NASA's Unexplained Files (2012–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - Revenge of the Fireflies - full transcript
Something in space is attacking the brains of our astronauts. What is it? Should NASA be worried about the sudden appearance of so-called space fireflies? Who could be responsible for the bizarre glowing spiral in the skies over Norway?
NASA's MISSION
IS TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN.
THERE'S MORE THAT WE
DON'T KNOW THAN WE DO KNOW.
THAT'S JUST THE NATURE
OF THE UNIVERSE.
IN THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS,
IT LAUNCHES ITS SCIENTISTS
INTO SPACE,
ITS CRAFT BEYOND THE LIMITS
OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
TAKING RISK IS PART
OF MAKING DISCOVERIES.
SPACE EXPLORATION
IS LIKE LIGHTING A MATCH,
AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT LURKS
IN THE SHADOWS.
THERE COULD BE ANYTHING
OUT THERE.
THE DANGERS OF SPACE
TRAVEL PUSH ASTRONAUTS
TO THEIR BREAKING POINT.
PSHOO! PSHOO! PSHOO!
THERE'S A PROCEDURE
FOR A PSYCHOTIC CREW MEMBER.
ASTRONAUTS CAN SNAP.
NASA DISCOVERS A HELLISH WORLD
THAT DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
ONE ASTRONOMER HAS CALLED IT
AN ABOMINATION.
AND DO STRANGE LIGHTS IN
THE SKY SIGNAL ARMAGEDDON?
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
NASA's MISSIONS HAVE UNCOVERED
Okay, we're seeing
three or four objects.
Yeah, there are three objects.
...THAT CONTINUE TO PERPLEX
OUR FINEST SCIENTIFIC MINDS.
THESE ARE
NASA'S UNEXPLAINED FILES.
NASA's Unexplained Files - SEASON 2
EP - 8 - Revenge of the Fireflies
SOMETHING IN SPACE IS ATTACKING
THE BRAINS OF OUR ASTRONAUTS.
PSHOO! PSHOO! PSHOO!
THEY CAN PENETRATE YOUR BODY.
THEY CAN DAMAGE CELLS.
THEY'RE NASTY.
THE EFFECTS
ARE NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD,
BUT THE CONSEQUENCES
COULD BE FATAL.
THE BRAIN ULTIMATELY
BECOMES OVERWHELMED.
RATIONAL THOUGHT CAN MEAN
THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.
SINCE THE DAWN
OF THE SPACE PROGRAM,
NASA HAS SELECTED
HUMANITY'S BEST AND BRIGHTEST
TO BE ASTRONAUTS.
WE WENT TO THE AIR FORCE
HOSPITAL IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS,
AND WE HAD A PHYSICAL.
IT WAS A 10-DAY PHYSICAL,
AND WHEN WE FINISHED
THE PHYSICAL,
THEY KNEW MORE ABOUT ME THAN I
WOULD EVER EVEN WANT TO KNOW.
THEY TAKE FIGHTER PILOTS,
ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS
AT THE PEAK OF THEIR PHYSICAL
AND MENTAL POWERS.
THEY WERE COMBAT PILOTS.
THEY WERE TEST PILOTS.
THEY WERE NOT GONNA LOSE IT.
BUT IN SPITE
OF THE RIGOROUS SCREENING,
WHEN THESE MEN GET INTO SPACE,
STRANGE THINGS START TO HAPPEN.
THE FIRST INCIDENT HAPPENS WHEN
ASTRONAUT RUSTY SCHWEICKART
STEPS OUT INTO SPACE
DURING THE APOLLO 9 MISSION.
THE EXPERIENCE LASTS
ONLY FIVE MINUTES
BUT CHANGES SCHWEICKART FOREVER.
ALL OF THESE
QUESTIONS CAME FLOODING...
FLOODING INTO MY MIND.
I MEAN, WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
WHO AM I?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
WHEN I SAY "I"?
WHAT WAS HAPPENING?
WHAT WAS GOING ON?
SCHWEICKART
IS CLEARLY OVERWHELMED.
HE'S LOST ALL SENSE
OF THE MISSION.
AND FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME,
HE WAS NO LONGER
A VALUABLE ASSET.
AND SCHWEICKART'S EXPERIENCE
ON THE SKYLAB 4 MISSION,
THE ASTRONAUTS WOULD HAVE
ARGUMENTS WITH EACH OTHER.
BUT MOST CONCERNING WAS
THAT AT ONE POINT,
THEY ACTUALLY
SHUT OFF MISSION CONTROL.
THEY STOPPED LISTENING.
THAT'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM,
A SERIOUS BREACH.
THAT'S EFFECTIVELY A MUTINY.
FROM SCHWEICKART
THROUGH THE SKYLAB MISSIONS OF
THE '70s INTO THE SHUTTLE ERA,
ASTRONAUTS FROM EVERY GENERATION
REPORT STRANGE EXPERIENCES.
ASTRONAUTS CAN SNAP,
EMBARKING ON A COURSE
WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE
TO ANYONE ELSE OR TO THEM.
IT'S NOT, UH, SOMETHING
YOU CAN PREPARE FOR.
IT'S AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
THAT...
THAT REALLY CAN'T DESCRIBE.
NASA HAS ALWAYS BEEN
CONCERNED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY
THAT SOMETHING IN SPACE
COULD HARM THE MINDS
OF THEIR ASTRONAUTS.
YEARS BEFORE MANKIND
FIRST STEPPED INTO SPACE,
THE AGENCY BEGAN
GRAPPLING WITH THE ISSUE.
IN THE 1950s,
AN AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC REPORT
WARNED THAT ASTRONAUTS
NEED TO HAVE STRINGENT
PSYCH EVALUATIONS DONE
BECAUSE THEY FOUND THAT
THEY HAD BIZARRE MOTIVATIONS
FOR WANTING TO GO TO SPACE.
THEY CALL IT SPACE MADNESS.
IT'S A BIG DEAL FOR NASA.
IF AN ASTRONAUT LOSES IT,
THAT'S THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL
THREAT TO ANY SPACE MISSION.
DEALING WITH
THE THREAT OF SPACE MADNESS
IS STILL A PART
OF EVERY ASTRONAUT'S TRAINING.
THERE'S A PROCEDURE
FOR A PSYCHOTIC CREW MEMBER.
IN THAT CASE,
YOU WOULD USE DUCT TAPE
TO TRY TO RESTRAIN THE PERSON,
AND THEN ADMINISTER A SEDATIVE.
NEUROSCIENTIST DR. ANDY
NEWBERG HAS CONDUC
OF WHAT'S HAPPENING
TO ASTRONAUT BRAINS.
I ALWAYS NOTICED THAT
THERE WAS A BIG DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THOSE WHO HAD ACTUALLY
GONE UP INTO SPACE
AND THOSE WHO HAD NOT.
IT SEEMS TO RESHAPE THE WAY
OUR BRAIN WORKS.
THE NORMAL PARTS OF OUR BRAIN
CAN GET ALL OUT OF WHACK.
OTHER THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN
IN ZERO GRAVITY
INCLUDE THINGS
LIKE HALLUCINATIONS,
WHERE YOU MIGHT HEAR SOMETHING
OR SMELL SOMETHING.
A... A COMMON PHENOMENON,
FOR EXAMPLE, WITH ASTRONAUTS
WAS THAT THEY WOULD
SEE FLASHES OF LIGHT.
INITIAL RESEARCH
SUGGESTS THAT MICROGRAVITY
CAN INHIBIT THE RELEASE OF
VITAL MOOD-ALTERING HORMONES
IN THE BRAIN.
BUT NOT EVERYTHING THAT
HAPPENS TO ASTRONAUTS' BRAINS
CAN BE EXPLAINED BY GRAVITY.
THERE'S ANOTHER
DESTRUCTIVE FORCE
ASSAULTING SPACE TRAVELERS,
POTENTIALLY EVEN MUTATING THEM.
WHEN ASTRONAUTS ARE UP IN SPACE,
THEY GET EXPOSED
TO A LOT MORE RADIATION
THAN WE ARE DOWN HERE, ON EARTH.
IT CAN PENETRATE YOUR BODY.
IT CAN BREAK THE DNA
AND THE CELLS THEMSELVES.
THEY'RE NASTY.
A DESTRUCTION FROM THE
RADIATION OF BRAIN TISSUES
THAT WILL MAKE
THE BRAIN NOT WORK AS WELL.
NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW BADLY
RADIATION IS MUTATING
OUR ASTRONAUTS' BRAINS.
ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN... THE
DEEPER WE TRAVEL INTO SPACE,
THE GREATER THE THREAT
IT POSES TO NASA'S MISSION
AND THE LIVES OF OUR ASTRONAUTS.
AS WE VENTURE
FARTHER AWAY FROM THE EARTH,
ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE
OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE,
RADIATION
WILL BECOME EVEN MORE INTENSE.
AND YOU START HAVING MORE
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS, AS WELL.
THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND WAYS
OF RESOLVING THOSE THINGS,
OR ELSE THOSE MISSIONS
ARE GONNA REALLY HAVE
POTENTIAL FAILURES.
A ROGUE ASTRONAUT COULD,
THEORETICALLY, DO A LOT
OF DAMAGE TO A SPACECRAFT.
BUT THERE ARE OTHER FORCES
IN SPACE
CAPABLE OF DOING
EVEN GREATER HARM.
AND SOME OF THEM
ARE HARDER TO SEE COMING.
A SERIES OF WEIRD, FLASHING
OBJECTS SHADOWS COSMONAUTS
WORKING ON THE EXTERIOR OF
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.
DANCING LIGHTS SEEM TO MOVE
UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT
EXACTLY WHAT
THESE OBJECTS COULD BE.
SOON AFTER THE SIGHTING,
THE SPACE STATION MALFUNCTIONS.
IT'S A BIT UNCANNY.
THE ASTRONAUTS' LIVES
COULD BE IN DANGER.
APRIL 19, 2013.
COSMONAUTS PAVEL VINOGRADOV
AND ROMAN ROMANENKO
STEP OUT
INTO THE VACUUM OF SPACE.
THEY'RE ABOUT TO BEGIN
SIX HOURS OF WORK
ON ONE
OF THE STRANGEST EXPERIMENTS
IN THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION'S HISTORY.
THE RUSSIAN EXPERIMENT
IS CALLED BIORISK,
AND ONE HAS TO WONDER
WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON THERE.
ACCORDING TO THE
RUSSIANS, THE BIORISK PROJECT
IS DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE
THE EFFECTS OF SOLAR RADIATION
ON LIVING ORGANISMS IN SPACE.
CULTIVATING LIFE FORMS
ON THE OUTSIDE OF A SPACECRAFT
IS A HIGH-RISK ACTIVITY
AT THE BEST OF TIMES.
WHILE THE TWO COSMONAUTS
FOCUS ON COMPLETING THEIR T
SOMETHING APPEARS
IN THE DARKNESS BEHIND THEM.
THE OBJECTS ARE SEEN
TO BE FLICKERING.
THESE LITTLE DOTS
SEEM TO BE BLINKING.
THEY SEEM TO BE WINKING.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT
EXACTLY WHAT THESE OBJECTS
COULD BE.
THE OBJECTS ARE EERILY
REMINISCENT OF A PHENOMENON
FIRST ENCOUNTERED BY JOHN GLENN
ON THE FIRST
MERCURY PROGRAM MISSION.
THE OBJECTS BECOME KNOWN
AS SPACE FIREFLIES.
WHEN THERE WERE FIRST REPORTS
ABOUT SO-CALLED FIREFLIES,
PEOPLE RAISED A LOT OF EYEBROWS TO SAY,
"THAT'S RIDICULOUS.
THERE'S NOTHING UP THERE.
CAN'T BE."
NOBODY BELIEVED IT.
THEY THOUGHT
THEY WERE SIMPLY ILLUSIONS.
NASA'S INVESTIGATION
INTO GLENN'S SIGHTING
CONCLUDED THAT THE FIREFLIES
WERE ICE CRYSTALS
SHED FROM HIS MERCURY CAPSULE.
BUT THE MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS
SURROUNDING THE I.S.S.
AREN'T FOLLOWING
THE SAME PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR.
NASA EXPLAINS THESE THINGS
CALLED FIREFLIES
AS ICE PARTICLES.
AND SURE, THERE ARE
ICE PARTICLES IN SPACE.
BUT ICE PARTICLES
DON'T CHANGE DIRECTION.
THEY FLOAT
IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
THESE THINGS SEEM TO MOVE
UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL.
IMAGE ANALYST MARK D'ANTONIO
HAS CONDUCTED HIS OWN A
TO ESTABLISH THE SIZE
OF THE OBJECTS
AND DETERMINE WHETHER THEY
COULD HAVE POSED A THREAT
TO THE MISSION.
THE OBJECTS APPEAR IN THE
BACKGROUND OF THE IMAGE,
WHICH MAKES IDENTIFYING
THEM HARDER.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT MANY
OF THESE OBJECTS
ARE SEEN BEHIND THE I.S.S.
AGAINST THE BLACKNESS OF SPACE.
IN SUCH A POSITION,
IT'S REALLY HARD TO GAUGE THEIR SIZE.
YOU DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE LARGE OR SMALL,
NEAR OR FAR.
WHATEVER THEY WERE,
THE MYSTERY OBJECTS' APPEARANCE
MARKS THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER
IN ONE OF THE MOST
DISTURBING EPISODES
IN THE HISTORY OF THE I.S.S.
SOON AFTER,
THE SPACE STATION'S AMMONIA COOLING SYSTEM
SUFFERS A MAJOR MALFUNCTION.
A SERIOUS AMMONIA LEAK
CAN CREATE A SERIOUS PROBLEM
ON THE STATION BECAUSE,
WITH THE COOLING LOOP DOWN,
YOUR ELECTRONICS THAT ARE
ON A LOOP HAVE TO BE TURNED OFF,
AND YOU LOSE MAJOR FUNCTION.
THE I.S.S.
CARRIES TWO COOLING LOOPS.
WITH ONE DOWN, THE SITUATION
COULD BECOME CRITICAL.
IN THE EVENT THE BACKUP FAILS,
THE ASTRONAUTS' LIVES
COULD BE IN DANGER.
ASTRONAUTS CHRIS CASSIDY A
CONDUCT AN UNSCHEDULED
SPACEWALK TO FIX THE PROBLEM.
THERE ARE NO
UNSCHEDULED SPACEWALKS
ON THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION,
UNLESS THERE'S AN EMERGENCY.
BUT WHEN CASSIDY AND MARSHBURN
REACH THE SUPPOSEDLY
FAULTY PUMP,
THEY FIND NO TRACE OF ANY LEAK.
NASA'S OFFICIAL POSITION IS
THAT THERE WAS AN AMMONIA LEAK,
AND THEY TRACED ITS CAUSE
TO A FAULTY VALVE
IN THE COOLING PUMP.
WHETHER THERE WAS ANY POSSIBLE
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE LEAK
AND THE APPEARANCE
OF THE FIREFLIES
REMAINS UNCERTAIN.
UP NEXT,
WHEN MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS IN THE
SKY SPARK RUMORS WORLDWIDE,
NASA GETS THE BLAME.
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING AROUND
ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
A SPIRALING BEAM
OF LIGHT RISES INTO THE SKY.
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING
AROUND ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
THE MYSTERIOUS LIGHT SHOW
SPARKS A WORLDWIDE SEARCH
FOR ANSWERS.
A PORTENT, AN OMEN,
A WARNING, A TIME TUNNEL
TO ANOTHER DIMENSION,
MAYBE EVEN THE SECOND COMING.
NASA TACKLES SOME
OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS
FACED BY MANKIND.
BUT ITS REPUTATION
FOR ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE
ALSO CREATES UNEASE
AMONG THOSE WHO DO NOT TRUST
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
ON DECEMBER 9, 2009,
THE PEOPLE OF NORWAY
ARE PREPARING
FOR THE HISTORIC ARRIVAL
OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.
BUT FOR THE INHABITANTS
OF ONE NORTHERN TOWN,
THE DAY WILL BE REMEMBERED
FOR A VERY DIFFERENT REASON.
IT'S JUST BEFORE SUNRISE.
PEOPLE ARE GETTING READY TO GO
OUT AND TAKE THE KIDS TO SCHOOL.
SUDDENLY, THEY SEE A STRANGE
LIGHT RISING IN THE EAST,
BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD LIGHT IN
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING AROUND
ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
AS THE STUNNED
RESIDENTS LOOK ON,
THE PHENOMENON MORPHS
FROM A SIMPLE, GLOWING BEAM
INTO A TWISTING VORTEX OF LIGHT.
WITHIN A FEW SECONDS,
A GIANT SPIRAL
HUNDREDS OF MILES WIDE
DOMINATES THE PRE-DAWN SKIES.
WITNESSES ARE STILL TRYING
TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT THEY'RE SEEING WHEN,
WITHOUT WARNING, IT DISAPPEARS.
AS PEOPLE
WATCH THIS AMAZING SIGHT,
SUDDENLY, A BLACK HOLE
APPEARS IN THE MIDDLE
AND SWALLOWS
THE ENTIRE APPARITION.
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
DOZENS OF VIDEOS
AND PHOTOS OF THE SIGHTING
SOON EMERGE FROM WITNESSES
AS FAR AWAY AS SWEDEN.
IT BECOMES KNOWN
AS THE SPIRAL ANOMALY.
MANY OBSERVERS DECLARE
THIS EVENT AN ELABORATE HOAX.
NO NATURAL PHENOMENON
COULD CREATE SUCH A
PERFECT SHAPE IN THE SKY.
BUT AS MORE AND MORE
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS EMERGE,
IT SOON BECOMES CLEAR
THIS IS A GENUINE MYSTERY.
ONE THEORY EMERGES
THAT THE SPIRAL COULD BE
NOTHING MORE THAN AN EXTREME
FORM OF AURORA BOREALIS,
OR NORTHERN LIGHTS.
IF YOU LIVED IN NORWAY,
YOU'RE USED
TO SEEING SHIMMERING CURTAINS
OF GREEN AND PINK IN THE SKY.
YOU'RE NOT USED TO SEEING
A BIG SPIRAL IN THE SKY.
PEOPLE IN NORWAY KNOW WHAT
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS LOOK LIKE.
THIS WASN'T IT.
WITH NATURAL PHENOMENA
RULED OUT AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE,
NORWEGIANS START TO
SUSPECT THE INVOLVEMENT
OF RUSSIAN MILITARY FORCES
ACROSS THE NEARBY BORDER.
RUSSIA FLATLY DENIES
ALL KNOWLEDGE
OF ANY STRANGE CLOUD
OR BEAM OF LIGHT.
SO, THAT BEGS THE QUESTION,
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING?
THE ABSENCE
OF ANY SOLID INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CAUSE
OF THE PHENOMENON SPARKS FEARS
THAT IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING
MORE SINISTER
THAN ANY RUSSIAN WEAPON.
ALL OVER THE INTERNET,
THERE ARE A DOZEN THEORIES
EXPLAINING IT IN TERMS
OF SOME KIND OF BLACK HOLE,
SOME KIND OF
SPACE-TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.
A PORTENT, AN OMEN,
A WARNING, A TIME TUNNEL
TO ANOTHER DIMENSION,
MAYBE EVEN THE SECOND COMING.
ALL THESE WILD IDEAS
ARE JUSTIFIED
BECAUSE IT WAS ONE OF THE WILDEST,
WEIRDEST EVENTS
EVER VIDEOTAPED
IN HUMAN HISTORY.
ONE OF THE MOST EXTREME
THEORIES ABOUT T
IS THAT IT IS THE FIRST STEP
IN A TOP-SECRET NASA OPERATION
KNOWN AS PROJECT BLUE BEAM.
PROJECT BLUE BEAM IS ONE
OF THE MOST WIDELY BELIEVED
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
IN THE WORLD.
IT'S THE IDEA THAT NASA
AND SOME OTHER
GOVERNMENTAL CONSPIRATORS
ARE TRYING TO ESSENTIALLY STAGE OR FAKE,
LIKE,
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
OR SOME OTHER RELIGIOUS EVENT
TO CONTROL THE POPULATION
OF THE WORLD.
ACCORDING TO BLUE BEAM
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS,
NASA WOULD BE THE PERFECT
AGENCY TO EXECUTE THE PLAN
BECAUSE OF ITS UNIQUE
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
AND ACCESS
TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY.
PROJECT BLUE BEAM THEORISTS
ACCUSE NASA
OF DEVELOPING THE TECHNOLOGY
TO PROJECT HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGES.
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
REFUSE TO ACCEPT
THAT NASA WASN'T INVOLVED.
BUT WITHIN HOURS,
THE SPACE AGENCY GETS BACKUP
FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE.
IN MOSCOW, THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
ANNOUNCED THE TEST LAUNCH
OF A MILITARY MISSILE.
THE RUSSIAN BALLISTIC MISSILE
SUBMARINE, DMITRI DONSKOY,
LAUNCHED A BULAVA MISSILE
AS A TEST
OF THIS NEW WEAPONS PLATFORM.
THIS MISSILE IS THE ANSWER
TO THE TRIDENT II MISSILE
THAT'S CURRENTLY IN USE
BY THE U.S. AND THE U.K.
THE RUSSIAN MISSILE
USES THREE FUEL STAGES
TO LAUNCH IT INTO SPACE.
THE RUSSIANS CLAIM THAT ONE
OF THESE STAGES
FAILED DURING A TEST LAUNCH AND,
AS IT SPAN OUT OF CONTROL,
BURNING FUEL VENTING
FROM THE SIDES
CREATED THE SPIRAL.
IT TURNS OUT
THAT SPIRALS OF THIS TYPE
HAVE BEEN SEEN AND REPORTED
FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS,
BUT THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME
THAT SUCH AN EVENT HAD BEEN
CAPTURED ON VIDEO CAMERA.
WHILE THE TIMING
OF THE RUSSIAN MISSILE TEST
SEEMS TO ALIGN WITH
THE APPEARANCE OF THE SPIRAL,
CRITICS POINT OUT
THAT THE BULAVA MISSILE
USES SOLID FUEL
AND WOULD BE UNLIKELY
TO SPRAY OUT
IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED.
FOR MANY,
THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIRAL
REMAINS UNEXPLAINED.
STILL TO COME,
NASA REACHES THE MOST
EARTH-LIKE PLACE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
AND DISCOVERS A MAGIC ISLAND.
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
WHEN A NASA PROBE
SURVEYS THE SEAS
OF SATURN'S LARGEST MOON...
IT'S REALLY WEIRD.
IT'S A MYSTERIOUS WORLD.
...IT DISCOVERS THE SEAS
OF THIS STRANGELY EARTH-LIKE
WORLD ARE HIDING A SECRET.
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
THERE'S NO SATISFACTORY
EXPLANATION
OF JUST HOW ISLANDS
APPEAR ON TITAN.
AS NASA CONTINUES TO SEARCH
FOR LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS,
TITAN HAS EMERGED AS PERHAPS
THE MOST PROMISING PLACE
TO FIND ALIEN LIFE
WITHIN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
THE CASSINI PROBE OBSERVES
SATURN'S MYSTERIOUS MOON
FROM A DISTANCE OF 600 MILES.
CASSINI IS ONE OF THE LAST
TRUE MISSIONS OF EXPLORATION.
THE FIRST CLOSE-UP IMAGES C
WHEN THE HUYGENS LANDER
TOUCHED DOWN
ON THE MOON'S SURFACE.
TITAN IS THE FIRST PLACE
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THAT IS FAMILIAR TO US.
I MEAN, WE LOOK AT IT AND GO,
"WOW. THIS LOOKS LIKE HOME."
IT'S GOT BOTH A SOLID SURFACE,
AND THEN IT HAS HUGE RESERVOIRS
OF LAKES AND STREAMS AND PONDS.
IT'S GOT CLOUDS
IN THE ATMOSPHERE.
IT'S GOT, UH, RAIN.
BUT FOR ALL THE SIMILARITIES,
IT'S STILL A VERY ALIEN WORLD.
THE RAINS AND THE CLOUDS
AND THE LAKES, IT'S NOT WATER.
THEY'RE COMPRISED
OF METHANE AND ETHANE,
HYDROCARBONS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
GEOLOGY YOU'RE LOOKING AT
IS NOT EVEN SANDSTONE
OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
IT'S WATER ICE
THAT IS REALLY HARD,
THAT'S EVEN HARDER
THAN GRANITE. IT'S SO COLD.
IT'S 300 OR 400 DEGREES
ON THE FAHRENHEIT SCALE,
NEGATIVE 300 DEGREES.
IN JULY 2013,
PLANETARY SCIENTIST ALEX HAYES
IS ANALYZING NEW IMAGES
OF LIGEIA MARE
WITH ONE OF HIS STUDENTS,
JASON HOFGARTNER.
AS THEY LOOK
AT THE HUGE METHANE SEA
IN TITAN'S NORTH POLAR REGION,
THEY SPOT SOMETHING
TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.
THERE WAS THIS BRIGHT
BLOB IN THIS AREA
THAT USED TO BE DARK SEA,
AND I IMMEDIATELY JUST
WROTE IT OFF.
I JUST THOUGHT,
"THERE'S NO WAY IT'S A NEW ISLAND.
IT HAS TO BE SOME
KIND OF ARTIFACT WITH...
WITH THE WAY
WE WERE LOOKING AT THE IMAGE
OR THE WAY THAT THE RADAR
WAS PROCESSING THE IMAGE."
BUT WHEN THE RESEARCH TEAM
GOES OVER THE DATA,
THEY DISCOVER THAT THE SO-CALLED
ISLAND IS SOMETHING VERY REAL,
AND TWICE THE SIZE OF MANHATTAN,
ON THE SURFACE
OF THE METHANE SEA.
TITAN HAS OCEANS
OF METHANE AND ETHANE,
THESE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS.
THERE'S NO SATISFACTORY
EXPLANATION
OF JUST HOW ISLANDS APPEAR.
NASA SCIENTISTS ARE STILL
WHEN NEW DATA FROM CASSINI
TURNS THE INVESTIGATION ON ITS HEAD.
2013, IT'S THERE,
BUT THEN, TWO WEEKS LATER,
THE SAME AREA'S OBSERVED BY CASSINI,
AND IT'S GONE.
BUT THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN,
IN AUGUST 2014, THERE IT IS AGAIN.
IT'S JUST AN EXCITING TIME,
RIGHT?
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
AND WHEN IT REAPPEARS,
IT IS THREE TIMES
THE SIZE IT WAS PREVIOUSLY.
SCIENTISTS SEARCHING FOR
ANSWERS TO THE MYSTERY
LOOK AT HOW NATURAL PHENOMENA
CREATE NEW LAND CLOSER TO HOME.
ON EARTH, NEW ISLANDS
SOMETIMES APPEAR,
USUALLY BECAUSE OF VOLCANIC
ERUPTIONS MAKING NEW LAND,
WHICH APPEARS THROUGH
THE SURFACE IN THE SEA.
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE
IT IS A PLANET-SIZED OBJECT.
IT IS PROBABLY DIFFERENTIATED
INTO CORE, MANTLE AND CRUST,
LIKE THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
HAVE.
THERE COULD EASILY BE
HEAT SOURCES DOWN BELOW THERE,
THE CORE ITSELF.
BUT FOR AN ISLAND
TO REPRODUCE THIS WAY,
TITAN WOULD HAVE
TO BE VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE.
WE'VE NEVER SEEN A SMOKING GUN
OF WATCHING AN EVENT OCCUR.
SO THE QUESTION
OF WHETHER OR NOT
TITAN IS CURRENTLY
VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE
IS STILL
AN OUTSTANDING QUESTION.
WITH NO EVIDENCE
TO SUPPORT THE IDEA
THAT ICY VOLCANOES
PRODUCED TITAN'S NEW ARRIVAL,
SCIENTISTS
LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY
THAT IT MAY BE MORE ICEBERG
THAN ISLAND.
ONE COULD IMAGINE, YOU KNOW,
AN ICEBERG FOR AN EXAMPLE,
OF FROZEN ORGANIC, UH,
MOLECULES THAT ARE...
THAT'S MOVING AROUND.
I DON'T KNOW
THAT THE FROZEN METHANE, UH,
AND ETHANE WILL FLOAT
ON LIQUID METHANE AND ETHANE.
THEY MAY NOT.
MAYBE WAVES BROUGHT IT UP.
BUT THE PROBLEM
WITH THE ICEBERG HYPOTHESIS
IS THAT THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS
TITAN'S SEAS BARELY MOVE,
AND THEY SHOULDN'T CONCEAL
OR REVEAL A MASSIVE OBJECT.
FOR THE FIRST 8, 9, 10 YEARS
OF THE CASSINI MISSION,
OBSERVATIONS
OVER THESE LAKES AND SEAS
TOLD US THAT THEY
WERE MILLIMETER-FLAT.
AS IF THE REAPPEARING ISLAND
WASN'T STRANGE ENOUGH,
THE TEAM AT CORNELL
DISCOVERS THE SAME PHENOMENON
IN ANOTHER OF TITAN'S SEAS.
JUST TO MAKE THINGS
EVEN MORE INTRIGUING,
IN AUGUST 2014,
WE OBSERVED KRAKEN MARE,
WHICH IS THE LARGEST SEA ON TITAN,
AND A NEW MAGIC ISLAND
SHOWED UP THERE
THAT WE HAD NOT SEEN BEFORE.
RESEARCH INTO THE MYSTERY
OF THE MAGIC ISLANDS IS
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE YET.
TITAN IS THIS DYNAMIC,
INTERESTING, COMPELLING PLACE
THAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLORED.
AND WHAT WE NEED TO DO
IS LAND ON TITAN'S SURFACE
AND HAVE THE SPACECRAFT
LOOK AT IT
AND TELL US
WHAT REALLY IS THERE.
COMING UP, NASA
DISCOVERS A NIGHTMARE WORLD.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
THIS PLANET COULD HAVE BEEN
DELIBERATELY MOVED.
400 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY,
THERE IS A NIGHTMARE WORLD.
THE SURFACE OF THIS PLANET
MUST BE HELLISH.
LAVA LAKES
JUST BUBBLING EVERYWHERE.
THE FEARSOME PLANET
HAS ASTRONOMERS
GRASPING FOR ANSWERS.
IT SEEMS TO DEFY THE LAWS
OF NATURE.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
ASTRONOMERS ARE
TOTALLY BAFFLED BY IT.
ONE ASTRONOMER HAS CALLED IT
AN ABOMINATION.
JANUARY 2013,
NASA'S KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE
STARES INTO DEEP SPACE,
SEARCHING THE MILKY WAY
FOR EARTH-LIKE PLANETS.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE LOOKED SO HARD
AND SO LONG FOR A PLANET
THAT'S THE SIZE OF EARTH
IN THE HABITABLE ZONE,
BUT IT'S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE
TO FIND.
AGAINST THE ODDS,
400 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY,
KEPLER SCIENTISTS
DETECT THE FAINT SIGNAL
OF AN EARTH-SIZED PLANET.
WE WERE OBSERVING KEPLER-78,
THE HOST STAR,
AND WE COULD SEE
THESE TINY DIPS HAPPEN
EVERY EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS,
WHICH SEEMS RIDICULOUSLY SHORT
FOR A PLANET.
SO, AT FIRST,
WE WERE VERY SKEPTICAL.
BUT SURE ENOUGH,
WHEN WE FOLLOWED IT UP
AND GOT MORE DATA,
IT WAS A PLANET, RIGHT THERE.
IT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE
FOR A PLANET TO EXIST
SO CLOSE TO ITS STAR.
IT'S JUST UNBELIEVABLE.
JUST WHEN WE THINK WE
KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING,
SOMETHING LIKE KEPLER-78
COMES ALONG
AND MAKES US REWRITE
ALL OF THE THEORIES.
THE PLANET, KEPLER-78B, IS
THAT ITS ORBIT TAKES JUST
EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS.
THIS PLANET
IS ABOUT ONE-FORTIETH
THE DISTANCE TO ITS STAR
THAT MERCURY IS FROM OURS.
THAT'S REALLY CLOSE.
WE THINK OF MERCURY
AS A HOT, BARREN PLANET.
IT'S JUST SO MUCH MORE EXTREME
FOR KEPLER-78B.
THE PLANET'S
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
PEAK AT OVER 5,000 DEGREES
FAHRENHEIT.
THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE
IS HOT ENOUGH TO MELT ROCK.
LAVA LAKES
JUST BUBBLING EVERYWHERE.
BUT IT'S A LIVING HELL.
BUT FOR PLANETARY
SCIENTISTS, IT IS NOT THE HEAT
THAT MAKES THIS HELLISH WORLD
AN ABOMINATION.
ITS VERY EXISTENCE APPEARS
TO DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.
THE EXISTENCE OF THIS PLANET
CERTAINLY FLIES IN THE FACE
OF EVERYTHING WE UNDERSTAND
ABOUT PLANETARY FORMATION.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST
BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
LITERALLY SUCKED
INTO THE STAR BY GRAVITY.
IT CAN'T HAVE FORMED THERE.
WE KNOW IT CAN'T
HAVE FORMED THERE.
THE STAR WAS ORIGINALLY
MUCH BIGGER
AND WOULD HAVE
ACTUALLY ENGULFED THE PLANET.
WHEN A STAR IS BORN,
IT SUCKS UP ALL THE DUST
AND GAS SURROUNDING IT.
PLANETS CAN ONLY FORM
IF THEY ARE FAR ENOUGH AWAY
TO DEFY THE STAR'S GRAVITY.
AS FAR AS WE KNOW,
IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE
FOR A PLANET
TO FORM AS CLOSE TO A STAR
AS KEPLER-78B.
SO SCIENTISTS
MUST FACE THE POSSIBILITY
THAT SOME UNKNOWN FORCE
HAS MOVED IT
TO ITS CURRENT LOCATION.
THE BIG MYSTERY WITH
KEPLER-78B IS HOW I
RIGHT NEXT TO ITS STAR.
THE PLANET COULD MOVE
ON A DIFFERENT COURSE,
BUT YOU'D NEED SOMETHING
WITH SOME UNHOLY POWER
TO SHIFT IT OUT
OF AN EQUATORIAL ORBIT.
THEORETICALLY,
NATURAL PHENOMENON LIKE BLACK HOLES,
OR EVEN A ROGUE STAR,
COULD EXERT IN A FORCE
TO SHIFT AN ENTIRE PLANET,
BUT THEY DO NOT ENTIRELY EXPLAIN
KEPLER-78B'S IMPOSSIBLE ORBIT.
SOMETHING MUST HAVE
SLOWED THE PLANET ENOUGH
FOR IT TO SETTLE
SO CLOSE TO THE STAR.
WE NEED SOME BRAKING MECHANISM
TO MAKE IT STOP,
AND WE HAVE NO IDEA
WHAT THAT IS.
THE DOUBLE MYSTERY
OF HOW KEPLER-78B GOT
TO WHERE IT IS
AND HOW IT SLOWED ENOUGH
TO START ORBITING ITS STAR
DEFIES CONVENTIONAL THEORIES
OF PLANET FORMATION.
I THINK THAT
FOR A PLANET LIKE THIS
THAT HAS SUCH
UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS,
YOU REALLY HAVE TO GO
OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
TO, UH, COME UP WITH AN...
SOMETHING UNUSUAL
TO TRY AND EXPLAIN IT.
WHILE CONVENTIONAL
THEORIES FALL SHORT,
THERE ARE UNCONVENTIONAL IDEAS
THAT COULD FIT SOME OF THE FACTS
FOR KEPLER-78B.
KEPLER-78B COULD BE PART
OF AN ASTRONOMICAL
ENGINEERING PROJECT.
THIS PLANET COULD HAVE BEEN
DELIBERATELY MOVED.
YOU CAN MOVE PLANETS
USING OLD PHYSICS,
USING SIMPLE, OLD, UH,
NEWTONIAN PHYSICS
THAT, UH, DON'T REQUIRE ANY
NEW THINGS TO BE DISCOVERED.
EVEN IF YOU HAD THE POWER
TO MOVE A PLANET'S ORBIT
IN TOWARDS ITS STAR,
WHY WOULD YOU DO IT?
AND, TO ME, THE OBVIOUS ANSWER
WOULD BE NATURAL RESOURCES.
FOR MANKIND,
PLANETARY MINING ON THIS COSMIC SCALE
IS FIRMLY IN THE REALMS
OF SCIENCE FICTION,
BUT THE CONCEPT
IS BASED ON SOUND SCIENCE.
THE KEPLER-78B WE SEE TODAY
COULD BE A ROCKY REMNANT
OF SOMETHING
THAT USED TO BE A GAS GIANT
LIKE NEPTUNE OR JUPITER.
THE CENTERS
OF THESE GIANT PLANETS
MAY CONTAIN HUGE RESERVES
OF VALUABLE METALS.
IF YOU HAVE A GAS GIANT
AND YOU WANT TO GET
TO THE CENTER OF IT,
ONE GREAT WAY TO DO THAT WOULD
BE TO CLEAR OFF ALL THAT HELIUM
OR WHATEVER GASSES
ARE ON THE OUTSIDE.
IF YOU MOVE IT CLOSER
TO THE SUN,
SOLAR WINDS ARE GONNA
START STRIPPING THAT GAS AWAY.
AND IF THEY WERE THEN LEFT
WITH THIS METALLIC, ROCKY C
THAT COULD BE A MILLION-YEAR
BONANZA IN TERMS OF RESOURCES.
FOR NOW,
THE IDEA THAT KEPLER-78B
IS EVIDENCE OF
EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENGINEERING
IS JUST WILD SPECULATION.
BUT, SO FAR, NASA'S SCIENTISTS
HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO EXPLAIN
THE ROGUE PLANET'S FORMATION.
I'D LOVE TO THINK OF THE
CONCEPT THAT ADV
ARE SOMEHOW TRYING
TO GET OUR ATTENTION
BY WHAT IS HIDDEN
AS A NATURAL PHENOMENA.
SO THE MYSTERY REMAINS.
KEPLER-78B SHOWS US
JUST HOW FAR WE HAVE TO GO
IN UNDERSTANDING PLANET
FORMATION AND EVOLUTION.
UP NEXT,
HAS NASA'S CURIOSITY ROVER
DISCOVERED FIRE ON MARS?
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOME
SORT OF GEYSER OR ERUPTION
COMING FROM THE MARTIAN SURFACE.
WE KNOW THERE ARE NO MAN-MADE
OBJECTS AT THAT LOCATION,
SO HOW DOES THAT LIGHT OCCUR?
THE CURIOSITY ROVER
CAPTURES AN IMAGE
OF WHAT APPEARS TO BE
PILLARS OF FIRE
ERUPTING
FROM THE MARTIAN LANDSCAPE.
WHERE DOES THIS LIGHT COME FROM?
ARE WE SEEING ANOMALIES
ON MARS CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL?
IF THIS TRULY IS SOMETHING
INSIDE THE RED PLANET,
IT IS UNKNOWN TO HUMAN SCIENCE.
THE VAST MAJORITY
OF MARS IS A MYSTERY TO US.
I REALLY DON'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE, UH,
FIRES OFF OF MARS.
APRIL 2, 2014,
AT NASA'S JET PROPULSION LAB,
THE MARS EXPLORATION TEAM
DRIVES THE $2.5 BILLION
CURIOSITY ROVER
AROUND A CRATER
THE SIZE OF CONNECTICUT.
JIM BELL IS THE SCIENTIST
IN CHARGE
OF INTERPRETING THE IMAGES
FROM THE ROVER'S CAMERAS.
WE'RE, UH, PARTWAY
ALONG THE PATH
FROM WHERE WE LANDED
ALONG THE PLANES,
TRYING TO GET TO THE BASE
OF MOUNT SHARP,
THIS BIG MOUNTAIN
THAT'S IN FRONT OF US.
THE NAVIGATION CAMERAS
ON THE FRONT
OF THE CAR-SIZED VEHICLE
ARE CAPABLE OF CAPTURING
ONE IMAGE EVERY EIGHT SECONDS.
WHILE THE PATH IN FRONT
OF THE ROVER IS CLEAR,
THE IMAGE FROM 9:00 A.M.
UNIVERSAL TIME
SEEMS TO SHOW SOMETHING
IN THE FAR DISTANCE,
SOMETHING
THAT SHOULD NOT BE THERE.
WE'RE LOOKING OFF
TOWARDS THE HORIZON,
TOWARDS THIS DISTANT RIDGE,
AND THERE'S THIS BRIGHT DOT.
THE IMAGE TRIGGERS
A MEDIA STORM.
COULD IT BE EVIDENCE
OF FIRES ON MARS?
I REALLY DON'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE, UH,
SO-CALLED FIRES ON MARS.
IT DOES MAKE YOU WONDER.
ARE WE SEEING ANOMALIES
ON MARS CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL?
ONE EXPLANATION
FOR THE SO-CALLED ANOMALY
IS THAT CURIOSITY HAS SIMPLY
FILMED ANOTHER NASA ROVER
EXPLORING A DISTANT PART
AT THE SAME CRATER.
BUT SATELLITE POSITIONING DATA
CONFIRMS THAT THE NEAREST
ROVER IS THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY.
WE KNOW THERE ARE NO MAN-MADE
OBJECTS AT THAT LOCATION,
SO HOW DOES THAT LIGHT OCCUR?
AT FIRST, NASA SUGGESTS
THAT THE WEIRD STREAK OF LIGHT
IS A GLITCH
CAUSED BY COSMIC RAYS
BOMBARDING THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE
AND HITTING
THE CAMERA'S SENSORS.
WITH NO MAGNETIC FIELD,
THE SOLAR HIGH-ENERGY PARTICLES
ARE COMING IN ALL THE TIME,
PEPPERING THE PIXELS.
SO THAT BRIGHT SPOT
IS THE SAME KIND OF FEATURE
ONE WOULD EXPECT FROM A VERY
ENERGETIC COSMIC RAY.
BUT IT'S HARDER
FOR COSMIC RAYS TO EXPLAIN
WHAT CURIOSITY SEES
WHEN IT RETURNS TO THE AREA
THE FOLLOWING DAY.
ON THE SAME CRATER RIM,
THE MYSTERIOUS FIRE
IS STILL THERE.
WHAT'S INTERESTING
IS THAT THE SPOT OF LIGHT
IS SEEN IN TWO PHOTOS TAKEN
A DAY APART IN THE SAME PLACE,
BUT VIEWED
FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES.
SO THAT DOESN'T REALLY FIT WITH
A COSMIC RAY HITTING THE CAMERA.
BECAUSE IT'S
ON TWO SEPARATE IMAGES
IN THE EXACT SAME LOCATION,
ONE HAS TO ASSUME THERE'S
SOMETHING PHYSICALLY THERE
THAT'S CAUSING THE...
THIS LIGHT TO APPEAR.
THE SECOND IMAGE
CAUSES SCIENTISTS AT NASA
TO SEARCH FOR
ANOTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION
FOR THIS STREAK OF LIGHT.
MARS HAS A LOT OF ROCKS.
WHEN YOU GET ROCKS
THAT ARE EITHER GLASSY
AND VERY REFLECTIVE OR FLAT
AND VERY MIRROR-LIKE
IN THE RIGHT ORIENTATION,
WITH THE SUNLIGHT
COMING IN AT THEM,
IT'S POSSIBLE TO BOUNCE
THAT SUNLIGHT, LIKE A MIRROR,
RIGHT INTO THE CAMERA
AND CREATE A GLINT.
BUT THE CHALLENGE WITH THIS
IS THAT THE TWO IMAGES
FROM CURIOSITY
ARE TAKEN
FROM TWO DIFFERENT ANGLES.
IT'S NOT SOMETHING
WHERE YOU'RE SEEING SUNLIGHT
HITTING SOMETHING.
THIS LOOKS LIKE
IT'S SELF-ILLUMINATING.
IT LOOKS COMPLETELY ANOMALOUS.
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOME
SORT OF A GEYSER OR ERUPTION
COMING FROM THE MARTIAN SURFACE.
FLAMES ERUPTING FROM
BENEATH THE MARTIAN SURFACE
SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE.
BUT RECENT NASA RESEARCH
SUGGESTS THAT THE RED PLANET'S
INTERIOR ONCE CONCEALED
SOME OF THE BIGGEST VOLCANOES
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
IF CURIOSITY WERE ROAMING
THE FLANKS OF A GIANT VOLCANO
AND SOMEHOW, ON THE HORIZON,
IT SAW SOMETHING BILLOWING
OUT OF THE GROUND,
WELL, THAT COULD BE THE SIGN
OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY.
IT WOULD...
IT WOULD POSSIBLY MAKE SENSE.
BUT VISUAL ANALYSIS
DOESN'T SUPPORT THE IDEA
THE MARTIAN FIRE
IS OF GEOLOGICAL ORIGIN.
IT DOESN'T REALLY LOOK
LIKE VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT ALL.
SO, AGAIN, WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM.
WHERE DOES THIS LIGHT COME FROM?
UNTIL WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY
TO PENETRATE
BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MARS,
THE RED PLANET'S INTERIOR
WILL KEEP ITS SECRETS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF
MARS IS A MYSTERY TO US.
WE KNOW THE OUTSIDE VERY WELL.
BUT ONCE YOU PEEL
THAT LAYER BACK,
WE STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN.
STILL TO COME,
HAS A SOLAR EXPLOSION REVEALED
SOMETHING HIDING NEAR MERCURY?
IT'S LIKE THOSE MOMENTS
IN "STAR TREK,"
WHERE THE KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY
SUDDENLY REVEALS ITS PRESENCE.
A NASA SATELLITE CAPTURES
SUDDENLY, THIS GIANT OBJECT
JUST APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE.
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOMETHING
IN THE ORBIT OF MERCURY.
RIGHT THERE. WHAT IS THAT?
LOOKS LIKE A FLYING SAUCER.
WHAT'S THAT DOING THERE?
NASA SCIENTISTS
LOOK TO DISTANT STARS
TO UNLOCK THE SECRETS
OF THE UNIVERSE.
BUT SOMETIMES, THE ANSWERS
CAN COME FROM SURPRISING PLACES.
AND SOME
OF THE GREATEST MYSTERIES
APPEAR AT MOMENTS WHEN
NO ONE IS LOOKING FOR THEM.
NASA'S STEREO PROGRAM
USES TWIN SPACECRAFT
TO LOOK AT THE SUN
FROM TWO ANGLES.
THE CUTTING EDGE,
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET SENSORS
CREATE UNIQUE IMAGES
OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE EVENTS
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
THESE ARE THESE HUGE EXPLOSIONS
FROM THE SURFACE OF THE SUN.
AND THEY PUT OUT A LOT OF MASS,
A LOT OF PLASMA,
THAT IS EMITTING LIGHT.
AND AS THIS PLASMA TRAVELS, IT
ENCOUNTERS THE PLANET MERCURY.
MERCURY'S PROXIMITY TO THE SUN
MAKES IT A PRIME TARGET
FOR THESE SOLAR EJECTIONS.
THESE MAGNETIZED
BUBBLES OF BURNING PLASMA
ARE CALLED
CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS.
AND USUALLY, AS LONG
AS THEY DON'T FIRE AT EARTH,
THEY DO NO HARM.
BUT IN DECEMBER 2011,
A BLAST LASHING TOWARDS MERCURY
APPEARS TO STRIKE SOMETHING.
JUST BEFORE
STRIKING THE PLANET MERCURY,
SUDDENLY, OUT OF NOWHERE,
SOMETHING APPEARS.
IT LOOKS LIKE A SPACECRAFT.
IT'S ALMOST AS IF
A SPACESHIP'S CLOAKING DEVICE
JUST GOT DESTROYED.
IT'S LIKE THOSE
MOMENTS IN "STAR TREK"
WHERE THE KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY
SUDDENLY REVEALS ITS PRESENCE.
THE OBJECT BECOMES KNOWN
AS THE MERCURY MOTHERSHIP.
THE APPEARANCE
OF THE UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
ON IMAGES FROM NASA SPACECRAFT
GENERATES INTENSE SPECULATION.
A LOT OF PEOPLE
LOOK AT THAT VIDEO AND SAY,
"THIS PROVES THAT SPACECRAFT
ARE HIDING OUT THERE
IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
AND THIS ONE, THE CAMOUFLAGE
WAS SIMPLY BLOWN OFF
BY THE SOLAR EJECTION."
I'M NOT SURE WHICH IS COOLER,
THE IDEA THAT THERE'S A
CLOAKED SHIP HIDING NEAR MERCURY
OR THAT WE CAUGHT IT
WITH ITS PANTS DOWN
WHEN THAT SOLAR FLARE HIT.
A CLOAKED SPACESHIP SOUNDS
BUT THE IDEA IS CLOSER TO
REALITY THAN YOU MIGHT THINK.
THE NOTION OF CLOAKING
TECHNOLOGY FOR SPACESHIPS,
BEING ABLE TO HIDE,
IS SUPER POPULAR IN SCIENCE FICTION
AND "STAR TREK," BUT IT'S
ACTUALLY REAL TECHNOLOGY
THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.
ONE OF THE WORLD'S
LEADING DEFENSE CONTRACTORS
ALREADY HAS WORKING PROTOTYPES
OF AN ADVANCED CLOAKING DEVICE
CAPABLE OF MASKING
THE INFRARED SIGNATURE
OF WAR MACHINES AS BIG
AS A TANK.
SO OUR CLOAKING TECHNOLOGY TODAY
IS LIMITED BY THE SIZE
OF THE CLOAKING DEVICES.
WE CAN BLOCK MICROWAVES
OR RADARS
BUT NOT ANYTHING
LIKE VISIBLE LIGHT.
BUT JUST BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE
THE TECHNOLOGY
TO BLOCK VISIBLE LIGHT,
MUCH LESS CLOAK A SPACESHIP,
DOESN'T MEAN IT COULDN'T EXIST.
EVEN THOUGH CLOAKED SPACESHIPS
ANALYSIS OF THE NASA IMAGERY
REVEALS THERE MAY BE
A SIMPLER EXPLANATION
FOR THE MERCURY MOTHERSHIP.
I HATE TO BE THE BEARER
OF BAD NEWS,
BUT THIS IS NOT
AN UNCLOAKING ALIEN SHIP.
IT'S AN ARTIFACT
OF THE IMAGE PROCESSING.
EACH DAY
THAT SOHO TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS,
THOSE IMAGES
ARE COMBINED INTO A MOVIE.
THINGS THAT AREN'T
MOVING GET TAKEN OUT.
THINGS THAT ARE MOVING
STAY BEHIND.
AND IN THIS VIDEO,
WHAT'S MOVING?
THE STARS ARE MOVING.
MERCURY IS MOVING.
THE SOLAR ENERGY IS MOVING.
WHAT WE'RE SEEING HERE
IS ACTUALLY A GHOST IMAGE
OF MERCURY
FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY.
WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN UNCLOAKING
SHIP WAS, IN FACT,
MERCURY THE DAY BEFORE.
MANKIND'S TELESCOPES
AND SPACECRAFT
CATCH ONLY A TINY GLIMPSE
OF OUR VAST SOLAR SYSTEM.
OBSERVERS LURKING
IN THE DARKNESS OF SPACE
WOULD NOT REQUIRE ANY ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY TO REMAIN UNDETECTED.
AS NASA'S MISSIONS
BECOME MORE AMBITIOUS,
PUSHING FARTHER INTO SPACE,
THE AGENCY
FACES EVER-GREATER CHALLENGES,
AND NOT ALL ARE
OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN.
WITH EACH NEW DISCOVERY,
IT BECOMES CLEAR
THAT WE ARE BEGINNING A
NEW ERA OF EXPLORATION.
WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT
THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR HUMANITY.
Subtitles Diego Moraes
www.oakisland.tk
IS TO EXPLORE THE UNKNOWN.
THERE'S MORE THAT WE
DON'T KNOW THAN WE DO KNOW.
THAT'S JUST THE NATURE
OF THE UNIVERSE.
IN THE SEARCH FOR ANSWERS,
IT LAUNCHES ITS SCIENTISTS
INTO SPACE,
ITS CRAFT BEYOND THE LIMITS
OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
TAKING RISK IS PART
OF MAKING DISCOVERIES.
SPACE EXPLORATION
IS LIKE LIGHTING A MATCH,
AND WE DON'T KNOW WHAT LURKS
IN THE SHADOWS.
THERE COULD BE ANYTHING
OUT THERE.
THE DANGERS OF SPACE
TRAVEL PUSH ASTRONAUTS
TO THEIR BREAKING POINT.
PSHOO! PSHOO! PSHOO!
THERE'S A PROCEDURE
FOR A PSYCHOTIC CREW MEMBER.
ASTRONAUTS CAN SNAP.
NASA DISCOVERS A HELLISH WORLD
THAT DEFIES THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
ONE ASTRONOMER HAS CALLED IT
AN ABOMINATION.
AND DO STRANGE LIGHTS IN
THE SKY SIGNAL ARMAGEDDON?
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
NASA's MISSIONS HAVE UNCOVERED
Okay, we're seeing
three or four objects.
Yeah, there are three objects.
...THAT CONTINUE TO PERPLEX
OUR FINEST SCIENTIFIC MINDS.
THESE ARE
NASA'S UNEXPLAINED FILES.
NASA's Unexplained Files - SEASON 2
EP - 8 - Revenge of the Fireflies
SOMETHING IN SPACE IS ATTACKING
THE BRAINS OF OUR ASTRONAUTS.
PSHOO! PSHOO! PSHOO!
THEY CAN PENETRATE YOUR BODY.
THEY CAN DAMAGE CELLS.
THEY'RE NASTY.
THE EFFECTS
ARE NOT FULLY UNDERSTOOD,
BUT THE CONSEQUENCES
COULD BE FATAL.
THE BRAIN ULTIMATELY
BECOMES OVERWHELMED.
RATIONAL THOUGHT CAN MEAN
THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.
SINCE THE DAWN
OF THE SPACE PROGRAM,
NASA HAS SELECTED
HUMANITY'S BEST AND BRIGHTEST
TO BE ASTRONAUTS.
WE WENT TO THE AIR FORCE
HOSPITAL IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS,
AND WE HAD A PHYSICAL.
IT WAS A 10-DAY PHYSICAL,
AND WHEN WE FINISHED
THE PHYSICAL,
THEY KNEW MORE ABOUT ME THAN I
WOULD EVER EVEN WANT TO KNOW.
THEY TAKE FIGHTER PILOTS,
ENGINEERS AND SCIENTISTS
AT THE PEAK OF THEIR PHYSICAL
AND MENTAL POWERS.
THEY WERE COMBAT PILOTS.
THEY WERE TEST PILOTS.
THEY WERE NOT GONNA LOSE IT.
BUT IN SPITE
OF THE RIGOROUS SCREENING,
WHEN THESE MEN GET INTO SPACE,
STRANGE THINGS START TO HAPPEN.
THE FIRST INCIDENT HAPPENS WHEN
ASTRONAUT RUSTY SCHWEICKART
STEPS OUT INTO SPACE
DURING THE APOLLO 9 MISSION.
THE EXPERIENCE LASTS
ONLY FIVE MINUTES
BUT CHANGES SCHWEICKART FOREVER.
ALL OF THESE
QUESTIONS CAME FLOODING...
FLOODING INTO MY MIND.
I MEAN, WHAT AM I DOING HERE?
WHO AM I?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN
WHEN I SAY "I"?
WHAT WAS HAPPENING?
WHAT WAS GOING ON?
SCHWEICKART
IS CLEARLY OVERWHELMED.
HE'S LOST ALL SENSE
OF THE MISSION.
AND FOR A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME,
HE WAS NO LONGER
A VALUABLE ASSET.
AND SCHWEICKART'S EXPERIENCE
ON THE SKYLAB 4 MISSION,
THE ASTRONAUTS WOULD HAVE
ARGUMENTS WITH EACH OTHER.
BUT MOST CONCERNING WAS
THAT AT ONE POINT,
THEY ACTUALLY
SHUT OFF MISSION CONTROL.
THEY STOPPED LISTENING.
THAT'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM,
A SERIOUS BREACH.
THAT'S EFFECTIVELY A MUTINY.
FROM SCHWEICKART
THROUGH THE SKYLAB MISSIONS OF
THE '70s INTO THE SHUTTLE ERA,
ASTRONAUTS FROM EVERY GENERATION
REPORT STRANGE EXPERIENCES.
ASTRONAUTS CAN SNAP,
EMBARKING ON A COURSE
WHICH DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE
TO ANYONE ELSE OR TO THEM.
IT'S NOT, UH, SOMETHING
YOU CAN PREPARE FOR.
IT'S AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE
THAT...
THAT REALLY CAN'T DESCRIBE.
NASA HAS ALWAYS BEEN
CONCERNED ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY
THAT SOMETHING IN SPACE
COULD HARM THE MINDS
OF THEIR ASTRONAUTS.
YEARS BEFORE MANKIND
FIRST STEPPED INTO SPACE,
THE AGENCY BEGAN
GRAPPLING WITH THE ISSUE.
IN THE 1950s,
AN AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC REPORT
WARNED THAT ASTRONAUTS
NEED TO HAVE STRINGENT
PSYCH EVALUATIONS DONE
BECAUSE THEY FOUND THAT
THEY HAD BIZARRE MOTIVATIONS
FOR WANTING TO GO TO SPACE.
THEY CALL IT SPACE MADNESS.
IT'S A BIG DEAL FOR NASA.
IF AN ASTRONAUT LOSES IT,
THAT'S THE BIGGEST POTENTIAL
THREAT TO ANY SPACE MISSION.
DEALING WITH
THE THREAT OF SPACE MADNESS
IS STILL A PART
OF EVERY ASTRONAUT'S TRAINING.
THERE'S A PROCEDURE
FOR A PSYCHOTIC CREW MEMBER.
IN THAT CASE,
YOU WOULD USE DUCT TAPE
TO TRY TO RESTRAIN THE PERSON,
AND THEN ADMINISTER A SEDATIVE.
NEUROSCIENTIST DR. ANDY
NEWBERG HAS CONDUC
OF WHAT'S HAPPENING
TO ASTRONAUT BRAINS.
I ALWAYS NOTICED THAT
THERE WAS A BIG DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN THOSE WHO HAD ACTUALLY
GONE UP INTO SPACE
AND THOSE WHO HAD NOT.
IT SEEMS TO RESHAPE THE WAY
OUR BRAIN WORKS.
THE NORMAL PARTS OF OUR BRAIN
CAN GET ALL OUT OF WHACK.
OTHER THINGS THAT CAN HAPPEN
IN ZERO GRAVITY
INCLUDE THINGS
LIKE HALLUCINATIONS,
WHERE YOU MIGHT HEAR SOMETHING
OR SMELL SOMETHING.
A... A COMMON PHENOMENON,
FOR EXAMPLE, WITH ASTRONAUTS
WAS THAT THEY WOULD
SEE FLASHES OF LIGHT.
INITIAL RESEARCH
SUGGESTS THAT MICROGRAVITY
CAN INHIBIT THE RELEASE OF
VITAL MOOD-ALTERING HORMONES
IN THE BRAIN.
BUT NOT EVERYTHING THAT
HAPPENS TO ASTRONAUTS' BRAINS
CAN BE EXPLAINED BY GRAVITY.
THERE'S ANOTHER
DESTRUCTIVE FORCE
ASSAULTING SPACE TRAVELERS,
POTENTIALLY EVEN MUTATING THEM.
WHEN ASTRONAUTS ARE UP IN SPACE,
THEY GET EXPOSED
TO A LOT MORE RADIATION
THAN WE ARE DOWN HERE, ON EARTH.
IT CAN PENETRATE YOUR BODY.
IT CAN BREAK THE DNA
AND THE CELLS THEMSELVES.
THEY'RE NASTY.
A DESTRUCTION FROM THE
RADIATION OF BRAIN TISSUES
THAT WILL MAKE
THE BRAIN NOT WORK AS WELL.
NO ONE KNOWS EXACTLY HOW BADLY
RADIATION IS MUTATING
OUR ASTRONAUTS' BRAINS.
ONE THING IS FOR CERTAIN... THE
DEEPER WE TRAVEL INTO SPACE,
THE GREATER THE THREAT
IT POSES TO NASA'S MISSION
AND THE LIVES OF OUR ASTRONAUTS.
AS WE VENTURE
FARTHER AWAY FROM THE EARTH,
ESPECIALLY OUTSIDE
OF THE MAGNETOSPHERE,
RADIATION
WILL BECOME EVEN MORE INTENSE.
AND YOU START HAVING MORE
PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS, AS WELL.
THEY'RE GONNA HAVE TO FIND WAYS
OF RESOLVING THOSE THINGS,
OR ELSE THOSE MISSIONS
ARE GONNA REALLY HAVE
POTENTIAL FAILURES.
A ROGUE ASTRONAUT COULD,
THEORETICALLY, DO A LOT
OF DAMAGE TO A SPACECRAFT.
BUT THERE ARE OTHER FORCES
IN SPACE
CAPABLE OF DOING
EVEN GREATER HARM.
AND SOME OF THEM
ARE HARDER TO SEE COMING.
A SERIES OF WEIRD, FLASHING
OBJECTS SHADOWS COSMONAUTS
WORKING ON THE EXTERIOR OF
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION.
DANCING LIGHTS SEEM TO MOVE
UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT
EXACTLY WHAT
THESE OBJECTS COULD BE.
SOON AFTER THE SIGHTING,
THE SPACE STATION MALFUNCTIONS.
IT'S A BIT UNCANNY.
THE ASTRONAUTS' LIVES
COULD BE IN DANGER.
APRIL 19, 2013.
COSMONAUTS PAVEL VINOGRADOV
AND ROMAN ROMANENKO
STEP OUT
INTO THE VACUUM OF SPACE.
THEY'RE ABOUT TO BEGIN
SIX HOURS OF WORK
ON ONE
OF THE STRANGEST EXPERIMENTS
IN THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION'S HISTORY.
THE RUSSIAN EXPERIMENT
IS CALLED BIORISK,
AND ONE HAS TO WONDER
WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON THERE.
ACCORDING TO THE
RUSSIANS, THE BIORISK PROJECT
IS DESIGNED TO INVESTIGATE
THE EFFECTS OF SOLAR RADIATION
ON LIVING ORGANISMS IN SPACE.
CULTIVATING LIFE FORMS
ON THE OUTSIDE OF A SPACECRAFT
IS A HIGH-RISK ACTIVITY
AT THE BEST OF TIMES.
WHILE THE TWO COSMONAUTS
FOCUS ON COMPLETING THEIR T
SOMETHING APPEARS
IN THE DARKNESS BEHIND THEM.
THE OBJECTS ARE SEEN
TO BE FLICKERING.
THESE LITTLE DOTS
SEEM TO BE BLINKING.
THEY SEEM TO BE WINKING.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIGURE OUT
EXACTLY WHAT THESE OBJECTS
COULD BE.
THE OBJECTS ARE EERILY
REMINISCENT OF A PHENOMENON
FIRST ENCOUNTERED BY JOHN GLENN
ON THE FIRST
MERCURY PROGRAM MISSION.
THE OBJECTS BECOME KNOWN
AS SPACE FIREFLIES.
WHEN THERE WERE FIRST REPORTS
ABOUT SO-CALLED FIREFLIES,
PEOPLE RAISED A LOT OF EYEBROWS TO SAY,
"THAT'S RIDICULOUS.
THERE'S NOTHING UP THERE.
CAN'T BE."
NOBODY BELIEVED IT.
THEY THOUGHT
THEY WERE SIMPLY ILLUSIONS.
NASA'S INVESTIGATION
INTO GLENN'S SIGHTING
CONCLUDED THAT THE FIREFLIES
WERE ICE CRYSTALS
SHED FROM HIS MERCURY CAPSULE.
BUT THE MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS
SURROUNDING THE I.S.S.
AREN'T FOLLOWING
THE SAME PATTERN OF BEHAVIOR.
NASA EXPLAINS THESE THINGS
CALLED FIREFLIES
AS ICE PARTICLES.
AND SURE, THERE ARE
ICE PARTICLES IN SPACE.
BUT ICE PARTICLES
DON'T CHANGE DIRECTION.
THEY FLOAT
IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
THESE THINGS SEEM TO MOVE
UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL.
IMAGE ANALYST MARK D'ANTONIO
HAS CONDUCTED HIS OWN A
TO ESTABLISH THE SIZE
OF THE OBJECTS
AND DETERMINE WHETHER THEY
COULD HAVE POSED A THREAT
TO THE MISSION.
THE OBJECTS APPEAR IN THE
BACKGROUND OF THE IMAGE,
WHICH MAKES IDENTIFYING
THEM HARDER.
THE PROBLEM IS THAT MANY
OF THESE OBJECTS
ARE SEEN BEHIND THE I.S.S.
AGAINST THE BLACKNESS OF SPACE.
IN SUCH A POSITION,
IT'S REALLY HARD TO GAUGE THEIR SIZE.
YOU DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE LARGE OR SMALL,
NEAR OR FAR.
WHATEVER THEY WERE,
THE MYSTERY OBJECTS' APPEARANCE
MARKS THE BEGINNING OF A CHAPTER
IN ONE OF THE MOST
DISTURBING EPISODES
IN THE HISTORY OF THE I.S.S.
SOON AFTER,
THE SPACE STATION'S AMMONIA COOLING SYSTEM
SUFFERS A MAJOR MALFUNCTION.
A SERIOUS AMMONIA LEAK
CAN CREATE A SERIOUS PROBLEM
ON THE STATION BECAUSE,
WITH THE COOLING LOOP DOWN,
YOUR ELECTRONICS THAT ARE
ON A LOOP HAVE TO BE TURNED OFF,
AND YOU LOSE MAJOR FUNCTION.
THE I.S.S.
CARRIES TWO COOLING LOOPS.
WITH ONE DOWN, THE SITUATION
COULD BECOME CRITICAL.
IN THE EVENT THE BACKUP FAILS,
THE ASTRONAUTS' LIVES
COULD BE IN DANGER.
ASTRONAUTS CHRIS CASSIDY A
CONDUCT AN UNSCHEDULED
SPACEWALK TO FIX THE PROBLEM.
THERE ARE NO
UNSCHEDULED SPACEWALKS
ON THE INTERNATIONAL
SPACE STATION,
UNLESS THERE'S AN EMERGENCY.
BUT WHEN CASSIDY AND MARSHBURN
REACH THE SUPPOSEDLY
FAULTY PUMP,
THEY FIND NO TRACE OF ANY LEAK.
NASA'S OFFICIAL POSITION IS
THAT THERE WAS AN AMMONIA LEAK,
AND THEY TRACED ITS CAUSE
TO A FAULTY VALVE
IN THE COOLING PUMP.
WHETHER THERE WAS ANY POSSIBLE
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE LEAK
AND THE APPEARANCE
OF THE FIREFLIES
REMAINS UNCERTAIN.
UP NEXT,
WHEN MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS IN THE
SKY SPARK RUMORS WORLDWIDE,
NASA GETS THE BLAME.
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING AROUND
ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
A SPIRALING BEAM
OF LIGHT RISES INTO THE SKY.
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING
AROUND ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
THE MYSTERIOUS LIGHT SHOW
SPARKS A WORLDWIDE SEARCH
FOR ANSWERS.
A PORTENT, AN OMEN,
A WARNING, A TIME TUNNEL
TO ANOTHER DIMENSION,
MAYBE EVEN THE SECOND COMING.
NASA TACKLES SOME
OF THE GREATEST PROBLEMS
FACED BY MANKIND.
BUT ITS REPUTATION
FOR ACHIEVING THE IMPOSSIBLE
ALSO CREATES UNEASE
AMONG THOSE WHO DO NOT TRUST
THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
ON DECEMBER 9, 2009,
THE PEOPLE OF NORWAY
ARE PREPARING
FOR THE HISTORIC ARRIVAL
OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA.
BUT FOR THE INHABITANTS
OF ONE NORTHERN TOWN,
THE DAY WILL BE REMEMBERED
FOR A VERY DIFFERENT REASON.
IT'S JUST BEFORE SUNRISE.
PEOPLE ARE GETTING READY TO GO
OUT AND TAKE THE KIDS TO SCHOOL.
SUDDENLY, THEY SEE A STRANGE
LIGHT RISING IN THE EAST,
BEHIND THE MOUNTAIN.
NEWS OF THE WEIRD LIGHT IN
PEOPLE WERE RUNNING AROUND
ASKING EACH OTHER,
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
AS THE STUNNED
RESIDENTS LOOK ON,
THE PHENOMENON MORPHS
FROM A SIMPLE, GLOWING BEAM
INTO A TWISTING VORTEX OF LIGHT.
WITHIN A FEW SECONDS,
A GIANT SPIRAL
HUNDREDS OF MILES WIDE
DOMINATES THE PRE-DAWN SKIES.
WITNESSES ARE STILL TRYING
TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT THEY'RE SEEING WHEN,
WITHOUT WARNING, IT DISAPPEARS.
AS PEOPLE
WATCH THIS AMAZING SIGHT,
SUDDENLY, A BLACK HOLE
APPEARS IN THE MIDDLE
AND SWALLOWS
THE ENTIRE APPARITION.
IT'S ONE OF THE MOST
INCREDIBLE THINGS
THAT THE PEOPLE HAD EVER SEEN.
DOZENS OF VIDEOS
AND PHOTOS OF THE SIGHTING
SOON EMERGE FROM WITNESSES
AS FAR AWAY AS SWEDEN.
IT BECOMES KNOWN
AS THE SPIRAL ANOMALY.
MANY OBSERVERS DECLARE
THIS EVENT AN ELABORATE HOAX.
NO NATURAL PHENOMENON
COULD CREATE SUCH A
PERFECT SHAPE IN THE SKY.
BUT AS MORE AND MORE
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS EMERGE,
IT SOON BECOMES CLEAR
THIS IS A GENUINE MYSTERY.
ONE THEORY EMERGES
THAT THE SPIRAL COULD BE
NOTHING MORE THAN AN EXTREME
FORM OF AURORA BOREALIS,
OR NORTHERN LIGHTS.
IF YOU LIVED IN NORWAY,
YOU'RE USED
TO SEEING SHIMMERING CURTAINS
OF GREEN AND PINK IN THE SKY.
YOU'RE NOT USED TO SEEING
A BIG SPIRAL IN THE SKY.
PEOPLE IN NORWAY KNOW WHAT
THE NORTHERN LIGHTS LOOK LIKE.
THIS WASN'T IT.
WITH NATURAL PHENOMENA
RULED OUT AS A POSSIBLE CAUSE,
NORWEGIANS START TO
SUSPECT THE INVOLVEMENT
OF RUSSIAN MILITARY FORCES
ACROSS THE NEARBY BORDER.
RUSSIA FLATLY DENIES
ALL KNOWLEDGE
OF ANY STRANGE CLOUD
OR BEAM OF LIGHT.
SO, THAT BEGS THE QUESTION,
WHAT THE HECK IS THIS THING?
THE ABSENCE
OF ANY SOLID INFORMATION
ABOUT THE CAUSE
OF THE PHENOMENON SPARKS FEARS
THAT IT MIGHT BE SOMETHING
MORE SINISTER
THAN ANY RUSSIAN WEAPON.
ALL OVER THE INTERNET,
THERE ARE A DOZEN THEORIES
EXPLAINING IT IN TERMS
OF SOME KIND OF BLACK HOLE,
SOME KIND OF
SPACE-TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.
A PORTENT, AN OMEN,
A WARNING, A TIME TUNNEL
TO ANOTHER DIMENSION,
MAYBE EVEN THE SECOND COMING.
ALL THESE WILD IDEAS
ARE JUSTIFIED
BECAUSE IT WAS ONE OF THE WILDEST,
WEIRDEST EVENTS
EVER VIDEOTAPED
IN HUMAN HISTORY.
ONE OF THE MOST EXTREME
THEORIES ABOUT T
IS THAT IT IS THE FIRST STEP
IN A TOP-SECRET NASA OPERATION
KNOWN AS PROJECT BLUE BEAM.
PROJECT BLUE BEAM IS ONE
OF THE MOST WIDELY BELIEVED
CONSPIRACY THEORIES
IN THE WORLD.
IT'S THE IDEA THAT NASA
AND SOME OTHER
GOVERNMENTAL CONSPIRATORS
ARE TRYING TO ESSENTIALLY STAGE OR FAKE,
LIKE,
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
OR SOME OTHER RELIGIOUS EVENT
TO CONTROL THE POPULATION
OF THE WORLD.
ACCORDING TO BLUE BEAM
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS,
NASA WOULD BE THE PERFECT
AGENCY TO EXECUTE THE PLAN
BECAUSE OF ITS UNIQUE
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
AND ACCESS
TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY.
PROJECT BLUE BEAM THEORISTS
ACCUSE NASA
OF DEVELOPING THE TECHNOLOGY
TO PROJECT HOLOGRAPHIC IMAGES.
CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
REFUSE TO ACCEPT
THAT NASA WASN'T INVOLVED.
BUT WITHIN HOURS,
THE SPACE AGENCY GETS BACKUP
FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE.
IN MOSCOW, THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
ANNOUNCED THE TEST LAUNCH
OF A MILITARY MISSILE.
THE RUSSIAN BALLISTIC MISSILE
SUBMARINE, DMITRI DONSKOY,
LAUNCHED A BULAVA MISSILE
AS A TEST
OF THIS NEW WEAPONS PLATFORM.
THIS MISSILE IS THE ANSWER
TO THE TRIDENT II MISSILE
THAT'S CURRENTLY IN USE
BY THE U.S. AND THE U.K.
THE RUSSIAN MISSILE
USES THREE FUEL STAGES
TO LAUNCH IT INTO SPACE.
THE RUSSIANS CLAIM THAT ONE
OF THESE STAGES
FAILED DURING A TEST LAUNCH AND,
AS IT SPAN OUT OF CONTROL,
BURNING FUEL VENTING
FROM THE SIDES
CREATED THE SPIRAL.
IT TURNS OUT
THAT SPIRALS OF THIS TYPE
HAVE BEEN SEEN AND REPORTED
FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS,
BUT THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME
THAT SUCH AN EVENT HAD BEEN
CAPTURED ON VIDEO CAMERA.
WHILE THE TIMING
OF THE RUSSIAN MISSILE TEST
SEEMS TO ALIGN WITH
THE APPEARANCE OF THE SPIRAL,
CRITICS POINT OUT
THAT THE BULAVA MISSILE
USES SOLID FUEL
AND WOULD BE UNLIKELY
TO SPRAY OUT
IN THE MANNER DESCRIBED.
FOR MANY,
THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIRAL
REMAINS UNEXPLAINED.
STILL TO COME,
NASA REACHES THE MOST
EARTH-LIKE PLACE IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
AND DISCOVERS A MAGIC ISLAND.
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
WHEN A NASA PROBE
SURVEYS THE SEAS
OF SATURN'S LARGEST MOON...
IT'S REALLY WEIRD.
IT'S A MYSTERIOUS WORLD.
...IT DISCOVERS THE SEAS
OF THIS STRANGELY EARTH-LIKE
WORLD ARE HIDING A SECRET.
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
THERE'S NO SATISFACTORY
EXPLANATION
OF JUST HOW ISLANDS
APPEAR ON TITAN.
AS NASA CONTINUES TO SEARCH
FOR LIFE ON OTHER WORLDS,
TITAN HAS EMERGED AS PERHAPS
THE MOST PROMISING PLACE
TO FIND ALIEN LIFE
WITHIN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
THE CASSINI PROBE OBSERVES
SATURN'S MYSTERIOUS MOON
FROM A DISTANCE OF 600 MILES.
CASSINI IS ONE OF THE LAST
TRUE MISSIONS OF EXPLORATION.
THE FIRST CLOSE-UP IMAGES C
WHEN THE HUYGENS LANDER
TOUCHED DOWN
ON THE MOON'S SURFACE.
TITAN IS THE FIRST PLACE
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM
THAT IS FAMILIAR TO US.
I MEAN, WE LOOK AT IT AND GO,
"WOW. THIS LOOKS LIKE HOME."
IT'S GOT BOTH A SOLID SURFACE,
AND THEN IT HAS HUGE RESERVOIRS
OF LAKES AND STREAMS AND PONDS.
IT'S GOT CLOUDS
IN THE ATMOSPHERE.
IT'S GOT, UH, RAIN.
BUT FOR ALL THE SIMILARITIES,
IT'S STILL A VERY ALIEN WORLD.
THE RAINS AND THE CLOUDS
AND THE LAKES, IT'S NOT WATER.
THEY'RE COMPRISED
OF METHANE AND ETHANE,
HYDROCARBONS THAT ARE OUT THERE.
GEOLOGY YOU'RE LOOKING AT
IS NOT EVEN SANDSTONE
OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT.
IT'S WATER ICE
THAT IS REALLY HARD,
THAT'S EVEN HARDER
THAN GRANITE. IT'S SO COLD.
IT'S 300 OR 400 DEGREES
ON THE FAHRENHEIT SCALE,
NEGATIVE 300 DEGREES.
IN JULY 2013,
PLANETARY SCIENTIST ALEX HAYES
IS ANALYZING NEW IMAGES
OF LIGEIA MARE
WITH ONE OF HIS STUDENTS,
JASON HOFGARTNER.
AS THEY LOOK
AT THE HUGE METHANE SEA
IN TITAN'S NORTH POLAR REGION,
THEY SPOT SOMETHING
TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.
THERE WAS THIS BRIGHT
BLOB IN THIS AREA
THAT USED TO BE DARK SEA,
AND I IMMEDIATELY JUST
WROTE IT OFF.
I JUST THOUGHT,
"THERE'S NO WAY IT'S A NEW ISLAND.
IT HAS TO BE SOME
KIND OF ARTIFACT WITH...
WITH THE WAY
WE WERE LOOKING AT THE IMAGE
OR THE WAY THAT THE RADAR
WAS PROCESSING THE IMAGE."
BUT WHEN THE RESEARCH TEAM
GOES OVER THE DATA,
THEY DISCOVER THAT THE SO-CALLED
ISLAND IS SOMETHING VERY REAL,
AND TWICE THE SIZE OF MANHATTAN,
ON THE SURFACE
OF THE METHANE SEA.
TITAN HAS OCEANS
OF METHANE AND ETHANE,
THESE LIQUID HYDROCARBONS.
THERE'S NO SATISFACTORY
EXPLANATION
OF JUST HOW ISLANDS APPEAR.
NASA SCIENTISTS ARE STILL
WHEN NEW DATA FROM CASSINI
TURNS THE INVESTIGATION ON ITS HEAD.
2013, IT'S THERE,
BUT THEN, TWO WEEKS LATER,
THE SAME AREA'S OBSERVED BY CASSINI,
AND IT'S GONE.
BUT THEN, ALL OF A SUDDEN,
IN AUGUST 2014, THERE IT IS AGAIN.
IT'S JUST AN EXCITING TIME,
RIGHT?
NOTHING'S THERE.
THERE'S THIS ISLAND.
IT'S GONE AGAIN.
AND THEN IT'S BACK AGAIN.
AND WHEN IT REAPPEARS,
IT IS THREE TIMES
THE SIZE IT WAS PREVIOUSLY.
SCIENTISTS SEARCHING FOR
ANSWERS TO THE MYSTERY
LOOK AT HOW NATURAL PHENOMENA
CREATE NEW LAND CLOSER TO HOME.
ON EARTH, NEW ISLANDS
SOMETIMES APPEAR,
USUALLY BECAUSE OF VOLCANIC
ERUPTIONS MAKING NEW LAND,
WHICH APPEARS THROUGH
THE SURFACE IN THE SEA.
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S LIKE
IT IS A PLANET-SIZED OBJECT.
IT IS PROBABLY DIFFERENTIATED
INTO CORE, MANTLE AND CRUST,
LIKE THE TERRESTRIAL PLANETS
HAVE.
THERE COULD EASILY BE
HEAT SOURCES DOWN BELOW THERE,
THE CORE ITSELF.
BUT FOR AN ISLAND
TO REPRODUCE THIS WAY,
TITAN WOULD HAVE
TO BE VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE.
WE'VE NEVER SEEN A SMOKING GUN
OF WATCHING AN EVENT OCCUR.
SO THE QUESTION
OF WHETHER OR NOT
TITAN IS CURRENTLY
VOLCANICALLY ACTIVE
IS STILL
AN OUTSTANDING QUESTION.
WITH NO EVIDENCE
TO SUPPORT THE IDEA
THAT ICY VOLCANOES
PRODUCED TITAN'S NEW ARRIVAL,
SCIENTISTS
LOOK AT THE POSSIBILITY
THAT IT MAY BE MORE ICEBERG
THAN ISLAND.
ONE COULD IMAGINE, YOU KNOW,
AN ICEBERG FOR AN EXAMPLE,
OF FROZEN ORGANIC, UH,
MOLECULES THAT ARE...
THAT'S MOVING AROUND.
I DON'T KNOW
THAT THE FROZEN METHANE, UH,
AND ETHANE WILL FLOAT
ON LIQUID METHANE AND ETHANE.
THEY MAY NOT.
MAYBE WAVES BROUGHT IT UP.
BUT THE PROBLEM
WITH THE ICEBERG HYPOTHESIS
IS THAT THE EVIDENCE SUGGESTS
TITAN'S SEAS BARELY MOVE,
AND THEY SHOULDN'T CONCEAL
OR REVEAL A MASSIVE OBJECT.
FOR THE FIRST 8, 9, 10 YEARS
OF THE CASSINI MISSION,
OBSERVATIONS
OVER THESE LAKES AND SEAS
TOLD US THAT THEY
WERE MILLIMETER-FLAT.
AS IF THE REAPPEARING ISLAND
WASN'T STRANGE ENOUGH,
THE TEAM AT CORNELL
DISCOVERS THE SAME PHENOMENON
IN ANOTHER OF TITAN'S SEAS.
JUST TO MAKE THINGS
EVEN MORE INTRIGUING,
IN AUGUST 2014,
WE OBSERVED KRAKEN MARE,
WHICH IS THE LARGEST SEA ON TITAN,
AND A NEW MAGIC ISLAND
SHOWED UP THERE
THAT WE HAD NOT SEEN BEFORE.
RESEARCH INTO THE MYSTERY
OF THE MAGIC ISLANDS IS
WE DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY ARE YET.
TITAN IS THIS DYNAMIC,
INTERESTING, COMPELLING PLACE
THAT NEEDS TO BE EXPLORED.
AND WHAT WE NEED TO DO
IS LAND ON TITAN'S SURFACE
AND HAVE THE SPACECRAFT
LOOK AT IT
AND TELL US
WHAT REALLY IS THERE.
COMING UP, NASA
DISCOVERS A NIGHTMARE WORLD.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
THIS PLANET COULD HAVE BEEN
DELIBERATELY MOVED.
400 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY,
THERE IS A NIGHTMARE WORLD.
THE SURFACE OF THIS PLANET
MUST BE HELLISH.
LAVA LAKES
JUST BUBBLING EVERYWHERE.
THE FEARSOME PLANET
HAS ASTRONOMERS
GRASPING FOR ANSWERS.
IT SEEMS TO DEFY THE LAWS
OF NATURE.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST.
ASTRONOMERS ARE
TOTALLY BAFFLED BY IT.
ONE ASTRONOMER HAS CALLED IT
AN ABOMINATION.
JANUARY 2013,
NASA'S KEPLER SPACE TELESCOPE
STARES INTO DEEP SPACE,
SEARCHING THE MILKY WAY
FOR EARTH-LIKE PLANETS.
YOU KNOW, WE'VE LOOKED SO HARD
AND SO LONG FOR A PLANET
THAT'S THE SIZE OF EARTH
IN THE HABITABLE ZONE,
BUT IT'S NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE
TO FIND.
AGAINST THE ODDS,
400 LIGHT-YEARS AWAY,
KEPLER SCIENTISTS
DETECT THE FAINT SIGNAL
OF AN EARTH-SIZED PLANET.
WE WERE OBSERVING KEPLER-78,
THE HOST STAR,
AND WE COULD SEE
THESE TINY DIPS HAPPEN
EVERY EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS,
WHICH SEEMS RIDICULOUSLY SHORT
FOR A PLANET.
SO, AT FIRST,
WE WERE VERY SKEPTICAL.
BUT SURE ENOUGH,
WHEN WE FOLLOWED IT UP
AND GOT MORE DATA,
IT WAS A PLANET, RIGHT THERE.
IT SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE
FOR A PLANET TO EXIST
SO CLOSE TO ITS STAR.
IT'S JUST UNBELIEVABLE.
JUST WHEN WE THINK WE
KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING,
SOMETHING LIKE KEPLER-78
COMES ALONG
AND MAKES US REWRITE
ALL OF THE THEORIES.
THE PLANET, KEPLER-78B, IS
THAT ITS ORBIT TAKES JUST
EIGHT AND A HALF HOURS.
THIS PLANET
IS ABOUT ONE-FORTIETH
THE DISTANCE TO ITS STAR
THAT MERCURY IS FROM OURS.
THAT'S REALLY CLOSE.
WE THINK OF MERCURY
AS A HOT, BARREN PLANET.
IT'S JUST SO MUCH MORE EXTREME
FOR KEPLER-78B.
THE PLANET'S
DAYTIME TEMPERATURES
PEAK AT OVER 5,000 DEGREES
FAHRENHEIT.
THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE
IS HOT ENOUGH TO MELT ROCK.
LAVA LAKES
JUST BUBBLING EVERYWHERE.
BUT IT'S A LIVING HELL.
BUT FOR PLANETARY
SCIENTISTS, IT IS NOT THE HEAT
THAT MAKES THIS HELLISH WORLD
AN ABOMINATION.
ITS VERY EXISTENCE APPEARS
TO DEFY THE LAWS OF PHYSICS.
THE EXISTENCE OF THIS PLANET
CERTAINLY FLIES IN THE FACE
OF EVERYTHING WE UNDERSTAND
ABOUT PLANETARY FORMATION.
SOME PEOPLE THINK
IT SHOULDN'T EXIST
BECAUSE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN
LITERALLY SUCKED
INTO THE STAR BY GRAVITY.
IT CAN'T HAVE FORMED THERE.
WE KNOW IT CAN'T
HAVE FORMED THERE.
THE STAR WAS ORIGINALLY
MUCH BIGGER
AND WOULD HAVE
ACTUALLY ENGULFED THE PLANET.
WHEN A STAR IS BORN,
IT SUCKS UP ALL THE DUST
AND GAS SURROUNDING IT.
PLANETS CAN ONLY FORM
IF THEY ARE FAR ENOUGH AWAY
TO DEFY THE STAR'S GRAVITY.
AS FAR AS WE KNOW,
IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE
FOR A PLANET
TO FORM AS CLOSE TO A STAR
AS KEPLER-78B.
SO SCIENTISTS
MUST FACE THE POSSIBILITY
THAT SOME UNKNOWN FORCE
HAS MOVED IT
TO ITS CURRENT LOCATION.
THE BIG MYSTERY WITH
KEPLER-78B IS HOW I
RIGHT NEXT TO ITS STAR.
THE PLANET COULD MOVE
ON A DIFFERENT COURSE,
BUT YOU'D NEED SOMETHING
WITH SOME UNHOLY POWER
TO SHIFT IT OUT
OF AN EQUATORIAL ORBIT.
THEORETICALLY,
NATURAL PHENOMENON LIKE BLACK HOLES,
OR EVEN A ROGUE STAR,
COULD EXERT IN A FORCE
TO SHIFT AN ENTIRE PLANET,
BUT THEY DO NOT ENTIRELY EXPLAIN
KEPLER-78B'S IMPOSSIBLE ORBIT.
SOMETHING MUST HAVE
SLOWED THE PLANET ENOUGH
FOR IT TO SETTLE
SO CLOSE TO THE STAR.
WE NEED SOME BRAKING MECHANISM
TO MAKE IT STOP,
AND WE HAVE NO IDEA
WHAT THAT IS.
THE DOUBLE MYSTERY
OF HOW KEPLER-78B GOT
TO WHERE IT IS
AND HOW IT SLOWED ENOUGH
TO START ORBITING ITS STAR
DEFIES CONVENTIONAL THEORIES
OF PLANET FORMATION.
I THINK THAT
FOR A PLANET LIKE THIS
THAT HAS SUCH
UNUSUAL CHARACTERISTICS,
YOU REALLY HAVE TO GO
OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
TO, UH, COME UP WITH AN...
SOMETHING UNUSUAL
TO TRY AND EXPLAIN IT.
WHILE CONVENTIONAL
THEORIES FALL SHORT,
THERE ARE UNCONVENTIONAL IDEAS
THAT COULD FIT SOME OF THE FACTS
FOR KEPLER-78B.
KEPLER-78B COULD BE PART
OF AN ASTRONOMICAL
ENGINEERING PROJECT.
THIS PLANET COULD HAVE BEEN
DELIBERATELY MOVED.
YOU CAN MOVE PLANETS
USING OLD PHYSICS,
USING SIMPLE, OLD, UH,
NEWTONIAN PHYSICS
THAT, UH, DON'T REQUIRE ANY
NEW THINGS TO BE DISCOVERED.
EVEN IF YOU HAD THE POWER
TO MOVE A PLANET'S ORBIT
IN TOWARDS ITS STAR,
WHY WOULD YOU DO IT?
AND, TO ME, THE OBVIOUS ANSWER
WOULD BE NATURAL RESOURCES.
FOR MANKIND,
PLANETARY MINING ON THIS COSMIC SCALE
IS FIRMLY IN THE REALMS
OF SCIENCE FICTION,
BUT THE CONCEPT
IS BASED ON SOUND SCIENCE.
THE KEPLER-78B WE SEE TODAY
COULD BE A ROCKY REMNANT
OF SOMETHING
THAT USED TO BE A GAS GIANT
LIKE NEPTUNE OR JUPITER.
THE CENTERS
OF THESE GIANT PLANETS
MAY CONTAIN HUGE RESERVES
OF VALUABLE METALS.
IF YOU HAVE A GAS GIANT
AND YOU WANT TO GET
TO THE CENTER OF IT,
ONE GREAT WAY TO DO THAT WOULD
BE TO CLEAR OFF ALL THAT HELIUM
OR WHATEVER GASSES
ARE ON THE OUTSIDE.
IF YOU MOVE IT CLOSER
TO THE SUN,
SOLAR WINDS ARE GONNA
START STRIPPING THAT GAS AWAY.
AND IF THEY WERE THEN LEFT
WITH THIS METALLIC, ROCKY C
THAT COULD BE A MILLION-YEAR
BONANZA IN TERMS OF RESOURCES.
FOR NOW,
THE IDEA THAT KEPLER-78B
IS EVIDENCE OF
EXTRATERRESTRIAL ENGINEERING
IS JUST WILD SPECULATION.
BUT, SO FAR, NASA'S SCIENTISTS
HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO EXPLAIN
THE ROGUE PLANET'S FORMATION.
I'D LOVE TO THINK OF THE
CONCEPT THAT ADV
ARE SOMEHOW TRYING
TO GET OUR ATTENTION
BY WHAT IS HIDDEN
AS A NATURAL PHENOMENA.
SO THE MYSTERY REMAINS.
KEPLER-78B SHOWS US
JUST HOW FAR WE HAVE TO GO
IN UNDERSTANDING PLANET
FORMATION AND EVOLUTION.
UP NEXT,
HAS NASA'S CURIOSITY ROVER
DISCOVERED FIRE ON MARS?
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOME
SORT OF GEYSER OR ERUPTION
COMING FROM THE MARTIAN SURFACE.
WE KNOW THERE ARE NO MAN-MADE
OBJECTS AT THAT LOCATION,
SO HOW DOES THAT LIGHT OCCUR?
THE CURIOSITY ROVER
CAPTURES AN IMAGE
OF WHAT APPEARS TO BE
PILLARS OF FIRE
ERUPTING
FROM THE MARTIAN LANDSCAPE.
WHERE DOES THIS LIGHT COME FROM?
ARE WE SEEING ANOMALIES
ON MARS CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL?
IF THIS TRULY IS SOMETHING
INSIDE THE RED PLANET,
IT IS UNKNOWN TO HUMAN SCIENCE.
THE VAST MAJORITY
OF MARS IS A MYSTERY TO US.
I REALLY DON'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE, UH,
FIRES OFF OF MARS.
APRIL 2, 2014,
AT NASA'S JET PROPULSION LAB,
THE MARS EXPLORATION TEAM
DRIVES THE $2.5 BILLION
CURIOSITY ROVER
AROUND A CRATER
THE SIZE OF CONNECTICUT.
JIM BELL IS THE SCIENTIST
IN CHARGE
OF INTERPRETING THE IMAGES
FROM THE ROVER'S CAMERAS.
WE'RE, UH, PARTWAY
ALONG THE PATH
FROM WHERE WE LANDED
ALONG THE PLANES,
TRYING TO GET TO THE BASE
OF MOUNT SHARP,
THIS BIG MOUNTAIN
THAT'S IN FRONT OF US.
THE NAVIGATION CAMERAS
ON THE FRONT
OF THE CAR-SIZED VEHICLE
ARE CAPABLE OF CAPTURING
ONE IMAGE EVERY EIGHT SECONDS.
WHILE THE PATH IN FRONT
OF THE ROVER IS CLEAR,
THE IMAGE FROM 9:00 A.M.
UNIVERSAL TIME
SEEMS TO SHOW SOMETHING
IN THE FAR DISTANCE,
SOMETHING
THAT SHOULD NOT BE THERE.
WE'RE LOOKING OFF
TOWARDS THE HORIZON,
TOWARDS THIS DISTANT RIDGE,
AND THERE'S THIS BRIGHT DOT.
THE IMAGE TRIGGERS
A MEDIA STORM.
COULD IT BE EVIDENCE
OF FIRES ON MARS?
I REALLY DON'T KNOW
WHAT TO MAKE OF THESE, UH,
SO-CALLED FIRES ON MARS.
IT DOES MAKE YOU WONDER.
ARE WE SEEING ANOMALIES
ON MARS CLOSE UP AND PERSONAL?
ONE EXPLANATION
FOR THE SO-CALLED ANOMALY
IS THAT CURIOSITY HAS SIMPLY
FILMED ANOTHER NASA ROVER
EXPLORING A DISTANT PART
AT THE SAME CRATER.
BUT SATELLITE POSITIONING DATA
CONFIRMS THAT THE NEAREST
ROVER IS THOUSANDS OF MILES AWAY.
WE KNOW THERE ARE NO MAN-MADE
OBJECTS AT THAT LOCATION,
SO HOW DOES THAT LIGHT OCCUR?
AT FIRST, NASA SUGGESTS
THAT THE WEIRD STREAK OF LIGHT
IS A GLITCH
CAUSED BY COSMIC RAYS
BOMBARDING THE MARTIAN ATMOSPHERE
AND HITTING
THE CAMERA'S SENSORS.
WITH NO MAGNETIC FIELD,
THE SOLAR HIGH-ENERGY PARTICLES
ARE COMING IN ALL THE TIME,
PEPPERING THE PIXELS.
SO THAT BRIGHT SPOT
IS THE SAME KIND OF FEATURE
ONE WOULD EXPECT FROM A VERY
ENERGETIC COSMIC RAY.
BUT IT'S HARDER
FOR COSMIC RAYS TO EXPLAIN
WHAT CURIOSITY SEES
WHEN IT RETURNS TO THE AREA
THE FOLLOWING DAY.
ON THE SAME CRATER RIM,
THE MYSTERIOUS FIRE
IS STILL THERE.
WHAT'S INTERESTING
IS THAT THE SPOT OF LIGHT
IS SEEN IN TWO PHOTOS TAKEN
A DAY APART IN THE SAME PLACE,
BUT VIEWED
FROM DIFFERENT ANGLES.
SO THAT DOESN'T REALLY FIT WITH
A COSMIC RAY HITTING THE CAMERA.
BECAUSE IT'S
ON TWO SEPARATE IMAGES
IN THE EXACT SAME LOCATION,
ONE HAS TO ASSUME THERE'S
SOMETHING PHYSICALLY THERE
THAT'S CAUSING THE...
THIS LIGHT TO APPEAR.
THE SECOND IMAGE
CAUSES SCIENTISTS AT NASA
TO SEARCH FOR
ANOTHER POSSIBLE EXPLANATION
FOR THIS STREAK OF LIGHT.
MARS HAS A LOT OF ROCKS.
WHEN YOU GET ROCKS
THAT ARE EITHER GLASSY
AND VERY REFLECTIVE OR FLAT
AND VERY MIRROR-LIKE
IN THE RIGHT ORIENTATION,
WITH THE SUNLIGHT
COMING IN AT THEM,
IT'S POSSIBLE TO BOUNCE
THAT SUNLIGHT, LIKE A MIRROR,
RIGHT INTO THE CAMERA
AND CREATE A GLINT.
BUT THE CHALLENGE WITH THIS
IS THAT THE TWO IMAGES
FROM CURIOSITY
ARE TAKEN
FROM TWO DIFFERENT ANGLES.
IT'S NOT SOMETHING
WHERE YOU'RE SEEING SUNLIGHT
HITTING SOMETHING.
THIS LOOKS LIKE
IT'S SELF-ILLUMINATING.
IT LOOKS COMPLETELY ANOMALOUS.
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOME
SORT OF A GEYSER OR ERUPTION
COMING FROM THE MARTIAN SURFACE.
FLAMES ERUPTING FROM
BENEATH THE MARTIAN SURFACE
SOUNDS IMPOSSIBLE.
BUT RECENT NASA RESEARCH
SUGGESTS THAT THE RED PLANET'S
INTERIOR ONCE CONCEALED
SOME OF THE BIGGEST VOLCANOES
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
IF CURIOSITY WERE ROAMING
THE FLANKS OF A GIANT VOLCANO
AND SOMEHOW, ON THE HORIZON,
IT SAW SOMETHING BILLOWING
OUT OF THE GROUND,
WELL, THAT COULD BE THE SIGN
OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY.
IT WOULD...
IT WOULD POSSIBLY MAKE SENSE.
BUT VISUAL ANALYSIS
DOESN'T SUPPORT THE IDEA
THE MARTIAN FIRE
IS OF GEOLOGICAL ORIGIN.
IT DOESN'T REALLY LOOK
LIKE VOLCANIC ACTIVITY AT ALL.
SO, AGAIN, WE'VE GOT A PROBLEM.
WHERE DOES THIS LIGHT COME FROM?
UNTIL WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY
TO PENETRATE
BENEATH THE SURFACE OF MARS,
THE RED PLANET'S INTERIOR
WILL KEEP ITS SECRETS.
THE VAST MAJORITY OF
MARS IS A MYSTERY TO US.
WE KNOW THE OUTSIDE VERY WELL.
BUT ONCE YOU PEEL
THAT LAYER BACK,
WE STILL HAVE A LOT TO LEARN.
STILL TO COME,
HAS A SOLAR EXPLOSION REVEALED
SOMETHING HIDING NEAR MERCURY?
IT'S LIKE THOSE MOMENTS
IN "STAR TREK,"
WHERE THE KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY
SUDDENLY REVEALS ITS PRESENCE.
A NASA SATELLITE CAPTURES
SUDDENLY, THIS GIANT OBJECT
JUST APPEARS OUT OF NOWHERE.
IT LOOKS LIKE THERE'S SOMETHING
IN THE ORBIT OF MERCURY.
RIGHT THERE. WHAT IS THAT?
LOOKS LIKE A FLYING SAUCER.
WHAT'S THAT DOING THERE?
NASA SCIENTISTS
LOOK TO DISTANT STARS
TO UNLOCK THE SECRETS
OF THE UNIVERSE.
BUT SOMETIMES, THE ANSWERS
CAN COME FROM SURPRISING PLACES.
AND SOME
OF THE GREATEST MYSTERIES
APPEAR AT MOMENTS WHEN
NO ONE IS LOOKING FOR THEM.
NASA'S STEREO PROGRAM
USES TWIN SPACECRAFT
TO LOOK AT THE SUN
FROM TWO ANGLES.
THE CUTTING EDGE,
EXTREME ULTRAVIOLET SENSORS
CREATE UNIQUE IMAGES
OF THE MOST DESTRUCTIVE EVENTS
IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
THESE ARE THESE HUGE EXPLOSIONS
FROM THE SURFACE OF THE SUN.
AND THEY PUT OUT A LOT OF MASS,
A LOT OF PLASMA,
THAT IS EMITTING LIGHT.
AND AS THIS PLASMA TRAVELS, IT
ENCOUNTERS THE PLANET MERCURY.
MERCURY'S PROXIMITY TO THE SUN
MAKES IT A PRIME TARGET
FOR THESE SOLAR EJECTIONS.
THESE MAGNETIZED
BUBBLES OF BURNING PLASMA
ARE CALLED
CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS.
AND USUALLY, AS LONG
AS THEY DON'T FIRE AT EARTH,
THEY DO NO HARM.
BUT IN DECEMBER 2011,
A BLAST LASHING TOWARDS MERCURY
APPEARS TO STRIKE SOMETHING.
JUST BEFORE
STRIKING THE PLANET MERCURY,
SUDDENLY, OUT OF NOWHERE,
SOMETHING APPEARS.
IT LOOKS LIKE A SPACECRAFT.
IT'S ALMOST AS IF
A SPACESHIP'S CLOAKING DEVICE
JUST GOT DESTROYED.
IT'S LIKE THOSE
MOMENTS IN "STAR TREK"
WHERE THE KLINGON BIRD-OF-PREY
SUDDENLY REVEALS ITS PRESENCE.
THE OBJECT BECOMES KNOWN
AS THE MERCURY MOTHERSHIP.
THE APPEARANCE
OF THE UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT
ON IMAGES FROM NASA SPACECRAFT
GENERATES INTENSE SPECULATION.
A LOT OF PEOPLE
LOOK AT THAT VIDEO AND SAY,
"THIS PROVES THAT SPACECRAFT
ARE HIDING OUT THERE
IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM.
AND THIS ONE, THE CAMOUFLAGE
WAS SIMPLY BLOWN OFF
BY THE SOLAR EJECTION."
I'M NOT SURE WHICH IS COOLER,
THE IDEA THAT THERE'S A
CLOAKED SHIP HIDING NEAR MERCURY
OR THAT WE CAUGHT IT
WITH ITS PANTS DOWN
WHEN THAT SOLAR FLARE HIT.
A CLOAKED SPACESHIP SOUNDS
BUT THE IDEA IS CLOSER TO
REALITY THAN YOU MIGHT THINK.
THE NOTION OF CLOAKING
TECHNOLOGY FOR SPACESHIPS,
BEING ABLE TO HIDE,
IS SUPER POPULAR IN SCIENCE FICTION
AND "STAR TREK," BUT IT'S
ACTUALLY REAL TECHNOLOGY
THAT WE HAVE RIGHT NOW.
ONE OF THE WORLD'S
LEADING DEFENSE CONTRACTORS
ALREADY HAS WORKING PROTOTYPES
OF AN ADVANCED CLOAKING DEVICE
CAPABLE OF MASKING
THE INFRARED SIGNATURE
OF WAR MACHINES AS BIG
AS A TANK.
SO OUR CLOAKING TECHNOLOGY TODAY
IS LIMITED BY THE SIZE
OF THE CLOAKING DEVICES.
WE CAN BLOCK MICROWAVES
OR RADARS
BUT NOT ANYTHING
LIKE VISIBLE LIGHT.
BUT JUST BECAUSE WE DON'T HAVE
THE TECHNOLOGY
TO BLOCK VISIBLE LIGHT,
MUCH LESS CLOAK A SPACESHIP,
DOESN'T MEAN IT COULDN'T EXIST.
EVEN THOUGH CLOAKED SPACESHIPS
ANALYSIS OF THE NASA IMAGERY
REVEALS THERE MAY BE
A SIMPLER EXPLANATION
FOR THE MERCURY MOTHERSHIP.
I HATE TO BE THE BEARER
OF BAD NEWS,
BUT THIS IS NOT
AN UNCLOAKING ALIEN SHIP.
IT'S AN ARTIFACT
OF THE IMAGE PROCESSING.
EACH DAY
THAT SOHO TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS,
THOSE IMAGES
ARE COMBINED INTO A MOVIE.
THINGS THAT AREN'T
MOVING GET TAKEN OUT.
THINGS THAT ARE MOVING
STAY BEHIND.
AND IN THIS VIDEO,
WHAT'S MOVING?
THE STARS ARE MOVING.
MERCURY IS MOVING.
THE SOLAR ENERGY IS MOVING.
WHAT WE'RE SEEING HERE
IS ACTUALLY A GHOST IMAGE
OF MERCURY
FROM THE PREVIOUS DAY.
WHAT LOOKS LIKE AN UNCLOAKING
SHIP WAS, IN FACT,
MERCURY THE DAY BEFORE.
MANKIND'S TELESCOPES
AND SPACECRAFT
CATCH ONLY A TINY GLIMPSE
OF OUR VAST SOLAR SYSTEM.
OBSERVERS LURKING
IN THE DARKNESS OF SPACE
WOULD NOT REQUIRE ANY ADVANCED
TECHNOLOGY TO REMAIN UNDETECTED.
AS NASA'S MISSIONS
BECOME MORE AMBITIOUS,
PUSHING FARTHER INTO SPACE,
THE AGENCY
FACES EVER-GREATER CHALLENGES,
AND NOT ALL ARE
OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL ORIGIN.
WITH EACH NEW DISCOVERY,
IT BECOMES CLEAR
THAT WE ARE BEGINNING A
NEW ERA OF EXPLORATION.
WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE WHAT
THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR HUMANITY.
Subtitles Diego Moraes
www.oakisland.tk