Mystery surrounds death of NINTH scientist tied to U.S. secrets as disturbing pattern grows | 7 April 2026 | Another scientist with ties to America’s space program has now joined the growing list of deaths and disappearances around the U.S. Michael David Hicks, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), passed away on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59, but the cause of death was never made public, and no record of an autopsy being performed could be found. Hicks, who worked at JPL from 1998 to 2022, was credited with publishing over 80 scientific papers and was part of multiple teams helping NASA understand the physical properties of comets and asteroids… While there have been no public allegations of foul play, Hicks’s case marks the ninth person with ties to America’s space or nuclear secrets who has died or mysteriously vanished in recent years, which has set off alarm bells among U.S. national security experts. Moreover, three of these scientists had close ties to Hicks, as all of them worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab or participated in NASA missions there. Monica Reza, JPL’s new Director of the Materials Processing Group, vanished without a trace in June 2025, just months after beginning her tenure at the NASA lab.