I decided to write an article on signs of intelligent life in space. While doing some research I came across what I consider funny search results that I would like to share with you. The first one was asked the question, Is there intelligent life on Earth? I thought that was pretty funny myself, even if I had heard it before. The second one asked if there was intelligent life in congress. I think that question is certainly debatable, when you consider how congress had let the country go to pot. Stephen Hawking, the world famous scientist, stated that there was no intelligent life on earth and that we should pray that there is intelligent life somewhere in space. I guess that while these things are mildly amusing, there is some truth to them. If an alien from some distant star system descended to earth and saw what a muck we have made of it and how we are constantly at war somewhere on this planet and then noticed that a good portion of the planet is starving and doesn't even have clean water to drink, when in some areas some people live luxurious lives by comparison, what would he think of us? Would he think that we are stupid, selfish and dangerous, or just uncaring?

Like it or not, we are trying to get into space with a long term program that may ultimately lead us to contact with another race. This probably won't happen in our lifetime, but you never know. The reason that I say that you never know, is because science is experiencing breakthroughs at an ever expanding pace. The more we learn, the more we discover. The amount of discoveries in every field is becoming staggering. Computer capability in speed and efficiency is doubling about every 18 months or less and as our computer ability increases, this leads us to faster solutions to more complex problems, which in turn leads us to more discoveries. I am sure if we knew about the space planes that we already have, we would all be very surprised. Don't think for one second that the space shuttle is a piece of our advanced hardware, it isn't. It was a design disaster. It was up scaled from what it was supposed to be, so that secret satellites could be launched from it and it never recovered from the redesign. Let's take a look and try and figure out some of what type of craft are out there.

The Aurora has been talked about for quite a few years now. Most people agree that it probably is a space plane that can achieve low orbit. It might be part of an assembly that uses one plane as a booster and then releases the second smaller plane at a certain height, so that it can then fly into orbit. If this is true then it would be quite a formidable weapon. From orbit it would be able to get to anywhere on earth in a maximum time of a little over one and one half hours. This plane almost certainly exists. What I find interesting is the fact that one military person had mentioned in an interview that we did have the Aurora, but that there are space planes out now that are two generations newer than even the Aurora. Remember that when you hear the Aurora being mentioned it is probably gone or reduced to less important missions.

Every once in a while you will read that some system has been shelved. Does this really mean that it will not go into production? No, it could mean that it became a black operation. A black operation is a secret operation where budgets are hidden from public view and special clearances are needed to know anything about the project. What is curious is that some of these projects run for many years before supposedly being dropped. Take the case of the Blackstar system. Aviation Week & Space Technology has been investigating this system for many years. There have been numerous sightings reported. It is estimated that the Blackstar system was operational since the 90s and had been flying for over 16 years. The Blackstar system consisted of a large plane, that resembled a XB-70 bomber and a smaller plane that it would carry aloft, that was said to be able to reach orbit after it was released from a certain height. If this is true, we have had this enormous orbital capability for many years and we could achieve it in a secret manner that was much safer, cheaper and easier than a space shuttle launch. Not only that, but astronauts on the shuttle who reported seeing some UFOs might actually have seen some of our orbital vehicles.

Now it is time to talk about that OTHER shuttle. There are many rumors out there that we have a secret shuttle that resembles the Russian one, The Buran, that never got off the ground. It is a shuttle that is mounted atop of an Atlas rocket. It is a lot simpler configuration than the two giant fuel tanks that the NASA shuttle uses and seems to be a more common sense approach to shuttle launches. It makes one wonder how long the military has been doing this? We might have had this second shuttle program going on for as long as the civilian shuttle program. When I say civilian shuttle program, it is important to note that NASA is chartered by the defense agency and is not really civilian, even though it would appear this way to an observer.

The US Air Force, working in conjunction with the Boeing corporation, is getting a space plane ready and is not hiding the fact. The vehicle is the X-37B. The idea is to test the plane's flight capability and its ability to withstand reentry. The test is probably a lot more complex than that though. Some people are saying that there are weapons aboard that are also going to be tested and that they may be very futuristic Could it be that we have finally figured out how to shrink down the size of a laser so that it fits comfortably into a craft like this? The military need to show us that there is a viable replacement for the space shuttle, since it is going to be taken off line in about a year and five months. Do they really need this new plane? Maybe not, but then how would they explain some of the secret orbital payloads that they are putting up if they get discovered? One can't help but think that some of these secrets are not secrets from world governments, because many of them already know the truth, but they are secrets from the population. I always wondered about this kind of government thinking.

It has been said that one of the things that the US Air Force was hot for was a space bomber. Of course this violates our space treaties, but we have had little respect for treaties lately anyway. The International Herald Tribune reported on May 19, 2005, that the US Air Force was pushing President Bush for space weapons. They sited White House and Air Force Officials as having leaked this information. The last thing this planet needs is nukes and other deadly weapons sailing over our heads. For all we know, they may already be there. Is there a space bomber that we don't know about? There very well could be, there were reports of an experimental unknown space craft in 2001 that was being tested, that some thought was the bomber prototype. While none of the craft I mentioned are capable of traveling very far in cosmic terms, let's hope that even though they were born to perform destruction, that they will spawn peaceful spacecraft that are much more capable.