- Well, the mystery is solved!
- (Or 'sol-ved' as Inspector Clouseau would say.)
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- Some weeks ago, Brad and Sherry Steiger agreed to allow
posting of a strange photo of a mysterious machine or device on the Steiger
website at Rense.com. The announcement was made during one of Brad's regular
guest appearances on the program and an appeal went out for help in trying
to identify the device...if it could be identified at all. Webmaster James
Neff did a brilliant job of presenting the image including zooming close-up
of four key visible sections of is and a colorized version which added
startling depth and dimension to it.
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- Brad received a number of email from people, offering
their view as to what the device might be or where it might have come from.
But none were correct.
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- First, let's take a look at the James Neff's colorized
version of the mystery photo...
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- As many of you know, the photo was given to Brad and
Sherry by an acquaintance. Reportedly, this 'machine' was unearthed in
the Western US...and then re-buried. The source told Brad and Sherry it
was understood there had been several of these 'machines' - perhaps six
- all buried at the same general location. From the photo, it appears the
area is arid and sandy.
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- Interestingly, it is said there are strange glyphs over
much of the object. Here is a photo of a rubbing of a few of these alleged
symbols that Brad and Sherry also posted on their site (most people who
view these glyphs recognize many of the characters to be arabic)...
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- The Sleuth Who Solved The Mystery
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- Regular rense.com visitor James Carmody saw the picture
and heard Brad issue an appeal for help in trying to identify the 'machine'
... is it a human-made object or is it a piece of equipment from elsewhere...or
another time, long ago?
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- Jim has some brilliant friends in the scientific community
and sent the link of the picture to them with the challenge:
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- "So, you engineering guys, what the hell is this??"
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- In short order, Jim received the following reply from
one of his engineer friends:
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- To: James Carmody
- From: name confidential
- Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2002
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- Jim -
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- Below is copied out of a response from a friend of mine
who works at one of the national labs. I have asked if there is any more
detail info available. Will let you know if I get more.
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- (here is what the 'friend' said:)
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- "Well, I just happen to know what this is, I look
at it every day. It is part of a failed science project LLNL (Lawrence
Livermore National Lab) did, called the Magnetic Fusion Project. Your tax
payer dollars at work."
- ____
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- He "looks at it every day." Hmm...is he seeing
the mystery machine itself? Or, perhaps a photo of it?
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- Jim took went to the LLNL site and found an entry for
'MFE Magnet' on the Lawrence Livermore Timeline page of past projects from
the 1980s. http://www.llnl.gov/timeline/80s.html
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- If you click on 'MFE Magnet', the following remarkable
answer to the mystery appears...
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- MFE Magnet
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- "The Magnetic Fusion Energy Program's huge Yin-Yang
magnet was installed in 1981 to produce the strong magnetic field needed
for fusion experiments. The fusion reaction releases a large amount of
energy that would be used to heat steam and turn conventional electrical
generators."
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- So, Brad and Sherry's mystery machine was a failed, secret
program to develop magnetic fusion as alternative energy technology!
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- Here is the full page explanation of this formerly secret
MFE Magnet project:
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- http://www.llnl.gov/timeline/1980s/Highlights/magnet.html
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- Lawrence Livermore Timeline-1980s
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- MFE Magnet
- (Excerpted from: "Swords into Plowshares and Beyond,"
Science & Technology Review, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory,
January 2001.)
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- Another early energy effort was research on magnetic
fusion energy. This research had been part of the Laboratory since its
founding in 1952 and grew under Director Batzel's directorship. In the
magnetic confinement concept, the fuel is trapped in a magnetic force field
long enough to achieve fusion. These systems use large electric currents
traveling through huge magnet coils to produce the immensely strong magnetic
fields needed. The Laboratory experimented with confining the fuel with
giant magnets in experiments such as Levitron, Baseball I and II, TMX (Tandem
Mirror Experiment), 2XIIB, and MFTF (Mirror Fusion Test Facility), culminating
in the MFTF-B, initiated in 1981. The magnet system for MFTF-B was the
largest superconducting system ever built. Shortly after the system was
completed in 1986, DOE, faced with budget reductions, decided to focus
its magnetic fusion energies on a different technology--the tokamak. The
Laboratory then became a contributor to the International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor (ITER) project to design and build the world's first
full-scale magnetic fusion reactor.
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- More recently, Livermore fusion energy scientists are
revisiting the spheromak concept. A tokamak's magnetic fields are generated
by large, external magnetic coils surrounding a doughnut-shaped reactor,
with other magnets in the hole in the donut. In the spheromak configuration,
the plasma fuel produces some of its own confining magnetic fields, requiring
only an external set of coils and making for a much more compact machine
capable of producing a higher-temperature and higher-density plasma.
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- I received this final comment from James Carmody...
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- "Apparently, it may have been buried to cover up
a multi-billion dollar failure..."
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- Buried in the Western US. Perhaps with several other
prototypes.
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- So, the mystery is no more. The bizarre 'machine' is
a perfect example of an exotic, declassified so-called secret 'black' scientific
program.
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- Fascinating to think about the ramifications had the
MFE Magnet project been a success. Magnetic Fusion Energy.
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- But what about those strange 'glyphs' reportedly scrawled
on it? Graffiti of some sort? A prank? Time may tell...
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- My thanks to Brad and Sherry for releasing their photo
for posting.
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- And to Jim Carmody for solving the enigma.
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- -- Jeff Rense
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