The Secret History of Extraterrestrials: Advanced Technology and the Coming New Race (21 page)

NASA GETS IN THE ACT

Coincidentally, NASA’s known involvement with CELSS apparently began in 1986, evidently also benefiting from the new openness of the Russian scientists and the information exchanged at the international conference. In that year, they commenced the Breadboard Project, which focused on growing crops in sealed, controlled environments and increasing crop productivity. They grew wheat, soybeans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, strawberries, rice, peanuts, radishes, and other foods in a large steel facility called a biomass production chamber. They also had laboratories for converting wastes into plant nutrients, plant fertilizer, carbon dioxide, and water. The Breadboard Project operated at the same time as Biosphere 2 and continues today.

In 1989, two years before Mission 1, NASA built a facility called BioHome. This consisted of living quarters about the size of a trailer, connected to a waste-recycling facility. The wastewater from the human crew was used to irrigate a complex of semiaquatic plant life that was known to kill microorganisms at the root level. These plants were then harvested and made into compost, which in turn was used to fertilize edible plants, notably tomatoes, sorghum, corn, potatoes, cucumbers, and squash. The edible plants then provided food for the crew. The aquatic plants proved to be highly effective in removing organic chemicals and pathogenic bacteria and viruses, thereby neutralizing the raw sewage. The processed water from the sewage was then subjected to ultraviolet light to clean it further, and it was then usable for toilets and plant watering (so-called gray water). It was also found that the aquatic plants purified the air of many noxious organic substances, such as formaldehyde, benzene, and toluene, as well as undesirable gases. The drinking water for the crew was derived from condensation of the water vapors emitted by the plants, which was purified by ultraviolet light. The BioHome project also continues today.

It is interesting to note that this waste-recycling project preceded Mission 1, and it is very tempting to conclude that NASA may have made its measurements and results available to Allen, which might account for the successful waste recycling processes in Biosphere 2, something that the Russians had not been able to accomplish. It is also known that between 1995 and 1998 (after the crash of Biosphere 2; see next paragraph), NASA was involved in at least four experiments with humans sealed in CELSS facilities for periods of about two months each.

As we review all of the above material, it begins to appear that both the Russians and NASA poured their research results into Biosphere 2 and that it was probably intended to become the ultimate, permanent, international CELSS facility, to be used in training astronauts for assignment to Mars and other planets. This conclusion is supported by the fact that SBV claimed at the outset that Biosphere 2 would be useful for one hundred years. But it all went wrong in mid-1994, six months into Mission 2, when a management conflict arose between Bass and the Allen team over the financial management and the scientific validity of the project, and Bass decided to oust the DTL group. There were strong feelings on both sides, and Abigail Alling, one of the original eight bionauts, was so angry that she sabotaged the project. She surreptitiously broke the air seal, which effectively ruined the entire facility for continued research. At that point, apparently, NASA picked up the ball and ran with it, and Biosphere 2 turned into an Earth-oriented ecology research facility and a tourist attraction.

THE SMOKING GUN

It is very surprising that so much money has been spent and so much research effort has been expended for a goal that seems to be distant and that may be unreachable. How or when are we going to have a base on Mars anytime soon when the few robotic missions that have so far succeeded in hitting the planet have just scratched some dirt and looked at a few rocks? In 2004, President George W. Bush announced a new initiative for a manned mission to Mars as far off as 2025 to 2030. There certainly were no space events in the mid-1980s that would have justified launching these projects. And why were the Russians doing this research in the 1950s, when they hadn’t even put a man in orbit yet? Where did all this wild optimism come from?

A highly controversial researcher has an answer to these thorny questions, although others have made the same claim. Vladimir Terziski, a Bulgarian-born engineer and physicist, says that there has been a primitive joint U.S.-Russian base on Mars since 1962! It seems incredible that such a secret could have been maintained for forty years, especially all through the Cold War. Yet, if it is true, it would tend to explain the Russian interest in CELSS at an early date and their cooperation with the Biosphere 2 project. And it is believable that we may have had the technology to establish such a base in view of all the black projects going on since Roswell. After all, Wernher von Braun wrote a book called
The Mars Project
in 1953, giving all the scientific data necessary for a successful Mars landing. If such a base had been in existence for more than twenty years, then by 1986 it is likely that the U.S. and Russia jointly would have been seeking ways to make it more self-sufficient, in which case Biosphere 2 makes perfect sense. It is even barely possible that Biosphere 3 already exists on Mars! CELSS is a smoking gun. I leave it to the reader to follow up with his or her own research.

THE WRIGHT-PATTERSON CONNECTION

Given the institute’s deep expertise in metals and its wartime military affiliation, it should come as no surprise that when an alien spacecraft crashed in the New Mexico desert near Roswell in 1947, leaving metal-like fragments scattered all over the sheep ranch of Mac Brazel, the Army Air Force would turn to Battelle to analyze the debris—especially since Battelle knew how to keep secrets, as was amply demonstrated by its airtight participation in the Manhattan Project. In fact, it would actually be expected.

And so, the revelation by veteran UFO researcher and writer Anthony Bragalia that this is exactly what happened makes perfect sense. It makes even more sense since there is now overwhelming evidence that the recovered parts of the spacecraft were immediately flown to Wright-Patterson Air Base in Dayton, Ohio, which is just down the road (about one hundred miles) from Columbus. In fact, it seems very likely that the Army Air Force had originally located its Foreign Technology Division at Wright-Patterson entirely because of this proximity to Battelle.

Bragalia writes about a document that was retrieved under the Freedom of Information Act that clearly implicates Battelle in the analysis of the metallic pieces that were found at the Roswell crash site and the subsequent project to duplicate the so-called memory metal that astounded everyone who handled it at Roswell. Bragalia’s research is documented on his blogsite, http://ufocon.blogspot.com, in a document titled “The UFO Iconoclast(s)” and is incorporated into the revised and expanded edition of the book by Thomas J. Carey and Donald R. Schmitt,
Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the Government’s Biggest Cover-Up
.

The Freedom of Information Act request was submitted by Billy Cox, a reporter for the
Herald Tribune
in Sarasota, Florida. In August 2009, after a wait of ten weeks, the Battelle document finally arrived and was shared with Bragalia. It is titled “Second Progress Report Covering the Period September 1 to October 21, 1949 on Research and Development on Titanium Alloys Contract No. 33 (038)-3736.” The authors are Battelle analysts C. W. Simmons, C. T. Greenidge, C. M. Craighead, “and others.” The report was produced for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (by 1949 the Army Air Force had become the Air Force). Bragalia learned that the document had previously been restricted to viewing only by authorized Department of Defense personnel. The Freedom of Information Act release had to be approved even then, sixty years later, by the Secretary of the Air Force! About 30 percent of the original 119 pages were missing. The receipt of this document by Cox and Bragalia was the final chapter in a long investigation. They had previously found references to such a report in various footnotes in studies sponsored by the military on shape-memory alloys. In searching for this “missing” document, the paper trail led to Battelle. Initially, historians at both Battelle and Wright-Patterson claimed they couldn’t find it. But, thanks to the Freedom of Information Act request, it was ultimately located in the archives of the Defense Technical Information Center at the Department of Defense.

IT FLOATED DOWN LIKE KLEENEX

Many people handled the strange metallic-appearing debris that was scattered over Brazel’s ranch after the crash of the spacecraft. They were all astonished at the bizarre qualities of the small samples they managed to get their hands on. The following witness reports about the debris were taken from the website
http://roswellproof.com/debris2_memory_foil.html
.

Major Jesse Marcel said, “[There were] many bits of metallic foil, that looked like, but was not, aluminum, for no matter how often one crumpled it, it regained its original shape again. Besides that, they were indestructible, even with a sledgehammer.” Mac Brazel’s son, William Brazel Jr., said, “The odd thing about this foil was that you could wrinkle it and lay it back down and it immediately resumed its original shape. It was quite pliable, yet you couldn’t crease or bend it like ordinary metal. It was almost more like a plastic of some sort except that it was definitely metallic in nature. I don’t know what it was, but I do know that Dad once said that the Army had told him that they had definitely established it wasn’t anything made by us.”

Roswell researcher Don Burleson said, “Brazel set the object up at the base of a pinyon tree and suggested that they fire at it—which they did—with 30.06 deer rifles from a distance of about thirty feet, an easy target for experienced deer hunters. Mr. Croft (Phillip Croft, hunting companion of Mac Brazel) said that when the foil was hit, it spun a considerable distance up in the air and came floating down ‘like Kleenex.’ Upon examining the material, the men found that it showed no effects from having been hit—not even a dent, and certainly no tears or punctures.”

The Battelle “Second Progress Report” to Wright-Patterson is basically a review of Battelle’s effort to develop just such a metal as was reported by the Roswell witnesses. Although there is no direct reference to the Roswell crash in the report, there are so many personnel links and clues to ongoing UFO research at Battelle that there can be very little doubt that the document was a report on a contract with the Army Air Force to attempt to duplicate the metal found at Roswell.

THE BATTELLE UFO CULTURE

Perhaps the major clue was the discovery that one of the authors of the report who was included in the “and others” category was Elroy John Center, a senior research chemist at Battelle from 1939 to 1957. Center authored the section of the report dealing with the chemical analysis of titanium-based alloys. The report had already concluded that a shape-memory metal must be a titanium alloy of exceptional purity. Center’s job was to find ways to detect the oxygen levels in the titanium. It was already known that Center had told a friend in 1960 that while he was a research chemist at Battelle in the late 1940s, he had been given the job of evaluating an unknown material that they told him had been retrieved from a crashed “flying saucer.” He also told his friend that the material had “hieroglyphic-like” markings. In his blog, Bragalia tells us that Center’s family confirmed that he had an “intense interest” in UFOs and extraterrestrials while working at Battelle.

Center’s interest in UFOs was not unusual at Battelle. In fact, it was apparently embedded within the organizational culture. Bragalia reports that the director of Battelle in the late 1940s was Clyde Williams. Williams was, at the same time, serving on the government’s Research and Development Board, which also included in its membership Dr. Eric Walker and Dr. Robert Sarbacher, both of whom later acknowledged that they knew about the Roswell crash. This is certainly a strong indication that the entire government Research and Development Board was deeply involved in the UFO and ET issues. And this connection would explain why, in 1952, it was Battelle that was chosen to do all the analysis for the infamous Project Blue Book, although, supposedly, it was Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, the head of Blue Book, who selected Battelle for this job.

Given Battelle’s influence at such high levels, it is extremely unlikely that it was left to a lowly Air Force captain to make this selection. In any case, Battelle was commissioned to design the questionnaire and computerize and analyze the data for all reported UFO incidents nationally. Ruppelt took his job very seriously, and every Air Force base in the country had a Blue Book officer who was required to submit all UFO reports. Starting in March 1952, Battelle performed a massive statistical analysis of about 3,200 cases using the then-state-of-the-art IBM punched-card data processing technology. The project was completed in 1954, after Ruppelt’s departure, and resulted in the now well-known and contentious “Special Report 14.”

THE MYSTERIOUS DR. CROSS

The key intermediary between Wright-Patterson and Battelle after the Roswell crash was undoubtedly Dr. Howard Clinton Cross. It is known that Cross was a senior metallurgical researcher prior to the crash, but after the contract was awarded to Battelle, he apparently emerged as the research director for the shape-memory metal project. This placed him squarely at the crossroads of interaction with several government agencies, and he became the point man for all matters relating to UFOs at Battelle. Bragalia has done extensive research on Cross and has unearthed important details about his role in producing the “Second Progress Report” and with regard to Project Blue Book. Battelle learned that the Roswell metal was a combination of extremely pure titanium and another metal combined in a new way and decided that it could best be duplicated by combining titanium with nickel to produce the alloy NiTi. The challenge faced by Cross was how to combine extremely pure titanium and nickel to produce a shape-memory metal rather than a simple alloy.

The “Second Progress Report” summarizes the research and experimentation in that two-month period in 1949 in which Battelle scientists attempted to produce a “morphing metal,” that is, a metal that is pliable but always returns to its original shape. In a subsection of the report titled “Investigation of Melting Titanium,” Battelle scientist L. W. Eastwood examined ways to optimize the melting of titanium. This had to be done in a certain way to produce NiTi and required the use of an advanced arc furnace. It is known that Eastwood reported to Cross, as did Center, confirming Cross’s role as director of the project. In a section titled “Evaluation of Titanium Base Alloys,” the authors discussed ways to create a “recipe” for mixing nickel and titanium to produce NiTi. A nickel-titanium phase diagram is included. The report also evaluated other possible titanium alloys, including titanium-zirconium, and included a chart showing the “elongation” and “bendability” of various advanced titanium alloys.

In the early 1950s, Cross emerged as the director of the Project Blue Book research. During that time, Bragalia says in his blog, “Cross worked quietly—but very closely—with the heads of various departments of the U.S. government on various aspects of the UFO phenomena . . . He held technical knowledge about the craft’s construction and was given security clearances that enabled him to become a valuable asset to U.S. military and intelligence in analyzing and investigating especially complex UFO cases . . . The Battelle metallurgist was of such importance that he was able to deal freely with the heads of the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the CIA and Air Force Intelligence.”