Chapter 52
Starry, Starry Night:
August 12, 2025
Francesco sat on Ericka’s deck sipping an Aperol spritz. It was August 12th the best night to see the Perseids.
Francesco: “What is that weird cloud, hovering over the marsh?
Silvia: “Probably the lights of an airliner making its final approach to Logan airport.”
Francesco: “But why is it so bright and with that strange spiral?”
Ericka: “Just a lenticular cloud illuminated by the setting sun.”
Francesco: “I’ve never seen a cloud look like that.”
Ericka: “There you go, looking for UFO’s and Conspiracy theories. Aren’t the Perseids good enough for you?”
Francesco: “You’re no fun. Don’t you like to speculate?”
Ericka: “Nope I deal in fact-based, data driven evidence.”
Francesco: “Groan!”
Ericka: “Look there’s a satellite.”
Francesco: “There is another, and another. They could be one of Musk’s space links.”
Ericka: “No, they are all flying in different directions.”
Francesco: “An awful lot of ‘em for one night.”
Ericka: “Yup more space junk.”
Suddenly a meteor streaked across the night sky.
Francesco: “Finally, that’s the first thing that has made any sense tonight.”
The next morning Francesco checked the news. Thousands of other people from New England to Maryland had seen the strange wispy cloud.
Francesco: “That’s what we saw last night. It was fuel dumped by a powerful rocket.”
“I still think it was the sun illuminating a lenticular cloud.”
Francesco: “Nope, one rocket was launched by the Space Force from Cape Canaveral and it released several secret satellites.
And get this, the European Space Agency launched an Ariene rocket from their launch site in French Guiana the same night, and both rockets had maneuvered into geosynchronous orbit and then released satellites.”
Ericka: “They were probably just weather satellites.”
But why on the same night at the same time just before Putin was going to meet with Trump and when thousands of people would be out looking for meteors?”
Ericka: “The conditions were probably just right. Or just a simple coincidence.”
Francesco: “I don’t believe in coincidences. I think it was to show that the U.S. and Europe could work together to knock out a Russian satellite or even a Russian ballistic missile. Remember Putin wants to discuss a Ballistic missile treaty as well as a joint deal for Ukraine’s rare metals.”
Ericka: “Now you are deep into Conspiracy theory land.”
Francesco: “They could have also taken down one of the satellites.”
Ericka: “Ridiculous!”
Francesco: “Of course, if they did, we would never know about it.”
“Convenient for your argument, isn’t it!”
https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/after-first-operational-launch-heres-the-next-big-test-for-ulas-vulcan-rocket
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