Science Wrap: UFO Congress hearing, global warming becomes global boiling, and Chandrayaan-3 closer to Moon 

This week in science saw further updates of ISRO’s ongoing Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission while UFO-logists were struck by a dramatic new update, a former US Air Force officer turning into an alien whistleblower. 

1- Is the US hiding a multi-decade UFO catching program? Whistleblower feels so

A former Air Force intelligence officer testified to Congress on Wednesday that the United States is concealing a long-standing program that retrieves and reverse engineers unexplained flying objects. The Pentagon has, however, refuted the claims he made.

Retired Maj. David Grusch's widely anticipated testimony before a House Oversight subcommittee was Congress' latest venture into the world of UAPs — or "unidentified aerial phenomena," as the US government calls them.

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Grusch stated that the chairman of a government task force on UAPs ordered him in 2019 to identify all highly classified programs related to the task force's goal. At the time, Grusch was assigned to the National Reconnaissance Office, which manages US surveillance satellites.

He claimed during the hearing that government agencies have kept details about these mysterious objects hidden from Congress for a long time. On top of it all, in his claims, Grusch accused his country of withholding information on the fact that they have even acquired traces of alien remains. 

When asked if the US government knew about alien life all along, Grusch stated the US has likely been aware of "non-human" activity since the 1930s.

Grusch's assertions of a cover-up have been refuted by the Pentagon while UFO experts are cherishing this revelation as a major breakthrough in proving that the "watchers” do exist. As UFO-hunting Federal Agents put it in The X-Files, "the truth is still out there".  

2- Chandrayaan-3, one step closer to the Moon 

Chandrayaan-3, the lunar mission by India’s space agency, successfully lifted off Earth on July 14, 2023. Since then, the satellite has been making the required orbit maneuvers to reach the Moon. 

The latest development came from July 25 (Tuesday) when ISRO confirmed on Twitter that it successfully raised the orbit of the Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft for the fifth time. This last Earth-Bound Manuever will put the spacecraft in an orbit of 127609 km x 236 km. 

On August 1, the Chandrayaan-3 is planned to take the 'moon spaceway’ when the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will guide it to the TransLunar Injection (TLI). More updates are awaited on the exact date Chandrayaan-3 lands on Moon. 

3- Forget Global Warming, we are in the era of Global Boiling!

July is usually a hot month for many countries but this year, the entire world seemed to be feeling the July heat with the month being regarded as the hottest in thousands of years. It’s no surprise that the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that gone are the days of global warming and that we’re technically in an era of global boiling. 

The planet might only boil further, considering how El Nino is supposed to make the planet’s heat reach a record-breaking high next year. 

The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has even declared that July's heat is unprecedented. They claim that the Earth's temperature has temporarily surpassed a critical warming threshold: the internationally agreed-upon goal of reducing global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

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Temperatures were 1.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial periods for a record 16 days this month, but the Paris climate agreement seeks to keep the global temperature average at 1.5 degrees for the next 20 or 30 years. A few days of temporarily exceeding that barrier have occurred in the past, but never in July.

4- Indian and Japanese scientists discover ancient Himalayan ocean 

Scientists from Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Japan's Niigata University have discovered relics of an ancient ocean in the Himalayas.

The team discovered water droplets locked in mineral deposits stretching back 600 million years, and the discovery could shed light on a critical oxygenation event in Earth's history.

The study, published in Precambrian Research, demonstrates that these mineral deposits, rich in calcium and magnesium carbonates, are similar to a "time capsule for paleo oceans," according to Prakash Chandra Arya, a Ph.D. student at IISc and the paper's lead author.