scientists, educators, students and policymakers. The organizations members aim to gain and communicate greater understanding of our planet and environment and our role in preserving its future.

The AGU conference was the second presentation for Naruke during the fall 2021 semester. She previously won fourth place for a combined oral and poster presentation on related research focused on microgravity growing conditions at the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting that took place in Salt Lake City in November.

Presenting at the SSSA conference was a great experience, and I was able to relax a bit more when I was presenting at the AGU, Naruke said. Presenting at both conferences were milestones in my motivation toward research, and I can use this experience to improve my work and future presentations.

Naruke shared that she decided to attend USU because of the agricultural opportunities available in the United States and recommendations from her master's degree adviser, Masaru Sakai, at Mie University in Japan. Sakai previously worked as a post-doctoral fellow at USU in the Environmental Soil Physics Lab. USU has a decadeslong record of research focused on growing plants aboard spacecraft, both in studying specific plants and developing the chambers in which they can grow. The ability to produce food in space is a critical part of preparing for long-term space exploration and presents many challenges, including optimizing lighting, temperature control and delivering nutrients and moisture to plants root zones when liquids and other materials dont behave in microgravity as they do on Earth.

Despite an initial lack of funding for her specific research, Naruke chose to come to USU. She also worked hard on her English skills as it was her second language.

I am impressed with how rapid the transformation in her writing, reading and speaking abilities has been, said Professor Scott Jones, an environmental soils physicist who serves as her faculty adviser. This award is much more appreciated and deserved considering English is her second language.

Jones shared that one of the most rewarding aspects of working as a faculty member comes from mentoring students and helping them publish their first papers.

That feat generally comes with a lot of hard work, frequent frustration, and substantial satisfaction when the final manuscript is finally accepted, Jones said. Chihiro is now working under a NASA grant and published her first peer-reviewed manuscript in August, and has several other papers in development.

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UCF Lands New Project to Study Effect of Rain on Hypersonic Travel – UCF

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University of Central Florida researchers are part of a new $1 million project funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research to better understand and predict how and why raindrops are affected when they cross a hypersonic shock wave.

Hypersonic speeds are those at Mach 5 and higher, or five times greater than the speed of sound. The U.S. is currently working on developing hypersonic systems for defense and travel.

The new project is important because colliding with something as light as a single raindrop could cause a lot of damage at hypersonic speeds. The work will inform researchers as to whether or not the raindrop maintains its single droplet form or breaks up into tens of much smaller droplets.

If you have a rain droplet with a tenth of an inch diameter and you hit it at Mach 8, it can create a load as heavy as the weight of an elephant, says Michael Kinzel, project co-investigator and an assistant professor in UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. So, you cant put an elephant on the wing of an aircraft, and itll support it, right? Its a huge load. And these would be hitting all over parts of the vehicle.

Knowing the impact of different size raindrops on hypersonic aircraft and rockets will help predict when to fly, as light rainstorms may not affect travel as much as heavy storms.

The researchers want to narrow down what conditions make for safe hypersonic travel through rain. The knowledge could prevent damage and improve the accuracy of hypersonic rockets launched through rain and clouds, Kinzel says.

This work will help lead to structural integrity when designing hypersonic vehicles, Kinzel says. And it develops a framework to understand how to design in that context as well as understand limitations of hypersonic flight with respect to some weather conditions.

Kinzel will work to model the effects of raindrops on hypersonic travel by using computer simulations.

Subith Vasu, a professor in UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and co-investigator, will perform experiments using a shock tube to study the effects of hypersonic shock waves on droplets, such as behavior and timescale of breakup.

Unique test facilities combined with state-of-the-art optical and laser diagnostic systems will be used to understand the interaction of droplet and shock wave, Vasu says.

The work is important for deterrence and the national security of the United States, and we are proud to be involved in this prestigious effort, Vasu says. The knowledge gained from hypersonics research could have other applications as well, including space exploration.

Boston University is leading the project and will be working closely with Kinzel and Vasu to understand droplet behavior when impacted at hypersonic speeds. UCF will be receiving about $560,000 for the three-year project. UCF will be collaborating with engineers and scientists from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Lockheed Martin, both closely involved in the development of a variety of hypersonic vehicles.

The project further highlights UCFs expertise in the area of hypersonic propulsion.

Kinzel received his doctorate in aerospace engineering from Pennsylvania State University and joined UCF in 2018. In addition to being a member of UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, a part of UCFsCollege of Engineering and Computer Science, he also works with UCFsCenter for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research.

Vasu received his doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and joined UCFs Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in 2012. He is a member of UCFs Center for Advanced Turbomachinery and Energy Research, is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a member of the International Energy Agencys Task Team on Energy. Vasu is a recipient of DARPAs Directors Fellowship, DARPA Young Faculty award, the Young Investigator grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, American Chemical Societys Doctoral New Investigator, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Dilip Ballal Early Career award, and the Society of Automotive Engineers SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational award. He has received many of the highest honors at UCF including the UCF Luminary and Reach for the Stars awards.

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Three Strathclyde projects win funding to support sustainable future of space – University of Strathclyde

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Three projects at the University of Strathclyde to tackle the problem of space debris have won funding of more than 500,000 from the UK Space Agency.

A total of 1.7m of funding for 13 projects was announced by UK Science Minister George Freeman during a visit to the Harwell Space Cluster in Oxfordshire where he was joined by Paul Bate, CEO of UK Space Agency.

Orbital congestion created by space debris is one of the biggest global challenges facing the space sector. There are currently an estimated 330 million pieces of space debris, including 36,500 objects bigger than 10cm, such as old satellites, spent rocket bodies and even tools dropped by astronauts orbiting Earth.

Space debris can stay in orbit for hundreds of years and present a real danger to the rapidly increasing number of new satellites being launched each year which provide vital services, including communications, banking and monitoring climate change.

The Strathclyde projects, which are being led by Professor Massimiliano Vasile and Dr Christie Maddock from the Aerospace Centre of Excellence (ACE), a multidisciplinary research group within the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, are:

Professor Massimiliano Vasile, Director of ACE and project lead for HyperSST and AI4SST, said: We are delighted to have won funding from the UK Space Agency for these three projects which will help to ensure the sustainable use of space.

The future of space flight and satellite applications, our reliance on which will only grow, demands that we work hard to ensure to reduce the risks that orbital debris present. The Aerospace Centre of Excellence at Strathclyde is well-placed to play a leading role in promoting space sustainability alongside our global partners.

Dr Christie Maddock, who is the project lead for FASTFRAG, said: Addressing the risk of the atmospheric re-entry of space debris is progressively becoming more and more pressing due to the increase in the number of orbiting objects, the consequent higher frequency of re-entry and the need to ensure that any new satellite or spacecraft is operated safely throughout its life.

Science Minister George Freeman said: Like debris on Everest, the first generation of space exploration and satellite launch has left millions of pieces of dangerous satellite fragments and 4,000 redundant satellites in orbit.

As our reliance on satellites for everyday activity grows, and the UK becomes a leading hub of small satellite design, manufacturing and launch this year via Virgin Orbit in Cornwall, this debris now poses a serious threat to our 16 billion space sector.Thats why we have made debris mitigation and removal and the long-term importance of space sustainability key elements of our National Space Strategy.These projects will help put the UK at the forefront of both protecting the space environment for future activity, and accelerating UK technology leadership.

The UKs National Space Strategy has set out a bold vision for the sector and recognises the need for the country to lead in making space safe and sustainable. The new funding supports the development of underlying technology or data processing capabilities for space surveillance and trackingto support the removal of orbital debris.

In 2021 the UK Space Agency worked with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs(UNOOSA) to supportthe next stage ofinternational efforts to promote space sustainability and provided funding to research a UK led mission to remove junk from space.

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Wow! Earth just found a new neighbour, a Trojan ASTEROID! It will stay here for 4000 years – HT Tech

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Researchers have found the second Earth trojan asteroid and it is much larger than the first one.

11 years after the discovery of the first Earth trojan asteroid 2010 TK7, researchers have confirmed the existence of a second trojan asteroid for Earth. This new trojan asteroid has been named 2020 XL5 and it is three times larger than the first. Spread across a diameter of 1.2 kilometers, this asteroid can serve as the perfect space base to set out space exploration missions in the solar system. This discovery was made after observations from the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is part of NOIRLabs Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Astronomers found the asteroid in 2020 by looking across the sky very close to the horizon at sunrise.

Finally, on February 1, 2022, researchers have published their findings and confirmed the existence of the 2nd trojan asteroid for Earth. So, what is a Trojan asteroid? A Trojan asteroid is an asteroid that travels around the Sun in another planets orbit. For Earth, these asteroids are often placed in Lagrange points. Lagrange points are gravitational spots between Earth and the Sun in Earths orbit where the force of both the bodies are equal and opposite and any space rock stuck there will move in the same orbit transfixed in the same position. Earth has 5 such Lagrange points which means there could be more trojan asteroids. However, these asteroids are very hard to spot due to odd angles of their location.

The asteroid was first discovered on December 12, 2020 by the Pan-STARRS1 survey telescope in Hawaii. But when it was first discovered, it was not known whether it was a near earth object (NEO) crossing our home planet or a trojan asteroid. To get a better understanding, the asteroid was tracked in SOARs archive footage from 2012 to 2019 and it was seen that the asteroid 2020 XL5 was in the same position throughout the years. This archival footage was part of its Dark Energy Survey and while that did not bear much results, it did lead to this astonishing discovery.

But what does this discovery mean for us? Well, its size has been the biggest reason to rejoice. With a diameter of 1.2 kilometers, the asteroid can support space missions and act as refueling point and can even be used as an observatory dedicated to further space exploration. While the potential is high, more observation and research on the asteroid 2020 XL5 will be needed before we can take another step in this direction.

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Nano satellite Market Size to Reach USD 1,336.9 Million in 2030 | Rise in Demand for Earth Observation Related Applications is a Key Factor Driving…

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VANCOUVER, BC, Feb. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire/ --The global nano satellite market size was USD 220.4 Million in 2020. Increase in number of space exploration missions in recent years, lower cost of launching as compared to conventional satellites, and rise in investment by key market players are major factors driving market revenue growth.

Drivers: Advancements in space technologies

Advancements in satellite miniaturization coupled with development and deployment of more innovative technologies are other key factors expected to drive revenue growth of the market during the forecast period. Nano satellites are equipped with advanced devices such as accelerometer, which helps to measure speed of the satellite, and magnetometer, which provides a compass reading and detects magnetic fields. Nano satellites are also mounted with gyroscope, which measures and maintains orientation and angular velocity satellite, and a barometer to detect pressure, among others. These technologies enable nano satellite resources to work efficiently. Furthermore, rapid escalation in production and launch of nano satellites is expected to drive market revenue growth over the forecast period.

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Restraints: Stringent government regulations

Stringent government regulation is a major factor restraining growth of the global nano satellite market. Nano satellites often rideshare, either by secondary payloads on rockets for launching the large satellites, or for carrying cargo to the locations such as the International Space Station (ISS). These impose various restrictions to nano satellite integration and launch schedules, including orbit destinations, and loss of flexibility for the subsystems in nano satellites.

Growth Projections

The global nano satellite market size is expected to reach USD 1,336.9 Million in 2030 and register a revenue CAGR of 20.4% over the forecast period, according to the latest report by Emergen. Increasing adoption of miniaturization technologies across civil, commercial, and military sectors, and increasing initiatives of academic institutions, private companies, and space agencies to launch new nanosatellite missions are key factors driving global nano satellite market revenue growth.

COVID-19 Direct Impact

The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse effect on market growth.Lack of funds from private investors and government along with technological challenges have resulted in slow development of nano satellites. The COVID-19 pandemic had led to implementation of stringent lockdown regulations across several countries, which resulted in disrupted supply chain of aeronautical parts and delayed the launch of various satellites.However, many large companies have been able to recover after the pandemic; however small and medium size enterprises are still in the process.

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Current Trends and Innovations

Advancements in satellite technologies such as advanced ground systems, in-orbit services, advanced payload systems, and others is boosting growth of the nano satellite market. Advancements in tracking, telemetry, and command-to-control satellites is making ground systems a top satellite technology trend. Ground stations use Radiofrequency (RF) communication terminals, electronically steered, and phased-array antennas to track satellites with minimal human intervention. Moreover, increase in satellite constellations requires modern inter-satellite links for coordination of constellation movement. For this, smart RF and optical communication technologies are used for better in-orbit relays in upstream and downstream data transfer. This innovation will prove very useful in boosting development of nano satellites.

Geographical Outlook

Market in Europe accounted for moderate revenue share in 2020, which is expected to expand at a rapid rate during the forecast period. Countries in Europe are more developed in terms of advanced technologies, and companies are investing substantially in development of nano satellite technologies, which is creating opportunities for nano satellite providers and boosting market growth.

Market in North America accounted for largest revenue share in 2020 and is expected to register a rapid rate over the forecast period. The U.S. launches a vast number of nano satellites for various applications such as observation of the Earth and remote sensing, mapping and navigation, communications, and military operations. The number of launches is expected to increase in the near future owing to increased defense spending and need to upgrade communication networks and links.

Strategic Initiatives

In March 2021, NASA announced the launch of new inexpensive variants of the nano satellite under its CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI), which will provide opportunities for smaller satellite payloads built by small non-profit organizations, high schools, and universities to fly on upcoming satellite launches. NASA provides these CubeSat developers a cost-effective pathway through innovative technology partnerships for conducting technology demonstrations and scientific investigations in space. Similar initiatives by other space industry giants is expected to support market growth.

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Some Key Highlights From the Report

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Emergen Research has segmented the global nano satellite market on the basis of mass, application, end-use, and region:

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Nano satellite Market Size to Reach USD 1,336.9 Million in 2030 | Rise in Demand for Earth Observation Related Applications is a Key Factor Driving...

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Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons towards a more effective response to public health emergencies – Globalization and Health – Globalization…

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Heterogeneity of COVID-19 cases and deaths around the world: what can explain it?

Table1 indicates that the pandemic of COVID-19 is heterogeneous around regions of the world. Figure1 also shows that there is a strong and significant correlation between HDI and globalisation (with an increase in trade and tourism as proxy indicators) and a corresponding strong and significant correlation with COVID-19 burden.

Human development index and its correlates associated with COVID-19 in 189 countries*

Globalisation and pandemics interact in various ways, including through international trade and mobility, which can lead to multiple waves of infections [11]. In at least the first waves of the pandemic, countries with high import and export of consumer goods, food products and tourism have high number of cases, severe cases, deaths and CFRs. Countries with high HDI are at a higher risk of importing (and exporting) COVID-19 due to high mobility linked to trade and tourism, which are drivers of the economy. These may have led to multiple introductions of COVID-19 into these countries before border closures.

The COVID-19 pandemic was first identified in China, which is central to the global network of trade, from where it spread to all parts of the world, especially those countries with strong links with China [12]. The epidemic then spread to Europe. There is very strong regional dimension to manufacturing and trading, which could be facilitate the spread of the virus. China is the heart of Factory Asia; Italy is in the heart of Factory Europe; the United States is the heart of Factory North America; and Brazil is the heart of Factory Latin America [13]. These are the countries most affected by COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic [2, 3, 14].

It is also important to note that two-third of the countries currently reporting more than a million cases are middle-income countries (MICs), which are not only major emerging market economies but also regional political powers, including the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) [3, 15]. These countries participate in the global economy, with business travellers and tourists. They also have good domestic transportation networks that facilitate the internal spread of the virus. The strategies that helped these countries to become emerging markets also put them at greater risk for importing and spreading COVID-19 due to their connectivity to the rest of the world.

In addition, countries with high HDI may be more significantly impacted by COVID-19 due to the higher proportion of the elderly and higher rates of non-communicable diseases. Figure 1 shows that there is a strong and significant correlation between HDI and demographic transition (high proportion of old-age population) and epidemiologic transition (high proportion of the population with non-communicable diseases). Countries with a higher proportion of people older than 65years and NCDs (compared to communicable diseases) have higher burden of COVID-19 [16,17,18,19,20]. Evidence has consistently shown a higher risk of severe COVID-19 in older individuals and those with underlying health conditions [21,22,23,24,25]. CFR is age-dependent; it is highest in persons aged 85years (10 to 27%), followed by those among persons aged 6584years (3 to 11%), and those among persons aged 55-64years (1 to 3%) [26].

On the other hand, regions and countries with low HDI have, to date, experienced less severe epidemics. For instance, as of January 12, 2022, the African region has recorded about 10.3 million cases and 233,000 deaths far lower than other regions of the world (Table 1) [27]. These might be due to lower testing rates in Africa, where only 6.5% of the population has been tested for the virus [14, 28], and a greater proportion of infections may remain asymptomatic [29]. Indeed, the results from sero-surveys in Africa show that more than 80% of people infected with the virus were asymptomatic compared to an estimated 40-50% asymptomatic infections in HICs [30, 31]. Moreover, there is a weak vital registration system in the region indicating that reports might be underestimating and underreporting the disease burden [32]. However, does this fully explain the differences observed between Africa and Europe or the Americas?

Other possible factors that may explain the lower rates of cases and deaths in Africa include: (1) Africa is less internationally connected than other regions; (2) the imposition of early strict lockdowns in many African countries, at a time when case numbers were relatively small, limited the number of imported cases further [2, 33, 34]; (3) relatively poor road network has also limited the transmission of the virus to and in rural areas [35]; (4) a significant proportion of the population resides in rural areas while those in urban areas spend a lot of their time mostly outdoors; (5) only about 3% of Africans are over the age of 65 (so only a small proportion are at risk of severe COVID-19) [36]; (6) lower prevalence of NCDs, as disease burden in Africa comes from infectious causes, including coronaviruses, which may also have cross-immunity that may reduce the risk of developing symptomatic cases [37]; and (7) relative high temperature (a major source of vitamin D which influences COVID-19 infection and mortality) in the region may limit the spread of the virus [38, 39]. We argue that a combination of all these factors might explain the lower COVID-19 burden in Africa.

The early and timely efforts by African leaders should not be underestimated. The African Union, African CDC, and WHO convened an emergency meeting of all African ministers of health to establish an African taskforce to develop and implement a coordinated continent-wide strategy focusing on: laboratory; surveillance; infection prevention and control; clinical treatment of people with severe COVID-19; risk communication; and supply chain management [40]. In April 2021, African Union and Africa CDC launched the Partnerships for African Vaccine Manufacturing (PAVM), framework to expanding Africas vaccine manufacturing capacity for health security [41].

Figures 2 and 3 illustrate the variability of cases and deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic across high-income countries (HICs). Contrary to the overall positive correlation between high HDI and cases, deaths and fatality rates due to COVID-19, there are outlier HICs, which have been able to control the epidemic. Several HICs, such as New Zealand, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Denmark, Iceland, and Norway, managed to contain their epidemics (Figs. 2 and 3) [15, 42, 43]. It is important to note that most of these countries (especially the island states) have far less cross-border mobility than other HICs.

Scatter plot of COVID-19 cases per million population in countries with high human development index (>0.70)

Scatter plot of COVID-19 deaths per million population in countries with high human development index (>0.70)

HICs that have been successful at controlling their epidemics have similar characteristics, which are related to governance of the response [44], synergy between UHC and GHS, and existing relative socio-economic equity in the country. Governance and leadership is a crucial factor to explain the heterogeneity of the epidemic among countries with high HDI [45]. There has been substantial variation in the nature and timing of the public health responses implemented [46]. Adaptable and agile governments seem better able to respond to their epidemics [47, 48]. Countries that have fared the best are the ones with good governance and public support [49]. Countries with an absence of coherent leadership and social trust have worse outcomes than countries with collective action, whether in a democracy or autocracy, and rapid mobilisation of resources [50]. The erosion of trust in the United States government has hurt the countrys ability to respond to the COVID-19 crisis [51, 52]. The editors of the New England Journal of Medicine argued that the COVID-19 crisis has produced a test of leadership; but, the leaders in the United States had failed that test [47].

COVID-19 has exposed the fragility of health systems, not only in the public health and primary care, but also in acute and long-term care systems [49]. Fragmentation of health systems, defined here to mean inadequate synergy and/ or integration between GHS and UHC, is typical of countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though GHS and UHC agendas are convergent and interdependent, they tend to have different policies and practices [53]. The United States has the highest index for GHS preparedness; however, it has reported the worlds highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths due to its greatly fragmented health system [54, 55]. Countries with health systems and policies that are able to integrate International Health Regulations (IHR) core capacities with primary health care (PHC) services have been effective at mitigating the effects of COVID-19 [50, 53]. Australia has been able to control its COVID-19 epidemic through a comprehensive primary care response, including protection of vulnerable people, provision of treatment and support services to affected people, continuity of regular healthcare services, protection and support of PHC workers and primary care services, and provision of mental health services to the community and the primary healthcare workforce [56]. Strict implementation of public health and social intervention together with UHC systems have ensured swift control of the epidemics in Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand [57].

The heterogeneity of cases and deaths, due to COVID-19, is also explained by differences in levels of socio-economic inequalities, which increase susceptibility to acquiring the infection and disease progression as well as worsening of health outcomes [58]. COVID-19 has been a stress test for public services and social protection systems. There is a higher burden of COVID-19 in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic individuals due to socio-economic inequities in HICs [59, 60]. Poor people are more likely to live in overcrowded accommodation, are more likely to have unstable work conditions and incomes, have comorbidities associated with poverty and precarious living conditions, and reduced access to health care [59].

The epidemiology of COVID-19 is also variable across MICs, with HDI between 0.70 and 0.85, around the world. Overall, the epidemic in MICs is exacerbated by the rapid demographic and epidemiologic transitions as well as high prevalence of obesity. While India and Brazil witnessed rapidly increasing rates of cases and deaths, China, Thailand, Vietnam have experienced a relatively lower disease burden [15]. This heterogeneity may be attributed to a number of factors, including governance, communication and service delivery. Thailand, China and Vietnam have implemented a national harmonized strategic response with decentralized implementation through provincial and district authorities [61]. Thailand increased its testing capacity from two to over 200 certified facilities that could process between 10,000 to 100,000 tests per day; moreover, over a million village health volunteers in Thailand supported primary health services [62, 63]. Chinas swift and decisive actions enabled the country to contain its epidemic though there was an initial delay in detecting the disease. China has been able to contain its epidemic through community-based measures, very high public cooperation and social mobilization, strategic lockdown and isolation, multi-sector action [64]. Overall, multi-level governance (effective and decisive leadership and accountability) of the response, together with coordination of public health and socio-economic services, and high levels of citizen adherence to personal protection, have enabled these countries to successfully contain their epidemics [61, 65, 66].

On the other hand, the Brazilian leadership was denounced for its failure to establish a national surveillance network early in the pandemic. In March 2020, the health minister was reported to have stated that mass testing was a waste of public funding, and to have advised against it [67]. This was considered as a sign of a collapse of public health leadership, characterized by ignorance, neoliberal authoritarianism [68]. There were also gaps in the public health capacity in different municipalities, which varied greatly, with a considerable number of Brazilian regions receiving less funding from the federal government due to political tension [69]. The epidemic has a disproportionate adverse burden on states and municipalities with high socio-economic vulnerability, exacerbated by the deep social and economic inequalities in Brazil [70].

India is another middle-income country with a high burden of COVID-19. It was one of the countries to institute strict measures in the early phase of the pandemic [71, 72]. However, the government eased restrictions after the claim that India had beaten the pandemic, which lead to a rapid increase in disease incidence. Indeed, on 12 January 2022, India reported 36 million cumulative cases and almost 485,000 total deaths [15]. The second wave of the epidemic in India exposed weaknesses in governance and inadequacies in the countrys health and other social systems [73]. The nature of the Indian federation, which is highly centripetal, has prevented state and local governments from tailoring a policy response to suit local needs. A centralized one-size-fits-all strategy has been imposed despite high variations in resources, health systems capacity, and COVID-19 epidemics across states [74]. There were also loose social distancing and mask wearing, mass political rallies and religious events [75]. Rapid community transmission driven by high population density and multigenerational households has been a feature of the current wave in India [76]. In addition, several new variants of the virus, including the UK (B.1.1.7), the South Africa (20H/501Y or B.1.351), and Brazil (P.1), alongside a newly identified Indian variant (B.1.617), are circulating in India and have been implicated as factors in the second wave of the pandemic [75, 76].

The pandemic is characterized by variable CFRs across regions and countries that are negatively associated with HDI (Fig.1). The results presented in Fig.4 show that the proportion of elderly population and rate of obesity are important factors which are positively associated with CFR. On the other hand, UHC, IHR capacity and other indicators of health systems capacity (health workforce density and hospital beds) are negatively associated with the CFR (Figs. 1 and 4).

Correlates of COVID-19 cases, deaths and case-fatality rates in 189 countries

The evidence from several research indicates that heterogeneity can be explained by several factors, including differences in age-pyramid, socio-economic status, access to health services, or rates of undiagnosed infections. Differences in age-pyramid may explain some of the observed variation in epidemic severity and CFR between countries [77]. CFRs across countries look similar when taking age into account [78]. The elderly and other vulnerable populations in Africa and Asia are at a similar risk as populations in Europe and Americas [79]. Data from European countries suggest that as high as 57% of all deaths have happened in care homes and many deaths in the US have also occurred in nursing homes. On the other hand, in countries such as Mexico and India, individuals <65years contributed the majority of deaths [80].

Nevertheless, CFR also depends on the quality of hospital care, which can be used to judge the health system capacity, including the availability of healthcare workers, resources, and facilities, which affects outcomes [81]. The CFR can increase if there is a surge of infected patients, which adds to the strain on the health system [82]. COVID-19 fatality rates are affected by numerous health systems factors, including bed capacity, existence and capacity of intensive care unit (ICU), and critical care resources (such as oxygen and dexamethasone) in a hospital. Regions and countries with high HDI have a greater number of acute care facilities, ICU, and hospital bed capacities compared to lower HDI regions and countries [83]. Differences in health systems capacity could explain why North America and Europe, which have experienced much greater number of cases and deaths per million population, reported lower CFRs than the Southern American and the African regions, partly also due to limited testing capacity in these regions (Table 1) [84,85,86]. The higher CFR in Southern America can be explained by the relatively lower health systems surge capacity that could not adequately respond to the huge demand for health services [69, 86]. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted existing health systems weaknesses, which are not able to effectively prepare for and respond to PHEs [87]. The high CFRs in the region are also exacerbated by the high social inequalities [69].

On the other hand, countries in Asia recorded lower CFRs (~1.4%) despite sharing many common risk factors (including overcrowding and poverty, weak health system capacity etc) with Africa. The Asian region shares many similar protective factors to the African region. They have been able to minimize their CFR by suppressing the transmission of the virus and flattening the epidemic curve of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Nevertheless, the epidemic in India is likely to be different because it has exceeded the health system capacity to respond and provide basic medical care and medical supplies such as oxygen [88]. Overall, many Asian countries were able to withstand the transmission of the virus and its effect due to swift action by governments in the early days of the pandemic despite the frequency of travel between China and neighbouring countries such as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore [89]. This has helped them to contain the pandemic to ensure case numbers remain within their health systems capacity. These countries have benefited from their experience in the past in the prevention and control of epidemics [90].

There are a number of issues with the use of the CFR to compare the management of the pandemic between countries and regions [91], as it does not depict the true picture of the mortality burden of the pandemic. A major challenge with accurate calculation of the CFR is the denominator on number of identified cases, as asymptomatic infections and patients with mild symptoms are frequently left untested, and therefore omitted from CFR calculations. Testing might not be widely available, and proactive contact tracing and containment might not be employed, resulting in a smaller denominator, and skewing to a higher CFR [82]. It is, therefore, far more relevant to estimate infection fatality rate (IFR), the proportion of all infected individuals who have died due to the infection [91], which is central to understanding the public health impact of the pandemic and the required policies for its prevention and control [92].

Estimates of prevalence based on sero-surveys, which includes asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic infections, can be used to estimate IFR [93]. In a systematic review of 17 studies, seroprevalence rates ranged from 0.22% in Brazil to 53% in Argentina [94]. The review also identified that the seroprevalence estimate was higher than the cumulative reported case incidence, by a factor between 1.5 times in Germany to 717 times in Iran, in all but two studies (0.56 times in Brazil and 0.88 times in Denmark) [94, 95]. The difference between seroprevalence and cumulative reported cases might be due to asymptomatic cases, atypical or pauci-symptomatic cases, or the lack of access to and uptake of testing [94]. There is only a modest gap between the estimated number of infections from seroprevalence surveys and the cumulative reported cases in regions with relatively thorough symptom-based testing. Much of the gap between reported cases and seroprevalence is likely to be due to undiagnosed symptomatic or asymptomatic infections [94].

It is important to note that the pandemic has significant collateral effects on the provision of essential health services, in addition to the direct health effects [96]. Disruptions in the provision of essential health services, due to COVID-19, were reported by nearly all countries, though it is more so in lower-income than higher-income countries [97, 98]. The biggest impact reported is on provision of day-to-day primary care to prevent and manage some of the most common health problems [99].

The causes of disruptions in service delivery were a mix of demand and supply factors [100]. Countries reported that just over one-third of services were disrupted due to health workforce-related reasons (the most common causes of service disruptions), supply chains, community mistrust and fears of becoming infected, and financial challenge s[101]. Cognizant of the disruptive effects of the pandemic, countries have reorganized their health system.

Countries with better response to COVID-19 have mobilized, trained and reallocated their health workforce in addition to hiring new staff, using volunteers and medical trainees and mobilizing retirees [102]. Several strategies have also been implemented to mitigate disruptions in service delivery and utilization, including: triaging to identify the most urgent patient needs, and postponing elective medical procedures; switching to alternative models of care, such as providing more home-based care and telemedicine [101].

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Analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons towards a more effective response to public health emergencies - Globalization and Health - Globalization...

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The rulers of the great powers are playing with fire – International Viewpoint

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True, neither Moscow nor Washington has hinted at the use of nuclear weapons so far, although there can be no doubt that the two countries did put their nuclear arsenals on standby in the face of the current circumstances. It is also true that the level of military alert in America has not yet reached the level it reached in 1962. But Russian military build-up at the borders of Ukraine exceeds the levels of troop concentration at a European border witnessed in the warmest moments of the Cold War, while Western verbal escalation against Russia has reached a dangerous level accompanied by military gestures and preparations that create a real possibility of a conflagration.

The rulers of the great powers are playing with fire. Vladimir Putin may think that this is like moving queen and rook on a chessboard in order to force the opponent to withdraw their pieces; Joe Biden may believe that it is a suitable opportunity for him to repolish his domestic and international image, very much faded since his embarrassing failure in staging the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan; and Boris Johnson may believe that his governments pretentious bragging is a cheap way to divert attention from his domestic political problems. The fact remains, however, that events in such circumstances quickly acquire their own dynamics to the beat of the drums of wardynamics that surpass the control of all individual actors and risk triggering an explosion that none of the players had originally wanted.

The current tension between Russia and Western countries in Europe has reached a degree not seen on the continent since the Second World War. The first European war episodes witnessed since then, the Balkan wars in the 1990s, never reached the level of prolonged tension and alert between the great powers themselves that we are witnessing today. If a war were to break out as a result of the current tension, even if it initially raged only on Ukrainian soil, the central location and sheer size of Ukraine are enough to make the danger of the fire spreading to other European countries bordering Russia, as well as to the Caucasus and Central Asia, a grave and imminent danger.

The main cause of what is happening today relates to a series of developments, for which the first and major responsibility falls on the most powerful who had the initiativeand that is, of course, the United States. Since the Soviet Union entered terminal agony under Mikhail Gorbachev, and even more so under the first president of post-Soviet Russia, Boris Yeltsin, Washington behaved toward Russia like a merciless victor toward a vanquished, whom the victor wants to prevent from ever getting back on its feet. This translated in the expansion of US-dominated NATO by including countries that had previously belonged to the USSR-dominated Warsaw Pact, instead of dissolving the Western Alliance in parallel with its Eastern counterpart. It also translated in the West dictating an economic policy of shock therapy to Russias bureaucratic economy, provoking huge socio-economic crisis and collapse.

These premises are what most naturally led to the result that one of Gorbachevs most prominent advisersa former member of the Supreme Soviet and of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet UnionGeorgi Arbatov, had warned against thirty years ago, when he predicted that Western policies toward Russia would lead to A New Cold War and the emergence of an authoritarian rule in Moscow reviving Russias old imperial tradition. This has actually happened with Putins ascension to power, representing the interests of the two most important blocs in the Russian capitalist economy (in which state capitalism and private interests are mingled): the military-industrial complexwhich employs a fifth of the Russian industrial labor force, in addition to the armed forces personneland the oil and gas sector.

The result was that Putins Russia is practicing a policy of military expansion that goes far beyond what prevailed during the time of the Soviet Union. Then, Moscow did not deploy combat forces outside the sphere that had fallen under its control by the end of World War II, until it invaded Afghanistan at the end of 1979, an invasion that precipitated the USSRs death agony. As for Putins Russia, after it regained economic vitality thanks to the increase in fuel prices since the turn of the century, it has intervened militarily outside its borders at a frequency comparable to that of US military interventions before the defeat in Vietnam, and between the first American war against Iraq in 1991 and the inglorious exit of US forces from that country twenty years later. Russias interventions and invasions are no longer confined to its near abroad, i.e. those countries adjacent to Russia, which were dominated by Moscow through the USSR or the Warsaw Pact. Post-Soviet Russia has intervened militarily in the Caucasus, especially in Georgia, in Ukraine and most recently in Kazakhstan. But it has also been waging a war is Syria since 2015 and intervening under a transparent cover in Libya and more recently in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Thus, between renewed Russian belligerence and continued US arrogance, the world finds itself on the brink of a disaster that could greatly accelerate the annihilation of humanity, to which our planet is moving by way of environmental degradation and global warming. We can only hope that reason will prevail and that the great powers will reach an agreement addressing Russias security concerns and recreating conditions for a renewed peaceful coexistence that would reduce the heat of the New Cold War and prevent it from turning into a hot war that would be a huge catastrophe for all of humanity.

Translated from the Arabic original published in Al-Quds al-Arabi, 25 January 2022.

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Urban explorer sneaks on to top secret germ warfare base known as UKs Area 51 exposing security ris… – The Sun

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A MAN who calls himself an urban explorer managed to sneak on to a top secret germ warfare base known as Britains answer to Area 51.

Matthew Williams, 50, claims to have exposed a "huge security risk" after filming himself driving up to laboratories and Ministry of Defence (MoD) buildings.

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Williams has managed to access MoD living quarters, labs and training facilities at the Wiltshire facility which is known to hold deadly viruses and chemicals - such as Ebola, Novichok and Covid-19.

He also managed to get very detailed and close up pictures of the base on his drone, flying legally from public land, and posted all his footage on YouTube - however the MoD has denied there was any breach of security.

Im fascinated by the idea, with Covid and everything, that people could get that close because I think it is a threat to the security of the place, he told The Sun.

If a terrorist was to get in there, it would be a real problem. If somebody was to do something really irresponsible there, then you could end up having terrible sorts of germs, which would make Covid look like a childs birthday party, released out into the atmosphere.

They say theyve got viruses in that place which could kill life on the planet as we know it within a couple of weeks.

So for anyone to just be able to drive a car up and get so close you could have thrown a tennis ball at some of the buildings, it just beggars belief really.

Porton Down is a science park next to the village of Porton, near Salisbury which houses a site of the Ministry of Defences Defence Science and Technology (DSTL) lab and a Public Health England building.

It opened more than a hundred years ago to develop chemical weapons such as chlorine, mustard gas, and phosgene.

In more recent years, it has conducted tests on sarin and the Novichok nerve agent, responsible for the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

The site has been the subject of much controversy and in 2006 the MoD paid out 3m to veterans who claimed they were given LSD without consent there in the 50s although they did not accept responsibility.

It is also the site of the death of Ronald Maddison who died during testing of the nerve agent sarin. Inquests in 2002 and 2004 found his death to have been unlawful and the MoD settled in 2006.

Williams, who says he was acting in the public interest and had no malicious intent, first visited the mysterious site late summer, where he drove freely for about 30 minutes without being stopped.

He released his footage from the first visit on his Youtube site, The Secret Vault, late last year.

A few days after releasing the footage, he decided to revisit the site with a friend, where he gained similar access but this time was stopped by police, who searched the pair and their vehicle, then let them go without charge.

In many ways, Im actually glad that they stopped us, because it shows that at least they had become aware that people were able to drive in that close, he said.

I had a conversation with them about it and said, Do you think its sensible that people can get this close? Realistically, wouldnt it be better to stop people further out so that you cant drive this close to the base?

And they didnt disagree with me. I told them, 'If my video does anything, I hope it makes people here think about the security and encourage them to either get more land to keep people away or more police to keep people further out.'

I still think that we were still too close. To this day, you can just drive straight up to some areas, some of the buildings there youre able to just drive your car next to.

What if terrorists drive a vehicle up there, laden with explosives?

Matthew also took some detailed footage of the base with his drone, flying legally and within existing restrictions - which he believes to be a second security risk.

During his research, he also claims to have discovered how the public can walk alongside a railway line running to one side of the base, gaining close access to the buildings on the base without any threat of arrest.

It seems like somebody has made a real mistake in the way that theyve designed this, having the railway track going so close and having no security on one side of the base and then saying, keep out on the other, Matthew said.

I believe that that is a huge security threat and they should really sequester that land and stop people getting that close.

"I think it's Porton Down's responsibility to request more airspace and more danger zones around the base to stop people flying drones so close."

The UK Health Security Agency, which recently took over from Public Health England, referred the matter to the MoD when contacted by The Sun.

A spokesman for the MoDs DSTL department said: We are aware of the incident and at no point was our site breached.

Footage was taken from the public road and outer boundary and the individual was quickly spotted and questioned by the MOD police.

Security remains a top priority for DSTL as we continue to provide the science to Defence and beyond.

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