TRACECAT Case Directory
  Category 6, Physical Traces 
 
  Preliminary
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The Ubatuba Incident
Early September, 1957
Ubatuba, Brazil


Fran Ridge:
Early September, 1957; Ubatuba, Brazil, Sao Paulo Province
Noon. The witness was fishing together with various friends, at a place close to the town of Ubatuba when he sighted a flying disc approached the beach at unbelievable speed, and an accident, crash, into the sea, seemed imminent. At the last moment, however, when it seemed it was almost striking the waters, it made a sharp turn upward and climbed rapidly. Astonished, all the witnesses followed the spectacle with thier eyes, when they saw the disc explode into thousands of fiery fragments, which fell sparkling with magnificent brightness. They looked like fireworks, despite the time of the accident, at noon (midday). Most of the fragments, almost all, fell into the sea, but a number of small pieces fell close to the beach, and they picked up a large amount of this material ­ which was light as paper. The report was made by the witness to a columnist, and a sample of the material was provided. (Synopsis of a letter sent to El Globo society columnist, Mr. Ibrahim Sued). Three small pieces were provided. There have been numerous evaluations, all posted in the links below. Paul Hill discussed the results of his analysis. Laboratory analysis of the samples found the magnesium to be not only of exceptional purity, and anomalous in its trace composition of other elements, but 6.7% denser than ordinary pure magnesium, a figure well beyond the experimental error of the measurement. Hill's calculation shows that this observation can be accounted for by assuming that the sample contained only the pure isotope Mg-26, rather than the naturally-occurring distribution among isotopes Mg-24, Mg-25, and Mg-26. Since the only isotope separation on a significant scale in terrestrial manufacture is that of uranium, such a result must be considered at least anomalous, and possibly as evidence for extraterrestrial manufacture

Paul Hill:
In "UFO, The Whole Story", the Lorenzens made one of the most significant comments about the Ubatuba magnesium fragments: "The really strange facet of this particular incident and the subsequent investigations is the fact that three different analyses performed on three different fragments yielded completely different results." Agreed! Yet all of the analysts are probably correct in their physical findings. Anyone experienced in missile development can ex­plain the quoted result. When a supersonic developmental missile fails by disintegration it usually breaks into what looks like hundreds of fragments which seem to fill the sky like confetti. All parts of the vehicle get scrambled together. On reaching Earth they are better shuffled than a deck of cards on the deal. Any complex Earth machine is composed of dozens of metallic alloys, a different alloy for every special purpose. UFOs may well use special purpose materials also. The point is that the differences may be intentional. David Saunders also makes this point. Thus the best overall view of the Ubatuba magnesium fragments is that each one is unique to its special purpose. Fragment 1 was the most intriguing of them all, for according to the tests of some of the world's most experienced metallurgists that fragment was absolutely pure of all metals other than magnesium. This is as would be expected if it were the pure isotope magnesium 26. Fragment 1 was also the only fragment with the density to be expected of this pure isotope.

Brad Sparks:
Roy Craig lied and covered up the 14.3% Mg26 isotopic excess anomaly in his letter to APRO in 1968 and in his report in the Condon Report.

Detailed reports and documents
Dr. Olavo Fontes Report - APRO (The Temporal Doorway - Mark Cashman)
reports/ubatuba/(The Michael Swords files)
Ubatuba (Brazil) Incident (by Walter W. Walker)
Coral Lorenzen & the Ubatuba Fragments (by Robert Barrow)
Ubatuba [was: Michael Wolf's Samples in Italy] (Gildais Bourdais)
The Ubatuba Incident - Condon Committee Analysis
Dow Chemical And The Scientific Analysis OF UFO Debris (Joel Carpenter)
Composition of the Brazil Magnesium (Dr. Peter Sturrock)
On Events Possibly Related To The "Brazil Magnesium" [pdf file] (Kaufmann & Sturrock)
Levels Possibly Due to Pyrotechnic Contamination (Brad Sparks)
Analysis of the Metal (Jean Bastide)
A Scientific Analysis; The Ubatuba Magnesium & the Isotope Ratio (pgs. 226-234. "Unconventional Flying Objects, Paul Hill)


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