More Cover-ups?

I recently watched the National Geographic program “Megalightning.” As the title indicates, the show covered newly discovered lightning above the clouds which have been named Sprites. This lightning was first believed to be shooting up into space from large storms on earth below. However, upon further inspection, Sprites were discovered to be firing down in a multitude of filaments and, as the atmosphere becomes heavier, the filaments intertwine into one massive bolt into the clouds. This results in a POSITIVE lightning bolt.

Most lightning is negatively charged. Passenger jets fly above the clouds and are designed to withstand an average negative-charge lightning strike. However, according to the NG story, the positive charge lightning is up to 10 times stronger than negative lightning and commercial planes have no protection from this type of strike. Therefore, according to the story, a lightning strike from a positive bolt would result in the destruction of the plane. This may account for some of the “mysterious” plane crashes in the past.

The question was raised regarding the shuttles. The hull of the shuttle is not as thick as that of a commercial airliner, therefore, a positive lightning strike could and would be just a deadly. It seems though that NASA disregarded the information presented to them from the scientific teams investigating megalightning. The teams concluded that megalightning strikes with odds of one in one hundred. To me, that sounded like pretty good odds of being struck, but apparently NASA didn’t think so. The teams findings were also backed by a former Cold War agent who developed and used equipment that was designed to listen for and locate atomic or nuclear blasts (testing) from other nations around the world—particularly our mortal enemy—the USSR (Russia). Using a modified version, this former government employee was able to detect the sub-audible sounds made by Sprites. Since thunder is the sound of lightning, Sprites HAD to have a sound. In the program, the sound—a low “thump” sort of sound (to me)—was played.

This low “thump” was to be heard again later in a much more sinister context.

In a horrid twist of irony, the shuttle Columbia was testing for megalightning. As the shuttle descended to earth, a man in San Fransisco was snapping photos of the entry. Within seconds, he heard of the shuttle disaster. Upon examining his photos, a purple bolt intersected with the shuttle trail and an obvious illumination appeared to the shuttle itself. The amateur photographer went to the media, which in turn released an article the next day. NASA was all over this! They sent an agent to confiscate all of the photos and the camera for investigation.

Well, as with all things government, there was an official determination. I remember that first was the excuse that the camera was defective. When the camera company retaliated by saying that their camera had no such defects, the story quickly changed. The purple squiggle was now caused by the photographer wiggling the camera when he took the picture. (After the shuttle’s demise, I remember there was speculation that equipment for this testing was exposed and attracted the lightning. This is probably not true in any way. But, who knows?) I am including a link here http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/050223columbia.htm of an article from Thunderbolts.info which has the SF photographer's photo for you to see.

Here’s the clincher. The former Cold War agent ran a tape of the shuttle’s return through his equipment. Just seconds before the explosion, a low “thump” very similar (in fact, I would say the same) to that of a Sprite could be heard. The tape then went on to include the audible grumble of Columbia exploding.

So, I have to ask (or do I?) if this is just another one of our illustrious government’s cover-ups? Did the San Francisco photographer capture the true culprit to Columbia’s destruction? Did coincidence play a mighty hand in showing us mere mortals that the heavens are filled with things that we are still unable to fathom or care to wholly admit?

My answer here is yes to all of the above.

If you have the opportunity to do so, watch "Megalightning" on the National Geographic channel and make your own opinions. Let me know what you think.