The To the Stars Academy, and 'Ed's' metal sample

Background

On the 26 July 2018, the website of the To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science (TTSA) announced the commencement of their A.D.A.M. Project. This project was stated to be '...an Academic Research Program Focused on Exotic Materials for Technology Innovation.'

TTSA also announced that it had '...established a contract with EarthTech International Inc....to evaluate the properties of the available materials.'

Introduction

On 15 August 2018, the TTSA Facebook page carried a post 'Engaging the Phenomena' about unusual materials. Embedded in the post, was  a 3 minute duration video, showing TTSA members travelling to Columbus, Ohio on 13 June 2018. The members were shown collecting some material. The material was then taken to Austin, Texas where it was shown being delivered to Drs Hal Puthoff and Eric Davis. In an earlier, shorter version of this video (33 seconds duration) the individual whom they were visiting was notated on screen, as 'Ed.' The name 'Ed' did not appear in the 3 minute version.

'Ed's' material

Also on 15 August 2018, on the TTSA Facebook page, a user named John Solo Giamundo  had shared a link to the TTSA ADAM Project's 3 minute video. There was a single comment underneath from  a Kain Baker. Baker posted a link to a page from the Internet Wayback machine. This was originally on the website of the Avalon Foundation. 

The Avalon Foundation site carried a report titled 'Two cases of Unusual Sky-fall Aluminum Metal From Ohio' authored by N A Reiter and Patricia Mason, dated 24 June 2008. One of the two metal samples from Ohio had been found by an individual named "Ed.' It is reasonable to conclude that this is the same Ed that the TTSA collected their sample from in June 2018 as shown on the TTSA video.

'Ed's' story and an analysis

From this 2008 paper:

'The Tiffin, Ohio case - 2003

In March of 2003, Nick Reiter received a phone call from his father Bruce Reiter concerning an interesting bit of news from his old rural neighbourhood, north of Tiffin,Ohio. His father related to Nick that his nearest neighbour 'Ed' - had found a mysterious piece of metal in his side yard, while raking up the last fall's leaves and twigs.

The object had been obscured over the winter by two heavy snowfalls and numerous lesser ones. Ed had no explanation for the irregular metal blob, which was roughly six inches by two and a half inches, with a maximum thickness of one half inch or so. The blog had very apparently been molten at some point, and had solidified against a fairly flat or solid surface. While the piece had been found in the yard on the earth, the bottom side of the blob when found was generally smooth with some white oxides present.

By reviewing the weather over the course of the winter that year, we concluded that the metal - if it had not been placed by artifice at a later post-snow date - had apparently fallen into a hard packed ice crushed snow drift that had  remained since January of the year, up until the thaw in March. The blog may have then melted into the snow and ice aways, but then apparently was covered over by February snowfalls.

That same month, Nick interviewed Ed carefully, and borrowed his blob of mystery metal. He was granted permission to cut it open as desired. Nick ended up sawing a roughly 2 inch portion from the main blob. The interior of the metal appeared homogeneous. A small shaving was taken from both the interior and the surface and analyzed by Nick using a Jeol 840 scanning  electron microscope fitted with EDS.

Photo A shows the portion of the sawed sample retrieved by Bruce and Nick Reiter.

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20111106121551/http://www.theavalonfoundation.org/images/msfm-photo-a.jpg

At that time, EDS [Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy-KB] disclosed that the metal was primarily aluminum, with traces of carbon and silicon. A crude Archimedian test of density indicated that the aluminum was within a couple percent of appropriate mass weight, thus meaning it was likely not an unusual isotope. It was not noticeably radioactive when surveyed with our Baird Atomic ratemeter (Geiger counter.)

The matter for Nick remained a mystery, and for his part in helping with the affair, Ed permitted Nick's father to keep the smaller portion of the metal blog as a souvenir.

Little more could be added to the story, as neither Ed nor anyone else could say for sure where the metal came from. It appeared to have fallen from the sky on an unknown snowy day or night in early 2003. From what height, or from what source, was inscrutable.

Shortly after the information came to Nick's attention concerning the second case of apparent sky-fall aluminum in November of 2006, he made a futile search for the EDS data, from 2003, for Ed's sample. The data had been saved on a  diskette that had been misplaced or mislabelled. We were left for the time with only memory to relate to.'

A question

A very simple question came to mind when I read this 2008 report. Given that 'Ed' found his metal blob in his back yard, and did not report seeing it fall from a UFO, why are the TTSA interested in this blob? There is no evidence given which links the blob to the UFO phenomenon.

Having said that, the 2008 report goes on to describe a second Ohio instance involving an aluminum blob. In this 1996 incident, there was a reported 'thud' nearby as a UFO flew overhead making a noise. The witness, Bernie Foggin stated that he found a blob of solidified but still hot aluminum in his drive. This material was also analysed. The entire report is well worth a read.

Additional information

For a 10 August 2008, The Paracast forum message by Nick Reiter, where he explains that the Avalon Foundation website was started by himself to present his work, click here. 

For a link to Nick Reiter's appearances on 'Coast to Coast' radio, click here. Here, it reveals that 'Nick was the behind-the-scenes formerly anonymous analyzer solicited by Linda Moulton Howe to examine the alleged Roswell UFO metal fragment.'