All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S19E06 1080p WEB h264-KOGi (1)_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
A massive object
of unknown origin

soars by the Earth.

ARI LOEB:
It was moving faster

than all chemical rockets

produced in human history.

NARRATOR:
A shooting star explodes
over Mexico,

mysteriously altering the
environment of an entire region.

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
This area is completely devoid

of electromagnetic signals.

Your cell phone won’t work.

You won’t pick up
satellite signals like GPS.

It’s a really odd place.

NARRATOR:
And a meteorite that is believed

to be carrying unexpected cargo.

GIORGIO TSOUKALOS:
This object may contain

some type
of extraterrestrial technology

that points
towards intelligence.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that
certain objects in outer space

are not simply wonders of nature

but could contain
alien technology

that is being deliberately sent
to Earth?

WILLIAM HENRY:
If you’re trying
to think of a way

for an extraterrestrial
civilization

to stimulate the evolution
of a species,

you couldn’t think
of a better way to do it

than through a meteorite.

NARRATOR:
There is a doorway

in the universe.

Beyond it is
the promise of truth.

It demands
we question everything

we have ever been taught.

The evidence is all around us.

The future is
right before our eyes.

We are not alone.

We have never been alone.

In the high-country desert,

just 35 miles southeast
of the city of Flagstaff,

lies the Barringer Crater,

one of the largest and
best-preserved impact craters

in North America.

DAVID CHILDRESS:
The Barringer Crater
is out in the desert.

You’re driving south
on this small road

and then, suddenly,
you see the crater rim.

And there’s a building there.

You take an elevator up
to the top of the rim

and you’re looking down
at this amazing crater.

It’s like you’re looking
at something

that’s on another planet.

NARRATOR:
According to scientists,

the Barringer Crater was formed
roughly 50,000 years ago

when a massive asteroid
measuring 150 feet in diameter

and weighing
an incredible 300,000 tons

slammed
into the Earth’s surface.

The resulting explosion
was 150 times more powerful

than the atomic bomb that was
dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

However, it is only one
of many examples

of how asteroid impacts

have caused massive devastation
on Earth

and also shaped the world
that we live in today.

MICHIO KAKU: Asteroids hitting
the planet Earth

affect everything.

They’ve changed the climate.

They’ve created tremendous
disasters on the planet.

The most famous taking place
66 million years ago,

when an object
about six miles across

plowed into the Yucatán
Peninsula of Mexico...

...wiping out the dinosaurs.

(groaning)

LOEB: It created
a whole new landscape on Earth,

and it allowed, perhaps, for...

creatures like ourselves
to exist.

So, definitely,

rocks colliding with Earth
had a huge impact

on the evolution of life
on Earth.

NARRATOR:
While a major life-altering
asteroid impact

isn’t known to have occurred
on Earth for thousands of years,

smaller fragments
known as meteors

penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere
on a regular basis.

TAYLOR:
Statistically, we get hit
by meteors all the time.

You can go out any night

and you can see shooting stars
or falling stars,

which are objects outside
of the Earth

entering the atmosphere
and burning up.

Some of ’em actually make it
to the ground.

KAKU:
We sometimes forget
that the world we see around us

originally came
from outer space.

When you look at the history
of the Earth,

4.6 billion years ago,

back then
there was basically rubble.

Rubble, gas, particles
circulating around the Sun,

and gravity began to coalesce
much of this material,

which eventually became
the planet Earth.

The Earth was molten
for many billion years.

The elements like
the platinum-based materials

and uranium tend to be heavy.

Much of the heavy metals drifted
toward the center of the Earth

when the Earth was formed.

NARRATOR:
But as the Earth’s surface
cooled and solidified,

an extended period known as the
Late Heavy Bombardment ensued,

wherein billions of comets,

asteroids and meteors
made impact,

seeding our young planet
with numerous resources,

including water
and precious metals.

JOEL SERCEL:
During that bombardment phase,

smaller impacts would hit
the crust and be trapped.

So, many of the precious metals

that we really value
on the Earth

actually came
from the asteroids.

NARRATOR:
Were it not for the metals
that arrived on Earth from space

during its formation,

the development

of a technologically advanced
human civilization

would not have been possible.

These asteroids and meteors,

they also contain
not just ordinary chemicals

like carbon and iron

but also materials
that are strong,

conduct electricity--

things like platinum.

Platinum that is used
in the electronics industry.

HENRY: Meteorites are providing
materials like iridium,

quasi-nanocrystals
that are ultimately used

in our technology,

and also gold.

The meteorites bring
the surface gold.

A lot of, particularly,
the rare metals

that are critical in things
like cell phone technologies

and other electronic devices

are often as likely to be here
only because of meteor impacts

and that material coming
from elsewhere in space

rather
than having formed naturally

in just the Earth’s crust
as part of its evolution.

NARRATOR:
Although the evidence
that cosmic impacts

have been critical to sustaining
life on Earth is profound,

incredibly, scientists have
recently discovered new evidence

that meteors
may have seeded the Earth...

with DNA.

Researchers
at Hokkaido University

make
an extraordinary announcement.

After analyzing three meteorites

that were formed
4.6 billion years ago

at the very dawn
of the solar system,

they discover that each object

contains all four components
of DNA,

the central building block
of life.

Could some of the origins
of life come from space?

One idea you could imagine is,

an asteroid broke off
from a planet

that had
the right chemicals for life.

It traveled through space,

entered the Earth’s atmosphere
as a meteorite,

and then those chemicals
interact

with the chemistry of the Earth.

And perhaps
that was the starting point

for life as we know it here.

NARRATOR:
For decades,

mainstream scientists
have studied the hypothesis

that life on Earth
may have evolved

from a so-called
primordial soup...

...meaning
that organic compounds

formed into living cells in
the planet’s primitive oceans.

TSOUKALOS:
It’s still a question how life

originated on Earth.

And oftentimes you’re told

that this all happened
due to a primordial soup.

But there needed to be
certain ingredients,

and astronomers are now saying
that the secret ingredients

were brought here
through meteor impacts.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

the possibility
that meteors carried

the building blocks
for human life on Earth

raises an intriguing question.

Could it be that
these ancient meteor impacts

did not happen by chance

but by design?

TSOUKALOS:
Bioastronomers have coined
a concept called panspermia.

Panspermia
essentially means seeding...

"Pan" means "everything,"
"sperm" is "seeding."

So, "the-the seeding
of everything."

Now, often meteor impacts
are considered to be random.

But if you say
"directed panspermia,"

that means that
extraterrestrial intelligences

deliberately sent
the building blocks of life

somewhere that they knew
was going to be habitable.

Is it possible that meteors
were sent to Earth deliberately

because extraterrestrials knew

that Earth can host life?

NARRATOR:
Could it be that certain meteor
strikes in Earth’s history

did not happen by chance

but were, in fact, directed here

by an extraterrestrial
intelligence?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining ancient cultures

that believe meteorites possess
an otherworldly connection.

AMIR HUSSAIN:
Muslims believe that this stone

was sent down by God to Earth.

HENRY:
They believe that, through
meteorites, they can talk

with the gods.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

At the center of Islam’s holiest
city stands the Grand Mosque,

the largest house
of Islamic worship on Earth.

It is also the final destination
of the hajj pilgrimage,

which every Muslim is required
to complete once in their life

if they are physically able.

In the mosque’s
central courtyard

stands an ancient structure
called the Kaaba, or Cube.

And embedded
in one corner of the Kaaba

is the most sacred object
in Islam,

the Black Stone,

a mysterious rock
that is believed

to have come from the heavens.

For the world’s
1.8 billion Muslims,

this stone is crucial.

When Muslims face, they face
in the direction of Mecca.

They face in the direction
of that stone.

The Black Stone
of the Kaaba in Mecca

is some kind of fragment

that is held together
by a silver band,

and the object is actually said
to have fallen from heaven

and that is said
to have landed in paradise,

where it was picked up
by Adam and Eve.

HUSSAIN:
The first human being, Adam,

in Islamic tradition,
builds the first temple

out of this stone,

the first place to worship God.

(thunder rumbling)

Then the story is that that
stone gets lost during the flood

and is then rediscovered
by Abraham.

So Abraham,
with his son Ishmael,

build in Mecca
the first place of prayer.

That’s why Mecca
is important to Muslims.

What survives
of that original building

going back
thousands of years earlier

is this black stone in
the eastern corner of the Kaaba.

If we’re scientific,
we may call that a meteorite.

JONATHAN YOUNG: If we take
the scripture seriously,

this story tells us this stone

was the communication
between the two dimensions

from the heaven to the Earth
for Adam and Eve.

This was
the first altar to communicate

with the celestial realm.

NARRATOR:
The Black Stone of Mecca

is arguably the world’s
most venerated meteorite,

but it is hardly alone.

Many other ancient cultures
believe meteorites

and impact sites have
a connection to a higher realm.

In Roman times, a very,
uh, prominent meteorite

was found in Syria
and was worshipped.

It was referred to
as Helio Elagabalus,

which literally means "the Sun
touching down to the Earth."

In Delphi, a meteorite
was associated with Apollo

at his temple in Delphi.

So this is a constant theme that
we have in the ancient world,

tying physical objects
to the gods,

to the skies, to the heavens.

NARRATOR:
Historians of religion agree

that people
have venerated meteorites

and impact sites
throughout history.

The question is why.

HENRY: Something that we find
repeated over and over again

in these crater impact sites
is that

they believe that,
through these meteorites,

they can talk with the gods

and the gods
can actually see them as well.

So the meteorite then becomes
a way of connecting

with the divine beings.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible

that numerous ancient cultures
around the world

simply passed down
similar mythological stories

that meteorites and earthly
impact sites could allow them

to communicate
with higher beings?

Ancient astronaut theorists
suggest

that these
otherworldly encounters

may have actually happened.

And for further evidence,

they point to one
of the most mysterious

and sacred sites
in North America.

Sprawling
across a large clearing

that divides a wooded landscape

sets a 1,370-foot-long monument
in the shape of a coiling snake.

It is known
as the Great Serpent Mound.

According to historians,

an Indigenous Native American
culture called the Adena

built the mound in 320 BC.

And, curiously, it is positioned
right on the edge

of an enormous crater.

HUGH NEWMAN:
It actually sits

right on a 300 million-year-old
meteor impact crater

which was so powerful
that it even went down

to the mantle inside the Earth.

And this has created
all sorts of gravitational

and magnetic anomalies
in the area.

And it’s thought that the reason

the Adena people
who built this site chose it

is because it has
these kind of energetic,

almost spiritual qualities
associated with it.

One of the great mysteries
of Serpent Mound

is that this meteorite
creates this impact site,

this impact crater,
250 million years ago.

Then, suddenly, 3,000 years ago,

the Adena people come along

and they’re somehow able
to identify its significance

and they build an effigy,

and it becomes this very
powerful place of reverence

for the Adena people
for the next 2,000 years or so.

When you look at
the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio,

you have to wonder
if there was some energy there

that they were feeling.

And so they built
the Serpent Mound there

as a testament to
the extraterrestrial connection,

perhaps,
that’s with this crater.

NEWMAN:
Serpent Mound
has long been talked about

as being, like, an otherworldly
connection point.

And in traditions
that go way, way back,

there’s talk of the star people.

They’re described
in certain ways in myths,

which, in modern terms,
we would see

as, like, UFOs landing

and interacting with
these extraterrestrial beings.

So, is Serpent Mound part
of this ancient tradition?

NARRATOR:
As unique
as the Great Serpent Mound is

against its forested landscape,

it is not the only
asteroid impact site on Earth

where ancient cultures believed

there was
an extraterrestrial connection.

HENRY: In Australia, we find an
extraordinarily mysterious site,

the Wolfe Creek Crater.

The Indigenous people
call it Kandimalal,

"the star
that fell from the sky."

It’s a impact crater site
that’s 3,000 feet in diameter.

But even more interesting
than that

is the Indigenous legend
that is attached to it.

They talk about two serpents
that emerged from the dreamtime

and created this crater.

It suggests once again
that these Indigenous cultures

were in contact
with otherworldly beings

that either are connected with
the crater, the impact site,

or somehow emerged from it.

NARRATOR:
Did our ancestors bear witness
to the proof

that asteroids and meteors
could connect man

with otherworldly beings?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by examining

two mysterious objects
that have recently been detected

in outer space,

which some scientists believe

may be controlled
by extraterrestrials.

KAREN MEECH: We have never seen
an object like this ever.

This was really exciting.

TAYLOR:
It came into our solar system,

went around the Sun
and flew by Earth as if

it was a probe looking at us.

NARRATOR:
The island of Maui.

Here, atop
a dramatic 10,000-foot summit,

stands
the Haleakala Observatory.

On October 19, 2017,

astronomers detect
a mysterious object

traveling
through our solar system.

It is unlike anything
that has been seen before.

I was in charge
of coordinating the observing

to characterize the object.

There were four images taken
that showed

an object moving rapidly
with respect to the stars.

The stars
are individual dots of light,

and this object was a streak.

So they knew it was moving fast.

At that point,
they started to compute an orbit

to try and understand
what this object was.

Everything in the solar system’s
either on a circular

or an elliptical orbit.

But once more data came in,

it was very clear
that the orbit was hyperbolic,

meaning something coming
from outside the solar system.

We have never seen an object on
an orbit like this ever before.

And it’s an irregularly shaped
object that’s about 800 meters,

or half a kilometer, in length.

This was really exciting.

NARRATOR:
The landmark discovery
is the first time an object

is officially recognized
as interstellar.

To signify the importance
of the finding,

the astronomers give it
a fitting name.

MEECH:
In honor of this object
being discovered

by a telescope in Hawaii,

the team came up
with the name Oumuamua,

which means
"voyager from the distant past

reaching out to us."

NARRATOR:
Astronomers
were not only mystified

by where Oumuamua came from

but also by its strange
oblong shape,

which was like no asteroid
ever detected.

The interstellar object

moved steadily
through the solar system,

and astronomers were taken
by surprise once again

when, after passing by the Sun,

it appeared to accelerate.

MEECH:
Oumuamua was moving rapidly away
from the Sun.

When it made its closest pass
to the Sun,

uh, inside the orbit of Mercury,

it was moving very fast--

a little more
than 195,000 miles per hour.

So this is moving rapidly out
of the solar system.

NARRATOR:
To Harvard astronomer
Dr. Avi Loeb,

the unusual behavior

indicated that the object
wasn’t an asteroid or a comet.

Instead, he proposed
an extraordinary hypothesis--

Oumuamua was
an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

Oumuamua
was definitely an outlier.

And the question is, why would
the first interstellar meteor

be so unusual?

There was a question
as to what pushed Oumuamua away

from the Sun,

and my thought was,

that raises the possibility
that it may have been

a spacecraft
propelled artificially.

TAYLOR:
Oumuamua could possibly
have been a probe coming into

our solar system, the same way
we send probes to Jupiter.

It came into our solar system,
went around the Sun,

and flew by Earth as if, uh,
it was a probe looking at us.

NARRATOR:
Intrigued by the possibility
that Oumuamua

might actually be a probe
sent to our solar system

by an extraterrestrial
civilization,

Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb
began searching for evidence

of other celestial objects
moving in a similar fashion.

I came across a meteor catalog
that the government

compiled using
its missile warning system.

It’s called CNEOS,

and I asked my student
to check if any

of those meteors came
from outside the solar system.

He found that one of them
was actually moving at

60 kilometers per second,
clearly unbound to the Sun.

NARRATOR:
Astronomers determined
that this object, like Oumuamua,

did, in fact, originate
outside the solar system.

This new discovery
was first observed

by military satellites
in January 2014,

three years before
Oumuamua was identified.

But, unlike Oumuamua,
this object did not pass

by the planet
but actually entered

Earth’s atmosphere and exploded
over the Pacific Ocean.

LOEB:
The meteor burned up

about 100 miles off the coast
of Papua New Guinea,

and it released a few percent
of the energy

of the Hiroshima bomb
when it exploded.

From that, we inferred
it was about half a meter

in size when it exploded.

NARRATOR:
Excited by the discovery,
Dr. Loeb closely examined

the data captured
by the military satellites,

and he noticed
something extraordinary.

LOEB:
The government released data

of the explosion,
and from that we inferred

that the object must have been
tougher than iron.

So, not only was this object

the first interstellar meteor
but it was also tougher

than all other meteors detected

by the government
in that catalog.

And that raises
the possibility that it may

have been a spacecraft
propelled artificially

and made of some alloy
that is much tougher

than iron meteorites.

To find out, we need
to find the material.

If we do end up concluding
that it was artificial

in origin, perhaps a spacecraft,

that would have
huge implications

for the future of humanity.

KAKU:
Some people are saying
this object

came from outside
the solar system.

Maybe, just maybe,
it’s a techno-signature

of intelligent life.

And that has created a sensation

because this is
a new branch of science.

We’re not just looking
at asteroids anymore.

We’re looking for remnants
of intelligence.

HENRY:
When you consider the vastness
of space and just how tiny

our planet is--
it’s literally a tiny speck

within the Milky Way galaxy--
and then you factor in

direct hits by meteorites

that came from beyond
our solar system,

you have to wonder,
are these meteorites

somehow intelligently directed?

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that the meteor

that exploded near
Papua New Guinea in 2014

was carrying
extraterrestrial technology?

If so, could
an advanced civilization

be sending such objects
to Earth deliberately?

Ancient astronaut
theorists suggest,

further clues can be found

at an impact crater
in northern Mexico

that some believe functions
as a beacon for UFOs.

This area is completely devoid
of electromagnetic signals.

Your cell phone won’t work,
you won’t pick up GPS.

People see UFOs
and mysterious lights.

NARRATOR:
The U.S. Air Force launches

an Athena V-123-D missile

from the Green River Test Site.

The rocket is programmed
to land 700 miles away

at the White Sands Missile Range
in New Mexico.

But the missile veers
hundreds of miles off course...

...and crashes
in the remote Mapimí desert

in northern Mexico.

When workers arrive
to clean up the crash site,

they notice something
very unusual.

During the cleanup process
it was noted that

radio communications
didn’t work well,

compasses didn’t work right.

This area is completely devoid
of electromagnetic signals.

Meaning your cell phone
won’t work,

you won’t pick up
satellite signals like GPS.

It’s a really odd place.

NARRATOR:
The area quickly earned
the nickname

La Zona del Silencio,

or the "Zone of Silence."

COLLINS:
The Zone of Silence
has become notorious,

um, in the last 50-odd years

through the fact that many
mysterious events have occurred.

And the origins of this location

seem to be of a cosmic nature.

NARRATOR:
The Athena rocket was just
the latest object to fall

from the heavens and land
in the Mapimí desert.

Prior to the crash,
the Zone of Silence

had been bombarded
by more meteor strikes

than any other spot on Earth.

The Zona del Silencio

was well-known for the
numerous meteorite impacts,

over and over, over thousands
of years hitting that one spot.

NARRATOR:
Perhaps the most
intriguing impact

occurred in February 1969.

BIRNES:
The year
before the Athena rocket,

there was a meteor crash
in that Zone of Silence.

It was the Allende meteor.

And what that meteor
brought to this planet

was the element curium.

We know what curium is,

and it doesn’t occur naturally
on this planet.

TAYLOR:
Now, curium is a material
that we create

in nuclear reactors
or in nuclear explosions or

it’s created inside
the nuclear fire of the Sun.

So it doesn’t just
occur randomly anywhere

and it’s not a decay product.

It has to be created.

So the question arose then,

was this meteor
that impacted in Mexico

created in a reactor
by some advanced civilization?

NARRATOR:
Created in a reactor
by an advanced civilization?

Is it possible
that the Allende meteorite,

and perhaps others that
struck the area before it,

contained
extraterrestrial technology?

And if so, how did it get here?

Some researchers believe
it was sent deliberately.

And as evidence
they point to numerous UFOs

that have been reported
in the area.

There’s no question
that the Zone of Silence

is a very mysterious area.

In the last 50-odd years,

many mysterious events
have occurred.

People see UFOs,

mysterious lights,

and experience other types
of paranormal activity.

In 2008, I was filming
in the Zone of Silence,

and the locals
in the town of Coyame

talked about how strange beings
came up out of the ground.

Whether these beings
were extraterrestrials,

whether these things were
something else, we don’t know.

NARRATOR:
Is it more than mere coincidence
that in the Zone of Silence,

where a high number
of meteor impacts have occurred

and strange electromagnetic
anomalies have been recorded,

there have also been reports of
UFOs and otherworldly entities?

Could it be,
as researchers have argued,

that the impacts
over and over in that area

have created
a whole anomalous area?

And that the Zone of Silence
is so magnetically

and electronically potent, that
it’s somehow attracted the ETs?

And you might ask yourself, why?

Do they need the magnetic energy
from that spot?

Maybe they are
terraforming our planet

for their own purposes,
and we don’t know why.

TSOUKALOS:
The idea that,
through meteor impacts,

one could influence
the development

and the evolution of a planet

is feasible to me,
and many astronomers

and bioastronomers
are looking at these ideas

as actual concepts in reality.

And so, has this potentially
happened on Earth?

And the answer to that
is a resounding yes.

NARRATOR:
Are meteorite impacts
responsible

for the mysterious phenomena
in the Zone of Silence?

And if so,
might they be connected

to UFO activity in the area?

Some researchers believe
that further clues can be found

in similar anomalies
that occur 1,500 miles away

in a mysterious area known...

...as Skinwalker Ranch.

BIRNES: Skinwalker Ranch
is one of the most

anomalous areas on this planet.

TAYLOR:
There are strange
magnetic field anomalies.

Is it possible that this is from
some extraterrestrial origin?

NARRATOR:
Uintah County, Utah.

Located in the northeastern
part of the state

is a 512-acre property
known as Skinwalker Ranch,

one of the most intensely
studied paranormal hot spots

in the world.

Skinwalker Ranch
is one of the most

anomalous areas on this planet.

Here’s what people have seen
in that ranch:

strange creatures suddenly
appearing out of nowhere,

UFOs, instruments don’t work.

The people around the ranch

set up observation posts
to see what’s going on.

And they’re the ones
that are recording

all kinds of strange creatures.

NARRATOR:
Astrophysicist
and aerospace engineer

Dr. Travis Taylor has spent
nearly 20 years

working on high-tech programs

for the Department of Defense
and NASA.

It is going nuts.

NARRATOR:
In 2019, he joined

a research team investigating

the strange phenomena
at Skinwalker Ranch.

It just jumped to 18.

We need to get
out of here, guys.

Let’s get out of here.

NARRATOR:
Since that time,
Dr. Taylor has come to believe

that the mysterious events
are connected

to the unique geology
of the Uintah Basin

where Skinwalker Ranch
is located.

The Uintah Basin
appears to be the epicenter

of some really unusual
phenomena, including

UAP sightings,

strange energy measurements,

strange electric
and magnetic field anomalies,

and even other anomalies
that look like

something out of
a science-fiction movie.

What is that solid light?

It’s got a black dot
in the center of it.

What?

NARRATOR:
As part of the investigation,

Dr. Taylor and the research team

drilled core samples
of the soil in the area

around Skinwalker Ranch.

And what they found
was unexpected.

TAYLOR:
We made an immense amount

of measurements and taken
an immense amount of data,

and from all those measurements,
what we’ve discovered is,

there seems to be
an interesting mix of things

underneath the ground
here at Skinwalker Ranch

that are the makeup elements
that you would need to create

computers, spacecraft,
and so on.

The geology looks like

an ancient impact crater.

And there was an impact here
maybe 50 million years ago.

Is it possible that
this different phenomena

that happen at
Skinwalker Ranch is from

some extraterrestrial origin,
uh, an ancient impact site,

an ancient crash site?

Skinwalker Ranch, it appears
to be similar to Mexico

where there is a Zone of Silence

right where there’s
odd phenomena being seen that

could be potentially a
side effect of a meteor impact.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that meteorites

are responsible
for the phenomena

at Skinwalker Ranch
and the Zone of Silence?

Dr. Taylor believes not only
that this is possible

but that the same might be true
for other areas

across the globe
where electromagnetic anomalies

are present.

TAYLOR:
There are other similar places
around the world,

like near Roosevelt in Utah.

There’s places in Iraq
where this, uh, occurs.

There’s places in Australia
where compasses

and other electromagnetic
phenomena occur.

Where we have,
uh, communications

that don’t function properly,

sort of like
radio silent regions.

And all these seem to be near
meteor impact sites.

And people that are near those,
they see UFOs,

they-they think they see
entities and things like that--

maybe they do.

Is it the impactor that created
some kind of strange phenomena?

Or it might be
some other technology

that we don’t understand
at play here.

Could these impact sites
be directed crashes

from an ancient or an advanced
extraterrestrial civilization,

and that’s why we see
these strange phenomena?

HENRY:
Another facet of these impact
crater sites is the materials

and the energy
that is left behind,

and you have to wonder, well,

what is the role
of those materials,

and is it possible
that they are responsible

for altering the planet
for an unknown purpose?

NARRATOR:
Could it be
that extraterrestrials

are intentionally depositing
exotic materials on Earth

through meteor impacts

as part of an ongoing mission
to transform the planet

and direct the future
of humanity?

Perhaps further clues
will be revealed

by an audacious new mission

designed to retrieve
a piece of a meteor

that might contain
extraterrestrial technology.

NARRATOR:
Theoretical physicist
Dr. Avi Loeb

announces an ambitious
new expedition.

Its goal is to recover fragments

of the interstellar meteor
that exploded

over the Pacific Ocean
in February 2014.

LOEB:
This meteor was roughly
half a meter in size,

bigger than a basketball,
and it burned up

about 100 miles off the coast
of Papua New Guinea.

The ocean is very deep.

It’s about a mile deep there,

but we plan to use a sled

equipped with a magnet that will
attract the small fragments

and collect them,
and we will go back and forth

across the region of interest,
just like mowing the lawn,

for a couple of weeks, and
we hope to find those fragments.

We hope, just like detectives,

to collect enough evidence
that will tell

us the origins of this object.

NARRATOR:
If the project is successful,

it will mark the first time

humanity has recovered material
from another solar system.

LOEB:
Whatever we find
will have a big impact

on our understanding
of interstellar objects.

NARRATOR:
But what excited
Dr. Loeb the most

about the meteor
isn’t where it came from

but what it might contain.

LOEB:
The reason that the meteor
is interesting

is because the possibility
that it may have been

a spacecraft
propelled artificially

and made of some alloy
that is much tougher

than iron meteorites.

If we do end up concluding
that it was

artificial in origin,
perhaps a spacecraft,

that would be the first time
that we found evidence

for an object that originated

from another civilization.

NARRATOR:
Could the remnants of
an extraterrestrial spacecraft

really be lying at the bottom
of the Pacific Ocean?

While it may be
a sensational notion,

the possibility has excited
researchers around the world.

KAKU:
So, there’s talk that maybe
we should try to capture

this material that plunged
into the Pacific.

Because who knows?

Maybe it was sent here

by an alien civilization
in outer space.

Now, the probability
of that happening

is very small, let’s face it.

It’s a long shot.

But, hey,
science is based on long shots.

You never know where the next
discovery is being made.

And so I think
it’s worthwhile to try to see

whether we can retrieve
this object.

TSOUKALOS:
This object may contain

some type of
extraterrestrial technology

or some type of an
extraterrestrial signature

that points towards
intelligence.

If they can find this object
and study it,

it could potentially be
one of the greatest discoveries

in human history.

NARRATOR:
According to
ancient astronaut theorists,

the findings may help answer
an essential question.

Have alien civilizations
from across the galaxy

been sending materials
to Earth for eons,

with the deliberate intention
of developing our planet,

altering evolution,
and setting us

on a path to our future?

TAYLOR:
Perhaps, out of all
these things that crash

into the Earth’s atmosphere,
some percentage of them

could be of
extraterrestrial origin.

And if we go and look
at all these,

as many as we can find,
perhaps we’ll find

that one needle in the haystack

that tells us this is a device,
or was a device

before it impacted the Earth,
that came from outside

of our solar system and from
some advanced civilization.

TSOUKALOS:
Maybe we’ll find new DNA

or we’ll find
new building blocks for life,

life that we didn’t even know
could even exist.

And what implications

does that have for us?

NARRATOR:
Were meteors
deliberately sent to Earth

to terraform the planet,

enabling the development
of intelligent life

and a technologically
advanced civilization?

And if so,
are extraterrestrials

continuing to direct
the evolution of both the planet

and humanity
through meteor impacts today?

Perhaps the proof lies
not in the skies above

but in plain sight
here on Earth.

And it is there we must look
for the undeniable evidence

of our connection to the cosmos.

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