Posted on 04/27/2005 12:04:08 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
PORTLAND, Maine -- The Portland waterfront is still awash with rumors about the mystery ship that's been cloaked in secrecy since it tied up in the harbor three weeks ago.
The Portland Press Herald said the latest theory is that the Sage may be carrying equipment used to observe an Air Force Titan rocket on a top-secret mission. The rocket's flight path would take it over the ocean on a trajectory parallel to the East Coast.
Others believe that the vessel is in town to track the space shuttle Discovery.
The Sage, which is about 180 feet long and has two large domes on its deck, was apparently leased by defense contractor Lockheed Martin.
Anyone in the loop about the ship's mission, including its captain, Lockheed Martin, the Air Force and NASA, is keeping mum.
Earlier this month, the Air Force postponed the launch of the Titan IVB rocket after the Canadian government expressed concern that its 11-ton booster engines jettisoned from the main rocket could crash into the ocean near Newfoundland's offshore oil platforms, 196 miles off Saint John, New Brunswick. Oil companies planned to evacuate 325 crewmen from the oil platforms.
The Titan rocket is carrying a satellite for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Organization. The Air Force has told the Canadians it will destroy the rocket if there is a problem.
Peter Brown, senior multimedia editor for VIA Satellite Magazine, has examined photos of the Sage, which is equipped with two large domes on its deck. He said it appears to have a large telemetry antenna that could gather a stream of data from the shuttle or the Titan rocket as it proceeds on a projected flight path up the East Coast.
In addition, it has equipment that could beam high-resolution, real-time video via satellite back to either NASA or the Air Force, he said.
The Coast Guard Marine Safety Office has received numerous calls from people wondering about the Sage, which is tied up in a secure area at the Portland Ocean Terminal.
Todd Bagetis, a Coast Guard petty officer, said the Coast Guard knows the ship's mission, but he would not describe what it is. "I don't want a lot of citizens to get all worried about nothing," he said.
The Sage, registered in New Orleans, is about 180 feet long and is one of 530 vessels owned by Tidewater, an offshore marine-services provider. Stephen Dick, the company's executive vice president, said he believes Lockheed Martin, a defense contractor, is leasing the vessel.
Lockheed Martin manufactured the Titan rocket, as well as the external fuel tanks on the Discovery, at its New Orleans plant. It is a partner with Boeing in the United Space Alliance, which has a contract with NASA to handle shuttle launch and landing activities at the Kennedy Space Center and flight operations for the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
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The Sage is a special ops ship along with its sister ships Parsley, Rosemay and Thyme. During Air Force and NASA missions these vessels deploy to observe and record launch, orbital, and re-entry telemetry. The NSA then collaltes the data which eventually adds more spice to the mission objectives.
Secret pass code: Scarborough Fair
LoL
A public relations spokeswoman at Lockheed Martin's space division in California said the company was not involved with tracking the Discovery. A public relations spokesman at the company's marine division in New Jersey said he didn't know anything about the Sage.
Tom Greer, who sits on the media desk at the company's corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Md., said the Sage is a mystery to him as well.
"We don't know what the heck it is," he said. "But that doesn't mean there's not something else there."
The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram contacted several officials at NASA over a period of five days, but none could say conclusively whether the Sage is involved in the shuttle mission.
Monroe, the ports director, said the parabolic antennae on the Sage are larger versions of homeowner satellite dishes that receive television signals. If the antennae are not used for the Discovery, he said, perhaps they are intended to track communications satellites or global position system satellites.
Perhaps, he said, the ship is involved in some classified mission for the Central Intelligence Agency or Department of Defense.
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/050423ship.shtml
Space alien eggs.
Recently discovered.
Yeah, that's it.
Heh. Nice one :)
You'd need one huge slab 'o bacon to go with those.
You really should see some of the nutbag comments that "Chachi" was responding to there.Chachi of Falmouth, Me
Apr 27, 2005 2:35 PM
Yo,First, the ship has been contracted out by NASA...so, it is most likely tracking the shuttle. That's it...that's all! I know, I know, all you liberal yahoos with nothing better to do than to complain about President Bush and the way our government pillages you and your families really want to believe that it is something more. President Bush has nothing to do with NASA contracts. Stop creating conspiracies...leave that to your idol, Michael Moore. Put down your 'phatty' bong, stop binging on Pop Tarts, starting blaming yourself for your poverty and laziness, and stop worrying about a simple research boat and get a job!
You have been hanging with Julio down by the schoolyard too much. Put away the Kodachrome.
The decision was made Thursday after Premier Danny Williams said he was given assurances the Titan IV rocket would be destroyed if it veered off course and threatened the Hibernia platform and two other rigs in the North Atlantic.
The premier said he received a letter from Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan stating the U.S. Air Force Space Command was prepared to blow up the rocket if it left its intended course.
Williams insisted the decision last week to evacuate the rigs was the right thing to do, even though the launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., will now go ahead as planned with no change to the rocket's trajectory.
CUT
The rocket is to carry an intelligence-gathering satellite on behalf of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.
The launch has been delayed several times due to technical problems, including twice in the past week.
The Newfoundland premier sparked a flurry of diplomatic manoeuvering when he told reporters last week about the risk of the rocket launch.
The evacuation plan prompted a meeting between U.S., Canadian and provincial officials on the weekend, but Williams said he was still concerned about the lack of information from the Americans.
"After extensive efforts, I am relieved and satisfied that we have been successful in getting the assurances required to ensure the safety of workers on those vessels," Williams said during a radio call-in show Wednesday night.'
Macri said the issue was largely resolved by getting information to the public.
"We in the air force have been doing this for a long time, so we're very accurate with our predictions," he said. "I think once the word got out as far as what the chances were of there being any damage to the platform, I think that helped alleviate concerns both on the part of the government and people who might be working on those platforms."
Evacuating and shutting down production on Hibernia and the nearby Terra Nova and White Rose projects would have cost more than $250 million.
The transistor version was called BUIC, (Back Up Interceptor Control) and was the size of a desk where the tube computer was the size of a large warehouse!
That SAGE Blockhouse had 10' thick walls and could serve as a fall out shelter for 11,000 people. The base population including dependents was about 5,200!
As a side note, a radio show in Minot sponsored a contest with Taco Bell for the first person to "guess the title of a song" The winner could go anywhere in the world. Sage and thyme were two of the clues. I was sent on a TDY assignment and when I returned someone had guessed Scarborough Fair!! Had I got back in time I woulda won!
Cripes, you get more out of the Canadian news sources on this then here in the US.
Are you the walrus??
LOL
Apparently there never was ever any danger whatsoever to those platforms. Some alarmist just rang his bell.
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