NARRATOR: They're watching you.
More than 6,000 satellites circle the Earth.
Every day, they uncover new, mysterious phenomena
that defy explanation.
The lost terror dome of the ancients.
Oh, wow! It's monumental.
It's an absolutely incredible discovery.
NARRATOR: The 13-billion-year-old cipher.
The image seems like it cannot be from Earth.
NARRATOR: and the mystery of the stolen warships.
This is deeply troubling to the United States military.
NARRATOR: Baffling phenomena, mysteries from space.
What on Earth are they?
[theme music playing]
NARRATOR: Spring 2022.
The province of Aydin in western Tuürkiye,
a mountainous region steeped in history.
Kerry Alexandra is making her way through these rugged
lands, hooked by a mystery revealed from the skies.
ALEXANDRA: There's something really strange
going on in these hills,
and I can't work out quite what it is.
NARRATOR: A drone passing over a remote, forested area
has captured something unnatural
in the landscape below.
WALTERS: This is really perplexing, because it's
a kind of donut or bagel-shaped structure
right in the middle of this grove of trees.
JANULIS: You've got what looks to be
a giant horseshoe rising out of the ground.
It has to be manmade, because you can see stones
that have been carefully aligned
sticking out of it like ribs.
NARRATOR: The newly-discovered structure measures
around 300 feet in diameter
and appears to be many centuries old.
WALTERS: What this was for is unclear,
but if it's ancient, it's a really
extraordinary discovery.
ALEXANDRA: I've never seen anything quite like it,
and I'm really excited to discover what it actually is.
NARRATOR: The mystery structure's location
intrigues historians.
It sits in a region which held
great strategic value to countless civilizations,
including the Greeks, Hittites, and Persians.
HUNT: Tuürkiye has been a land bridge between Europe
and Asia for hundreds of thousands of years.
JANULIS: Because Tuürkiye has been a crossroads for humanity,
determining who built this and what it is
is a real challenge.
NARRATOR: Alexandra suspects the structure's shape
could offer a clue.
ALEXANDRA: I wonder if this is a burial mound.
Tuürkiye is known for
its incredible tombs, which don't look
dissimilar to the structures in this image.
NARRATOR: There is evidence of human habitation in
Tuürkiye stretching back more than a million years.
The warriors and rulers who fought and died here have left
their mark in the form of giant ornate tombs
and mausoleums.
HUNT: Tuürkiye has ringed tombs
that include the Great Tomb of
King Antiochus the First
at the very top of Mount Nemrut.
So it's possible that this could be
the lost tomb of an ancient ruler of this region.
NARRATOR: The image coordinates guide Alexandra to
an isolated valley north of the town of Nazilli.
When she reaches the site, its true scale becomes apparent.
Oh, wow.
It's huge.
I knew from the aerial images that it covered a wide area,
but this feels monumental.
You would have been able to see it from all over
this area, which, of course, is exactly
what you'd want if you were a rich and powerful ruler.
NARRATOR: As Alexandra explores the ruined structure,
she discovers more evidence that
it once served a ceremonial purpose.
ALEXANDRA: What you don't realize from above is just
how deep this depression in the middle is.
It really does make me think there
might be a ritual element to this.
NARRATOR: The circle is perhaps humankind's oldest symbol.
For some ancient peoples,
it signifies eternity or the earth and the heavens.
For others,
it represents a gateway to the spirit realms
and the afterlife.
Many cultures in prehistory have
used circular structures as ceremonial locations.
So the fact that this is a circle could suggest
ritual use.
ALEXANDRA: So many ancient sites are built around
a central area where the rituals took place.
Just think of Stonehenge and other Neolithic sites.
NARRATOR: Exploring further, Alexandra finds elements of
the structure not visible in the aerial images.
ALEXANDRA: Oh, look at this.
Oh, that's amazing.
NARRATOR: A series of arches up to 20 feet high
line the perimeter of the giant circle.
ALEXANDRA: This is just not what I expected to find here at all.
It was clearly built by
people with considerable technical skill.
NARRATOR: The arches are evidence that the mystery
structure is the legacy of an empire
that ruled these lands some 2,000 years ago.
JANULIS: These arches are a classic giveaway.
They date from the Roman era,
because the Romans developed arch architecture and turn it
into as much as science as an art form.
WALTERS: The arch is a key component in Roman
architectural mastery, because an arch enables you
to build up enormous structures, which are very strong.
NARRATOR: The structure did indeed have a ritual purpose,
one that satisfied the bloodlust
of tens of thousands of people.
It has these connected archways
and this huge circular shape.
I think this is a lost Roman amphitheater.
This is almost unbelievable.
NARRATOR: The giant amphitheater has lain
undiscovered for many hundreds of years,
and that's not the only extraordinary thing about it.
If this is some lost Roman amphitheater,
then it's an absolutely incredible discovery.
But that's something weird, because there isn't a single
ancient reference to some big, monumental structure
being here.
ALEXANDRA: What happened to it?
Why did it fall out of the history books?
NARRATOR: Coming up, tomb of the gladiators.
This is a time capsule, which might rewrite the history books.
NARRATOR: And teleporting warships.
WALTERS: What are a load of American military
vessels doing in the middle of a desert in China?
NARRATOR: Drawn by a mystery structure
emerging from the earth,
Kerry Alexandra has discovered a lost Roman
amphitheater in the mountains of Western Tuürkiye,
one big enough to hold 20,000 people.
ALEXANDRA: I could be standing in Tuürkiye's answer to
the Colosseum.
NARRATOR: What puzzles archaeologists is that there is
no mention of the giant amphitheater in Roman texts.
Analysts turn to Rome's conquest of Tuürkiye,
known back then as Anatolia, for clues.
HORTON: Anatolia was initially conquered
by Alexander the Great, but subsequently fell
into a series of smaller kingdoms and became
one of the key arteries of trade
between the east and the west.
NARRATOR: Determined to gain control of these
vital trade routes, in 190 BCE,
the Romans begin a brutal
127-year campaign to defeat Anatolia's kingdoms.
Once their conquest is complete,
they embark on a plan to win over their new subjects.
JANULIS: They went about making life under Roman rule enjoyable.
Make people want to be a part of the Roman empire,
and it's a lot easier to conquer them.
NARRATOR: Blood sports play a key role in converting
the locals to the Roman way of life.
After the conquest, amphitheaters emerged as
a really important part
of maintaining social stability
throughout Tuürkiye.
The very name "arena" is originally the word for "sand."
And the Roman populace
was eager to see blood on the sand.
NARRATOR: The Romans' obsession with mortal combat
can be traced back to the Etruscans,
the civilization who ruled much of Italy before them.
Gladiatorial combat forms part of their funeral
ceremonies, with the aim of giving
the dead armed attendance in the afterlife.
The first amphitheaters were
actually in temporary wooden structures.
WALTERS: But over the time, they morph into these
massive buildings, which were central part of Roman life.
NARRATOR: As the size of amphitheaters increases,
so does the amount of bloodshed witnessed within
their walls.
During its 400 years of active use,
it's estimated that 400,000 people and more than
one million animals die in the Colosseum alone.
The roars of wounded animals
and the cries of dying people were
filling these amphitheaters, which acoustically were like
megaphones, amplifying the sound of death.
NARRATOR: It's not known exactly when
this amphitheater was built,
but discoveries made nearby could shed new light
on the lives of those who fought here.
What's pretty amazing is that
archaeologists actually found a gladiator cemetery,
and they studied their bones, and what they found is
that they seem to have recovered
from the injuries they sustained in the arena.
These were gladiators who had died of old age.
NARRATOR: Studies suggest that while gladiators
regularly sustained brutal injuries,
only around 10 percent of their battles end in death.
[audience cheering]
[man shouts]
NARRATOR: Some survive upwards of 150 fights,
earning them vast sums and celebrity status for
their deeds.
They were the superstars of the Roman era.
Women would throw themselves at gladiators in the street.
AUERBACH: They were seen as sexually desirable
and even their sweat was sold as an aphrodisiac.
NARRATOR: Amphitheaters endure as a focal point for Roman
life until the turn of the 4th century CE.
But events then unfold, which sound
the death knell for these extraordinary structures.
JANULIS: As Christianity began to spread
through the Roman empire,
it spelled the demise of the gladiator arena,
because the Christian faith viewed the games as a sin.
HUNT: So Rome outlaws gladiatorial combat,
and they're abandoned.
NARRATOR: Yet as Alexandra explores the hills
around the lost amphitheater,
she discovers clues that this one may have succumbed to
a much more destructive force.
ALEXANDRA: That looks like a wall.
The structure in the aerial image isn't alone.
There's other stuff here.
NARRATOR: The untouched remains of several Roman structures
litter the landscape,
many of them consumed by the earth.
ALEXANDRA: Look at that!
Seems to be the top of an arch.
I think there might be
an entire Roman town buried beneath my feet.
NARRATOR: At some point in the distant past,
a mystery event engulfed the amphitheater and its town.
Over the following centuries,
it is lost to history
before being revealed once more from the skies.
I think it's incredible when you just
stop to consider what might be buried here.
It's like a kind of Turkish Pompeii.
It raises some really tantalizing questions
about what else could lie
undiscovered on this very hillside.
NARRATOR: Coming up, the $130 billion
desert treasure trove.
It was created as little as 10 seconds after the Big Bang.
NARRATOR: And the lair of the crocodile god.
JANULIS: They would sacrifice and mummify it,
sending it into the afterlife.
NARRATOR: November 4th, 2018.
A satellite passes over the Atacama Desert
in Chile and captures this image.
MORGAN: The image I'm looking at seems
like it almost cannot be from Earth.
It's got these bizarre grid
patterns spread out across this landscape.
It's really perplexing.
AUERBACH: The lines are so perfect,
the colors are so varied -- it's quite extraordinary.
NARRATOR: Over 800 of the strange shapes
are clustered together on the desert floor.
RUBEN: This image is weird.
It's almost like a set of LEGO bricks that
have been dropped in the middle of the desert
NARRATOR: Details in the image offer clues
to the purpose of the mystery shapes.
AUERBACH: There is evidence of
infrastructure around these strange squares.
You see what looks like maybe piping, there's roads.
It looks like some kind of industry,
but why would there be an industry
in the middle of the Chilean desert?
NARRATOR: Analysts turn to local geological data.
Mineral records from this area show
that it's incredibly rich in lithium.
AUERBACH: Given the type of facility we're looking at,
there's really only one answer.
What we're looking at here is lithium extraction.
NARRATOR: These deserts sit in the heart
of the so-called Lithium Triangle,
a 100,000-square-mile area rich
in reserves of this soft, silver metal.
That means these geometric shapes will help
define the course of the 21st century.
Lithium is indispensable to the modern world.
Most of our electronics rely on lithium.
AUERBACH: Lithium, in many ways,
is really at the heart of modern technology,
and some people have argued that lithium is
the secret to weaning us off of fossil fuels as a society.
NARRATOR: Our planet holds around 14 million tons of
lithium reserves.
Much of it has its origins in the dawn of creation.
RUBEN: Lithium is one of the oldest substances in existence.
It was created as little as 10 seconds after the Big Bang.
MORGAN: Lithium is one of the oldest elements, because
it doesn't take a lot to make it.
It's basically like three hydrogen molecules
smashed together.
NARRATOR: Over time, vast amounts of
this primordial element are consumed by
the cores of the countless billions of stars in
the universe.
Some of it is also absorbed by our planet,
where, in 1817, it is discovered
by a Swedish scientist.
Seven decades later, doctors learn that,
when ingested, lithium has a surprising side effect.
Lithium is an element that has
an effect on the functioning of the brain.
Lithium helps to reduce depressive symptoms.
It can really help to elevate people's mood.
We still don't know exactly why lithium
is so effective as a mood stabilizer.
We just know that it is
NARRATOR: During the 1920s, lithium's mysterious.
mood-enhancing properties are advertised
as a possible hangover cure.
Lithium was actually put as an ingredient in a common soda.
The slogan was "take the ouch out of grouch."
And that soda today, though it doesn't contain
lithium anymore, is known as 7UP.
NARRATOR: After World War II, reports emerged that several
heart patients suffer fatal reactions to lithium treatment.
The FDA subsequently bans the use of it as a medicine.
But some doctors refuse to follow their guidelines.
Doctors knew that it was working for their patients.
So they began prescribing it anyway,
giving rise to what became known
as the lithium underground.
NARRATOR: Over the following 21 years,
a black market in lithium medicine flourishes as doctors
illegally offer it to desperate patients.
Fortunately, by 1974, it was approved by the FDA,
eliminating the need for any kind of underground markets.
NARRATOR: Lithium continues to be used to control mood
disorders today,
but it's the element's use in batteries that has fueled
a 21st century gold rush to the Atacama Desert.
At this point, lithium is the "it" element.
AUERBACH: Much of the capacity to create lightweight
technology is really dependent on lithium batteries,
from computers to phones to the electric car.
Sites like this are really,
in many ways, driving our technological
revolution forward.
NARRATOR: There are 7.5 million tons of
lithium hidden beneath Chile,
enough to power over 800 million electric cars.
To get at this $130 billion treasure trove,
engineers must tap into a metal-rich,
briny solution more than 100 feet below the surface.
The lithium is extracted by pumping the briny water to
the surface and then allowing the water to evaporate,
leaving behind the salty lithium residue
for us to collect.
The different color pools in this image show
different stages in the evaporation of the water.
The lighter the pool, the more lithium, and vice versa.
NARRATOR: Such is the importance of this metal that the U.S.,
Russia, and China are currently engaged in
a battle for control of the Lithium Triangle.
The contents of the strange shapes seen from space may be
as old as the universe,
but they're playing a pivotal role
in the future of our planet.
What we see in this image now would be the equivalent of
looking at a coal mine
in the 19th century or an oil derrick in
the early 20th century.
This is one of the most crucial resources in human history.
NARRATOR: Coming up, China's mystery desert ghost fleet.
I have to admit this is one of the weirdest
images I've ever seen.
NARRATOR: And the world's most dangerous farm.
There's been reports the animals
were released into local rivers.
NARRATOR: January 2022.
A satellite passing over central China
scans the 130,000-square-mile Taklamakan Desert.
CAVELL: This is a bizarre sight.
There is absolutely nothing for miles
and miles, and then there's this massive object.
It must be over 200 feet long.
NARRATOR: Analysts boost the magnification
and discover something weird.
What we've got here is really confusing, because it's
a ship right in the middle of a desert.
This is just highly surreal.
As you look closer, you see that it's in perfect condition.
It could sail again.
NARRATOR: The massive vessel sits over 100 miles
from any large river or body of water,
and the mystery doesn't end there.
ORWOLL: As you zoom out, you notice that there's
a whole series of ships in this desert.
I have to admit this is one
of the weirdest images I've ever seen.
NARRATOR: Four giant ships litter the sands here.
Some of them are lined with sensors,
weapons, and launch systems.
What's even more disconcerting is that these
bear a striking resemblance to U.S. vessels.
WALTERS: This is highly concerning -- you know,
what are a load of American-like military vessels
doing in the middle of a desert in China?
NARRATOR: Details in the image offer disturbing clues.
Two of the ships appear to be on tracks
or rails of some kind.
Now, the fact that it can move and is surrounded by sensors,
all these things tell me that
these ships were built for target practice.
Similar to what we saw prior to World War II,
the Japanese built models of U.S. warships
before they attacked Pearl Harbor.
The Chinese could be doing
the exact same thing here in the desert.
NARRATOR: One of the shapes matches the outline of a
USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier,
perhaps the most powerful class of ships on the planet.
Others appear to be carbon copies of
the $1.8 billion dollar Arleigh Burke class destroyers.
In July 2022, Washington infuriates Beijing by deploying
a fleet of such warships to the South China Sea.
The Chinese have consistently claimed territorial control
over the South China Sea -- to Beijing it's theirs.
ORWOLL: The U.S., on the other hand, is trying to sail ships
through there to show that those are international waters
and that China can't claim them.
NARRATOR: Defense analysts fear the increasing number of Chinese
and U.S. ships in these waters could
trigger a conflict between the two superpowers.
There's an intense military standoff going on
between the Chinese Navy and the U.S. Navy
in the South China Sea.
Like before a boxing match,
both sides are squaring up to each other,
and they want to show the other that they're not afraid.
NARRATOR: The U.S. possesses the most powerful navy in
the world and should theoretically dominate
a sea war with China.
But recent events have stoked fears
that this may not be the case.
U.S. defense officials believe that Chinese military
hackers have used their expertise
to steal American secrets in order to improve
their own weapons.
One of the concerns is China trying to reproduce
U.S. technology
and then utilize that to learn from us and beat us?
NARRATOR: Up to 100,000 hackers operate in China,
many of them for a shadowy state-run organization
called Unit 61398.
Over the years, China has gained quite a reputation
for spying on enemy nations
and cloning their military designs.
If things keep heading in this direction, then
the Americans might not be far off losing their superior edge.
NARRATOR: In 2019, Chinese hackers reportedly infiltrate
several U.S. naval institutions and contractors.
The nightmare scenario is that the desert facility is using
this stolen intel to target vulnerabilities
in the American fleet.
The implications of this are really scary.
If the Chinese are figuring out the weakest point of
American warships, then they know
exactly where to strike a lethal blow to
an American target.
ORWOLL: They could be practicing how to knock out
their sensor systems, how to potentially
board them and how to destroy them during combat.
NARRATOR: The nature of the anti-ship technology
being tested here is unclear,
but it appears to be an ominous message
to the U.S. government visible from space.
MUNOZ: It is interesting that the Chinese have decided to
build these in plain view of American surveillance
and spy satellites.
CAVELL: This could be a warning to the United States government.
If you put your ships anywhere near the Chinese mainland,
we're ready, and this is what we'll do to you.
NARRATOR: Coming up, monster farm.
Nothing on these animals is wasted.
Even the blood and bile is collected.
NARRATOR: And hunting the mafia from space.
Satellites have been a breakthrough
in the effort to crack down on these operations.
NARRATOR: January 12th, 2021.
A satellite orbiting above central Thailand
captures this in the fields far below.
RUBEN: This is an agricultural area of Thailand.
Usually, one would expect to see green fields.
These are areas bordered in thick white.
It almost looks like a set of
paint palettes laid out on the ground.
NARRATOR: Analysts study the mystery shapes in more detail.
This appears to be a series of pools or tanks,
and each of these tanks seems to be filled with
greeny water.
AUERBACH: It would appear
this is some type of aquaculture.
Something is being grown in this water.
NARRATOR: Local land records confirm this theory.
AUERBACH: What we're looking at here is, indeed, a type
of aquaculture, but one of the most frightening kinds.
This is a crocodile farm.
NARRATOR: The satellite has captured one of the largest
crocodile farming
facilities in the world, containing around 150,000 of
these giant reptiles.
Primarily, crocodiles are farmed for two different
parts -- for their meat and for their hides.
KERLEY: In the west, cattle ranching is commonplace.
It's acceptable.
And crocodile farming, while less
well known, isn't much different.
NARRATOR: The farmers here raise juvenile crocs
on a diet of chicken.
When they're around three years old, they're ready
for market.
Crocodile meat is very tasty.
It gets used around the world as steaks, kebabs, you name it.
Crocodile may not be that commonly eaten
in the United States,
but it's lean, high in protein, and it's actually pretty good.
NARRATOR: Some crocodile meat is also rendered into oil,
which is used as a traditional medicine to treat anything from
asthma to heart disease.
Nothing on these animals is wasted.
Even the blood and bile is collected dried out and formed
into pills, because it's
believed they have healing properties.
NARRATOR: Today, around 50 countries farm
crocodiles for meat and medicine.
Recent discoveries suggest it's an industry
that has its roots in ancient history.
HORTON: There is quite a lot of evidence
that the ancient Egyptians actually farmed crocodiles.
BELLINGER: Archaeology has uncovered a site that is
tantalizingly suggestive of breeding of crocodiles
on an industrial level in Egypt.
NARRATOR: Close to the River Nile,
archaeologists discover incubation chambers containing
desiccated crocodile eggs and a pool
for raising hatchlings to adulthood.
The Egyptians began farming crocodiles for many
of the same reasons they're bred for today,
but one other component was
that they worshiped a crocodile god.
HUNT: The Egyptians had a god named Sobek,
who was a crocodile head on a man's body.
NARRATOR: Sobek is one of the oldest Egyptian deities,
seen as the creator of the world
and worshiped as a god of fertility.
Sobek was known as the Lord of the Dark River,
and that dark river was the Nile,
which was the very heart and soul of Egypt and the natural
habitat of the Nile crocodile.
NARRATOR: The 4,100-mile-long Nile creates
a vast fertile delta in the desert,
meaning Egypt becomes the breadbasket
of the ancient world.
It also provides traders with access to the gold mines of
the Sahara,
generating huge wealth for the kingdom.
The Nile was the lifeblood of ancient Egypt.
JANULIS: It is what made them the powerhouse they were.
So it was important to appease the god of the Nile, Sobek.
NARRATOR: To appease Sobek,
it seems the Egyptians farmed thousands of Nile crocodiles
before subjecting them to ritual slaughter.
They would sacrifice a crocodile and mummify it,
sending it into the afterlife.
Over the last century or so, thousands of crocodile mummies
have been discovered throughout Egypt,
suggesting that this was a really widespread practice.
NARRATOR: It is believed crocodiles are also farmed
in the Roman period,
but the practice then vanishes from the historical record.
It reappears in the 20th century, when animals
are sacrificed to a very different god,
that of high fashion
Crocodile skin is used throughout
the clothing industry for suits, purses, belts, shoes.
HORTON: Wild crocodiles have scars and blemishes on them,
whereas the farmed crocodile skin is much more perfect.
It's that skin which is preferred
by the fashion industry.
NARRATOR: Thai farms kill a quarter of a million
crocodiles each year,
but it seems these prehistoric predators are
threatening to wreak their revenge for this butchery.
There's been reports of floods in which
the animals being farmed were released into local rivers.
They're scary -- count the teeth on a crocodile,
and let me count the ways in which I will avoid
a crocodile.
NARRATOR: Pressure is mounting to outlaw
the farming of these reptiles.
But until then, the site in the image will remain
a strange connection to the crocodile cult of
ancient Egypt.
It's amazing to think that crocodile farming has been
around for millennia
and here we can see it so clearly
in a modern satellite image.
NARRATOR: Coming up, hunting evil.
This highlights the untapped potential of satellite
technology for solving some of humanity's biggest problems.
NARRATOR: October 7th, 2021.
A satellite passing nearly 400 miles above the region of
Rajasthan in northern India
spots something strange in the landscape below.
KOUROUNIS: There's some weird structures out here
in rural India,
these almost perfect circles scattered about
the countryside.
NARRATOR: Dozens of strange circles measuring over
200 feet in diameter litter the landscape.
They look almost like clock faces or even sundials,
but there are so many of them, and they're really big.
NARRATOR: To some, their shape hints at a ritual purpose.
India has a very long and deep history,
and that history includes a lot of ceremonial sites.
Is it possible that these strange circular
patterns that we're seeing are burial mounds?
NARRATOR: When analysts turn to Maxar's SecureWatch technology,
it reveals the structures serve a very different purpose.
With a closer look,
what I can see is at the center of
each one of these circles is a large chimney.
These seem to be producing something that
is then being stored in these parallel areas.
NARRATOR: It appears the satellite image
has uncovered evidence of one of India's most lucrative yet
divisive industries.
These are actually brick kilns,
and they're connected to some highly
controversial activities.
These kilns are deeply controversial, because they're
central to many exploitative labor practices in India.
NARRATOR: Evidence of brick manufacture in
India dates back some 5,000 years.
Over the centuries,
they have been used to help create
some of the country's most iconic structures.
MORGAN: Brickmaking is a huge industry in India.
It started by combining clay
and straw and drying them in the sun,
but it's obviously advanced a tremendous amount since then.
NARRATOR: Today, over 100,000 factories in India churn
out around 250 billion bricks a year,
20 percent of which are sent to the U.S.
Like it has been for countless generations,
the industry is built on the blood and sweat of
an army of manual laborers.
KOUROUNIS: As populations continue to grow in the world,
the need for bricks increases.
That creates a demand that needs to be filled,
and, of course, that leads to some very
unscrupulous practices.
Across the country,
syndicates known as the Brick Kiln Mafia
are profiteering from this $160 million dollar industry.
After bribing local officials,
they construct factories like the ones in the image to
exploit the economic
desperation of poverty-stricken families.
RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: Multiple families work in
deplorable conditions.
They work without access to food
or clean water, and there's no safety equipment.
NARRATOR: Toiling in temperatures of up to
116 degrees Fahrenheit for 16 hours a day,
the workers face constant threats of violence.
What's more, many of them are what's known as
bonded laborers,
making it impossible to find work elsewhere.
The kiln owner will offer a prospective worker an advance,
but what that means is that
when that employee shows up for work,
they're already in debt to the kiln owner, and they have to
work to pay off that debt.
The unfortunate reality is many of the people who work in
these brick kilns find themselves trapped in a cycle,
unable to escape.
NARRATOR: To help pay off their debts,
families force children as young as
four to work for the criminal gangs.
Although many of us find these practices horrific,
we may be unwittingly contributing to
their continuation.
Bricks made from human suffering might
have helped to build your home.
NARRATOR: The brick mafia tries to escape justice by building
their kilns in remote, isolated locations,
but now, they are being hunted from space.
Satellites have been a breakthrough in the effort to
crack down on these illegal kiln operations,
allowing artificial intelligence to start
identifying them from satellite pictures.
NARRATOR: Using satellite data, authorities can identify
the 300-foot-wide structures in an area larger than California,
New Mexico, and Texas combined.
The brutal reign of the kiln mafia
may soon be coming to an end.
This really highlights the untapped potential
of satellite technology
for solving some of humanity's biggest problems.