All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S11E10.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR:
They're watching you.

More than 6,000 satellites
circle the Earth.

Every day,
they uncover new,

mysterious phenomena
that defy explanation.

The mystery ancient
mega project.

They almost look
like paw prints

for some super giant animal.

NARRATOR:
Russia's weird burning lake.

[buzzing noises]

This is at the heart
of one of the most

clandestine programs
in Soviet history.

NARRATOR: And the
trillion-dollar treasure hunt.

This site changed
the face of the world.

NARRATOR: Baffling phenomena,
mysteries from space.

What on Earth are they?

[theme music playing]

July 2021.

Aerial archaeologists
take to the skies

over the Cantabrian Mountains
of Northern Spain.

Onboard Lidar sensors peel
back the landscape below

and reveal a mystery.

The image shows
very vivid scars

across this landscape.

They're kind of
a spider-like shape.

They almost look like
paw prints for some

super giant animal that walked
through this area.

It's pretty cool.

NARRATOR: Further scans of
the area deepen the mystery.

They reveal a lot more of
these lines.

So something really strange
is going on,

not just here,
but elsewhere.

NARRATOR: The images
intrigue Javier Lozano.

As a geologist,

he's convinced the weird
markings aren't natural

and is heading to the area
to investigate.

NARRATOR: Lozano treks deep
into the region of Léon.

When he reaches the first of
the patterns,

their true scale
becomes apparent.

NARRATOR: Lozano discovers
the trenches are 60 feet deep,

carved out of a large, circular
patch of landscape.

Hidden among them are vast
lines of piled stones.

HUNT: They stand out in contrast
to what is around them.

There must be some kind of
human activity

that has altered
this landscape.

They're kind of regular,
but it's not clear

why they are oriented
as they are,

and I can't really
guess what purpose they serve.

NARRATOR: Closer inspection
confirms the mounds of

stones have been moved here
by hand.

NARRATOR: Lozano explores
the wider area -- to the east,

he uncovers more evidence of
human presence here in

the distant past.

NARRATOR: A series of ruined
walls sits on a platform

to the southeast of the site
in the image.

But there is no history of
any Spanish settlements here.

NARRATOR:
The settlements are evidence

the strange shapes were gouged
out by Roman hands.

Historical records confirm
that the Lidar images

have uncovered one of

the greatest mega projects
of the ancient world.

HORTON: These trenches are
actually 2,000 years old

and are part of a massive

Roman gold mining operation

in this part of Spain.

This was the site of one of

the largest and most important
gold mines of the Roman empire.

NARRATOR:
The mines have their origins

in the 3rd century BCE.

Lured by tales of vast
mineral reserves,

Rome begins preparations to
bring Spain under its control.

Rome had its eyes on Spain

for a long time.

NARDI: It's likely that gold
was one of the main

reasons the Romans were
looking to conquer this land.

NARRATOR: This is a period of
massive expansion for an empire

that will go on to rule
one in 5 people on Earth.

HUNT: As Rome expands,
it has to

have an economic backing for
that expansion.

War is terribly expensive,
but peace

is expensive to keep,
as well.

NARRATOR: The more gold
that Rome can obtain,

the bigger their army can be,
and the bigger the army,

the more gold-rich countries
they can conquer.

They had to have mines
to feed

the beast to keep
the empire going.

So there is a voracious
demand for gold

to support the empire.

NARRATOR: The first battle
for control of Spain's

gold-rich lands takes place
in 206 BCE,

when the Romans
defeat the Carthaginians

during the 2nd Punic Wars.

Despite this initial victory,

a prolonged campaign of
guerilla warfare waged by local

tribes stalls their advance.

HORTON: The Romans were able
to capture Spain,

but it was a really
hard-fought victory.

It's fair to say that they put
up quite a vicious resistance

because it did take the Romans
200 years to conquer this land.

NARRATOR: By the time
the legions finally

conquered the peninsula in
19 BCE,

Rome is still recovering
from a very costly civil war.

To refill his war chest,

Emperor Augustus begins to
ravage Spain's gold reserves.

HUNT: Gold bullion --

it's absolutely vital to
the Roman economy.

It backs up all the other

economic activity
that Rome engages in.

HORTON: So the extraction
of gold from Spain during

this period was on a truly
industrial scale.

Over the following years,

the Romans extract
an estimated 300 million tons of

earth from the sites in

the image in their search
for gold,

and among them is
a mine whose magnitude

is almost unimaginable for
a pre-industrial civilization.

NARRATOR: What the Romans
accomplished here

will change the course
of history.

The evidence
we have here proves

that we are at
the Roman El Dorado.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the destroyer of mountains.

This is on the most --
almost unimaginable scale.

NARRATOR:
And NASA's lunar code.

It really is remarkable
to think of

the impact of this
on the history of

space exploration.

NARRATOR: Drawn by giant,
claw-like marks scarring

Spanish mountainsides,

Javier Lozano has uncovered
evidence of a vast Roman

gold rush here during
the first century CE.

The most important
gold mining area

Rome ever developed
is right in our image.

NARRATOR: This is
Las Médulas, a series

of mountains reduced
to rubble by Rome

in its search for riches.

The Romans came up
with a very clever way

of mining the gold
at this location in Spain.

The lust for gold totally
transformed that landscape.

NARRATOR: These massive peaks
were once part of

an almost 5,000-acre
cluster of mountains.

Historical accounts reveal
the extraordinary method

the Romans used to transform
it in their search for gold.

The famed classical historian
Pliny the Elder writes

of the actual techniques
used to mine this location.

NARDI: He describes it
as "ruina montium,"

and what that
basically translates

into is the wrecking
of mountains.

NARRATOR: As Lozano discovers,
ruina montium first

involves digging tunnels
deep into the mountain.

Engineers also construct
a 62-mile-long network

of channels to transfer water

from higher up the range
to a reservoir

at the mountain's summit.

Millions of gallons
from this reservoir

are then flushed
down the tunnels,

creating immense pressure,
which knocks chunks of

gold-rich sediment
down the slopes.

This is on the most
unimaginable scale,

and of course,
to extract gold on that scale,

you needed
a massive labor force.

NARRATOR:
According to Pliny,

at the height of operations,
60,000 people work

the mountain and sift through
its sediment for gold.

Mining was a brutal business,
and people in

these mines were literally
worked as almost

disposable commodities,

such was the Romans' insatiable
demand for gold.

NARRATOR: Much of the gold
mined in Spain is minted

into coins and stashed in huge
vaults hidden in Rome.

All of this economic activity
was absolutely

vital to the success of
the Roman empire.

But it was not without
its environmental costs,

and that goes actually beyond
the visible scars on the earth.

NARRATOR:
Recent ice core samples reveal

that the Roman gold mines
released immense clouds

of trapped lead particles
into the skies,

clouds that were so toxic,

they remained in
the atmosphere for 500 years.

We often think of
environmental degradation as

a modern concern,
but the truth is

that the Romans beat us to it
in this case.

Between the 1st and 3rd
centuries CE, Roman miners

carve vast tracts of land out
of Northwest Spain,

creating the hidden patterns
revealed from the skies.

The Romans were
obliterating mountain

after mountain after mountain
after mountain.

But even the Romans, with all
their engineering genius,

ultimately exhausted
this resource.

NARRATOR: As reserves
become depleted,

Rome must look elsewhere for
precious metals

to prop up its empire.

It's incredibly expensive to
have a payroll for an army.

Roman mining engineers
are traveling all

throughout the empire
looking for new gold.

NARRATOR: Eventually,
Rome runs out of money

to finance its armies.

Economic mismanagement then
triggers a collapse in trade,

and the empire begins
to crumble.

Today, the strange scars
in the images are symbols

of both Rome's rise to power
and its eventual fall.

Gold drives people
to do strange things,

and we see direct
evidence of it here.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
inside City 40.

WALTERS: You're never
heard of again,

and nobody is asking
any questions.

NARRATOR: And the mystery
structure that changed history.

DENNIE: We wouldn't have modern
homes, modern transportation.

The entire world
would be different.

In 1963, Gambit,
one of the first

spy satellites in history,
launches from California.

It goes on to capture
thousands of

images of clandestine sites
within communist Russia,

and among them, something that
doesn't make sense.

WALTERS:
There are a few large bodies

of water,
and all are completely frozen --

except oddly,

this lake right
in the center isn't.

And not only is it not frozen,

it actually appears to be kind
of steaming or smoking.

What they found here
is really strange.

It's almost like the lake
itself is on fire.

NARRATOR: The recently
declassified image was taken

over the Ural Mountains,
on the border

between Europe and Asia.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE:
This usually would indicate

geological activity,

but there's nothing in
the Ural Mountains

that would do that.

This is not a volcanic area.

NARRATOR: Analysts turn
to CIA dossiers

on the Gambit program.

They reveal
something extraordinary.

The CIA knew exactly what
that steaming lake meant.

This is at the heart of one

of the most clandestine
programs in Soviet history.

NARRATOR: The program has
its origins in 1945,

when the U.S.
detonates the world's

first nuclear weapon.

In response,
Joseph Stalin decides to

dramatically accelerate
the Soviet atomic program.

WALTERS:
So what does Stalin do?

He puts in charge of
the project

not a physicist but a man
called Lavrentiy Beria,

head of the NKVD.

NARRATOR: As head of state
security, Beria has access to

a vast network of forced labor
camps or Gulags, estimated to

hold five million prisoners.

He could corral
tens of thousands

of political prisoners
and use them

as a slave labor force to
advance the nuclear program.

WALTERS: Using Gulag prisoners
is absolutely ideal,

because when you go
to a Gulag,

you're never normally
heard of again.

And nobody, nobody, is asking
any awkward questions.

NARRATOR: Beria deploys
around 40,000 prisoners to

the site in the image,
where they begin constructing

a nuclear plant
and a nearby urban complex.

It will become known
as City 40.

MORAN: This city was built
in total secrecy.

Not only does it not appear
on historical maps,

but the residents were
removed from the census.

NARRATOR: As the city grows,
Beria forces nuclear

scientists from around
the country to move there.

MORAN: For the first
eight years of its existence,

anyone living in this city was
forbidden from leaving or from

having contact with anyone on

the outside,
including their family members.

In return for their secrecy,

residents were treated to
lives of relative luxury.

M. MORGAN:
They are provided housing.

They are provided education
and healthcare.

They're provided levels of
stability that were not

exactly accessible
to all Soviet citizens.

NARRATOR: In 1949, Soviet
scientists use plutonium

from the site in the image to

build a 20-kiloton bomb,
a full decade faster

than the CIA anticipated.

It's a monumental achievement

to turn around
a bomb this fast.

But it's done with
the assumption

that the workers are
completely expendable.

NARRATOR: As the Soviets ramp up
their weapons program,

radioactive waste seeps
into the lake in the image

and into
the local water supply.

WALTERS:
In the first three years,

waste management was
practically nonexistent.

This nuclear plant is
poisoning everything around it.

MORAN: On top of all that,

the plant faced
a series of accidents,

the most devastating of which
was the Kyshtym Disaster.

[alarm buzzing]

NARRATOR: The Kyshtym Disaster
occurs in September 1957,

when a malfunctioning
cooling system

in a waste tank
leads to a catastrophic

temperature spike.

The resulting explosion sends
a plume of radioactive

materials a mile into the sky
above City 40.

What we're talking about here
is one of

the greatest industrial nuclear
accidents in human history.

MORAN: Like Chernobyl,

this nuclear disaster
was a result

of the USSR's negligence.

The only difference
is that in this case,

they were able
to cover it up.

NARRATOR: The fallout rains down
on nearly 270,000 people,

yet the authorities only
evacuate 4 percent of them.

Soviet secrecy means
the number of fatalities

remains unclear,

but it is believed to be
as high as 8,000.

There was an immediate
death toll to the disaster,

but the real damage,
the lasting damage,

unfolded over years.

WALTERS: From what we know,
many of the survivors

in this period,
and indeed their children,

are still suffering
from things like

genetic mutation, deformity,
and other disorders.

NARRATOR: The strange phenomenon
captured from space is proof

that despite the disaster,

the plant continues to produce
vast amounts of plutonium.

The process entailed
pumping cooling water

from the lake into
the facility

and pumping heated water
back into the lake.

Now, that would have created
the clouds of

steam that were picked up
on a satellite.

NARRATOR: Today, some of the
land around the secret city is

contaminated with 2 and 1/2
times the radiation released by

the Chernobyl disaster.

Yet 80,000 people
still live here

under this region's
long atomic shadow.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: Reportedly,
they take pride in living in

a closed city, being one of
Russia's chosen ones,

even if that city
is slowly killing them.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
NASA's space arrow.

Given the size of this arrow,
who are we signaling to?

NARRATOR:
And untold desert riches.

DENNIE: You needed
a little bit of luck

to know exactly where
X marks the spot.

NARRATOR:
September 4th, 2021.

Satellites over Texas spot
a weird mark on the landscape.

This here is a very
strange-looking feature.

It juts out from
this industrial complex on

the right --
it's very odd.

SALAITA: If you were on
the ground, it just looked like

some concrete,
but from the sky,

it's so obviously an arrow.

NARRATOR:
The giant structure stretches

1,700 feet
across the landscape.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE:
Given the size of this arrow,

it's clearly meant to be seen
from above, from the sky.

So...
who are we signaling to?

NARRATOR: A clue to
the mystery feature's

purpose comes from the dawn
of the age of aviation.

A lot of what drove the use of
planes across the country

was trying to deliver mail, and
it could do it amazingly well.

But airplanes
didn't have all kinds of

electronics on board
to help them navigate.

NARRATOR: In the early 1920s,
transcontinental air travel is

in its infancy,
with pilots

facing the seemingly
impossible task of navigating

the vast U.S. interior.

So, in 1924,

the U.S. Postal Service
hatches

a simple
yet ingenious plan.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: The U.S.
Postal System placed these

concrete arrows along the route,
pointing out the direction

that the pilots should fly.

RUBEN: Once this system
was up and running,

it had a huge effect on how
quickly mail could travel in

the United States.

You could get a letter from
one coast to the other

now in a day and a half.

NARRATOR: By 1929,
there is a 2,500-mile

network of arrows directing
pilots to their destination.

Customers place so much trust
in the postal system that

families use it to send
children as freight

to other relatives.

The U.S. Postal Service
markers litter the landscape to

this day,

but there are doubts that
the Houston arrow

is one of them.

WAKEFIELD: Houston isn't really
on the flight path of

these airplanes.

So then what other possibility
could it be?

NARRATOR: Analysts turn
to local records.

The structure, it transpires,
has its origins in

an even more extraordinary
episode in the history

of aviation.

RUBEN: I guess in one sense,
the arrow is pointing west

by northwest,
but in another sense,

it's pointing humanity's path
to the stars.

LEE: This is NASA's
Johnson Space Center's

antenna test facility

they set up to test
space communications.

[indistinct over radio]

NARRATOR: The space agency
establishes the test facility

in the 1960s as part of
perhaps the most

ambitious project
in human history.

The objective was to develop
technologies that would

allow the Apollo missions
to reach the moon.

RUBEN: This place was central
in figuring out parameters

that needed to be known
for Apollo to succeed.

NARRATOR: To successfully reach
the moon and return to Earth,

the Apollo astronauts
must spend

over eight days
alone in space.

They will also travel
240,000 miles,

a journey that will test NASA's
communication systems

to its limits.

LEE: What's important
to realize is that,

when you undertake spaceflight,

you are really entering
a domain that is very alien to

what we're familiar with
at the surface of the Earth.

[over radio] All systems are
good at this time.

NARRATOR: To ensure
the survival of the mission,

NASA must be in constant contact
with the three-man crew,

but the vast distances
they will cover threaten

existing communication systems.

LEE: In the early years of
the space age,

space was largely unknown as
to what it would do to

radio communications,
and radio communications is

really vital in space.

That's how you
track spacecraft.

That's how you download data.

That's how you talk
to astronauts.

The further
a radio wave travels,

the more electromagnetic
interference it encounters,

a nightmare scenario
for astronauts

240,000 miles from rescue.

To tackle this
problem, Project Apollo

engineers construct
the 1,700-foot-long

concrete arrow in the image

and install antennae
at either end.

Then they conduct mission
critical test broadcasts to

study how communications decay

and to work out ways
to boost the signal.

Antennae send out radio
signals in a radial pattern --

in other words, a big circle
that grows and grows.

The receivers further down
the arrow are at very specific

distances away from
that antennae,

allowing us to determine just
how long and how strong signals

can travel
from the broadcast point.

NARRATOR: The arrow's shape
enables precise line of sight

frequency measurements,

meaning scientists
can forensically

study a test signal.

LEE: Interference could be
really measured carefully,

which allowed NASA to
understand what's going on with

the physics of communications.

A. MORGAN: The importance of
the work that took place here

cannot be overstated --
when you're sending people

out into orbit and beyond,

you need to be able
to communicate

with them to understand
what exactly is happening.

NARRATOR: The pioneering work
carried out at the giant arrow

is critical to the success
of the Apollo 11 mission...

[over radio] CAPCOM,
we're "go" for landing.

[over radio] Roger, understand.
Go for landing, 3,000 feet.

...and enabled those
on Earth to listen

to the first words spoken
on another world.

ARMSTRONG: That's one small
step for man,

one giant leap
for mankind.

It really is remarkable
to think of the impact

of this one poured slab

of concrete in a field on
the history of something as

magnificent as
space exploration.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
the secret desert death squads.

MUNOZ: You have stories
of torture, beatings,

the use of electroshocks
to subdue prisoners.

NARRATOR: And the strangest
heist in the world.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: The
satellite imagery has captured

the daylight robbery of
a whole island.

NARRATOR:
June 3rd, 2020.

A satellite crossing
420 miles above Saudi Arabia

spots something in
the remote sands below.

You have these two

what looks to be quite large
outlines of structures.

They are really strange shapes,
and they're

right in the middle of
a desert.

NARRATOR: The mystery structure
sits 200 miles

from the nearest
population center.

AUERBACH: The location
makes me wonder if it

was some type of military
or security facility.

Now there is one very
notorious organization in

Saudi Arabia that insists

on total secrecy,
and that is the Mabahith.

The Mabahith is
a widely feared organization,

and their main duty
is to identify

and neutralize figures
that might be deemed

a threat by the government.

NARRATOR: The Mabahith uses
spyware to eavesdrop

on the calls, texts,
and emails of Saudi citizens,

taking suspected dissidents
and activists

away to brutal
detention centers.

MUNOZ: You have stories of
torture, beatings,

the use of electroshocks
to subdue prisoners.

WALTERS: It's often political
activists who are incarcerated,

and you don't have to done
anything much more than, say,

attend a public protest
or write a critical blog.

NARRATOR: While the Mabahith
are known to operate in remote

desert locations,

historical records reveal
this site has a very

different purpose.

What we're looking at
is actually decades old.

AUERBACH: Incredibly,
this site was at the center

of a discovery that changed
the face of the world.

NARRATOR:
That discovery has its origins

8,000 miles away,
during the automotive boom

of America's
post World War I years.

New mass production techniques
mean that in less than

a decade,
car ownership

almost triples,
from 8 to 23 million.

WALTER: Almost everybody
can now afford a car,

and almost everybody, of course,
needed petroleum.

AUERBACH: Sales of gasoline
were rising rapidly.

The popularity of
the automobile meant that

the demand for oil kept
growing and growing.

NARRATOR: The birth
of the aviation industry

further fuels
this demand for oil.

This transportation revolution
means consumption skyrockets.

By the 1920s,
the U.S. is using

450 million barrels a year.

Up until this point, a lot of
the oil that was used in

the United States was produced
in the United States,

but it's not enough to sustain
more and more people needing

access to oil.

NARRATOR: Over the following
years, the U.S. begins

to scour the world
for new supplies.

In 1933, the Saudi government
awards California company

SoCal the rights to drill in
the region in the image.

They promised to pay
the Saudi government huge sums

of money for exclusive rights
to whatever resources

they might uncover.

NARRATOR: At the time, U.S.
geologists rely on surface

pointers like seepages
when searching for oil.

But these clues
are hard to find

in the vast expanses of
the Saudi desert.

So at first, the team's
oil hunt yields nothing.

DENNIE: Back then,
when you drilled a well,

you truly needed a little bit
of luck, because our geologic

understanding wasn't refined

enough to know exactly
where X marks the spot.

NARRATOR:
This prospecting mission

turns into a five-year grind.

In March 1938,
the team drills one

final borehole
at the site in the image.

OKEREKE: At first,
it seemed like this well

was another dead end,
but they kept at it.

What they eventually
discovered was

the largest source of
petroleum in the world.

NARRATOR:
The U.S. team has discovered

the 1.3-million-acre
Ghawar oil field.

It contains over 80 billion
barrels of black gold.

This was a phenomenal
amount of oil.

It was far beyond
what they expected.

DENNIE:
We knew there was oil there,

but the sheer amount
of it is -- is staggering.

NARRATOR: Following
the discovery, the Saudi

government establishes
its own oil operation

and drills
hundreds of wells.

This soon transforms
the previously nomadic kingdom

into one of the richest
nations on earth.

DENNIE: This oil reservoir
completely changed Saudi Arabia

from a pre-industrial country

to one of the key
players on the global stage.

OKEREKE: The influx of cash
allowed Saudi Arabia

to build strong infrastructure
to transport the oil.

As soon as it was able
to build vital wells,

pipelines, refineries,

production ramped up to
a previously unthinkable scale.

AUERBACH:
In the following decades,

they aggressively expanded
the industry.

It was moving towards
global domination of

the oil market,
and moving towards it fast.

NARRATOR: Nine decades after
the first well was sunk,

Saudi Arabia is still home to
the largest oil fields

on Earth.

You have Western
nations utterly reliant on

black gold.

This gives the Saudis
huge power.

DENNIE: Simply opening
or closing the valves

and increasing production
or decreasing it,

they can affect
the global economy.

AUERBACH: Countries became
so dependent on these oil

supplies that
they were essentially

compelled to maintain
friendly relationships

with Saudi Arabia.

NARRATOR: The site discovered by
the U.S. team closed in 1982,

yet its legacy lives on in
every corner of the globe.

No one who was involved in
that first drilling

mission could have dreamed of
how it would transform

not only the region,
but the entire world.

NARRATOR: Coming up,
terror on the high seas.

The more you look, the more of
these things that you see,

like there must be
hundreds of them.

NARRATOR:
May 30th, 2020.

A satellite scans
the seemingly featureless

300,000-square-mile
East China Sea.

This is a vast expanse of
water, and then suddenly,

you have all of these things
just tightly

clustered together.

The more you look, the more of
these things that you see,

like, there must be
hundreds of them.

NARRATOR: There are 200
mystery shapes in the water,

each 400 feet long.

WALTERS: Zooming in,

you can see churned water
coming off

the backs of some of
these objects.

Now that's wake off
the backs of ships.

To me, this looks
like sand dredgers.

What's strange is that
there's so many of them.

It's like some kind of armada.

NARRATOR: Maritime
tracking data reveals

the dredgers are
registered in China.

The vast size of the fleet
intrigues analysts.

These sand dredges dig up
sand from the bottom of the sea,

which is often used to create
artificial islands,

but I don't see an artificial
island anywhere around here.

So, what are they here for?

NARRATOR:
The mystery fleet sits between

Taiwan's Matsu Islands
and mainland China.

This six-mile-wide strait
is currently

the most contested stretch of
water on Earth.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: Tensions are
incredibly high in this region,

largely because China believes
that it has rights

to the Matsu Islands
and Taiwan itself.

NARRATOR:
These tensions begin in 1949.

Faced with an imminent
communist takeover,

the Chinese government flees
to Taiwan and establishes

a breakaway republic.

It's a move that continues
to infuriate Beijing.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE:
China sees Taiwan as

a renegade province
that they rightfully own.

But Taiwan doesn't want
to be part of China.

Over the decades,
Taiwan has turned down multiple

reunification deals
presented to them

by the Chinese government.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE:
China could invade,

but this would lead to a much
bigger global conflict.

Taiwan has international
support from a number

of countries,
including the U.S.

NARRATOR: Instead of taking
Taiwan by force,

China is now taking it
grain by grain.

What we're witnessing here is
a new, controversial, and very,

very underhand military tactic
from the Chinese government to

exert regional dominance.

RODRIGUEZ McROBBIE: The
satellite imagery has captured

the daylight robbery of
a whole island.

This army of dredges is
stealing sand from

Taiwan to build a new part of
the mainland.

NARRATOR: Positioned just
off the Taiwanese coast,

every day,
the Chinese fleet siphons off

up to 7,000 dump trucks
worth of territory.

MORAN: These hundreds of
dredges are darting in

and out of Taiwan-controlled
waters, shrinking the beaches.

Imagine you're a small nation
fighting to maintain

your sovereignty,

and here are these dredges
quite literally

eating away
at your territory.

NARRATOR: Taiwanese authorities
believe China is using

the stolen land to construct
nearby artificial islands,

and they are powerless
to stop them.

MORAN: This is what's known
as gray zone tactics.

Gray zone tactics are acts of
aggression that never quite

grow into actual
armed conflict,

but they teeter on the edge.

WALTERS: Taiwan's authorities
kind of have a hand tied

behind their back,
because any military

engagement is gonna
be seen as an act of

aggression on their side,
and that, of course,

would be an open invitation
for the Chinese to

retaliate with their much more
powerful military.

NARRATOR: The audacious
land heist captured from space

is part of a broader campaign of
gray zone tactics

against Taiwan,

a campaign that includes near
constant naval patrols,

cyber attacks, and intrusions
into Taiwanese airspace.

WALTERS: Gray zone tactics work
by exhausting

the enemy into submission with
acts of extreme intimidation.

MORAN: It's a form of
large-scale psychological

pressure on the population,
intended to

eat away at Taiwan's
will to exist,

without ever firing
a single weapon.

NARRATOR: China is currently
increasing the number of

dredgers it's using
to eat away at Taiwan.

With tensions escalating,
satellites play

a vital role in monitoring
the situation

as it unfolds.

China is saying
to Taiwan's people,

"Look, we don't recognize
your right to this land,

this is ours,
and we can take what we like."