The Other Side of Mars and Moon Mysteries with Expat

[Gene Steinberg]

As regular members of our forum know, we try to cover both sides of the issue, and thus we are inviting one of our newest members, known as Expat, to provide a reality check to the claims made by Mike Bara and Richard Hoagland about evidence of intelligent artifacts on the Moon and Mars, along with other supposed space mysteries.

This episode will be recorded on October 9th, midday Pacific time.

Expat is the pseudonym of a former producer of TV documentaries for the BBC in London, now emigrated to USA and semi-retired. He has a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics from London University. Over the course of a 20-year career in TV production he produced four major documentaries on spaceflight, and was science producer for the BBC's live coverage of the later Apollo Moon missions. In the course of that work he met and interviewed most of the key personalities in NASA management of that era, as well as scientists, engineers and astronauts. He still works as a consultant and technical author, and he maintains a blog called Emoluments of Mars.

Now if you do figure out his real name, do not post it; we will respect his desire for relative anonymity. Any such posting will be deleted. Thank you.

 

[Randall]

... we are inviting one of our newest members, known as Expat, to provide a reality check to the claims made by Mike Bara and Richard Hoagland ... Now if you do figure out his real name, do not post it; we will respect his desire for relative anonymity ...

Well I can understand relative anonymity ... my relatives probably wouldn't want me mentioning their names either ... but what's the problem with knowing his name?

er because its his choice

Or maybe because his relatives wouldn't approve ...

QUESTION: Can you please explain the theory behind Hoagland's Accutron space densiometer ( or whatever it is ) and why you think it's either legit or not?

 

[nameless]

er because its his choice.

My questions are;

Have you yourself had any experiences which were out of the ordinary?

Over the years I've noticed new generations warm to and accept the notion of the possibility of "aliens" and the possible interpretation of UFOs as intelligent craft.
Speaking from the point of view as someone in the media and with contact with "professional space people"do you feel the laughter curtain is beginning to open when discussing this topic or would you feel that even breaching this topic lends yourself open to ridicule?
The point being how can we have serious open discussion and start scientific research if intellectual and cultural prejudice still exists?

 

[Goggs Mackay]

You pretty much given the game away Gene and I have read 'Expat's' blog anyway. He does indeed have views well worth hearing.
Looking forward to the show.

Questions:

1. Expat, do you think there is any very unusual surface features on Mars?

2. What is your view on the subject of UFOs? Do you think there is any evidence for controlled, structured craft not made by humans flying in our skies, and do you then think there could be a cover-up of such matters if there really are UFOs in our skies?

3. I once heard Hoagland claim he used miltary-type imaging software that looks for 'artificiality' in pictures. He claimed to have processed images from Cydonia that strongly show the 'face' and other features are very un-natural. Do you have any knowledge/opinions on this aspect to Hoaglands claims?

 

[trainedobserver]

Has anyone figured out what qualified Hoagland to be a "science adviser" to CBS? In what capacity was he a "consultant at NASA?" Does he have some degree or doctorate that he is keeping to himself?

What was Ken Johnston's actual role at NASA? James Oberg has reported that attempts to verify Ken Johnston's claims of being a former Marine pilot have failed. As you have pointed out, his claim of seeing someone airbrush or paint over a negative doesn't make sense, particularly if he is also an expert in photography. Was he actually a test pilot at NASA and the Space Administration Data and Photo Control Department manager?

 

[trainedobserver]

Pixel,

Does Ken Johnston's story about seeing people airbrushing and painting on negatives seem plausible?

 

[pixelsmith]

Pixel,

Does Ken Johnston's story about seeing people airbrushing and painting on negatives seem plausible?

yes, it does seem plausible. it would have been very time consuming to retouch movie film, reproduce it and not see the retouching when played back.

 

[trainedobserver]

yes, it does seem plausible. it would have been very time consuming to retouch movie film, reproduce it and not see the retouching when played back.

The positive print I could see, but retouching a negative itself? Not only are they small but you have the whole reverse thing going on.

 

[pixelsmith]

The positive print I could see, but retouching a negative itself? Not only are they small but you have the whole reverse thing going on.

yes it is possible but i find it very hard to believe they retouched movie film by hand, re-filmed it and made it look untouched.

 

[Expat]

The idea of airbrushing a film negative is inherently absurd. The tones of the eventual print that will be made from that negative are determined by the degree of transparency of each point on the negative. Airbrushing could conceivably make a negative less transparent (thus making the eventual print lighter at that point) but how TF could you make a negative more transparent with an airbrush? *I'd be quite happy to make that point during next week's interview.

 

[pixelsmith]

The idea of airbrushing a film negative is inherently absurd. The tones of the eventual print that will be made from that negative are determined by the degree of transparency of each point on the negative. Airbrushing could conceivably make a negative less transparent (thus making the eventual print lighter at that point) but how TF could you make a negative more transparent with an airbrush? *I'd be quite happy to make that point during next week's interview.

i agree, i have never seen an airbrushed or retouched negative that did NOT look tampered with.

 

[pixelsmith]

i should have clarified my thoughts on retouching. i speak from my own experience in digitally restoring scanned images from negatives, transparencies, tin types, glass negatives, glass positives, (some of which have been painted on) etc and reproducing a photograph from the digital files.

 

[trainedobserver]

Thanks for clarifying the "retouch the negative" question. Not only are there the technical considerations, but the political ones as well. They would in effect be destroying the originals. That would be inconceivable from a managerial standpoint I would think.

 

[Expat]

Pixelsmith: Then your opinion is valuable and I thank you for it.

Trained: Then there's the fact that the Hasselblad cameras carried on the Moon were not loaded with negative film, but with 70mm double-sprocketed Ektachrome reversal. So the camera originals would be positives, like frames of a movie. Maybe Ken Johnston is really saying that's what he saw being retouched, but I simply don't believe it. Nobody would do that.

 

[stonehart]

This should be a very cool show.. any questions I would ask have been asked already.

 

[Gene Steinberg]

Folks, I would also like to leave some questions left unanswered for the show, OK?

We respect Expat's desire for anonymity. We know who he is and we're satisfied he is fully qualified to discuss this subject, and that's what counts.

 

[pixelsmith]

One of my questions for Expat is if he has seen Allan Sturm's e-book titled ULO's. I find most of the images rather boring but there is one i am fascinated with on page 102. I would like to know Expats thoughts on it.


second question is: what are your thoughts on the Transient Lunar Phenomena?

My questions can wait for the show! no problem.

 

[Expat]

Yes, I agree. I should STFU here and save it for the show.

 

[trainedobserver]

One of my questions for Expat is if he has seen Allan Sturm's e-book titled ULO's. I find most of the images rather boring but there is one i am fascinated with on page 102. I would like to know Expats thoughts on it

second question is: what are your thoughts on the Transient Lunar Phenomena?

My questions can wait for the show! no problem.

I think this particular image is included in Mike Bara's latest book. I'm
not sure if he credits Sturm or not.

 

[Ron Collins]

One of my questions for Expat is if he has seen Allan Sturm's e-book titled ULO's.

Where did you find it? His site is gone and I cant seem to find a copy of it anywhere.