All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens - 13X15 Return to Mars

This is what all
of human history is about,

this present moment
where we migrate into space.

NARRATOR: It's a special
two-hour Ancient Aliens event.

JOSH RICHARDS: This is very much
about humanity setting up

a permanent outpost
on another planet.

MICHIO KAKU: Either we prepare
to leave the Earth,

or we prepare to die.

NARRATOR: When humans become the
alien visitors on other planets,

what, or whom,
will they encounter?

What if we arrive on Mars,

and there are
artificial structures?

LINDA MOULTON HOWE:
There is alien intelligence,

and our government
knows about it.

And that has to break out if
we're going to go beyond Earth.

NARRATOR: As a new generation
of astronauts

prepares for life
on other worlds,

are they simply realizing
mankind's future,

or returning
to its extraterrestrial past?

HENRY:
We're very near a discovery

where we're gonna understand
that everything

that ancient astronaut theorists
have been talking about is true.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The Mojave Desert, California.

May 29, 2018.

Virgin Galactic's
SpaceShipTwo Unity

lifts off from
the Mojave Air and Space Port

under the power of a carrier jet
named VMS Eve.

PILOT 1:
Three, two, one. Release.

NARRATOR:
At 50,000 feet above the Earth,

the Unity is dropped

from its mother ship
and rockets upward

to an altitude of 114,500 feet,

before descending back to Earth.

- (applause)
- The Unity is the brainchild

of billionaire entrepreneur
Richard Branson.

It represents a new era
in space exploration,

as it is designed to carry
not only astronauts,

but civilians.

Right now is an amazing time
to see what's happening

with the world's
space exploration.

You have commercial entities
that are building rockets

that we're actually using
to get to the Space Station,

and maybe even to Mars
in the very near future.

We've got people talking about
putting colonies on the Moon

and on Mars.

And we also are now
talking about a Space Force

that's very similar to what you
might have heard in the old days

of, uh, like the
Starfleet Academy in Star Trek

and other
science fiction stories.

Within a few short generations,
we're likely to have people

that are being born as Martians.

We will soon be the Martians.

So we are really reaching
a point where

space is right there, right
for us to reach out and grab.

NARRATOR: Today, a new
21st-century space race

has captured mankind's
collective imagination.

Not since the Apollo program's
history-making Moon landings

has there been such interest in
and hope for

a return to manned missions
to explore other places

in our solar system.

Although only the United States,
Russia and China

currently have human
space flight capabilities,

dozens of other nations,

in addition to
well-funded corporations,

are committing
unprecedented resources

to join this exclusive club.

I'm old enough to remember
that first small step

that Neil Armstrong took.

And, at the time, I think
we all believed it was

the first step on a stairway
to the stars.

NEIL ARMSTRONG (over comm):
That's one small step for man,

one giant leap for mankind.

DAVIES:
And then, after a few years,

everything seemed to stall,
people lost interest.

What we're seeing
in recent years

is other nations
getting into this, and so--

particularly China,
and also India--

with the prospect that we'll be
blazing a new trail

to the stars.

KAKU: We're entering the second
golden age of space exploration.

Even Silicon Valley billionaires
are jumping into the game,

funding their own fleet
of rockets.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR:
...NTS is ready for launch.

- (crowd cheering)
- WOMAN: There's Falcon Heavy.

KAKU: Elon Musk shot that
Falcon Heavy rocket

from Cape Canaveral.

Millions watched it online. Why?

Because that was a Moon rocket.

For the first time in 50 years,

a Moon rocket, capable of
putting astronauts on the Moon,

took off from Cape Canaveral.

And now, Jeff Bezos,
the richest man on the planet,

has funded his own private
space port in Texas,

with a fleet of rockets, one
of which we think is designed

to go to the Moon.

NARRATOR: Many experts have
suggested that space exploration

slowed down after the initial
Apollo Moon missions

because of the staggering costs.

So, what is driving humankind
to once again undertake

such an expensive endeavor?

It is a law of nature

that organisms have to either
leave, adapt or perish.

99.9% of all living forms
on the Earth

have gone extinct.

Extinction is the norm.

If you don't believe me, simply
drill right under your feet

until you hit the bones.

PETER DIAMANDIS: Backing up
the biosphere, so to speak,

backing up humanity into a
multitude of different locations

makes a lot of sense.

One of the quotes I love
comes from Tsiolkovsky,

who's one of the
Russian founders

of the whole space movement,
and he goes,

"Humanity was born
in the cradle of Earth,

and we should not always remain
in the cradle."

I think that it's
an inevitability.

As humans, we love to explore.

We started in the savannahs
of Africa

and moved out throughout
the entire planet,

and that made us
a robust species.

And so that will continue
as we move off the planet.

(man calls contingent to prayer)

STEPHEN PETRANEK:
It would appear

that there is a genetic
survival mechanism we have

which says that we must explore,
and we must move on

beyond the next horizon.

I think that's built into us.

NARRATOR: For humans to thrive
on alien worlds,

they must first learn to
overcome profound technological,

physiological and even
psychological challenges.

But they must also face
something even more daunting:

what if they encounter
other intelligent beings?

The idea of intelligent life,
of sentient life

being confined to the Earth is
just a human-centered,

anthropocentric idea that
we've got to get rid of.

In our Milky Way alone,
there is reckoned to be

140 billion planetary systems

that are not too dissimilar
to the Earth

and the solar system.

KAKU: The Kepler satellite has
allowed us to create a census

of the Milky Way galaxy.

We now know that, on average,
every single star has

a planet going around it.

And of them, we know that
a fraction of them--

maybe one out of 20 or so--

have Earth-like planets
going around them.

In other words, the Earth could
have a doppelganger.

The Earth could have a twin
in outer space.

And how many of them?

Billions. Billions
of Earth-like planets.

And so, for us to assume that
we are the only game in town,

I think, is ridiculous.

NARRATOR: As far as ancient
astronaut theorists

are concerned, evidence that
there is other intelligent life

in the universe
has already been found

on every corner of the globe.

They believe Earth has been
visited by intelligent beings

for thousands of years,
and that it most likely began

during the time of the ancient
Sumerian kings.

Khorsabad, Iraq.
March 23, 1843.

While excavating for
archaeological treasures,

a group of men, led by French
scientist Paul-Emile Botta,

came upon the remains
of a huge Assyrian palace,

and within it, an abundance of
Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions.

When translated,
the inscriptions told

of what archaeologists
believe to be

the world's oldest civilization,

and a group of powerful beings
called the Anunnaki.

ANDREW COLLINS: "Anunnaki" was
a term of the gods

used by the ancient Sumerians.

But the original form of it,
it simply meant,

"the sky people."

It meant those that were
connected with the stars.

The Anunnaki were seen to be

the givers of civilization
to mortal kind.

And they are described as having
these shining eyes,

and having a radiance and an
otherworldly feeling about them.

NARRATOR:
Based on 30 years of studying

the Sumerian cuneiform tablets,

in 1976, author and researcher
Zecharia Sitchin

published a book called
The 12th Planet,

in which he proposed that the
Sumerian gods were, in fact,

refugees from another world.

According to Sitchin's
interpretation of the tablets,

these alien visitors, the
Anunnaki, created humankind.

JASON MARTELL: It appears to be
that gods came down

and literally started
a colonization project

here on Earth,
creating us in their image

and after their likeness.

It also might stand to reason,
then, that they've infused us

with a desire to then spread
this colonization project

beyond Earth.

GEORGE NOORY:
I think if you look

at what we've been doing
in our space program,

it's a blueprint
for what may have happened here

a long time ago
with extraterrestrials.

But I think
we're on the same path.

HOWE:
We're beginning to understand

that the Anunnaki gods
that were actually ETs

could be still out
throughout the universe,

that we could now,

as we are starting
to head out into space,

be encountering
the prime intelligence

that originally had
civilizations on Earth

and were working
throughout this solar system.

NARRATOR: Are today's astronauts
simply repeating

an ancient pattern,

that of exploring the universe

with an eye
toward future colonization?

But, if so,

what will become of the planet
they leave behind?

Perhaps further clues
can be found by taking

a closer look
at our most likely destinations.

RICHARDS:
So, I suppose the biggest thing

June 7, 2017.

At Johnson Space Center,

Vice President Mike Pence

announces NASA's
2017 astronaut class.

As American astronauts,
you may yet return

our nation to the Moon.

You may be the first
to travel to Mars.

You may have experiences that...

we can only imagine,

those of us
who walk on terra firma.

NARRATOR: These 12 men
and women were chosen

from a record 18,300 applicants,

more than doubling
the previous record of 8,000

set four decades earlier
in 1978.

Today,

humankind's desire
to travel to space

has never been greater,

and establishing colonies
off Earth

is not only a possibility
but a priority.

The only question is,

where will we go first?

In the near term,
there are three basic locations:

there is going to the Moon,

there is going to Mars,

and then there is free space.

This is going to the asteroids,

and using the asteroidal
materials to build colonies.

I think you can look
at all three of those as options

in the near term.

I firmly believe that, um,

a single-planet species
is not long to survive

and that we really have
to be able

to move out
into the solar system.

Early on in the evolution
of the solar system,

we believe Venus,
Earth, and Mars

had a significant amount
of water.

And they all evolved
differently.

Venus went through
a runaway greenhouse effect.

The water evaporated,

and now the temperature
is so high

and the pressure is so high,

it's a place
we just can't inhabit.

And when you think about that,

what is the next place
for humankind to go?

It's Mars.

It's smaller than the Earth,

but it's got a lot
of the basic characteristics

and it's a great place
to start and work from.

I think the most common
misconception about Mars

is that it's going to be easier
than it actually is.

Right now,
the International Space Station

is orbiting 250 miles above us.

The Moon is 250,000 miles away,

a factor of a thousand.

The trip to Mars
will take you on a trip

that's 250 million miles away.

This is not
a simple rocket trip.

Wernher von Braun built
the Saturn V rocket

to get astronauts to the Moon.

We took three days to go there
in the Saturn V.

Going to Mars
is at least 240 days,

given current technology.

And that's not an easy trip.

NARRATOR: While a manned mission
to the Red Planet

will be a long
and perilous journey,

experts say
Mars has many advantages

for human colonization.

Temperature fluctuations
are less extreme

than those of the Moon,
for example,

and its gravity
is more Earth-like.

People don't seem
to be terraforming the Moon.

Mars is a little easier.

Mars already has an atmosphere.

There's a lot of real estate.

I mean, you could do this.

NARRATOR:
For thousands of years,

Mars has practically been
a human obsession.

Even before
it was known to be a planet,

it was distinguished
from the other nearby stars

by its deep amber color.

HENRY:
Mars was referred to

as Nergal by the Babylonians,

the great hero,
also a god of war.

In Greece, they referred to Mars
as Ares, the god of war.

The god Mars, the god of war,
the god of aggression

comes from this particularly
visible heavenly body.

And I wonder
if the desire, the quest,

the yearning to explore Mars

has an aggressive
or competitive element to it,

if Mars himself is not somehow
involved in the project.

The ancient Egyptians had a very
particular interest in Mars.

Cairo was named after Mars:
al Qahirah.

It means the vanquisher,
or the conqueror.

Even the Sphinx itself
was believed

to have originally
been painted red,

perhaps an homage to Mars.

NARRATOR: Over the centuries,
humans have conceived numerous--

and often humorous--
notions of what Mars

and its possible
Martian inhabitants

might look like up close.

It has been the subject
of countless books,

motion pictures
and even video games.

But what if some
of the creative depictions

of our interplanetary neighbor

don't come
from human imagination,

but from human memory?

Carl Jung theorized

that mankind had
a collective consciousness,

and this is
a kind of genetic memory,

or inherited memory.

For instance,
if our ancestors perceived

that lightening was dangerous,
we might inherit, then,

a fear of lightening.

And so it's possible
in the same way

that our ancient
associations with Mars

are actually within our genes
and embedded in our neurons

as part of our DNA.

If our ancestors
experienced something,

it goes into our genome.

It goes into our DNA.

What if humanity
originated on Mars

and we are still answering
to that call unknowingly?

NARRATOR: Could there be
a profound connection

that links humans to Mars

deeply embedded
in our subconsciousness?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest the answer
is slowly being revealed

as we get closer to colonizing
the so-called Red Planet.

Amersfoort, the Netherlands.

2012.

A private Dutch organization
known as Mars One

announces a global mission

to establish a permanent
human settlement on Mars.

The following year, they
begin accepting applications

from would-be colonists
for a manned expedition

scheduled for 2023.

But while the opportunity to be
among the first humans on Mars

is an exciting one,

one aspect of the mission
seems certain to turn away

many would-be applicants.

It will be a one-way trip.

Nevertheless,
thousands of people apply.

By the time I heard
about Mars One,

I had been telling
all my friends,

"I don't care
what it's gonna take,

I'm gonna make it to space
in my lifetime."

And it felt like there was
a calling, a destiny there.

I get asked
if it's worth the sacrifice

of leaving everything
I've known on Earth--

family, friends, sunshine...
(laughs)

rain, the beach--
and I think...

to live
the first half of my life

as an earthling, and
the second half as a Martian,

what an amazing way
to kind of give your life to...

the greater cause of humanity.

This is a defining point
in the human time line.

So, I suppose the biggest thing
that draws people to Mars One,

the thing that
kind of hooks their attention,

is the fact that it's
a one-way mission.

This is very much about humanity

setting up a permanent outpost
on another planet, and that's...

I suppose, the thing that drew
me to it in the first place.

PETRANEK:
Mars and Earth have to be

in a very synchronous place

in order to make
the shortest trip to Mars.

When you get there,

Earth and Mars
are gonna be very far apart...

and you will not be able
to leave and come back

for at least 400 days.

In fact, it would
take you longer to get back

if you left right away

than if you waited 400 days
to come back.

So once you get there,
you're stuck,

and you have to stay there.

And the truth is that it's so
expensive to get people to Mars

and to establish
the first colonies

that this is always, always
gonna be a one-way trip.

I don't like the idea
that we do the same thing

that we did with the Moon

50 years ago,
where we go there, walk around,

explore it a little bit,
and then come back,

and then
sort of ask the question:

Why bother going there?
We've been there before.

The most common attribute
through all of the candidates

is this idea that we're all
interested in serving something

that's bigger than ourselves
as an individual.

It's very much about doing
something for the species.

PIEN: The journey
to get to Mars is very similar

to the first settlers arriving
in the Americas.

Mars One plans to send

teams of four at a time,
and every two years afterwards,

there will be
a new team to arrive

and join the community.

Eventually, probably,

we're gonna see tens
of thousands of people arrive.

I think for us right now,
if we make the leap

and start to create
colonies off planet,

we're looking at the next
giant leap of humankind.

NARRATOR: Are current efforts to
leave Earth and travel to Mars

simply based on a desire

to explore and colonize
a new world?

Or could it be based
on something even more profound?

Is it possible
that we wish to return home

to humankind's place of origin?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

further clues
still need to be examined,

starting with recent discoveries
made on Mars

that point to evidence of life.

DAVIES: The first thing to say
about the origin of life

NASA's unmanned Viking 1
orbiter and lander

touches down
on the surface of Mars.

Three weeks later it is joined
by its companion,

the Viking 2.

For the first time ever,

humanity has established
a presence on another planet.

The Viking landers
actually landed on Mars

and took a sample.
But they landed in one spot

and they stayed in one spot.

We've since sent
the Pathfinder Sojourner.

And for the first time,
we have a system on Mars that,

if we see something
shiny over there

and we want to go check it out,
we'll send the rover

and get a very close look
at it, take samples,

get high-definition video
from it. And, uh, that

is a very good start
for figuring out

where people need to go when we
get ready to send them there.

NARRATOR:
In 2012,

the Curiosity rover
landed on Mars' Gale Crater.

It was the most ambitious Mars
mission flown by NASA to date.

(cheering, applause)

One of its objectives
was to gather data

that will help scientists
determine what is needed

to make the planet more
habitable for human exploration.

In June 2018, scientist
and aerospace engineer

Dr. Travis Taylor traveled
to Johnson Space Center

in Houston, Texas.

There, he met with NASA
exploration mission scientist

Dr. Elizabeth Rampe.

Dr. Rampe analyzes data obtained
by the Mars Curiosity rover,

which, six years
into its mission,

is sending back some of its most
extraordinary findings yet.

So there was very late
breaking news recently

from the Curiosity rover,

and some interesting
information came out

of the sample analysis at Mars--
or SAM-- instrument.

- Okay.
- So, SAM can measure gases

in the atmosphere,
and it can also measure gases

that are evolved from samples.

So basically, we drill a rock,

deliver that powder
to the instrument,

and then that instrument
heats up the sample

and measures the gases
that are coming off.

Whatever outgasses,
it can tell you what this...

- what that is, right? Okay.
- Exactly.

So a big piece of information
from the atmosphere

is that we've been
tracking methane

over the last few Martian years.

And what we see is that there is
a cycle to it, where it spikes

late summer, early autumn,
and then dips again.

- Wow. Yeah.
- Yeah, so the big question is:

- Why is that happening?
- Right. (stammers)

So that could possibly be due
to an organic material, right?

- Or a biological source?
- Exactly.

- Meaning life.
- So that's-- right. I know.

- Right. Wow.
- So huge.

I-It's not the only hypothesis
out there.

- Sure.
- But, you know,

there is the possibility that
there is extant life on Mars

that is creating this methane.

Wow.

The fact that NASA has now
released information

that they've measured
a cycle of methane

that goes up in the summer
and down in the winter,

it sounds very similar

to how biological processes
create methane here on Earth.

That could be evidence

that there's life, right now,
on Mars.

NARRATOR:
Life on Mars?

According to NASA,

such a profound notion
is a distinct possibility.

But although the space agency
is still working

to confirm their findings,

ancient astronaut theorists
remain confident of the outcome.

They have maintained for decades

that not only does
the Red Planet contain life,

but that it was once home

to a highly advanced
extraterrestrial civilization.

And for their proof,
they point to the existence

of possible structures found
on its surface.

There are lots of claims
of photographs

showing different features
on the surface of Mars.

These have come
from the orbiters

that are obviously
taking pictures

as they go around, all the time.

And some people will find
different features,

and interpret them as geometric
or rectilinear structures

that suggest civilization.

You see everything
you would expect to see

if you went to someplace
on Planet Earth

50,000 years from now, when the
human race have been wiped out.

They clearly are
technological objects

that have become fossilized.

NARRATOR: While the notion
that an ancient civilization

once existed on Mars
may sound farfetched,

NASA has continued
to make discoveries

that could reveal something
even more incredible:

that life on Earth actually
originated on Mars.

So what is this?
Tell me what this is.

RAMPE: Okay, so this is
a Martian meteorite.

So this is a rock
that came from Mars.

TAYLOR:
How long ago?

The rock itself is about
180 million years old,

so that's when
it crystallized on Mars.

And to give you some context,

180 million years ago, dinosaurs
were roaming the Earth.

Right. Well, we know that
this rock came from Mars.

So if there was
organic material on Mars

three and a half
billion years ago,

something could have caused
that organic material

to go from there to here, right?

Right. And what's interesting
about, you know,

"three and a half
billion years ago"

is that's when life
was taking hold on Earth.

- Right.
- So-- and, and Mars was

once very Earth-like
with, uh, rivers and lakes.

So why not Mars?

We've got
all the building blocks

for life on Mars,
so why couldn't it happen there?

So it's very possible that
we're descendants of Martians.

I, it... I'm not
gonna rule that out.

(both chuckle)

There have been a lot of changes
in my lifetime

about speaking about life
on other planets.

"Is it possible that humanity
evolved from Mars?"

If I would have said that
ten years ago,

people would have thought
I was crazy.

And what that tells me, though,
is the conversation has changed.

NARRATOR: While NASA's most
recent findings suggest

that there may be life on Mars,

and that life has potentially
existed there

for billions of years,
is it also possible

that Mars was the original
source of life here on Earth?

Since 1974,
Dr. Chandra Wickramasinghe

has advanced an intriguing
theory known as panspermia.

He maintains
that carbon-based matter

exists amidst space dust
and can be carried,

via asteroids and comets.

The standard position is that
life started on the Earth

in the very small
primordial soup.

And the Earth
is a very small place,

in terms of cosmic distances
and cosmic sizes.

It's a, a speck of dust.

So to argue that the most
complicated system

that we can ever know about,
which is life,

started here on the Earth,

is almost a travesty
of common sense.

I think the first life
is certainly--

there's no question
that it came from space.

The first thing to say about
the origin of life on Earth

is that we really have no idea
how, where or when it happened.

But there's one scenario
that does work,

in my view, very well,
and that is, uh, impact ejector.

Mars takes a hit,
Mars rocks come here to Earth

and Mars material is raining
down on Earth all the time.

If there were any life on Mars,

it would be conveyed to Earth
in this impact ejector.

And so it's entirely possible,
in my view,

that life started on Mars
and came to Earth only later,

when conditions here
settled down.

NARRATOR:
In 1953,

British geneticist Francis Crick

along with American biologist
James Watson

discovered that the shape
of human DNA resembles that

of a three-dimensional
double helix.

But as Crick learned more
about our genetic code,

he came to the conclusion
that it was so complex,

it could not have developed
by mere evolutionary chance.

He also believed
it did not originate on Earth.

When we hear terms
like panspermia,

this really resonates with
the ancient astronaut theory

because it confirms the idea

that life has arrived on Earth
whole and complete,

and that the evolutionary
process for life even to begin

would take
a much longer lifespan

than even Earth
was able to provide.

This raises the question,
is it possible

that life doesn't
just randomly arrive,

but is actually sent here
to Earth?

NARRATOR: If, as ancient
astronaut theorists believe,

life on Earth was seeded here
by extraterrestrials

millions of years ago, did they
have a plan for humanity?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining the ancient
Sumerian stories

about the earthly activities
of the gods.

CHILDRESS:
These pits might actually be

NASA's Advanced Exploration
Systems division asserted

that identifying and extracting
mineral resources in space--

such as iron, tungsten and
titanium-- would be essential

for future space exploration
and colonization.

The Moon
and the near-Earth objects

that are not too far from Earth,

they're loaded with minerals
and-and raw materials.

You can look at the Moon

and where the, uh,
Sea of Tranquility

and the other seas, they have
a different coloration,

because there's titanium oxide
covering the surface.

We know there's uranium there

because we've detected
radon gas.

So there's all sorts
of materials.

DIAMANDIS: One of the companies
I'm proud of having cofounded,

uh, is a company called
Planetary Resources,

who's got a vision of going
to near-Earth asteroids

to mine those asteroids
for fuel,

and ultimately,
precious metals--

platinum-group metals,
or construction metals.

NARRATOR:
But as NASA makes plans

to mine essential
space minerals,

is it possible that other
advanced civilizations

came to Earth-- centuries ago--
for the same reason?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answer is yes,

and they believe
the evidence can be found

in the Sumerian stories
of the Anunnaki,

written more
than 5,000 years ago.

MARTELL:
When we analyze the story

of the Anunnaki's creation
of humanity,

some very interesting nuances
come out

that might lead
into understanding

what humans might face

in their own eventual
colonization of another planet.

NARRATOR: When famed
ancient astronaut theorist

Zecharia Sitchin

studied the Sumerian tablets
in the 1970s,

he not only
reached the conclusion

that the Anunnaki came to Earth
to escape a dying planet,

but also noted that, while here,

they used humans
to mine for gold.

MARTELL: When we look at
the creation stories

of biblical tales,

we understand that God created
the Earth in seven days.

It turns out that
this consolidated version

of seven days
can be translated to

a much earlier story
in Sumerian form,

called the "Atra-Hasis,"

where there is actually
seven tablets of creation,

telling how the Anunnaki
came to Earth

and genetically engineered us
in their image,

and in their likeness, to mine
the gold for them here on Earth.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that when the ancient Sumerians

wrote about giant beings
coming down from the sky

and digging for gold,
they were, in fact,

documenting a visitation
by extraterrestrials

who were mining for resources--

just as NASA is planning to do
in the not-too-distant future?

June, 2018.

Scientist and aerospace engineer
Dr. Travis Taylor

is at Johnson Space Center's
Building 9,

the astronaut training facility.

He is meeting with robotics
engineer Lucien Junkin,

who is eager to show him
the latest

in extraterrestrial
transportation.

I see this is a-a rover.
Tell me a little bit about it.

Yeah, this is basically
an off-roading RV

for Moon and Mars.

And what-what is it that makes
this so much better than, say,

the lunar rover?

It can go out and explore.

So the concept is
if you have a habitat,

you're gonna take
two of these rovers

and they'll go out for a week
to two weeks and explore,

come back, refuel and then
we'll be back out exploring.

Can-can we look inside
or maybe go for a ride?

Absolutely. Let's go for a ride.

- Oh, that'll be awesome.
- Okay.

Just put your foot there,
jump on up.

All right.

Pilot's on, power's on.

- Go to low gear.
- Low gear.

Push forward on the stick.

NARRATOR:
The Planetary Analog Test Site,

also known as The Rock Yard,

is a multi-acre simulation
of lunar and Martian terrain.

It is here that
the Space Exploration Vehicle

endures rigorous testing
to determine its readiness

for eventual
off-Earth deployment.

-Let's go through
that crater first.
-Okay.

- Just go up and over?
- Yeah.

TAYLOR: Can it handle
that kind of a...?

-Yeah, if you put your foot
right up there...
-All right.

...that'll brace you
in your seat.

So, like, on a tank,

-you would typically
feel it tip over.
-Yeah.

JUNKIN: So, active suspension,
each one of the wheel modules,

it senses it.

Right. I see that.

How about that?

It's all right
to ride across these?

Yeah, drive over--
across anything.

TAYLOR:
Wow, this is amazing.

When it sees a big rock
like that,

it just goes right over it?

JUNKIN: Yeah,
it just goes right over it.

- Let me show you something.
- All right.

So you're gonna pick out a rock
and we're gonna explore the rock

- in this.
- Okay.

-Yeah, let's look at that rock
right over there.
-Okay, that one.

-So, look at this rock
right here.
-Uh-huh.

We can bow down to it.
And now, another cool feature:

you twist this way...

TAYLOR: Oh, that crabs. Yeah,
yeah. I got you, I got you.

JUNKIN: That crabs.
See how we can just rotate

- all the way around?
- That-that's amazing.

JUNKIN:
You're doing perfect.

And then we're gonna shoot

straight up that hill
right there.

- All right. Straight?
- It'll take you-- yeah.

TAYLOR:
All right.

JUNKIN:
So it is a rock-climbing fool.

-You could climb up a wall
in this thing.
-Yeah.

We want the vehicle to go places
where they're like,

"This is my
life support system."

- Right. Yeah, right.
- "I'm not going there."

- But the vehicle would go...
- Will do it,

- if they had to.
- Will do it, if they have to.

NARRATOR: If ancient astronaut
theorists are correct,

and extraterrestrials
came to our planet

thousands of years ago
in search of gold

and other precious minerals,
wouldn't there be evidence?

Some telltale sign
that the Earth

was once the site of a vast,
global mining operation?

CHILDRESS: There was a place
in Peru called Cajamarquilla,

and at this spot there are
thousands of shallow pits

that are going up the ridge of
a mountain, and they're in-line.

They're quite uniform.

They are only say, two,
three feet deep, these pits.

And they are baffling.

What these pits
might actually be

is the result of
some kind of mining probe

that was going up this mountain,

digging these holes, and then
sampling for valuable minerals.

NARRATOR: Today,
Cajamarquilla is mined for zinc,

a mineral used in metal alloys
and electrical equipment.

But if Earth may have provided a
treasure trove of raw materials

for extraterrestrial
space travelers,

what resources would Mars
have to offer?

Recent NASA findings
suggest the Red Planet

could be capable
of supporting human life,

and in ways
never before imagined.

One of the most fantastic things
that we've discovered

scientists believe they have
recently found something

incredible on Mars: water.

On July 25, 2018,

the European Space Agency's
Mars Express spacecraft

reported the discovery
of a subglacial lake

located a mile or so beneath the
planet's otherwise arid surface.

If confirmed, it would be the
most significant evidence yet

that Mars either did--
or perhaps still does--

provide a habitat
for living organisms.

We know that evidence for life
occurs almost as soon

as you have a liquid water
environment on Earth.

We could anticipate that,
you know,

there would be scenarios
where people

could have seeded the Earth
with life

so that life would develop
very similarly on Mars.

NARRATOR:
The existence of water on Mars

would also be of huge benefit
to colonization efforts.

And while scientists are still
confirming the presence

of this subglacial lake,

they are now certain
that in the distant past,

the Red Planet was once blue,

and boasting
a more robust atmosphere.

One of the most fantastic things
that we've discovered

with our orbiters and our rovers
on Mars is about its history.

And a number of really
spectacular surprises

have come out.

The first one is that Mars,
at one time in its past,

looked more like the Earth.

It was a blue ocean world,

with a significant amount
of water.

We know for a fact
that billions of years ago,

when we were first
getting started here on Earth,

then Mars was a much more
clement place.

We know that it had
a thick atmosphere

to shield and blanket
the planet.

And it would have had
organic molecules,

the building blocks
of all life as we know it.

So it stands to reason that
maybe Mars had its own genesis,

its own origin of life.

NARRATOR:
Was Mars a fertile planet,

teaming with life, thousands--

or perhaps millions--
of years ago?

And if so, could the planet
be modified

in such a way that it could
sustain human life?

It is NASA's stated goal

to send astronauts to Mars
in the 2030s.

But while humanity's efforts
to colonize space

are well underway,
there is still

a tremendous amount of planning
and scientific groundwork

to be done before we can truly
begin to populate alien planets

with large numbers of humans.

Right now, we're...

we're basically just tourists
in the... in space.

We take everything we need
with us.

And in order to make
the next giant leap,

you're gonna actually have
to start using the materials

that you find in space
to help you explore.

Okay? As soon as you make
that step to use the materials

that are available to you
on the surface,

now you're truly a pioneer.

There's a number of resources

that are already
available to us.

And then, of course,
we're going to want

to start planting things.

We're going to have
to grow food.

We're going to have to live
off the land the best we can.

NARRATOR:
Live off the land?

On Mars?

According to NASA,
innovations in technology

will be able to make
the Martian landscape

more hospitable to humans
than was previously believed.

But could this same adjustment
to a planet's environment

be similar to what
extraterrestrials

could have accomplished here
on Earth centuries ago?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and suggest that stories from
nearly every ancient culture

prove this audacious notion
to be true.

One of the strangest traditions
in South America

is with the Kayapo people
in Brazil.

And they have this legend
of the Bep-Kororoti,

who came down from the sky

in a lot of noise and wind,

and landed his craft.

He then taught the people
knowledge of civilization,

of herbs and medicine,

of building
and agriculture and crops.

And today, the Kayapo people

celebrate him every year,

and a priest dresses up

in this outlandish outfit

that looks like a spacesuit.

So you have to wonder,
where are they getting

these ideas
of people in spacesuits

if not from
some extraterrestrials

who landed there
in the distant past?

Today we are on the verge
of going to other planets

and seeding them with life.

And it makes complete sense

that something like that
happened on our planet

in the very distant past.

NARRATOR:
At Johnson Space Center

in Houston, Texas,

NASA exploration mission
scientist

Dr. Elizabeth Rampe introduces

-Travis Taylor
to John Gruener...
-Nice to meet you.

...a space scientist with NASA's

Astromaterials Research and
Exploration Science Division.

Gruener is working to determine

what humans will be able
to grow and eat on Mars,

so that they can live off
the planet's resources.

TAYLOR:
So what is this?

GRUENER: It's weathered
volcanic ash, or tephra.

And it's very similar
to what's on Mars.

Everybody thinks of Hawaii
as this paradise, right?

- Warm beaches...
- Right, right.

You get up on top
of these volcanoes,

- and it's cold, it's dry.
- That's right, cold. Right.

And so we've been using this
for a number of decades.

It's kind of our
general-purpose Mars simulant.

Uh, we've tried
growing plants in it.

- Well, have you been able
to grow plants in it? -Sure.

Because people grow in volcanic
soil all over the Earth.

It's full of minerals,
all right?

But what we're lacking
on Mars are

- those biological things...
- Well, at least we think

- we are, right?
- At least we think, yeah.

Maybe not.
We're finding this methane.

Well, will we need some
other things, like bacteria

or something that
you have to mix into the soil

-before seeds
will germinate and grow?
-Yeah.

GRUENER: Yes,
'cause those roots in the soil

don't just suck up the minerals
by themselves.

And, of course, that makes
the planetary protection people

go crazy, because we
want to bring bacteria

and fungi and microbes to Mars,

and, of course,
we're trying to understand...

- If they're already there...
- ...if they're

already there
or if there ever was.

So I have a theory about that.

And I believe that
we've already contaminated

the rest of the solar system

the way Mars
has contaminated Earth

with its organic material.

'Cause we've had
major meteor impacts on Earth,

and it's likely
that an impact meteorite

that's ejected from Earth
with enough escape velocity

to achieve an orbit
that would bring it to Mars.

And absolutely, if a comet
had impacted Mars and Earth,

- we all have the same stuff,
so we're all... -Yes.

I think whatever we find here,

we're likely to find there,
and vice versa.

Yeah. And so this stuff's
just sitting there,

waiting for us to use it.

NARRATOR: If many of
the minerals that exist on Earth

already exist on Mars,

is it possible that not only did
the planet once support life,

but that it does so even today?

There are scientists
who believe the answer is yes,

and they are even willing
to go one step further.

They suggest
we might be able to use

sophisticated
terraforming technology

to transform
the Mars environment

so that it more closely
resembles that of Earth.

DIAMANDIS:
When we go...

off Earth, whether it's
to the Moon, to Mars,

ultimately we have a choice.

We either evolve ourselves
to meet that environment,

or we turn that environment
to an Earth-like environment.

GREEN: As we have evolved on the
planet, so has the biosphere.

And indeed,
that's what will happen on Mars.

We'll be using
the resources there

and changing that environment.

It's fascinating that right now

there are active talks
by scientists

who are proposing
the terraforming of Mars.

It means that we know

that Mars is a great candidate

to, over time,
develop a similar atmosphere

like here on Earth.

Which is incredible, because...

a planet that can sustain life

is a rare thing

in the billions and billions
of celestial bodies

that we have in the universe.

NARRATOR:
When the first Earth pioneers

arrive on Mars,
what will they discover?

A barren world devoid of life?

Or will they confront
a profound reality,

one in which
they encounter evidence

of an advanced
alien civilization

which once existed
thousands of years ago?

CHILDRESS:
If we go to other planets,

the enormous challenge
of colonizing space,

it is widely believed
that robots equipped

with artificial intelligence
will play a critical role.

Even now,
AI technology has been used

to find alien planets...

classify galaxies...

and even create spacecraft
capable of dodging space debris.

Robotic probes, like
NASA's Cassini, for example,

explored space
for nearly 20 years

and was instrumental in the
study of Saturn and its rings.

We always send robots out
ahead of the humans

to find out
a lot of those unknown things,

like, uh, is the radiation,
you know, hazardous to us.

When we get there,
rather than astronauts

going out in spacesuits
by themselves,

it's gonna be astronauts
and robots

going out
and exploring together.

NARRATOR:
Most experts agree

that before travel
into deep space can take place

artificially intelligent robots
will need to be able

to harvest mineral resources
to keep operating.

A version of this idea
was first proposed

by Hungarian scientist
and mathematician

John von Neumann in the 1960s.

He came up with the idea of
a self-replicating robotic probe

that could be built and rebuilt

from materials found
on asteroids.

BRANDENBURG:
Von Neumann envisioned the idea

of self-replicating automatons

using asteroidal rubble

as source material.

Machines could be sent
to another planet,

and it would start
making copies of itself,

and perhaps evolve
from just the original copy

to something more complex.

From one probe,
you get a thousand,

then a million,

then a billion, and a trillion.

And pretty soon you have
a sphere of trillions of probes

colonizing the galaxy
at near the speed of light.

BRANDENBURG:
NASA has proposed the idea

of self-replicating automata

to be sent out
to the asteroid belt,

which is a place rich
in minerals and materials

that are easy to get to
because they have low gravity.

You don't land on an asteroid,
you dock with it.

Is it possible that we
are looking at, in the future,

such self-replicating automata

building spaceships
out of asteroids,

going different places,
doing exploration for us?

It's quite conceivable.

NARRATOR:
But if intelligent space robots

are mankind's best hope
for exploring the galaxy,

is it possible
that Earth was visited

by extraterrestrial robots

hundreds, and perhaps
even thousands, of years ago?

If so, are we likely
to encounter them again?

CHILDRESS:
If we go to other planets,

we would first send
mechanical probes down

to evaluate the climate
and the minerals

and the temperature
and everything.

You would think
that extraterrestrials

would do the same
for our planet.

GREEN: When you think about it,
it's got to be

one of the most fundamental
things that they would do first.

Sending out intelligent
robotic systems to probe.

They're expendable, and you
can send them everywhere.

And perhaps we should be looking

for those systems first
as aliens.

NARRATOR: According
to ancient astronaut theorists,

evidence that extraterrestrials
sent robots to Earth

can be found in the stories
of ancient cultures.

ERICH VON DANIKEN:
In the story of the Argonauts--

that's an old Greek myth--

we for the first time hear
about Talos.

Talos was... today we
would call it a kind of robot.

Talos was always surrounding
the island of Crete.

And whenever someone went
to come close

to the island of Crete,
he shut it down.

Except they had a certain code

on which
he did not shoot anymore.

So for us,
Talos was like a robot.

YOUNG:
An important figure

in early Greek mythology
was Cadmus,

a divine character,
the first hero,

fifth in the lineage
from Zeus of the Greek gods.

It was Cadmus
that started agriculture,

who brought civilization,
and he brought

the making of bronze.

He knew how to make alloys,
special metals,

which, in the early days
of civilization,

was the beginning of technology.

He was a slayer of monsters.

And he killed a water dragon,
and he took the dragon's teeth

and planted them like seeds,

and great, fierce warriors grew
out of the process.

MARTELL: We have to wonder
if a lot of this

is, again, depicting machines

being powered by some type
of extraterrestrial energy.

NOORY:
When you look at the planet,

you try to hypothesize

what came here,
in terms of extraterrestrials,

and what came here first.

Look at what we do to Mars.

We send little rovers
all over the place,

electronic things.

Did they do that
to Planet Earth, too?

Or did they come here directly

and then come down
with occupants?

I think what probably
happened was

the craft came to the planet,

and then they sent down robots
or androids

to explore the planet.

You must be Julie.

- I am.
- I'm Travis.

NARRATOR: During his visit
to the Johnson Space Center,

aerospace engineer
Dr. Travis Taylor

visited NASA's Robotics Lab,

where he was shown the latest
in space-faring robots.

Wow, so this is
the robotics lab, huh?

Well, this is the Dexterous
Robotics Lab,

- and this is Robonaut.
- Oh, wow.

BADGER: A lot of our
future exploration concepts

have us sending our assets,
sending our spacecraft,

sending the food
and logistics first,

and making sure
everything's set up,

and then sending
our crew members.

So it's possible that
the robots could actually

build our habitats and things
before we got there.

That's the--
That's the thought, yes.

And what if you needed
to make repairs

on the outside of the ship?

Could Robonaut do
stuff like that

instead of you having
to go out and do that?

Absolutely.
Robots are great

for the dull, dirty, dangerous,

and the crew members
inside the spacecraft

could basically be the robot,

commanding everything about it.

So, I noticed that Robonaut
looks very human.

Why make it look human?
It doesn't have to have a head.

You could put the sensors
anywhere, right?

BADGER:
Yes. Absolutely.

However, since we were trying
to make it

for a human environment,
and to work with humans,

we thought that, well,
form should follow function.

So, it's an engineering
decision, but it's also

kind of a good
human-interaction decision, too.

We've had one on board
the International Space Station

for many years.

And we always,
always get the crew request

to say, "Hey, can I tweet
this really cool photo

"that I took of me and Robonaut,

and we're doing
Tae Bo together"?

So, it tends to promote bonding
a little bit more.

TAYLOR: There's something
we could learn from that.

If we ever were to, say,
go to another star system,

and we found a culture
that were not bipedal...

- Right.
- We might want to send

our AI that's got, whatever,
if they were quadrupeds,

we might want to make
a quadrupedal robot, right?

Absolutely. I mean, people put
faces on everything, right?

You'd want to do the same thing

for an alien culture,
if you would.

Yeah. And what kind of AI,
or whatever, runs its systems?

We have sound, uh, on board.

So, we do a lot
of vision processing,

and we have used neural nets.

Uh, we're working right now
to connect the Robonaut

to the spacecraft.

So, have a smart spacecraft
that knows what's going on

within its walls
and be able to say,

"Hey, Robonaut, I need you to go
and change this filter out."

Well, the other thing that jumps
out at me is, of course,

the negative scenario, where
they can become smart enough,

and they want to take over.

I'm not worried about that yet.

TAYLOR: You're not worried
about that just yet. Okay.

NARRATOR: Is mankind following
in the footsteps

of its alien ancestors
by using humanoid robots

in the exploration and
colonization of other worlds?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes.

But how will mankind fulfill
its own extraterrestrial destiny

if only robots are able
to function on other planets?

For many, the answer is simple.

Surviving on Mars will require
not only new technology,

but a new breed of humans.

KAKU: Transhumanism says
that perhaps we should

TAYLOR:
Sure, let's go to Mars.

NARRATOR: At the Johnson Space
Center in Houston, Texas,

aerospace engineer Dr. Travis
Taylor meets with Paul Valle,

the project manager for
the Active Response Gravity

Offload System,
otherwise known as "ARGOS."

Travis is eager
to experience firsthand

how space colonists will be
trained in order to survive

in reduced-gravity environments.

And now you are on Mars.

So this is what Mars is like?

- Yep.
- I can jump...

oh... a lot higher.

So, if I were gonna try
and walk across Mars...

TAYLOR: The ARGOS simulator
is amazing

in giving me some insight
in realizing

it's not easy to work
on a planet

that isn't the planet
I came from.

If I was on Mars or the Moon
or anywhere else,

I would have to completely
retrain my mind and body

for working there.

Wow.

-Whoa, getting up is
the hard part.
-(laughter)

So if any civilizations
have done that,

they would have had to do
the same type of training,

or when they got here,
they'd be extremely clumsy.

Yeah.
Ah, that's almost impossible.

- Yeah, now imagine doing it--
- Uh-oh. There we go.

- (laughter)
- VALLE: Now imagine doing it

with a space suit,
life support...

Yeah, like the Michelin... Yeah.

You don't realize how much

you use gravity
to do everything.

-Yeah, you don't realize
until it's gone.
-Right.

NARRATOR: Although recent NASA
footage of astronauts

doing somersaults in midair
and eating floating M&Ms

paints a whimsical picture
of what it's like to live

in a low-gravity environment,

the lack of gravity can,
over time, have a devastating

and profound impact
on the human body.

What we have to do
when we decide to go to Mars

is really study all aspects
of human physiology,

how we're going to operate
in a gravity

that's much less than the Earth.

Our body will change
because of that environment.

We're doing research
in many ways right now,

studying the effects
of being weightless

and then coming back
to the Earth.

NARRATOR:
March 2, 2016. Kazakhstan.

American Astronaut Scott Kelly
returns to Earth

after a record-setting
360-day mission

aboard the International
Space Station.

The duration of the mission

was intended
to help researchers understand

how prolonged periods of time
in zero gravity

can affect the human body.

Scott's identical twin brother,
Mark, also an astronaut,

served as a control subject.

Because of his twin's DNA,

which is, in theory,
identical to his,

they could then determine

what kind of DNA changes
had happened to him.

And what they discovered
was that about seven percent

of his DNA had been altered.

NARRATOR: Extensive post-mission
lab tests confirmed

the astonishing changes
that had taken place.

Genes related to Scott Kelly's
immune system, DNA repair,

bone formation networks,
his bloodstream,

and numerous other systems
have all been altered.

The startling results prompt
scientists around the world

to ask:
what are the implications

for humans who
leave Earth permanently?

So, I did a lot of my
early medical work

and medical research on how
the human body adapts to space

as you go up into orbit.

So, we are gonna begin
to speciate

and form sub-species of humans

as we head off towards
the stars.

Perhaps we should genetically
modify ourselves

to thrive in outer space.

We're gonna have to modify
ourselves to adjust

to different atmospheres,
cosmic rays,

radiation, you name it.

DIAMANDIS: Do we want to use
gene editing technology

to evolve ourselves and modify
our DNA, modify our bodies

to meet the needs of space
as the human race is moving

irreversibly off the planet?

NARRATOR:
February 2017.

Maverick geneticist Dr. George
Church, of Harvard University,

makes an announcement
that sounds like

something out of
a Hollywood movie.

Using a genome editing tool
called CRISPR-Cas9,

he and his team have combined
DNA from an Asian elephant

with genetic material from
a species that's been extinct

for nearly 4,000 years.

With the substitution
of 45 sections

of the elephant's genome with
the DNA of a woolly mammoth,

they insist that a creature from
ancient times could soon be,

once again, walking the Earth.

Once you have the technology
to completely decode DNA

and-and recode it, you also have
the technology, then,

to genetically alter
any human being,

or any animal or plant.

And so, therefore, you're able
to genetically engineer

a humanoid species that will be

better adapted to space travel,

better adapted to life
on a different planet.

Extraterrestrials coming here
in the ancient past

could easily have done
exactly the same thing.

NARRATOR:
Could extraterrestrials,

in possession of this same
DNA-altering knowledge,

have used it to aid
their colonization efforts

here on Earth
thousands of years ago?

An idea which once seemed absurd

now seems remarkably--
and eerily-- plausible.

TAYLOR: Could you go
back in time and look at

something like
the prehuman creatures,

and genetically modify them
and create

what has become Homo sapiens?

With our technology today,
we could pick

a near-sentient creature,

and start doing
genetic modifications on it,

and create a new, sentient race.

NARRATOR:
In addition to genetically

modifying the human body

in order to make it
better suited

for space travel
and colonization,

many experts propose that
there will also need to be

a merging of man and machine.

Genetically modified space
colonists, they argue,

will have to be fitted
with bio-mechatronic parts

in order to create a human
that is smarter,

faster, stronger
and more durable.

HOWE: I've been talking
with some scientists,

and they say the next thing
that's going to be coming

is the cyborg evolution
of humanity

for those that are going
to go into space.

KAKU:
We have this Hollywood image

that the aliens are gonna land,
and they're gonna come out

looking somewhat like us.

And they'll say, "Take us
to your leader, Earth man."

But I think it could be
quite different.

They could be part robotic.

Realize that they could be
thousands of years

more advanced than us.

TAYLOR: There is a culture out
there that's more advanced

than us, that they've already
built these robotic bodies.

Why wait for them to come to us?

We have to become
a huge, spacefaring culture,

a civilization to go out
and answer these questions

for ourselves instead of just
sitting on our hands

and waiting for them to give us
the answer someday.

NARRATOR: In finding ways
to modify the human body,

along with developing
highly advanced methods

for terraforming other planets,

is mankind really going
"where no one has gone before"?

Or are we simply fulfilling
our destiny,

one that stretches back
to the very beginnings

of human life here on Earth?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the more humans venture into
space, the closer they will be

to discovering
their true origins.

Not on Earth,

but on an alien world,
far, far away.

BARA:
There are a lot of indications

Noted ecologist Dr. Ellis Silver
publishes his book

Humans are not from Earth.

In it, he proposes
that humans possess

a multitude of physical
vulnerabilities,

such as slower
childhood development,

a heightened susceptibility
to illness,

spinal problems
and difficulty giving birth.

He concludes that they most
likely evolved

on another planet.

There are a lot of indications
that mankind, the human race,

actually did not evolve
on the planet Earth.

For one thing, you know,

if we go out in the sun
too long, we get sunburned.

And that doesn't make a lot
of sense unless the conditions

on Planet Earth have changed
very dramatically

in the last few thousand years.

You have to wear
sunglasses outdoors.

That also indicates
that our eyes

are not properly adapted
to the planet.

Some recent studies
in sports medicine

have shown us that the human
body creates two types of fat.

One is isn't a good type of fat,
and the other one is.

And interestingly enough,
the studies show

that if you bring
the temperature down

to about 67 degrees Fahrenheit,

you create the good fat
and not the bad fat.

Near the equator on Mars
in the summertime,

it's about
67 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, that's Mars today,
with very little atmosphere.

Imagine, in the past
where Mars had an atmosphere,

the average temperature
on the surface

might be around 67 degrees.

BARA:
Another factor is that

when astronauts actually go
into space,

their circadian rhythms,
their body clocks,

change from 24-hour days
to a 24.9-hour day,

and that happens to be
the exact rotational period

of a single day
on the planet Mars.

Given the fact
that our body clocks

are tuned to the planet Mars,
not to the planet Earth,

that indicates to me that we
actually came here from there.

Some have suggested that at some
point, Mars had an atmosphere,

and due to some cataclysmic
events on Mars,

the Martians had to find a new
home within our solar system.

And they came to Earth.

So what if we are the Martians?

NARRATOR: Could it be
that the human race

actually evolved on Mars?

And if so, what might have
caused our ancient ancestors

to come to Earth
so many years ago?

At some point,
billions of years ago,

Mars, it suffered a kind
of environmental catastrophe.

Its atmosphere started bleeding
away into outer space

'cause it had no magnetic field
to help shield the planet.

NARRATOR: In 1976, author
and researcher Zecharia Sitchin

proposed that a 12th planet once
existed in our solar system

just beyond Mars
that was somehow destroyed.

Although his declaration
was based on his study

of ancient Sumerian texts,

it was largely dismissed
by the academic community,

who thought the idea absurd.

But recent physical evidence
has come to light

that may prove Sitchin
more correct

than even he believed possible.

NARRATOR:
October 7, 2008.

An 80-ton asteroid enters
the Earth's atmosphere

and explodes 23 miles above
the Nubian Desert in Sudan.

That day, an estimated
600 meteorites

literally showered
the landscape.

But when examined,
the meteorites were found

to contain something
incredible: diamonds.

They also contained
something else:

evidence that they came from
what scientists now believe

to have been a lost planet
in our solar system,

one which was destroyed
thousands of years ago.

The asteroid belt in our solar
system, it's a strange thing.

And some have suggested that
these are the remnants

of a planet that exploded
at some point.

And the inhabitants of that
planet either went to Mars

or they came to Earth.

I am convinced
that the reason why

there's such a huge fascination
with space travel

is because that's
where we come from.

NARRATOR: If there really were
an additional planet

in our solar system that was
destroyed by a cosmic collision,

as Zecharia Sitchin suggested,
could its displacement

have had a calamitous effect
on other,

nearby planets, perhaps Mars?

And how would the ancient
Sumerians have known about it?

Between Mars and Jupiter today,
we have the asteroid belt,

and the asteroid belt,
in my opinion,

was once a planet
which exploded.

Which exploded
because there was a war.

There was a war in space,
a war in heaven.

Many mythologies speak about
this war in heaven,

including
our Christian religion,

where they speak
that the archangel Lucifer

fighted against
the archangel Michael.

Greek mythology, every mythology
around the world

begins with the war in space,
the war in heaven.

In my opinion,
Mars was inhabited.

NARRATOR: Could the human race
actually be populated

by the descendants
of refugees from Mars?

And could this be the basis

not only for
our longstanding fascination

with the so-called Red Planet,

but why we are so compelled
to return there?

BARA: President Trump
announced a Space Force.

The White House Office
of Science and Technology

releases an 18-page report.

It outlines what NASA and FEMA,

the Federal Emergency
Management Agency,

must do in the next decade
to prevent deadly asteroids

from crashing into Earth.

The document covers everything
from earlier detection

and possible deflection
to ways of dealing

with the fallout
from a catastrophic impact.

We have a lot
of these small bodies,

these things that are coming out
of the asteroid belt,

these rocky meteors
that then impact the Earth.

So over the last 15 years,

we've studied how many are
there, how many cross our orbit.

And we find that there are
some really big ones.

They are gonna hit the Earth.

It's not a matter of if,
it's only a matter of when.

We get a single hit
from an asteroid

that's as big as the one
that took out the dinosaurs--

and, that by the way,
is a 100% probability

that that is gonna happen,
sooner or later.

When that happens, all human
life on Earth comes to a halt

and we go extinct.

All of our proverbial eggs
are in this one basket.

If anything happens to us, if
there is an asteroid incident,

if there is,
a human disaster created,

every element of our culture
can get wiped out instantly.

NARRATOR:
In recent years,

more and more experts
have come forward

to stress the importance
of establishing

human settlements off Earth

in order to insure
the continuation of the species.

But is humankind still
many years away

from having the capability
to realize this ambitious goal?

Or could efforts to colonize
Mars be much further along

than the government
is willing to reveal?

Boulder, Colorado,
August 8, 2018.

Tech titan and SpaceX founder
Elon Musk

convenes a secret meeting
of high-level scientists,

engineers and
space colonization experts.

The 60 attendees are warned

not to publicize anything
about the meeting

or even acknowledge
their participation.

But news of the meeting leaks,

sparking widespread speculation.

Why such secrecy
from its organizer,

a man who rarely shies away
from the spotlight?

Some have suggested
there could be a connection

to an event that happened
seven weeks earlier--

President Donald Trump's call
for the establishment

of a new branch
of the U.S. military,

the Space Force.

So, recently, President Trump
announced a Space Force.

Basically, what he's saying is,
we are going to develop

an outer space initiative,
a deep space program...

that's gonna be started
from the military,

controlled by the military

and apparently will have
militaristic aims.

Now, some people
may find this alarming,

but others
may look at it and say,

what's really happening here

is a very, very crucial moment
in human history

and in the history
of the United States,

where we are stepping into space
in a real, real serious way.

NICK POPE: In relation
to the space program,

the private sector players--

the billionaires,
the Elon Musks--

they're increasingly the people
making the decisions on this.

It's almost as if government
is losing control of this.

Or it might be now wholly
in the private sector.

Maybe being deliberately moved.

It is, I think,
sometimes more difficult

for people to find out what's
going on in the private sector

than actually what's
going on in government.

I had an interview once
with an astronaut

about the fact that
if we don't get ourselves,

get some contingency
of humans off--

some on the Moon,

some on Mars and going beyond--

that eventually,

homo sapiens sapiens,
as a species,

if confined only to Earth,

might face
an existential crisis.

We deserve to know the truth,

that there is
alien intelligence,

and our government
knows about it in great detail.

And now we're finally
at the intersection, in time,

where that has to break out

if we're going to grow
and go beyond Earth

and start moving out
into our own solar system.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible

that there are people within
the United States government

who already know that the
first astronauts to land on Mars

will encounter intelligent
extraterrestrial life?

And are they secretly working
with billionaires

in order to help
carry out preparations

for this inevitability
outside of the public eye?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

whatever the government does
or does not know,

as we begin
to migrate off Earth,

all of humanity
will soon learn the truth:

that we are not alone
in the universe.

I think what we're very near
is an event, a discovery.

Could be on the Moon,
could be Mars,

could be maybe Proxima Centauri
or any of our local stars,

where we're gonna understand

that everything
that ancient astronaut theorists

have been talking about is true.

We human beings,
we fancy ourselves as, you know,

being pioneers
and wanting to be the first.

And that's wonderful.
We are pioneers.

We are the first
on many, many things.

But...

what if we arrive on Mars,

we actually land there,

and there are
artificial structures?

It's just the closing
of a gigantic circle.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that ancient stories,

involving everything
from angels and gods

descending to the Earth

to miracles and extraordinary
extraterrestrial events,

were handed down
from generation to generation

in order to prepare mankind
for interplanetary exploration?

Ancient astronaut theorists not
only believe the answer is yes,

but they also point
to a recent scientific discovery

that may indicate we are
rapidly approaching an exodus...

from Planet Earth.

NARRATOR:
The University of Tennessee.

2012.

Forensic anthropologists
examining human skulls

dating from the mid-1800s
to the mid-1980s

find that,
in the past 100 years,

human skulls have become larger,
taller and narrower.

Although exactly why
these changes have occurred

is still being debated,

many scientists believe
that even more rapid changes

will take place
when future humans

spend more and more
of their lives

living in outer space.

According to them, the human
head will continue to grow wider

as brain mass increases.

Decreased access to sunlight

could lead to the development
of larger eyes.

And nostrils might elongate,

in order to facilitate breathing
in dusty environments,

like that of Mars.

Scientists have suggested
that if beings like us

were to go into space

and spend long periods in space,

without normal gravity and such,
that our muscles

would begin to atrophy,

we would have
much more longer, spindly arms.

And this is how, sometimes,

extraterrestrials
are described as well.

If I say that,
somehow or other,

life on Earth came
from an extraterrestrial source,

your first thought
is immediately:

ooh, little green men
or little grey aliens

with big bug eyes
or whatever did that.

But it's an interesting parallel

when you hear people talk
about humans' evolution.

Is it possible that that's
what humanity might become

for spacefaring purposes,
is more like these grey aliens?

One theory that's been proposed,

that these are actually
ancestors of humanity

that left Planet Earth
at some point,

and over millions
and millions of years

have evolved
into this more spindly-limbed,

more neuro-focused,
night vision-focused creature,

but actually are tied
to humanity's past.

Some have suggested
that the ancient astronauts

that our ancestors encountered

perhaps were us human beings
from the future

going back in time to teach us.

That's an interesting idea,

because I think that time travel
is conceivably possible.

However, with the ancient texts
that I'm familiar with,

I have yet
to come across a passage

that one of these "gods"

says to our ancestors,

"We're the same,
but we are from the future."

NARRATOR: While ancient
astronaut theorists are divided

on the question
of whether extraterrestrials,

like the so-called Greys,

are, in fact,
biologically evolved humans

visiting us from the future,

what they all agree on is
that the day is fast approaching

when we will
finally know the truth

about mankind's alien origins.

HENRY:
In creation mythologies,

there's a plan that emerges,
and this plan

is for people
to become more like the gods,

so that we could be reunited
with them in the stars.

We are on the cusp of,

or perhaps even
in the middle of, right now,

this tremendous transformation
that will connect us

with extraterrestrial beings.

HOWE:
A Gallup poll was done

to ask questions

of the population
that would indicate

whether or not they had
had interactions with...

biological entities
that were not human.

And that Gallup poll
came to the conclusion

that three to four percent
of the current population

of our planet
have had an interaction

with something that's
in the nonhuman category.

So are the nonhumans waiting
for a specific moment

in which they will say
the human experiment

is beginning to grow up?

We want to go out and explore.

And we think it's the beginning.

It's not the beginning.

HENRY: I don't think it's
coincidental that at this moment

we are recording mass sightings
of extraterrestrial craft.

We're understanding
the ancient world

and how they interacted
with extraterrestrials.

Science is advancing
to understand this.

Communications
are being put in place.

I think all of this
is leading to this moment

where we're gonna peak,

where we're gonna experience

this disclosure,
this convergence,

this return, and it
will forever change humanity.

NARRATOR:
Will humankind succeed

in establishing new colonies
on other planets?

And if we do, will we discover

that we are not
the pinnacle of creation,

but just the newest members
of an intergalactic society?

Perhaps as we transition
off of Earth

and out into the stars,
we will find

that we are not reaching
the peak of our human evolution,

but only the beginning
of a destiny

that's as limitless
as the universe.