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NARRATOR:
Unexplained transmissions

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from the farthest reaches
of the cosmos,

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mysterious objects
entering our solar system,

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00:00:11,125 --> 00:00:15,083
and mounting evidence
we are not alone.

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00:00:17,292 --> 00:00:19,000
For nearly two decades,

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00:00:19,208 --> 00:00:21,375
<i>Ancient Aliens</i> has
traveled the globe

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00:00:21,542 --> 00:00:24,500
exploring towering
megalithic structures,

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00:00:24,708 --> 00:00:26,667
mysterious artifacts,

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00:00:26,792 --> 00:00:30,583
and stories
of otherworldly beings,

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00:00:30,708 --> 00:00:33,667
in a quest for evidence
that might reveal the truth

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of our extraterrestrial origins.

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Astronomers have been searching
the universe for decades,

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and personally, I think
there's a really good chance

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that soon we'll discover
an inhabited planet.

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NARRATOR:
Now we take a look back

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00:00:49,875 --> 00:00:52,083
through the
<i>Ancient Aliens</i> archives

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00:00:52,208 --> 00:00:54,583
to the show's very origins,

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to examine the evidence
that we are not alone.

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We have never been alone.

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♪ ♪

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Since the beginning
of humankind,

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people have been wondering:

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Is there other intelligent life
in the cosmos?

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And, of course, to people like
the three of us, the answer is

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a resounding yes.

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And what's even
more exciting is that

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we now live in a time
where we might find

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- undeniable proof.
- WILLIAM HENRY: Absolutely.

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I mean, the James Webb telescope

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can survey practically
the entire universe,

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and astronomers have
detected these mysterious

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interstellar objects

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that are moving in ways
they're not supposed to.

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Yeah, right. And scientists

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have been actively searching
for extraterrestrial life

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since the 1960s.

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And we talked about this
way back in season one

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of <i>Ancient Aliens</i>
in an episode called

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"The Return."

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NARRATOR:
Throughout human history,

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man has gazed up at the stars
in awe and with wonder.

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Our ancient ancestors
charted their movements,

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identified constellations,

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and marked time by creating
celestial-based calendars.

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The stars also became the source
of countless myths and legends.

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Many of these describe
visitors coming down to Earth

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from somewhere out there.

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Others speak
of entire civilizations

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existing out in the cosmos.

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MICHAEL CREMO:
The ancient Sanskrit
writings of India

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tell us, for example, there are

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400,000 humanlike species

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scattered throughout the cosmos

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in different planets,
different solar systems,

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even different dimensions.

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NARRATOR:
But where are
these alien beings?

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Did they come to Earth
in the past,

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as the ancient astronaut
theory suggests, and then leave?

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If so, will they ever come back?

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Today, scientists
around the world

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have stopped waiting around
and are taking steps

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to find intelligent
extraterrestrial life.

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Will technology
finally be able to prove

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what our ancient ancestors
believed thousands of years ago?

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In 1960, astronomer
and physicist Frank Drake

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set up an unusual telescope
in the hills of West Virginia.

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The strange device was made from

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surplus World War II
radar equipment.

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But rather than containing
a traditional optical lens,

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it housed
a directional radio antenna.

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PAUL DAVIES:
A few simple calculations showed

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that radio telescopes
have the power

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to transmit and receive

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across literally
interstellar distances.

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We're talking many light-years.

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So, Frank Drake, uh,
turned a radio telescope

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on a couple of nearby stars

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and tuned in to see
if he could pick up

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a message from the aliens.

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So, this was a sort of
crazy thing to do.

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NARRATOR:
Drake failed to pick up
any sounds that day,

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but the science of
radio astronomy was born.

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If we couldn't see
aliens in space,

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maybe we could hear them.

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MICHAEL DENNIN:
The things
we focused on in the past

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for searching
for extraterrestrial life

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is really passively trying
to discover signals

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on the basis that if they were

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technologically advanced,
they would have

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some form of electricity
like we do,

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and all electricity
generates radiation,

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and it sends out the signals,
and hopefully we detect it.

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NARRATOR:
In 1961, Frank Drake
and a group of astronomers,

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physicists and biologists

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formed a privately-funded
organization called SETI,

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the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

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Their goal was to focus
massive radio telescopes

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towards space and listen.

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Drake estimated the probability

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that intelligent life
existed out in the universe

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in a formula that became known
as the Drake equation.

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SARA SEAGER:
The Drake equation
is like a bridge between

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scientists and nonscientists

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because it explains
what you would want to know

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to give a number about
how common alien life could be.

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JENNIFER HELDMANN:
There are multiple, uh, factors
within the Drake equation,

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like the fraction of stars
that could have planets

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and the fraction of those
planets that could be habitable

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and the fraction of those
that might have liquid water

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and how many could have
evolved intelligent life.

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And then one important factor

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is the lifetime
of those civilizations,

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and that is a big unknown.

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Uh, we only know of one.
That's ourselves.

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And, uh, how long
are we gonna be around?

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That's to be determined.

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NARRATOR:
Using his equation,
Drake estimated

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that over 100 million
advanced civilizations

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could exist in just
the Milky Way galaxy.

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BILL BIRNES:
SETI presupposes

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that if you've got
an alien civilization

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capable of traveling,

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that's developed electronics,
they have a fingerprint.

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That fingerprint
is a repetitive signal.

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A repetitive signal
will tell them

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that it's not just noise,
junk frequencies out there,

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but a real attempt
at communicating,

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maybe not with us
but with each other.

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NARRATOR:
But what if SETI intercepts

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a transmission
from another world?

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What would happen next?

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According to SETI's
post-detection protocols,

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once an extraterrestrial
radio signal is confirmed,

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news of the event
should be kept secret

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until the authorities
have been notified.

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The government will then decide

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whether or not
to try and make contact.

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DAVIES:
I think all bets
are off, because

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here is this message,
it could contain

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enormously important
information that would

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transform our society
and maybe destabilize it.

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What is it gonna mean for
the future of our civilization?

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These are momentous questions.

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NARRATOR:
Today, SETI continues
to scan the vicinities

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of nearby stars for
artificially-produced signals

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using several of
the world's largest telescopes.

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In the next several years,

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when it becomes
fully operational,

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SETI's new Allen Telescope Array

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will allow
for the reconnaissance

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of up to a million stars.

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SEAGER:
SETI has to search
a huge, huge area.

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They'll tell you that, now,

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they have searched
the equivalent of like

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a glass of water compared
to the entire ocean on Earth.

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They have a long way to go.

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NARRATOR:
While SETI listens passively
to signals from outer space,

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NASA has attempted
to contact alien life directly

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through messages
sent aboard its space probes.

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DENNIN:
It's a long shot,

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but there's no reason in my mind

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not to expect
that life evolved elsewhere.

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What's harder to predict
or try and understand is:

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How likely is it

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that it happened close enough
that there'd be someone

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we could actually
communicate with?

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NARRATOR:
In 1972, NASA agreed
to attach small plaques

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onto the outside of
its twin Pioneer space probes,

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the first human-built objects

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destined to leave
our solar system.

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NASA contacted
Cornell University professor

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Dr. Carl Sagan
to craft the message.

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DENNIN:
Carl Sagan was one of
the most active astronomers

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in the search for life
outside our planet.

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He was a very
prominent scientist,

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he was an excellent astronomer,

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and he really did a lot to
help us understand how we might

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contact other life or detect
life elsewhere in the universe.

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NARRATOR:
Sagan, along with
SETI founder Frank Drake,

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designed a gold-anodized
aluminum plaque

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measuring roughly
six-by-nine inches

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that contained a collection
of symbolic images

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representing humans and Earth.

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ALBERT HARRISON:
The man and a woman were nude.

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And the gentleman was holding

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one arm up like this,
in what was intended to be

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a sign of, uh,
a sign of greeting.

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NARRATOR: A schematic design of
the solar system was also shown,

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with the planned trajectory

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of the Pioneer spacecraft
marked on it,

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and a diagram of
14 pulsar stars around the sun

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made a chart
that might help someone

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work out
where the craft originated.

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DENNIN:
We tried to give them
an idea of where we're located,

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and that's an interesting
problem is to figure out

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how you would tell someone
where you're located

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in space, 'cause you don't know
where they're gonna find it.

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And it was all in
a very stylistic design,

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but in an attempt
to hopefully communicate

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at least some of these ideas.

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NARRATOR:
Five years later, in 1977,

202
00:10:02,458 --> 00:10:04,833
Dr. Sagan got a second chance

203
00:10:05,042 --> 00:10:06,833
at designing
an interstellar message

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when NASA agreed
to attach another one

205
00:10:09,708 --> 00:10:12,333
to the Voyager space probes.

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00:10:12,500 --> 00:10:15,458
This time,
Sagan created a record album

207
00:10:15,625 --> 00:10:17,625
made of gold-plated copper,

208
00:10:17,792 --> 00:10:20,375
along with a series
of basic instructions

209
00:10:20,542 --> 00:10:22,457
in how to make it work.

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00:10:22,458 --> 00:10:25,125
Sagan estimated
that the metallic disc

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00:10:25,250 --> 00:10:29,250
could survive in space
for at least a billion years.

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DENNIN:
At this point,
we obviously haven't

213
00:10:33,125 --> 00:10:34,833
learned anything yet
about extraterrestrial life

214
00:10:35,042 --> 00:10:36,833
'cause we haven't
been contacted back.

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Um, but I think,
for our own purposes,

216
00:10:39,208 --> 00:10:42,333
any time you try
and go and figure out

217
00:10:42,500 --> 00:10:44,333
how you want to
communicate something,

218
00:10:44,542 --> 00:10:45,875
it pushes your boundaries

219
00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:48,000
and understanding
of communication itself.

220
00:10:49,583 --> 00:10:50,917
SEAGER:
We all want to find aliens.

221
00:10:51,083 --> 00:10:52,917
Whether it's
the planetary scientists

222
00:10:53,083 --> 00:10:55,958
looking for signs of life
on another distant planet,

223
00:10:56,125 --> 00:10:58,667
whether it's
the ancient alien proponents,

224
00:10:58,875 --> 00:11:00,542
who want to find
signs of life of aliens

225
00:11:00,708 --> 00:11:01,875
who visited in the past,

226
00:11:02,083 --> 00:11:03,542
and whether it's people today

227
00:11:03,708 --> 00:11:06,167
who want to have
experiences with UFOs

228
00:11:06,375 --> 00:11:08,667
and aliens that have
visited them recently.

229
00:11:08,875 --> 00:11:10,583
All of us are
trying to do the same thing.

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NARRATOR:
While the search

231
00:11:12,625 --> 00:11:15,292
for extraterrestrial beings
continues,

232
00:11:15,417 --> 00:11:17,083
a new space-based telescope

233
00:11:17,250 --> 00:11:20,500
is hunting for planets
that may contain life.

234
00:11:20,708 --> 00:11:23,500
Are there
other Earths out there?

235
00:11:23,708 --> 00:11:27,167
And if so,
how will we find them?

236
00:11:36,042 --> 00:11:38,750
NARRATOR:
On March 6th, 2009,

237
00:11:38,875 --> 00:11:42,375
NASA launched
a Delta II rocket into space.

238
00:11:42,542 --> 00:11:45,167
On board was a new telescope

239
00:11:45,333 --> 00:11:48,750
named in honor of German
astronomer Johann Kepler.

240
00:11:50,042 --> 00:11:53,000
The space-based telescope
was designed specifically

241
00:11:53,208 --> 00:11:56,042
to discover the existence
of earthlike planets

242
00:11:56,208 --> 00:11:59,208
located outside
our own solar system.

243
00:12:00,875 --> 00:12:03,957
The Kepler search is focused
on a specific section

244
00:12:03,958 --> 00:12:07,958
of the Milky Way
known as Orion's Spur.

245
00:12:08,917 --> 00:12:11,375
Kepler's job is
to answer the question:

246
00:12:11,583 --> 00:12:13,708
How common are other Earths?

247
00:12:15,375 --> 00:12:18,500
And to do this, Kepler's
looking at one part of the sky

248
00:12:18,625 --> 00:12:19,833
for three and a half years.

249
00:12:20,042 --> 00:12:21,708
Imagine, like,
keeping your eyes open

250
00:12:21,875 --> 00:12:23,708
and staring at just
one part of the sky.

251
00:12:27,375 --> 00:12:29,667
HELDMANN:
And what they're doing
is they're looking at stars,

252
00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:31,958
and then, as a planet
goes around that star,

253
00:12:32,083 --> 00:12:33,833
when the planet
gets in front of the star,

254
00:12:34,042 --> 00:12:36,250
the starlight dims just a little
bit from our vantage point,

255
00:12:36,375 --> 00:12:38,000
because it's being
blocked by the planet.

256
00:12:38,167 --> 00:12:40,708
And so, you look for
that dimming of those stars,

257
00:12:40,917 --> 00:12:43,375
and then that's how you're
able to detect these planets.

258
00:12:48,375 --> 00:12:51,875
NARRATOR:
So far, the Kepler telescope
has confirmed the existence

259
00:12:52,042 --> 00:12:55,750
of five planets
outside our own solar system.

260
00:12:55,875 --> 00:12:58,833
NASA officials expect
to find several hundred more

261
00:12:58,958 --> 00:13:02,292
exoplanets like these before
their mission is completed.

262
00:13:03,958 --> 00:13:06,167
Once a planet has been located,

263
00:13:06,333 --> 00:13:10,167
scientists must then determine
if it might contain water.

264
00:13:14,208 --> 00:13:15,792
HELDMANN:
We know from Earth

265
00:13:16,000 --> 00:13:18,167
that all life on Earth
requires liquid water.

266
00:13:22,208 --> 00:13:24,292
So that is the approach
that we've been taking

267
00:13:24,458 --> 00:13:26,542
for looking for life
elsewhere in the universe:

268
00:13:26,750 --> 00:13:28,958
follow the water.

269
00:13:29,083 --> 00:13:32,042
And so that is the step one.

270
00:13:36,500 --> 00:13:39,417
DAVIES:
On Earth, wherever we find
liquid water, we find life.

271
00:13:39,583 --> 00:13:40,667
And it's true.

272
00:13:40,833 --> 00:13:42,792
Life on Earth can exist under

273
00:13:42,917 --> 00:13:44,792
an extraordinary range
of conditions.

274
00:13:46,708 --> 00:13:48,666
There are extreme organisms

275
00:13:48,667 --> 00:13:51,333
that live in
the scalding effluent

276
00:13:51,458 --> 00:13:54,583
coming out of the Earth's crust,
deep beneath the ocean.

277
00:13:54,750 --> 00:13:57,250
There are other
remarkable organisms

278
00:13:57,375 --> 00:13:59,167
living in the waste pools
of nuclear reactors

279
00:13:59,333 --> 00:14:02,208
and extreme radiation
environments and so on.

280
00:14:02,375 --> 00:14:04,208
But the one thing
that seems to be

281
00:14:04,375 --> 00:14:07,083
absolutely necessary for life
as we know it is liquid water.

282
00:14:09,958 --> 00:14:11,500
NARRATOR:
To determine if a planet

283
00:14:11,708 --> 00:14:13,958
contains water
and possibly life,

284
00:14:14,125 --> 00:14:16,375
scientists use
special telescopes

285
00:14:16,583 --> 00:14:18,500
to analyze its atmosphere.

286
00:14:21,125 --> 00:14:23,125
SEAGER:
We look at the light
coming from the planet,

287
00:14:23,333 --> 00:14:25,583
and we split that light up,
like a rainbow.

288
00:14:27,917 --> 00:14:29,542
Now, if you look
at a rainbow in the sky

289
00:14:29,708 --> 00:14:31,000
and you look
really, really carefully,

290
00:14:31,208 --> 00:14:32,833
you will see some dark lines.

291
00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:35,333
You'll see some colors
missing from the rainbow.

292
00:14:35,500 --> 00:14:37,042
And those colors are missing

293
00:14:37,208 --> 00:14:40,000
because of absorption by gases
in Earth's atmosphere.

294
00:14:40,208 --> 00:14:42,250
So, effectively,
we're getting a rainbow

295
00:14:42,375 --> 00:14:45,333
from another planet
and we're looking for dark lines

296
00:14:45,500 --> 00:14:47,708
that tell us what kind of gases
are in the atmosphere.

297
00:14:47,875 --> 00:14:52,583
NARRATOR:
To better understand
how life affects its atmosphere,

298
00:14:52,792 --> 00:14:55,958
NASA scientists
study microbial mats

299
00:14:56,083 --> 00:14:59,167
at California's
Moss Landing Wildlife Area.

300
00:14:59,375 --> 00:15:00,917
BRAD BEBOUT:
Microbial mats
are important to NASA

301
00:15:01,083 --> 00:15:02,792
for a-a whole bunch of reasons.

302
00:15:02,917 --> 00:15:04,292
The organisms
that are in microbial mats

303
00:15:04,458 --> 00:15:05,833
have been on Earth
just about longer

304
00:15:05,958 --> 00:15:07,583
than any other kind of organism.

305
00:15:07,750 --> 00:15:09,333
They make a number of things

306
00:15:09,458 --> 00:15:11,000
which we call biomarkers,
which are important

307
00:15:11,208 --> 00:15:13,000
in our search for life
on other planets.

308
00:15:13,208 --> 00:15:16,333
So, there are
textural biomarkers,

309
00:15:16,500 --> 00:15:18,375
so when you pull up
a piece of microbial mat

310
00:15:18,542 --> 00:15:21,625
and look at the surface,
what does that look like?

311
00:15:21,792 --> 00:15:24,208
One of the things that we're
doing with these microbial mats

312
00:15:24,375 --> 00:15:26,333
is we're measuring
the fluxes of methane.

313
00:15:26,500 --> 00:15:30,083
Methane is a gas that's produced
by certain kinds of organisms

314
00:15:30,250 --> 00:15:32,917
that use the organic matter
that's in these mats.

315
00:15:33,042 --> 00:15:35,000
And when that methane
goes into our atmosphere,

316
00:15:35,125 --> 00:15:36,750
it can be detected
by other missions

317
00:15:36,917 --> 00:15:38,458
such as
terrestrial planet finders,

318
00:15:38,583 --> 00:15:41,917
is one of NASA's concept
missions for looking for gases

319
00:15:42,083 --> 00:15:44,417
that are produced
by life on exoplanets.

320
00:15:46,292 --> 00:15:48,625
DENNIN:
We can look for
the signature of oxygen

321
00:15:48,792 --> 00:15:50,458
or water on a planet,
and at least

322
00:15:50,625 --> 00:15:53,333
that would give us an idea
of life-forms like ourselves,

323
00:15:53,542 --> 00:15:56,375
ones that are carbon-based
and use oxygen

324
00:15:56,542 --> 00:15:58,667
and carbon dioxide cycles.

325
00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:01,958
Our atmosphere is not stable
without living organisms.

326
00:16:02,125 --> 00:16:04,167
It would've
evaporated away by now.

327
00:16:04,333 --> 00:16:07,833
And so, if you're looking out
in space and you detect,

328
00:16:08,042 --> 00:16:11,000
around a star,
a signature of the chemicals

329
00:16:11,125 --> 00:16:12,667
that we know exist for life,

330
00:16:12,792 --> 00:16:15,625
that's very strong evidence
that life is there.

331
00:16:15,750 --> 00:16:18,000
That doesn't help you know
if it's intelligent life,

332
00:16:18,125 --> 00:16:20,375
but it does give you
an evidence for life.

333
00:16:21,583 --> 00:16:25,208
NARRATOR:
With a universe literally
full of possibilities,

334
00:16:25,417 --> 00:16:28,458
planet hunters focus
their search on an area

335
00:16:28,625 --> 00:16:31,083
they call a Goldilocks zone.

336
00:16:32,042 --> 00:16:33,667
SEAGER:
The Goldilocks zone for planets

337
00:16:33,833 --> 00:16:38,083
is the place where a planet
is not too hot, not too cold,

338
00:16:38,208 --> 00:16:40,708
but just the right
temperature for life.

339
00:16:40,875 --> 00:16:42,333
Right now,

340
00:16:42,500 --> 00:16:45,292
we know of no planets like Earth
in a Goldilocks zone.

341
00:16:45,417 --> 00:16:50,375
One planet comes close.
It's called Gliese 581D.

342
00:16:50,542 --> 00:16:52,667
But we're not entirely sure
if that planet is really

343
00:16:52,875 --> 00:16:54,958
in the Goldilocks zone or not.

344
00:16:56,417 --> 00:16:58,042
DAVIES:
In recent years,
it's been recognized

345
00:16:58,208 --> 00:17:00,375
that there's more than one
Goldilocks zone.

346
00:17:00,542 --> 00:17:03,833
For example,
there could be life, uh, inside

347
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,583
icy planetesimals, these, like,
small planets or large moons.

348
00:17:08,625 --> 00:17:12,417
The moon of Jupiter, Europa,
is a very good example.

349
00:17:12,583 --> 00:17:16,167
Europa is liquid
beneath an ice cap.

350
00:17:16,333 --> 00:17:18,000
It's liquid
underneath because of

351
00:17:18,167 --> 00:17:20,875
tidal heating and friction
going on inside the planet.

352
00:17:21,083 --> 00:17:22,583
So it could be
that there is life,

353
00:17:22,750 --> 00:17:24,208
uh, microbial probably only,

354
00:17:24,375 --> 00:17:28,000
deep down
under the ice on Europa.

355
00:17:30,333 --> 00:17:32,583
HELDMANN:
It's a very
challenging question,

356
00:17:32,792 --> 00:17:35,125
if there's life elsewhere
in our solar system.

357
00:17:36,708 --> 00:17:38,917
You have so many components
that have to come together.

358
00:17:39,083 --> 00:17:40,833
We have to have
an understanding of the science.

359
00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:42,792
We have to ask
the right questions.

360
00:17:44,125 --> 00:17:46,125
I wish I had a tricorder
that I could just go

361
00:17:46,292 --> 00:17:47,958
and, like, point
and it would say "life"

362
00:17:48,125 --> 00:17:50,000
or "no life," right?
But we don't have that,

363
00:17:50,167 --> 00:17:52,375
so we have to be smart
and we have to be clever,

364
00:17:52,542 --> 00:17:54,458
and we have to develop
instruments that can

365
00:17:54,583 --> 00:17:57,292
actually address the questions
we're trying to answer.

366
00:17:58,958 --> 00:18:00,499
SEAGER:
It's inevitable.

367
00:18:00,500 --> 00:18:02,667
There are so many planets
out there, it's inevitable

368
00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:05,458
that we'll find one in
the Goldilocks zone any day.

369
00:18:07,375 --> 00:18:09,125
NARRATOR:
But while the Kepler telescope

370
00:18:09,250 --> 00:18:12,458
has only just begun
scanning the horizon,

371
00:18:12,625 --> 00:18:15,166
NASA is already planning
the next step

372
00:18:15,167 --> 00:18:18,208
in its search
for extraterrestrial life.

373
00:18:20,250 --> 00:18:22,208
People always ask me,
"Do you expect

374
00:18:22,375 --> 00:18:24,292
to find an Earth
in your lifetime?"

375
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:26,583
And I say, "Yes, absolutely."

376
00:18:28,292 --> 00:18:30,000
DAVIES:
When I was a student,
there was almost

377
00:18:30,167 --> 00:18:32,167
nobody prepared
to argue that way.

378
00:18:32,375 --> 00:18:34,667
The feeling back in
the '60s and '70s was

379
00:18:34,833 --> 00:18:37,333
that even if there were
other earthlike planets,

380
00:18:37,542 --> 00:18:39,667
life is such
an improbable freak event

381
00:18:39,833 --> 00:18:42,083
that it would never,
ever happen anywhere else.

382
00:18:43,375 --> 00:18:44,958
Now the prevailing view is,

383
00:18:45,167 --> 00:18:47,208
yes, the universe
is teeming with life.

384
00:18:48,208 --> 00:18:50,042
Everybody wants
to meet an alien,

385
00:18:50,208 --> 00:18:51,583
but we have to start small.

386
00:18:51,750 --> 00:18:53,708
We have to learn
how to walk before we can run.

387
00:18:54,708 --> 00:18:56,708
GEORGE NOORY:
The fascinating thing for me

388
00:18:56,875 --> 00:18:59,333
is that we're only four
and a half billion years old

389
00:18:59,500 --> 00:19:04,042
in a universe that's
close to 14 billion years old.

390
00:19:04,208 --> 00:19:07,167
What would happen with
some of these earthlike planets

391
00:19:07,333 --> 00:19:10,042
that had a five-
or ten-billion-year

392
00:19:10,208 --> 00:19:11,917
head start on us?

393
00:19:12,042 --> 00:19:13,667
Gosh, you can only imagine.

394
00:19:13,792 --> 00:19:16,417
NARRATOR:
As we advance our technology

395
00:19:16,583 --> 00:19:19,708
in the search for
extraterrestrial life,

396
00:19:19,875 --> 00:19:21,583
could we be getting closer

397
00:19:21,708 --> 00:19:25,667
to finding definitive proof
that we are not alone?

398
00:19:25,792 --> 00:19:29,125
As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

399
00:19:29,292 --> 00:19:31,167
we may have already detected

400
00:19:31,292 --> 00:19:33,667
concrete evidence
of an alien intelligence

401
00:19:33,875 --> 00:19:38,625
in the form of strange signals
coming from space.

402
00:19:43,833 --> 00:19:45,166
You really have to respect
mainstream scientists

403
00:19:45,167 --> 00:19:46,625
who choose to be
part of a group called

404
00:19:46,792 --> 00:19:49,167
the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

405
00:19:49,292 --> 00:19:50,875
DAVID CHILDRESS:
Yeah, and when it comes

406
00:19:51,042 --> 00:19:54,667
to looking for advanced alien
civilizations in the cosmos,

407
00:19:54,792 --> 00:19:58,042
they've been leading the charge
for over half a century.

408
00:19:58,208 --> 00:20:00,000
Oh, absolutely. And in 2016,

409
00:20:00,167 --> 00:20:03,833
I visited one of
their largest observatories

410
00:20:03,958 --> 00:20:05,333
in Northern California,

411
00:20:05,542 --> 00:20:08,167
where they have
dozens of satellite dishes

412
00:20:08,375 --> 00:20:11,542
capturing radio waves
from outer space.

413
00:20:11,708 --> 00:20:14,333
And what's so exciting
is that, over the years,

414
00:20:14,458 --> 00:20:19,417
SETI has detected
some really unusual signals.

415
00:20:23,417 --> 00:20:25,083
NARRATOR:
Delaware, Ohio.

416
00:20:25,250 --> 00:20:28,542
August 15, 1977.

417
00:20:28,708 --> 00:20:33,167
At Ohio State University's
Big Ear radio telescope,

418
00:20:33,333 --> 00:20:36,875
astronomer Jerry R. Ehman
conducts research

419
00:20:37,042 --> 00:20:41,708
for SETI, the Search for
Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

420
00:20:42,875 --> 00:20:44,917
While reviewing recorded data,

421
00:20:45,083 --> 00:20:47,500
he detects
a highly unusual signal

422
00:20:47,625 --> 00:20:51,500
originating from
the constellation Sagittarius.

423
00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:57,167
They're looking for this
bandwidth of 1,420 megahertz.

424
00:20:57,375 --> 00:21:00,292
And specifically,
they believe that this bandwidth

425
00:21:00,417 --> 00:21:02,250
corresponds to water

426
00:21:02,375 --> 00:21:05,583
and that intelligent
civilizations might encode

427
00:21:05,792 --> 00:21:08,667
the electromagnetic frequency of
water with a detectable signal.

428
00:21:08,833 --> 00:21:11,875
So there's Jerry Ehman,
on the Big Ear telescope,

429
00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:17,125
doing his SETI work,
and a 72-second burst comes in

430
00:21:17,292 --> 00:21:20,125
on the 1,420-megahertz signal.

431
00:21:20,292 --> 00:21:24,458
72 seconds
of very bizarre static

432
00:21:24,583 --> 00:21:26,250
that does not look natural.

433
00:21:26,417 --> 00:21:27,833
It looks artificial.

434
00:21:28,042 --> 00:21:29,500
It looks like something

435
00:21:29,625 --> 00:21:32,375
that was intelligently
built and sent.

436
00:21:32,542 --> 00:21:37,333
So, he writes, "Wow!" next
to this part of the readout,

437
00:21:37,458 --> 00:21:40,042
and it is now known
as the "Wow! signal."

438
00:21:41,042 --> 00:21:43,750
And still, to this day,
the Wow! signal has never

439
00:21:43,917 --> 00:21:47,417
been properly explained,
nor has it been deciphered.

440
00:21:49,792 --> 00:21:51,500
NARRATOR:
While there are various theories

441
00:21:51,708 --> 00:21:54,708
as to what may have caused
the now famous Wow! signal,

442
00:21:54,875 --> 00:21:58,167
from terrestrial radio
broadcasts to comet trails,

443
00:21:58,375 --> 00:22:02,042
SETI has not ruled out
the possibility

444
00:22:02,208 --> 00:22:04,042
that it may represent
modern man's

445
00:22:04,208 --> 00:22:07,625
first radio contact
with extraterrestrials,

446
00:22:07,792 --> 00:22:11,042
and they have plans
to reexamine the area

447
00:22:11,250 --> 00:22:13,833
where it originated
in the near future.

448
00:22:17,125 --> 00:22:20,417
To get a firsthand look
into this continued search

449
00:22:20,542 --> 00:22:24,417
for extraterrestrial life,
in March of 2016,

450
00:22:24,542 --> 00:22:28,000
researcher and publisher
Giorgio Tsoukalos

451
00:22:28,208 --> 00:22:30,542
traveled to
the Allen Telescope Array

452
00:22:30,708 --> 00:22:33,333
in Hat Creek, California,
where he met

453
00:22:33,500 --> 00:22:36,583
with the director for
SETI research, Seth Shostak.

454
00:22:37,542 --> 00:22:39,042
This is truly amazing.

455
00:22:39,208 --> 00:22:41,083
What can you tell me
about this place?

456
00:22:41,250 --> 00:22:43,417
Well, this place is,
uh, an observatory,

457
00:22:43,583 --> 00:22:46,167
but it's a radio observatory,
so these things around us,

458
00:22:46,375 --> 00:22:49,000
these 42 antennas,
they pick up radio waves.

459
00:22:49,208 --> 00:22:51,833
And we're trying to pick up very
special sort of radio waves,

460
00:22:52,042 --> 00:22:54,333
namely some that would tell us
somebody's out there.

461
00:22:54,458 --> 00:22:56,375
By having
lots of these dishes here,

462
00:22:56,542 --> 00:22:58,542
we can look at
more of the sky at once.

463
00:22:58,708 --> 00:23:01,583
We can look at
multiple star systems at once.

464
00:23:01,750 --> 00:23:03,375
Why radio waves?

465
00:23:03,542 --> 00:23:06,333
What's so significant
about radio waves?

466
00:23:06,500 --> 00:23:08,208
SETH SHOSTAK:
Radio waves go
at the speed of light,

467
00:23:08,375 --> 00:23:10,750
and they also, by the way,
go through all the gas

468
00:23:10,917 --> 00:23:12,667
and dust that's
between the stars.

469
00:23:12,833 --> 00:23:14,708
So, you know,
if you want to communicate

470
00:23:14,875 --> 00:23:17,208
from one part of
the galaxy to another,

471
00:23:17,375 --> 00:23:19,167
radio waves
are a great way to do it.

472
00:23:20,167 --> 00:23:22,500
So, the way this works
is actually kind of simple.

473
00:23:22,708 --> 00:23:24,667
I mean, the cosmic radio static,

474
00:23:24,792 --> 00:23:26,833
it comes in from the sky
and it bounces off

475
00:23:27,042 --> 00:23:29,333
that big reflector there,
that first one, okay?

476
00:23:29,542 --> 00:23:31,667
- That's-that's
a mirror for radio waves.
- Mm-hmm.

477
00:23:31,833 --> 00:23:34,499
And that redirects
into this secondary reflector

478
00:23:34,500 --> 00:23:36,167
on the end, on the nose there,

479
00:23:36,375 --> 00:23:38,333
and then they're
directed to the receiver,

480
00:23:38,458 --> 00:23:40,000
and that's inside.

481
00:23:40,208 --> 00:23:41,792
That information goes through

482
00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,458
a fiber optic
over to the control room.

483
00:23:44,625 --> 00:23:47,000
So, this is where
the data coming through

484
00:23:47,208 --> 00:23:48,875
the fiber optics kind of ends up

485
00:23:49,042 --> 00:23:51,375
after it's been processed
in a display like this.

486
00:23:51,542 --> 00:23:53,999
And what are
we looking at right here?

487
00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:55,957
So, we're looking, in this case,
at three star systems

488
00:23:55,958 --> 00:23:58,500
at once, okay?
So that speeds up the search.

489
00:23:58,708 --> 00:24:01,083
It also allows us to determine
whether we're really

490
00:24:01,250 --> 00:24:02,833
seeing E.T.
or just interference.

491
00:24:03,042 --> 00:24:04,750
The data from
one of these star systems

492
00:24:04,875 --> 00:24:07,125
is being displayed over
on this part of the screen here.

493
00:24:07,292 --> 00:24:08,833
This is called a waterfall plot.

494
00:24:08,958 --> 00:24:10,875
And that-- Can you see?
Can you see that line

495
00:24:11,042 --> 00:24:13,000
- of brighter dots there?
- This right here, yes. Mm-hmm.

496
00:24:13,208 --> 00:24:17,000
SHOSTAK:
Yeah, that's, uh, slightly
more static at that frequency,

497
00:24:17,167 --> 00:24:18,292
slowly going down the dial.

498
00:24:18,458 --> 00:24:19,833
That's the kind of thing
we're looking for.

499
00:24:20,042 --> 00:24:23,250
So then, if this here
were an actual E.T. signal,

500
00:24:23,375 --> 00:24:24,875
how would
it differentiate itself?

501
00:24:25,042 --> 00:24:27,458
Uh, would it be a bit thicker,
a bit more pronounced,

502
00:24:27,583 --> 00:24:29,417
a bit longer, or...
what are you looking for?

503
00:24:29,583 --> 00:24:30,875
It could be all of those things.

504
00:24:31,042 --> 00:24:32,750
So, what you do is,
when you find

505
00:24:32,917 --> 00:24:34,458
a signal like this,
you make a test.

506
00:24:34,625 --> 00:24:36,292
You'll just move
the antennas a little bit

507
00:24:36,458 --> 00:24:38,166
and see if the signal goes away.

508
00:24:38,167 --> 00:24:39,292
And then point it
back at the star

509
00:24:39,458 --> 00:24:40,832
and see if it comes back.

510
00:24:40,833 --> 00:24:42,500
You say, "Well,
that's looking promising."

511
00:24:42,708 --> 00:24:45,000
You do that again,
go off, go on, go off, go on.

512
00:24:45,125 --> 00:24:48,208
If you do that five or ten
times, you start to get excited.

513
00:24:48,375 --> 00:24:51,000
I hope that that day
will come very soon.

514
00:24:52,042 --> 00:24:54,125
SHOSTAK:
The Wow! signal
continues to intrigue people.

515
00:24:55,583 --> 00:24:58,083
So we are going to use
the Allen Telescope Array

516
00:24:58,292 --> 00:24:59,667
to reobserve the Wow! signal,

517
00:24:59,833 --> 00:25:01,500
look in the same spot
on the sky,

518
00:25:01,708 --> 00:25:03,708
look over a wider range
of frequencies,

519
00:25:03,917 --> 00:25:05,667
and-and if there's
something up there

520
00:25:05,792 --> 00:25:07,750
and it's still broadcasting,
of course, we would find it.

521
00:25:09,542 --> 00:25:11,375
NARRATOR:
While SETI has yet to find

522
00:25:11,542 --> 00:25:13,542
an explanation
for the Wow! signal,

523
00:25:13,708 --> 00:25:17,500
NASA's Kepler telescope team
has continued to search

524
00:25:17,708 --> 00:25:20,917
for signs of alien life
in other solar systems,

525
00:25:21,083 --> 00:25:24,125
despite the U.S. government's
open denial

526
00:25:24,292 --> 00:25:26,625
of extraterrestrial contact.

527
00:25:29,042 --> 00:25:34,167
In September 2015, after more
than five years of research,

528
00:25:34,375 --> 00:25:36,625
members of
the Kepler team revealed

529
00:25:36,792 --> 00:25:38,708
some incredible findings

530
00:25:38,875 --> 00:25:43,750
coming from the star
KIC 8462852,

531
00:25:43,958 --> 00:25:46,875
also known as "Tabby's star,"

532
00:25:47,042 --> 00:25:49,542
named for the astronomer
who discovered it.

533
00:25:49,708 --> 00:25:52,542
WILCOCK:
What we see from Tabby's star

534
00:25:52,750 --> 00:25:56,000
is changes in light output

535
00:25:56,208 --> 00:26:01,333
that are not attributable
to comets, to planets,

536
00:26:01,500 --> 00:26:04,667
to asteroids
or to other fragments

537
00:26:04,875 --> 00:26:06,875
that would orbit the star.

538
00:26:07,042 --> 00:26:11,958
We're seeing quasiperiodic
dimmings of the light

539
00:26:12,125 --> 00:26:15,792
that can be
as much as a 21% reduction

540
00:26:15,958 --> 00:26:18,208
in the luminosity
that's coming out of the star.

541
00:26:18,375 --> 00:26:22,167
Now, we have the scientists
who are publishing papers

542
00:26:22,333 --> 00:26:25,292
in which they propose
that one of the explanations

543
00:26:25,458 --> 00:26:26,667
for what they're seeing

544
00:26:26,833 --> 00:26:29,917
is a massive
extraterrestrial construct

545
00:26:30,083 --> 00:26:33,125
akin to something
known as a "Dyson sphere."

546
00:26:33,292 --> 00:26:34,667
MIKE BARA:
The Dyson sphere

547
00:26:34,875 --> 00:26:38,124
is actually a gigantic structure
built around a star,

548
00:26:38,125 --> 00:26:40,875
which harnesses the energy of
the star, and could, in fact,

549
00:26:41,042 --> 00:26:42,625
be used to travel

550
00:26:42,792 --> 00:26:45,917
from one place to another
within the galaxy.

551
00:26:47,750 --> 00:26:50,833
This story is
a total game changer,

552
00:26:51,042 --> 00:26:54,875
because it suggests
that a Type II civilization,

553
00:26:55,042 --> 00:26:58,125
a civilization that can harness
the power of an entire star,

554
00:26:58,333 --> 00:27:00,000
actually does exist,

555
00:27:00,208 --> 00:27:02,583
and we can see it
with our telescopes.

556
00:27:04,708 --> 00:27:08,833
NARRATOR:
Is it possible that astronomers
hunting for habitable planets

557
00:27:09,042 --> 00:27:10,583
may have accidentally discovered

558
00:27:10,750 --> 00:27:14,333
the first
extrasolar civilization?

559
00:27:14,500 --> 00:27:16,417
If so, why do
government officials

560
00:27:16,583 --> 00:27:19,333
remain reluctant
to fully acknowledge

561
00:27:19,542 --> 00:27:22,083
what the findings might suggest?

562
00:27:23,833 --> 00:27:26,125
According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

563
00:27:26,292 --> 00:27:28,833
NASA's real fear isn't aliens.

564
00:27:28,958 --> 00:27:32,167
It's how the public might react.

565
00:27:32,292 --> 00:27:33,750
And for further proof,

566
00:27:33,875 --> 00:27:35,833
they point
to the agency's response

567
00:27:35,958 --> 00:27:40,000
to possible signs of life
on Mars.

568
00:27:46,750 --> 00:27:47,708
You can't talk about
the search for intelligent life

569
00:27:48,042 --> 00:27:50,750
in the cosmos without discussing
our exploration of Mars.

570
00:27:50,958 --> 00:27:52,667
It is the most earthlike

571
00:27:52,792 --> 00:27:54,750
of all the planets
in our solar system.

572
00:27:54,958 --> 00:27:56,417
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
Right, and what's incredible

573
00:27:56,583 --> 00:27:59,042
is that we've been
photographing Mars

574
00:27:59,208 --> 00:28:03,833
since 1965, which is
before the Moon missions.

575
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:05,833
Yeah, and we even have
evidence that NASA

576
00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:07,750
may have found
microbial life-forms

577
00:28:07,917 --> 00:28:09,958
on Mars back in the 1970s.

578
00:28:10,125 --> 00:28:12,667
We covered this
in a 2014 episode called

579
00:28:12,833 --> 00:28:14,792
"Aliens and the Red Planet."

580
00:28:16,667 --> 00:28:19,042
NARRATOR:
Cape Canaveral, Florida.

581
00:28:19,208 --> 00:28:22,667
August 20, 1975.

582
00:28:23,875 --> 00:28:26,792
LAUNCH DIRECTOR:
Ignition. We have liftoff.

583
00:28:26,958 --> 00:28:29,000
NARRATOR:
The United States launches

584
00:28:29,208 --> 00:28:32,208
a Titan rocket carrying
the Viking spacecraft.

585
00:28:34,250 --> 00:28:38,000
Viking is embarking on
a 420-million-mile journey

586
00:28:38,208 --> 00:28:41,083
to one of the most prominent
sights in the night sky:

587
00:28:43,917 --> 00:28:45,083
Mars.

588
00:28:46,875 --> 00:28:50,833
If all goes well, in 11 months,
the unmanned probe

589
00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,375
will touch down
on the Martian surface

590
00:28:53,583 --> 00:28:56,042
and search for evidence of life.

591
00:28:58,250 --> 00:29:02,917
Mainstream scientists say Mars
is most likely a dead planet

592
00:29:03,083 --> 00:29:05,042
because of its
incredible temperature swings

593
00:29:05,250 --> 00:29:08,125
and high levels
of solar radiation.

594
00:29:10,833 --> 00:29:14,833
So why is NASA spending
a billion dollars to explore it?

595
00:29:18,083 --> 00:29:20,750
JONATHAN YOUNG:
The night sky
is an astounding thing.

596
00:29:20,958 --> 00:29:23,333
To the naked eye,
the Red Planet could be seen

597
00:29:23,500 --> 00:29:25,000
with its special colors.

598
00:29:25,208 --> 00:29:26,750
After all,
it's the biggest thing

599
00:29:26,917 --> 00:29:29,708
you see up there past the Moon.

600
00:29:29,875 --> 00:29:31,833
So it's been a special object
of fascination

601
00:29:31,958 --> 00:29:34,000
and reverence because

602
00:29:34,167 --> 00:29:36,917
religious systems often were
associated with the planets

603
00:29:37,083 --> 00:29:38,958
and the stars,
the sky in general.

604
00:29:39,917 --> 00:29:42,250
Speculations about what's there.

605
00:29:42,417 --> 00:29:44,917
Is intelligent life there?
Are the gods there?

606
00:29:45,083 --> 00:29:46,875
Th-That's gone on
for a long time.

607
00:29:48,708 --> 00:29:52,833
BOB FRISBEE:
Our dream for life on Mars
probably goes back

608
00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:56,208
even to the ancient times,
when we were just doing

609
00:29:56,375 --> 00:29:58,125
naked eye observation.

610
00:29:59,333 --> 00:30:01,708
It's the planet
that really stands out,

611
00:30:01,917 --> 00:30:03,750
that we now know is

612
00:30:03,958 --> 00:30:07,292
very close to Earth,
in terms of physical conditions.

613
00:30:07,417 --> 00:30:09,500
Even though Venus is
much more like Earth

614
00:30:09,708 --> 00:30:11,792
in size and gravity,

615
00:30:11,958 --> 00:30:15,167
it's a hellhole
in the solar system.

616
00:30:18,792 --> 00:30:23,417
But Mars, Mars is out there
within our grasp.

617
00:30:25,708 --> 00:30:28,333
NARRATOR:
Among the first to record
this fiery red ball

618
00:30:28,458 --> 00:30:32,542
in the night sky were
ancient Egyptian astronomers.

619
00:30:34,917 --> 00:30:37,042
In 1534 BC,

620
00:30:37,208 --> 00:30:39,750
they placed Mars
on humanity's first chart

621
00:30:39,875 --> 00:30:43,917
of the known cosmos,
the Senenmut star map.

622
00:30:46,458 --> 00:30:48,167
Two and a half centuries later,

623
00:30:48,333 --> 00:30:50,583
the Egyptians painted
the planet Mars

624
00:30:50,792 --> 00:30:53,458
on the ceiling
of the tomb of Seti I.

625
00:30:56,083 --> 00:30:58,708
But while
the Egyptians honored Mars,

626
00:30:58,875 --> 00:31:01,833
many other ancient cultures
feared it

627
00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:04,333
because they associated
the Red Planet

628
00:31:04,542 --> 00:31:07,750
with death, destruction and war.

629
00:31:07,875 --> 00:31:10,667
According to
some anthropologists,

630
00:31:10,833 --> 00:31:13,000
this is because
the planet glows red

631
00:31:13,208 --> 00:31:16,458
like the color of blood
spilled on the battlefield.

632
00:31:20,125 --> 00:31:23,458
From India to Rome,
all of the ancient societies

633
00:31:23,583 --> 00:31:25,083
had a reverence for Mars,

634
00:31:25,250 --> 00:31:27,792
a great closeness to Mars.

635
00:31:27,917 --> 00:31:29,833
Very important
in their pantheon,

636
00:31:30,042 --> 00:31:32,417
very important in
the imagination of the people

637
00:31:32,583 --> 00:31:34,625
that some kind of connection

638
00:31:34,833 --> 00:31:37,500
with that red planet
be maintained.

639
00:31:43,167 --> 00:31:46,958
NARRATOR:
But while many ancient societies
felt a bond with Mars,

640
00:31:47,125 --> 00:31:50,667
most did not identify it
as a planet like Earth.

641
00:31:50,792 --> 00:31:52,583
The ancients thought planets

642
00:31:52,750 --> 00:31:54,792
were as uninhabitable
as the Sun.

643
00:31:54,958 --> 00:31:56,250
ROBERT BAUVAL:
They saw them as

644
00:31:56,375 --> 00:31:58,917
wandering stars.
In fact, the word "planet"

645
00:31:59,125 --> 00:32:02,417
means, in Greek,
"wandering star," <i>"planeta."</i>

646
00:32:02,583 --> 00:32:06,125
You have the fixed stars,
the constellations,

647
00:32:06,292 --> 00:32:09,750
but then you have these-these
stars wandering about.

648
00:32:09,958 --> 00:32:11,333
They seem to follow
the Sun because

649
00:32:11,542 --> 00:32:13,417
they appear to move
against the background

650
00:32:13,542 --> 00:32:16,208
of the fixed stars
the same way the Sun does.

651
00:32:17,292 --> 00:32:20,917
NARRATOR:
It wasn't until
the 17th and 18th centuries,

652
00:32:21,042 --> 00:32:23,667
when astronomers
finally had telescopes

653
00:32:23,833 --> 00:32:27,917
powerful enough to make out
features on the surface of Mars,

654
00:32:28,042 --> 00:32:30,667
that we started to imagine
life on the Red Planet

655
00:32:30,875 --> 00:32:33,333
as a real possibility.

656
00:32:33,542 --> 00:32:36,542
SHOSTAK:
By the 1860s,
an Italian astronomer

657
00:32:36,708 --> 00:32:39,083
by the name of Angelo Secchi

658
00:32:39,250 --> 00:32:42,250
thought he saw straight lines
crisscrossing the surface

659
00:32:42,417 --> 00:32:44,500
of our little ruddy buddy
up there, Mars.

660
00:32:44,625 --> 00:32:46,333
And he called them <i>"canali."</i>

661
00:32:46,500 --> 00:32:49,000
The idea was picked up
by an American astronomer

662
00:32:49,167 --> 00:32:50,333
by the name of Percival Lowell.

663
00:32:50,500 --> 00:32:52,750
And Percival Lowell
built his own observatory

664
00:32:52,917 --> 00:32:54,500
down in Flagstaff, Arizona.

665
00:32:54,708 --> 00:32:56,792
He spent a lot of time looking
through a telescope at Mars,

666
00:32:56,958 --> 00:32:58,208
and he wrote books about this.

667
00:32:58,375 --> 00:33:00,042
He was articulate,
he was clever,

668
00:33:00,208 --> 00:33:01,917
and he convinced
a lot of the public,

669
00:33:02,042 --> 00:33:04,125
and some of
the scientific establishment,

670
00:33:04,292 --> 00:33:07,500
that there really was
a civilization on Mars

671
00:33:07,667 --> 00:33:09,000
busy digging up their planet

672
00:33:09,167 --> 00:33:11,500
because they needed
to irrigate their crops.

673
00:33:15,708 --> 00:33:16,958
NARRATOR:
But why has Mars

674
00:33:17,167 --> 00:33:20,417
fascinated humankind
throughout history?

675
00:33:20,542 --> 00:33:23,500
Is it simply due to
the planet's proximity to Earth

676
00:33:23,625 --> 00:33:26,333
and its striking red color
in the night sky?

677
00:33:27,333 --> 00:33:31,958
Or is it possible, as ancient
astronaut theorists contend,

678
00:33:32,083 --> 00:33:34,583
that Mars really was,
at one time,

679
00:33:34,792 --> 00:33:37,250
inhabited by intelligent life?

680
00:33:42,875 --> 00:33:45,250
The Cydonia region of Mars.

681
00:33:45,417 --> 00:33:49,125
July 20, 1976.

682
00:33:50,708 --> 00:33:54,542
An alien spacecraft
sent from Earth touches down

683
00:33:54,708 --> 00:33:56,250
on the Red Planet.

684
00:33:57,875 --> 00:33:59,833
After a ten-month journey,

685
00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:03,125
Viking I has reached
its destination.

686
00:34:04,208 --> 00:34:06,667
- (people cheering)
- NARRATOR: To NASA scientists,

687
00:34:06,833 --> 00:34:09,292
it's a momentous event.

688
00:34:10,375 --> 00:34:12,208
For the first time
in its history,

689
00:34:12,375 --> 00:34:15,792
the United States has
a probe on another planet.

690
00:34:17,208 --> 00:34:21,458
Viking was the first spacecraft
to actually attempt

691
00:34:21,625 --> 00:34:23,292
a soft landing on Mars,

692
00:34:23,458 --> 00:34:27,000
and give us an actual feel,

693
00:34:27,125 --> 00:34:30,292
a taste for what the conditions
were on the surface.

694
00:34:32,417 --> 00:34:35,208
We looked out at those pictures
of the surface,

695
00:34:35,417 --> 00:34:39,042
and they looked so much like
the Pacific deserts here,

696
00:34:39,250 --> 00:34:41,250
like Death Valley.

697
00:34:41,417 --> 00:34:44,417
We all half expected
to see a miner

698
00:34:44,583 --> 00:34:48,208
and his burro come walking up
over the nearest rise.

699
00:34:50,208 --> 00:34:52,333
NARRATOR:
Scientists knew
that finding definitive

700
00:34:52,458 --> 00:34:55,583
signs of life on Mars
was a long shot.

701
00:34:55,792 --> 00:34:59,333
But when the Viking lander
performed four tests

702
00:34:59,500 --> 00:35:03,125
on the Martian soil,
looking for microbial life,

703
00:35:03,292 --> 00:35:07,250
it returned surprising
and controversial results.

704
00:35:08,292 --> 00:35:10,375
Dr. Gil Levin designed

705
00:35:10,583 --> 00:35:13,583
one of the tests
that the Viking probe performed.

706
00:35:14,750 --> 00:35:17,208
LEVIN:
Microorganisms breathe,
just like you or I

707
00:35:17,375 --> 00:35:18,667
or anything else.

708
00:35:18,792 --> 00:35:21,167
And then they give off
carbon dioxide.

709
00:35:21,333 --> 00:35:25,000
So we got a tiny sample,
a thimbleful,

710
00:35:25,208 --> 00:35:28,542
of the soil,
put into a little container.

711
00:35:28,708 --> 00:35:32,750
It was monitored for
seven days continuously

712
00:35:32,958 --> 00:35:36,750
to see if there are
any bubbles forming in the tube.

713
00:35:36,958 --> 00:35:39,625
Surprisingly, the tests

714
00:35:39,750 --> 00:35:41,667
came up positive for life

715
00:35:41,792 --> 00:35:46,667
by the criteria
that had been approved by NASA.

716
00:35:48,708 --> 00:35:51,625
NARRATOR:
However, the result of
another important test,

717
00:35:51,792 --> 00:35:54,667
one looking for organic matter
on the Martian surface,

718
00:35:54,875 --> 00:35:56,167
was negative.

719
00:35:56,375 --> 00:36:00,333
But Dr. Levin says
the other test wasn't nearly

720
00:36:00,500 --> 00:36:02,624
as sensitive as his experiment.

721
00:36:02,625 --> 00:36:07,583
It needed three million bacteria
in a thimbleful of Martian soil

722
00:36:07,708 --> 00:36:09,583
to find signs of life,

723
00:36:09,708 --> 00:36:14,333
while Dr. Levin's test
only required 30 bacteria.

724
00:36:14,458 --> 00:36:17,333
So, there was a vast discrepancy

725
00:36:17,500 --> 00:36:19,958
in the sensitivity
of the two experiments.

726
00:36:20,125 --> 00:36:21,375
And I immediately said,
"Well, you know,

727
00:36:21,542 --> 00:36:23,042
"they both could be right.

728
00:36:23,208 --> 00:36:25,000
"We detected life,
but maybe there aren't

729
00:36:25,208 --> 00:36:28,208
"enough bacteria
per unit of soil

730
00:36:28,375 --> 00:36:31,667
for the organic analysis
instrument to find."

731
00:36:31,833 --> 00:36:37,167
But NASA was very cautious,
and they opted to say,

732
00:36:37,375 --> 00:36:40,000
"no organic matter."

733
00:36:40,167 --> 00:36:42,708
There goes the ball game.
No life.

734
00:36:44,792 --> 00:36:48,500
NARRATOR:
Dr. Levin has fought NASA
for almost 40 years

735
00:36:48,667 --> 00:36:52,457
on whether the Viking probe
found evidence of life on Mars.

736
00:36:52,458 --> 00:36:55,667
If he was right about
the results of his test,

737
00:36:55,875 --> 00:37:00,542
this would be the first proof
accepted by mainstream science

738
00:37:00,708 --> 00:37:03,500
that life exists
outside our planet.

739
00:37:03,667 --> 00:37:06,333
But ancient astronaut theorists

740
00:37:06,500 --> 00:37:09,500
say an even more profound
discovery regarding

741
00:37:09,708 --> 00:37:13,875
the Red Planet has been
uncovered right here on Earth.

742
00:37:24,208 --> 00:37:25,791
NARRATOR:
Washington, D.C.

743
00:37:25,792 --> 00:37:28,500
August 7th, 1996.

744
00:37:28,625 --> 00:37:31,500
On the south lawn
of the White House,

745
00:37:31,708 --> 00:37:35,250
30 years after NASA announced
the Viking mission

746
00:37:35,417 --> 00:37:37,958
had not found
evidence of life on Mars,

747
00:37:38,125 --> 00:37:41,500
President Bill Clinton held
an historic press conference

748
00:37:41,708 --> 00:37:44,583
to announce some momentous news.

749
00:37:44,750 --> 00:37:50,042
Microbial life may exist
on the Red Planet after all.

750
00:37:51,250 --> 00:37:53,708
Scientists had found
what they believed

751
00:37:53,875 --> 00:37:56,750
to be fossilized remains
on a Martian meteorite

752
00:37:56,875 --> 00:38:00,208
that crashed to Earth
12,000 years ago.

753
00:38:00,417 --> 00:38:02,708
(explosion booming)

754
00:38:02,875 --> 00:38:06,500
It must be confirmed by
other scientists,

755
00:38:06,708 --> 00:38:08,500
but clearly,

756
00:38:08,667 --> 00:38:12,000
the fact that something of
this magnitude is being explored

757
00:38:12,208 --> 00:38:14,042
is another vindication

758
00:38:14,208 --> 00:38:17,667
of America's space program and
our continuing support for it,

759
00:38:17,833 --> 00:38:20,083
even in these tough
financial times.

760
00:38:20,250 --> 00:38:24,500
FRISBEE:
There was enormous excitement
over this discovery.

761
00:38:24,708 --> 00:38:28,458
Based on the chemical
composition of the meteorite,

762
00:38:28,625 --> 00:38:31,417
we could tell
that it was from Mars.

763
00:38:32,458 --> 00:38:35,875
Inside the rock, researchers
found different chemicals,

764
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:41,042
and in particular, different
physical shapes of objects

765
00:38:41,208 --> 00:38:46,833
that looked extremely similar
to microorganisms here on Earth.

766
00:38:49,583 --> 00:38:52,583
NARRATOR:
Soon after the president's
press conference,

767
00:38:52,708 --> 00:38:55,583
scientists began to backpedal

768
00:38:55,708 --> 00:38:59,667
on whether the meteorite
actually showed signs of life.

769
00:38:59,875 --> 00:39:03,708
They said the original team
of experts may have been wrong.

770
00:39:03,917 --> 00:39:09,625
The image certainly looks like
some kind of a microorganism.

771
00:39:09,833 --> 00:39:13,917
But the opponents said
the microorganism remains

772
00:39:14,083 --> 00:39:18,417
are too small to have DNA
to be inside it.

773
00:39:18,625 --> 00:39:21,875
And therefore,
it can't be a fossil.

774
00:39:24,875 --> 00:39:29,125
Since then, microorganisms
have been found that small

775
00:39:29,292 --> 00:39:31,625
which have DNA in them.

776
00:39:33,417 --> 00:39:35,875
But it has not been resolved.

777
00:39:38,750 --> 00:39:41,667
NARRATOR:
But given the controversy
surrounding the possibility

778
00:39:41,833 --> 00:39:44,917
that life may have
been discovered on Mars,

779
00:39:45,042 --> 00:39:48,208
starting with the Viking
mission of the 1970s

780
00:39:48,375 --> 00:39:50,500
and continuing
to the present day...

781
00:39:50,667 --> 00:39:52,208
LAUNCH DIRECTOR:
Liftoff.

782
00:39:52,375 --> 00:39:54,500
NARRATOR:
...some scientists say NASA

783
00:39:54,667 --> 00:39:57,667
almost seems to be
avoiding the issue.

784
00:39:59,542 --> 00:40:03,125
The space agency has
never retried Gil Levin's test

785
00:40:03,292 --> 00:40:06,042
for signs of life
on the Red Planet.

786
00:40:09,458 --> 00:40:14,458
It is very puzzling
as to why NASA has refused

787
00:40:14,583 --> 00:40:18,417
to send life detection
experiments back to Mars.

788
00:40:19,958 --> 00:40:22,333
My experiment discovered

789
00:40:22,500 --> 00:40:26,125
the most remarkable thing
yet known about Mars:

790
00:40:26,250 --> 00:40:29,333
that there's something
highly reactive in the soil,

791
00:40:29,542 --> 00:40:31,833
chemical or biological.

792
00:40:32,042 --> 00:40:34,917
But we really should
find out what it is.

793
00:40:35,083 --> 00:40:40,208
It is startling
that NASA has made no attempt

794
00:40:40,375 --> 00:40:43,208
to determine that issue.

795
00:40:45,875 --> 00:40:50,875
I truly think NASA knows
there is life on Mars.

796
00:40:51,042 --> 00:40:54,458
But for some reason
unbeknownst to me,

797
00:40:54,625 --> 00:40:57,833
it does not want
that information out.

798
00:41:05,000 --> 00:41:08,750
NARRATOR:
Has NASA found definitive
signs of life on Mars

799
00:41:08,958 --> 00:41:11,708
that they're intentionally
keeping from the public?

800
00:41:12,667 --> 00:41:15,083
And if so,
have they found evidence

801
00:41:15,250 --> 00:41:19,833
that an advanced civilization
once lived on the Red Planet?

802
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:23,333
Some ancient astronaut theorists
believe they have

803
00:41:23,500 --> 00:41:25,333
and, as evidence,
point to a report

804
00:41:25,458 --> 00:41:29,125
commissioned by NASA in 1960...

805
00:41:31,667 --> 00:41:35,000
...that offers advice
for how to reveal the news

806
00:41:35,208 --> 00:41:36,750
if the American space program

807
00:41:36,917 --> 00:41:40,875
should ever find proof
of extraterrestrial life.

808
00:41:42,875 --> 00:41:45,792
BARA: The so-called Brookings
Report essentially said

809
00:41:45,958 --> 00:41:48,667
that in your travels
throughout the solar system,

810
00:41:48,833 --> 00:41:50,750
there is a distinct possibility

811
00:41:50,958 --> 00:41:52,667
that you will
discover artifacts,

812
00:41:52,875 --> 00:41:55,000
that you will actually
discover evidence

813
00:41:55,125 --> 00:42:01,375
of an ancient alien presence on
Venus, on the Moon or on Mars.

814
00:42:01,542 --> 00:42:05,625
And the implications of such an
announcement, if it were made,

815
00:42:05,792 --> 00:42:09,625
would be potentially devastating
to the human race.

816
00:42:09,792 --> 00:42:11,458
It could be catastrophic.

817
00:42:11,625 --> 00:42:13,542
In fact, it used the word
"disintegrate."

818
00:42:15,792 --> 00:42:17,250
BAUVAL:
I would imagine
that it would be something

819
00:42:17,458 --> 00:42:19,042
that would be kept secret
for a while.

820
00:42:20,708 --> 00:42:22,792
I don't think
it's a bunch of men

821
00:42:22,917 --> 00:42:24,833
sitting in a room
and smoking cigarettes

822
00:42:25,042 --> 00:42:27,458
and saying,
"We're gonna keep this secret."

823
00:42:27,583 --> 00:42:29,292
But it is a responsibility,

824
00:42:29,417 --> 00:42:32,333
and I think that they would
certainly be very, very careful

825
00:42:32,458 --> 00:42:34,625
as to how to
let out this knowledge.

826
00:42:42,250 --> 00:42:46,500
NARRATOR:
Is it possible
that not just microbial life

827
00:42:46,708 --> 00:42:48,667
but also intelligent beings

828
00:42:48,875 --> 00:42:51,667
once called the Red Planet
their home?

829
00:42:51,792 --> 00:42:53,875
And if so, what would that mean

830
00:42:54,042 --> 00:42:58,083
for the existence of life
elsewhere in the cosmos?

831
00:42:59,917 --> 00:43:01,833
If life used to exist on Mars,

832
00:43:02,042 --> 00:43:04,958
particularly if it formed
independently of Earth life...

833
00:43:07,042 --> 00:43:09,708
...life in the universe
is all over the place.

834
00:43:12,458 --> 00:43:17,583
That means that of the billions
of planets discovered now...

835
00:43:18,667 --> 00:43:21,917
...similar to Earth,
through our universe,

836
00:43:22,042 --> 00:43:25,125
many of them
would have life on them.

837
00:43:27,042 --> 00:43:30,958
And if there is life
different from life on Earth

838
00:43:31,125 --> 00:43:34,917
that has evolved, there
would be every reason to suspect

839
00:43:35,042 --> 00:43:39,833
such evolution would have gone
on, on countless other Earths

840
00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:41,708
and that there would be
intelligent life

841
00:43:41,875 --> 00:43:43,792
out there as well.

842
00:43:43,917 --> 00:43:45,875
♪ ♪

843
00:43:47,417 --> 00:43:48,833
We want there
to be life on Mars.

844
00:43:49,000 --> 00:43:51,625
We want there to be life
somewhere beyond here.

845
00:43:51,750 --> 00:43:55,167
We want that transcendent
connection to the heavens.

846
00:43:55,333 --> 00:43:56,792
We don't want it to be invaders,

847
00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:00,625
but we don't want to be alone
in the universe.

848
00:44:04,583 --> 00:44:08,125
NARRATOR:
If signs of microbial life
have been found on Mars,

849
00:44:08,292 --> 00:44:12,333
is it really far-fetched
to consider the possibility

850
00:44:12,500 --> 00:44:15,791
of advanced life
elsewhere in the cosmos?

851
00:44:15,792 --> 00:44:18,958
According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

852
00:44:19,125 --> 00:44:22,208
evidence might be closer to home
than we realize.

853
00:44:22,375 --> 00:44:26,624
And they suggest further clues
could be uncovered

854
00:44:26,625 --> 00:44:28,500
by examining
leaked transmissions

855
00:44:28,625 --> 00:44:32,667
sent by NASA astronauts.

856
00:44:38,458 --> 00:44:40,208
The discoveries we are making
on Mars are incredible,

857
00:44:40,375 --> 00:44:43,292
but we find equally
intriguing discoveries

858
00:44:43,417 --> 00:44:45,833
in our own Earth's orbit.

859
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,750
We have countless photos
and videos

860
00:44:48,917 --> 00:44:53,125
from NASA missions showing
unidentified flying objects

861
00:44:53,292 --> 00:44:55,333
that look like spacecraft.

862
00:44:55,458 --> 00:44:57,792
Yeah, and astronauts
have claimed

863
00:44:57,958 --> 00:45:00,042
that they have seen things
that they couldn't explain,

864
00:45:00,208 --> 00:45:02,500
and this goes all the way back
to the Apollo 11 Moon mission.

865
00:45:02,708 --> 00:45:04,125
- Right.
- Yeah, and it's not just

866
00:45:04,333 --> 00:45:06,708
American astronauts,
it's Russian cosmonauts, too.

867
00:45:06,875 --> 00:45:08,875
So, when you have photos
and videos,

868
00:45:09,042 --> 00:45:11,333
multiple eyewitness accounts,
you have to wonder:

869
00:45:11,500 --> 00:45:15,958
Is there an alien presence
right above our planet?

870
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:20,833
NARRATOR:
NASA Ames Research Center.

871
00:45:21,042 --> 00:45:24,125
Moffett Field, California.

872
00:45:25,375 --> 00:45:28,208
On December 5th, 2011,

873
00:45:28,375 --> 00:45:31,625
astronomers working
with the Kepler Space Telescope

874
00:45:31,792 --> 00:45:33,458
announced the discovery
of a planet

875
00:45:33,583 --> 00:45:37,083
they called Kepler-22b,
orbiting within

876
00:45:37,250 --> 00:45:41,750
what's known as the habitable
zone of a distant star.

877
00:45:42,708 --> 00:45:45,000
Today's discovery is
a tantalizing indication

878
00:45:45,125 --> 00:45:49,167
that, with time, Kepler
may find true Earth analogs.

879
00:45:50,458 --> 00:45:53,375
SHOSTAK:
Kepler-22b is about 600
light-years away from Earth,

880
00:45:53,542 --> 00:45:54,792
so that's a long way.

881
00:45:54,958 --> 00:45:57,125
But it is, in fact, in an orbit

882
00:45:57,292 --> 00:45:59,417
that means that the daytime
temperatures on that planet

883
00:45:59,542 --> 00:46:02,792
might be comparable to
a summer in San Francisco.

884
00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:05,333
So that's the first time
we found a planet

885
00:46:05,542 --> 00:46:06,833
that might have liquid oceans,

886
00:46:07,042 --> 00:46:09,833
maybe a thick atmosphere,
maybe even life.

887
00:46:10,000 --> 00:46:13,333
What we'd ultimately
like to do, first, is just...

888
00:46:13,500 --> 00:46:17,417
just understand how other
planetary systems are made up.

889
00:46:17,625 --> 00:46:22,250
But then we really would like
to find earthlike planets.

890
00:46:22,458 --> 00:46:26,458
Planets in the habitable zone
of sunlike stars.

891
00:46:28,375 --> 00:46:31,500
NARRATOR:
But is it possible
that NASA scientists

892
00:46:31,667 --> 00:46:35,917
have been searching for life
they already know exists?

893
00:46:36,875 --> 00:46:40,750
Some believe
previous voyages into space

894
00:46:40,917 --> 00:46:45,458
have uncovered evidence
of an extraterrestrial presence.

895
00:46:48,458 --> 00:46:50,958
CONTROL:
Houston, <i>Discovery.</i>
How do you read? Over.

896
00:46:51,125 --> 00:46:53,125
ASTRONAUT:
<i>Discovery,</i> Houston.
Read you loud and clear.

897
00:46:53,250 --> 00:46:54,958
LAUNCH DIRECTOR:
Go for main engines start.

898
00:46:55,083 --> 00:46:56,750
Main engines up and burning.

899
00:46:56,917 --> 00:47:01,333
Three, two, one, zero
and liftoff.

900
00:47:03,708 --> 00:47:05,375
CONTROL:
Roger roll, <i>Discovery.</i>

901
00:47:05,583 --> 00:47:08,542
NARRATOR:
On September 12th, 1991,

902
00:47:08,708 --> 00:47:12,958
the Space Shuttle <i>Discovery,</i>
STS-48,

903
00:47:13,125 --> 00:47:17,375
flew nearly 350 miles above
the surface of the Earth.

904
00:47:19,458 --> 00:47:23,375
Its crew,
led by Captain John Creighton,

905
00:47:23,542 --> 00:47:25,917
performed several missions,
including the deployment

906
00:47:26,042 --> 00:47:29,250
of an Upper Atmosphere
Research Satellite.

907
00:47:29,417 --> 00:47:31,208
CONTROL:
He is a go for free drift.

908
00:47:31,375 --> 00:47:33,042
ASTRONAUT:
Okay, we're in free drift.

909
00:47:33,208 --> 00:47:35,625
NARRATOR:
But while the astronauts
occupied themselves

910
00:47:35,792 --> 00:47:37,792
with various tasks,

911
00:47:37,958 --> 00:47:41,625
a video camera
at the rear cargo bay door...

912
00:47:43,125 --> 00:47:48,250
...captured footage that NASA
claims no longer exists.

913
00:47:49,458 --> 00:47:50,708
But a number of amateurs

914
00:47:50,875 --> 00:47:52,875
that were monitoring
the transmission

915
00:47:53,042 --> 00:47:58,500
produced what they allege
is genuine footage from STS-48.

916
00:48:00,375 --> 00:48:03,083
The video shows
what appears to be

917
00:48:03,250 --> 00:48:08,417
a series of unidentified glowing
objects and flashing lights...

918
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:13,417
...that change direction
and accelerate rapidly.

919
00:48:17,375 --> 00:48:21,208
Apparently, the space shuttle
was surrounded by some kind of,

920
00:48:21,375 --> 00:48:25,667
uh, UFO, a flying saucer
type of craft.

921
00:48:25,875 --> 00:48:28,458
Some kind of a shield,
at one point,

922
00:48:28,625 --> 00:48:31,667
was supposedly put around
the shuttle briefly.

923
00:48:34,042 --> 00:48:37,583
And then the UFO
and everything disappeared.

924
00:48:39,458 --> 00:48:42,375
One of the astronauts openly
states over an open channel,

925
00:48:42,542 --> 00:48:45,333
"Hey, we're being tracked
by an alien spacecraft."

926
00:48:47,875 --> 00:48:50,417
And then all of a sudden, all
the transmission just ceases.

927
00:48:50,583 --> 00:48:53,333
And I think what happened was
is that he must have realized

928
00:48:53,500 --> 00:48:55,250
he was on the public channel,
not the private channel,

929
00:48:55,417 --> 00:48:56,750
and he probably
very, very quickly

930
00:48:56,917 --> 00:48:58,708
switched over
to the private channel

931
00:48:58,875 --> 00:49:01,042
to describe what it was
he was seeing.

932
00:49:05,000 --> 00:49:07,958
STORY MUSGRAVE:
I knew everyone, and I heard
stories from everyone.

933
00:49:08,125 --> 00:49:11,375
Nobody brought me any evidence.

934
00:49:11,542 --> 00:49:14,125
So, one side of the coin,
it's everywhere out there.

935
00:49:14,333 --> 00:49:17,333
Has it been here?
I have no evidence.

936
00:49:20,167 --> 00:49:22,833
NARRATOR:
NASA officials
claim the video images

937
00:49:23,000 --> 00:49:25,625
show ice particles
glinting in the sun.

938
00:49:30,417 --> 00:49:31,542
But is it possible

939
00:49:31,708 --> 00:49:34,458
that video transmissions
from the space shuttle

940
00:49:34,625 --> 00:49:38,958
captured more than what
NASA officials want to admit?

941
00:49:41,417 --> 00:49:43,333
Occasionally, uh, astronauts,

942
00:49:43,542 --> 00:49:46,625
shuttle astronauts
will report that they've seen

943
00:49:46,792 --> 00:49:50,167
things or experienced things
in space that they can't explain

944
00:49:50,333 --> 00:49:53,125
and that might be due
to an alien presence.

945
00:49:54,667 --> 00:49:58,083
Ever since humankind
launched itself into space,

946
00:49:58,250 --> 00:50:02,000
there have been reports where
astronauts describe something

947
00:50:02,208 --> 00:50:05,083
that they saw
while being up in the spaceship.

948
00:50:06,375 --> 00:50:10,833
And we have to remind ourselves
that those stories

949
00:50:11,042 --> 00:50:14,625
are reported by astronauts

950
00:50:14,750 --> 00:50:18,000
and not by insane people.

951
00:50:20,542 --> 00:50:22,667
NARRATOR:
In 1996,

952
00:50:22,833 --> 00:50:27,292
video captured aboard the Space
Shuttle <i>Columbia,</i> STS-80...

953
00:50:29,208 --> 00:50:32,042
...reportedly shows a number
of fast-moving objects

954
00:50:32,208 --> 00:50:34,417
just outside the craft.

955
00:50:36,833 --> 00:50:41,125
These unidentified objects
appear as bright streaks.

956
00:50:42,875 --> 00:50:45,542
Analysis of their speeds
and directions

957
00:50:45,708 --> 00:50:48,708
have prompted some researchers
to dismiss the claims

958
00:50:48,875 --> 00:50:53,500
that the objects were
shuttle debris or meteors.

959
00:50:53,667 --> 00:50:56,333
BARA:
There's space shuttle video
of two very specific missions,

960
00:50:56,500 --> 00:50:59,917
STS-48 and STS-80,
which clearly show

961
00:51:00,083 --> 00:51:01,667
what appear to be
powered vehicles

962
00:51:01,875 --> 00:51:05,833
operating in low Earth orbit,
defying all the laws of physics

963
00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:08,125
and clearly performing
the way UFOs

964
00:51:08,292 --> 00:51:12,583
or extraterrestrial spacecraft
are supposedly able to perform.

965
00:51:16,042 --> 00:51:19,167
NARRATOR:
But American astronauts are not
the only space travelers

966
00:51:19,375 --> 00:51:22,458
reporting
otherworldly encounters.

967
00:51:25,458 --> 00:51:30,417
In 1985, Soviet cosmonauts
aboard the <i>Salyut 7</i>

968
00:51:30,542 --> 00:51:34,208
reported seeing seven celestial
beings orbiting Earth.

969
00:51:35,375 --> 00:51:37,125
CHILDRESS:
Six cosmonauts

970
00:51:37,250 --> 00:51:40,333
claimed that, as they looked
out of the window

971
00:51:40,500 --> 00:51:44,166
of the space station,
they saw what they described

972
00:51:44,167 --> 00:51:49,000
as winged angels
surrounding their ship,

973
00:51:49,167 --> 00:51:52,167
and that these were
luminous beings

974
00:51:52,333 --> 00:51:56,167
looking like people
but also having, uh,

975
00:51:56,375 --> 00:52:00,208
bizarrely, wings on them...
and they're in space.

976
00:52:00,417 --> 00:52:03,333
So you have to wonder:
Uh, what's going on here?

977
00:52:03,542 --> 00:52:08,833
And were these angels
some kind of extraterrestrials

978
00:52:08,958 --> 00:52:12,542
in special space suits
or with fields around them

979
00:52:12,708 --> 00:52:18,000
and they were investigating
the Soviet, uh, space station?

980
00:52:18,208 --> 00:52:21,792
And then suddenly, bang,
they just vanished.

981
00:52:24,458 --> 00:52:27,542
NARRATOR:
If reports from
trained scientists are true,

982
00:52:27,708 --> 00:52:30,833
is this proof that
extraterrestrial intelligence

983
00:52:31,000 --> 00:52:33,417
has been trying to contact us?

984
00:52:37,000 --> 00:52:39,458
SEAN-DAVID MORTON:
Gordy Cooper approached
the United Nations

985
00:52:39,583 --> 00:52:41,625
about them actually
setting up, uh, a-a bureau

986
00:52:41,792 --> 00:52:44,375
at the United Nations
for extraterrestrial contact.

987
00:52:45,833 --> 00:52:48,500
EDGAR MITCHELL:
This is not unknown knowledge.

988
00:52:48,667 --> 00:52:51,250
There are people that know,
and there seems to be

989
00:52:51,417 --> 00:52:55,042
perhaps several different
species of aliens visiting here.

990
00:52:55,208 --> 00:52:57,333
And it looks like,
likely they have been

991
00:52:57,500 --> 00:52:59,000
for a long, long time.

992
00:53:00,208 --> 00:53:04,167
NARRATOR:
Might NASA really be withholding
classified information

993
00:53:04,292 --> 00:53:07,833
regarding the existence
of extraterrestrial beings?

994
00:53:09,167 --> 00:53:11,208
Could that explain
why particular video

995
00:53:11,375 --> 00:53:13,917
and communication feeds
from space missions

996
00:53:14,083 --> 00:53:16,708
have been withheld
from the public?

997
00:53:17,833 --> 00:53:19,458
And if the unexplained phenomena

998
00:53:19,583 --> 00:53:21,542
astronauts have encountered
in orbit

999
00:53:21,708 --> 00:53:26,167
point to an alien intelligence,
is it a new presence

1000
00:53:26,375 --> 00:53:29,375
or one that has been
observing us

1001
00:53:29,542 --> 00:53:31,417
from the very beginning?

1002
00:53:37,250 --> 00:53:37,916
There have been a lot
of strange things observed

1003
00:53:37,917 --> 00:53:39,208
above our planet,

1004
00:53:39,375 --> 00:53:40,958
but perhaps
the most compelling of all

1005
00:53:41,125 --> 00:53:43,667
is the object they call
"the Black Knight satellite."

1006
00:53:43,875 --> 00:53:47,167
Yeah, it's fascinating,
because whatever this thing is,

1007
00:53:47,333 --> 00:53:49,792
there have been reports about it
for over 50 years.

1008
00:53:49,958 --> 00:53:51,208
TSOUKALOS:
Yeah, and, you know,
there's a possibility

1009
00:53:51,375 --> 00:53:54,708
that we have a reference
of this satellite

1010
00:53:54,875 --> 00:53:59,292
in an ancient text
that's almost 2,000 years old.

1011
00:53:59,500 --> 00:54:02,333
We covered this
in a 2016 episode called

1012
00:54:02,500 --> 00:54:04,292
"The Mysterious Nine."

1013
00:54:07,958 --> 00:54:10,833
NARRATOR:
December 1998.

1014
00:54:12,542 --> 00:54:15,375
During the assembly of
the International Space Station,

1015
00:54:15,542 --> 00:54:19,833
U.S. astronauts spot
a large unidentified item

1016
00:54:20,042 --> 00:54:21,333
orbiting the Earth.

1017
00:54:22,417 --> 00:54:25,417
They take photographs
of the mysterious object

1018
00:54:25,583 --> 00:54:28,542
and post them
on the NASA website.

1019
00:54:29,792 --> 00:54:31,000
WILCOCK:
When you actually look

1020
00:54:31,208 --> 00:54:33,125
at the photographs
of the object,

1021
00:54:33,292 --> 00:54:36,042
it very obviously looks
artificial.

1022
00:54:36,208 --> 00:54:37,958
This is not a meteor.

1023
00:54:38,083 --> 00:54:40,417
This is not a chunk of rock.

1024
00:54:41,792 --> 00:54:44,750
This is something
that has a dark, streamlined,

1025
00:54:44,917 --> 00:54:46,542
technological appearance,

1026
00:54:46,708 --> 00:54:49,500
almost like some of the stealth
aircraft that we've built,

1027
00:54:49,708 --> 00:54:52,958
with a kind of bent nose in
the front, sort of like a hawk.

1028
00:54:58,750 --> 00:55:03,167
NARRATOR:
Curiously, NASA officials
quickly remove the photos

1029
00:55:03,292 --> 00:55:06,167
and claim the object
was space debris.

1030
00:55:06,375 --> 00:55:08,542
Most likely, a thermal blanket

1031
00:55:08,708 --> 00:55:11,833
inadvertently released
from the space station.

1032
00:55:12,833 --> 00:55:16,708
But some independent researchers
are not convinced

1033
00:55:16,875 --> 00:55:20,000
and suggest that it might be
the latest evidence

1034
00:55:20,125 --> 00:55:21,667
of the Black Knight satellite

1035
00:55:21,833 --> 00:55:24,833
that first made headlines
three years before

1036
00:55:24,958 --> 00:55:28,708
the first man-made satellite
was launched into orbit.

1037
00:55:30,750 --> 00:55:32,750
In 1954,

1038
00:55:32,917 --> 00:55:36,625
both the <i>San Francisco Examiner</i>
and the <i>Aviation Week</i> journal

1039
00:55:36,792 --> 00:55:40,125
published articles detailing
what appeared to be

1040
00:55:40,292 --> 00:55:43,417
artificial satellites
orbiting the Earth.

1041
00:55:46,542 --> 00:55:48,333
It really shocked
a lot of people,

1042
00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:51,458
because although the concept
of satellites were known,

1043
00:55:51,583 --> 00:55:54,458
nobody on the planet
was flying a satellite.

1044
00:55:55,375 --> 00:55:57,042
The story really takes off

1045
00:55:57,208 --> 00:55:59,042
with a man named
Major Donald Keyhoe.

1046
00:55:59,208 --> 00:56:01,542
He was formerly
with the U.S. military

1047
00:56:01,708 --> 00:56:04,583
and wrote a number
of books on UFOs.

1048
00:56:05,708 --> 00:56:08,292
One of the things
that Keyhoe wrote about

1049
00:56:08,500 --> 00:56:10,667
was how, supposedly,
a number of military insiders

1050
00:56:10,833 --> 00:56:13,333
had told him
that the U.S. military

1051
00:56:13,500 --> 00:56:16,667
was tracking one or two
unknown satellites

1052
00:56:16,875 --> 00:56:19,958
of extraordinary size
in Earth orbit.

1053
00:56:20,167 --> 00:56:21,292
Nobody knew what they were.

1054
00:56:21,458 --> 00:56:23,000
This was long before Sputnik,

1055
00:56:23,167 --> 00:56:25,875
the first satellite
launched by the Russians,

1056
00:56:26,042 --> 00:56:30,042
and it gave rise to the idea
that it was extraterrestrial.

1057
00:56:34,208 --> 00:56:36,458
NARRATOR:
The United States
Department of Defense

1058
00:56:36,625 --> 00:56:38,833
was said to have
recruited the assistance

1059
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:42,917
of astronomer Clyde W. Tombaugh
in 1953

1060
00:56:43,083 --> 00:56:45,583
to identify this strange object.

1061
00:56:46,583 --> 00:56:50,500
However, his conclusions
were never made public.

1062
00:56:51,542 --> 00:56:55,292
Based on its appearance
on radar in the 1960s,

1063
00:56:55,458 --> 00:56:58,208
scientists estimated
that the mystery satellite

1064
00:56:58,375 --> 00:57:00,583
weighed over ten tons.

1065
00:57:00,750 --> 00:57:04,333
It was not only several times
larger than anything

1066
00:57:04,542 --> 00:57:07,417
worldwide space programs
were capable of launching

1067
00:57:07,583 --> 00:57:09,958
but it also seemed
to be traveling

1068
00:57:10,125 --> 00:57:11,833
in an artificial orbit,

1069
00:57:11,958 --> 00:57:15,500
circling the Earth
from pole to pole.

1070
00:57:19,833 --> 00:57:21,875
The Black Knight is said
to be in a polar orbit,

1071
00:57:22,042 --> 00:57:24,208
which was what you would do
if you wanted to cover

1072
00:57:24,375 --> 00:57:27,292
the entire planet Earth
as it rotated underneath you.

1073
00:57:27,417 --> 00:57:29,500
Weather satellites,
spy satellites

1074
00:57:29,667 --> 00:57:31,375
are commonly put
into this polar orbit

1075
00:57:31,583 --> 00:57:33,875
in order to cover
the entire surface of the Earth.

1076
00:57:34,042 --> 00:57:37,917
This implies that it is
an unnatural object.

1077
00:57:40,208 --> 00:57:42,417
What's particularly intriguing
about this satellite

1078
00:57:42,542 --> 00:57:45,250
is it's not one of ours.

1079
00:57:45,417 --> 00:57:47,583
In other words,
the theory is that this is

1080
00:57:47,750 --> 00:57:50,417
an extraterrestrial satellite

1081
00:57:50,542 --> 00:57:53,458
that has perhaps
been monitoring planet Earth

1082
00:57:53,625 --> 00:57:56,000
for thousands of years.

1083
00:57:58,708 --> 00:58:02,000
In the 1930s,
ham radio operators claimed

1084
00:58:02,167 --> 00:58:06,500
they were picking up
radio signals from outer space.

1085
00:58:06,708 --> 00:58:08,957
And Nikola Tesla himself

1086
00:58:08,958 --> 00:58:13,708
claimed that he was picking up
radio signals from Mars.

1087
00:58:13,875 --> 00:58:16,833
So, you have to wonder:
Were ham radio operators

1088
00:58:17,042 --> 00:58:20,500
and even Nikola Tesla
somehow picking up signals

1089
00:58:20,708 --> 00:58:24,708
from this extraterrestrial ship
orbiting our planet?

1090
00:58:26,917 --> 00:58:30,667
WILCOCK:
A ham radio operator was able
to decipher this signal

1091
00:58:30,875 --> 00:58:34,167
and create a matrix grid
of individual dots

1092
00:58:34,333 --> 00:58:36,167
that were either white or black.

1093
00:58:36,292 --> 00:58:39,500
When he looked at this grid,
he concluded that it was a map

1094
00:58:39,708 --> 00:58:42,917
of the Epsilon Boötis
constellation,

1095
00:58:43,083 --> 00:58:47,667
positioned where it would
have been 13,000 years ago.

1096
00:58:50,667 --> 00:58:52,625
NARRATOR:
Might this mysterious object

1097
00:58:52,792 --> 00:58:57,250
actually have traveled
to Earth 13,000 years ago?

1098
00:58:58,625 --> 00:59:02,542
And if so, was it put into orbit
by extraterrestrials

1099
00:59:02,708 --> 00:59:05,083
in order to observe Earth?

1100
00:59:06,375 --> 00:59:08,833
Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes

1101
00:59:09,000 --> 00:59:13,792
and suggest that descriptions
of an extraterrestrial satellite

1102
00:59:14,000 --> 00:59:17,208
can even be found
thousands of years ago,

1103
00:59:17,375 --> 00:59:22,917
in the Hebrew text known
as the <i>Apocalypse of Baruch.</i>

1104
00:59:26,792 --> 00:59:28,667
The <i>Apocalypse of Baruch</i>

1105
00:59:28,875 --> 00:59:33,667
is one of the best ancient
astronaut stories in existence

1106
00:59:33,792 --> 00:59:37,000
because it describes
an eyewitness account

1107
00:59:37,167 --> 00:59:39,167
of a satellite
orbiting the Earth.

1108
00:59:39,375 --> 00:59:45,083
Baruch describes how he sees
a magnificent bird

1109
00:59:45,208 --> 00:59:48,958
that watched
the happenings on the planet.

1110
00:59:49,167 --> 00:59:54,167
And from time to time,
this bird would extend its wings

1111
00:59:54,333 --> 00:59:58,667
to glean or to gather
the power of the Sun,

1112
00:59:58,875 --> 01:00:03,125
And after flying around,
that bird will be so exhausted,

1113
01:00:03,250 --> 01:00:06,000
it would retract its wings.

1114
01:00:06,167 --> 01:00:11,000
If we look at today's satellites
in space, it's the same story.

1115
01:00:11,208 --> 01:00:14,333
We have solar cells
on wings that can extend

1116
01:00:14,500 --> 01:00:16,667
and then they can retract
at will.

1117
01:00:16,792 --> 01:00:21,000
So, what if Baruch
witnessed something similar?

1118
01:00:21,167 --> 01:00:27,875
Baruch himself said that this is
the "guardian of the earth."

1119
01:00:30,875 --> 01:00:32,417
NARRATOR:
Might the mythological bird

1120
01:00:32,583 --> 01:00:34,875
described in
the <i>Apocalypse of Baruch</i>

1121
01:00:35,083 --> 01:00:39,042
have actually been
an observational satellite?

1122
01:00:40,083 --> 01:00:42,667
Could this be proof
that extraterrestrials

1123
01:00:42,792 --> 01:00:45,167
have been keeping watch
over our planet

1124
01:00:45,333 --> 01:00:47,208
for thousands of years,

1125
01:00:47,375 --> 01:00:50,833
as some ancient astronaut
theorists suggest?

1126
01:00:51,875 --> 01:00:54,917
And if intelligent life-forms
exist beyond Earth,

1127
01:00:55,083 --> 01:00:57,667
why haven't
they made themselves known?

1128
01:00:57,875 --> 01:01:01,125
Perhaps additional clues
can be uncovered

1129
01:01:01,292 --> 01:01:03,500
by exploring why and how

1130
01:01:03,667 --> 01:01:07,000
they may be deliberately
avoiding detection.

1131
01:01:12,083 --> 01:01:13,707
You know, every year, we learn
that there are more and more

1132
01:01:13,708 --> 01:01:14,833
habitable planets out there.

1133
01:01:15,250 --> 01:01:17,667
And it really makes you think
that there must be dozens,

1134
01:01:17,833 --> 01:01:20,291
even hundreds of
intelligent species out there.

1135
01:01:20,292 --> 01:01:23,500
Yeah, and scientists are now
on board with the probability

1136
01:01:23,708 --> 01:01:25,542
of other life in the universe.

1137
01:01:25,708 --> 01:01:27,000
And you know, it's interesting,
it's been suggested

1138
01:01:27,167 --> 01:01:28,458
that one of the reasons
why we haven't

1139
01:01:28,583 --> 01:01:30,500
detected extraterrestrials

1140
01:01:30,667 --> 01:01:32,000
is because more advanced races

1141
01:01:32,208 --> 01:01:35,167
are seeking to evade detection
by us.

1142
01:01:35,333 --> 01:01:38,708
Right. This is
the so-called zoo hypothesis.

1143
01:01:38,875 --> 01:01:41,750
And believe it or not,
it was proposed

1144
01:01:41,917 --> 01:01:45,083
by an astrophysicist from MIT.

1145
01:01:52,542 --> 01:01:56,208
NARRATOR:
If extraterrestrial beings
do exist in the universe,

1146
01:01:56,375 --> 01:01:58,333
where are they?

1147
01:01:58,458 --> 01:02:01,167
That was the question
posed by Enrico Fermi,

1148
01:02:01,375 --> 01:02:04,458
one of the leading scientists
of the 20th century.

1149
01:02:05,583 --> 01:02:07,500
(explosive booming)

1150
01:02:09,042 --> 01:02:10,667
DAVIES:
Shortly after
the Second World War,

1151
01:02:10,875 --> 01:02:12,958
the famous physicist
Enrico Fermi,

1152
01:02:13,083 --> 01:02:15,708
who was taking part
in the Manhattan Project

1153
01:02:15,875 --> 01:02:17,125
to build the atomic bomb,

1154
01:02:17,250 --> 01:02:19,750
was talking at Los Alamos
with some friends

1155
01:02:19,917 --> 01:02:22,417
about the reports, uh,
of flying saucers,

1156
01:02:22,625 --> 01:02:25,167
and Fermi, uh,
suddenly said, uh,

1157
01:02:25,333 --> 01:02:28,666
in relation to extraterrestrial
intelligent beings,

1158
01:02:28,667 --> 01:02:29,875
"Where are they?"

1159
01:02:30,042 --> 01:02:31,750
And he was simply
making the point

1160
01:02:31,875 --> 01:02:34,958
that if there was a civilization
somewhere in the galaxy,

1161
01:02:35,125 --> 01:02:38,500
uh, that had arisen, uh, say,
a hundred million years ago,

1162
01:02:38,667 --> 01:02:39,875
then they had plenty of time

1163
01:02:40,083 --> 01:02:42,500
to have spread
across the galaxy.

1164
01:02:42,667 --> 01:02:44,250
BALL:
Fermi said,

1165
01:02:44,417 --> 01:02:46,958
"Gee, if there's all of these
civilizations out there

1166
01:02:47,125 --> 01:02:50,292
on all of these planets
out there, where is everybody?"

1167
01:02:51,917 --> 01:02:55,166
NARRATOR:
The Fermi paradox,
as it became known,

1168
01:02:55,167 --> 01:02:58,875
was an attempt to explain
the lack of evidence of aliens

1169
01:02:59,042 --> 01:03:03,000
despite the mathematical
probability of their existence.

1170
01:03:04,042 --> 01:03:08,708
But in the 1960s,
MIT astrophysicist John Ball

1171
01:03:08,833 --> 01:03:10,917
rebutted Fermi's hypothesis

1172
01:03:11,083 --> 01:03:13,542
with a controversial one
of his own:

1173
01:03:13,708 --> 01:03:15,667
the zoo hypothesis.

1174
01:03:15,875 --> 01:03:18,167
The zoo hypothesis
says that, uh,

1175
01:03:18,333 --> 01:03:21,583
we are in a zoo
or a wilderness area

1176
01:03:21,750 --> 01:03:24,292
that they have
essentially left alone

1177
01:03:24,458 --> 01:03:26,167
and are going to leave alone

1178
01:03:26,333 --> 01:03:30,333
to allow us to develop
in our own way and our own rate.

1179
01:03:30,542 --> 01:03:34,667
MICHAEL CROWE:
Extraterrestrials
have detected us on Earth

1180
01:03:34,875 --> 01:03:37,875
but have chosen not
to come here, not to invade,

1181
01:03:38,042 --> 01:03:40,917
but rather to observe us

1182
01:03:41,042 --> 01:03:44,292
as we observe
animals in the zoo.

1183
01:03:46,458 --> 01:03:49,667
They've thought, "We'll do
a study of those Earthlings

1184
01:03:49,833 --> 01:03:53,542
and see what sort
of people they are."

1185
01:03:53,667 --> 01:03:57,000
Now, why would they do this?
Well, if, on the one hand,

1186
01:03:57,167 --> 01:04:00,333
we have nothing they want--
that's surely true--

1187
01:04:00,500 --> 01:04:03,917
and on the other hand,
we aren't able to interfere

1188
01:04:04,125 --> 01:04:07,250
with whatever they're doing--
that's also surely true.

1189
01:04:07,417 --> 01:04:09,125
They're out there
doing their own thing,

1190
01:04:09,292 --> 01:04:11,708
and they're not paying
any attention to us,

1191
01:04:11,917 --> 01:04:13,667
and we're not clever enough

1192
01:04:13,875 --> 01:04:16,375
to eavesdrop
on whatever they're doing.

1193
01:04:18,042 --> 01:04:21,000
That's the predicament we're in.

1194
01:04:21,167 --> 01:04:24,250
We have something that is
looking down and monitoring us.

1195
01:04:24,417 --> 01:04:28,833
We are on the petri dish,
and we can't get out far enough

1196
01:04:29,042 --> 01:04:33,958
to see what's behind those eyes
behind that microscope?

1197
01:04:37,792 --> 01:04:42,208
NARRATOR:
If aliens are watching us
right now, where are they?

1198
01:04:42,375 --> 01:04:44,167
Some believe
they are sitting out in space

1199
01:04:44,375 --> 01:04:46,875
in what are called
Lagrange points,

1200
01:04:47,042 --> 01:04:50,792
named after mathematician
and astronomer Joseph Lagrange,

1201
01:04:51,000 --> 01:04:54,333
who discovered them in 1772.

1202
01:04:54,542 --> 01:04:56,958
There are five of these points
between the Sun,

1203
01:04:57,125 --> 01:04:59,333
the Earth and our Moon.

1204
01:04:59,542 --> 01:05:02,000
SEAGER:
Lagrange points
are points between two bodies

1205
01:05:02,125 --> 01:05:03,583
where the forces
balance equally.

1206
01:05:03,792 --> 01:05:05,292
Think of, like,
a seesaw when you have

1207
01:05:05,417 --> 01:05:07,167
one really heavy person
and one really light person.

1208
01:05:07,292 --> 01:05:08,667
There's a kind of
balance point in there,

1209
01:05:08,833 --> 01:05:11,000
and that's what
a Lagrange point is.

1210
01:05:11,958 --> 01:05:15,875
DAVIES:
Lagrange points is where we send
some of our own satellites.

1211
01:05:16,042 --> 01:05:17,417
And that's a point in space

1212
01:05:17,542 --> 01:05:19,333
where you can just
sort of sit there inert,

1213
01:05:19,500 --> 01:05:21,542
for millions of years
if you had to,

1214
01:05:21,708 --> 01:05:24,083
without having to worry about
in-course corrections.

1215
01:05:24,250 --> 01:05:26,667
If you go anywhere else
in the solar system,

1216
01:05:26,875 --> 01:05:29,625
uh, then in order to keep pace
with Earth as it orbits the Sun,

1217
01:05:29,792 --> 01:05:33,208
you've got to continually, uh,
change your-your position.

1218
01:05:34,250 --> 01:05:36,042
SEAGER:
So, people have talked
about Lagrange points

1219
01:05:36,208 --> 01:05:38,458
as a place where
a spacecraft might hide out.

1220
01:05:38,625 --> 01:05:41,125
Because you don't have to do
a lot to stay in that spot.

1221
01:05:41,250 --> 01:05:43,208
It's sort of equally balanced
and you just get carried along.

1222
01:05:45,333 --> 01:05:47,833
TSOUKALOS:
If an extraterrestrial race

1223
01:05:48,042 --> 01:05:50,458
would've ever visited
our solar system,

1224
01:05:50,583 --> 01:05:54,000
they could've placed a probe
in those specific points

1225
01:05:54,167 --> 01:05:55,625
in order to observe us,

1226
01:05:55,792 --> 01:05:57,792
to record us, what have you.

1227
01:05:57,958 --> 01:06:00,250
So, I mean,
this is not something,

1228
01:06:00,417 --> 01:06:03,958
uh, that the ancient
astronaut theory has proposed.

1229
01:06:04,083 --> 01:06:06,958
This is, you know,
university professors,

1230
01:06:07,167 --> 01:06:10,083
astrophysicists,
who have proposed this.

1231
01:06:12,958 --> 01:06:14,750
NARRATOR:
Some argue that another reason

1232
01:06:14,917 --> 01:06:17,500
alien beings have yet
to reveal themselves

1233
01:06:17,667 --> 01:06:20,750
is because they don't yet
consider us worthy.

1234
01:06:20,917 --> 01:06:25,333
This forms the basis of
John Ball's jungle hypothesis.

1235
01:06:25,542 --> 01:06:29,250
BALL:
The jungle hypothesis
just means that,

1236
01:06:29,458 --> 01:06:32,500
if you have animals,
such as ants,

1237
01:06:32,708 --> 01:06:34,167
that live in the jungle,

1238
01:06:34,375 --> 01:06:36,542
no matter how many of them
you have, their chances

1239
01:06:36,708 --> 01:06:40,083
of ever having seen
a human being are very slim.

1240
01:06:40,292 --> 01:06:42,333
Not because we're hiding
or anything

1241
01:06:42,500 --> 01:06:44,792
but we just don't have a reason
to go into the jungle

1242
01:06:44,958 --> 01:06:46,542
and step on anthills.

1243
01:06:46,708 --> 01:06:50,833
So, the idea is that
we are probably related

1244
01:06:50,958 --> 01:06:53,875
to advanced
extraterrestrial intelligence

1245
01:06:54,083 --> 01:06:57,333
similar to an anthill
might be related to humans,

1246
01:06:57,500 --> 01:06:59,917
and the fact
that we've never seen

1247
01:07:00,083 --> 01:07:01,917
any extraterrestrial
intelligence

1248
01:07:02,083 --> 01:07:04,292
is just, we don't have
anything they want.

1249
01:07:05,917 --> 01:07:08,667
HOWE:
We could actually
shake hands with something

1250
01:07:08,833 --> 01:07:11,667
that might have been coming
and going on this planet,

1251
01:07:11,833 --> 01:07:15,375
for literally thousands,
perhaps millions of years,

1252
01:07:15,542 --> 01:07:20,458
and has kept a distance
during the last age of man,

1253
01:07:20,625 --> 01:07:22,208
for reasons unknown,

1254
01:07:22,375 --> 01:07:27,292
and maybe is waiting
for us all to finally grow up.

1255
01:07:28,250 --> 01:07:30,292
CROWE:
One thing that can be said

1256
01:07:30,458 --> 01:07:33,083
with a great deal of confidence

1257
01:07:33,250 --> 01:07:38,333
is that if the contact
is initiated by them,

1258
01:07:38,542 --> 01:07:42,625
they are going to be
not only superior to us

1259
01:07:42,792 --> 01:07:45,625
but greatly superior to us.

1260
01:07:45,792 --> 01:07:49,875
They won't be
just beginners like we are.

1261
01:07:50,042 --> 01:07:54,333
They will be far more
advanced than we are.

1262
01:08:02,125 --> 01:08:04,624
NARRATOR:
Both the jungle
and zoo hypotheses

1263
01:08:04,625 --> 01:08:07,625
propose that alien beings
are watching us

1264
01:08:07,750 --> 01:08:11,625
but are, for the time being,
keeping their distance.

1265
01:08:12,750 --> 01:08:14,750
But what if they're not?

1266
01:08:14,958 --> 01:08:19,667
What if, just as our search
takes us deeper into the cosmos,

1267
01:08:19,875 --> 01:08:23,667
interstellar visitors
are quietly making their way

1268
01:08:23,875 --> 01:08:26,083
into our solar system?

1269
01:08:31,750 --> 01:08:34,207
Astronomers have been searching
the universe for decades,

1270
01:08:34,208 --> 01:08:36,917
and personally, I think
there's a really good chance

1271
01:08:37,042 --> 01:08:38,875
that soon we'll discover

1272
01:08:39,000 --> 01:08:40,167
an inhabited planet,

1273
01:08:40,333 --> 01:08:42,667
because of all
the new discoveries

1274
01:08:42,833 --> 01:08:44,583
we're making in outer space.

1275
01:08:44,750 --> 01:08:46,000
Like interstellar objects.

1276
01:08:46,167 --> 01:08:48,125
For years, we were told
it was impossible

1277
01:08:48,333 --> 01:08:51,250
for an asteroid from
another part of our universe

1278
01:08:51,417 --> 01:08:52,875
to enter our solar system,

1279
01:08:53,042 --> 01:08:55,292
but now astronomers
have detected three

1280
01:08:55,458 --> 01:08:57,125
of these interstellar travelers,

1281
01:08:57,292 --> 01:08:59,875
beginning with 'Oumuamua
in 2017.

1282
01:09:00,083 --> 01:09:02,000
Yeah, and scientists say
that 'Oumuamua

1283
01:09:02,208 --> 01:09:04,458
is coming from
the Pleiades star cluster.

1284
01:09:04,625 --> 01:09:06,708
And there are
so many ancient stories

1285
01:09:06,875 --> 01:09:09,667
of beings from the Pleiades
coming to Earth

1286
01:09:09,792 --> 01:09:12,958
that we dedicated
an entire episode to this

1287
01:09:13,125 --> 01:09:16,542
in 2020 called
"They Came from the Pleiades."

1288
01:09:18,208 --> 01:09:19,875
NARRATOR:
Maui, Hawaii.

1289
01:09:20,042 --> 01:09:23,917
October 19th, 2017.

1290
01:09:24,958 --> 01:09:29,125
Scientists at the University
of Hawai'i Haleakala Observatory

1291
01:09:29,333 --> 01:09:31,000
detect a strange object

1292
01:09:31,167 --> 01:09:33,958
traveling through
our solar system.

1293
01:09:34,125 --> 01:09:36,167
They initially catalog it
as an asteroid,

1294
01:09:36,375 --> 01:09:38,500
but after further examination,

1295
01:09:38,667 --> 01:09:41,625
researchers observe
that the object accelerated

1296
01:09:41,792 --> 01:09:43,333
as it approached the Sun,

1297
01:09:43,500 --> 01:09:45,375
acting more like a comet

1298
01:09:45,500 --> 01:09:48,333
but without any other
comet-like characteristics.

1299
01:09:48,500 --> 01:09:52,083
The find forces astronomers
to reclassify it

1300
01:09:52,250 --> 01:09:56,750
as something entirely new:
an interstellar object.

1301
01:09:56,917 --> 01:09:58,667
KAREN MEECH:
We'd never seen
anything like this

1302
01:09:58,833 --> 01:10:00,167
in the solar system before.

1303
01:10:00,375 --> 01:10:02,333
We get an estimate of its size

1304
01:10:02,542 --> 01:10:06,708
at about 800 meters,
or half a kilometer in length.

1305
01:10:06,875 --> 01:10:09,625
Roughly a cigar-like shape.

1306
01:10:09,792 --> 01:10:11,500
It was moving very fast,

1307
01:10:11,667 --> 01:10:15,250
a little more than
195,000 miles per hour.

1308
01:10:15,375 --> 01:10:17,083
You get a chill sometimes

1309
01:10:17,292 --> 01:10:19,625
when you understand
something is very important

1310
01:10:19,792 --> 01:10:21,208
or is really exciting,

1311
01:10:21,375 --> 01:10:23,583
and that's what I felt
with this object.

1312
01:10:24,542 --> 01:10:26,375
NARRATOR:
Our Milky Way galaxy

1313
01:10:26,500 --> 01:10:30,833
is estimated to consist
of 100,000 million stars,

1314
01:10:31,042 --> 01:10:34,833
each indicating the presence
of a solar system.

1315
01:10:34,958 --> 01:10:38,208
Because the distances
between them are so vast,

1316
01:10:38,375 --> 01:10:40,667
astronomers believed
it was impossible

1317
01:10:40,833 --> 01:10:42,958
for an object
from another solar system

1318
01:10:43,125 --> 01:10:47,375
to reach our own, until now.

1319
01:10:48,583 --> 01:10:50,500
It just came from outside
our solar system,

1320
01:10:50,667 --> 01:10:55,167
meaning it wasn't material
from our star being created.

1321
01:10:55,375 --> 01:10:59,292
It's from a different
star system, somewhere else.

1322
01:10:59,458 --> 01:11:02,000
That's historic,
that we've actually seen it.

1323
01:11:02,208 --> 01:11:07,333
We now know objects can travel
from one star system to another.

1324
01:11:08,375 --> 01:11:10,333
NARRATOR:
Researchers dubbed
the interstellar visitor

1325
01:11:10,458 --> 01:11:12,667
"'Oumuamua," a Hawaiian term

1326
01:11:12,833 --> 01:11:15,833
meaning "a messenger from afar
arriving first."

1327
01:11:16,000 --> 01:11:18,917
Is it possible
that the interstellar visitor

1328
01:11:19,042 --> 01:11:21,458
was, in fact, a messenger?

1329
01:11:22,500 --> 01:11:25,917
One sent on a mission
to our solar system?

1330
01:11:26,917 --> 01:11:29,917
MICHAEL SALLA:
Different scientists
have analyzed the data

1331
01:11:30,083 --> 01:11:32,832
and deduced that
it's something very different

1332
01:11:32,833 --> 01:11:34,583
to an asteroid or a comet.

1333
01:11:34,708 --> 01:11:38,000
So, the scientific data
does point to it actually being

1334
01:11:38,208 --> 01:11:40,792
some artificial creation.

1335
01:11:43,208 --> 01:11:46,417
We've had open speculation
about, uh,

1336
01:11:46,542 --> 01:11:49,167
how this thing might be
an interstellar spacecraft,

1337
01:11:49,375 --> 01:11:52,042
a talk from-from
a Harvard professor.

1338
01:11:52,208 --> 01:11:55,333
NARRATOR:
The chair of Harvard's
Astronomy Department,

1339
01:11:55,458 --> 01:11:58,458
Dr. Avi Loeb,
noted that the object

1340
01:11:58,667 --> 01:12:00,375
seemed to follow
the propulsion patterns

1341
01:12:00,542 --> 01:12:03,083
of a new technology
that is currently being tested

1342
01:12:03,208 --> 01:12:05,042
for future space missions

1343
01:12:05,167 --> 01:12:08,542
known as
"solar sail propulsion."

1344
01:12:08,708 --> 01:12:11,500
Large reflective sails
capture sunlight

1345
01:12:11,625 --> 01:12:14,708
to propel a craft
through the vacuum of space.

1346
01:12:14,875 --> 01:12:17,250
You can design, essentially,
photon sails.

1347
01:12:17,417 --> 01:12:20,458
So, the idea has been
to make a-a material

1348
01:12:20,625 --> 01:12:24,125
that reflects photons, which
is light, very efficiently.

1349
01:12:24,292 --> 01:12:25,583
You deploy this,
and you basically

1350
01:12:25,750 --> 01:12:27,458
accelerate under starlight.

1351
01:12:27,625 --> 01:12:29,333
And then you just cruise.

1352
01:12:29,500 --> 01:12:31,750
NARRATOR:
Was similar alien technology

1353
01:12:31,958 --> 01:12:34,333
used to propel 'Oumuamua?

1354
01:12:38,417 --> 01:12:39,667
BRUCE FENTON:
It makes you wonder:

1355
01:12:39,875 --> 01:12:41,833
You know, was that
a targeted mission,

1356
01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:46,458
some sort of probe that has
been sent in to look for life?

1357
01:12:47,417 --> 01:12:48,958
TRAVIS TAYLOR:
Before man actually went

1358
01:12:49,125 --> 01:12:51,625
to the Moon and walked on it,
we sent a lot of probes

1359
01:12:51,750 --> 01:12:53,250
around the Moon to look at it.

1360
01:12:53,458 --> 01:12:55,417
And it's quite likely

1361
01:12:55,542 --> 01:12:58,667
that some version of NASA
from some other star system

1362
01:12:58,875 --> 01:13:01,625
could send a probe
here to Earth.

1363
01:13:04,917 --> 01:13:07,167
NARRATOR:
The trajectory
of the interstellar object

1364
01:13:07,375 --> 01:13:10,250
took it past the Sun,
where it made a turn

1365
01:13:10,417 --> 01:13:12,542
and then ran parallel
to Earth's orbit.

1366
01:13:12,708 --> 01:13:15,083
It traveled between
our planet and Mars

1367
01:13:15,208 --> 01:13:18,917
before it began its journey
out of our solar system.

1368
01:13:19,042 --> 01:13:22,083
When 'Oumuamua arrived,
nobody knew where it came from.

1369
01:13:22,208 --> 01:13:23,708
Then, in 2018,

1370
01:13:23,875 --> 01:13:26,417
an astronomer at
the University of Hertfordshire

1371
01:13:26,625 --> 01:13:29,292
retraced its movements
and discovered

1372
01:13:29,458 --> 01:13:32,167
that it came from the Pleiades.

1373
01:13:33,708 --> 01:13:35,958
We have to ask: Is it possible
that it was actually sent

1374
01:13:36,125 --> 01:13:37,750
from the Pleiades?

1375
01:13:38,792 --> 01:13:40,833
NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,
the revelation

1376
01:13:41,042 --> 01:13:43,583
that 'Oumuamua traveled
to our solar system

1377
01:13:43,750 --> 01:13:45,958
from the area
of the Pleiades star cluster

1378
01:13:46,125 --> 01:13:47,542
is highly intriguing.

1379
01:13:47,708 --> 01:13:50,875
The Pleiades figures into
the creation stories

1380
01:13:51,042 --> 01:13:54,333
of many ancient cultures
from all around the world,

1381
01:13:54,458 --> 01:13:56,583
where it was taught
that divine beings

1382
01:13:56,750 --> 01:13:59,458
came from these stars
to seed life on Earth.

1383
01:13:59,625 --> 01:14:02,208
If we look at the mythologies

1384
01:14:02,375 --> 01:14:04,542
of the Pleiades
around the world,

1385
01:14:04,750 --> 01:14:06,917
there's some indication
that this star cluster

1386
01:14:07,042 --> 01:14:11,167
is, in some way, related to
a visitation in ancient times.

1387
01:14:11,333 --> 01:14:14,625
NARRATOR:
Located over 400 light-years
from Earth,

1388
01:14:14,750 --> 01:14:17,125
near the constellation
of Taurus,

1389
01:14:17,292 --> 01:14:19,375
the Pleiades
is commonly recognized

1390
01:14:19,542 --> 01:14:21,708
as seven bright stars

1391
01:14:21,875 --> 01:14:25,125
but actually consists
of thousands.

1392
01:14:26,958 --> 01:14:29,333
SHOSTAK:
The Pleiades. Everybody's
heard of the Pleiades.

1393
01:14:29,500 --> 01:14:31,417
They're also known
as the Seven Sisters,

1394
01:14:31,542 --> 01:14:33,083
'cause if you have
really good eyesight,

1395
01:14:33,250 --> 01:14:37,042
you can see seven stars
in a very compact configuration

1396
01:14:37,208 --> 01:14:38,750
in the winter sky.

1397
01:14:39,708 --> 01:14:41,958
And, in fact, there are
a lot more stars than seven.

1398
01:14:42,125 --> 01:14:46,125
There are actually
3,000 stars in the Pleiades.

1399
01:14:47,875 --> 01:14:50,667
MICHIO KAKU:
So, the Pleiades
is a star cluster.

1400
01:14:50,833 --> 01:14:53,000
They're not separated
by huge distances,

1401
01:14:53,208 --> 01:14:55,750
but they occur in a small area.

1402
01:14:55,875 --> 01:14:58,583
That's different
from a constellation,

1403
01:14:58,750 --> 01:15:01,375
where the stars could be moving
in all sorts of directions

1404
01:15:01,542 --> 01:15:04,625
and are separated
by huge distances.

1405
01:15:06,667 --> 01:15:10,125
NARRATOR:
The importance of this massive
star cluster to ancient peoples

1406
01:15:10,292 --> 01:15:13,792
is revealed not only
by their creation stories

1407
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:18,583
but also in how they oriented
their most important structures.

1408
01:15:18,708 --> 01:15:19,958
FENTON:
All around the world,

1409
01:15:20,125 --> 01:15:22,000
we find ancient structures

1410
01:15:22,208 --> 01:15:25,583
that have alignments that infer
a relationship to the Pleiades.

1411
01:15:25,750 --> 01:15:29,500
Now, these can be found
in places like Chaco Canyon,

1412
01:15:29,708 --> 01:15:33,333
in Mesoamerica,
in various parts of the world.

1413
01:15:33,542 --> 01:15:35,625
It's clear
that the ancient people

1414
01:15:35,792 --> 01:15:39,000
wanted to incorporate the rising
of the Pleiades in some way,

1415
01:15:39,208 --> 01:15:41,292
uh, with the building
of these megastructures.

1416
01:15:43,292 --> 01:15:45,666
NARRATOR:
Additionally,
ancient artwork and artifacts

1417
01:15:45,667 --> 01:15:48,292
pay homage to these same stars,

1418
01:15:48,458 --> 01:15:52,833
with one depiction dating back
an incredible 18,000 years.

1419
01:15:53,042 --> 01:15:55,583
KAKU:
Perhaps the earliest reference

1420
01:15:55,750 --> 01:15:59,750
to the Pleiades is in
the Lascaux caves in France.

1421
01:15:59,958 --> 01:16:03,625
But these go back thousands
of years into antiquity,

1422
01:16:03,833 --> 01:16:06,833
even before
the written language.

1423
01:16:07,833 --> 01:16:10,542
The Pleiades constellation
shows up in various artifacts,

1424
01:16:10,750 --> 01:16:13,667
one of them even being
a Sumerian tablet relief

1425
01:16:13,833 --> 01:16:16,458
that shows what appears to be
some type of a god

1426
01:16:16,667 --> 01:16:18,750
coming out
of the Pleiades constellation.

1427
01:16:18,917 --> 01:16:21,167
An interesting artifact
coming out of the 1600s

1428
01:16:21,375 --> 01:16:25,958
is the Nebra sky disc, depicting
the constellation of Pleiades.

1429
01:16:26,125 --> 01:16:30,333
TSOUKALOS:
Worldwide, we find
hundreds of references

1430
01:16:30,542 --> 01:16:33,958
having to do with the Pleiades.

1431
01:16:34,167 --> 01:16:37,167
Not just on one continent,
not just in one culture,

1432
01:16:37,333 --> 01:16:40,667
but in multiple continents,
in multiple cultures worldwide.

1433
01:16:40,875 --> 01:16:43,333
That, to me, indicates

1434
01:16:43,500 --> 01:16:45,750
that something happened
here on Earth

1435
01:16:45,958 --> 01:16:51,208
having to do with someone
visiting from the Pleiades.

1436
01:16:51,375 --> 01:16:56,208
ANDREW COLLINS:
The seven stars making up
the star cluster of the Pleiades

1437
01:16:56,375 --> 01:17:00,500
are very often represented
as human figures.

1438
01:17:00,667 --> 01:17:02,542
Uh, in Greek mythology,

1439
01:17:02,708 --> 01:17:05,292
they are seven sisters.

1440
01:17:05,417 --> 01:17:11,042
And in India, they are
associated with the seven rishi.

1441
01:17:11,208 --> 01:17:15,042
These are wise benefactors
to humanity

1442
01:17:15,208 --> 01:17:20,250
from some kind of
astronomical place in the sky.

1443
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:24,667
We have to wonder:
Why are the Pleiades

1444
01:17:24,833 --> 01:17:28,917
being so specifically
picked out of the night sky?

1445
01:17:29,083 --> 01:17:31,292
Is it possible that the Pleiades

1446
01:17:31,458 --> 01:17:36,292
are the place where
our sky gods have come from?

1447
01:17:37,958 --> 01:17:40,708
NARRATOR:
With thousands of stars
in the Pleiades,

1448
01:17:40,875 --> 01:17:44,083
could it be a place that
contains an earthlike planet,

1449
01:17:44,250 --> 01:17:46,750
one that could have been
the home planet

1450
01:17:46,917 --> 01:17:49,500
for our extraterrestrial
ancestors?

1451
01:17:49,708 --> 01:17:51,625
The Kepler space telescope

1452
01:17:51,750 --> 01:17:54,750
has found evidence
of planets in the Pleiades.

1453
01:17:54,917 --> 01:17:57,833
So, Kepler works
by finding dips of light

1454
01:17:58,000 --> 01:18:00,667
as a planet passes
in front of the star

1455
01:18:00,833 --> 01:18:03,042
that it's orbiting
relative to the Earth.

1456
01:18:03,208 --> 01:18:05,667
Astronomers were able to see
that there is some dimming

1457
01:18:05,875 --> 01:18:08,000
of stars in the Pleiades,

1458
01:18:08,167 --> 01:18:10,542
which is likely
caused by planets.

1459
01:18:11,583 --> 01:18:15,542
NARRATOR:
Are we entering a new era
of alien visitation?

1460
01:18:15,750 --> 01:18:18,625
One where we will see
the return of the Pleiadians

1461
01:18:18,750 --> 01:18:21,750
and other
extraterrestrial races?

1462
01:18:21,875 --> 01:18:23,958
Perhaps further evidence
can be found

1463
01:18:24,083 --> 01:18:27,000
by examining
a second interstellar object

1464
01:18:27,167 --> 01:18:30,250
that recently entered
our solar system.

1465
01:18:37,667 --> 01:18:40,375
NARRATOR:
Crimea. August 30th, 2019.

1466
01:18:43,875 --> 01:18:45,333
At the MARGO observatory,

1467
01:18:45,542 --> 01:18:48,167
amateur astronomer
Gennadiy Borisov

1468
01:18:48,333 --> 01:18:51,333
detects a strange object
traveling through the sky.

1469
01:18:51,542 --> 01:18:54,500
It is dubbed the Borisov Comet

1470
01:18:54,708 --> 01:18:56,708
and becomes the second
interstellar object

1471
01:18:56,875 --> 01:18:59,083
ever discovered
in our solar system...

1472
01:19:00,167 --> 01:19:02,167
...nearly two years
after 'Oumuamua

1473
01:19:02,333 --> 01:19:05,083
traveled from
the Pleiades star cluster.

1474
01:19:06,125 --> 01:19:08,708
AMY SHIRA TEITEL:
The Borisov Comet
is the second known object

1475
01:19:08,875 --> 01:19:11,333
we found that has
interstellar origins.

1476
01:19:11,542 --> 01:19:13,250
It was traveling way too fast

1477
01:19:13,417 --> 01:19:15,458
to have come from
our own outer solar system,

1478
01:19:15,625 --> 01:19:18,750
which means it has to have come
from another solar system.

1479
01:19:19,917 --> 01:19:21,250
Whether we're
just getting better

1480
01:19:21,375 --> 01:19:22,792
at detecting these objects

1481
01:19:22,958 --> 01:19:25,750
or whether we're seeing
this new kind of thing

1482
01:19:25,875 --> 01:19:27,833
swinging by our Sun,
it's a really exciting time

1483
01:19:28,000 --> 01:19:29,667
to be looking for things

1484
01:19:29,792 --> 01:19:32,042
that are coming from outside
our solar system.

1485
01:19:34,000 --> 01:19:36,333
HENRY:
This is kind of alarming
to some astronomers

1486
01:19:36,458 --> 01:19:38,625
because we wonder:
Are these cosmic messengers

1487
01:19:38,833 --> 01:19:40,542
coming here
bringing us warnings?

1488
01:19:40,750 --> 01:19:42,083
Are they signaling something?

1489
01:19:42,250 --> 01:19:45,500
Is this just the start
of more interstellar objects

1490
01:19:45,708 --> 01:19:47,500
entering into our solar system?

1491
01:19:48,708 --> 01:19:50,625
And if so,
how many more of these objects

1492
01:19:50,750 --> 01:19:52,917
are we going to start seeing?

1493
01:19:53,875 --> 01:19:56,000
MEECH:
In 2017, a paper was published

1494
01:19:56,167 --> 01:19:58,708
trying to estimate the number
of interstellar objects

1495
01:19:58,875 --> 01:20:00,167
that we might have.

1496
01:20:01,083 --> 01:20:02,625
One estimate suggests

1497
01:20:02,750 --> 01:20:04,708
that at any one moment,
we might have

1498
01:20:04,875 --> 01:20:07,167
one 'Oumuamua-like object

1499
01:20:07,375 --> 01:20:10,000
inside the orbit of Earth
at any time.

1500
01:20:10,208 --> 01:20:13,458
It shows us new possibilities
of what's out there.

1501
01:20:13,625 --> 01:20:14,875
We've had a piece of something

1502
01:20:15,042 --> 01:20:17,417
from another solar system
delivered to us.

1503
01:20:17,583 --> 01:20:19,542
I think this is
inching us closer

1504
01:20:19,750 --> 01:20:21,833
to the discovery
of life elsewhere.

1505
01:20:22,000 --> 01:20:25,042
My personal belief
is there is life out there.

1506
01:20:26,208 --> 01:20:28,500
NARRATOR:
Now, after
the historic discovery

1507
01:20:28,667 --> 01:20:30,083
of two interstellar objects

1508
01:20:30,250 --> 01:20:32,000
that were delivered
to our solar system,

1509
01:20:32,167 --> 01:20:35,083
could a new age be upon us?

1510
01:20:35,292 --> 01:20:37,167
One that will soon
see the arrival

1511
01:20:37,375 --> 01:20:40,167
of intelligent beings
from another world?

1512
01:20:41,167 --> 01:20:43,875
HENRY:
If 'Oumuamua is
an interstellar probe,

1513
01:20:44,042 --> 01:20:45,958
we know now that
it comes from the Pleiades.

1514
01:20:46,125 --> 01:20:48,292
Is the Borisov object also

1515
01:20:48,458 --> 01:20:51,458
some form of intelligently
directed interstellar object?

1516
01:20:51,625 --> 01:20:53,375
And are there other species
out there that are

1517
01:20:53,542 --> 01:20:57,458
also sending probes
that we soon will discover?

1518
01:20:59,500 --> 01:21:02,000
TSOUKALOS:
In the earliest
of oral traditions

1519
01:21:02,125 --> 01:21:04,167
and the earliest of texts,

1520
01:21:04,375 --> 01:21:07,542
everybody is waiting
for someone to return.

1521
01:21:08,542 --> 01:21:11,208
I hope that we will
make official contact

1522
01:21:11,375 --> 01:21:15,042
within our lifetime, meaning
in the next 50 or so years.

1523
01:21:16,083 --> 01:21:18,833
I've always said
that the big secret will be,

1524
01:21:19,000 --> 01:21:21,000
when the hatch opens
and they walk down the ramp,

1525
01:21:21,167 --> 01:21:22,833
that we'll look
at each other in the mirror,

1526
01:21:23,000 --> 01:21:24,833
'cause they will look
like you and me.

1527
01:21:25,000 --> 01:21:27,208
NARRATOR:
Throughout human history,

1528
01:21:27,375 --> 01:21:30,750
we have looked to the stars
to guide our ships,

1529
01:21:30,875 --> 01:21:33,833
to align
our most sacred monuments,

1530
01:21:34,000 --> 01:21:37,792
and to search
for our place in the universe.

1531
01:21:38,000 --> 01:21:40,833
But could we have
a far more profound connection

1532
01:21:41,042 --> 01:21:43,167
with these distant suns?

1533
01:21:43,292 --> 01:21:46,042
And if so, are we on the verge

1534
01:21:46,208 --> 01:21:49,167
of recovering
this lost knowledge?

1535
01:21:49,375 --> 01:21:52,000
Perhaps now
that we are able to detect

1536
01:21:52,167 --> 01:21:54,500
the visitors coming
to our solar system

1537
01:21:54,708 --> 01:21:56,917
from the far reaches of space,

1538
01:21:57,042 --> 01:22:00,083
we will soon discover
the undeniable proof

1539
01:22:00,292 --> 01:22:02,708
that we are not alone,

1540
01:22:02,875 --> 01:22:06,333
we have never been alone.

1541
01:22:09,667 --> 01:22:11,333
I'm just blown away

1542
01:22:11,458 --> 01:22:14,875
by the profound new evidence
from the Webb telescope,

1543
01:22:15,083 --> 01:22:17,417
from SETI, interstellar objects.

1544
01:22:17,583 --> 01:22:20,542
We're right on the cusp
of something truly amazing.

1545
01:22:20,750 --> 01:22:24,333
Yeah, I mean, we've had
so many interesting discoveries

1546
01:22:24,500 --> 01:22:27,625
over the last, say, 20 years
that it's amazing.

1547
01:22:27,833 --> 01:22:30,292
I mean, scientists
are really proving

1548
01:22:30,458 --> 01:22:33,083
that there's life out there
in the universe.

1549
01:22:33,250 --> 01:22:35,250
TSOUKALOS: Right,
and when you consider that

1550
01:22:35,417 --> 01:22:38,250
universities like Harvard
are joining the discussion,

1551
01:22:38,417 --> 01:22:40,167
that is something
that 30, 40 years ago

1552
01:22:40,375 --> 01:22:42,667
would've been, you know,
wishful thinking,

1553
01:22:42,833 --> 01:22:44,625
but now it is happening.

1554
01:22:45,792 --> 01:22:47,833
You know,
it's baked inside of us,

1555
01:22:48,000 --> 01:22:50,667
into our DNA,
that we are not alone,

1556
01:22:50,833 --> 01:22:53,375
and, hey, we are from out there.

1557
01:22:53,542 --> 01:22:56,750
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